09/01/2008 (12:46 pm)
Pregnancy Police (Updated)
I’m hoping this will be my last post regarding John McCain’s running mate, Gov. Sarah Palin, for a while, because I’m already tired of the subject. However, I’m completely enraged by the level of incivility I’m watching, and it deserves mention. Actually, it deserves a severe ass-kicking, but unfortunately that probably won’t happen.
A bit of human scum named John Nail posted an incredibly spiteful, silly, and morally offensive piece on Talking Points Memo attempting to produce a scandal bringing Palin’s integrity and/or judgment into question based on some fairly ordinary gynecological issues that occurred during her latest pregnancy. It seems she experienced some cramping and leakage of amniotic fluid while delivering a speech in Texas. Nail goes into a paroxysm of questions regarding why she did not visit a hospital in Dallas, why she drove to a particular hospital in Alaska after landing rather than visiting a closer one, etc. From this he launches into conspiracy theories, raising what he considers the damning possibility that she wasn’t really pregnant, but only pretended to be in order to cover for her teenage daughter, Bristol. This is the meme the leftie blogs have been floating for the past few days (on a tip from Flopping Aces, I googled “Palin pregnancy fake” and got 37,000 hits). The point of the piece is to question Palin’s judgment based on her choices about her own pregnancy — as though the oblivious-to-real-world-pregnancy-issues author John Nail is fit to judge on the subject.
The rumors are false. The baby Trig was born in May. Governor Palin was the mother, not the grandmother. Teenage daughter Bristol was, in fact, a few weeks pregnant at the time, and is now about 5 months pregnant. Palin made that announcement this morning. Bristol is going to keep the baby and marry the father. The tinfoil hate crowd was dead wrong, as usual. (The mistype of “hat” was as deliberate as deliberate could possibly be.)
Beyond that, Nail actually makes the incredibly silly mistake of thinking “leaking fluid” equals “water broke.” They’re not the same; it’s like comparing an intermittant tire leak to a high-speed blowout on the highway. I’ve fathered four children and was deeply involved in the care of their mother, so I know from personal experience (well, 2nd-hand, but I was there…) leaking fluid is not uncommon in the late stages of pregnancy, nor are cramps. You don’t know when the cramps will turn into the real thing, and if you’re a month before the due date, you don’t expect them to.
I won’t go into further analysis here, ’cause I’m sickened by the entire process. These hypocrites pretend to care about a woman’s privacy when discussing abortion, but don’t consider it a violation of a woman’s privacy to attempt to judge for her, obviously without real-world experience of their own, when it’s appropriate for a woman to board an airplane, how much exertion she can handle, or where she’s permitted to deliver the child. Giving credit where credit is due, this point was made in a comment on Nail’s article by a pro-abortion feminist; it’s correct, and telling.
That they even went down this road in their zeal to find something, anything, with which to indict Gov. Palin is beyond disgusting. They endure strings of dozens of outright lies from their own candidate on subjects directly affecting his core beliefs, but attempt to indict any ordinary human activity as a moral lapse in their political opponents, declaring Republicans unfit for office on the mere suspicion that they might be human beings.
John Nail should have medical dictionaries dropped on his typing hands repetitively from a minimum height of four feet until he recites correctly a medically accurate description of a pregnant woman’s water breaking.
The Anchoress has a meaty rumination on the sickness of soul that has motivated the hard left to react to Palin in this inhuman manner. It’s worth a read, particularly if you’re concerned about the deterioration of Western Civilization.
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19 Comments »
Comment by galynn
Thank you for ranting so eloquently! Consider this post dittoed!! Now let’s see if the media can resist the temptation to continue to invade the privacy of Palin’s daughter.
Comment by darkhorse
Question for you Phil: When the mother of your children was pregnant, did you ever have the opportunity to fly with her during the late stages? And were you advised not to fly by her doctor? This has happened during all three of my wife’s pregnancies.
That was bad judgment by her. I am not making any excuses for Mr. Nail; his article is among the worst kind of bottom-dredging – though it produces exactly what society wants to hear (caught any of those tabloid shows lately?). Aah – the glories of capitalism – the people demand and an entrepreneur produces.
