"Fortunately, Bristol is following her mother and father's example of choosing life in the midst of a difficult situation," (evangelical leader) Tony Perkins said. "We are committed to praying for Bristol and her husband-to-be and the entire Palin family as they walk through a very private matter in the eyes of the public." (Full)
But on the other front -- attracting disaffected female Hillary voters -- not so good.
"(Palin and Hillary) are ideological opposites," said Kim Spotts, a 52-year-old nurse, explaining why she supported Clinton but would not be swayed by Palin. She said she would vote instead for Obama..."I would not vote for her (Palin) under any circumstance. ... I really dislike her strong, conservative religious views," said Clinton-turned-Obama supporter Barbara Patchen, a 47-year-old homemaker, as she walked her dog in a park. (Full)
Then there's all the gestational craziness that followed McCain's announcement by about 2 nanoseconds.
* - Palin had a baby with Downs Syndrome four months earlier...or did she?
* - Was the baby really that of her unmarried 15-year old daughter?
* - A day later: No the baby was not Bristol's baby.
* - A day later: But yes, Bristol herself is pregnant. (A flesh and blood threat to evangelicals who have staked their entire solution for changing millions of years of young human sexual activity with one word: abstinence.)
With the GOP convention looming just hours away, McCain supporters tried to turn Palin's lemons into evangelical lemonade.
* - Palin did not end her pregnancy when she learned she was carrying a Downs Syndrome fetus. In other words, she "chose life."
* - Palin's unmarried, child-daughter, was also going to go through with her pregnancy. They (the family) again, chose life.
But what did all this say about the Palin family's commitment to the holy cause of promoting abstinence if they couldn't even succeed with their own daughter?
Those in favor of comprehensive sex education were also quick to note that Palin's daughter's pregnancy was the logical outcome of years of disinformation pumped into their kid's heads by the religious right about methods of birth control, particularly their teachings that "condoms really don't work."
So, kids pumped full of such nonsense have been left with a clear choice; if,. despite their best efforts to resist, their hormones suddenly send them hurtling towards coitus, don't bother stopping to ask their partner use protection, because it doesn't work anyway. Because those who say they know what God wants, say so."
Old timers and clear-thinkers in the GOP were, and remain, stunned by McCain's choice. At a time when the economy is heading for the kind of trouble not seen in nearly a century, and the world order is coming apart at the seams, McCain picked a No. 2 whose only serious executive experience is her one year as governor of Alaska.
I almost feel sorry for Sarah Palin. I say almost because she could have said "no." but instead leapt at the opportunity. Can you imagine what this poor woman is going to go through in the next 60 days.
- She has an infant, special needs child, plus four more kids at home. Make your own judgments about that, and I admit, if it were Palin's husband instead of her, no one would be asking this question. But I don't know any mothers who would return to work three days after giving birth to a severely handicapped baby. The fact that Palin did exactly that will speak volumes to all those home-schooling evangelical moms McCain figured would applaud this choice. The right's "family values" theme seems at odds with such behavior. Fair? Unfair? None of that matters when it comes to the religious right.
- The office of vice president is more than a full-time job. It's more like two and half full-time jobs, which again puts in question Palin's pro-family bona fides. One handicapped infant, and four other minors at home, including an unmarried pregnant child in crisis. ... hmmmm. Instead of tending to these twin family crises Sarah has decided to dive head first into the maelstrom of presidential politics. Hmmm. where can we find that in the Family Values Handbook?
- Then comes the two months of hand to hand combat facing ahead of her. Can you imagine how many hours of each day Sarah Palin will spend being pumped full of all data she lacks for this task; which nations hate other nations, which nations are currently at one another's throats and why, and which ones are likely to be at each other's throats and why. Then come her courses on national and international finance, at a time when even seasoned economists admit they have few clues to what's wrong or how to fix what's wrong.
She's going to need all that schooling, because she will have to debate Joe Biden on national television. One misstep, one dumb answer or clueless moment and McCain is toast. Imagine the pressure on the former mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, population around 6000.
I guess we could look at all that and have admiration for a woman who would be willing to run such a thankless and merciless gauntlet. And, under different circumstances, I would too. But John McCain is 72 years old. He's had several bouts with cancer and, while he's dodged those bullets, there's no guarantee his run of luck will last four more years.
If the worst happens, that former mayor of tiny Wasilla (Sicily Alaska by another name) would find herself running the most powerful nation on earth, but at a time when our power has been squandered on the wrong wars in the wrong places at the wrong times. And our economy has been gutted by fiscal policies only Charles Keating could love.
Republicans claim that Palin has more executive experience than Barack Obama, which is true, but only if you narrow the definition of "executive experience" down to Palin's time running her local PTA and school board, her tenure of mayor of a tiny rural hamlet and her one -- tumultuous -- year as governor of a state awash in oil money. Then you have to discount entirely Obama's stellar academic record, his years in the trenches of depressed South Chicago, his remarkable rise to US Senator and his breathtaking rise as his party's nominee for President of the United States.
