It was the first visual of Sarah Palin with her family that caught my attention and somehow it didn't feel right. No, it wasn't Gov. Palin's weird retro hair style or her obvious good looks. It was Palin's eldest daughter, Bristol holding her parents' 5-month old baby. Now, we learn that Bristol will soon be holding a baby of her own.
Still, it's their business isn't it?
Yes and no.
When Gov. Palin decided to accept John McCain's invitation to become the Republican- presumptive vice presidential nominee, she opened her daughter up to the scrutiny that comes with the territory.
As a mother of a daughter, I question Palin's decision of jumping into the political fray of the most important campaign in the world, knowing that it would put her daughter through the media meat grinder.
Rather than being the "wonderful mother narrative" that the GOP is spinning, Palin is putting her ambitions ahead of her daughter's well-being, at a time when a daughter needs her mother most...a little privacy wouldn't hurt, either.
Palin's public statement about her daughter's pregnancy sounded so scripted and so unreal -- ready for a made-for-TV LifeTime special -- it made my stomach turn:
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...
"Bristol and the young man she will marry are going to realize very quickly the difficulties of raising a child, which is why they will have the love and support of our entire family.
Come on! This is a tragedy for most parents of teenagers, except for the anti-choice crowd, of which Sarah Palin counts herself as varsity cheerleader.
These are sad facts the whacko right doesn't like to acknowledge about teenage motherhood but any school teacher and social worker will confirm:
Most teenage marriages end in divorce. The children of these children are mired in poverty and lag behind children of older parent families. Too-young parents are steeped in poverty, their education interrupted, their potential squandered. Most children of these parents will replicate their parents' lives and Sarah Palin is proud? I don't believe it.
The personal decision for Bristol Palin to continue her pregnancy is her business, but her mother won't allow other women to have the same choice.
Palin is vehemently anti-choice and wants to overturn Roe v Wade. She is also against sex education in our public schools and both of her positions on these two important issues are now being spotlighted because of her daughter's unfortunate pregnancy.
Barack Obama is right, but only partially right, in stating that "families should be off limits" in this campaign. However, in this particular case, Sarah Palin put herself -- and her daughter -- on the altar of public opinion, subjecting her to national humiliation and emotional trauma at a critical time in her life. Sarah Palin didn't have to do it, but she did.
It is Sarah Palin's character and judgment that ought to be questioned if she continues this campaign despite the harm it inflicts upon her own daughter. The girl has been interrupted and now it's time for the candidate Palin to be interrupted.