This Is A First
tapmag’s reporter finds herself in a position she never thought she would be in.
No, I am not referring to the announcement by Senator McCain of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his Running Mate, which prompted his daughter, Meghan McCain, to gush on her blog about how “incredibly inspired” she was by this choice. One can just hope that when Meghan writes about “the evolution in the role of women as leaders in politics” and how this was “a great moment for young women everywhere” she realizes that if it hadn’t been for another women in politics, this would quite probably never have happened (Maybe someone can pass over those “Herstory” signs left over from the DNC to St. Paul).
Still, let us not miss the historic moment of a female candidate on the Republican ticket – which was in trouble of getting lost amidst all the speculations surrounding Governor Palin’s family. It was announced Monday that one of the Governor’s children, 17-year-old Bristol, is five months pregnant. While pro-life groups rejoced and the McCain campaign blamed the biased media for cruel reporting, this interesting conversation was broadcast on Fox News.
Click here to watch it.
I never thought I’d say this, but I agree with a commentator on Fox. With Kondracke, that is.
Not Part of the Campaign?
The problem I have with what Mr. Kristol, and many others, are saying, is that- of course this is part of the campaign. It is part of the campaign because it enables voters to get a grasp of the candidate, to see her personal side, and because all candidate’s families are inevitably in the spotlight. It is especially strange to request that this situation be left out of coverage if it is then carefully staged into a hug-and-kiss moment at an airport and the convention.
When you become a candidate for the second highest elected office in the nation, you know the media are going to dig out all the dead bodies left anywhere. Now Mrs. Palin’s daughter can open up a newspaper from New York to Chicago to China and Germany and read that she is pregnant. Of course it’s personal. But you know it’ll get out before you accept an offer to become vice president of the United States. So complaining about the mean media, in my eyes, isn’t really in order.
It should not be part of a dirt campaign against the Palin’s, that is right. Now, no one is going to step onto that thin ice.
A Family Like Any Other
An argument raised in favour of the Palins was that this showed them as a normal American family with normal problems, the problems that your neighbor or friend or colleage might have. Of course, it is wonderful to embrace a person with all their mistakes, that stands out of question.
But isn’t it a little discomforting that teenage pregnancy is considered “normal”? Something that can happen to the best of families, and does happen to them all the time? Teenage pregnancy is not some kind of inevitable fate, it is easily avoided by using contraception (or, as some want to believe, by abstinence… I dare the assumption that maybe one percent of the abstinence-only supporters were themselves abstinent in their teenage years. All the abstinence is nice talk until you fall head over heels in love.)
Therefore, the issue that these events raise deserves to be talked about, in a respectful way. It puts an idea into question that McCain has rallied for: Should there be programs to educate teenagers about sex? Apparently, the Senator doesn’t think so. In the light of these events, he might want to reconsider.
One Comment, Comment or Ping
Dirk
It’s great the Bristol decided to keep her baby. But if her mother had her way, other people’s daughters would not have a choice.
Sep 5th, 2008
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