WaPo: Assessing the Political Impact of Bristol Palin's Pregnancy

[kristopher]

ST. PAUL -- Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin announced moments ago that her 17-year-old daughter, Bristol, is five months pregnant and is planning to keep the baby and marry the father.

"We have been blessed with five wonderful children who we love with all our heart and mean everything to us," said Sarah and Todd Palin in a statement. "Our beautiful daughter Bristol came to us with news that as parents we knew would make her grow up faster than we had ever planned. We're proud of Bristol's decision to have her baby and even prouder to become grandparents. As Bristol faces the responsibilities of adulthood, she knows she has our unconditional love and support."

The news comes just 72 hours after Palin was introduced by John McCain as his vice presidential nominee. In the time between the pick and Palin's statement today, rumors had grown louder and louder that Palin's youngest son, Trig, was actually her grandson and that it was Bristol who had given birth to the young boy.

According to Reuters, McCain campaign officials knew about Bristol's pregnancy during the vetting process and that the rumors surrounding baby Trig's birth made an announcement necessary.

Reuters' Steve Holland writes: "McCain officials ...

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2008/09/bristol_palin_is_pregnant.html

Like many others, I've withheld judgment on the story that Trig is Palin's grandchild. My thought on that is that, if true, it is fairly normal behavior motivated by the intensity of her beliefs. Shame is one of the strongest motivators in the human makeup and serves as a strong curb on behavior across a range of issues. For example, it substitutes largely for legal threat in regulating behavior in in Japan. So it IS NOT an unreasonable proposition that the stigma of her child being an unwed mother would lead to rather 'bizarre' behavior such as faking a pregnancy in an effort to hide it.
Coming back to the USA, we have to ask what an independent child that resents such parental behavior might do in response?
Getting pregnant again immediately seems a highly probable response.

That said, here is a documented 3/14/08 Associated Press photo of Sarah Palin. The original, on my computer, is too dark to make out the detail of her torso, but I downloaded it and upped the "exposure" setting. This reveals that her coat is open and gives a clear view of Palin's lower stomach.

I'll let others draw their own conclusions about whether that image is one of a woman 6 1/2 months pregnant.

http://www.daylife.com/photo/0fcQ5EM7gafd9

[dkf]

1. MSM on the case...

[curious one]

2. She was not vetted properly. This is disgrace for all those religious repukes with all their morals

that are targeted at us. The rules do not apply to them. "we are proud" indeed.

[kristopher]

4. Even with the troubles, I'm not so sure this is as bad as we'd like to think

George Lakoff wrote an excellent analysis on HuffPost that gives a counter argument about why Palin is the Reaganesque choice:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/george-lakoff/the-palin-choice-and-the_b_123012.html

The Palin Choice and the Reality of the Political Mind

...The Democratic responses so far reflect external realities: she is inexperienced, knowing little or nothing about foreign policy or national issues; she is really an anti-feminist, wanting the government to enter women's lives to block abortion, but not wanting the government to guarantee equal pay for equal work, or provide adequate child health coverage, or child care, or early childhood education; she shills for the oil and gas industry on drilling; she denies the scientific truths of global warming and evolution; she misuses her political authority; she opposes sex education and her daughter is pregnant; and, rather than being a maverick, she is on the whole a radical right-wing ideologue.

All true, so far as we can tell.

But such truths may nonetheless be largely irrelevant to this campaign. That is the lesson Democrats must learn. They must learn the reality of the political mind.

,,,Conservative family values are strict and apply via metaphorical thought to the nation: good vs. evil, authority, the use of force, toughness and discipline, individual (versus social) responsibility, and tough love. Hence, social programs are immoral because they violate discipline and individual responsibility. Guns and the military show force and discipline. Man is above nature; hence no serious environmentalism. The market is the ultimate financial authority, requiring market discipline. In foreign policy, strength is use of the force. In fundamentalist religion, the Bible is the ultimate authority; hence no gay marriage. Such values are at the heart of radical conservatism. This is how John McCain was raised and how he plans to govern. And it is what he shares with Sarah Palin.

Palin is the mom in the strict father family, upholding conservative values. Palin is tough: she shoots, skins, and eats caribou. She is disciplined: raising five kids with a major career. She lives her values: she has a Downs-syndrome baby that she refused to abort. She has the image of the ideal conservative mom: pretty, perky, feminine, Bible-toting, and fitting into the ideal conservative family. And she fits the stereotype of America as small-town America. It is Reagan's morning-in-America image. Where Obama thought of capturing the West, she is running for Sweetheart of the West...."

It is worth reading the entire thing.

[Myrina]

3. ... self delete

I had the wrong Palin-kiddo in mind. Oops. :hide: