Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin will address her party’s convention tonight. Much has been written in the past few days about her decisions while pregnant herself and with regards to her 17-year-old daughter’s pregnancy.
I know that many of you, dear readers, have strong opinions about personal parenting choices as well as politics. Let us know what you think about all this.
{democracy:12}
The personal is politcal for those running to rule. Decisions a candidate makes in their personal life are a direct link to how they will vote on any issues that are even remotely linked. If they deicisions dont reflect how they vote, then they are hypocrits.
If part of the Republican platform is ‘conservation of traditional family values’ then the family values of the candidates is very much fair game.
I think a big distinction must be made btwn the media (in your original question) and the Repubs/Dems (in your third choice above). Asking whether the media should focus on it is different from asking whether the Democrats should focus on it. Obama has already taken the high road, and says that candidate’s kids are off limits. Good for him. The media, however, has a right to report on this “story” since the McCain campaign released the info about Palin’s daughter’s pregnancy in a press release itself! Frankly, I think her utter lack of qualifications for the job of VP is a bigger story than any parenting choices she’s made, but that’s the American media for you. And Obama shouldn’t get blamed for media choices.
Good point, Elizabeth. Part of what blurred my thinking here is the fact that much media leans left or right and can have as much bias as if the parties themselves were reporting on it. Objective reporting is one thing; opinion is another. To your point, though, I’ve added “or conservative media” to the question. Thanks for recommending the clarification.
I fall somewhere in between choices 2 and 3. I think we need a reasonably high level of media disclosure so that voters can decide for themselves whether something is a matter of personal preference or whether it indicates what a candidate’s approach to issues or situations might be. For example, if I’m concerned about having a VP who makes prudent decisions, I consider the story of her plane trip after her water broke to be highly relevant, even if traveling during labor is not part of any standard plank of the Republican platform. I do think there is still a certain amount of privacy that should be afforded minor children; I would consider it inappropriate for the media to cover how Palin handles a child who wets his bed (totally hypothetical example.)
If it highlights hypocrisy then it’s fair game, in my opinion.
I think there’s a difference between the media attacking her (or any other candidate) and my having an opinion on her. From what I’ve read so far, I don’t agree with her politics. But more importantly (to me), I can’t agree with her parenting. No, not that her daughter is pregnant. The fact that she went back to work with a 3 day old baby. Even the fact that she thinks it would be appropriate to run for VP with a 5 month old. I’m not even the birth mom but I stayed home for a month and a half, then worked 1/2 days when our 2nd child was born (2 months with the first child as well). Now that our baby is 8 months, I just can’t imagine leaving her long enough to campaign or travel all over the world and I certainly can say that my wife wouldn’t do so. How can I trust this woman to run the country if she can’t even love her children enough to give a baby the love and nourishment it needs?