Sarah Palin's daughter IS pregnant, actually

[Keystone Phil]

Teenager having sex -> Teenager having sex without precautions -> Teenager is a slut -> Teenager has bad judgment all-around -> Teenager's mom didn't raise her right -> Sarah Palin would be a terrible Vice President

Ay, logical leap here.

The hypocrisy on abstinence education is relevant.

Because her daughter didn't listen to what she believes? Uh...

Maybe if she'd believed differently her daughter's life would have turned out differently? Oh well....

Disgusting. So now because someone believes in abstinence, it's their fault that someone gets pregnant? It's always someone else's fault, isn't it?

[Beet]

Teenager having sex -> Teenager having sex without precautions -> Teenager is a slut -> Teenager has bad judgment all-around -> Teenager's mom didn't raise her right -> Sarah Palin would be a terrible Vice President

Ay, logical leap here.

The hypocrisy on abstinence education is relevant.

Because her daughter didn't listen to what she believes? Uh...

Maybe if she'd believed differently her daughter's life would have turned out differently? Oh well....

Disgusting. So now because someone believes in abstinence, it's their fault that someone gets pregnant? It's always someone else's fault, isn't it?

No Phil. I never said that.

Abstinence only education doesn't work. That's the problem.

[Swing low, sweet chariot. Comin' for to carry me home.]

Abstinence only education doesn't work without it actually being practiced. That's the problem.

corrected

[Beet]

Abstinence only education doesn't work without it actually being practiced. That's the problem.

corrected

And how are you going to guarantee that it is practiced? Monitor teenagers 24/7?

[Keystone Phil]

Teenager having sex -> Teenager having sex without precautions -> Teenager is a slut -> Teenager has bad judgment all-around -> Teenager's mom didn't raise her right -> Sarah Palin would be a terrible Vice President

Ay, logical leap here.

The hypocrisy on abstinence education is relevant.

Because her daughter didn't listen to what she believes? Uh...

Maybe if she'd believed differently her daughter's life would have turned out differently? Oh well....

Disgusting. So now because someone believes in abstinence, it's their fault that someone gets pregnant? It's always someone else's fault, isn't it?

No Phil. I never said that.

Then what the hell did you mean when you said, "Maybe if she'd believed differently..."

Give me a break, dude.

[afleitch]

Abstinence only education doesn't work without it actually being practiced. That's the problem.

corrected

And how are you going to guarantee that it is practiced? Monitor teenagers 24/7?

Indeed.

Likewise it can be said that safe sex works - if you practice it.

[Alcon]

Teenager having sex -> Teenager having sex without precautions -> Teenager is a slut -> Teenager has bad judgment all-around -> Teenager's mom didn't raise her right -> Sarah Palin would be a terrible Vice President

Ay, logical leap here.

The hypocrisy on abstinence education is relevant.

Because her daughter didn't listen to what she believes? Uh...

Maybe if she'd believed differently her daughter's life would have turned out differently? Oh well....

Disgusting. So now because someone believes in abstinence, it's their fault that someone gets pregnant? It's always someone else's fault, isn't it?

No Phil. I never said that.

Abstinence only education doesn't work. That's the problem.

Then we should address that position on its own merits, or lack thereof.  If it's responsible for increased teenage pregnancy, it's bad.  We don't need to drag in her daughter as a piece of (questionable) anecdotal evidence.

[HardRCafé]

I am not going to dig up your comments and others from the Edwards threads, where there were also real live people involved in news that had a political dimension as well.

Edwards the candidate cheated on his terminally ill wife.  Palin the candidate cheated… how?  Not even sure how one is relevant to the other.

Maybe if you mistakenly think I took some sick pleasure in how he hurt his family.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

So much for the abstinence only sex ed advocated by her mother.

[Lief 🗽]

Gun control is also pointless, as long as everyone promises to not shoot each other.

[Swing low, sweet chariot. Comin' for to carry me home.]

Abstinence only education doesn't work without it actually being practiced. That's the problem.

corrected

And how are you going to guarantee that it is practiced? Monitor teenagers 24/7?

there is no guarantee that your child will practice anything you teach them.  But you still teach.

your question is really dumb.  

