Bristol Palin, the 17-year-old daughter of Sarah Palin, is pregnant and will keep the baby and marry the baby’s father, the Republican vice presidential candidate said Monday.
John McCain was aware of Bristol Palin’s pregnancy before he chose her mother for his running mate, a top adviser to the Republican presidential candidate said.
The adviser, Doug Holtz-Eakin, said Monday that Palin “was completely vetted by the campaign” before she was chosen.
“Sen. McCain knew this and felt in no way did it disqualify her from being vice president,” said an aide who asked not to be named. “Families have difficulties sometimes and lucky for her she has a supportive family.”
The McCain aide emphasized that Bristol decided to keep the baby, a decision “supported by her parents.”
Senior McCain advisers said Palin told McCain about her daughter’s pregnancy in one of their “private conversations” last week before he officially asked her to run with her.
However, McCain aides said he already knew, having found out about it earlier in the vetting process.
“She was very upfront about it,” one aide insisted.
Asked how the unmarried teenager’s pregnancy would be received by the American people, another senior McCain adviser, Steve Schmidt, replied, “I don’t know; I’m not a psychic.”
Here’s my reaction: I don’t care.
It’s not relevent, and for heaven’s sake this girl is only 17- LEAVE HER ALONE!
The attempt to justify relevance here is that the Republican Party preaches “family values” while the VP’s teenage daughter is pregnant.
I honestly couldn’t care less. And I hope everyone else feels the same way.
-Tom
tom, i’m only kinda with you. while i think the girl should be left alone and her pregnancy really has no bearing on her mother’s candidacy or leadership skills, this is a big deal to a lot of people. we all like to cast stones, especially at political figures.
also – let’s get down to what is really the issue here. there is much controversy surrounding the birth of her son – and that he may really be her grandson. pictures don’t lie – and i’ve seen enough photos that make me think trig might really be bristol’s son. does that matter? i don’t really think so. i posted about this earlier this weekend and someone commented, calling it liberal garbage. it might be garbage, but it’s not liberal. if this had happened in the obama campaign, conservatives would have been ALL over it.
at the end of the day, a situation like this could happen in ANY american family, regardless of race, education level, income, location, party affiliation or religion. so that’s why it’s not a big deal.
the big deal here is if the palins are lying. on second thought, i guess that isn’t a big deal – it’s sadly the norm in politics. clinton lied. bush lied.
are there ANY honest politicians out there?
Jess, the announcement shows that Bristol could not be the mother of Sarah Palin’s youngest son because she was already pregnant before the birth. Her son is 4 months old and her daughter is more than 5 months pregnant.
rich, don’t forget the chinese said their gymnasts were 16…
people can say whatever they want – especially with due dates and actual birth dates in pregnancy.
i’m just sayin…
I agree with you Tom, however, if Palin were Obama’s running mate, McCain would have six ads attacking Palin out already. Don’t try and tell yourself otherwise.
I think Tyler’s earlier question about the effect a candidate’s child’s actions has on the way we see the candidate is perfectly legitimate. What doesn’t seem quite right is the fact that all afternoon this poor girl is having her name being drug around the media discussing her pregnancy. To be honest, I feel a bit guilty about doing it myself. This brings up an even greater question. Can a blog rumor potentially dislodge an election, especially if it is launched just before the vote? I can imagine individuals in the far right and left reaches could be considering doing something like this in an attempt to throw an election one way or the other. Simply because the media has begun reporting on Blog Rumors doesn’t make them real. I think that it’s time we all take a deep breath before becoming judgmental about blog rumors.
“I think that it’s time we all take a deep breath before becoming judgmental about blog rumors.”
Such as the blog rumor that Michael Moore praised “God” for interrupted the Republican National Convention with hurricane Gustav? Or maybe the blog rumor that Cliff Lyon and Michael Moore are the same person? I mean, apparently they each said the exact same thing in a letter to “God”, right Richard?
“I think that it’s time we all take a deep breath before becoming judgmental about blog rumors.”
Such as the blog rumor that Michael Moore praised “God” for interrupting the Republican National Convention with hurricane Gustav? Or maybe the blog rumor that Cliff Lyon and Michael Moore are the same person? I mean, apparently they each said the exact same thing in a letter to “God”, right Richard?
To help our readers, I should explain Don’s comments.
Don has been defending over at OneUtah.org, Michael Moore’s statement on MSNBC where he chuckles about hurricane Gustav hitting the gulf coast during the RNC. He also has been defending Cliff Lyon re-publishing Moore’s equally offensive prayer called “Dear God.” Don claims that both are simply a form of satire and also apparently believes that it is nothing more than knee slapping fun. Because it is true that Cliff Lyon only republished Moore’s statements without giving an editorial comment, I incorrectly referred to his post which likely led readers to believe that they were Lyons actual words. Of course I still contend that when a contributor re-publishes without adding a single statement for or against, the average reader would presume that the contributor agrees with the statement fully. I have long since appended my essay titled “Gustav During RNC Proof of God in Heaven?” to give proper credit.
