(R-LA) Senate candidate Bill Cassidy discloses that his teenage daughter is pregnant

[alp227]

Source: New Orleans Times-Picayune

WASHINGTON -- The Bill Cassidy Senate campaign announced Thursday that the candidate's unmarried 17-year-old daughter is pregnant as she prepares for her senior year at a Baton Rouge high school.

Cassidy, a Republican congressman from Baton Rouge, said in a statement provided NOLA.com/The Times-Picayune that his daughter faces "a more challenging future" and that she has his and his wife Laura's unconditional support. The baby is expected later this summer.

Much like Sarah Palin, who announced that her own unmarried 17-year-old daughter was expecting just before she addressed the Republican National Convention as John McCain's surprise 2008 vice presidential selection, the Cassidy campaign chose to pre-emptively disclose the information about their daughter's pregnancy.

Read more: http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2014/07/bill_cassidy_senate_campaign_r.html

[The Second Stone]

1. How is this not entirely a private matter?

Just like with young Ms. Palin. If she wants to put herself in the public limelight, that is another thing.

[dougg]

4. It is a public matter.

Her father made it so.

[cali]

14. it's hardly something that can be hidden. and yes, it's news if, as I suspect, Pa

is a winger who doesn't support women's rights.

[Jack Rabbit]

20. It's going to be made public in any case

Mr. Cassidy would rather the public hear it from him than from his opponent.

Of course, Mr. Cassidy's opponent may have been the decent sort who would have left the young lady's life out of the campaign, but a politician would be wiser not to depend on that.

[hughee99]

21. He's a Repuke. "Private matters" are for Democrats.

[RandySF]

27. The press release made it public.

[calimary]

32. It's a public matter because Dad is a public figure, paid by public money (tax money -

that comes from ALL of us in all 50 states, so we ALL have a stake in it, just as we are ALL affected by laws these assholes in their distant little bailiwicks push for and enact.

It's a public matter when you consider that a LOT of this guy's campaign money does not originate exclusively in his own district. The bad guys try to complain that Democrats are elected with out-of-state money, well, THEIR candidates are elected with out-of-state money, too. If they benefit from koch money either directly or indirectly, they are certainly benefiting from out-of-state money.

It's a public matter because this guy has MADE IT a public matter. He has CHOSEN to make this a public matter for all of America, not just his own constituents. He's a loud and public advocate of abstinence-only, attempting to enact legislation that would dictate behavior to ALL of us, even those of us outside his Congressional jurisdiction. And he LIVES and now stews in the most gross hypocrisy what with all his pseudo-pious preaching about abstinence while his unmarried teenage daughter gets knocked up.

Fix the mess in YOUR OWN house, asshole, before you go trying to barge in and mess up OUR houses.

[Ash_F]

2. She is the daughter of a wealthy doctor and politician. Her future won't be that challenging

Well, less challenging than most young mothers in America.

[Omaha Steve]

7. I hear she has been working for Hobby Lobby...

[Bucky]

13. *snort*

I wish the kid well. She's got a tough road ahead.

Republicans come up with their weirdest trends.

[dougg]

3. Wonder if she was denied

birth control coverage?

[calimary]

36. Welcome to DU, dougg!

Glad you're here! The hypocrisy just reeks! AMAZING. Your question is a good one. Don't know, even though my instinct with these people is to point to their usual "do as I say, not as I do" behavior. But here, clearly, his daughter did not do as daddy said. So then, that begets the question - if you can't manage things to your specifications in your own family, how can you presume to dictate to the rest of us who aren't related to you and have no reason to listen to you OR do what you say?

[littlemissmartypants]

5. Slut shamed by her own father.

WAY TO GO DAD!

[calimary]

34. That seems to be their thing. Consider the unfortunate daughters of scott brown.

He was jokingly whoring them out from the podium on Election Night, after he won the late Ted Kennedy's Senate seat in Massachusetts.

