As many other election junkies on the right side of the isle, the past few days have been quite a roller coaster. The DNC wrapped up last week with some powerful speeches, Obama was boosted 8 points, McCain announced his running mate as Sarah Palin, Obama's "bump" decreased returning the candidates to a statistical tie, and finally three big revelations come from Palin 1) Palin is getting a lawyer due to the trooper-gate scandal (no she didn't have a state trooper pick up women for her to sleep with, that was the other trooper-gate involving a certain ex-prez of the Clinton persuasion) 2) Palin's husband had a DUI when he was 20 3) The big shocker, her 17 year old daughter is 5 months pregnant.
I have to say I feel a bit light headed with everything that has been going on. So I decided to do what most people under 30 do when there is something on thier mind; I blog.
First of all, let me say I have been a supporter of Palin as a possible VP for a while now (as a second choice after Bobby Jindal). I didn't know a ton about her, but from what I did see she seemed like a straight shooter with a lot of potential. I had pretty much ruled her out as a possibility weeks ago so when I heard that McCain had picked her I was shocked but excited. At the same time I was a little apprehensive about the fact that little was known about her. Most politicians (or people for that matter) have some skeletons in the closet but by the time they get to a VP nomination they have had to be be set out in the open and air out a bit. Palin is not so lucky. So now that her dirty laundry is spread all over the major news networks, what are we to think?

For me personally I don't care all that much about the first two. There is an active investigation into the who state trooper issue so I will let the professionals sort that out before I have an opinion and her husbands DUI was 4 years before they were married so it doesn't seem to really have a bearing on this election. As for the prenancy, that is a different issue. Obama has already come out and said that family is off limits and that he will not comment on this matter. Many other polical leaders are echoing his sentiments. But there are still many who say that Palin's position on abortion and sex education makes this an open issue. Personally I would disagree with both sides. I think there is most certainly room to discuss a politicians family if it directly pertains to their ability to lead or contradicts claims that they have made. On the other hand I disagree with Palin's critics because I don't feel that this situation meets the criteria I listed.
I have heard many people call Sarah Palin a hypocrit becuase she supports abstinence education and her daughter is pregnant at 17. This falls apart on several levels. First of all, Gov. Palin is not against contraception as many have claimed. She is pro-contraception but has opposed certain types of sex education. So I would hardly call this incident proof of hypocrisy. Now if she had helped her daughter get a secret abortion that would be a different issue, but she instead chose to support her daughter and encourage both her and the child's father to take responsibility for their actions rather than take a quick fix. That seems to be rather consistent.
Critics have also used this incident to try and prove Gov. Palin's views are wrong and have caused her daughter to end up in this situation. This isn't the first time I have heard people use this type of anecdotal evidence to criticize abstinence education. Even if it was true that Gov. Palin was an abstinence education only proponent (which she is not), the question I would ask is do you really think that Bristol Palin and her boyfriend did not know what a condom was? That somehow not having a class in school prevented them from all exposure to the concept of contraceptives? No, they made the same decision that numerous teens who have been through sex ed. made: to be an idiot and not use a condom even though they are fully aware of what they are and what they do. And since when does one case determine the success of a theory or program? Of course the same people throwing this around think that Obama's economic and energy plans make sense, so they obviously aren't good with numbers.
Finally, I don't want to let Gov. Palin off the hook. This situation does at least point towards some problems in her home but I cannot say anything more than that. I do not have enough information to say anything on that subject, nor is it my place to. The Palin family is dealing with this and I can only assume that there is much more going on privately than what they are stating publicly. But I can say that how Palin chooses to deal with this will be very telling. For now, I will continue to watch and wish the best for Gov. Palin and her family.

Minor point: I'd call them idiots not for not using a condom, but for having sex outside of marriage to begin with. I'd hate for someone to extrapolate that you approve of premarital sex as long as it's "safe" sex.

I was on an anti-feminist website earlier today, and I found an interesting comment being made that Sarah Palin is cruel to allow her daughter's failings to be aired in front of the whole world, and that she's being hypocritical by showing a face of support for her daughter as if what her daughter did wasn't wrong.

First of all, Palin has no say in whether this gets reported on, unless they were going to attempt a massive coverup... and secondly, I don't see how a mother condemning her child in front of the entire country is less cruel! I don't know what this particular blogger expected of Palin, but when something like this happens, it's pretty useless to remind everyone what a dumbass your kid was to get pregnant in the first place. I'm sure as a mother she's disappointed that her child made a bad decision to have sex before marriage, but as a pro-life candidate, I think she did the best thing she could have to support her daughter and call the child a BLESSING (instead of a curse, to quote a certain other candidate).