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…then I might actual give a rat’s behind about her pregnancy.

It’s unfortunate that the society that has been largely built over the last 50 years on the social philosophy of the extreme Left makes it so difficult for parents to keep their children from engaging in activities that lead to pregnancy.

Our basic concepts of right and wrong, and our extended desire to know all the dirt about people and those they relate to (remember Billy Carter?), drive us down the worst rabbit trails when it comes to discussing the most important issue of the day, namely, who should be President and Vice-President?

Said Sarah Palin and her husband (through the McCain campaign office):

“We have been blessed with five wonderful children who we love with all our heart and mean everything to us. 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. We’re proud of Bristol’s decision to have her baby and even prouder to become grandparents. As Bristol faces the responsibilities of adulthood, she knows she has our unconditional love and support.

“Bristol and the young man she will marry are going to realize very quickly the difficulties of raising a child, which is why they will have the love and support of our entire family. We ask the media to respect our daughter and Levi’s privacy as has always been the tradition of children of candidates.”

It speaks extrordinarily well for the Palins that they exude so much love and support for their 17-year-old daughter and exhibit so much anticipation for the arrival of their grandchild.  The fact that they succeeded in raising their children to respect life enough for Bristol to decide to keep the baby is itself amazing.  The fact that demonizing her parents (or rather, using this story to reflect badly on her parents) is a continuing sad chapter in our ability to make a big deal out of nothing.  That is, nothing from a “where are we going as a nation” point of view.  Obviously, this is something to the Palin family.

David Chung (HawkeyeGOP.com) had this to say:

All families face trials. The Palin family is facing this trial in the best possible way. They are supporting their daughter and future son-in-law and they are walking the pro-life walk by bringing this baby into the world.

Compare this to Barack Obama:

Look, I got two daughters — 9 years old and 6 years old. I am going to teach them first about values and morals, but if they make a mistake, I don’t want them punished with a baby.

Nice.

But the story here is not Bristol or Sarah.

The story is us and how we react to this news.

I suspect that if we had a similar story from the Obama or Biden families, the Right would be all over it.

But where do we draw the line when monitoring the lives of politicians?

Supporters of Bill Clinton would like us to stay out of the private activities of politicians themselves.  As would supporters of Eliot Spitzer.

I believe the personal lives of politicians are somewhat protected unless they involve the politician’s activities in the work environment, with members of their staff/team, actually involve or could involve breaking the law, or that give the appearance of real impropriaty (such as making or accepting bribes or favors).

Families are off-limits unless they seek the attention.

Daily Kos and others had already created a maelstrom this weekend with unsubstantiated rumors that lacked even the remotest credibility that Sarah had intentionally pretended to give birth to her 5th child and that the mother of that child is actually Bristol.  I find the behavior of the blogosphere on this to be offensive.  Though not unexpected.

It used to be said that the Press was vicious animal seeking to devour those in the public eye.  Seems to me that one does not need to be part of the traditional press to gain this level of “respect”.  I’m dreadfully afraid that this one issue risks preventing us from ever knowing anything of substance about Sarah Palin because no one will both to pursue real policy or behavior questions, but rather we’ll be led with a litany of half-baked questions about “what can other parents do since you failed?”.

Let’s move on.  Please.  We have just 2 months left.  There’s no point in wasting time on irrelevant discussions on topics like this.  Let’s get to the meat of it.

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