Doing Time at the Republican National Convention-Day 3

By Ron Kuby

Tim Einenkel

So much more Sarah Palin news--every hour brings a different, scary, or just plain weird nugget. Mayor Sarah Palin trying to ban books from the Wasilla library; then attempting to fire the librarian for refusing. Sarah Palin on shock jock radio giggling while her opponent is called a "bitch" and a "cancer."

Or Sarah Palin's pastor problem--her fundamentalist pastor announces that Alaska will be a refugee during the "last days," while Sarah Palin stands on stage. Previously, he announced that critics of George Bush will go to hell (see u there--bring hotdogs). Or Sarah Palin calling the faithful to prayer for a gas pipeline. A gas pipeline??? Where is that in scripture. Jesus had remarkably little to say about the comparative merits of gas versus oil, or even green technology, for that matter. Oh, and Sarah Palin invoking the Allmighty in support of the Iraq War--now that's a change! Or my particular favorite--Sarah Palin using her line item veto to cut funding for......................
teen pregnancy programs. Cannot make this stuff up.

Alas, as I mentioned yesterday on the show, it appears that the story that Sarah Palin was a member of the Alaska Independence Party, which supported secession with the catchy phrase Alaska First!, was incorrect. Oh yeah, and George Bush told a half-empty convention, via statellite, that John McCain was ready to lead America.

Alfalafool in Philly comments:

The GOP is once again putting their twisted morals and mentality on full display.

At the height of spin regarding McCain's absurd choice of a VP running mate, the family of Sarah Palin chooses to announce the big news about their daughter Bristol -- and it is done in a most peculiar, ill-advised manner.

The announcement came in a way that defies valued traditions and flies in the face of family privacy, not to mention shooting themselves in the foot.

Incredibly, they fueled the fires of suspicion completely on their own by using such language that put Bristol's pregnancy BEFORE mention of her upcoming marriage:

"Our daughter is pregnant... "

Who even thought to ask about this before the Palins made the announcement?

"Oh, and, don't worry, she says she's going to get married at some point."

Didn't they think that the manner of language used to break this story would only emphasizes the illegitimacy of Bristol's pregnancy?

Didn't anyone consider for one second that they could have easily cut off any and all controversy by turning the announcement into one big happy occasion by making it an announcement of the upcoming church wedding for Bristol and Levi?

Where the heck was Karl Rove during the decision-making process?

Where I came from - a traditional nuclear family in America's heartland - if your daughter is knocked up you generally do NOT make that part of the wedding announcement.

The REASON a person is getting married, no matter what it is, is nobody's business unless YOU MAKE IT THEIR BUSINESS.

Sarah Palin, a newly minted national political figure, suddenly under intense scrutiny by everyone on earth, made the choice to announce her daughter's unplanned pregnancy -- and then the yet-unscheduled wedding as an afterthought.

She chose this moment to put this out there and dared us all to say something about it.

Is it too much of a stretch to say that Palin (not to mention her political party) would have been better served had she decided to announce that Bristol and Levi were going to wed... and leave it at that?

The question of why or how or anything else about the couple's life would have then been what they should have been: an intrusion into their private family business.

Whether Bristol Palin is pregnant or not really is none of our business but the fact that her mother made the announcement when and how she did is our business. It is our job to judge Sarah Palin at this time.

As the electorate we are duty-bound to judge her character as a candidate for national office and we have every right to judge her on what she may have done for reasons of political expediency as opposed to private reasons pertaining to her family.

Traditional Family Values dictate that couples wed out of love, not convenience or political expediency or, gasp, as an afterthought to follow irresponsible sexual behavior that produces an unplanned unwanted pregnancy.

Sarah Palin opened her own can of worms. But We who question her judgment for doing so are told to eat them.

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