[Keystone Phil]

So much for the abstinence only sex ed advocated by her mother.

Hey...turn on C-SPAN. There's the President smiling during a hurricane, taking pictures with some military people. How dare he? Make yourself productive and post a few of those images all over the place.

[Beet]

jmfcst - and if you reach comprehensive sex education, if one barrier falls, you still have another barrier. Research shows that the first barrier is likely to fall, since abstinence only education doesn't significantly decrease teen sexual activity.

Teenager having sex -> Teenager having sex without precautions -> Teenager is a slut -> Teenager has bad judgment all-around -> Teenager's mom didn't raise her right -> Sarah Palin would be a terrible Vice President

Ay, logical leap here.

The hypocrisy on abstinence education is relevant.

Because her daughter didn't listen to what she believes? Uh...

Maybe if she'd believed differently her daughter's life would have turned out differently? Oh well....

Disgusting. So now because someone believes in abstinence, it's their fault that someone gets pregnant? It's always someone else's fault, isn't it?

No Phil. I never said that.

Abstinence only education doesn't work. That's the problem.

Then we should address that position on its own merits, or lack thereof.  If it's responsible for increased teenage pregnancy, it's bad.  We don't need to drag in her daughter as a piece of (questionable) anecdotal evidence.

Alcon, always the voice of reason. You are right, of course. This story got me thinking about the matter, is all.

[12th Doctor]

So much for those conservative values, huh?

I thought you weren't supposed to have a baby until you were married?

Yes, when a child runs off and gets pregnant it is always the parents fault.

[Brittain33]

Edwards the candidate cheated on his terminally ill wife.  Palin the candidate cheated… how?  Not even sure how one is relevant to the other.

As I said before, I take pleasure in what this says about McCain's judgment.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

No, what I recall is people taking pleasure in Edwards' embarrassment and in mocking his supporters because they trusted his judgment, without saying much of anything about how publicizing the situation hurt his kids. People took lots of pleasure in the whole situation without acknowledging that downside. Of course, no one here was literally publicizing the Edwards scandal, making it news, except for the bumping... but I'm not publishing the news that McCain bypassed vetting his candidate in any press outlets, either, just posting here. It's in the news through no doing of mine, and not just in the Enquirer, so we're discussing it here.

You must be reading the pregnancy itself as "good news" for me. It's not. I've spelled this out already, though.

[Reluctant Republican]

How far along is Palin’s daughter? Is there any chance she could give birth before the election? That would be an interesting October surprise, though I’m not quite sure who it would benefit. But imagine the pictures of Palin holding her new grandchild. Makes for some compelling imagery, in my mind at least.

[Brittain33]

So much for those conservative values, huh?

I thought you weren't supposed to have a baby until you were married?

Yes, when a child runs off and gets pregnant it is always the parents fault.

This deserves better than a glib answer. Do you not deny that conservatives have blamed a LOT of today's ills, including teenage pregnancy, low graduation rates, juvenile crime, etc. on bad parenting?

[Torie]

Here is a question. Would some here be posting what they are posting now, if Sarah Palin had been a male?  Is it poor judgment to pick a male as your VP nominee with a knocked up daughter?

I just don't get it really. The only line of attack which might hurt a bit with the secular upper middle class in precincts McCain needs to make inroads in, is that Sarah favors abstinence only sex education. That does not sell at all in my zip code, and this highlights that. Of course it should not matter at all in how one votes for POTUS, but lots of things that should not matter to me, do to others, unfortunately. And so it goes.

[Sam Spade]

You must be reading the pregnancy itself as "good news" for me. It's not. I've spelled this out already, though.

It's not good news, but I doubt it's much of bad news either.  I already told you where the problem lies, and I suspect any long term issues may be with non-socon moderate males, if any exist.

[Citizen James]

Perhaps the most notable thing to me is to consider how Republicans would react had she been a Democrat?

