You Go, Sarah Barracuda!
So it looks like the Palin family and the McCain campaign have finally found a way to put one nasty rumor to bed. Of course they've used a tactic that none of us expected- they announced that Sarah and Todd Palin's 17-year-old-daughter is indeed pregnant now. They say that she is "about five months" along the way. I wonder if the dirty deed was accomplished before or after Bristol got over her nasty bout with mononucleosis. I guess we know what she was doing during her 5 months of bed-rest while away from school. Anyway, the time-line (if accurately reported) would indeed seem to rule out that Trig is her baby. For some reason, a lot of Palin's fanatical supporters believe this somehow should suspend any investigations into her family's life. But that's a ridiculous supposition.
As I've noted before, Sarah Palin has politicized her personal life by claiming to represent the "family values" plank of the Republican platform. Indeed she led off with an introduction to her growing clan in her acceptance speech. She wanted potential voters to get to know what she is about. First and foremost she proudly proclaimed that she is a "hockey mom". And the Christian Right Social Conservatives ate that up. They applauded her decision to birth a child that she knew had Down's Syndrome. They cited her parenting as "executive experience". Who else can we count on to potentially lead our country, if not a good mother? So now when I am told that it is inappropriate, cruel, and/or wrong to shed light on her family life, I have to call "bullshit"*.
When I heard about the rumors that questioned the maternity of Trig, I immediately went on record as saying I considered them a distraction. I wasn't going to form any conclusions before I got as much information as possible. I decided instead to take Sarah Palin at face value, and confront her version of Trig's birth. You should know that well by now- it's the tale of her following through with a political speech in Texas while her amniotic fluid was trickling down her leg. It's the one wherein Ms. Palin is aware of the fetus' disability, and the attending risks of delivery... whereby she completes her speech and gets on an 8-hour airplane flight. She doesn't alarm the on-flight staff of her difficulties. She grins-and-bears her premature labor. After all, she's hunted moose!
Finally Ms. Palin touches down in Anchorage, where the state's most advanced and equipped medical facilities reside. But she chooses instead to be driven to her hometown doctor. She pops out the kid, regroups, and returns to work three days later. She juggles her Blackberry and her breast pump. This is the conservative version of heroic motherhood. What strength she has! She would never let parenthood get in the way of her work; she just lets her family accentuate her career. That's why she sure she can step up to the plate if something happens to McCain. Her kids will be alright. She has a large extended family. She ALSO so happens to have a pregnant daughter that we've just been informed about. But Ms. Palin is super-lady... all things to all Republicans.
What's remarkable is that she's as equally comfortable in knee-high go-go boots and a short skirt as she is all buttoned-down and preaching the benefits of abstinence-only education in our high schools. You know the type of educational institution I'm talking about- the kind that daughter Bristol recently spent 5 months away from. We should all be so lucky as that lovely teen-aged girl. She has a super-involved mama who can properly care for her disabled infant, give mothering advice to her kids, and assume the presidency should the worst-case scenario occur. In the meantime she just has to go on the road for a bit before she gets a super promotion that allows her to sit around and consider how her new job will best benefit Alaskans. You go, Sarah Barracuda!
* Here's another question that's gnawing at me- If the Palins were so concerned about Bristol's privacy, why did they choose to throw their kid under the bus when it became politically expedient to do so? If they were genuinely concerned about making sure her pregnancy did not become an issue, they could have simply kept her out of the public eye for the next two months. That's what they wanted to do anyway. Instead they decide to quell those "nasty rumors" by dropping the dime on their daughter. They could have simply released Trig's birth records instead, and everyone would have gotten red in the face and slinked away. Something is definitely rotten in the Great White North Territory. This needs to be addressed. The Palin family and the McCain campaign have made it all fair game right from the beginning.
As I've noted before, Sarah Palin has politicized her personal life by claiming to represent the "family values" plank of the Republican platform. Indeed she led off with an introduction to her growing clan in her acceptance speech. She wanted potential voters to get to know what she is about. First and foremost she proudly proclaimed that she is a "hockey mom". And the Christian Right Social Conservatives ate that up. They applauded her decision to birth a child that she knew had Down's Syndrome. They cited her parenting as "executive experience". Who else can we count on to potentially lead our country, if not a good mother? So now when I am told that it is inappropriate, cruel, and/or wrong to shed light on her family life, I have to call "bullshit"*.
When I heard about the rumors that questioned the maternity of Trig, I immediately went on record as saying I considered them a distraction. I wasn't going to form any conclusions before I got as much information as possible. I decided instead to take Sarah Palin at face value, and confront her version of Trig's birth. You should know that well by now- it's the tale of her following through with a political speech in Texas while her amniotic fluid was trickling down her leg. It's the one wherein Ms. Palin is aware of the fetus' disability, and the attending risks of delivery... whereby she completes her speech and gets on an 8-hour airplane flight. She doesn't alarm the on-flight staff of her difficulties. She grins-and-bears her premature labor. After all, she's hunted moose!
Finally Ms. Palin touches down in Anchorage, where the state's most advanced and equipped medical facilities reside. But she chooses instead to be driven to her hometown doctor. She pops out the kid, regroups, and returns to work three days later. She juggles her Blackberry and her breast pump. This is the conservative version of heroic motherhood. What strength she has! She would never let parenthood get in the way of her work; she just lets her family accentuate her career. That's why she sure she can step up to the plate if something happens to McCain. Her kids will be alright. She has a large extended family. She ALSO so happens to have a pregnant daughter that we've just been informed about. But Ms. Palin is super-lady... all things to all Republicans.
What's remarkable is that she's as equally comfortable in knee-high go-go boots and a short skirt as she is all buttoned-down and preaching the benefits of abstinence-only education in our high schools. You know the type of educational institution I'm talking about- the kind that daughter Bristol recently spent 5 months away from. We should all be so lucky as that lovely teen-aged girl. She has a super-involved mama who can properly care for her disabled infant, give mothering advice to her kids, and assume the presidency should the worst-case scenario occur. In the meantime she just has to go on the road for a bit before she gets a super promotion that allows her to sit around and consider how her new job will best benefit Alaskans. You go, Sarah Barracuda!
* Here's another question that's gnawing at me- If the Palins were so concerned about Bristol's privacy, why did they choose to throw their kid under the bus when it became politically expedient to do so? If they were genuinely concerned about making sure her pregnancy did not become an issue, they could have simply kept her out of the public eye for the next two months. That's what they wanted to do anyway. Instead they decide to quell those "nasty rumors" by dropping the dime on their daughter. They could have simply released Trig's birth records instead, and everyone would have gotten red in the face and slinked away. Something is definitely rotten in the Great White North Territory. This needs to be addressed. The Palin family and the McCain campaign have made it all fair game right from the beginning.
Labels: Bristol Palin, Christian Right, John McCain, Motherhood, Political Rant, Republicans, Sarah Palin
posted by Merge Divide at 4:05 PM
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