Palin’s 17-Year-Old Unwed Daughter is Pregnant

[Addison]

I've read "I have a friend who lives there" reports that the schools there don't teach abstinence-only sex ed. This article appears to support them:

http://blogs.timesunion.com/capitol/archives/8550

When asked what type of sex curriculum existed at Wasilla, Assistant Principal Mark Okeson said the school has a health curriculum that includes a sex education component. When asked whether the curriculum was abstinence-only, Okeson said, “I’m not sure…I don’t believe so. This subject has not come up for a long time. I don’t believe we have an abstinence-only course.”

He said he believe that the school strives for a sex-ed curriculum that is “middle-of-the road,” and added, “I would assume that contraception would be a part of any health curriculum.”

He said he didn’t believe the school was receiving any federal funding for abstinence-only programs.

If that's the case, then I don't see how ab-only ed could be blamed.

Frankly, I can't imagine that she would have even needed to be told about it - a kid would have to be blind, deaf, and dumb to have not heard about the importance of condoms to avoid both pg and std's.

Kids just don't always do the smart thing, no matter what they're taught.

[Osiris]

However, at least I can admit that. Osi still refuses to address, in his own words, what decisions has Obama made during his tenure in the Senate, especially during the past year, that earns his vote to be President.

Because in case it has failed to dawn on you oh so enlightened one, this is the topic about Palin, not Obama.

[Rafael]

Originally Posted by Osiris

Because in case it has failed to dawn on you oh so enlightened one, this is the topic about Palin, not Obama.

You do the same thing about keeping the poor from having school choice, but then when the thread is specifically about that, you punt. Your approach is dishonest.

[joe]

Osi,
When you criticize others decisions for accepting her leadership position and expecting them to give you an answer for it, your needs to be called into question too. Give us a reason to tell you anything.

[aammondd]

Osi you apply your own standards of discussion very liberally. (no pun intended) Ive seen you wander, if not outright threadjack, off topic often.
Then when asked to elaborate your own position you throw out link after link and fail to identify what it is you actually believe even within those links.

I know I have not been around for a good long while but some things never change.

[joe]

AA said to Osi:

Then when asked to elaborate your own position you throw out link after link and fail to identify what it is you actually believe even within those links.

That is my point in a separate thread. Osi did give links, but he didn't tell me what he believed to be good decisions by Obama. I have been down that road before with Osi and I am not going to assume what he believes. As soon as I do, I am accused of being a mind reader.

[David]

ABC

Women Speak Out About Palin's Pregnancy
Bristol Palin's Pregnancy Revelation Gives Parents a Good Opportunity to Talk to Kids About Sex
By KATE SNOW, MARY PFLUM and IMAEYEN IBANGA

Sept. 2, 2008 —

Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin's announcement that her 17-year-old daughter is five months pregnant and plans to marry the child's father has sparked impassioned conversation among voters, and "Good Morning America" has decided to host a randomly selected, all-female roundtable to discuss the impact of the revelation.

For homemaker and former nurse Maureen Griffin, the news didn't change her view of the Alaskan governor.

"It makes me think more highly of her. Not that, I'm sorry  everyone has made mistakes in life. It may not be in that area. And you can look at her and say, 'You must've been a horrible mother," Griffin said adding, "Show me a person who can fully control her teenager."

Zoo manager Jill Space said she was pleased to learn of Bristol Palin's plans.

"I'm glad she's having the baby. I see she's gonna marry the father. And whether that works out or not, the baby deserves a life," Space said.

One woman wondered if politicians would try to use the Palins' situation to gain traction with voters.

"They may use her as she's a morally and ethical person because she's choosing the right thing," said Janna Zinzi, an independent journalist and youngest panel member.

Creating an Open Dialogue

The response to the Palins' revelation goes beyond highlighting the presidential race and delves deeply into familial territory.

"This is an opportunity to really address how we're educating our kids about sex," said "GMA" parenting contributor Ann Pleshette Murphy.

