Team McCain put out the news today that the 17 year old daughter of Sarah Palin is pregnant, will keep the baby, and will marry the father:
The 17-year-old daughter of Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin is pregnant, Palin said on Monday in an announcement intended to knock down rumors by liberal bloggers that Palin faked her own pregnancy to cover up for her child.
Bristol Palin, one of Alaska Gov. Palin’s five children with her husband, Todd, is about five months pregnant and is going to keep the child and marry the father, the Palins said in a statement released by the campaign of Republican presidential candidate John McCain…
Senior McCain campaign officials said McCain knew of the daughter’s pregnancy when he selected Palin last week as his vice presidential running mate, deciding that it did not disqualify the 44-year-old governor in any way…
McCain officials said the news of the daughter’s pregnancy was being released to rebut what one aide called “mud-slinging and lies” circulating on liberal blog sites.
I would be shocked if Team Obama attacks seeing as how Obama’s mother was also pregnant at 17 with him. Will they be foolish enough to fall for the trap? I doubt it. But their surrogates will.
They’ve already used the “she should not run for VP while she has a special needs baby at home,” crap, and now they will use the “she should not run for VP while her teenage daughter has a baby,” crap. Team McCain:
A McCain campaign official tells ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos that McCain knew of Bristol’s pregnancy and “didn’t believe Governor Palin should be disqualified” from the vice presidency because of it. “If Democrats try to attack, it will backfire spectacularly,” the official said.
Ann Althouse on this line of attack:
Oh, that looks like a meme. Sarah Palin must stay home with her special needs baby. Sarah Palin must stay home with her about-to-be-married, pregnant daughter. Ladies: Put your career on hold until everything in you’re family stops happening… Would a man forgo his career to be there for a family member who is experiencing an important life transition?
Remember when John Edwards decided to go on with his campaign after his wife got a diagnosis of inoperable cancer? Now, I think Elizabeth Edwards was probably excited about the campaign and wanted to go on with it. In that light, why are you assuming that Bristol Palin isn’t excited about her mother’s campaign? Unlike Elizabeth Edwards, Bristol is not facing her last days. She’s just starting out — all caught up in life. Presumably, she intense and positive about her pro-life beliefs, her love for the baby’s father, her impending wedding, and the new baby on the way.
Please, please, please Dem’s…continue to shoot yourself in the foot.
The next line of attack will be that the social conservatives will be unhappy…..not so fast:
I’m sure lots of people will take their shots at the pro-life Christian woman but hold on a moment. If you think Evangelicals are going to ditch her for this, you’re totally misreading the situation. As a matter of fact, they are ready to fire back at any potential critics…
Look, this development will actually be positive for the most part with Evangelicals. First they hear that Sarah Palin chooses the life option even though she had a Downs Syndrome baby and once again the family (and Bristol) has chosen the life option in this recent case. That’s a double “ca-ching”. Let’s call this the Evangelical daily double. If anything, this whole situation will probably make more people around the country relate to her and her family. It makes them more real. Will there by some turned off by the whole pre-marital sex thing? Of course but this type of story doesn’t sink her at all with Evangelicals.
Lets see how the average American feels about a line of attack that chastises a mom who’s 17 year old got pregnant for her parenting skills….don’t think it’s going to fly. But the left will try anyway.
Oh, I guess this puts this conspiracy down eh?
Update
Like I said up above, Obama would be crazy to attack this news and he proved he is not crazy:
Mr. Obama, campaigning here, also noted that his own mother was 18 when she gave birth to him.
“People’s families are off limits,” he said. “People’s children are especially off limits. This shouldn’t be part of our politics. It has no relevance to Gov. Palin’s performance as a governor or her potential performance as a vice president. ”
“I would strongly urge people to back off these kinds of stories,” he added. “That shouldn’t be a topic in our politics.”
He vehemently pushed back against an unnamed McCain aide suggesting his campaign had any ties to the blogs that were spreading rumors before the news broke, saying he was “offended” by that and if any of his staff was involved in spreading the issue, “they’d be fired.”
Of course his surrogates did not disappoint either:
UPDATE: It seems Palin is a fan of abstinence-only education: “Yes, the explicit sex-ed programs will not find my support.”
Okay. John McCain chose Sarah Palin without vetting her. That was his rash, impulsive decision. But, it’s time to untangle the Sarah Palin story — and it’s becoming clear that the only person who can really do it is Jerry Springer.
