''Knocked Up'' -- not the comedy
It's not a slogan I would ever have expected to see at any political convention, and here it was, a homemade button on a conventioneer's hat among the Republicans in St. Paul:
''Support Unwed Mothers.''
The pregnancy of Sarah Palin's unmarried teenaged daughter, Bristol, will surely be one of those watershed moments of cultural history. A couple of decades on since the ''permissiveness culture'' and its icons -- like Madonna and her ''Papa Don't Preach'' unwed-pregnant-girl 1986 hit -- were assailed by conservative leaders in the Reagan years, has that culture come home to roost and set up housekeeping in the home of the GOP's vice presidential nominee, to the approval of the delegates in St. Paul?
What a headspinner -- a week or so after Barack Obama demands that black fathers take responsibility for their children, ''Support Unwed Mothers'' shows up at John McCain's convention.
Deja vu all over again? Dan Quayle controversially assailed absentee fathers and single mothers, too, during the Bush/Quayle campaign reelection year of 1992. His vehicle was the sitcom character, a mature TV newswoman, Murphy Brown. Ten years later, he told CNN, the subject of that controversial talk was ''the poverty of values, the breakdown in the family. If in fact you don't finish high school, you get married before 20 or have children before 20, you have an 80 percent chance of living in poverty.''
Liberals who are gleeful at the Palin predicament had better be careful to draw a bright shining line between the mother's politics and the daughter's personal problems, lest they be skewered by the same accusations of hypocrisy that some are leveling at Palin for her support for abstinence-only sex education (with the obvious conclusion being drawn). And John McCain has, according to the Washington Post's Ruth Marcus, voted to end the federal family planning program and against funding teen pregnancy prevention programs that might help teenagers like Bristol Palin.
And conservatives who now rush to defend a teenager's pregnancy just because the political limelight is nudging the pair toward the altar -- the baby's father supposedly said on his MySpace page, ``I don't want kids'' -- had better be careful not to get whiplash trying to recraft ''family values'' to retrofit this particular sad story of teen pregnancy with a halo of virtue just because the ''I dos'' arrive before the baby does.
Richard Cartwright's 1992 photo of Candice Bergen as Murphy Brown is courtesy of CBS Inc.
Bristol Palin's obviously not relevant or fair game. The process that brought Sarah Palin to fame, however, is another matter.
Posted by: David Gerard | September 03, 2008 at 02:16 PM
One rule for us (tyranny), and one for the elites (no accountability). Same as it ever was.
What message are they sending? That its ok to be an unwed teenage mother.
We are just numbers to them. Breeders of slaves.
Posted by: Gnostic | September 03, 2008 at 02:11 PM
Yes, leave the kids alone.
Sarah Palin is a bad choice for so many other reasons that her children's personal lives are irrelevant.
What other reasons? The fundamentalist beliefs that she would attempt to impose on all Americans. The complete lack of foreign policy knowledge (unlike Obama, who sits on the Foreign Relations committee). The fact that she has never had to deal with deficits (and the Bush administration leaves the greatest United States deficit in history).
Add to that John McCain's apparent assumption that women would vote blindly for a woman--does he really think Hillary voters are going to go for someone so determined to overturn Roe v. Wade?--and his willingness to leave the country with a rookie if something happens to him, and his experience and judgment don't amount to much. This is only the campaign--imagine a presidency run on such shallow impulses.
Obama is not perfect, but he chose a VP who can help him run the country and face the world, not someone who can field dress a moose.
Posted by: Think About It | September 03, 2008 at 08:15 AM
"And conservatives who now rush to defend a teenager's pregnancy"
What about the new liberal bigots? do you prefer a Conservative that becomes reasonable toward family issues, or a liberal that becomes intolerant, vicious and salacious about a 17yo girl?
Posted by: clusterz | September 03, 2008 at 07:14 AM
Obama is a mulatto monster. Bristol is not a party girl, she is an angel of purity! It is the pathetic values that are forced on God fearing people of the US of A by the evil Obamabots, that cause the innocents of our country like Levi and Bristol to make poor choices. When will America wake up and realize that the evil influence of Obama, Rap music, and the NBA have on our sweet youth. It is our right, and responsibility to enact laws to remove these Obama like influences from decent society!