One thing the group, which was made up of John McCain and Barack Obama supporters from New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, agreed upon was that high school senior Palins pregnancy has opened the door for parents to talk to their children and sex and their familial values.

"It also opens up dialogue with my children about what our family values are and what we find acceptable," said homemaker Gale Meyer.

Zinzi had similar views.

"I don't have children, but that this would open up that dialogue  that parents would be inspired to say, 'OK maybe this is an opportunity for me to sit down and talk to my kids about sex,'" she said.

But "GMA'"s Murphy emphasized that parents shouldn't wait until their children are in their late teens to have that conversation.

"You should be having the talk long before they are 17 years old, but especially if you do have a teenager who is in a serious relationship or who's madly in love, this is the opportunity to sit down and share your values," she said.

Murphy said it's fine for parents to support abstinence for their children.

"That's within the context of your family values, but what we have to be doing is at the same time is saying, 'If you do have sex we want you to use protection, because this is not just a pregnancy prevention issue.' Twenty-six percent of girls 14 to 19, that's 3 million kids, have a sexually transmitted disease. So to me they're not mutually exclusive. I think one of the opportunities here is to really be clear."

SOURCE

[Osiris]

Well you three, you're not going to get anything here on what "you demand". Because what you demand "is" off topic, and David has reminded me of that all too often. So now I do not, and you three insist that I should, about Obama, about school choice, and then aammondd chimes in about the whole notion of off topic. Go ask David how he feels about it and what he has continually reminded me of. Now, if any of you three care to indulge in further discussion of "on topic" matter, do so, if not, then you have nothing more of any interest to me.

Palin's daughter is pregnant...so what? She should not be the subject. The right should not have to defend her, and the left should not be attacking her. Her daughter, and her intended are not running for any public office.

Now an offshoot of that situation, without involving the daughter, would be the general conservatives reaction to the issue of "teen births", and of linked issues.

[aammondd]

People are free to choose to do stupid things. Its a parents responsibility to attempt to teach a child such that they learn what those stupid things may be. Its also a parents responsibility to help a child deal appropriately with the consequences of those actions.

No where in there is it the responsibility of government to preempt that responsibility just because some parents have abdicated it.

[Osiris]

When the parents fail in their responsibility and the results become part of the tax supported class.

[Rafael]

Originally Posted by Osiris

When the parents fail in their responsibility and the results become part of the tax supported class.

Like you have some indication that this is likely.

[aammondd]

Originally Posted by Osiris

When the parents fail in their responsibility and the results become part of the tax supported class.

Only when you choose to support them with tax money.

[David]

WE HAVE A WINNER
This column sums it up beautifully. I would advise all our libs to read this and save yourselves from yourselves. The nutroots have no self control. Watch the train wreck.

SOURCE

The Battle Of Bristol: John McCain Has The Upper Hand
By Kleinheider Posted on September 1, 2008 at 3:09 pm

The revelation that 17 year-old Bristol Palin is pregnant will have an impact on this race, no question. Some “politically and culturally savvy” Republicans will no doubt question the already questionable pick and Democrats will pounce on the fact that, yet again, a socially conservative pol who cautions abstinence for others did not seem to instill those values in her own teenage daughter.

Couple this with the fact that Sarah Palin herself may not have had a ring on her finger when she conceived her first child and we have the makings of an political flashpoint which will not soon die down.

Make no mistake, whatever you think of Sarah Palin and how she runs her family, the fact that we now have a Vice Presidential nominee running for the second highest office in the land with teenage daughter set to give birth right around inauguration day is a big deal.

The attacks on Sarah and Bristol Palin, whether from sanctioned surrogates or not, will continue no matter what Barack Obama says. Campaigns in the internet age have had and will continue to have trouble containing their message and that is why, in the end, the Republican Party should be glad this happened.

As a friend just told me after the news broke, the left is fully unprepared to win this debate. He may not have meant it how I heard it, but he is right nonetheless. The Left does not understand the fundamental nature of the socially conservative mind. That, and what is likely to be their over-exuberance in attacking what they perceive as hypocrisy, will be their downfall.

