A friend whom I like and admire wrote me:
but for Democrats to smear someone for getting pregnant before marriage (which is the way the Republicans may spin it) is playing into their hands. I think they will try to turn it into a positive for the anti-choice crowd. It is a constant challenge for me — as much as I CAN’T STAND them — not to be as nasty as they are.
Here’s what I have to say about that:
Of course the Republicans and the out-of-the-ballpark-right-wing Christian dominionists are already spinning it that it would be a “smear” to point out that the Palins’ teenage daughter is pregnant before marriage. They’ve managed to convince Obama and Biden that “families are off limits.” The fundie spokespersons have also already spun Sarah Palin’s decision (on her daughter’s behalf) as a portrait of “someone who lives their convictions.”
So the Palins and their daughter are “living their convictions” in terms of not aborting the fetus — and demanding a halo of self-righteousness for doing so. For the moment let’s overlook the fact that these same people also insist that the rest of us live by THEIR convictions, regardless of our own beliefs.
What’s more to the point is that as they SIMULTANEOUSLY ignore their own convictions about “no sex before or outside of marriage,” they want — they demand, and for the most part the media gives them — a FREE PASS for that. And that’s where the hypocrisy becomes part of the political game.
Remember, Mommy Palin was pregnant when she had to marry Todd, her high school sweetheart, 20 years ago. Now her daughter is pregnant and has to marry her guy, too. But if the Republicans and, particularly, the dominionists have their way, NOBODY ELSE should ever be allowed to have sex before or outside of marriage, or to know the consequences of it — because, in Sarah Palin’s words, “explicit sex education” is wrong, and sex outside of marriage (and before marriage) is sinful, and ONLY abstinence education works to keep children pure. How well it worked with her own daughter!
These people are instantly ready to forgive all the “sins” that Republicans commit, because “everyone is human” and “has human failings.” But just let ONE DEMOCRAT have even the most minor sexual encounter outside of marriage, and watch him get impeached!
I simply can’t consider telling the truth and pointing out their lies and shameless hypocrisy to be nasty.
Tags: Election 2008, Ethics, Other Political Thoughts, Party Politics, Religion by Andy
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