How about you Don, do you still think Gustav during the RNC is funny?
Family values? Yes, we should discuss real family values. Palin stands for real family values and stands up against the most PC scams of our time while the most PC of politicians like Hillary, Obama and Biden support family shredding VAWA (Violence Against Women Act) in the name of being pro-family.
VAWA is pure political correctness and poison to the country, to the women it exploits and abuses and especially their children, and to the men and fathers it lies about and vilifies:
http://www.true-equality.org
Too bad Palin isn’t the presidential candidate here, a true woman, the one candidate among them all that we really would benefit from most. She is the lone one among them who is least afraid to be un-PC and really FOR THE PEOPLE.
Feminist groups are giving Palin a “zero” rating for this. That alone should clue us into this fact that she stands against the worst PC lies, abuses and scams of our time. NOW and other women’s groups attacked her directly for this over the weekend.
BTW, real women are on to the double standards and supremacy that NOW and related “women’s” groups are perpetrating in the feigned name of equality and anti-abuse. The ultimate wolves in sheep’s clothing…
I never said it was funny Richard. You still don’t get it.
On a personal level, I agree with Tom, it’s no one’s business.
On a political level, it plays Palin’s way…just one more reason for the “common person” to identify with her.
On a policy level, it could be problematic…although, so far, I don’t sense it is. Palin could get defensive and project her personal problem into public policy (which would be a huge mistake, but seems more common among politicians these days). She seems to project the opposite…i.e. no, we’re not pleased as parents, but what is done is done, we have it in control, our daughter will “make it right.” Who can’t repsect people who take personal responsibility for their decisions? (as opposed to our lefty friends who extol the virtues of “protection” and then blame orthoxdox religions for these unfortunate circumstances…who can respect anyone who would blame a personal decision on anyone else?)
That said, a teenage unwed mother is not “nothing.” It’s sad and unfortunate. In this case, she is fortunate that she comes from a solid family — proof again that family structure and a solid belief system are more important than the “love makes a family” hooey.
I think this is one of the problems the pro-life community has. On one hand we want to discourage sex outside of marriage but on the other hand we must embrace life when it occurs. Young girls that feel too much negative pressure because of an accidental pregnancy may be simultaneously pressured into having an abortion. Bristol Palin must have known that this was going to come to light and be widely reported, at least in her home state. Considering how public her pregnancy was destined to become I think we all should be showing her an extra bit of gratitude for making the right choice. Imagine how showing her as a hero in a society where “mistakes” can be so easily erased might encourage other young women to do the same. As long as there is “choice” there needs to be overwhelming support for the right choice, regardless of the circumstances surrounding the pregnancy.
Now imagine just for a second how this would have played out in the media if Palin had encouraged her daughter to abort the child to help save her political career. Many pro-choice advocates who would normally see that as the “easy” choice would most certainly destroy her in the media, let alone what pro-life advocates would do to her.
I had about the same reaction when I first heard this as Tom did: so the hell what? I am glad she’s not destroying the baby, and hope all ends well for her.
I agree, it is a waste of time.
Now we have more sensational crap for the media to focus on than real issues in the election.
I care not about this, or the opportunistic posturing of McCain over the hurricane, or the high ratings the Obama speech has been given. It is all just secondary crap to what they will offer us if we vote for them.
But real issues are boring to watch and hear about.
We truly have become a nation of petty gossips…
This should be an irrelevant issue, though in this world, it won’t be.
Teenagers make their own decisions, and it will be a shame if Governor Palin is judged by the choices of her children.
On that same note, if children are off limits, than the republicans should abstain from spinning this to their advantage (ignore the bad, point out the good).
I hope what this election comes down to is a decision on each of the people running, and not on their families, creed, or color.
Great point Jessica… Republicans long criticized Hillary for putting her daughter on the campaign trail then making her off limits. It’s now time for Republicans to step up and stop using this issue to an advantage. If people want to disparage her let them, they will only drive others to support her. We all have real political issues to discuss.
All that said, though, it is a far different thing for someone who is actively campaigning to try to claim immunity. It didn’t sit right with me when Obama was whining about people taking swipes at his wife, because she was out there doing the dirty work herself. To me, the rule should be anyone who’s not in the game is off limits, and that clearly includes the pregnant teenager.
True, Aaron, it does seem a bit unfair when someone can go around throwing stones but is then termed off limits because they are the child or spouse of a candidate. Good point.
people who choose to be in the public eye put their family in the public eye, too. i agree that bristol’s pregnancy should be somewhat off-limits, but people are still going to talk about it.
what an excellent opportunity for every parent in america to sit down with their kids and talk about sex. if this isn’t an open door for a discussion, i don’t know what is.
If you truely didn’t care- you wouldn’t have posted about it.
By posting about it you open it up to conversation and give the critism some validity.
Few people take the time to write about an issue they don’t think is worth their time or discussing.
If the media would stop giving the topic a forum we could do what really should be done, and move on to real issues.