Reading The Pictures: Poster Mom

Nancy Iannone, a Democrat and mother of Gabrielle, 3, who has Down syndrome, said that she was so thrilled to see Trig on stage that she had to remind herself: "I am a liberal. I am a liberal. I am a liberal." Ms. Palin, she said, "has a child with a disability, but that doesn't mean her party is disability friendly." -- from NYT article on Palin and special needs. 7/7/08.

In presupposing what kind of advocate a Vice President Palin would be for the mentally disabled, Newsweek helps visually fortify the GOP's blatant exploitation of family and motherhood.

In making the leap, Newsweek undermines the process of the moment, which is to actually get beneath the ideological spin to flesh out an understanding of Sarah Palin and her record. Under the guise of a "Special Education" feature, all Newsweek accomplishes with this home page promo is to dish up an almost irresistible, heart-warming but 2-D empathy generator transforming Sarah Palin into poster Mom for Down Syndrome.

And from "Sandy on Signal" at 10,000 Monkeys and a Camera (by way of one of my readers):

Palin told families of special needs kids she would be our advocate in the White House. Since Palin became Governor of Alaska 18 months ago, she cut special education funding by 62%!!!! Wow. Who needs this kind of friend?

Another thing, Alaska has no residential care like an Orange Grove Center for the severely autistic. Can you believe this? This means the disabled have to go live in the lower 48 which means they are cut off from their true families. All that oil money in Alaska, and nothing for the "least among us."

Remember, Jesus was a community organizer, Pontius Pilate was a Governor.

For more of the visual, visit BAGnewsNotes.com.

(image: Susan Walsh/AP)

Read more analysis from HuffPost bloggers on John McCain's running mate, Sarah Palin

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Comments

[moonwatcher]

Why are they showing this baby.? I thought news people were to leave her family alone. I saw another picture of her on a snow mobile on MSNBC. It will make all those people who have snow mobiles or ATVs have a warm fuzzy feeling but just what does it have to do with the election. Let's see how many times she appears on these blogs compared to the Obama campaign.

[mommadona]

Any woman who uses her child in this way for her own political gain is not a good mother.

It is as simple as that.

I really despise this person.

[mh01]

Before you sit in judgment of her, ask yourself a few questions.

Does that mean that every politician who has a kid, or has brought their kid to an event is a bad parent?

Is obama a bad father because he brought his kids on a talk show? Was that for political gain?

Is every man who has kids and a high level government position a bad father?

Should Palin hide her kids, and if so, why shouldn't everyone else?

Is Nancy Pelosi a bad parent for being speaker of the house and having 5 kids?

Is it sexist to assume that because she's a woman, she shouldn't have a high level position?

Is it possible that her husband Todd might actually do an ok job as a stay at home parent?

Can a woman be proud of her family, despite the problems, and want people to see that?

Can she really be a bad mother, considering she didn't take the easy road and abort the child with downs syndrome?

Couldn't it be a positive that national attention has been brought to Downs Syndrome?

I think, that before you call her a bad mother, you might want to see if you can answer these questions.

But that's just me.

[Roses]

What you say has a kernel of truth.....but that is it.....a KERNEL of truth.
The kernel is that we have to be careful about sitting in judgement.
I am a woman, a woman who has devoted her life to making it just a little bit easier for those with special needs and their families, and also devoted myself to my own family. I work as an OTR in the schools.

As far as Sarah or her husband devoting themselves to doing what needs to be done for this little child....no I don't think that Todd or Sarah can do an adequate job while also working as VP of the US and running a commercial fishing business. Neither is planning on exclusively being a stay-at-home parent. I do think (from my experience of 30 years) that raising a child with special needs is a much bigger job for parents of caregivers for sp. needs kids than for parents raising other children.

While it is positive that she has shone a light on Downs, it is not positive that she has cut funding for sp. needs by 62%. It is hypocritical of her to take kudos from people that she is experiencing the joys and trials that other parents go through with a child with DS.

Shame on her, for exploiting the entire subject !

