Pundits Ponder Whether Palin Had Postpartum Depression

In response to Larry's comment, I hope that most of us would consider attacking someone in about the lowest manner possible--questioning their mental health and vilifying them with the language of stigma. This is something that people of good will, regardless of political persuasion, should be able to unite on.

I was still in high school (and still blissfully ignorant of mental health issues) when Thomas Eagleton was forced to withdraw from the Democratic ticket in 1972 due to mental health issues. I just refreshed my memory at Wikipedia, and it appears to me that there was genuine concern as to whether he could function effectively as Vice-President and possibly as President, should the Democratic ticket have won. What I read in Purdum's article was not such a legitimate concern, but a personal attack intended to marginalize and discredit a potential future Presidential candidate by the use of the language of mental health stigma. That's not a good thing whether one agrees with the person or not.

The Vanity FAir article referenced here was an obvious and vitrolic article attacking the former vice-presidential candidate in a most churlish and contentious manner....hardly a credible source for a professional discussion of a serious illness. If Govenor Palin was in serious depression at the time how would this author know and since she was constantly in the lime-light would have been impossible to cover-up. This is just mean speculation and hardly worthy of this blog. I am disappointed so see reference to it in Beyond Blue.

I think it's sad, and even scary, that people dismiss an article without even reading it, and label the article as an "attack" just because it contains negative quotes. Purdum himself was not labeling or attacking--he was quoting the words of people he interviewed.

Based on my observations of Palin's speeches, she has always struck me as erratic. Could this be post-partum based? Maybe. In her resignation speech her thoughts seemed incoherent and nonsensical. Is that still post-partum? I doubt it.

"Almost all of us are erratic at one time or another in our lives."

But the article, and this post, isn't about "almost all of us at one time or another in our lives." It's about a candidate for vice president of the U.S. It's apples and oranges to compare the erratic behavior of regular folks with that of someone like Palin who thinks she is qualified and able for such a high office.

The author is quoting from other people. These other people are commenting on their observations of Palin during the campaign. They observed things they thought was negative. So why does this make the article reporting it an "attack"?????