Posted on 09/02/2008 3:15:32 PM PDT by wagglebee
LifeNews.com Note: Dave Andrusko is the editor of National Right to Life News, a publication of the National Right to Life Committe.
I confess that as the father of three daughters and the uncle of a child with profound disabilities, I was going to respond with more anger and indignation than perhaps most people would to the cheap shot, all-out assault on the family of pro-life Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.
But I don't think you have to have any more qualifications than to be a human being to be enraged at the guttersnipe attacks on pro-life Sen. John McCain's choice as his vice president, Gov. Palin's 17-year-old daughter, Bristol, and even Sarah Palin's four-month-old son, Trig!
On the off-off chance that you may have missed it, Gov. Palin's daughter Bristol is five months pregnant. According to a statement issued by the Palin family, Bristol intends to marry the baby's father.
The statement they issued captured both the challenges any young couple will face in such a situation and the promise of help from Palin and her husband, Todd.
"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," they wrote. "We're proud of Bristol's decision to have her baby and even prouder to become grandparents."
Is there any adult in the United States who is more than two degrees of separation removed from an unmarried pregnant teenage girl? It is a fact of life. What separates us is the quality of our response to a situation that puts any parent to the test.
The Palins responded exactly as you would have expected, given their values. We remember that Gov. Palin had discovered that Trig, her last baby, would have Down syndrome. In our darkened world, such a prenatal diagnosis is a death sentence for 90% of these children.
But the Palin family rallied together and the beauty of Mrs. Palin's life-affirming response is a beacon of light.
"Trig is beautiful and already adored by us," they said. "We knew through early testing he would face special challenges, and we feel privileged that God would entrust us with this gift and allow us unspeakable joy as he entered our lives. We have faith that every baby is created for good purpose and has potential to make this world a better place. We are truly blessed."
Of course she and her husband would be there for Bristol. Did you even need to ask?
The beauty of their loyalty and steadfastness stands in sharp contrast to the ugliness and contempt of much of the mainstream press and all of the wacko, take-no-prisoners ultra-left blogosphere.
Their objective is simple: turn loveliness on its head.
It would take me several thousands words to begin to convey all the ways they attempted to undermine the Palins as parents and, in the case of Gov. Palin, as a potential vice president. Suffice it to say it was not journalism's finest hour.
Intertwined with the effort to use Bristol's pregnancy as a weapon against her mother was the "rumor" that Gov. Palin's fifth child, Trig, had really been Bristol's baby. In the alternative universe where these lowlifes live, the charge was dredged up that Gov. Palin "covered up" Bristol's pregnancy by pretending that Trig was her child, not her grandchild.
There was, of course, no evidence for this false and scurrilous attack, The accusation was bizarre beyond words, but that made no difference.
As I wrote last week, the selection of Gov. Palin shakes up this election in a fundamental way. This poses a serious threat to a line established well over a year ago: pro-abortion Barack Obama must be President and nothing--and no one and no mere scruple--will be allowed to stop his inevitable ascension.
So while all knew that the choice of Palin would unleash the attack dogs, even I thought it would take a little while. Wrong.
The Palins bear the brunt of this viciousness, so it is almost embarrassing to bring up the fact that pro-lifers and/or people of faith also came under siege. I mention it because we need to know it's out there, to remind ourselves that the pro-abortionists who dominate most of the media haven't a clue who we are, and to keep uppermost in our mind there is no limit to the depths to which the "mainstream media" will sink to elect Obama.
For reasons only the Washington Post understands, uber-Inside Washington celebrity Sally Quinn blogs for the paper's "On Faith." Under the headline, "Palin's Pregnancy Problem," she tells her readers, "[W]ith news that Palin's 17-year-old unmarried daughter is pregnant, McCain's pick may not even find support among 'family values' voters."
