A question of judgment…
So, let me get this straight. Her teenage son is about to be deployed to Iraq, she has a four month old baby with special needs AND her sixteen year old daughter is having unprotected sex and is pregnant (no word yet on how old the baby daddy is), but Sarah Palin thinks this is the right time to be away from her family for the next two months travelling to Ohio and Pennsylvania? And then possibly uprooting the whole brood half way across the world to Washington. Dude. Forget the Vice Presidency, I’m starting to think Alaska Child Services needs to pay the Palins a visit.
September 1st, 2008 at 2:11 pm
What does the teenage son have to do with it? He’s already left home.
September 1st, 2008 at 2:28 pm
Younger kids scared that their brother is going to die, boy himself wanting to talk to his mommy, any number of things…it’s a big change for the whole family, do they need more?
September 1st, 2008 at 7:24 pm
I promise you that our friends on “the other side” will find a way to paint this in such a way that it makes the Palin’s the model of the American Nuclear family.
September 1st, 2008 at 8:34 pm
Oh man… I hope, for the sake of national security, that not many 18-year-old soldiers in the U.S. army need to talk to their mommy, though I’m guessing she has a cell phone. But the more interesting thing here is that you seem to be taking the opposite of the Michael Moore view: politicians’ children *shouldn’t* go into the military, because it causes too much stress all around.
September 1st, 2008 at 8:38 pm
You wouldn’t be saying any of this if Palin was a man.
“Sarah Palin must stay home with her special needs baby. Sarah Palin must stay home with her about-to-be-married, pregnant daughter. Ladies: Put your career on hold until everything in you’re family stops happening… Would a man forgo his career to be there for a family member who is experiencing an important life transition?”- Ann Althouse
September 1st, 2008 at 8:50 pm
hahahahaha…right, that’s just like me… always giving the men a free pass.
September 1st, 2008 at 8:54 pm
Hey Edwards did even better than staying home, he set up an entirely new one. To what address do I send his prize?
September 1st, 2008 at 8:58 pm
Karol,
Gender has nothing to do with it. There are certainly men who would put there careers on hold to deal with crisis in their family, just as there are women who would not. But I daresay there is a distinction to be drawn between the demands of the average profession and campaigning for the Vice Presidency of the United States. I question Palin’s judgment in this case just as I question Biden’s 35 years ago.
September 1st, 2008 at 9:17 pm
I don’t think Biden campaigned in the aftermath, Rick. I think he just started the job he got elected to.
September 1st, 2008 at 9:29 pm
I’m always amazed at the powerful opinions regarding parenthood held by those who know so little about it. Being a conservative, I know that nobody loves her children like she does, and am content for her to make the calls. Life tends not to be perfect. Maturity and responsibility teach one that. A wise man once said, “Parents don’t make children. Children make parents.”
September 1st, 2008 at 11:24 pm
“Parents don’t make children. Children make parents.â€
Ah yes, another gem from blockhead. Parents are supposed to make children. Hello? Unfortunately, too many children are becoming parents. (Oh, and this is from someone who has two children.)
I agree with Karol, unfortunately we’re not there yet. Thus, I also agree with Rick. I would prefer my husband stay home with a child, but given our financial situation – one where I work as hard and at much the same level as he does for a different industry – that’s not a possibility. I believe he would be the better stay-at-home parent by far. But *meh* such is life. And oddly I’m not so bitter about it. I will do my best to change it, but I don’t see my company giving me a 60% raise anytime soon, and I would prefer to see my child grow up, if there is another one, before my eyes.
Wake me up in 2050 and let me know if we’ve reached the point where I can share raising a child with my husband.
September 1st, 2008 at 11:31 pm
Charles,
I know — but if my wife and daughter had just died, I would not want to be spending 3 hours a day on a train when I could be spending it with my surviving sons.
-M.
September 1st, 2008 at 11:35 pm
Kids gotta eat…single widowhood only pays alot if your spouse died on 9/11.
September 1st, 2008 at 11:44 pm
“Blockhead”, oh my goodness. Are you PMS’ing? Wipe the froth from your mouth and take a nap.
September 1st, 2008 at 11:50 pm
Would you be asking this question if Palin was a man?
September 1st, 2008 at 11:51 pm
Would you be asking this question if it was Obama making these annoucements instead of Palin?
September 1st, 2008 at 11:57 pm
Me and Lucy van Pelt have a psychotherapy booth on the corner of I’m right and you’re wrong. Come see us. Only $.05.
September 2nd, 2008 at 12:07 am
That’s good. You can take turns with each other, not that you’ll get anywhere.
September 2nd, 2008 at 5:27 am
Why is it Bristol needs so much of mom’s help? She’s old enough to take care of the baby, and she’ll have the father’s help (I think they’re actually married now). You know that “it takes a village to raise a child” stuff is sort of a metaphor, right? And Palin is the governor of Alaska. I’m sure she has resources to call on in that position that are unavailable to your average grandmother.
Do Democrats realize this line of attack is gonna piss off every mother who ever went back to work after her child was born? I hope not, since Obama is a bit loopy to be president.
September 2nd, 2008 at 10:48 am
Pokerwolf,
Absolutely. I hate shitty dads almost more than I hate paying time at Mohegan. Yet another reason I think McCain is a dirtbag. Or John Edwards for that matter. I had really a good mother who didnt have much in terms of money or education and yet I graduated from high school without a baby or any stds nd managed to graduate from college. This woman, who, let’s face it, burst on to the national scene saying really three things “i am a mother who had a special needs baby even tho i knew, two, i am a mother who has a boy going to iraq nd i’m a reformer who bucks my party.” So, you can’t get mad that I m looking at her as a mother and im seeing a woman with every advantage who is 0-2 in getting her 18 yr old kids to matriculate at college or protect themselves when getting it on.
September 2nd, 2008 at 11:42 am
You have unresolved abandonment issues. They color your life. You should do something about that.
September 2nd, 2008 at 3:21 pm
Senate life in 1972 was quite different than it is today. Biden probably had a lot of flexibility to attend to his two boys – his extended family probably helped out a great deal and the boys home life remained where it was before the accident. Biden probably saw his kids more than if he had returned to private practice (yes he did have to make a living somehow). The fact was he was the family breadwinner. I don’t think that Biden’s decision was in any way similar to Palin’s CHOICE to accept McCain’s offer. I very much doubt that Biden would have embarked on a VP campaign a short time after his wife’s fatal accident. But Palin willingly thinks that a grueling national campaign is exactly what her family needs at a time when it is obvious her family is showing serious strains from her naked political ambition (why is her son not in college? why is her daughter out of school for 4-5 months?). If Palin is willing to sacrifice her kids to her political career why wouldn’t she sacrifice her country for her naked political ambition? Like say, invade a country which hasn’t attacked us, because of a beef its leader had with her father?