Palin: Do Politics & Motherhood Go Hand In Hand? PAGE 3

Palin: Do Politics & Motherhood Go Hand In Hand? PAGE 3

Thursday, September 4, 2008

Continued...Palin: Do Politics & Motherhood Go Hand In Hand?

Palin endorses abstinence education programs and supports the spending of billions of American tax dollars on these programs. Do these programs work? I don't think they worked for Bristol. Are the messages of these programs working for other young American women? If they don't, then what? What else can we tell our daughters? If you support Palin's pro-life position then you can't support programs that would lower pregnancy and abortion rates like teaching birth control methods. So, when abstinence fails, what does Sarah Palin want her message to be?

One would think Palin would support the funding of aid to young women who do get pregnant, but that doesn't seem to be true. Earlier this year she used her line-item veto to slash funding for a state program benefiting teen mothers in need of a place to live. What does Bristol think of that? What's the message for an unwed teenage mother, Democrat or Republican, who finds herself in Bristol's situation?

18 comments so far | Post a comment now >>

As a mother, I am dismayed by Sarah Palin’s willingness to place her daughter in the national spotlight during a very difficult time for a young girl, and does anyone really believe that these two want to actually get married? What will that accomplish for them and for their child? Marriage doesn’t mean that everything will “be okay.” Sad…

- sarah

Posted 09/05/08 05:09 PM

Why are you dismayed? Why should she be embarassed by her daughter? If Palin had gone running when Mccain came a calling - Bristol would have forever lived with the guilt of denying her mother a wonderful opportunity. Sure - we all have different ideas about appropriate sex education and I definitely don’t want either of my two daughters to go through the heartache of teen pregnancy. But they appear by all accounts to be a loving, wonderful family. A family who supports one another even in their toughest hours.

- foxymama

Posted 09/05/08 06:05 PM

My parents got married at 14 (mom) and 19 (dad) and had me a little over a year later. Teenage marriage can work. Shouldn’t we be supporting this new family instead of dooming them from the beginning?! Oh wait. We shouldn’t even be discussing it!

- Renee

Posted 09/05/08 09:09 PM

I can say all this because I have 2 teenagers (a boy, 19, and a girl, 17 and neither of them are sexually active), and I have a younger child who had a lot of developmental and physical problems. I had to take him to physical, speech and occupational therapy 4x/week for the first few years of his life. And having Down’s Syndrome, little baby Trig is going to be spending a lot of time at the pediatric cardiologist’s office, the pediatrician, etc. Who is going to take little Trig to his therapy sessions and doctor’s visits? Not his mother! She will be presiding over the Senate! Who was watching over the Palin girls 24/7? Knowing where they were, what they were doing and who they were with, like all parents of teenagers do? Not Sarah Palin! Oh, and their father is either out drilling for oil or running his commercial fishing boat. Who will be with Bristol when she goes for her ultrasounds, her water breaks and she delivers this poor baby? Not Sarah Palin! Do you think it is fair for her family to have their mom leave them at a time like this? I believe in equal rights for women, but I believe that when you make the choice to be a mother, your children come first - all day, every day. If my daugher were pregnant, and my infant son needed intensive hands-on parenting, I would not be thinking, “Now is the time for me to run for a national office - VEEP of the United States!” Sarah, you are not special - there are other people who can do that job better than you. And, just curious, do you think the whole Palin clan is going to live in the District? Do you think the young newlyweds will be happy there, thousands of miles from their friends? What about the husband? Where will he hunt and fish - Mannasass, VA?

- Sally

Posted 09/06/08 12:22 AM

If she were a “stay at home mom” you would all be “b -complaining that she didn’t receive any “support” from her husband and expect him to accompany her on every trip or take Trig to every appointment. What’s the difference. You liberals can’t be happy unless she sees every view the way you do and you have different rules for everybody.