Posted by: PalinNation | September 03, 2008 at 06:51 AM
It's a touching story right out of Jerry Springer. Mother and daughter knocked up at the same time. I guess to these people, family values doesn't mean you should be a parent and take care of your family. It doesn't mean teach your children the importance of making the decision to start a family. It doesn't mean you should sacrifice your own self serving ambitions to raise your family. It means - JUST KEEP CRANKING OUT BABIES.
And I guess their definition of family values also allows them to toss aside a retarded baby to run for Vice President, because I have a toddler, and I know many parents of young children, and there is no way a parent can spend enough time with a special needs baby while campaigning 80 hours per week to be vice president of the United States. What disgusting people.
Posted by: Keith | September 03, 2008 at 06:29 AM
HE SHOOTS>>>> HE SCORES...... Levi Johnston will become American Sports Embassedor to the World.
Look at what it will do for hockey in the US.
Posted by: Ron | September 03, 2008 at 06:15 AM
All those bible-thumping ministers like to refer to the pregant women in the black community. How did they manage to overlook those in the trailer park?
Posted by: PLD | September 03, 2008 at 05:57 AM
Sarah Palin is a sham and a scam. John McCain you should be ashamed.
And now your minions are flooding the net with their gooey, partisan nonsense. I hope you found all the bats in the belfry.
Posted by: PLD | September 03, 2008 at 05:55 AM
It finally dawned to me what the picture of John McCain - repeating over and over his POW-history - reminds me of:
The lone Japanese soldier emerging from the jungle on a far away Pacific island at the end of the '70s, '40s gun in hand, ready to fire ... and thinking World War II was still on.
Just replace "World War II" with "The Vietnam War".
Posted by: Toon Moene | September 03, 2008 at 04:50 AM
Oh, and isn't Reille Hunter a much closer parallel to Ms. Brown ... you know, no dad in the picture.
You have heard of Reille Hunter, right?
Posted by: Mitchell Young | September 03, 2008 at 04:49 AM
In dire stories about the trouble with social security or the need for massive immigration, we are constantly told that we have an 'aging population', that we will face 'worker shortages', blah blah.
Now we have two generations of Palins taking very concrete steps to help with this situation, the media has a cow. Sheesh.
Posted by: Mitchell Young | September 03, 2008 at 04:47 AM
God Bless , an have mercy ON ALL US SINNERS, OK [ IF YOU ARE SINLESS THROW FIRST STONE OK ]
Posted by: Sylvia | September 03, 2008 at 04:18 AM
thanks
Posted by: Sylvia | September 03, 2008 at 04:09 AM
may God have Mercy on rotten politicks, God forgave all us sinners, come on this U.S.A, FORGET ALL THAT MESS AN ELECT A PARTY WHO WILL HELP US, AN STAND TO HONOR OUR [ SOILDERS LIKE MY GRANSON ] WHO FAUGHT IN THIS WAR, AN KEEP GOD ALMIGHTY IN OUR NATION,,,,,,,,, HONOR OUR FLAG.
Posted by: Sylvia | September 03, 2008 at 04:07 AM
I think that this topic is being blown out of porportion and that it is not that big a deal people. We need to look at it from all aspects. Try this blog i found on www.UrbanThoughtCollective.com its talks about the topic from all points of views.
Posted by: SilkMaye | September 03, 2008 at 04:05 AM
KODIAK MOMENT
NEWSWIRE--The 17-year-old daughter of vice presidential running mate Sarah Palin is five months pregnant. She plans to have the baby and marry the father.
Juno made its film debut
About an unwed teenage mother.
Alaska has a Juneau, too.
As well as one of the other.
www.newsandverse.com
Light verse, ripped from the headlines
Posted by: Kevin Pierce | September 03, 2008 at 03:54 AM