No, I don't really care about a teenage girl's indiscretions. She can do what she wants, well, as long as nobody gets hurt. However, I wonder how this will frame the issues in the upcoming elections. As I mentioned in a previous post, John McCain's appointment of Sarah Palin for VP is not about substance per se, but about manipulating the debate. Rather than the media focusing on the fact that Obama isn't well, white, the media can now focus on the fact that Palin isn't well, male. Although these facts could cancel each other out, and leave only substantive issues in their wake, the likelihood is that Palin's being a woman will be a prime topic.
The news that her daughter is pregnant likewise has the power to tune debate. The possible smears against the family are obvious, but an issue driven backlash is also likely. From the Democratic side, Bristol Palin will literally be the poster girl for the failed moral applicability of Republican sentiments. It doesn't take talking about sex for kids to want to have sex- they want, and are going, to have it either way.
But, the news was leaked by the Republicans, and for a reason: abortion. Much larger than the issues of the pill, sex-ed and the distribution of condoms, abortion looms as one of the most contentious issues in the country. Much as the Democrats can spin Bristol as the poster girl for sex-ed, the Republican party can use her as the poster girl for anti- abortion sentiment, if not legislation. A teenage pregnancy is one the more easily justifiable types of abortion, and yet abortion is out of bounds for the Palin family.
Expect this, like previous presidential elections, to be about flash, and not substance.
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Hi -
I found your blog by way of a link to a link to a link, etc. Haven't had a chance to read thru more than a few posts, but found those worthy of further reading, though for now, I thought I'd offer a comment to this particular post (although it might be a perspective you've already come across...)
In any case, for many who consider Palin extremely unqualified as a v.p. nominee (and therefore an example of poor decision-making on McCain's part, except to the extent that it was totally a strategic campaign calculation, which would, at one level, completely negate his claim to put "country first") unethical (Troopergate, and more...) a liar (repeating the bridge to nowhere falsehood, after it had been debunked over and over, denying that the recent Alaskan legislative inquiry found that she abused her power, and broke Alaskan ethics laws, when that conclusion is in the first finding of the report...) the situation she and her family now find themselves in re: Bristol, Levi and the pregnancy reeks of hypocrisy, most importantly on two levels: first, in announcing the news about Bristol being pregnant, the statement referenced the family supporting Bristol in the "decision" she's made to have and keep the baby, and to marry the father, though Palin, in her race for mayor, campaign for governor, and now as Republican v.p. nominee, supports policies that would not allow others to make their own decisions as to what they would do should they find themselves facing a similar challenge. (Many also interpret McCain/Palin economic and budgetary policies having the result of limiting the choices and resources available to pregnant teens who are not as financially well-off as the Palin or McCain families, though that is a separate issue.) Secondly, at the same time Palin, and Republican campaign officials and pundits, clamor for "privacy" in dealing with what they claim as a private family matter, THEY are the ones who made the matter public, and who have turned the Palin kids, on many occasions, into little more than campaign props (including a sad, recent example when Palin opened a hockey game in Philadelphia, PA, and stated before the game that including her youngest child was an attempt to guard against protests from the crowd.)
I mention all this mainly to suggest that, for all the appeal the "Bristol factor" might currently have for the Republican base (an appeal, I might add, that's been historical absent when the pregnant teen, or any premarital sexual activity, or variety of consensual sexual activity in general, isn't seen thru the same class/race/political affiliation lens) those who are not fans of Palin view it as hypocrisy, as described above, which thereby increases the feeling that McCain, in nominating her, and Palin herself, in accepting the nomination, in her hubris re: questions as to her readiness for the job, and in her campaign performance to date (which could take up an entire blog of its own) have insulted the electorate, rather than inspired us.
I hope this has offered some food for thought. I hope to read more of your posts, and wish you well with your blog, and your time in England.
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