Bristol Palin has single-handedly dealt the Republican Party its winning hand. With an economy in decline and an unpopular war started by Republicans, Bristol Palin’s unborn baby has now made the Culture War the focal point of this election. This is one ground and, in fact, the only ground on which Republicans can win this election.

In 1992, when the Republican Party was facing a similar prospect, Pat Buchanan gave his famous speech on the Culture War. The speech was roundly criticized but what many failed to recognize and what was lost in the subsequent mythology around the speech was that the exit polls the day after he spoke, George H.W. Bush’s poll numbers went up, not down.

Buchanan explained his speech’s focus on culture not so much as personal preference, but as a tactical imperative. George Bush had broken his no new taxes pledge. America was on the precipice of a recession and the Bush victory in the Gulf War was all but forgotten. The Culture War was all the Republicans had.

Same as it ever was. Cutting to 2008, the Cultural War is again all Republicans have. What failed in 1992, however, may save John McCain because this time it is not Pat Buchanan, angry white male stoking up fear and resentment on behalf of an unwilling standard bearer. This time it is the kinder, gentler social conservative, Sarah Palin. This time it is a woman with a stake in a game, a pregnant teenage daughter. And Palin will get to fight the war, not as invading offender, but as a victim in defense of her child and family, as well as her values.

The Obama campaign may realize that their supporters are about to give John McCain the upper-hand but with the explosion of the internet they will be unable to stem the tide of a netroots community far too eager to expose the hypocrisy of one more wayward social conservative.

The Left on the internet and elsewhere will attack this mother of five for failing to live up to the code that she preaches. They will explain that this is proof that traditionalism doesn’t work. That the religious right is a fraud. That the preaching of abstinence is a fool’s errand. They will explain all this thinking they have just laid down the trump card when all they have done is hand it to the opposition.

I say again. John McCain cannot win this campaign on Iraq. He cannot win it on the economy. He is not the most charismatic man in the world and he has trouble with his base. That last one, of course, is the kicker. Bristol Palin just solved his problem.

All the talk this election has been how Barack Obama will expand the electoral pie. He will get the votes that went to Al Gore and John Kerry but he will couple them with his new voters, the young and the black and win a sweeping majority.

However, for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction and Bristol Palin is that reaction. Sarah Palin now has the capability of being what Hillary Clinton claimed to be — a hero of the blue collar working class.

Sarah Palin is a working mom with five kids who managed to become Governor of her state. Now Palin has been confronted with the great fear, and for many, the difficult reality of a pregnant teenage daughter. Sarah Palin lived by a code and tried to have her kids live by it as well. Did she fail?

Maybe she did. But as many parents know, you do the best you can with your children.

The Left will fight this battle as a political debate. They will argue that Bristol Palin proves their assertions about traditionalism. They will lay it out point by point. The evidence will be solid. And their case will make sense — in theory.

But this is not theory, and to a certain extent its not even politics, this is life. Steve Schmidt is not wrong when in reaction to the news he says, “Life happens.”

Life does happen. It happens again and again to people in rural America who go to church, work and pray hard. Everyday life happens. Despite their prayers, it happens.

The Left simply misunderstands the Cultural War because they believe that social and religious conservatives think they are perfect people. Rural, working class people know exactly who they are. The Left seems to think that they are somehow breaking the news to social conservatives that sometimes, even often, kids will have sex and get pregnant. Social conservatives know these things. They are not as divorced from reality as they sometimes get painted.

You see, conservatives have code by which they live that accounts for it all. Whether they are “right” or “wrong” is immaterial. It is the Left’s misunderstanding which is important here.

Conservatives know they are imperfect. Instead of embracing the imperfection and “giving up” they instead prefer to strive for something better.