It also may be bad judgment entering into a political campaign with a high-need child. Sarah Palin, like John Nail, is just a sinful person created in God’s image, and I can’t say I would do any better in her position.
Comment by Phil
Question for you Phil: When the mother of your children was pregnant, did you ever have the opportunity to fly with her during the late stages? And were you advised not to fly by her doctor? This has happened during all three of my wife’s pregnancies.
The opposite happened to me. My wife’s first pregnancy had some difficulties, and we were moving from Maryland to Alabama while she was 3 or 4 months pregnant. The doctor advised that she fly rather than drive down with me, so that’s what we did.
That was bad judgment by her.
As an outside observer, after the fact, with only the slimmest information about the circumstances, you have absolutely no place to judge this, nor does anybody else. We’re not talking about some crackhead leaving a kid alone in a car for 6 hours, here; we’re talking about a decision whether or not to fly home, roughly a 4 1/2 hour flight. She’s the one who was pregnant, she’s the one who was experiencing whatever symptoms, she’s the one who’s legally and morally responsible for the kid and for herself. It’s her decision, not yours. And since there was no harm done — turns out she made the right decision — there’s not even a reason to second-guess this one at all, apart from partisan ill will.
I guess I can understand how you might transfer your concerns about your own wife onto Sarah Palin, but it’s truly inappropriate to do that. Your circumstances are not hers.
It also may be bad judgment entering into a political campaign with a high-need child.
I expressed some concern about this, myself. Again, though, it’s not our kid. And as it’s turning out, the real danger seems to be to the aware family members, not the baby. This incident is setting new records in vitriol.
Comment by Phil
Aah – the glories of capitalism – the people demand and an entrepreneur produces.
Who was out there saying “Please produce trashy Jerry Springer episodes for us,” before Springer went on the air? Somebody decided to pander to the worst human impulses, and predictably, it sold. Bait a hook with a slinky prostitute, you’ll always find someone to bite, as well. Selling crack also works. For some things, there should be laws stopping producers from producing (and for some things, there are.)
The audience does deserve some blame for watching the shows enough to pay advertisers. Sin is sin. However, it’s actually the case that the TV and movie producers bear most of the blame for the degeneration of those media. They keep putting stuff into films and shows that mirrors their intent for society, regardless of whether it sells or not, and sometimes knowing it will sell but also that it will cause damage.
How many movies have you seen in the last 20 years where all the sexual choices are responsible? How many parents do you know who say “I want my kids to watch adults making irresponsible sexual choices?” How many kids say they want to watch irresponsible sexual choices? There’s no demand-pull for that sort of crap, it’s all supply-push. And it doesn’t really improve the sales of the movies, either; movies without sex at all routinely bring in more revenue. It’s agenda-driven.
Comment by darkhorse
Hey Phil -
Whoa, I started responding to your earlier response to me, but ran out of time. That ascerbic response disappeared. Your current one is a bit more charitable. It’s not a good practice to assume the worst of people first; it has to be a bit tiring.
Let me explain my thought process, and we can see if you still disagree with me that there’s any concern at all.
You said:
“My wife’s first pregnancy had some difficulties, and we were moving from Maryland to Alabama while she was 3 or 4 months pregnant. The doctor advised that she fly rather than drive down with me, so that’s what we did.”
Thus it was very important that I mentioned “late stages”. Here’s what I know:
1. Sarah Palin was flying around during the last month of her pregnancy. I don’t mean just the emergency trip – I’m assuming she originally flew to Dallas during this time, and that her plan was to fly home even later than her emergency flight.
2. Doctors have routinely advised against flying during the last month of pregnancy (this is both personal and anecdotal evidence – we can go dig up AMA articles if you think it’s necessary). The pressure changes experienced during flying at this time have shown to have more of an adverse effect on pregnancy than at other stages.
Despite your assertions to the contrary, if the above is true, it is completely reasonable to doubt her judgment, and to say so out loud.