Does anyone honestly believe that there wouldn't be scores of conservatives up in arms about the "lack of family values" or how it reflected "poor parenting skills".   If it had been someone like Chelsea Clinton would they really have been able to resist that line.   Can the social conservatives here honestly claim that they wouldn't have pursued such an avenue?  Vigorously?

Nonetheless, for the McCain campaign anything that takes the focus off the major issues is probably a net benefit.

[elcorazon]

It is nobody's business.  If Palin were knocked up with some other guy's kid, it wouldn't be our business...until she started preaching family values and condeming John Edwards, etc.

But this is her child.  It's off limits.  End of discussion.

BS, JSojourner!

BS!

I love you man, but you're getting awful unreasonable.

The conservative creed is that you should not have a baby until you get married.

The conservative creed is that conservative mothers should teach abstinence!

This is a big hit to the McCain campaign. Period.

Actually, the "conservative creed" is that you get pregnant, you have the baby. 

Good for Palin for practicing what she preaches!

Aside from that, it's none of our business.

too bad they didn't teach abstinence in the schools. I blame the liberal educators and the fact that the liberals all want the government to do everything for them and not have parents take responsibility for their actions.

[Brittain33]

Here is a question. Would some here be posting what they are posting now, if Sarah Palin had been a male?  Is it poor judgment to pick a male as your VP nominee with a knocked up daughter?

I thought about this in terms of who would qualify as a male Sarah Palin: someone who is a strong social conservative, intended to have some crossover with working class people, lots of children, good looks and youth, and a prominent appeal to female social conservatives based on "walking the walk" in his own life. You may have arrived at the same person I did, and that is Rick Santorum.

He would indeed have invited the same, if not more, scrutiny for this.

It is hard for me to think of another male politician who would be a male Sarah Palin, because such a veep would not have made the splash Palin did or been invested with such hopes as a game changer who could potentially draw in new voters while also holding down the base.

Palin has both profited and borne greater responsibility for running as a supermom in addition to as a conservative politician. "Supermom" was surely part of her appeal to McCain and to the enthusiastic conservatives who have rediscovered McCain this weekend and sent money and love.

[Keystone Phil]

Perhaps the most notable thing to me is to consider how Republicans would react had she been a Democrat?

Does anyone honestly believe that there wouldn't be scores of conservatives up in arms about the "lack of family values" or how it reflected "poor parenting skills".   If it had been someone like Chelsea Clinton would they really have been able to resist that line.   Can the social conservatives here honestly claim that they wouldn't have pursued such an avenue?  Vigorously?

Nonetheless, for the McCain campaign anything that takes the focus off the major issues is probably a net benefit.

Well, let's think of it this way - how did Mike Huckabee, the once prominent voice of many social conservatives in this country, react when we found out that Britney Spears' sister was pregnant? Sure, the Spears' have a reputation for being "conservative" Republicans but at the time the family was an easy target for ridicule in society. What did Huckabee say? He came out against bashing the young girl, expressed joy in her desire to keep and raise the child and wished her all the best.

This situation isn't ideal for anyone that is so young and unmarried but I will always find an overwhelming positive in the story when the young mother decides to keep her baby, grow up in her own ways and raise the child. I think many of us do the same.

[Brittain33]

Well, let's think of it this way - how did Mike Huckabee, the once prominent voice of many social conservatives in this country, react when we found out that Britney Spears' sister was pregnant? Sure, the Spears' have a reputation for being "conservative" Republicans but at the time the family was an easy target for ridicule in society. What did Huckabee say? He came out against bashing the young girl, expressed joy in her desire to keep and raise the child and wished her all the best.

That's nonsensical because the Spears family aren't the political opponents of the Republicans, leaders in a party the Republicans claim is on the wrong side of the culture war destroying America.

[Sam Spade]

I just don't get it really. The only line of attack which might hurt a bit with the secular upper middle class in precincts McCain needs to make inroads in, is that Sarah favors abstinence only sex education. That does not sell at all in my zip code, and this highlights that. Of course it should not matter at all in how one votes for POTUS, but lots of things that should not matter to me, do to others, unfortunately. And so it goes.

I can see that.  Of course, I don't know exactly to who that is a game changer in the OC.