- Linda

Posted 09/08/08 09:09 AM

What follows is an open letter written by a resident of Wasilla, Alaska named Anne Kilkenny. I am a resident of Wasilla, Alaska. I have known Sarah since 1992. Everyone here knows Sarah, so it is nothing special to say we are on a first-name basis. Our children have attended the same schools. Her father was my child’s favorite substitute teacher. I also am on a first name basis with her parents and mother-in-law. I attended more City Council meetings during her administration than about 99% of the residents of the city. She is enormously popular; in every way she’s like the most popular girl in middle school. Even men who think she is a poor choice and won’t vote for her can’t quit smiling when talking about her because she is a “babe”. It is astonishing and almost scary how well she can keep a secret. She kept her most recent pregnancy a secret from her children and parents for seven months. She is “pro-life”. She recently gave birth to a Down’s syndrome baby. There is no cover-up involved, here; Trig is her baby. She is energetic and hardworking. She regularly worked out at the gym. She is savvy. She doesn’t take positions; she just “puts things out there” and if they prove to be popular, then she takes credit. Her husband works a union job on the North Slope for BP and is a champion snowmobile racer. Todd Palin’s kind of job is highly sought-after because of the schedule and high pay. He arranges his work schedule so he can fish for salmon in Bristol Bay for a month or so in summer, but by no stretch of the imagination is fishing their major source of income. Nor has her life-style ever been anything like that of native Alaskans. Sarah and her whole family are avid hunters. She’s smart. Her experience is as mayor of a city with a population of about 5,000 (at the time), and less than 2 years as governor of a state with about 670,000 residents. During her mayoral administration most of the actual work of running this small city was turned over to an administrator. She had been pushed to hire this administrator by party power-brokers after she had gotten herself into some trouble over precipitous firings which had given rise to a recall campaign. Sarah campaigned in Wasilla as a “fiscal conservative”.

- Jackie

Posted 09/08/08 09:49 AM

I wasn’t as impressed with Sarah Palin as it seemed so many others were. I felt she just belted out oft repeated sound bites with little substance or honesty (read some background on her), and ignored the deeper issues and complexities that surround the subjects. Ironically, and sadly, her daughters pregnancy is perphaps the perfect example of what I am talking about. She is up there spouting great one line sound bites, but the reality is anything but. If her life mirrored the reality she is trying to paint, her daughter and the boyfriend probably wouldn’t be in the situation they are in. She was expertly coached in what to say, and she is an oustanding speaker. That, so far, is all she has proven herself to be. Her record has been one of taking payouts from big business and questionable alliances. Having grown up around a lot of girls who didn’t get pregnant in their teenage years but who were getting a lot of attention at home, I have to wonder if her husband’s focus on Alaska succeeding from the Union while she was courting oil interests, had something to do with her daughter finding attention and love in the boyfriend’s arms. I don’t think Sarah Palin has the wisdom I would like to see to balance any ticket, much less wisdom being touted as something we need in this country.

- Vicki

Posted 09/08/08 09:56 AM

Palin looks like a mom who is supporting her daughter, even though she made some mistakes. What the heck is wrong with that? Just bc you have kids doesn’t mean you can control every little move they make. I was raised in a Christian home where abstinence was taught and I also knew how to use condoms, but I still ignored everything I knew and ended up pregnant. It happens. And really, what is the big deal about her being a mother and running for VP? There are tons of moms in the world who work and send their kids to daycare and that’s okay…how is this any different?

- Alexia

Posted 09/08/08 09:56 AM

Having gone through this from the other side, I really think it’s wonderful her family supports her. I would be so embarrassed for the whole world to know I was pg, but I was. Part of growing up and being responsbile for your actions and baby. Girls have sex with their boyfriends, they aren’t be raped, they are in love. My mom sat down with me and my doctor and we discussed my options. I chose to keep my baby and marry my boyfriend. We have some tough times but our families are wonderful! Stop trying to bring politics into life, and love. I think Sarah Paline is a wonderful role model for myself and my daughter.

- georgiebeee

Posted 09/08/08 11:19 AM

- georgiebeee

Posted 09/08/08 11:19 AM

Come on people!!!!! You know that we cannot control everything our teenage daughters do. Are you trying to tell me that none of you had sex before you were married. Sarah can’t keep her daughter from having sex no more than our mom’s could us. She just happens to be in the spotlight. I wonder how many male President’s and candidates knocked someone up before marriage, not to mention what some of their children have done. Why does everything have to be a double standard. I think as women and Mom’s we should support her.