[Rockerbabe]

Governor Palin is NO Hillary Clinton, NO Tipper Gore and definitely NO Michele Obama; she needs to
go back to Alaska and stay there. Her "support" of children with special needs, needs some serious repair or rethinking. Her general demeanor [as seen on TV during the RNC convention] is not reassuring or respectful of others-Dubya reincarnate in a skirt, she is definitely.
FYI: pit bulls are illegal in Dekalb County, GA as in many other metro counties due to their serious and often fatal encounters with children. Makes you wonder about the analogy doesn't it?
Why all the absence from the TV talk shows; she wants to be VP, then she needs to interview for the job and make her case; she just isn't up to speed and I think more and more of use know this.
Alaska - you can have her back; Arizona - you can take John and Cindy back also.

[mh01]

Another lie, and then another author who cites another writer who told the same lie.

Not only did she revamp the education system... to provide more help for special needs children http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2008/04/30/35recaps.h27.html

But she also didn't cut the existing budget for special needs assistance.

In 2007 the Alaska budget had $8.2M for special needs. Part of that was for Alaska Challenge Youth Academy ($5.6M). http://www.gov.state.ak.us/omb/07_OMB/budget/EED/comp2735.pdf

In 2008, Special Needs was allotted $3.2M or 62% less, right? Nope, thats the lie, or at least the mistake. The 2008 budget had the ALaska Challenge Youth Academy as a SEPERATE LINE ITEM!http://www.gov.state.ak.us/omb/08_OMB/budget/Enacted/HB_95_bill.pdf

So in 2008, the general Special needs category, plus the seperate line item for the Youth Academy equals 7% more than in 2007.

In 2009, the budget for these two items goes up another 4%. http://www.gov.state.ak.us/omb/09_omb/budget/bills/HB310_with_vetoes.pdf

Do you homework, stop telling lies.

[Roses]

"Do your homework, stop telling lies."


You know what?......I did my homework and I won't tell lies. To paraphrase my mother 'everyone else tells lies,but me and thee.....and I'm not so sure about thee'.

You are either mistaken or sort of on purpose misleading others on this blog and mistaken or sort of on purpose mixing up the terms "special needs" and "at risk"....so I will tell you what I found.
The cuts in funding were to the Special Education Service Agency (SESA) and the thing that got funded by Palin was the Alaska Challenge Youth Academy. Sounds kind of 'special needs'-like huh? But, if you google this and research what it is you will that it is an instructional program, operating in Anchorage with student enrollees from across the state. Students work on challenging academic programs in a "boot camp" environment. Completing high school and building career goals and skills are the goals for this facility. The cuts were made in the SESA that provided early intervention and vocational training for students with physical and cognitive delays. She cut special needs funding while increasing funding for those at risk from the general education funding but called it all "special needs"......because .....technically it was .....special .....and......a need.


Don't fall for this stuff anymore!



Obama/Biden '08

[mh01]

So cite it. Because I looked at the ACTUAL budget, and both the Special needs general category, and the boot camp received INCREASED funding.

In addition, according to education week, the entire schools system was re-vamped to dramatically increase the funding on a per student basis for Special needs education, from 27000 to 70000+.

IF you can cite your source, as I did, I will be happy to look into it.

Until then, I am comfortable with my post.

[Envy333]

You make it seem as though money was taken from one program to fund another. If you actually look at the budget as mho1 provided, the two programs were previously lumped together, and instead made separate line items.

Unless you have financial documents showing the moneys ACTUALLY spent by the SESA was decreased from the previous year to 08, I don't see how you can continue to claim there were cuts when the funding was previously shared.

Even CNN today's Anderson Coopers "keeping them honest" and Factcheck.org have identified this as a false rumor. In reality funding has been overhauled and is set to increase 175% by 2011.

[6shtrs]

Triq can win this elections
He campaigns against Obama but can't fight back.

This becomes Triq vs Obama

[SouthpawSass]

Were Palin a pro choice Democrat, she would have been villified for one, having a pregnant teen daughter and two, not choosing to stay home and care for her special needs infant.

Then, the probe into the abuse of power scandal would be intesified and she wouldn't be able to be kept from the media...