Let’s review: Sarah is one of those fundamentalist types who like her new partner, John McCain, supports abstinence education. Yet, Sarah’s 17 year old daughter is five months pregnant. That story came out to put an end to rumors that Sarah herself is actually the grandmother of her fifth child:
~~~Either way, like her daughter, Sarah may have gone down that pre-marital sex path herself.
What the hell is wrong with her? What the hell is wrong with her husband? What the hell is wrong with John McCain?
This is a judgment issue. It’s not unlike what John Edwards did, when he put himself forward as a presidential candidate knowing his infidelity was there to be exposed — was he crazy? He thought he could conceal the story. Maybe Sarah Palin did too. But now she’s exposed her daughter to this scrutiny, all because she has an excessive desire to be a political star.
it’s worth noting that Palin is a strong proponent of abstinence-only education and a strong opponent of teaching anything about contraception in schools. Well, as should be obvious to everyone, that kind of approach accomplishes very little other than increasing the number of pregnant 17 year olds.
All this is not even to mention Sarah Palin’s dishonesty and lack of good judgment in (apparently) not telling the man who had asked her to be his vice-president that her daughter was pregnant.
I’m angry that Sarah Palin didn’t put her daughter first and decline the invitation to run for higher office.
is a family as clearly as messed-up as this one you want to have a heartbeat away from the Presidency?
~~~As a guy, it’s not really my place to make arguments about choice and women’s rights, but as a brother and a son, it disgusts me to think that someone as virulently anti-choice as Palin is going to be thrust into a position where she could set the policy on abortion for decades to come–and the example she sets was letting her daughter get pregnant at 17 without, apparently, any discussion about sexual education or contraception.
Yup, the left is in full tilt hypocrisy mode here.
More here.
See author page
Unvetted.
I think it’s safe to say that this is the craziest Presidential campaign season in American history.
Uh, yeah…
What are you talking about, Fit?
I find the reaction by the leftist bloggers interesting. They are jumping on this with both feet and extra relish. However, if Bristol Palin had been a 21-year-old male who had decided to travel to Massachusetts to marry his boyfriend, the leftist bloggers would hold him up as a hero. The shifting morality of the left is always enlightening.
Unhinged.
The Democrats are going to bash young mothers? Isn’t that part of their base? They probably don’t know what an “old maid” means. Any unmarried woman 25 or older was labled an old maid. It just shows Obama’s crack campaign director is an out of touch idiot with Obama and Biden probably following in step.
Unvetted!!!
I guess the lib/progressives here are working on verb only sentences today…. nouns and clarification optional.
Rather ironic considering the quintessentiall “unvetted” one is Obama…. up for the top job.
That’s one real difference between you and me, Curt. I thought the Anbar hand-over was deserving of more significance, of a thread, not this. This story is deeply lost in the huddle of ‘politics as the art of perception’ game, whereas Anbar’s historic event is found in a politics laden with sectarian tension; the former subjective baloney, the other an objective concern.
Every baby is a blessing- a gift from God.
Bristol Palin’s pregnancy is not a reflection of her upbringing.
It can happen to the best of families.
I had the exact same circumstances when I was a young girl. And thankfully, as Bristol Palin is so lucky to have, I had a family who supported me and allowed me to raise my son.
I could have had an abortion- and did not.
I was “pushed” by the doctors and hospital to give my child up for adoption.
I did not.
He grew up to be a healthy, intelligent, successful man, Thank God.
Another good thing is that Bristol’s child will already have a “baby brother” in Trig- (although he’ll be his uncle!)
What a wonderful turn of events.
And bless the Palin family for their support of their daughter-
Looking SO forward to hearing the infanticide-prone liberals cast aspursions!
“Let he who is without sin, cast the first stone”
Bull snot!
This really isn’t an issue at all. There are plenty of pregnant teens out there and it really goes to show that we can only take out children so far. I’m sure Sarah Palin presented the challenges and the risk of sex but life generally has a way of presenting a better lesson.
This and the rumor of Trig not being her son should be set aside and we can get on the business of picking a president. I would hate for my party to go the way of the Republicans in the way they presented Obama as a Muslim/Terrorist/Unpatriotic.
I’m sick of the “culture war” and the smear campaigns that dominate elections. Mrs. Palin can deal with her daughter. She’s not running for Mother of the Year.
Are you guys serious?
Does team Mullah Obama & Uncle Joe Bin Biden really want to go there, attacking Gov. Palin or Bristol???
