Eleanor Nagle
Staff Reporter
Ever since the McCain campaign announced Sarah Palin as their Vice Presidential candidate she has been under media surveillance 24/7. One of the most pressing issues it the pregnancy of her 17-year-old daughter, Bristol and the question of whether or not it is politically relevant.
Interestingly enough, both major campaigns have put out statements of some sort saying that Bristol’s pregnancy is a private issue and not a political one. While that is an obvious move for the McCain camp, it is notable the Obama is choosing to take the high road. In a statement Obama said that Palin’s family should be off limits and say nothing about her abilities as a politician.
However, with a platform having so much to do with family life and values, it seems incredibly relevant that Palin’s own daughter is about to become a teenage mother. Palin, McCain, and the GOP in general seem to be all about morality and the family, preaching, among many other things, abstinence. How, than, is it not incredibly important that the VP candidate for presidents has a knocked up daughter? Isn’t hypocrisy of the candidates important?
Instead of condemning poor, knocked up Bristol, the GOP, especially conservative evangelicals, are rallying around her, which is in stark contrast with how they treated poor, knocked up Jamie Lynn Spears, the little sister of the infamous Britney and the star of Nickelodeon’s Zoey 101. Both Rush Limbaugh and Bill O’Reilly, two of the most conservative media men in the industry, blasted Jamie Lynn and yet stand behind Bristol.
After news of Jamie Lynn’s bun in the oven O’Reilly commented, “most teens are pinheads in some ways. But here the blame falls primarily on the parents of the girl.” Notice how he blames the parents, which is noticeably different than in the Palin case, in which he said that “millions of families are dealing with teen pregnancy, and as long as society doesn’t have to support the mother, father or baby, it is a personal matter.” While it was a personal matter for Bristol, it was certainly worth talking about with Jamie Lynn.
When it came to Jamie Lynn, Rush Limbaugh’s comments were much the same as O’Reilly’s when he said that, “the parents here are the culprits!” Limbaugh is, of course supporting Palin.
The issue here is not really Bristol herself. In fact, she is really getting the short end of the stick, but she represents something bigger and more important. She represents political hypocrisy. While she did not choose to be under the spotlight, as many point out the Jamie Lynn did, her mother forced her under it. Her mother must be put under scrutiny if she is running for such a high position. Unfortunately, because her mother spouts of fthe importance of so-called traditional family values whether or not her family follows those so-called values is important.
Many argue that it is hypocritical for liberals and others who do not support the McCain-Palin ticket to criticize Bristol’s pregnancy considering that Obama was born to a nineteen-year-old mother. However, this is flawed logic. The reason Bristol’s pregnancy is important is because it shows the hypocrisy of Palin and McCain’s so called family values platform.
Obama, on the other hand preaches very little, if at all, about so-called traditional family values. He believes in more than abstinence education and is a supporter of the women’s right to chose. He does not believe that people’s sexual morality it the government’s business. McCain and Palin do. If you are going to preach sexual morality, you better be damn sure that you and your loved ones practice it.