- Florida Girl

Posted 09/08/08 01:52 PM

Sarah Palin comes from smalltown America I come from big inner city America (some politicians have forgotten about us),she is a white female I am an african american female she was raised in a very religious family I was rasied in a very religious family just bacause her teenage daughter is pregnant dosn’t make her an unfit mother my now 22 year old daughter also got pregnant when she was 17 that’s where the simularities end I was a single parent(I wonder if she would have viewed me as an unfit mother) while she has a husband I would not allow my daughter to marry her child’s father eventhough they are still together and I can truely say that I love him like a son if and when they do get married it will totaly be their decision,I could be judgemental as alot of people have been but I choose to find a ray of light in this entire situation because most of society dosn’t see a person for who they are but what they are whether it’s race,religon,class,sex or political affilliation just to name a few, now something that was a private family matter is now very public and the position that Sarah Palin and her family are in shows that this is not a situation that has to do with race,class,liberal or conservative,rich or poor this can and does happen in many families and if we as human beings would stop being so judgemental of those we see to be different from ourselves and stop trying to force our beliefs on everyone else and that some things should be left up to the idividual and not politicians or public opinion we might see that we as a people are not so different but I am sure that my views will be considered to be too liberal.

- Anonymous

Posted 09/08/08 06:06 PM

How many women would elect to serve their country as Vice President of the United States if they were given the opportunity? Obviously Gov. Palin’s daughter made the choice to have her baby before her mother was chosen to run on the Republican ticket. The Palins have chosen to stand with their daughter, for which they should be commended. An important fact has been overlooked by many—Sarah Palin has been the governor of a very large state, and so the Palin family has been in the spotlight, so it’s not like a whole bunch of people in Alaska didn’t probably already knew her daughter was pregnant. What would you rather have them do, hide her in a closet? After all, isnt’ that what breaking through that “glass ceiling” is all about—being empowered to run for national office and be married and a mother? It is ironic that so many so called liberals who speak for equal rights are now against a woman who is is the embodiment of just that, a wife, a mother ( and that includes the mother of a pregnant teen age daughter), a governor, and a vice presidential candidate.

- Nancy

Posted 09/08/08 07:17 PM

Politics are delicate.If she was not being completely open about the situation,it would have been more ammunition against their campaign.Not only that,but now that she is going through a situation so rampant in America,she can have more insight on teen pregnancy.

- CM

Posted 09/09/08 08:41 AM

I believe everyone has their heads in the sand to think that kids are not going to have sex! My mother (age 76) just left a teacher’s aide position in a prominent and affluent town in one of the wealthest counties in NY. She raised 7 children and is no prude. She admitted that she would see young teens in the high school kissing, fondling each other, etc. in the halls AND NO ONE IN AUTHORITY APPROACHED THESE TEENS! What is Palin supposed to do? Send her pregnant daughter away? Force her to give up her child? That is a family matter AND NOT THAT OF THE GOVERNMENT. Every State is different too. It appears that everyone spends so much time judging, which makes me believe we have not progressed as a species at all in the past several decades. Our tolerance level leaves much to be desired. If Palin was a man, this issue would never come up! Why don’t we look at her success record and stop looking into her personal business! No one is perfect and if you think you are going to get a Holy Man to run the country, Jesus lived 2,000 years ago (and he was human too)!

- ild

Posted 09/09/08 06:44 PM

First, the issue of the pregnancy (hers and her daughters)is only a big deal because: 1. Gov. Palin cut funding in our (Alaska’s) Public Schools for sex education. She beleives in teaching abstenence only. 2. Gov. Palin cut funding for Special Education in our (Alaska’s)Public Schools. 3. Gov.Palin used a line item veto to undercut funding for a shelter that would have served unwed mothers. Of Course this was all BEFORE HER baby was born and BEFORE HER daughter was pregnant. (not that Bristol, coming from a family that makes $225,000 a year OR MORE would need that help)We won’t talk about the fake Christian thing right now though, I will let you digest this first.

- Dee

Posted 09/09/08 08:28 PM

I would like to address Nancy directly. I will speak for myself concerning your statement about liberal woman not being happy with Sarah Palin. Just because she has a vagina does not mean she stands for things we want. Yes I beleive a woman can have work, family and her own freedoms. But it is a juggleing act and your kids do have to come first. Otherwise your not raising them, someone else is. I do not beleive someone else has a right to tell me what to do with my body. Gov. Plain is ALL about that. She has not used her office to do ANYTHING to make it better for working woman/mothers, single moms or unwed teenagers. She HAS used her positons to try to destroy peoples livelyhoods including other woman because they disagreed with her. I as a liberal woman would be celebrating to high heaven if she were a sister to the rest of us, but very sadly she is not.

- De

Posted 09/09/08 08:47 PM

And the point isn’t “should we support this family”, but, “do we want this family to lead our country”. Whatever the Palin family may choose, the question to vote on is what Sarah Palin will make possible for others in those situations. So her leadership history matters more than her personal history.

- M

Posted 09/18/08 12:22 PM