His mother was pregnant at 17, to a foreigner, who was married back in Kenya to another woman and then ended up leaving them for broke so he could go to Harvard and then back to Kenya in order to marry other women simultaneously, become a drunk, have more children and advance socialism!!!!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-431908/A-drunk-bigot–US-Presidental-hopeful-HASNT-said-father-.html
If they continue to sick their Taliban attack dogs in order to scare Palin can go back to Alaska, it is going to backfire big time!!!
In her brief lifetime Sarah Palin has demonstrated more political and personal courage than Barry & Asthma Joe put together!!!
the dems need to have something to attack palin on because they are afraid of her. dems have some of the loosest morals around, they love teen mothers, love to give them welfare and housing, why are they bashing her. they should be welcoming this with open arms. get real, they ar so scared. she is strong, far stronger than the idiot who can’t form sentences without a teleprompter and a speech written by someone else. the lefties don’t want to have obama’s family attacked, yet here they ar eattacking palin and her children, that is nasty and wrong. who do they think they are. we aren’t running around questinoong if michelle actually gave birth because she is so cold a child would freeze in her womb are we? nope, we love children, unlike the libs that want to kill full term babies.
You guys are crazy. I think Obama released a statement stating that it was not an issue and is a matter for the Palin family. So why so much venom towards Obama when he stated what I wrote that it is a non-isssue. Maybe it has more to do with your insecurities and not that of the Democrats. No one cares if her 17-year old daughter is pregnant. It happens too often but it happens. Parenting can only go so far then it is up to the child to make the right choices. She made a mistake and now she has to raise a child before her time. She’s lucky in that she has a supportive family. There are many teen girls out there who do not have that support.
And as far as I can read, no one on this post has attacked Palin’s family.
I came from a good family and I got pregnant as a young girl. It happens to the best of us.
I could have had an abortion. I didn’t.
I was encouraged (by doctors and others) to give my son up for adoption. I didn’t.
Thankfully, I had a wonderful, supportive family who loved me and loved my son.
He grew up to be a healthy, intelligent, successful man.
And, like myself, Bristol Palin will already have a “big brother-Trig”- to be raised with her child. (Even though Trig will be her child’s Uncle!)
It was a wonderful life for my son and my baby brother- they were the best of friends.
God Bless the Palin family- their strength and values should be applauded.
“Let he who is without sin, cast the first stone”
why does bristols pregnancy matter? Probably over half of the people on this board parents were knocked up before they were born. what is encouraging is that Bristol is acting like a responsible adult, and creating a famliy for her child. Palin is something rare. A politician who puts there money where the mouth is. therefore when she endorses pro-life agenda’s she and her daughter have lived it. where she encourages staying in iraq her own son is there. having a individual candidate from either party who practice what they preach, and she runs circles around her competition. Also John Mccain get’s a nod from the left by being non judgemental.
Whether this issue is a positive or negative for either campaign hinges on the age of the baby’s father. In many states, the act of impregnating a 17 year old is still considered statutory rape. How would either campaign argue to “uphold” the laws of the land when seemingly ignoring the law of many states?
Alaska statutory rape laws are so:
So, it doesn’t apply.
This REALLY takes abortion off the debate topic list. Sarah kept her baby knowing it would have Downs Syrndome. Now her daughter is keeping her baby despite her youth. I believe Sen Obama had an interesting, opposite acceptance of his girls having a baby, IS A PUNISHMENT!!!!!!!
It is funny, maybe we should talk about the bastard child … Instead of counting houses, how about we count father’s wives?
This is just stupid. Remember how well it all went for Kerry when he drug up Cheney’s daughter is gay … One of the funniest pick up lines of the Kerry campaign.
Oh, there’s a brilliant comeback. More and more every day you people on the left are becoming cartoon characters.
I can’t believe I found this blog! Who says Americans can’t understand irony –
A woman who puts an unborn child’s life first:
1) Made a 30 min speech after her waters broke.
2) Drove 50 mins to an airport in Texas
3) Waited 1:30mins to get on plane
4) Flew 11 hours to Alaska
5) Drove 1 hour to Hospital (apparently)
14:50 mins to get to a hospital with no medical care on the way or prior knowledge of how the birth would go. All this with the knowledge that the child already had medical problems.
If she did take responsibility for her 16-year old daughter’s baby and pretend it was hers I at least would have respect for her as a human. That would be compassionate. The above is about irrational decision making and putting herself before her child.
Our choice is clear, she is either a liar or a bad mother, both make her a bad decision maker.
