Yes, getting pregnant is the womans responsibility. Only her responsibility. She can abstain, take birth control, make her suitor use a condom, etc., etc. In the end, she is the one who will be stuck with said child. Men can bail. Women are the gate keepers. If my wife does not want to knock boots, guess what? I’m hanging with lefty….

But that — for me — is not the point. I know that McCain and Palin are virulently anti-choice. That’s why I’m not voting for them (well, one of the reasons, but it’s a big one).

That’s not why I’ve been sounding off here about Sarah Palin and her daughter and teen pregnancy.

Given that Sarah Palin is against abortion being legal, I would have expected her to say, when she announced that her daughter was pregnant, “Our beautiful daughter, Bristol, has come to us with the news that she is pregnant. As you know, she is still a minor, and as her parents, we have made it clear to her that there will be no abortion. She can either keep the baby or give it up for adoption, but she will not be permitted to have an abortion. Of course, she has our unconditional love and support within the parameters of this restriction.”

That would have been honest, and consistent with Sarah Palin’s stated, supposed beliefs about abortion.

And if she had actually said that, *all hell would have broken loose.* And you know why. I don’t even have to say it.

So Sarah Palin chose the path of dishonesty and hypocrisy. She told us that her daughter was pregnant and had decided, on her own, to keep the baby. That may very well be the truth. But the point is that Bristol’s mother knew that it was not merely important but absolutely crucial that the American public be assured that Bristol Palin had a choice and was not forced into keeping the baby:

An outcome that Sarah Palin has made crystal clear she wants to mandate for every girl and woman in this country.

That, Craig, is DISGUSTING. And the caps are for strong emphasis, not shouting. I do not want someone like that a heartbeat away from the presidency (in addition to all the other reasons). And I will *not* be silent in the face of people — any people — who tell me it’s not important enough to talk about and write about.

So, that puts me kind of at odds with McCain and Palin in terms of the extent to which they’d like judicial direction to go. But then, its not about totally agreeing with every stand your candidate takes. I’d assume you aren’t happy about Obama’s NSA surveillence stance or any hedge he puts on the timeframe for returning troops from Iraq.

But of course, its not the United Sates of Kathy or of Craig either.

You have a point. The rumor that Sarah Palin’s daughter, Bristol, was actually Trig Palin’s mother, not Sarah, did not hold together. Let’s move on from that to Bristol’s real, factual pregnancy, and to the fact of Bristol’s mother telling us that her 17-year-old pregnant daughter has decided, on her own, to keep the baby. I imagine, since Sarah Palin made a point of telling us that her daughter *chose* to keep the baby, that she (Sarah) may have thought it important that Americans know her daughter was not coerced or pressured into keeping the baby. She chose to keep the baby.

What are your thoughts about the above, Craig, in the context of Sarah Palin’s strong support for making all abortions illegal, with no exceptions for anything except the imminent and certain death of the mother?

The story started not because of Bristol’s appearance, but due to Sarah’s lack of a pregnant appearance, on top of what turned out to be a 2006 picture of Bristol with a belly. Don’t retrofit her current pregnancy as the reason for questions. If she is five months pregnant, she didn’t even become pregnant until about late March. Since Trig was born on April 18th, you surely aren’t going to now argue confusion over how pregnant Bristol would have looked in mid-April???

So yes, it is the fault of some bloggers to place political attacks far beyond reason and evidence. If people want to be taken seriously as political commentators then they are obligated to make editorial judgements seriously. And no, this kind of behavior is not the practice of liberals alone.

And then for you to continue to push the conspiracy meme even farther by advancing the idea that Bristol may have given birth to Trig and then immediately became pregnant again????

If your reach gets any longer you’ll be a starting center in the NBA!

If you want to be in the “hold your ground no matter which side of the truth your on” camp, that is your choice. But I’m not sure what good it serves.

An awful lot of conversation here for what should have been a simple admission of “well, that very suspect story never held together ,so let’s move along” .

That would never sell, mattt. But this would: Bristol Palin, 17, Daughter of Crusader for Abstinence-Only Education and for Criminalizing All Abortions (Unless It Could Be Proved That the Pregnancy Would Kill the Woman) Is Pregnant and Has CHOSEN to Keep the Baby.

I know that title is way too long.

I appreciate that, Kathy.

Where is the overreach, Craig? I didn’t create the story; I linked to a post at a highly regarded blog that pointed to the fact that the story was out there, and that IF true, it raised certain questions.

The rumor itself got started because Bristol Palin IS pregnant, and presumably WAS pregnant when those pictures were taken, and when people looked at the pictures, *they noticed that Bristol Palin looked pregnant.* And since Bristol’s mother had not seen fit to be open, honest, and straightforward about the matter, rumors started. This is not the fault of liberal bloggers, Craig.

Again, if Bristol Palin had never been pregnant, there would have been no daughter/granddaughter story in the first place. It’s Bristol Palin’s pregnancy that is the issue, because (1) She is only 17 (16 when she conceived) and she had sex outside of wedlock and she *decided* (i.e., that means, made a *choice*) to keep the baby; and (2) Number 1 is a complete and total contradiction of the public policies that Bristol’s mother fanatically advocates for MY daughter, and everyone else’s daughter in this country. That, plus the fact that Bristol’s mother did not deal with these contradictions honestly and openly, but instead tried to hide it and cover it up, absolutely *makes it my business* and debunks your charge of “overreaching.” This entire story can never be “a personal family issue” until Sarah Palin (and her new boss) agree not to make my daughter’s personal family issues their business.

Because I’m absent-minded. It was not a deliberate slight. I will try to remember to do that in the future.

CAPSLOCK MAKES ME SAMRT!!1