As to this:
“And since there was no harm done — turns out she made the right decision — there’s not even a reason to second-guess this one at all, apart from partisan ill will.”
You could make the “no harm done” argument about a roller coaster ride she took during the pregnancy. But since you know I am not partisan, I would expect you to ask me for clarification on why I said what I did before casting aspertions. It is the flying in general that concerns me, not the emergency trip.
Comment by Ken
gee, this is really a great discussion. Much more important and relevant too, I might add, (the personal life choices of one of the vp nominees) than other issues of lesser importance … such as Barry Hussein’s association with Rev. Wright and William Ayers.
Not intending to demean the discussion.
Just trying to emphasize my continued utter amazement at the incredible bias already exhibited by mainstream media covering this election. About which I pose the following questions:
If McCain had serious relationships with people the caliber of Wright and Ayers, not even mentioning Tony Resco, would we be talking about Biden’s life choices right now? Answer: No
To take things one step further …
If McCain had serious relationships with people the caliber of Wright and Ayers, would his presidential campaign still be breathing? Answer: No
Comment by Zanzibar
I really could care less about Bristol Palin. Kids will be kids, and that’s why abstinence training alone is destined for failure. But I have to say one thing.
All the Conservative commentators are going to complain about the ‘private lives of the Candidates should be off-limits’ and all that nonsense.
What do you think they’d be saying if it were Biden’s kid if he had a 17-year-old daughter?
Comment by RM
Zanzibar,
Truthfully? There would be a few bottom feeding scum who would try to reap some sort of political advantage with it. Most would say, “Good luck, we wish you and your daughter well.” Most would speak out clearly against those bottom feeders who tried to make anything of it.
Comment by Zanzibar
I still say that it’s going to be difficult for Palin to avoid this topic at the debates.
Sarah Palin is a strong proponent of teaching abstinence-only with NO birth control education, yet she can’t even count her OWN HOUSEHOLD as a solid constituency to support this view. What does that tell you about how effective it is?
How can someone who’s running for the second most-powerful job in the country be trusted to have the judgment to be President if she’s foolish enough to believe abstinence-only is a sound method to reduce teenage pregnancy?
I think the familial evidence of her failed beliefs couldn’t be any more ironic.
Comment by Phil
I actually think using Bristol Palin as a sound bite against abstinence education is a cheap shot.
Look, Zanzibar, the problem is not education or family at this point, it’s a culture of casual sexuality. There has, if I’m not mistaken, never been a culture of casual sex like ours in the history of the planet. Americans have more sex partners than just about any other nationality, and way more than they used to have.
This is pretty much entirely the product of grotesquely irresponsible media production and political activism — a completely deliberate attempt to make young people believe that there is no valid objection to casual sex, that any stated objection constitutes bigoted, fearful ultra-conservatism, and that anybody who doesn’t engage in it is either a religious freak or too ugly/awkward to attract any positive attention. The people who brought this about have earned a special spot in hell. There are now 80 million Americans with STDs, and they’re not the kind we grew up with that are curable by way of a few penicillin shots. The largest group of people living in poverty in the US are single women with children. Sex-related and romance-related depression are at the root of most of the teenage suicide in America — and also, by the way, at the root of most of the gay suicide as well. Our culture of irresponsible sex is a form of national self-destruction.
In the face of constant media bombardment and insane peer pressure, even a strong family has little chance of training their children to avoid casual sex. Abstinence education has to fight an entire culture.
However, we know that a proper effort can, in fact, fight an entire culture. It happened with racism; it’s happening with global climate change. What’s missing is the willingness to try. The simple fact is that the culture of sexual irresponsibility is preferred by most of those on the Left, which is why they will not make the attempt to actually tell young people to stop f***ing like bunnies and start treating their bodies with respect. The failure to own up to this fact is one of the reasons I feel so little respect for my political opponents.
Having said that — that the one change that’s really needed is for the Left to admit that they actually want teenagers to be screwing around, and to change their minds — I also need to say this:
There are at least 10 sound, scientific studies demonstrating that abstinence education does make a significant difference in teenage sexual behavior. The opposition to such programs is without merit; the contrary studies are nowhere near as good, nor as conclusive. Anybody who’s interested in the truth should read the Heritage Foundation backgrounder on the effectiveness of such programs, and follow the footnote links to the actual research.