Booker, she was in contact with her doctor throughout the whole day. Her water didn’t break, it just started leaking, you don’t know if it is fluid or urine, sorry to be so blunt. I went through this with my first child who was a healthy preemie born six weeks before my due date. Trig was healthy too.
Child number three, I spent the whole day with my father, not telling him I was in labor, delivered at 8:30 in the evening , he went to pieces after he found out I had been in labor the whole time. She was born on Feb. 6th, President Reagan’s birthday, during a bad blizzard, yet he made it to the hospital and always told her she was his favorite grandchild, never in front of all the others.
There can be problems, that’s why I never went the mid-wife at home route, but you pretty much know what your delivery is going to be all about after a few children. I only have four, but I think I know a bit about it.
My aunt and my mother both had dry labor, which is painful. My aunt was getting married and my mother had gone to be fitted for a wedding dress. She felt dampness but that’s all. That sunday she started feeling sick.
My aunt, the same one whose wedding my mom was getting fitted for, several years later with her third child. in this case the baby was transverse. She ended up having to have a cesarean. So that’s two cases only on one side of my family, therefore Palin’s story is perfectly legitimate.
Booker,
Where did you get your medical degree?
I think that after having 4 children, Governor Palin knew what the state of labor she was in- AND- had the best care available on her travels.
She also strikes me as the type of woman who could have a baby, tie the cord off with her teeth, clean the beloved child up, feed it- and go back to work.
And if “Booker” is a man- you know nothing about “birthing babies.
And- if you are a woman- shame on you!
No, you wouldn’t.
It’s not good news and I bet McCain had no idea about it.
Who even knows when Bristol told her parents, which may have some bearing as they’d know before McCain.
But the question begs to be asked, jimboster. Since when is a grandbaby on the way not good news (especially is this obviously loving family), and what has an impending grandchild to do with this election?
Lynn Cheney just called Sarah and told her it was not a big deal. Kids will be kids.
Hey PUMA – how do ones parent get knocked up before being born (18)? I am confident that both of my parents were born prior to either of them becoming pregnant for the first time.
This is precisely why bringing a neophyte in just to raise some cash is a stupid idea.
Vetted, bullsnot?
The McCain team obviously knew. Now can we leave the Palin family alone?
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1837862-2,00.html
“Knocked Up”
How Very 50s of you.
Did you ever have a heart to heart with mommy and daddy about YOUR conception?
How old is the father of the baby? Is there a case for statutory rape?
I love how all of sudden all of these guys are child-birth experts!
Sarah had four children prior to Trigg, so maybe she knows a little more than you guys who,
to my knowledge have NEVER had a child, unless you’re some kind of medical miracle.
But I’d think we’d have heard about you by now…
You don’t know shit about being pregnant, so why not STFU!
Leah, don’t you read the comments before you post?
Sarah Palin gave birth to a baby with Down’s Syndrome at the age of 44.
Is anyone else appalled at this?
The risk of giving birth to a baby with Down’s Syndrome is extremely high in women over 40 (and even higher when the father is also over 40).
http://www.webmd.com/infertility-and-reproduction/news/20030701/dad-age-down-syndrome
Sarah Palin “opposes the use of birth control pills and condoms even among married couples”.
I am disgusted by this irresponsible behaviour. To give birth at age 44 to a baby with Down’s because you refuse to use birth control inexcusable. Ignoring the dangers that you expose yourself and your baby to by refusing to use birth control after 40 is negligent and careless. To believe that a woman like this has the opportunity to become Vice President of the United States of America in 2008 makes me ill.
Does anyone else share this opinion?
No, how old is the guy who got Sarah’s daughter pregnant (she is only 17!). Does anyone know?
To answer your questions directly, frogcatcher #38, no… and no.
Furthermore you are uninformed on Palin’s stance on birth control. She has been a member of Feminists for Life since 2006. They are pro-woman, but anti-abortion.
Where ever you got the idea that Palin was against prevention such as birth control, and STD prevention with condoms, I assure you, they are taking you down the rosy path of lies,.
I’m amazed that after first defending psychopathic State Troopers who abuse their wives and families Dems are now suggesting that women should stay home and raise the children. Will we now see another category of Americans announced on the Obama web site: “Barefoot and pregnant for Obama?”
Father of Bristol Palin’s Baby:
P.S. I like this “Evil Otto” guy. He nails Fit Fit and the other lefty loons in one phrase or less! That’s got to be a record.
frogcatcher912: “The risk of giving birth to a baby with Down’s Syndrome is extremely high in women over 40 (and even higher when the father is also over 40).”
