Bristol's Right to Choose

Earlier this week Governor Sarah Palin's 17 year old daughter Bristol's pregnancy fell under the national spotlight. The McCain camp's official position is that they were aware of the pregnancy before selecting Palin and considered Bristol's personal life to be outside the bounds of electoral politics; off-limits to the media and hence a non-factor in November. The fact that McCain is anti-abortion and in favor of making that personal decision a matter of state discretion has yet to be picked up on by the visionaries of mainstream news media.

But in retrospect, the McCain camp may have been a step ahead of the game by anticipating the media attention and using it to build sympathy for Palin before her RNC address. Conservative commentators made the media's coverage of Bristol's predicament a central talking point. McCain's spokespeople went out in full force to denounce the media's use of the gender card. Palin topped it off with a direct jab at the media in her acceptance speech. Eh, I'm probably giving them too much credit.

Either way, let's say they knew all about the pregnancy. They alerted McCain and through his own unique cost-benefit analysis The Maverick decided to go with her. With that choice comes a set of new realities for his campaign. One new reality that seems particularly relevant is that Palin, a devout Evangelical, stated in an '06 gubernatorial debate that she opposes abortion even in cases of pregnancies caused by rape. (Read, Palin is dangling off the pro-life edge of the abortion discourse that has raged in this country since Roe v. Wade and seems to surface with renewed strength around election time. Her aggressive pro-life posture is attractive to the Evangelical voting base that elected Bush in 2000 and 2004 but is still hesitant to throw its full weight behind McCain. The GOP VP vetting team put a huge check mark with a halo hovering above it in the row labeled "Views on Abortion" on their list: Palin - Pros and Cons).

And it's Palin's staunch opposition to a woman's right to choose that must make her statement regarding Bristol's decision to keep her child so disheartening for the logically sound, "Can't we get back to the pre-Bush days" Republican who's looking for some straight talk. Here's Sarah and Todd Palin's official statement from September 1st:

"Our beautiful daughter Bristol came to us with news that as parents we knew would make her
grow up faster than we had ever planned. We're proud of Bristol's decision to have her baby and
even prouder to become grandparents."

Proud of Bristol's decision! I think John Stewart put it best when he told Newt Gingrich that, "What she is in essence saying is 'Respect my family's ability to make this decision, and elect me so that I can keep your family from having the same opportunity'."

It's Palin's bold hypocrisy on the issue which should be where Stewart tried to put it; under the media's microscope. Because if there's one thing we can all agree on, it's that four more years of executive level double-talk is the last thing this country needs.