Posted on 09/03/2008 4:06:48 AM PDT by Kaslin
ST. PAUL, Minn. -- If conventions are supposed to be about message discipline and stagecraft, Republicans have been improv street theater to the Democrats' Broadway.
Every day has brought a brand new buzz -- and that was before the convention got started.
Republicans euphoric about vice presidential pick Sarah Palin hardly got to enjoy a news cycle before Hurricane Gustav stole headlines and resurrected the ghosts of Katrina. Then came the news that Palin's 17-year-old daughter, Bristol, is five months pregnant.
To say that this convention has gotten off to a jaw-dropping start would not be hyperbolic. While Democrats chant, "Yes we can," Republicans have been lip-syncing, "OMG."
There are, of course, other ways to view recent events and Republicans have rallied their best angels. Thus, Gustav wasn't so much an unwelcome interruption as an opportunity to demonstrate priorities: People matter more than agendas.
And so all eyes and resources turned to the Gulf Coast.
Bristol Palin, too, quickly became a humanizing symbol for reckoning and prioritizing. Most Republicans rolled up their sleeves the way families do when trouble comes. Such is life.
To social conservatives within the party, the Palin situation merely underscored the family's commitment to life. Bristol is marrying the father -- and life, indeed, goes on.
From some other quarters, the buzz hasn't been so uplifting. Some bloggers on the left initially suggested that Palin's baby, Trig, was really her grandson. Others have used what should be a private family matter to challenge Palin's preference for abstinence-only sex education.
A notable exception to the ugliness has been Barack Obama, who was both manly and gentlemanly in reiterating his position that candidates' families -- and especially their children -- are off-limits. Bravo. He also reminded Americans that his own mother gave birth to him when she was 18.
Politicizing Bristol Palin's pregnancy, though predictable, is nonetheless repugnant and has often been absurd. It may be darkly ironic that a governor-mother who opposes explicit sex ed has a pregnant daughter, but experienced parents know that what one instructs isn't always practiced by one's little darlings.
We try; we sometimes fail. There are no perfect families and most of us get a turn on the wheel of misfortune.
Were it not for the pain of a teenager who didn't deserve to be exposed and exploited, the left's hypocrisy in questioning Palin's qualifications to be vice president against the backdrop of her family's choices would be delicious. Instead, it leaves a bad taste.
Would anyone ever ask whether a male candidate was qualified for office because his daughter was pregnant?
Some also have questioned whether Palin, whose son Trig has Down syndrome, can be both a mother and a vice president? These questions aren't coming from the right -- so often accused of wanting to keep women barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen -- but from the left.
Did someone switch the Kool-Aid?
Palin is everything liberals have always purported to want for women -- freedom to choose, opportunities for both career and family, a shot at the top ranks of American political life. With five children and an impressive resume, Palin should be Miss July in the go-girl calendar.
There's just one hitch: She doesn't believe in abortion except to save a mother's life. That's hardcore, even for pro-life Republicans, most of whom allow for abortion in cases of rape and incest.
Women who won't budge on abortion have hit fast-forward in their heads and, given McCain's age, consider the risk too great that a President Palin would load the Supreme Court with pro-lifers who would overturn Roe v. Wade. Whether that is a realistic concern is debatable, but what's perfectly clear is that feminism today is not about advancing women, but only a certain kind of woman.
While we're exhausting irony, Palin would have been excoriated as a hypocrite had she or her daughter had abortions. That would have been legitimate and, probably, deal-breaking criticism. By choosing life, the Palins acted in accordance with their public positions and were ridiculed for their honesty.
There may yet be reasons to find Palin an unacceptable vice presidential choice, but making pro-life decisions shouldn't be among them. Her candidacy, meanwhile, has cast a bright light on the limitations of our old ideological templates.
Should Palin and McCain prevail come November, feminism can curtsy and treat herself to a hard-earned vacation. The greatest achievement of feminism won't be that a woman reached the vice presidency, but that a woman no longer needed feminists to get there.
They did no such thing. They ATTEMPTED to impale. If they had succeeded, she would NOT be the VP nom.
Morning you!
Very well written- thanks for the ping. Parker is usually well-reasoned and humorous too!
The first part gave me the warm fuzzies. FRegards ....
Disagree -- feminism isn't about advancing women at all, it's about enforcing a political ideology. Modern "feminists" have no problems submitting to abusive men (e.g., Bill Clinton) if it furthers their ideology.
Oh?
Just WHAT 'femistists' helped Sarah?
Oh, come now, Ms. Parker. You can't be that naive. Obama can pretend he is above the fray while his minions smear Palin.
In front of the camera. While his minions are manipulating the MSM, Daily KOS, et al, to get the garbage out.
Why?
If another human life is snuffed out; we should, at the least, put SOMEone in prison for a crime of 'incest or rape'!
Wishful thinking.
I’d like to see all the leftist “think-tanks” defunded, the NEA and PBS shut down, the MSM cut off from White House access, etc. But the ‘Pubbies don’t have the guts to take vengence on their enemies. They just want to “get along.”
Damn right they're scared. Sarah is an intensely likable woman, intelligent, articulate, and of good character. This means her opinions will be well received by women and men
And those opinions? She's a Christian, homeschooling, gun-owning, hunting, pro-life mother of 5. The Left can't HAVE that!
It's EVERYWHERE!
While his minions are manipulating the MSM, Daily KOS, et al, to get the garbage out.
Blacks (African Americans who subscribe to the Black political agenda)
Gays
Feminists
Unions
Academics
Journalists
All active liberal groups that are fully engaged in supporting him.
Questions for Governor Plain to ask the press:
“If this was 1976 and I was a male first term governor of Georgia named Jimmy Carter running for top of the ticket, would the left be questioning my qualifications?”
“If this was 2004 and I was a first term Senator of North Carolina named John Edwards, would the left be questioning my qualifications to be VP?”
“If I was male and my spouse had terminal cancer and we had two small children, would the left be questioning my ability to handle job and family?”
“If I was a male Senator for 35 years and history had proven me wrong on almost every vote I made on every issue, would the left be questioning my judgement and leadership?”
bada bing
This is nonsense. His campaign is the only one with the resources that have been needed to dig up all this mud they're throwing at Governor Palin.
The author misses the boat by giving Obama a free pass. Anyone who thinks, in the modern political age, that the Obama Camp does not have his attack machine pushing the Palin hits is full on delusional.
The MSM has their Palin flopped stories already written and ready to go. (I really hope she goes after the media)
Remember how we cheered when Tony Snow took out Diva Man?
“wishful thinking”
you said it. it seems that the republicans have no stomache for the rhetorical “war” that the left has been engaged in. (it might better be called the opening verbal salvos of a long, relentless move toward leftist revolution.)
IMHO
RE: ...would the left be questioning my qualifications?”
If she is speaking to the press she should change the reference to the "left" and direct her accusations directly to the press, as in "would you and your colleagues in the press be questioning my qualifications?".
The sad fact is that most Americans, unlike Freepers, still aren't truly aware of the ideological cultural war with the left. They are aware, however, of how truly corrupt, biased and dishonest the media is. The left is of course the driving force behind all this, but just referencing "the left" would allow the MSM to side-step the fact that they are the ones who are acting as the willing propagandists for "the left".
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