As to this:
Kids will be kids…
…we have absolutely irrefutable epidemiological evidence that kids did not engage in sexual activity in the past at the level they’re engaging in it now. This is not an unavoidable behavioral situation, it’s a deliberately encouraged situation. The evidence is in the STD data; the spread and development of STDs goes up exponentially as the average number of sexual partners increases. There was no epidemic of STDs until the 1980s; ergo, there was not the same level of sexual activity before the 1980s. There were only 3 common STDs in 1960; now, there are more than 50, therefore there’s been a huge increase in sexual contact between multiple partners since then. QED. “Kids will be kids” is a lame, lame excuse for inaction.
Comment by Phil
darkhorse –
I think you’ve got your facts wrong.
Sarah Palin was flying around during the last month of her pregnancy… Doctors have routinely advised against flying during the last month of pregnancy.
I believe this is not correct. Gov. Palin was in her 8th month. The baby was born a month prematurely.
I stand by my original position; the decision was Gov. Palin’s, and it’s not for us to tell her what level of activity she’s capable of sustaining.
Besides, given what we know about her background and career, I imagine telling her to take it easy is like standing on the Gulf shore in New Orleans and telling the hurricane not to come on shore. We have to leave room for people to be who they are, and knock off this hyper-criticism.
Comment by Zanzibar
Phil, my point is that Sarah Palin is on the record as stating that she doesn’t want anything EXCEPT abstinence taught in schools:
Q: Will you support funding for abstinence-until-marriage education instead of for explicit sex-education programs, school-based clinics, and the distribution of contraceptives in schools?
A: Yes, the explicit sex-ed programs will not find my support.
Comment by Zanzibar
Argh, hit the ’submit’ button too soon. You claim I’m arguing for inaction, but that is entirely wrong. Abstinence education IS important, but so is birth-control and condom education. Using abstinence alone is foolish, condom education alone is reckless, but BOTH must be taught in order to reduce teen pregnancies.
Comment by Phil
First of all, if you were a kid, and you were told “Don’t do this — but if you do, do it this way,” what would your take be from that message?
Let’s be serious; you simply cannot teach both and be credible. You have to choose.
In the second place, the emphasis on condoms is one of the genuine shames of modern advocacy. Condoms are notoriously ineffective among young people — a 20-year-old, sexually active single woman relying on condoms for birth control is statistically likely to be pregnant within a year of beginning sexual activity. The numbers are even worse for younger users.
And that’s just the pregnancy factor. They barely slow the spread of STDs. I’ve said this several times on this blog, and I’m backed by medical opinion: birth control is not disease control. The viruses are considerably smaller than the smallest holes in latex, and many of them are spread by skin contact rather than fluids. The current epidemic of STDs has occurred while condom use was significantly on the rise.
I’m in agreement with Gov Palin on this one. I’m also thinking about local PTAs and governments being permitted to filter programming and internet service into their communities, and I’m thinking about whether there’s a way for parents to hold TV and movie producers responsible for the content of their broadcasts through court action. Seriously, sexual behavior in this country is simply out of control.
Look, Ray, I know I’m being a little overbearing on this, with the flood of statistics and all, and I really don’t mean to be rude or insulting. It’s just, there’s a veritable flood of misinformation out there, and millions of kids are suffering because of it. I don’t think many folks have a clear sense of the level of national disaster that’s underway in this field. Encouraging sexual activity among teenagers is ruining them, and sometimes killing them, in large numbers, and needs to be stopped.
Comment by Zanzibar
First of all, if you were a kid, and you were told “Don’t do this — but if you do, do it this way,” what would your take be from that message?
So, lemme make sure I get this right, you’re suggesting that by NOT teaching kids about sex ed, they have LESS curiosity about sex?
Fabulous. ‘Don’t tell kids about it, because if they don’t know about it, they won’t be curious!’