[MADem]

6. Hoping for a "Bristol Palin bump?"

She's gonna have an interesting senior year...

[Eleanors38]

24. Well, there certainly was some kinda "bumping."

[MADem]

25. Only the GOP can excoriate that "bumping" when "Democrats" and even better, "minorities"

do it, but turn it into a virtue when THEIR little darlings get caught with a bun in the oven!

It's such startling hypocrisy!! If you don't laugh, you cry!

This politician is gonna need to keep his job, because the way that mean old House is, they aren't appropriating a lot of help for teen moms, are they?

[Eleanors38]

30. The fulminating corruption & extremism of the GOP

is merely matched by the increasing impotence of the Democratic Party.

[MADem]

35. I think we did pretty well getting Warren in over Brown.

There's not much we can't do with a real majority. We haven't had one of those in a long, long time.

[Eleanors38]

45. The Right has spread its influence not by acting affirmatively...

they've done it because opposition has collapsed before it.

[MADem]

46. They've gone far to the right in some cases and energized the crazies.

Look at the recent VA race which saw Cantor go down to defeat--that guy who whipped him is a loon.

Money helps, too, and the GOP has lots of it.

[Eleanors38]

47. Can't control what the FR does. It's on Democratic lefties.

[MADem]

49. We will have to wait and see what the season brings. nt

[Eleanors38]

50. Not much else to do. The FR are the actors.

[avebury]

8. Shame on her Dad. She will have a challenging enough

time without Dad making a big deal about it in public. Even if it came out later on the family could have just said that it is a private family matter and ask the media to leave her alone. He is the public figure not her unless she chooses to become one.

[littlemissmartypants]

9. Thank you. nt

[alp227]

10. I wonder how Landrieu should handle this situation.

Maybe Louisiana has enough reasonable people who are disgusted by Cassidy's stunt. Who knows.

[MADem]

28. I'd find out what the guy has said in the past about WIC, Aid to Families with Dependent Children,

and other programs, vocational and otherwise, that are designed to offer assistance to the average young woman in his daughter's situation.

He's got the cash to fill in and help his grandchild, lucky him, but how much help has he been willing to offer the grandchildren of poor folks? How much does he feel that society should give the youngest among us a good start?

THAT's the tack to take, if any.

[davidpdx]

11. New twitter tags

#onlyascandleifademocratdoesit
#GOPdoasIsaynotasIdo
#abstinencefail

[Dustlawyer]

12. Truly feel bad for the young lady, she has a spot light on her now, a baby on the way, and a

self-centered shithead for a dad!

[StevieM]

15. Let me say what no one else here thought to:

Congratulations to the mom-to-be on the unexpected bundle of joy that will soon be entering her life.

[ninjanurse]

16. She's still a minor

It's too bad the adults could not let her deal with this in private.

[WhoWoodaKnew]

17. LEAVE THE KIDS OUT OF IT!

[hatrack]

19. HER DAD BROUGHT HER INTO IT!

Or did you not read the article?

[WhoWoodaKnew]

23. And we don't have to be an idiot like him.

[MADem]

38. We can talk about the candidate's view on the matter, in general, and what kind of support (or lack

thereof) he thinks appropriate for "unwed mothers" or "single parents" -- particularly those who are under aged. Does he think it's worth spending money educating them? Giving them vocational training? Giving them monetary assistance until they get on their feet? Helping them with child care expenditures? Putting their kids in Head Start programs?

Or does he think that "rich grampa" should take care of these matters, should they inconveniently arise.

Are the young ladies without rich daddies out of luck?

Hypocrisy IS a campaign conversation point. I think it's useful to look into his views on social programs, social services to the underserved populations, etc. Is he in favor of a social safety net for pregnant teens, or not?

