Is Sarah Palin’s Family An Issue to Be Discussed?

Now I’ve heard the Obama campaign comes down hard against any criticism regarding the family of Sarah Palin. I have also read the opinions of others, including of those in the blogosphere, who think that this is holy ground that shall not be desecrated.

I think that Republicans just love it when we Democrats exhibit some humanity and our ever-popular tendency to keep to the high road. They love it because the high road has not felt the footfalls of a Republican for years and years.

Republicans have carved out their niche in the mud and they are very unapologetic about it. It works for them and has worked for them in the past.

For instance, Republicans, mainly southerners, are not above calling Barack Obama “uppity.” That word was actually used by Georgia Republican Rep. Lynn Westmoreland today to describe Obama. Other less crass Republicans substitute the codeword “elitist” when they refer to Obama or his wife.

John McCain owns eight houses, but Barack Obama is elitist.

And finally, earlier this year, in April, Kentucky Republican Rep. Geoff Davis (R) said this of Obama:

“I’m going to tell you something: That boy’s finger does not need to be on the button. He could not make a decision in that simulation that related to a nuclear threat to this country.”

Even in the 21st century, Republicans will utter racial slurs, the lowest form of demagoguery.

But Sarah Palin’s family is off limits.

Says who?

That Sarah Palin has had a child with Down syndrome, and she knew it would be afflicted with this disability, but chose not to have an abortion because of her religious beliefs is an issue. Now this was her choice to make. At least the state did not step in and say to her that she shall have an abortion because her child will be mentally and physically disabled. But here it is: the choice that Sarah Palin made is not something Sarah Palin wants to let any other woman have.

It is just as paternalistic for a government to demand a woman have an abortion as it is that they demand that she not have an abortion.

But McCain/Palin Republicans think that the government has a right to keep their hands on women’s uteruses, and if elected McCain will bring an end to legal abortion through Supreme Court appointments.

Governor Palin’s daughter is pregnant and unmarried. That is not an issue to discuss. What is at issue is that she may have been put in that position by a mother whose total contraception program is abstinence. Just say no. Sex education in the schools? No way, says Palin. Just say no.

What amazes me is that Palin’s own daughter is a poster child for just how poorly that contraception program goes over with teenagers with raging hormones, and this fact hasn’t fazed Palin at all.

And what about how Governor Palin receives the news that her dear daughter is pregnant by her 17-year old boyfriend? What about her sheer nonchalance when she made the “Bristol is pregnant” announcement praising her good sense? Doesn’t this send the wrong signal to millions of teenagers? Premarital sex, it seems, is good if you a) don’t use contraceptives b) carry the resultant fetus to full term, and c) marry the horny little b*$&ard who caused the whole mess.

Does Governor Palin know the statistics for teenage marriage? Marriage at the point of a shotgun?

This just goes beyond the pale. This is all about the judgment of a potential Vice-President of the United States. And by extension, it is all about the judgment of a potential President, the one who picked her out of the line-up.

No, I’m sorry, Sarah Palin’s family is a subject for discussion. Not for titillation, but as a means to arrive at a judgment of whether Sarah Palin is someone who is fit to serve in high office.