Regardless of how you feel about Sarah Palin, are the following things correct to do?

[IDrinkaRum]

Sarah Palin's social security number has been leaked to the public (on the internet) apparently. Who did this? Why would this happen shortly after she was tapped to be McCain's VP?

Also, Sarah Palin has 5 children. There are "feminists" and other females & males who say she should step down as VP contender because she has 5 children who need her to be home and be a mother to them. (As we know, one daughter is pregnant - that's Palin's fault because she wasn't home to give the girl love, she was busy being Governor of Alaska & she does have one son who is going to Iraq).

But how does having 5 children preclude her from being either VP or President? I say it's a good thing 'cos she knows how to run a large household.

Also, how is this any different from Nancy Pelosi who also has 5 children (all grown now) and she does have grand-children? Also, when she was in the House of Representatives, representing her state far away from home, her children weren't adults. Does this mean Nancy Pelosi should never have been made Speaker of the House (which incidentally, is considered by some to be the 2nd most important job in the United States Government)? And should she never have run for the House of Representatives while raising 5 chidren?

[Sylvia727]

Hmm...so what these people are saying, no vice president in the history of the US has had minor children while in office, right? So she's a mother. Big deal. Lots of women are mothers. And off the top of my head, I would guess that the majority of our previous vice presidents were parents, too. Saying that Palin can't be a good mother and a good vp at the same time is no different than saying Jane Q Citizen can't be a good lawyer and a good mother at the same time, or that John Doe doesn't need paternity leave. It's just the same sexist bullshit in a bright, shiny package.

I was hoping to see some dignity in this election, but everyone's so hyped up about skin color and sex hormones. Is it really so unusual of me to want to focus on their plans and likely effectiveness?

[Greenday]

I didn't know anyone was saying she should run for VP because she was a mom. I thought it was more on her being so anal about abstinence only and one of her kids getting pregnant that was what everyone made a fuss about her being a mom.

[IDrinkaRum]

I was listening to Chris Core (as I want the GOP/Conservative take on Palin's nomination as VP for McCain) this morning & there were several calls (all from the Northern Virginia/Maryland/Washington DC area) in which the callers were like, "See how bad of a Mom she is! Her daughter is pregnant" to "How can she run for political office??? She's a mother. All mother's should stay at home and take care of their kids."

It was disgusting. These people identified themselves as "Liberal Democrats". If they were so Liberal, they wouldn't care if she had kids or no kids. Anyone can run for political office.

I don't know enough about Sarah Palin to make an informed decision (aside from her wanting to legislate what a woman does with her body ... though I can say she is qualified to talk about stuff like that as she is a woman). But I think it's disgusting that people are clouding the issues about her personal life in the foreground and not her stand on all things politic.

And Sylvia727 - elections are not for important issues. Both parties (Democrat & Republican) just set out to demolish the other side and tell you not to vote for the other candidate because they're "bad, evil, stinky, don't eat cream cheese and lox on their bagels, they are convinced the sky is purple and tangerine, etc.)

ETA: Sarah Palin is a bad mother because she's got 5 kids and wants to work in politics!!!!

There are women out there that are blogging saying she's a bad mother for working & taking care of her kids. Who in their right mind believes this sh!%??? Just because a woman has kids does that mean she can't work at all? Then why are there working mothers out there? And why aren't men asked about their kids and held to the same standards? Men, shockingly, do help with children in their homes (there are even "house husbands" instead of "house wives"). The fact that Conservative Christians and Liberals are questioning her ability because she's a mother who has chosen to work (gasp!), she's a bad person.

[IDrinkaRum]

Liberals scared of a woman strong enough to raise 5 kids & run for Veep?

This woman doesn't agree with Sarah Palin's politics but stands up for working mother of 5

Barefoot and in the kitchen is the new feminism?

[Sylvia727]

And Sylvia727 - elections are not for important issues. Both parties (Democrat & Republican) just set out to demolish the other side ...

I knew that, I just hoped the American public might have gotten fed up enough with all our problems to focus on the solutions. But between the hype over skin color, the mudslinging over personal finances, the cracks about age, and the sexism against both Clinton and Palin, I can see that not much has changed.

I thought it was more on her being so anal about abstinence only and one of her kids getting pregnant that was what everyone made a fuss about her being a mom.

The classier detractors are pointing to how she runs her household as an example of how she might run the country. The trashier folks are complaining that she can't be in the kitchen and the oval office at the same time.

[DesignFox]

As a staunch advocate of giving women choices, I find it hilarious that a conservative, crazy, abstinance only, anti-choicer has a pregnant teenage daughter. Hehe.

That said....
I DO have concerns with what I'm reading on her politics. Not the fact that she's a mother of 5. Women CAN have careers AND be mothers if they so choose. I'd say I'm surprised at the amount of flack she is getting, but I'm not.

I went to a women's college, and the stuff that came out of the mouths of my fellow classmates during my women's studies classes was appallingly ignorant.

[Amethyst Hunter]

Also, how is this any different from Nancy Pelosi who also has 5 children (all grown now) and she does have grand-children? Also, when she was in the House of Representatives, representing her state far away from home, her children weren't adults. Does this mean Nancy Pelosi should never have been made Speaker of the House (which incidentally, is considered by some to be the 2nd most important job in the United States Government)? And should she never have run for the House of Representatives while raising 5 chidren?

Palin is notable not because she's a woman. Not because she's a mother, and not because of the X number of kids she has.

She's getting flak because of her blatant hypocrisy in supporting abstinence-only ed and denying the rights of birth control and abortion while her own family obviously has not done so well with the abstinence-only gig (re: the teen daughter, who I would lay odds never even had any choice in the matter).

