Not because she's pregnant. She seems to have the support of her family and the father of the baby, and that's great, and I believe in supporting a woman's right to choose in all cases, whether that's to choose not to become pregnant, to choose abortion, to choose adoption, or to choose to bring a pregnancy to term and keep the baby, so I'm going to assume that this was her choice and celebrate it.
But I cannot imagine how much it would suck to be 17, in her position, and to have first rumors that my little bro was in fact my kid and then to have those rumors squashed by the nationwide announcement that I was a prospective unwed teen mother. Holy hell. I think I might change my name* and move to Alaska.**
*Though I'm going to go out on a limb and say I'd probably want to change my name whatever was going on with my mother's political career or my personal life if my name were Bristol, for any number of reasons. But perhaps this is just me. At least I have fond (though blurry) memories associated with Harvey's Bristol Irish Creme, which is more than I can say for the associations that I have with trig.
**Wait. Alaska wouldn't work in this situation. Perhaps New York City or something.
12 years ago
9 comments:
You think those are bad associations? 'Bristols' are cockney rhyming slang for breasts ('Bristol City'= 'titty'). Most unfortunate!
Ha.
Hear hear.
If they knew about it, they shouldn't have dropped it during the storm.
This Sarah Palin thing is seriously weird and the prospect of her as VP is deeply terrifying. Like a lot of people have been saying, I find her story fascinating and imagine that I could have a good chat with her, but LORD! do I want her representing the US internationally? No thank you.
I just hope the media and everyone else will just leave her alone.
When I heard Palin's son's name is Trig, my tiny little brain immediately went on to imagine the other kids' names, Algebra, Geometry, Tangent, and Calc.
Not that I'd ever say that aloud... except, you know, on a blog comment.
But, dang, you KNOW there are some talk show hosts that would have been all over with nastiness if Chelsea Clinton had gotten pregnant without being married. (They're already all over Obama's name, right?) Trying to rise above is hard, isn't it?
And here I thought MY Mom was irritating in her disrespect for my privacy on every level.
Well, Obama told everybody they should leave her alone, but I wonder whether that's even possible given how this was handled.
I'm far too cynical, but I kind of feel like bringing it out the way that they did sets it up so that people have to talk about it. Had it been part of our introduction to Sarah Palin - for example, in the way that her son's deployment to Iraq was - maybe (and only maybe) would this be a non-issue. It just so sucks for her that she's in the middle of this shitstorm.
"And here I thought MY Mom was irritating in her disrespect for my privacy on every level."
Oh my god! I KNOW, Bardiac! Right?
It sucks for Bristol Palin, I mean. Sarah Palin agreed to be in the middle of this shitstorm, so I have no sympathy for her :)
For better or worse, when one runs for national office, one's family is thrust in the spotlight. When one's position is the so-called family values, one should expect extra scrutiny of one's family.
That doesn't make it right but it does paint Sarah Palin as rather naive not to acknowledge that by her running, her daughter would not be able to keep her secret. The fault isn't with the press, imo, as much as with Sarah Palin herself for Bristol's embarrassment.
That said, I wish Bristol and her fiance all the best as they raise their little one. As a teen mom myself, I know it is not an easy road.
I hope the leave the Bristol story alone unless one of the following happens or continues to happen:
1) any Republican mouthpiece suggests that abstinence education, as advocated by Sarah Palin, is the only sort of sex education that we should have. If it happens, I hope the media and anyone and everyone shout "Politician, police thyself."
2) We have to continue hearing about the brave choice of a privileged family. Because while I'm hearing all sorts of praise at the brave choices so far, I haven't heard any comment about what happens when mom and dad aren't worth millions or aren't in the picture or aren't supportive.
If the media is going to let it go, so should the Republicans.
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