[calimary]

39. Welcome to DU, both of you - ninjanurse AND WhoWouldaKnew!

Good to have you both with us! That would obviously be ideal - to leave the kids out of it. Kinda hard to do that when the kids are the ones who are directly affected by these misbegotten, cockeyed crusaders. Who's gonna wind up with the ultimate responsibility for that baby? The hapless young mother, that's who. She's one of the lucky ones. With parents who probably can afford to help her, even if her baby daddy disappears. But how many other young young in her plight enjoy the same privileged circumstances? Probably not nearly as many as would need and, I'm sure, greatly appreciate same circumstances.

This asshole wants to make decisions and laws that, he hopes, will affect MY kids, okay? So then you better believe I DO step in and get involved and make my feelings known. Like it or not. And regardless of your own stand on these issues, those decisions and laws will affect YOUR kids, too, assuming you have kids. Tyrannical, judgmental butt-in-skis like this make it ALL of our business.

[hatrack]

18. So the message of the "Purity Ball" didn't sink in?

[Quantess]

22. Oh no, I'm sure he's not a hypocrite, at all!

That's the whole point!

Anyone who reacts: "Leave the daughter out of it, blah de blah... respect the family's privacy...Mind your own business...."
The point is, that republicans cannot mind their own business when it comes to "morals", so why should we stay out of their business?

Republicans need to stay out of my crotch! When they do, I will stop caring about their unmarried childrens' failures to stay abstinent.

[Eleanors38]

26. Another bucking bronco loose in the stall. meh.

[RandySF]

29. I wish his daughter well, but I have a question for Mr. Cassidy.

Will this development soften his heart towards those current and future single moms who do not have the same network of support that his daughter will have?

[Eleanors38]

31. Hiz answer: "I got mine, get yer own."

[customerserviceguy]

33. On the other hand

if they had just packed her off "to visit her aunt in another state" which is how we handled teenage pregnancy fifty years ago, wouldn't that have eventually come out as well, and wouldn't there be stories on it once she either came home with the baby, or its disposition was otherwise determined?

I guess this is the dilemma you find yourself in if you are either a reich-wing congresscritter who won't take your daughter for birth control counseling, or are unfortunate enough to be that daughter and don't (or can't) find another way to get your needs met in this area. An abstinence-only policy in the home often leads to this.

[pinto]

37. I wish the young woman well. She's got a lot to deal with. (nt)

[calimary]

41. I think we all do, pinto.

And yes, she sure has a lot to deal with now. But she does have a support system, financially and otherwise, that a lot of other young girls in her condition do not. And NOTHING is being done to help them. Quite the contrary. Options are systematically being closed off for them. I feel sorrier for them than I do even for this young woman. This young woman will at least have grandma and grandpa to fall back on, to help her with expenses, to make sure she has a decent roof over her head and doesn't have to live out on the street or in her car or some homeless shelter, plenty of baby food and diapers and access to pediatricians, free babysitting while she finishes school or tries to get a job or attempts to go further with her education, and more. My boys have more than one friend who's in this position at this very moment. The latest example really jolted them, HARD. I hope they keep on paying attention and making safe-'n'-sensible decisions.

[pinto]

43. Good point. I simply wish her well. You and yours as well.

Rocky road. For far too many it's day-to-day reality.

[herding cats]

40. Poor girl is going to have a rough road.

Here daddy is a cosponsor of the abstinence only bill in congress. Which is why he outed her publicly. She's just been turned into a political talking point.

[calimary]

42. Indeed. Do not ask with whom the fault lies. It lies with her dad.

[pfitz59]

44. While Daddy is out politicking....

his princess is getting porked! Curious if her school offeres "abstinence-only" sex ed?

[not fooled]

48. Probably a political advantage with the anti-choice nuts...

...of course, it's a private decision BUT as I recall, Bristol Palin's pregnancy actually was a political plus for her mother, by bolstering her anti-choice bona fides. The religious extremists will rejoice at Cassidy's commitment to their ideals.

[nobodyspecial]

51. Can you imagine the comments

in an Obama daughter got pregnant?

[3catwoman3]

52. Yes, unfortunately, I can...

...and they would be as vile as many other things that have been said about this exemplary family.