Palin: Daughter, 17, is Pregnant
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, foreground, waves during a campaign rally Friday in Dayton, Ohio. Her daughter, Bristol (holding the VP pick's son, Trig), is seen in the background.
Martha T. Moore | USA TODAY
September 01, 2008
ST. PAUL — Delegates to the Republican National Convention, as well as Democrat Barack Obama, reacted sympathetically Monday to the disclosure that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s unmarried teenaged daughter is pregnant. But others said the revelation raised questions about John McCain’s judgment.
Steve Schmidt, chief strategist for the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, insisted the party’s ticket would not be hurt and said the idea that 17-year-old Bristol Palin’s pregnancy would affect Palin’s ability to be vice president “is demeaning.”
“People’s families are off limits,” Obama said in Michigan. Bristol Palin’s pregnancy “has no relevance” to the governor’s performance.
“As long as they’re going to get married, I don’t have a problem with it,” said Chuck Yob, a Michigan party leader.
Other delegates have doubts.
“I think there will be a period of surprise and questions: When did McCain know and what did he know?” said Priscilla Rakestraw, a Republican National Committee member from Delaware.
McCain learned of the pregnancy last week, Schmidt said, before he offered Palin the spot as his running mate.
McCain adviser Mark Salter said Palin disclosed her daughter’s pregnancy to rebut rumors on the Internet that Palin’s son, Trig, who was born in April and has Down syndrome, is Bristol’s child. The campaign also disclosed that Palin’s husband, Todd, was arrested in 1986 on a charge of driving while intoxicated.
Palin and her husband said in a statement that Bristol, the second of their five children, will marry the baby’s father, identified only as Levi. “As Bristol faces the responsibilities of adulthood, she knows she has our unconditional love and support,” the Palins said.
Democratic consultant Mark Mellman said the revelation raises questions about McCain’s judgment in picking Palin, who has been governor less than two years. Mellman called it “a complete lack of intelligence gathering and interpretaton. …It raises profound questions about him.”
Dave Robertson, a political scientist at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, said social conservatives will likely give Palin and her family “the benefit of the doubt” because of the governor’s views against abortion rights.
“It may raise some questions more generally about what other things we don’t know about Sarah Palin that we ought to know,” Robertson said.
(c) 2008 YellowBrix, Inc.
All_American
2 months ago
12 comments
Ditto...
yolene_charles
2 months ago
2 comments
Very bad message to mothers around the US with teen age daughters that may not be in position to help raise and support their pregnant teen age daughter. She promote abstinence but having babies with your teen daughter does show that she doesn't have time or control over her family. She should better prioritize her time between her children and to be in the public eye with all her baggages. yol, PSL, FL.
SnoopysPal
2 months ago
38 comments
All_Americanwrote:
BTW, since she is pro-contraceptive, she should've gotten some for her daughter...oh, but wait, that contradicts abstinence before marriage
Just wanted to comment on experiences in my family tree on contraceptives. They are not 100 percent protection.
My ister was on the pill when she concieved her first born. A cousin on my dads side ,married with 2 kids decied no more kids, both wife and him got fixed. Acouple years later they end up with their 3d child.No affairs as both were fixed so they could not have any more children.
So that leaves the abstinance subject, I was thinking on how one could be pro- contraceptive, but also believe in abstinance before marriage.
We all know people are gong to have sex whether married or not, we already know young kids are getting pregant (BTW I have read the percents were down for awhile) So that tells me not everyone has the abstinence belief..so to keep young teenagers from having kids might as well be pro- contraceptive as a 2nd safety net
All_American
2 months ago
12 comments
Wake up!! I have to throw a dig in. Sarah Palin's belief of abstinence until married didn't work in her own family and neither has it worked for this country. Her daughter is 5 months pregnant and we're being told she will get married...not when. In 4 more months, it won't matter. The my space page blog of the son-in-law to be was shutdown because he professed to being a red-neck and didn't want any children. Removing his words doesn't mean they don't exist. BTW, since she is pro-contraceptive, she should've gotten some for her daughter...oh, but wait, that contradicts abstinence before marriage. I think she should forget about being vice-president and deal with her family matters and ALL those skeletons in her closet. I like the way she speaks and the way she presents herself, but she has far too many issues this time around. If she starts to work on them now, maybe they'll be cleared up within the next 4 years. Her name could be Sam and I'd still feel the same way.
