Mostly for her children, who did nothing to invite this public scrutiny of their lives.
I was thinking about this more today, and realised it's even worse than just dragging her pregnant teenage daughter into the spotlight.
Apparently they've invited the not-so-proud dad-to-be and possibly coerced/threatened husband-to-be to appear with the family at the convention tonight after her speech.
It appears they were initially intent on hiding the pregnancy. Hence all the initial photos of Bristol holding the newest baby to cover up her own. It only came out because of worse rumours about her. This indicates that they probably considered it shameful and embarrassing. Or just politically dangerous. Or maybe just a private matter that didn't need media attention, which would be admirable if I thought it had any remote chance of being true.
But now that it's out, it's not shameful - no, of course not. Now it's pro-life, and they are exploiting their daughter by putting her in the spotlight and making her a poster child for their insane, theocratic, and misogynistic views.
I sometimes think you overuse the word evil. But not in this case.
What I really love is all the Republican outcry over the blogosphere exploiting Palin's family and especially the kids. Um, wait a minute, weren't the Republican shills and the media they had in their pockets at the time the same ones who mercilessly piled on Amy Carter and Chelsea Clinton? Don't we have relatively recent examples of McCain mocking Chelsea? So now little girls are suddenly off limits?
While I personally find it repugnant to exploit the Palin kids, as someone who recalls these not-terribly-distant ugly episodes I think the campaign staff and the Palins (who after all are my age) had to expect the tables would be turned by at least some people in the course of entirely legitimate investigation into the question of "who the heck is this woman anyway?". Or maybe I'm the only one who remembers these gratuitous Republican attacks on the children of candidates/Presidents. But the outrage over both the news revelations and the speculative sideshow is a bit disingenuous. This is a matter where the bloggers need to police their own, and as Democrats we should decry gratuitous cruelty by those who claim to be on "our side" - which the Obama campaign has done. But the Republican Party can't exactly claim the attacks on Sarah Palin's family are unprecedented in politics. Hell, it seems to me they devised the tactic.
I was thinking about this more today, and realised it's even worse than just dragging her pregnant teenage daughter into the spotlight.
Apparently they've invited the not-so-proud dad-to-be and possibly coerced/threatened husband-to-be to appear with the family at the convention tonight after her speech.
It appears they were initially intent on hiding the pregnancy. Hence all the initial photos of Bristol holding the newest baby to cover up her own. It only came out because of worse rumours about her. This indicates that they probably considered it shameful and embarrassing. Or just politically dangerous. Or maybe just a private matter that didn't need media attention, which would be admirable if I thought it had any remote chance of being true.
But now that it's out, it's not shameful - no, of course not. Now it's pro-life, and they are exploiting their daughter by putting her in the spotlight and making her a poster child for their insane, theocratic, and misogynistic views.
That's not just irresponsible. It's sick. Evil.
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What I really love is all the Republican outcry over the blogosphere exploiting Palin's family and especially the kids. Um, wait a minute, weren't the Republican shills and the media they had in their pockets at the time the same ones who mercilessly piled on Amy Carter and Chelsea Clinton? Don't we have relatively recent examples of McCain mocking Chelsea? So now little girls are suddenly off limits?
While I personally find it repugnant to exploit the Palin kids, as someone who recalls these not-terribly-distant ugly episodes I think the campaign staff and the Palins (who after all are my age) had to expect the tables would be turned by at least some people in the course of entirely legitimate investigation into the question of "who the heck is this woman anyway?". Or maybe I'm the only one who remembers these gratuitous Republican attacks on the children of candidates/Presidents. But the outrage over both the news revelations and the speculative sideshow is a bit disingenuous. This is a matter where the bloggers need to police their own, and as Democrats we should decry gratuitous cruelty by those who claim to be on "our side" - which the Obama campaign has done. But the Republican Party can't exactly claim the attacks on Sarah Palin's family are unprecedented in politics. Hell, it seems to me they devised the tactic.
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