NYT on Sarah Palin - One of These Things Is Not Like the Others

From The New York Times:

ST. PAUL - A series of disclosures about Gov. Sarah Palin, Senator John McCain’s choice as running mate, called into question on Monday how thoroughly Mr. McCain had examined her background before putting her on the Republican presidential ticket.

On Monday morning, Ms. Palin and her husband, Todd, issued a statement saying that their 17-year-old unmarried daughter, Bristol, was five months pregnant and that she intended to marry the father.

Among other less attention-grabbing news of the day: it was learned that Ms. Palin now has a private lawyer in a legislative ethics investigation in Alaska into whether she abused her power in dismissing the state’s public safety commissioner; that she was a member for two years in the 1990s of the Alaska Independence Party, which has at times sought a vote on whether the state should secede; and that Mr. Palin was arrested 22 years ago on a drunken-driving charge.

Why is her daughter’s pregnancy even on this list? I doubt that Sarah Palin got Bristol pregnant. Whatever your views on pregnancy out of wedlock, is Bristol’s pregnancy really in any way equal to the items in the next paragraph (except for the bit about Mr. Palin drunk driving—again, how exactly does this raise questions about Sarah Palin?)? I wonder if this list was created for the old Sesame Street song/game, One of These Things Is Not Like the Others.

Personally, I find Bristol’s pregnancy interesting because it proves to me that abstinence only education is a failure (I’m assuming—and I could be wrong—that Bristol was raised on abstinence only stuff). But is her pregnancy shocking? Scandalous? Does it raise issues about Sarah Palin that even compare with the ethics investigation or the AIP? Not even close.

tags: election08  palin  

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