Posted on 09/03/2008 7:22:21 AM PDT by Mr. Silverback
The latest media mantra is that conservatives (especially Christians) had a very different reaction to the pregnancy of Jamie Lynn Spears than we did to the pregnancy of Bristol Palin. On its face, that's true, but I think it's an apples and oranges comparison. Yes, I will totally back that up.
1. I think we can all agree that comparing Lynne Spears and Sarah Palin is a pretty dicey thing. Call me when Lynne joins an Assemblies of God church and starts hunting caribou. (Plus, see item #3, which Lynne was presumably in on.)
2. Last time I checked, Bristol Palin's didn't have an older sibling who was making millions showing off the goods.
3. It's unlikely that Bristol was, at the age of 14, part of a wedding party in which she was issued a tracksuit proclaiming her to be "Juicy" and all the men wore tracksuits proclaiming them to be "Pimps."
4. Jamie Lynn Spears was supposed to be a role model to her fans. Nobody outside Alaska knew who Bristol Palin was a week ago.
Both girls are teenagers who got in over their head and did the right thing, and conservatives have hailed both for choosing life. That's where the similarities end.
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I noticed the way that she was holding and comforting her little brother on Friday. I thought then, this girl has a lot of motherly instincts.
On please!
You’re on!
Anyone that cares what goes on in the Spears family has too much time on their hands.
The Palin pregnancy story is not a story, it is a hammer. It will be swung until it can produce no further damage, then medial will look for another hammer.
Thank you for your support.
I have the same view in both situations. This is a private matter between the families.
I agree with you on that however I also believe that she was prompted to hold her baby brother to hide her own baby bump. Yes of course this was going to come out that she was pregnant but her holding the baby with the blanket let it stay private for a few more days. Not that that is bad however it does say something about the media and perception.
I agree...I’m just saying that the folks who saw Spears on the cover of magazines and said “this is bad” and saw the lynching of Bristol Palin and said “this is private” are not hypocrites.
Were conservatives bashing Jamie? I don’t know, I didn’t even know who she was until her pregnancy broke and someone told me she was Brittany Spear’s sister and had a TV show. If I would have blamed anyone it would have been the media and her agents for trying to turn her into something that, frankly, no young girl should ever have to be - a role model.
Young girls should be able to look to their mothers, aunts, grandmothers as role models and if they’re not available or suitable, then someone close to them that they know up close and personal and can really admire, not some periphery image dancing across a TV screen.
I wish both girls and their new families the very best. Life just got tougher for both of them. The sooner this nonsense blows over, the better. Sarah Palin’s response has been exemplary and inspiring, especially for other families that are faced with similar challenges.
I agree. I wouldn’t say we were bashing her, just disappointed this was happening to such a high-profile figure. The media is making that out to be more than it was just like they’re making Bristol’s pregnancy to be far more significant than it is.
Agreed. I hope they both are great moms and great wives who have the joy of having great husbands.
I do see one big difference between Bristol and Sarah Palin vs Jamie Lynne and Mrs. Spears (I forget her first name). When Jamie Lynne’s pregnancy was announced, Britney Spears had been engaged in all kinds of public, scandalous behavior for quite a long time. IIRC, Jamie Lynne announced the pregnancy after Britney shaved her head but before Britney lost custody of her kids. Given Britney, there was already a basis for a public sentiment that Mrs. Spears was not a good mother. Mrs. Spears’ maternal reputation had never been very good. When Britney was still a teenager, very popular, and making very salacious videos, I recall plenty of criticism of her parents for tolerating this. Mrs. Spears was also tagged as a “stage mom,” which made it even worse - she wasn’t just passively tolerating Britney’s smut, but was goading Britney into it for the money.
Anyhow, when Jamie Lynne got pregnant, it was just one more thing added to Mrs. Spears’ reputation as a bad mom.
Meanwhile none of the other Palin children have done anything comparable to Britney Spears. Sarah Palin did not have a pre-established reputation as a bad mother when news about Bristol broke (Palin had almost no pre-established reputation at all). So in that sense, Sarah is not comparable to Mrs. Spears.
Still the news greatly troubled me. Believe it or not, the first thing I thought of when I heard about Bristol was how Sarah Palin would be compared to Mrs. Spears. But personally it troubles me too. While teenagers sometimes rebel, or make mistakes, or just don’t think, at the end of the day the behavior of teenagers does reflect upon their parents. While a parent is not completely responsible for the actions of a teen, a teen’s actions don’t happen in a vacuum either - parents play a role.
Anyhow, I’m pretty big on internal consistency. And just as my reaction to Jamie Lynne Spears’ pregnancy was to not view her mother and father 100% favorably, my reaction to Bristol Palin’s pregnancy is also to not hold an entirely favorable view of Sarah and Steve Palin’s parenting. I certainly don’t view them as negatively as I view Mr and Mrs Spears, but I don’t view the Palins as parents as favorably as I did before Monday.
Nonetheless, I will vote for Palin. And I mean to stress *for Palin.* I was one of the people thinking of sitting home on election night, especially since my vote never matters for squat given where I live. The choice of Palin energized me. I am disappointed in what has happened w/r/t her daughter, but I’m not electing her to raise my daughter. I’m voting for her because she is a fiscal and social conservative and hopefully the future of a renewed GOP. And I have sadly and cynically realized that most great politicians do not have ideal families. Reagan was a great leader, but his kids were a mess. Giuliani had potential, but good grief his family . . . and of course it’s found in both parties - the Kennedys, the Edwardses, etc.
i’ll bite. Ping me.
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