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Bristol Palin’s Pregnancy Reveals the Left’s True Colors
National Review ^ | 07/02/2015 | David French

Posted on 07/02/2015 7:50:48 AM PDT by SeekAndFind

Let me begin by clearly stating my biases — I like the Palins. They are dear family friends. My wife, Nancy, worked with Sarah on her most recent book, she worked with Bristol on her book, she edits Bristol’s blog on Patheos, and I represented Bristol in a lawsuit — when a man sued her after he profanely accosted her at a bar. (He lost.) In the years since my wife first flew to Wasilla to meet the Palins and work with Bristol, I’ve seen just a fraction of the non-stop hatred and vitriol directed at the family.

Much of the hatred is quite public — and publicized. Imagine, for a moment, how you’d feel if a hostile journalist quite literally moved next door to monitor your family. Then there are the periodic stalkers — including one who recently invaded Bristol’s home. Like many celebrities, the Palins live in a world where people can make money by selling rumors about them. And the press is all-too-eager to humiliate them.

So, while it hasn’t been much noted in conservative press, it should surprise no one that the liberal side of the Internet has virtually melted down over the news that Bristol Palin is pregnant. Crowing over the unwed pregnancy of an “abstinence advocate,” many on the left aren’t letting the facts — or their alleged principles — get in the way of a good mocking. To be very clear, while Bristol has said that she aspired to abstinence herself after becoming pregnant as a teen and experiencing the challenges of teen motherhood, she’s also advocated both abstinence and birth control as means of preventing teen pregnancy — even cutting a Public Service Announcement with an MTV reality star where she supported abstinence, he supported contraception, and they agreed that both methods kept kids from having kids.

This nuance is of course lost in the avalanche of mockery, always justified by the ever-present reminder that, “She has a blog” or “She puts herself in the public eye” — as if rules of decency simply no longer apply if you appear on television or write on the Internet. Yet it’s always worth remembering that the Left’s principles are situational, as the Palins know better than most.

Crowing over the unwed pregnancy of an ‘abstinence advocate,’ many on the Left aren’t letting the facts — or their alleged principles — get in the way of a good mocking. Remember how it’s important to #BelieveAllWomen when they tell stories of date rape or sexual assault? Not when the woman in question is Bristol Palin. When she wrote in her book of her first, drunken encounter with Levi Johnston, noted sex columnist Dan Savage wrote, “It’s just that Bristol’s story — which comes so long after her two broken engagements to Levi — is the kind of self-exonerating bullshit that scared teenagers offer up to parents and other authority figures when it’s just their good-girl reputations and saving-myself-for-marriage self-images that are on the line.”

Remember how it’s beyond the pale to joke about violence against women? Yet when taped evidence emerged that Bristol was physically beaten at a party and dragged through the mud by her attacker, CNN’s Carol Costello called the police recording of a hysterically crying Bristol “quite possibly the best minute and a half of audio we’ve ever come across” and urged readers to “sit back and enjoy.”

Remember when Rush Limbaugh was so out of bounds for calling Sandra Fluke a “slut” that President Obama himself called to see if she was okay? Well, Bristol is still waiting for the president’s call after his million-dollar-donor Bill Maher crassly declared years ago that Bristol was “f***ked so hard, a baby fell out.”

But few things top Gawker’s latest – a piece declaring that Bristol “made a great argument for abortion” when she announced her second pregnancy. That announcement, which expressed the pain of letting down family and friends, also declared her resolve and her trust in God, ending with “Tripp, this new baby, and I will all be fine, because God is merciful.”

As we ponder this level of hate, it’s worth remembering the Original Sin that put Sarah, Bristol, and the entire family in the Left’s crosshairs — in 2008, Sarah Palin stood in the way of The One. For a very brief time, after McCain selected Palin as his running mate and after Palin’s convention speech, McCain actually pulled ahead of Obama.

Palin, the key to McCain’s resurgence, had to be destroyed. It’s not worth recounting here the avalanche of lies and vitriol that poured down on Governor Palin. I’ve followed politics for a long time, and I’ve never seen anything like the combination of leftist hate and Republican-insider betrayal that Sarah Palin endured. The attacks went beyond politics to include a targeted effort to financially ruin the Palin family.

After Obama won in 2008, Palin didn’t do what the Left demanded — slink off, defeated, into obscurity. Instead, she (and Bristol) used their public platforms to continue to advocate for their beliefs and values. So the destruction continues, and it will continue until the Left gets what it wants — which is for the Palins to simply “go away.”