[CatherineY]

It is NOT a lie that Sarah Palin cut funding by 62% - the PDFs are on line for all to see if you want to look. It is also true, however, that she later increased special education funding - right around the time her OWN special needs child was born. Hmmm.. All of the sudden special education becomes a priority when you are personally impacted? Looks a little like the favoritism she clearly demonstrated in other budgets cuts/funding - her home town of Wasilla (where she lived even when she was governor) seems to have faired well whereas other towns were denied funding for similar projects. It would appear she is "fiscally conservative" only when it suits her personal needs. As an advocate for children when special needs (even though I don't have my own special needs child -imagine that!) I am sickened by this. She truly disgusts me.

[triadbubba]

WHAT IS WRONG WITH ANY CANDIDATE FROM ANY PARTY STANDING WITH THEIR CHILDREN AT THEIR PARTY'S CONVENTION? Blatant Exploitation??Would you have her exclude their newborn?
You guys are incredible raging hypocrites!! You're soooo enraged she didn't abort this baby because it brings all of your seething guilt to the surface.
And if she didn't show her new baby at the convention, you guys would be enraged at her mistreatment of and discrimination against those with disabilities.
BTW, Obama's family has been played by the MSM like modern day Cleaver family.

[Roses]

Speaking of hypocrites.....
I would object to any candidate who slashed funding for education and then paraded their kids around on stage as if they were campaign props. Obama did not do that (slash education funding for his kids) while Sarah Palin did ( she slashed special needs funds by 62%). This is raging hypocrisy. If you read my comments and many others on this blog you will see that most of us only admire any mother who chooses life for her child with special needs.
What is making so many of us so angry is the hypocrisy of Sarah Palin, her lies, and her intention of denying others the opportunity for choice like she (and now her teen daughter) made.

Obama/Biden '08

[PlanetKansas]

Ms Palin will suffer none of the hardships that typical families with disabled children suffer. She is now a political superstar, and if the election doesn't go her way, there will be lucrative speaking gigs, party fund raisers, Fox news commentary and a children's book that will make her wealthy. She can well afford surrogate care for the child, and if elected, will have salaried staff to do the same.

I am concerned that some DS children are not necessarily Rain Man cute, and can be subject to violent outbursts. They somehow know their limitations and get frustrated. Early parental involvement is key to providing structure and reinforcement to prevent this. My prediction is this child will disappear and be seen only in tightly controlled photo ops.

[lisapiranha]

It's okay to put her child on the cover of a magazine when it's a hit piece ... but not okay when it is a favorable piece?

Can you possibly NOT see the double-standard there? This mother can't win when her kids can only be used to judge her but not highlight the fact that she has a happy, tight-knit family.

I'm a career-driven woman who has a mom who owned a business and twice (out of hour kids) drover herself to the hospital to deliver. She owned a business to support her kids because our dad was not around to pay child support, and she refused to collect welfare. She always said she was a "bad mom" because she was not home every day with us ... but she was and is an incredible mother, and an amazing role model. To me it has never been quantity, but quality, time - and always, when we needed her and her support, she has been there for us.

Palin speaks for many, many, many women who have blended work and family together but have always been told to be quiet about it. It is nothing to be ashamed of, it's something to be proud of.

- Lisa

[Roses]

But then.....you are not 'special needs' I assume?

I am and was a working mother as well. I also work as a sp. education professional with kids from 0-21. Even working, I didn't work half as hard as moms of sp. needs youngsters.The mothers who have these children are incredible!
They work from sun to sun with the babies because these children often have demanding medical problems that are 24/7. Speaking, as a mom myself and as an OTR, it is incomprensible to me, that they could do a truely good job for their kids when working in such a demanding job as VP of the US! Especially when their children are infants.
To use their child as a campaign prop is indefensible.

Obama/Biden '08

[ProudNeoCon]

would you say the same is she was a man?

[SouthpawSass]

If Palin does for special needs what she's done for teen pregnancy, we need to worry.

As the primary care taker of the Palin children, sorry to say this, but Todd failed with their eldest daughter. Obviously, Sarah's in charge, so what changes will she make in her own family to see that her other daughters don't follow the precedent their sister set? If she doesn't change the way things work in her own family, how can we trust her to change the way things work in Washington?

Wonder if Levi will ever ask advice from his father in law? Wonder if he should...