You know if this had been a Democrat, the Repubs would be screaming to high heaven about how lacking in morals the candidate was, so on and so on. But instead they're all "ooh, aren't those Family Values so cyuuuute!" (I loathe that phrase with the fire of a thousand suns...) because of course they're trying to spin it to their advantage - they're counting on women being dumb enough to look at Palin and go "hey, she has a vagina like me too, she must be automatically qualified!" (Not a chance in hell, especially with her dominionist leanings)

Palin does not and should not get a free pass from justified criticism, especially since her policies that she would inflict on the nation are so bloody extremist.

As for the social sec. # flap, I'm cynical enough to think that it was done by a *Republican/dominionist* in an attempt to blame it on Dems and garner more sympathy for their candidate ("See! You're all picking on me 'cuz I'm female and a mom!" (Notice how they had no such sympathy for Hillary Clinton, also female and a mom, of course)). Though I would not rule out far-left extremist action either.

[AFPheonix]

I suspect she has enough failings to pick apart from her tenure as Governor to bother with worrying about whether her children are sexually active or not. She'll hardly be the first mom who has a career and children to juggle, and she'll not be the last. Fortunately she's probably wealthy enough to get decent child care, unlike a lot of other moms in her position.

[IDrinkaRum]

AFPhoenix - Her husband has left his job and is now in charge of the children. And where I live, it's common for children to be put in daycare/have nannies around. As a stay-at-home Mom, I'm the odd man out.

[AdminAssistant]

She's getting flak because of her blatant hypocrisy in supporting abstinence-only ed and denying the rights of birth control and abortion while her own family obviously has not done so well with the abstinence-only gig (re: the teen daughter, who I would lay odds never even had any choice in the matter).

You know if this had been a Democrat, the Repubs would be screaming to high heaven about how lacking in morals the candidate was, so on and so on. But instead they're all "ooh, aren't those Family Values so cyuuuute!"

I KNOW. I just keep thinking, a teenage pregnancy/shotgun wedding = family values. A blowjob from an intern = impeachable offense. I love how some conservatives think that only they can make mistakes. That said, I really don't think that the daughter's pregnancy should reflect too much on the mother. Teenagers are notoriously stupid.

As a woman, I have a big big big BIG problem with another person, much less another WOMAN, telling me that if I get raped, that I have to have the baby. That's my problem with Governor Palin. That and her woeful lack of any experience and the fact that Senator McCain is flippin' old. I don't think she has any qualifications to lead our country. At all. She also has this wonderful tendency to just fire people who she doesn't get along with.

I really hope the press backs of the mother/pregnancy train, and instead focuses on any of the many other things they can bash Palin with.

[Sylvia727]

I KNOW. I just keep thinking, a teenage pregnancy/shotgun wedding = family values. A blowjob from an intern = impeachable offense. I love how some conservatives think that only they can make mistakes.

Since when is it anyone's business whose daughter got pregnant at what age? If I had gotten pregnant at 17, I wouldn't have thought it a mistake. I would have been happy. Who's to say that Bristol doesn't feel the same way? And that Sarah's excited about being a grandma? A conservative can support a teenager in her pregnancy and condemn the president lying under oath without any hypocrisy.

I really hope the press backs of the mother/pregnancy train, and instead focuses on any of the many other things they can bash Palin with.

Hear, hear.

[Flyndaran]

... A conservative can support a teenager in her pregnancy and condemn the president lying under oath without any hypocrisy.
...

I hate how the GOP loves to bring out that lie every now and then. Clinton did not lie under oath. They asked him if he IS having an affair with Lewinsky.
At the time he wasn't. Weasely answer to an inappropriate question, yes, but not purgery.
Par for the course for politicians, but not illegal in any way.
Your "enemy" didn't commite any crimes whatsoever.
Get over it already.

I don't really care that a uterine clown car's daughter started pez dispensing babies underage.
She has SO FREAKIN' MANY grotesque flaws to focus on, that I really hate this stupid distraction.

[Sylvia727]

Your "enemy" didn't commite any crimes whatsoever. Get over it already.

The question was about values. Why someone wouldn't care about the potential vp's daughter being pregnant but would care about Clinton doing what he did. Bill Clinton is not my enemy; in fact, I never stated my position on the issue one way or another. As for whether or not he lied, the statement "I did not have sexual relations with that woman," is very clear, no matter how a politician can twist the semantics of it.

My position was and is that the Clinton situation is very different from the Palin situation. The president of the United States having oral sex with an intern, and then lying about it, is not even similiar to the potential veep's daughter getting pregnant at 17. I will concede that the lie was in a press statement, and that I don't actually know what was said under oath.

I don't really care that a uterine clown car's daughter started pez dispensing babies underage.

Uterine clown car = having five children. Pez dispensing babies = one pregnancy. Is that correct? I'm reading a lot of hostility against women in this statement, or maybe just against people who don't fit the traditional family structure. If you really don't care, then why use such aggressive words to describe their family? You come across as very bitter and hateful towards large families and teenage mothers, and as the child of a "uterine clown car" I take particular offense.

[Flyndaran]

...
Uterine clown car = having five children. Pez dispensing babies = one pregnancy. Is that correct? I'm reading a lot of hostility against women in this statement, or maybe just against people who don't fit the traditional family structure. If you really don't care, then why use such aggressive words to describe their family? You come across as very bitter and hateful towards large families and teenage mothers, and as the child of a "uterine clown car" I take particular offense.

Take offense all you want it won't change the fact that teenage parents, and women that spew out far more children than they can possibly care for in the attention department let alone financial means that their selfishness and need for immediate gratification hurts them, thier children, and the world in general.

I don't hate teenage parents, (it takes two to conceive). I just feel that their egregious mistakes shouldn't be forgotten or glossed over as it doesn't just screw up their lives, but that of innocent children.