Now, whether this outlook is conservative outlook is true or untrue, healthy or unhealthy is, again, not the point, politically speaking. Telling the American working class that Sarah Palin was wrong to have tried to bring up her daughters by a code in which she believed and that Bristol Palin’s unborn child is the proof that the Left’s arguments about traditional life are true will not resonate with anyone who is not already an Obama voter.

The Left cannot win this Battle of Bristol . The more they try to win it, to demonstrate they are right, the more they will lose ground with those voters they desperate need to stay home or vote for Barack Obama.

For what the Left sees as hypocrisy, most folks who are not Obama voters just see as falling short. As, of course, we, as humans, all do.

Bristol Palin’s journey is a human story. She tried to be good. She fell short. Instead of aborting the baby she will carry it to term and marry the father. To socially conservative America, there is nothing tragic about this.

You see, to many of the voters Barack Obama has not yet seemed to reach and who have thus far been ambivalent about McCain, this is exactly how these things are supposed to go. Their reality has not been shaken, the scales have not fallen from their eyes.

Sarah Palin did nothing “wrong.” And Bristol Palin did nothing other than sin, which we all do. She is now managing her sin as prescribed by tradition. To the traditionalist the situation is not ideal, no, but it is not a disaster.

This is a human story. The more the left attacks, attempts to expose “hypocrisy”, the more the personal will very much become the political. Unfortunately it will become political in a way that leads all those hard working Bubbas, all those church-going single mommas, right out to the polls to vote for that war hero and and those women they now identify with, Sarah and Bristol Palin.

To the Left, this situation looks like that big fat change-up they have been waiting for coming right across the plate. Let me assure you, friends, what is coming at you is a knuckleball, a greased pig with wings.

You are gonna want to take this pitch. You may win the “argument”, but you will lose the election.

[Rafael]

Originally Posted by David

WE HAVE A WINNER
This column sums it up beautifully. I would advise all our libs to read this and save yourselves from yourselves. The nutroots have no self control. Watch the train wreck.

SOURCE

The Battle Of Bristol: John McCain Has The Upper Hand
By Kleinheider Posted on September 1, 2008 at 3:09 pm

The revelation that 17 year-old Bristol Palin is pregnant will have an impact on this race, no question. Some “politically and culturally savvy” Republicans will no doubt question the already questionable pick and Democrats will pounce on the fact that, yet again, a socially conservative pol who cautions abstinence for others did not seem to instill those values in her own teenage daughter.

Couple this with the fact that Sarah Palin herself may not have had a ring on her finger when she conceived her first child and we have the makings of an political flashpoint which will not soon die down.

Make no mistake, whatever you think of Sarah Palin and how she runs her family, the fact that we now have a Vice Presidential nominee running for the second highest office in the land with teenage daughter set to give birth right around inauguration day is a big deal.

The attacks on Sarah and Bristol Palin, whether from sanctioned surrogates or not, will continue no matter what Barack Obama says. Campaigns in the internet age have had and will continue to have trouble containing their message and that is why, in the end, the Republican Party should be glad this happened.

As a friend just told me after the news broke, the left is fully unprepared to win this debate. He may not have meant it how I heard it, but he is right nonetheless. The Left does not understand the fundamental nature of the socially conservative mind. That, and what is likely to be their over-exuberance in attacking what they perceive as hypocrisy, will be their downfall.

Bristol Palin has single-handedly dealt the Republican Party its winning hand. With an economy in decline and an unpopular war started by Republicans, Bristol Palin’s unborn baby has now made the Culture War the focal point of this election. This is one ground and, in fact, the only ground on which Republicans can win this election.

In 1992, when the Republican Party was facing a similar prospect, Pat Buchanan gave his famous speech on the Culture War. The speech was roundly criticized but what many failed to recognize and what was lost in the subsequent mythology around the speech was that the exit polls the day after he spoke, George H.W. Bush’s poll numbers went up, not down.

Buchanan explained his speech’s focus on culture not so much as personal preference, but as a tactical imperative. George Bush had broken his no new taxes pledge. America was on the precipice of a recession and the Bush victory in the Gulf War was all but forgotten. The Culture War was all the Republicans had.