I can’t wait to see the litany of things we can apply that same logic to.
“If we don’t tell kids about fire, they won’t know it exists, thus they won’t burn themselves!”
“If we don’t tell kids about terror, they won’t have to worry about it!”
Seriously, I know you’re an old-fashioned guy, but are you suggesting that kids didn’t know about sex before the sex ed classes came along and ruined the surprise?
I’m stunned what it is about your world where demystifying something makes people MORE curious about it. If Sarah Palin, Conservative Champion Mother, can’t drive the point home, who can? Are we simply doomed to have these kinds of pregnancy rates nowadays? Or are you suggesting a return to the 50s and the ‘decency councils’?
Comment by darkhorse
Phil:
“Besides, given what we know about her background and career, I imagine telling her to take it easy is like standing on the Gulf shore in New Orleans and telling the hurricane not to come on shore. We have to leave room for people to be who they are, and knock off this hyper-criticism.”
I agree with you that she is likely quite hard to slow down…she has spunk that I admire very much. However, the argument I offered remains valid: IF she went against doctor’s orders and traveled when doctors say not to, THEN it is perfectly reasonable to question her judgment.
I think she was very, very close. If I disagreed this: “I stand by my original position; the decision was Gov. Palin’s, and it’s not for us to tell her what level of activity she’s capable of sustaining.”, I’d be pushing for laws against air travel in the final stages of pregnancy. I am not. I am making a reasonable assertion that her judgment is something worth considering.
C’mon Phil, no need to defend Palin at all costs. I don’t need her to be superhuman to appreciate her as a candidate.
Comment by Phil
Zanzibar,
So, lemme make sure I get this right, you’re suggesting that by NOT teaching kids about sex ed, they have LESS curiosity about sex?
Nope, you didn’t get it right. In fact, I’d really like to hear you explain how you got that ridiculous statement out of what I wrote.
What I was saying is that kids will not take seriously a message about abstinence when it’s immediately followed by instructions how not to abstain. I don’t blame them; I wouldn’t either.
The point is NOT that they won’t be curious about sex, but rather that they’ll be clear about where we stand on the issue. And yes, it does make a difference to adolescents where the adult world stands on such issues. (Truth is, they hold us in contempt for not taking such stands — and they should.)
Kids are also curious about what snorting cocaine feels like. Most of them don’t do it because there are serious barriers, including 1) the cost, 2) the availability, but most relevantly, 3) the clear message that they’re risking their lives by just trying it out. There’s a clear cultural message about cocaine — “it’s seductive, and it will kill you.” Clear cultural messages work.
There needs to be a clear, consistent message about sex if we want the message to take hold, and not just in school, but at home, on billboards, in the movies, etc. That message needs to include “This is nothing to be casual about; it’s powerful, it’s meaningful, and it’s for life.” It also needs to include “If you’re not ready to raise a kid, you’re not ready for sex.” Hell, I’m in favor of “If you want to say ‘Thank you,’ give him a peck on the cheek, not a blow job.” Ambiguous messages like “Don’t, but here’s how to do,” will not have any impact, and we may just as well save our breath.
That being said, it still remains provably true that “abstinence only” programs do make a statistically significant difference in teenage sexual behavior. That this is so even while the culture is hammering “do it” into their heads, suggests that there are lots of teens who wish they were not under so much pressure to perform sexually, and are relieved when somebody tells them it’s ok to take their time.
Comment by Phil
IF she went against doctor’s orders and traveled when doctors say not to, THEN it is perfectly reasonable to question her judgment.
IF she went against doctor’s orders, THEN she took a risk, possibly for a less-than-compelling reason. I’m not sure that she did this. As I said, she was in her 8th month. And to be candid, in addition to being appalled at the reason we’re even discussing this, I’m tired of the discussion.
Comment by Phil
Zanzibar,
Here’s a question for you:
Do you really think there are any kids left in America over the age of 12 who don’t know what a condom is and how to use it?
You can rephrase the question this way: do you really believe that the number of pregnancies in America due to ignorance exceeds 2 digits? Seriously?
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