.

[??????????]

18 or older is an adult. Not 17.

Legally, yes. But this isn't a case of children having children.

[HardRCafé]

It doesn't help that McCain's first and second choices were reportedly Joe Lieberman and Tom Ridge...Why did McCain not go with his first or second choice?

What a mess! Drop Palin before it's too late!

Democrats seem really invested in McCain replacing a popular V.P. pick with a pro-choicer.

Hmm.

[Politico]

Who is her boyfriend and is he older than 18?

[exopolitician]

Who is her boyfriend and is he older than 18?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/01/levi-johnston-bristol-pal_n_123089.html

he sounds like a real winner...

[Politico]

Perhaps I am wrong, but are we not looking at statutory rape here? He's 18, an adult, and she's 17, a minor...

[exopolitician]

Perhaps I am wrong, but are we not looking at statutory rape here? He's 18, an adult, and she's 17, a minor...

Wouldn't that depend on Alaskan state laws? I know some places yeah its considered statutory rape.

[Politico]

Who is her boyfriend and is he older than 18?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/01/levi-johnston-bristol-pal_n_123089.html

he sounds like a real winner...

On his MySpace page, Johnston boasts, "I'm a f - - -in' redneck"

Is that Alaska's state motto?

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Perhaps I am wrong, but are we not looking at statutory rape here? He's 18, an adult, and she's 17, a minor...

Nope.

[HardRCafé]

I like how we have gone from trashing the governor of Alaska to the family of the governor of Alaska to the state of Alaska.

[Alcon]

Age of consent in Alaska is 16.

He does sound like a loser, but guys, still totally not our business.  We don't need to turn our politicians into celebrities, and we sure as hell don't need to turn our politicians' kids into them.

[Politico]

Age of consent in Alaska is 16.

I thought it was 18 throughout the country now? What other states have a low age of consent?

You must be logged in to read this quote.

If Palin is unable to properly govern her family, how can we expect her to govern America?

This may be slightly too Red State for some folks in here to fully grasp right now, but most people truly believe that a parent has failed somewhat as a parent when their daughter has a love child at the youthful age of 17 while still attending high school...especially when the father is more sophomoric than Paulie Bleeker.

I am not saying it's right or wrong, but it's part of the way things are...

[Alcon]

I thought it was 18 throughout the country now? What other states have a low age of consent?

Age of consent is a state matter.  The age of consent is actually purely 18 in only four states.  It goes as low as 14 in some.  There are also age-approximation ("Romeo and Juliet" laws) that make a difference within 6 months to a few years fine.

http://www.avert.org/aofconsent.htm

If Palin is unable to properly govern her family, how can we expect her to govern America?

Is that just something you expect the average American to say, or are actually arguing?

This may be slightly too Red State for some folks in here to fully grasp right now, but most people truly believe that a parent has failed somewhat as a parent when their daughter has a love child at the youthful age of 17 while still attending high school...especially when the father is more sophomoric than Paulie Bleeker.

I am not saying it's right or wrong, but it's part of the way things are...

We'll see, I guess...

[Brittain33]

It sounds like the main obstacle to replacing Palin, assuming McCain does a cost-benefit analysis about the damage done by dumping her vs. soldiering on with a risky VP, is in the lost support of the conservatives who were brought back to McCain by Palin. He'd need to replace her with someone with the same appeal to social conservatives who could also be acceptable to the general electorate, if not a game changer or someone who'd win over moderates.

Is there someone out there like that? A strong social conservative who might not have been considered before for various reasons, but who would do the job? I assume there are no women who fit the bill, and that would look like doubling down on tokenism if he did.

Alternatively, is there an eminence grise who would command enough respect to make this work?

[Sam Spade]

It sounds like the main obstacle to replacing Palin, assuming McCain does a cost-benefit analysis about the damage done by dumping her vs. soldiering on with a risky VP, is in the lost support of the conservatives who were brought back to McCain by Palin. He'd need to replace her with someone with the same appeal to social conservatives who could also be acceptable to the general electorate, if not a game changer or someone who'd win over moderates.

Is there someone out there like that? A strong social conservative who might not have been considered before for various reasons, but who would do the job? I assume there are no women who fit the bill, and that would look like doubling down on tokenism if he did.

Alternatively, is there an eminence grise who would command enough respect to make this work?

brittain33, if McCain replaced Palin, he'd have no chance.  The social conservatives are a problem, but not the biggest one in your analysis.

[Brittain33]

brittain33, if McCain replaced Palin, he'd have no chance.  The social conservatives are a problem, but not the biggest one in your analysis.

Ok. I am considering that McCain might think his chances were worse with Palin than taking the hit and moving on, but everyone's insisting that replacing her means total failure for the campaign, and so it moves the discussion into vulture territory and that's not what I'm trying to do.

[Sam Spade]

brittain33, if McCain replaced Palin, he'd have no chance.  The social conservatives are a problem, but not the biggest one in your analysis.

Ok. I am considering that McCain might think his chances were worse with Palin than taking the hit and moving on, but everyone's insisting that replacing her means total failure for the campaign, and so it moves the discussion into vulture territory and that's not what I'm trying to do.

I can't read McCain's mind.  He might think so, but he also might not think so.

But he drops her from the ticket and he's lost, so I guess the discussion is already in vulture territory for me.

[Ronnie]

Am I the only one who thinks McCain wouldn't be finished if he dumped Palin like tomorrow? There is still 2 months to recover. It would be a serious blow but I don't see it being fatal.

I agree with you, Aizen. I also think there is about a 40% chance that she gets dumped some point before the election. MSM is slowly picking up on the "dump Palin" idea already.

That's pretty damn bold of you to say that.