Same as it ever was. Cutting to 2008, the Cultural War is again all Republicans have. What failed in 1992, however, may save John McCain because this time it is not Pat Buchanan, angry white male stoking up fear and resentment on behalf of an unwilling standard bearer. This time it is the kinder, gentler social conservative, Sarah Palin. This time it is a woman with a stake in a game, a pregnant teenage daughter. And Palin will get to fight the war, not as invading offender, but as a victim in defense of her child and family, as well as her values.

The Obama campaign may realize that their supporters are about to give John McCain the upper-hand but with the explosion of the internet they will be unable to stem the tide of a netroots community far too eager to expose the hypocrisy of one more wayward social conservative.

The Left on the internet and elsewhere will attack this mother of five for failing to live up to the code that she preaches. They will explain that this is proof that traditionalism doesn’t work. That the religious right is a fraud. That the preaching of abstinence is a fool’s errand. They will explain all this thinking they have just laid down the trump card when all they have done is hand it to the opposition.

I say again. John McCain cannot win this campaign on Iraq. He cannot win it on the economy. He is not the most charismatic man in the world and he has trouble with his base. That last one, of course, is the kicker. Bristol Palin just solved his problem.

All the talk this election has been how Barack Obama will expand the electoral pie. He will get the votes that went to Al Gore and John Kerry but he will couple them with his new voters, the young and the black and win a sweeping majority.

However, for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction and Bristol Palin is that reaction. Sarah Palin now has the capability of being what Hillary Clinton claimed to be — a hero of the blue collar working class.

Sarah Palin is a working mom with five kids who managed to become Governor of her state. Now Palin has been confronted with the great fear, and for many, the difficult reality of a pregnant teenage daughter. Sarah Palin lived by a code and tried to have her kids live by it as well. Did she fail?

Maybe she did. But as many parents know, you do the best you can with your children.

The Left will fight this battle as a political debate. They will argue that Bristol Palin proves their assertions about traditionalism. They will lay it out point by point. The evidence will be solid. And their case will make sense — in theory.

But this is not theory, and to a certain extent its not even politics, this is life. Steve Schmidt is not wrong when in reaction to the news he says, “Life happens.”

Life does happen. It happens again and again to people in rural America who go to church, work and pray hard. Everyday life happens. Despite their prayers, it happens.

The Left simply misunderstands the Cultural War because they believe that social and religious conservatives think they are perfect people. Rural, working class people know exactly who they are. The Left seems to think that they are somehow breaking the news to social conservatives that sometimes, even often, kids will have sex and get pregnant. Social conservatives know these things. They are not as divorced from reality as they sometimes get painted.

You see, conservatives have code by which they live that accounts for it all. Whether they are “right” or “wrong” is immaterial. It is the Left’s misunderstanding which is important here.

Conservatives know they are imperfect. Instead of embracing the imperfection and “giving up” they instead prefer to strive for something better.

Now, whether this outlook is conservative outlook is true or untrue, healthy or unhealthy is, again, not the point, politically speaking. Telling the American working class that Sarah Palin was wrong to have tried to bring up her daughters by a code in which she believed and that Bristol Palin’s unborn child is the proof that the Left’s arguments about traditional life are true will not resonate with anyone who is not already an Obama voter.

The Left cannot win this Battle of Bristol . The more they try to win it, to demonstrate they are right, the more they will lose ground with those voters they desperate need to stay home or vote for Barack Obama.

For what the Left sees as hypocrisy, most folks who are not Obama voters just see as falling short. As, of course, we, as humans, all do.

Bristol Palin’s journey is a human story. She tried to be good. She fell short. Instead of aborting the baby she will carry it to term and marry the father. To socially conservative America, there is nothing tragic about this.

You see, to many of the voters Barack Obama has not yet seemed to reach and who have thus far been ambivalent about McCain, this is exactly how these things are supposed to go. Their reality has not been shaken, the scales have not fallen from their eyes.