The Christian experience so often means trying, failing, and repenting. We don’t all fail in the same ways, but we all fail. Sometimes, we even fail to try. The grace of God gives us not just the humility to acknowledge failure and disappointment but also the resolve to face an uncertain or intimidating future. I’ve admired Bristol and the rest of her family for enduring hatred I can’t imagine confronting in my own life, and I’ve appreciated Bristol’s longstanding willingness to publicly and honestly own up to her own failings.

Despite the Left’s best efforts, Bristol has actually built a large and loyal following, people who mainly appreciate her strong voice for life. So, no, she’s not “going away.” In true Palin fashion, she’ll persevere — and if the Left doesn’t like it, they don’t have to watch.

— David French is an attorney and a staff writer at National Review.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: abortion; bristolpalin; fakefreepers; getpalin; left; palin; pds; pregnancy; sarahpalin; waronsarah
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To: SeekAndFind; All
Bristol Palin needs to keep her knees crossed and her mouth closed. She's just another baby momma, who pops em’ out with this guy and that, and loves to tell the world all about it via social media. She's a perfect example of what is morally wrong with people today, young people in particular. There is no respect for the sanctity of marriage, and then childbirth, which should come afterward, not before. Quite frankly, my dear Bristol, I don't give a damn about your life and all its twists and turns. This country has bigger fish to fry. Your Mother has my respect and admiration. Stop being a rebel, Bristol. Give your Mother the respect she deserves, and take the time to learn from her on how to conduct yourself properly and with class.
21 posted on 07/02/2015 8:31:05 AM PDT by itssme
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To: Ben Ficklin

Abstinence works 100% of the time it is practiced.


22 posted on 07/02/2015 8:52:20 AM PDT by aquila48
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To: aquila48

Aspirin also works for sexually active, unmarried young women.
Take one aspirin pill, put it between the knees, then hold it there.


23 posted on 07/02/2015 9:13:53 AM PDT by tumblindice (America's founding fathers: all armed conservatives.)
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To: tumblindice
Aspirin also works for sexually active, unmarried young women. Take one aspirin pill, put it between the knees, then hold it there.

If my tally is correct, I wish to congratulate you for being the 666th FReeper to post a version of this insight regarding Palin's oldest daughter.
24 posted on 07/02/2015 9:18:42 AM PDT by Resettozero
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To: SeekAndFind

Having worked so hard to make a public figure out of herself she doesn’t get to suddenly complain she has no privacy.


25 posted on 07/02/2015 9:22:25 AM PDT by DoodleDawg
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To: TangibleDisgust

“...she made a mistake...” Yes, THE SAME MISTAKE TWICE!


26 posted on 07/02/2015 9:25:46 AM PDT by AEMILIUS PAULUS
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To: Resettozero

Yes, ain’t it incredible that some women are so thick you can tell them this that many times and they continue to show up on their parents’ doorstep, drunk, soaking wet and knocked-up?


27 posted on 07/02/2015 9:30:43 AM PDT by tumblindice (America's founding fathers: all armed conservatives.)
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To: SeekAndFind

One can actually see the truth of the Left in every of their spoken projections.

It’s all about them, and that’s therefore what they talk about. Themselves.


28 posted on 07/02/2015 9:30:52 AM PDT by rockinqsranch ((Dems, Libs, Socialists, call 'em what you will. They ALL have fairies livin' in their trees.))
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To: AEMILIUS PAULUS
As do we all in one area or another. We have dreams, women are more emotionally responding than men. Not always but most of the time.

There is truth and there is the twisting, of the truth, and then the denigrating of the truth. All of which has been imposed on the Palin's.

Sarah is simply smart, strong in faith, brave, and willing to speak common sense and hopefully she will do more than support the best candidates she sees, which is good.

Sarah has stood up well under fire from the left, the medias, and severe criticism. She has my vote if and when she decides to run for office again.

29 posted on 07/02/2015 9:46:38 AM PDT by geologist
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To: Snickering Hound

It would do us all to remember Christ’s admonition: “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” John 8:7


30 posted on 07/02/2015 10:15:24 AM PDT by NTHockey (Rules of engagement #1: Take no prisoners. And to the NSA trolls, FU)
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To: SeekAndFind

Oh no! This is the perfect cue for PDS trolls to crawl out of the woodwork to trash Gov Palin’s family...


