"I'm Amazed That You'd Ask That Question"...Really?
Just going to throw this out there and then I'm heading back to bed for a cat nap before I head to work.
I was watching Canadian journalist Jonathan Mann on CNN International interview New Mexico's Congresswoman Heather Wilson at the RNC. He asked her about Palin's ability to handle life as a VP and be a mom to five children. Her reply was something like this: "I'm amazed that you'd ask that question."
Now, okay, it is a gender-biased question for sure. But what I don't like is this exasperated reply which implies that the question can't be asked. Like it or not, women still take on the brunt of raising children. We know this.
Is that necessarily fair? No. However, is it how it is? Yes.
There are certain issues that maybe ought to be off limits or handled carefully, like the story that Palin's 17 year old daughter is five months pregnant, which ties right into Mann's question to Wilson. As my friend over at the Metropolitician says if it were Chelsea showing up five months knocked up it would be a feeding frenzy. However, I want Obama and the Democrats to take the high road and, thank goodness, they are.
The public knows very little about Palin. The press as well as the public should and ought to as as many questions as they need to and not made to feel like they've offended anyone in asking.
I think that with her husband's help and hired help she can do it. It is good for conservatives to see a dad in a "Mr. Mom" role. I do not think, as some people have suggested, that if she had been a stay-at-home mom, her daughter wouldn't be pregnant. Teens do what teens do. Perhaps the condoms, might have helped when abstinence education failed in this case, but I agree, that it shouldn't be the focus.
ReplyDeleteWhat I find creepy about McCain picking Palin is that it is pandering to all sides: let's get a woman/minority in to appeal to the "historic nature" of the campaign and an extreme social conservative to appeal to the far right. They never would have looked at her if Obama and Hilary hadn't run on the Democratic side. I don't think that should be the focus, either. Her positions on things are reason enough not to vote for her and McCain.
I am a Democrat, but I think that McCain should have been the Republican nominee 8 years ago. I think we'd be in a much better place than where Bush took us. I think he probably would have actually beaten Gore (they ran a terrible campaign--it should never have been that close).
I'm voting for Obama!
I too think McSame 8 years ago would have been much better than Bush. In fact, I was hoping McSame was going to take it. But the Bush steamroller took over and than didn't happen.
ReplyDeleteI'm all for Obama and being home, it's great to see how many people are for him too. I love liberal L.A.