Nice. That’s just another false line of attack from those who would like top portray her as a “bad mother”. While the incidence of Down Syndrome does increase after age 40, it is by no means “extremely high.” I have done no research on this beyond following your own link, but the “extemely high” incidence rate you seem to think should have kept Gov Palin from having a child is stated as 60 in 10,000 or 0.6%. Perhaps a few women over 40 would like to chime in here…
Yea Bush should be quaking in his boots.
First, nice design for this blog page, much better than the bland format seen elsewhere. Maybe it will keep a few trolls off. In my browser, it does scroll off the bottom.
I have a few random obzervations and comments:
“Probably over half of the people on this board parents were knocked up before they were born” — wow, this is a pretty happening bunch! —
— No one I know has parents who delivered less than 9 months after marriage, but then again they are all over 60 now, it was a different era.
Ways to look at this. Outside the blogosphere, many people are going to think ” The Palins sound like a lot of folks”. But how should this behaviour be treated? One way is by the same standards applied by similar believers to others. In Alaska, the 18 yr old father of Palin’s baby is clear of statutory rape charges on by a whisker – it’s statutory rape to have sex with someone under 17, but you get a pass if the age differenc is less than three years. Sort of Clintonian, saying essentially “it’s a crime to have sex with your neighbor’s wife, unless they live so close it’s convenient” — BC would be OK with that ;-).
So back to topic. In Alaska the boy is (just) clear of the law, but in 11 states he’d be a sex offender. Given that Palin runs on a platform espousing strict views on this matter, and to a lesser extent that she’s looking to be VP (and maybe President) of all 50 states, the more conservative standard should apply. Age of consent in Idaho, for example, is 18 so let’s go with that. This business started when Bristol was 16, so the guy (and possibly Bristol) are sex offenders. Let’s spare them jail time, but they both will have to register as sex offenders likely to do it again (teens are just slighly more randy than, say, their parents). Heck, the teen football player in Georgia was sent to jail and there wasn’t even a pregnancy involved (last name was Wilson, first name escapes me). I didn’t hear Dobson et al asking to overturn the conviction.
So let’s hold off the usual special treatment for celebrities and the well connected. We can still vote for McCain/Palin, and they will have a small bit of experience of what it’s like to be Joe Average.
Edit: I should have said “16” regarding Alaska’s age of consent. To be clear: legally, the guy is in the clear. My point is that conservatives should live by conservative laws, while the Alaska law has a little Clintonian influence.
(pradon any typos, I can’t see what I’m typing).
—-
—
Wrong, Alaska law states the age of consent is 16.
What the law states in Idaho has no bearing on anything. They didn’t live in Idaho, and there is no Federal law that overrides the state laws on this subject.
Use a browser other then IE6, this theme has a problem with that browser or click the theme changer on the sidebar and use classic or default.
Scott Malensek said:
This REALLY takes abortion off the debate topic list. Sarah kept her baby knowing it would have Downs Syrndome. Now her daughter is keeping her baby despite her youth. I believe Sen Obama had an interesting, opposite acceptance of his girls having a baby, IS A PUNISHMENT!!!!!!!
And then had the “Audacity”- if you will pardon the pun- to upload Obama’s statements about his belief that he wouldn’t want HIS daughters “PUNISHED with a baby.”
First of all Scott, a baby is a blessing and a gift from God.
Second- you are a man and have NO IDEA what a woman- or GIRL- has to go through with a pregnancy. Or raising a child.
Until you change the universe and grow a uteris, you have no right to make a judgement like this.
Look everyone, another Moby!
We’ve had so many here the last couple of days, it’s almost looks like someone kicked the top off of an ant hill.
AW seems confused though.
She contradicts herself in her post.
I do hope that she will come back and clarify it for us.
I really, really do.
Just like I hope Sky55110 / Real American Patriot will come back and talk to us some more too.
Sorry Aye C- The only Moby I know is Dick.
I don’t see how I have contra”dicked”ed myself on my post.
Enlighten me.
Thanks
Perhaps you can clarify your position for me AW.
If you feel, as I do, that every baby is a blessing and a gift from God, then why do you scold Scott for those same views?
If we are on the same side, I apologize.
I thought he was sticking UP for Obama’s statemnent.
He wasn’t really clear to my mind.
What’s a MOBY?
LOL