31 posted on 07/02/2015 10:23:04 AM PDT by SarahPalinForPresident2012 (And 2016 as well)
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To: NTHockey

And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.
John 8:11


32 posted on 07/02/2015 10:25:47 AM PDT by tumblindice (America's founding fathers: all armed conservatives.)
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To: itssme

You said...
“Bristol Palin needs to keep her knees crossed and her mouth closed. She’s just another baby momma, who pops em’ out with this guy and that, and loves to tell the world all about it via social media. She’s a perfect example of what is morally wrong with people today, young people in particular. There is no respect for the sanctity of marriage, and then childbirth, which should come afterward, not before. Quite frankly, my dear Bristol, I don’t give a damn about your life and all its twists and turns. This country has bigger fish to fry. Your Mother has my respect and admiration. Stop being a rebel, Bristol. Give your Mother the respect she deserves, and take the time to learn from her on how to conduct yourself properly and with class. “.

Couldn’t have said it better.


33 posted on 07/02/2015 10:28:09 AM PDT by LMAO (("Begging hands and Bleeding hearts will only cry out for more"...Anthem from Rush))
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To: DoodleDawg; All
“Having worked so hard to make a public figure out of herself she doesn’t get to suddenly complain she has no privacy.”

I've said before I don't keep up with Bristol or any other Palin. They have their own lives to live. However, now I'm reading these articles that Bristol has been pushing herself into the public arena, including on that dance contest thingy, making money giving speeches about abstinence, and now, once again, she is pregnant, no husband.

I don't blame the left (or right, either) for chastising her about another out of wedlock pregnancy while making money giving speeches about being abstinent. At this point, I doubt she was ever abstaining.

Since I hadn't kept up with this girl, I decided to find out about her before I made a comment on this thread. I have just read her interviews with major news networks covering a number of years, interviews about her first out of wedlock pregnancy, the book she wrote which has frank sexual content in the first chapter; I heard HER talk, not what someone said she said.

I looked for the amount of money she has racked up since she took herself public, and it ranges from hundreds of thousands just making speeches about abstinence for the Candies Foundation, to a million dollars. I also read she charges $30,000 for making a speech.

She is using her private life to make money. Another out of wedlock pregnancy is bringing more public exposure and she is using it to make more money as news networks are now keen to interview her about this new pregnancy since it violated her previous money making stance of abstinence.

Her comment about this new pregnancy is, “”Please respect Tripp's and my privacy during this time,” she asked. “I do not want any lectures and I do not want any sympathy.”

Okay, I've done my research and I conclude she is the “right wing” “Kardashian” - exposing her private life for cash.

34 posted on 07/02/2015 10:42:04 AM PDT by Marcella (TED CRUZ Prepping can save your life today. Going Galt is freedom.)
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To: LMAO
Bristol Palin needs to keep her knees crossed and her mouth closed. She’s just another baby momma, who pops em’ out with this guy and that, and loves to tell the world all about it via social media. She’s a perfect example of what is morally wrong with people today, young people in particular. There is no respect for the sanctity of marriage, and then childbirth, which should come afterward, not before

Couldn't have said it better.

35 posted on 07/02/2015 10:49:18 AM PDT by Marathoner (Cruz or Lose 2016)
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To: NTHockey

Never takes long for casting stones at those you accuse of casting stones.

36 posted on 07/02/2015 10:53:34 AM PDT by Snickering Hound
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To: CaptainAmiigaf

The Palins are so bad with a new grand child on the way. The Kennedys are so good with boot lagers, woman killers and drunks.


37 posted on 07/02/2015 10:55:48 AM PDT by lostboy61 (Lock and Load and stand your ground!.)
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To: Snickering Hound

And they’ll do it just for the halibut!
I would not be so all alone, everybody ...


38 posted on 07/02/2015 10:58:04 AM PDT by tumblindice (America's founding fathers: all armed conservatives.)
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Comment #39 Removed by Moderator

To: lostboy61
You said...
“The Palins are so bad with a new grand child on the way. The Kennedys are so good with boot lagers, woman killers and drunks.”

So because some of us frown on the Palin girl for having another out of wedlock baby, that must mean we support the Kennedy's??
Brilliant!! Absolutely brilliant!! Maybe some of us find our conservatism more important that a cult of personality

40 posted on 07/02/2015 11:07:22 AM PDT by LMAO (("Begging hands and Bleeding hearts will only cry out for more"...Anthem from Rush))
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