I'm with Ross Douthat, who's getting ever angrier about the way the left is treating Sarah Palin. Ross highlights this mighty blog post from law prof Kenneth Anderson. Excerpt:
The issue is finally about class, yes? But class defined in a peculiarly elastic way. If the Palins were Democrats, it would be pathbreaking stuff. Of course, it would have required at least one, preferably two, abortions along the way to prove themselves worthy of their social betters and show that they, like the Obamas, understand what Proper People do when their Daughters Make Mistakes. Could one imagine my daughter's elite private schools, bastions of upper middle class progressivism - and what will be, certainly, the Obama's schools if they come to DC - Sidwell Friends or National Cathedral School making accommodations for a pregnant girl: all anyone would be asking, openly or not, why are you putting us in this embarrassing position, why didn't you do the decent thing and quietly have an abortion; Schools Like This don't have Girls Like That. Anyway, doesn't she have some brothers or male cousins to supervise her honor and haul her off to the abortionist? We're feminists, after all, and while we don't care about virginity, and are especially in favor of Unconventional Families and all, by golly we sure do care about inappropriate pregnancy.But, that bits-of-tissue-down-the-memory-hole done, a Democrat version of the Palins would be great for the party, a bit of genuine working stiff, union family, small town - all good.
Since they're not Democrats, however, this is like sending the Clampetts to the White House.
Are we going to have a red-hot culture war over this? Fine, let's have one. Lock and load. This is all about the left defending the sexual revolution and the Culture of Death, no matter what.
Don't misunderstand me: there are plenty of good reasons not to vote for Sarah Palin, and to think she was a poor choice of running mates. I understand that. I honor it, truly. But that's not what this tempest these past few days has been about. It's been about putting Palin and women like her, and people like her, in their place. For every action there is an equal and positive reaction. Remember that.
UPDATE: My language was too harsh above, and I apologize to you who felt personally affronted by my tone. I don't want to have a culture war over Palin. It seems clear to me, though, that this is exactly what many on the left, and in the mainstream media, are determined to push. I agree that Palin is a problematic candidate in many ways, and I wouldn't blame someone for deciding not to vote for a ticket with her on it. What I'm trying to get across here is that events of the past few days have revealed that the left -- not everyone on the left, but some on the left -- is bound and determined to destroy Sarah Palin for the crime of being a pro-life woman. I've found the level of spite to be so jarring that it's moving me from being anti-McCain, to cautiously optimistic about McCain-Palin, to approaching a point where I feel almost obligated to vote for McCain-Palin to spite those trying to destroy her.
This is coming from a position of emotion, and I know I'll think more clearly about this once these heated first days of her candidacy subside. Still, I had thought we were beyond this, and that the people spreading the garbage about Palin would be marginalized in the same way the "Obama is a Muslim" haters have been by the respectable right. Maybe we'll yet see that. Or maybe we really are a country with irreconcilable differences.
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Do you contend that un-wed teenage pregnancies only happen in screwed up families?
I contend un-wed teengage pregnancies happen in families where there is something not working correctly. Every family has its problems--I know mine does--but the original point in my my original post was that I was weary of social conservatives moralizing and judging when they are incapable of managing their own families.
If one of my daughters ended up pregnant, I would consider it a parenting failure. I assume my daughters are virgins. I haven't attended any creepy virginity dance-ritual to try to guarantee it, I know the kinds of values and decision making they have and should they make the poor decision to begin having sex, I also know they are equipped with the understanding to make responsible decisions.
"Do you contend that un-wed teenage pregnancies only happen in screwed up families?"
Sometimes nothing you do works. However, what I have seen over time, is that in families where both parents are gone all the time, where the children are not a priority, there is more acting out by the kids. Spending time with your kids, where you live, (especially having extended family nearby), who you choose as friends all contribute. Just from a statistical basis, I am betting that it is more likely the Palin teen getting pregnant represents a family where the parents were not as available as needed.
Question back at you. Do you contend that if both parents spend every night out drinking OR every night working OR every night involved in political activities, their will be no difference in outcome for their children. Does parenting matter at all?
Steve
Locked and loaded and waiting for the order, sir.
If I understand correctly, the MSM and the Left are being conflated here. If that's the case, it seems to me that the important question is, what is newsworthy?
The pregnancy is newsworthy because social conservatives want not only to tell us what to do, but what to believe, and even occasionally who to be (or not to be). No matter the self-fulfilling meme that they are victims in today's America, outcasts in a world shaped by liberal elites, they still want to impose their vision on everyone else. So when Palin comes along with this Do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do story, it's relevant.
The hooplah over the media coverage is nonsensical. Who Sarah Palin is is 100% relevant to the electorate, because she may be the VP, next in line to an old man of questionable health. It's the media's job to fill us in. What she believes is completely relevant. McCain's judgment in selecting her is absolutely germane, because we have to decide whether to elect him president. Questions about her electability aren't sexist; we are in an election and they're topical. Duh.
Nice spin job from the McCain campaign and its proxies, who are screaming about fairness and scaring the media into silence about these important topics. Once again, the loud, aggressive types are winning the argument.
Agreed, JimN. It occured to me this morning that the hysteria about the MSM and the Left by certain segments of "the conservative base" is identical to what happens when people like Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton and their followers blow a small misstatement (as in the use of an unfortunate adjective such as "niggardly") into a major instance of racism.
It is exactly the same thing, but human nature being what it is, it seems conservatives don't recognize it in themselves when they play the "victim" card.
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