Sarah Palin did nothing “wrong.” And Bristol Palin did nothing other than sin, which we all do. She is now managing her sin as prescribed by tradition. To the traditionalist the situation is not ideal, no, but it is not a disaster.

This is a human story. The more the left attacks, attempts to expose “hypocrisy”, the more the personal will very much become the political. Unfortunately it will become political in a way that leads all those hard working Bubbas, all those church-going single mommas, right out to the polls to vote for that war hero and and those women they now identify with, Sarah and Bristol Palin.

To the Left, this situation looks like that big fat change-up they have been waiting for coming right across the plate. Let me assure you, friends, what is coming at you is a knuckleball, a greased pig with wings.

You are gonna want to take this pitch. You may win the “argument”, but you will lose the election.

WOW!

[BUngaro]

Not only that but she becomes somebody that all teeage girls in the State of Alaska should emulate. Get knocked up, and and in your fifth or sixt month of pregnancy, have a wedding annnd be sure to wear a white dress.

[Osiris]

Gee, an article appearing twice, and with all that oversized print in bold too.

Like you have some indication that this is likely.

That was a discussion on general terms, not an indication toward the daughter of Palin. I am not going to involve myself in any discussion about her or the child to be, nor with the intended husband. And...not even about what the situation may or may not have been about Palin and her husband. I see a family, I see a problem, and I see the family dealing with it. And none of that has anything to do with Ms. Palin being named as VP.

My questions are about her experience and about how she stands on issues facing the US today...which I have not yet seen for some strange reason. If the 'left' wants to keep bellowing about the daughter's pregnancy, I ain't reading it. That's their problem not mine. I will wish the daughter welll in both the child and her pending marriage. "Oops happens, and as we all know, our children do not always follow the parents advice, much as we parents wish they would.

And as for Mrs. Palin's religious views, so what? She is as entitled to her beliefs as befits her own personal acceptance. The only time it might become of public concern, is if she were to somehow force them upon the rest of the US, and I really do not see her doing that.

This whole thing is really getting far off the track. The left is assaulting her for her daughters pregnancy, her as a parent, and the republicans are defending it. Lost somewhere is the matter of the issues facing the US and her take on that.

aammondd - I support those taxes that will aid in the childs support, and that they get after the "father' of the child to get them on the same train, and to get them to be economically independent as soon as possible, and it is not an "open ended support" either. They must move within a certain amount of time, before that support runs out.

[rachel]

This is a human story. The more the left attacks, attempts to expose “hypocrisy”, the more the personal will very much become the political. Unfortunately it will become political in a way that leads all those hard working Bubbas, all those church-going single mommas, right out to the polls to vote for that war hero and and those women they now identify with, Sarah and Bristol Palin.

As Walt Kelly's character PorkyPine used to say...Egg-zackle!

[Rafael]

Originally Posted by BUngaro

Not only that but she becomes somebody that all teeage girls in the State of Alaska should emulate. Get knocked up, and and in your fifth or sixt month of pregnancy, have a wedding annnd be sure to wear a white dress.


In addition, you wrote privately to me:

Family members should be off limits. Please take down your remarks about my daughter. We did not have to teach her abstinence. She had self respect, responsibility awareness and proper parenting.

Bill

In the first place, my post was about you. I described your self-proclaimed attitude about parenting, and commented on that.

Second, you held your daughter up as an example that demonstrates that your approach is superior, so it was you who focused on your daughter. Still, my statement was not about her, but about you.

Third, your comments above are despicable as well as insensitive, and you deserve no consideration on that score.

[David]

This is great. This is taking back the issue from the libs. They, actually, make a handsome couple.

NY Post

BRISTOL PALIN'S BABY DADDY GREETS MCCAIN
SOURCE

[BUngaro]

In all due respect, since the announcement of Gov. Palin as Sen. McCains running mate and all the luggage that goes with it, Obama has increased his lead and for the first time he is at 50 percent. Some consider that as closing the sale. Sooooo, what is the biiig deal?