[mh01]

Yeah, bristol was "punished with a baby".

What you don't understand about family values is the simple fact that you do your best to teach your kids right and wrong, and they still often get it wrong.

The family values part doesn't end with teaching not to have sex, it keeps going when you have to deal with a tough decision, like being 17 and making a mature, self-less, tough decision to keep the child, and not aborting it.

From that standpoint, Sarah and Todd Palin are a total success at family values. She taught her kid not to destroy the baby growing inside her, and to be a grown up and deal with the grown up results of a grown up decision to have sex (despite being taught not to have sex).

But the left will never understand that.

If you have a kid, and your kid did everything you ever told them to, then by all means, throw stones.

Otherwise your criticism is a waste of time.

[BillyShears]

Pa lin is the poster child for every politician who will say and do ANYTHING to get elected. Even if it means exploiting her own family. I feel sorry for all of her stage props - Woops I mean "kids"....

[mh01]

Kind of like Obama bringing his kids on a talk show, and up on stage a various campaign events.

They must be props too?

[mayzebra]

If she cut the fund by 62% then raised it to 73.8K, that would be an increase of about 4%, not 175%. And scheduling it out for 3 yrs.... less than 2 % per year. (aka less than inflation)

[Roses]

Sorry.....alot of people don't understand the sp. ed. law. It is pretty convoluted.

Let me just say that there are alot of unfunded, federal mandates for special needs that don't apply for k-12. Many times sp. needs covers 0-21, because these children have particular needs . Before school they need early intervention for infants and vocational training after high school (e.g. how to ride a bus, how to dress and the physical procedures needed for a job).
Think about 2 separate 'pots' of money......one for general education funds and one for special education for early intervention and vocational education. Palin cut the funding 62% for the 0-5 and the 18-21 kids by 62%. Education during these ages are absolutely crucial for sp. needs kids.

This is from DailyKos:

"Sarah Palin Slashed Special Needs Education by 62%

These funds provide supplementary educational services to students with sp. needs in Alaska. The resident school where the child would normally be placed does not have the resources to provide an adequate educational program. Without the supplementary services the child’s needs would not be met by the local school district in most cases.

The Annual budget for 2007, which preceded Gov. Palin was $8,265,300.

The Annual budget for 2008, from Gov. Palin is $3,156,000.

The Annual budget for 2009, from Gov. Palin is $3,156,000.

This is a cut in special needs services to children in Alaska of 5,109,300 , or 62%."

[mh01]

And this is from the actual Alaska budget from those years.

2006 and 2007 had $3.1M for special needs education, plus $5.1M for a special needs youth camp. Total $8.2M. But lumped into one category for "special needs"

2008 had $3.2M for special needs and $5.5M for the youth camp, but broken out into seperate line items. Total $8.7M

If you compare just the special needs category, you get a 62% decrease, but you would be making a mistake, because 2006 and 2007 have the two items lumped together, and 2008 has them broken out.

Sorry, but the daily kos is either lying, or incompetent in their research.

[dawlishgal]

Just to make it clear, his captors offered to release McCain in deference to the high military status of his father, the admiral. He declined the offer, saying that he would leave only when "his men' were freed. As I said, noble and heroic, but it stiffed his wife with the child-rearing responsibilities and he dumped soon after his release.

[mh01]

Good luck trying to tell that to any US soldier that has served and has kids at home. Everyone will tell you that they have a duty to fulfill, and to bail out early is to come home in disgrace, and to leave your friends in the trenches.

Its a tough decision that you would have no idea how to understand from your ivory tower, sitting on your comfy little couch.

[dawlishgal]

Obama and Biden ought to be questioning John McCain's attitude toward parental responsibilities. He opted to stay in that prison camp with "his men' even though there were 3 children at home making do without a father for more than 5 long years. Heroic, but hardly brimming with "family values."

Then, shortly after being released, he dumped the crippled mother of his child (and two children from her previous marriage) for a much younger woman. When a child was born to the second marriage, she was raised primarily by wife #2, who lived in Phoenix while McCain stayed in DC and came home only on occasional weekends.

It seems as though it is very easy for Republicans to be absentee parents at the same time they are touting "family values."