amf85
2 months ago
1612 comments
I killed the conversation with my giant wall of text...I'm sorry guys!
amf85
2 months ago
1612 comments
BTW, while Sarah Palin IS pro-contraceptive, she is against it being available through schools and clinics. In 2006 she was asked "Will you support funding for abstinence-until-marriage education instead of for explicit sex-education programs, school-based clinics, and the distribution of contraceptives in schools?” Sarah Palin answered "Yes."
amf85
2 months ago
1612 comments
Ha, I wrote a giant wall of text, and took so long I missed your reply. Anyway, I doubt the nation as a whole would care as much if she was a man, no. I like to think that I would, and I know we certainly SHOULD...but should is far different than would, I am sorry to say.
amf85
2 months ago
1612 comments
AHA! I know! An example...lets use our favorite politician...Joe "I Look Sad Even When I'm Happy" Lieberman. Now, lets say we elect Lieberman president (right, right, I know...run with it). Once president, he says...if we just embraced love and peace everyone could get along! He disbands the US military and disarms everyone. A month later, Canada invades and enslaves all of the United States to work as forced labour in their steam-driven hockey puck plants. Terrible, am I right? It would be logical to blame Lieberman for this occurrence, or at least question his judgment. He adopted a policy that believed that if we just try and love everyone that everything will work out. It didn't, and we paid the price. Theoretically, that is.
Now, Sarah Palin's situation is certainly not that bad. However, she adopted a policy, one that says that believes in abstinence-until-marriage education as opposed to sex education, school clinics, and school distribution of contraceptives. Like Lieberman's theoretical policy, Palin's did not work out, and if implemented nation-wide would probably result in similar results for teenagers across the nation.
Does this mean she can't be VP? Certainly not! Does this mean she lacks the judgment to hold public office? Well, maybe. It certainly is a reason to question her judgment and investigate farther. Is the media making more of this than they should? Probably, but then so are we...thats part of being in a national-level election, as a number of us have pointed out.
Now, Sarah Palin's situation is certainly not that bad. However, she adopted a policy, one that says that believes in abstinence-until-marriage education as opposed to sex education, school clinics, and school distribution of contraceptives. Like Lieberman's theoretical policy, Palin's did not work out, and if implemented nation-wide would probably result in similar results for teenagers across the nation.
Does this mean she can't be VP? Certainly not! Does this mean she lacks the judgment to hold public office? Well, maybe. It certainly is a reason to question her judgment and investigate farther. Is the media making more of this than they should? Probably, but then so are we...thats part of being in a national-level election, as a number of us have pointed out.
ScoobyDoo
2 months ago
1216 comments
True, I gues we have to agree to disagree. One final wonder, would we be as interested if she were a he?
amf85
2 months ago
1612 comments
Actually, to put it better, I question not her morals or values, but her judgment, at least in regards to this one issue of teen pregnancy. Whether her judgment on this issue can be used as a benchmark for her judgment on other issues is another question.
amf85
2 months ago
1612 comments
Not her morals, but in the specific realm of teen pregnancy policy, her values, or at least the viability of widespread application of her accepted policies, are suspect.
ScoobyDoo
2 months ago
1216 comments
So because her daughter is pregnant, you question her morals and values? Interesting.
amf85
2 months ago
1612 comments
I would agree with you that option 2 places unrealistic expectations on both Sarah and Bristol. The situation, to me, serves to indicate not any failure as a mother or person, but a failure to properly assess public policy in her role as a lawmaker/executive official. I DO hold against her (Sarah) the continued attempt to implement a policy that is obviously not sufficient/acceptable.
All_American
2 months ago
12 comments
Agreed :-)
amf85
2 months ago
1612 comments
Hrm. Ok, the way I look at it is as any other public policy. The purpose of the policy is (I think we can all agree) to keep teenagers from getting pregnant, under the assumption that they are not yet ready/able for the responsibility. Based on that purpose, and the fact that Bristol is, in fact, a teenager and pregnant, logically we must assume that there was either 1) a public policy failure, ie., abstinence education is not sufficient or 2) a policy implementation failure, ie., a failure on the part of either Sarah or Bristol Palin.