I hate to break it to Stephen Hayes and I wish it were not true, but having a 17-year old unwed daughter get pregnant is the definition of scandal and has been for millenia. In Afghanistan, even today, that’s cause for a stoning. In Wasilla, Alaska, people are more tolerant. They express sadness, offer expressions of sympathy and hope, and quietly avoid socializing with the family. There are programs for people like Bristol Palin in Alaska. One of them, Passage House, had their budget slashed this year by Governor Sarah Palin. Passage House ‘provides young mothers a place to live with their babies for up to eighteen months while they gain the necessary skills and resources to change their lives.’
If the Palin family wants to keep their daughter and the 18-year old father of her baby out of the news, then why is the father traveling, now, to the convention? Does he think his appearance there will make people talk about him less?
The right-wing is trying to whip up their supporters into a frenzy of indignation about how the press is treating Sarah Palin. Acting like having an unwed high school daughter get pregnant is not scandalous is a little too rich. Many of us wish it were not a source of such great shame (or even deadly violence in some parts of the world) but that doesn’t change the reality. It’s an embarrassment and it’s tabloid fodder, and it sells newspapers and magazines, and boosts television ratings. Get used to it.
If you want less coverage, don’t invite the boy to St. Paul to make believe they’re all one big happy functional family. They’re not. They’re screwed up just like most families are screwed up. People can understand dysfunctional families but they won’t believe this ‘f-ing redneck‘ is anything but a source of shame for Ms. Palin’s political ambitions.
I have news for Stephen Hayes. It’s precisely this kind of shame and ridicule that the Palins should have protected their daughter from by refusing to accept the nomination. Now they are shipping in the sperm donor? And you think the resulting violation of privacy is the media’s fault? Or the Democrat’s fault?
Tell Sarah Palin to fully fund Passage House. Those are the people that treat unwed mothers with respect and dignity.