Drawing on her deep, first-hand knowledge of "the Republican conservative family-value crowd," she tells us this may be a "hard one" for them "to swallow." Quinn adds, with utter insincerity, "Of course, this can happen in any family," only to remind us in her patented smarmy tone, "But it must certainly raise the question among the evangelical base about whether Sarah Palin has been enough of a hands-on mother."
To be fair, it is asking the impossible to expect someone whose whole world view is threatened by the emergence of an energetic, intelligent, accomplished, family-oriented, pro-life woman to be even marginally fair, let alone insightful. To people like Quinn, most of the cable network correspondents, and plenty of newspaper reporters, the only possible picture they can have of people like you and me is vengeful hypocrites: we preach respect for life but would turn away our own daughter or nieces or next door neighbors in a heartbeat if they told us they were pregnant.
But ask yourself this: what would be harder to swallow, for you and me and most of Middle America? The Palins' true grit, or the contempt that the Sally Quinns of this world have for everyone who doesn't share their sheltered life and their tunnel vision?
I don't expect the loony Left to let up, let alone apologize to Palin family. But I would hope [admittedly against hope] that the Media Establishment would occasionally listen to the better angels of their nature and give fairness a chance.
Amen!
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Way too many people identify with Palin than the msm thinks.
Their attacks on her hit too close to home to too many people.
Attacking her = attacking them.
It’ll backfire.
I admit, I was concerned (make that down right scared) of the next four years with either candidate before last Saturday. The moment Sarah stepped up to the podium, I felt calm, excited, but a calm and warmth came over me and I knew right then that America was still on the right track.
Wow .... what a contrast - gets right on down to the nitty gritty! Fantastic!
EXCELLENT line.
That’s what the left doesn’t seem to understand, EVERYONE, regardless of religious, educational or socio-economic background knows an unmarried teenage mother.
The young voters (18 to 30 year olds) that Obama is depending on will, almost without exception, have a close friend who has gone through this and they will not forget the hatred of these attacks.
I feel an excitement about Palin that I have not felt since Reagan.
Everyone remember the Clinton area refrain?
Apparently the Dems are all for sex --- but only as long as it doesn't result in human life.
It’s no secret that the left has complete contempt for Catholicism and Evangelical Christianity.
Well, the labyrinth has been used by mystics throughout history, but RODENTS (i.e. ‘Rats) are also quite fond of them.
I overheard an office conversation though. A conversation that put a bit of a smile on my face. The women were discussing Bristol's situation. And you know what I heard...from a group of liberal ladies? My best friend's daughter is her age and pregnant, I knew girls pregnant, it happens...and the thing that put that smile on my face?
It is Bristol and her boyfriends FREE CHOICE to have the baby. Followed by comments of disgust for the media and the hardcore abortion proponents. The jist was it wasn't and isn't what they thought PRO-CHOICE meant. IF Bristol and family are happy with going forward into the adult world of family life, then we should be happy for them too.
I quietly returned to my office with my coffee. If they stay on with this ugliness against Palin...it will backfire.
It’s backfiring now, that’s why Obama has denounced it, he KNOWS that it will only hurt him.
from www.barackobama.com community blog pages
one blogger recommend aicxix (fake pregnancy on kos author)
when i clicked on his profile at obama blog
it’s disappeared
amazing, disappeared at daily kooks also
Obama’s nomination is due to support from TWO groups — African Americans and young people (18 to 30 years old) and almost EVERY member of both of these groups knows or has known an unwed teenage mother. Obama realized yesterday that he risks alienating millions of these voters (especially educated, white young people).
This is what I heard about Sarah Palin: they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who arent like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations. My kind of Vice President. And, by the way, her statement: “Of course, this can happen in any family,” only to remind us in her patented smarmy tone, “But it must certainly raise the question among the evangelical base about whether Sarah Palin has been enough of a hands-on mother.” That certainly happened to obama’s 17 year old unwed mother—a fact that if she believed his politics, he would have been murdered by abortion 47 years ago. Do they really want to pursue that argument?
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