Rumors and Truth
 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080901/...palin_daughter

Looks like Gov Palin's daughter is pregnant right now.

Um, so what. She has kids who are being kids. Kids do the damnedest things. They drink, experiment with drugs, have sex, and generally test the waters of life.

I don't see why this is newsworthy, or why it will impact the vice presidency if McCain is elected. Oh, other then I can definitely relate to this ladies family life a little bit.

This all reminds me of an old quote attributed to Samuel Clemens. "If you don't read the newspapers you are uninformed, if you do read the newspapers you are misinformed."

Not much I hate in this life, I sometimes hate the media.

I think it rebuts perfectly that nasty rumor that Palin hid her daughter's pregnancy and used it as her own. I find spreading false rumors for political gain repugnant and telling the truth refreshing. Obviously Mrs Palin felt the same way or she would not have made this announcement.

McCain is trying to sell her to conservatives as an effective traditional mother and politician who is able to balance family and career. While parents may not be responsible for the actions of adult children, they are held responsible for their underage children.

McCain's camp says that he knew about all of this and chose her anyway. Personally, I think that's bullshit.

While it's refreshing to see a Republican sex scandal that does not directly involve the candidate, it's still trouble.

BTW, determining the age of a fetus is not an exact science, so the "she couldn't be pregnant then because she's pregnant now" argument may not fly.

I'm not sure if even liberals would be able to ignore something like this.

I agree its trouble but it does not speak of Palin herself as the one committing the subterfuge.

Some may find pregnancy at this age morally repugnant, but the age of consent in Alaska is 16. This is the age at which an individual may consent to have sex with someone over 18, legally. I am not sure underage would apply to her daughter if you are going by the legal definition for that state. The minimum age to marry in Alaska is 18. People under the age of 18 can marry with the consent of both parents.

Again, one of the reasons for her selection was her appeal to social conservatives, with the implication that she could be a mother of 4 underage children (1 with special needs) and manage the number two job in the US. This incident does not support that. Will her husband be Mr. Mom while she is VP or will she require a nanny? Who will care for her baby when she travels overseas, especially to countries to which embassy personnel are discouraged from bringing dependents.

Most liberals and real libertarians won't care, figuring that anyone has the right to mess up their own family, but social conservatives will have a mental image of the baby crying for his mother while she boards Air Force Two. The fact that she already has a family crisis while simply a state governor is not going to reassure anyone.

From here

Do you think Obama's kids will be crying for their Daddy when he boards Airforce 1?

Moot point, the girl is 17 and could have been 16 at the time of the event depending on her exact BD which would have been the legal age of consent. Statutory rape does not apply.

How many of your good friends are social conservatives, Rich? I posit that you have no idea what one would think.

She would be considered underage, if she needs the consent of her parents to get married.

I wonder if Palin secretly wishes now that she had taught her daughter to use birth control...since the abstinence teachings obviously didn't work.

That is not how the law reads BC. There are two different laws and they do not necessarily work well together. ;)

If a liberal has a daughter who accidentally gets pregnant while using birth control, do they secretly wish they had taught the kid abstinence, since the birth control thing obviously didn't work?

Most people genuinely believe what they believe, across the board, and it's foolishly partisan to assume they don't.

So this isn't what the law is in Alaska?

I guess it depends what you mean by underage, underage to have sex and get pregnant? Nope! Underage to get married ? ... yep!