Monday, September 01, 2008

"Grandma Sarah:" The Gift that Keeps on Giving. McCain's Veep Continues to Sink his Campaign


"This is great!...It really shows courage!...What's the big deal?" Take a spin around right-wing radio and you'll hear the talking heads tripping over themselves to minimize the significance--or better yet, unconvincingly celebrate--the news that Sarah Palin's 17-year-old unmarried daughter Bristol is five months pregnant. Adding insult to injury, Palin likely lied about it all to Sen. John McCain when she was being vetted as his vice-presidential nominee. This ticket is coming apart at the seams. It was McCain's birthday last week, but he gave the Democrats one giant gift in Palin. Indeed, Grandma Sarah's the new Harriet Miers. Watch this appointment implode just like that one infamously did in January 2007.

For several days now Palin's selection as McCain's running mate has created a shitstorm in both Republican and Democratic circles. A self-proclaimed "hockey mom,' Palin's less-than-impressive resume consists of six years as Mayor of Wasilla, Alaska--population 6500--four years on the Wasilla City Council, and 1 1/2 years as the state's Governor. Clearly, her appointment is purely for political purposes, as she is far from being the best candidate McCain could've chosen. He simply, and foolheartedly, expects she will attract an appreciable chunk of Sen. Hillary Clinton's 18-million disaffected supporters, most of them female. It's foolish to think Clinton's supporter's will rush to the polls to vote for the anti-gay, anti-choice, anti-evolution, gun-slinging NRA member who can skin a carcass with the best of 'em. Ideologically, she has zero in common with Sen. Clinton. In fact, she's Mike Huckabee with tits.

The major issue here is McCain's age, 72, and his three bouts with cancer, which puts Palin but a heartbeat away from the Oval Office. A testy McCain said last week that she's more qualified than Sen. Barack Obama, the Democrats' nominee, to be president. Unlike Palin, "he's never had one day of executive experience." Well Senator, neither have you. Are you suggesting that being a Governor is the prerequisite now for White House service?

And now comes the teen pregnancy scandal, which is certain to be a colossal distraction to the McCain/Palin campaign. Will her daughter's situation undercut her position as a staunch advocate of conservative family values? Will it once again remind everyone of the inherent hypocrisy of so many heretofore publicly-humiliated Republicans, many of them evangelical religious zealots, who had sanctimoniously preached to the rest of us how we should morally live our lives yet under their own roof it's Sin City. Another tragic irony of this religious fanaticism is that this is the sort of thing that happens when you live a socially-repressed life and try to insulate your kids from knowledge; from sex-education.

So now the Hannity's, Limbaugh's, Levin's, Wilkow's and the legion of McCain's surrogates are pretending like this is some sort of character-building badge of honor non-issue for Grandma Sarah. But underneath the surface, Republicans must be fuming. Livid that Grandpa John's latest demonstration of maverickness just might've cost them the election. Stay tuned. The Palin fun's only just beginning....

24 comments:

Anonymous said...

Heh heh. I laughed out loud when I read the news of Palin's 17 year old daughter's pregnancy and the fact that the Republicans are playing it off like it's something to be proud of. I also laughed because it was ironic that no sooner than Andy started calling McCain "Grandpa John" that we find out his running mate will actually be a Grandma! (Did you know something before hand Andy? That was well planned!) Boy, between this and their rained out convention, Fate sure isn't smilling on the GOP.

Anonymous said...

Wouldn't it be funny if she had an abortion?

Athena Smith said...

We have the highest teen pregnancy rates in the industrialized world. And how have we reacted to this pathetic disgraceful statistic?
With "abstinence-only" programs.
Which by the way were a big hit during the Middle Ages.
Then we had Enlightnemnt and John Locke. Did these people notice? Yes, they did, but they succumbed to the dictates of a tiny minority of religious fanatics in order to sway elections.
For it is only 10% of the Americans who desire "abstinence-only" programs. 90% oppose them.

Sarah may be a proud grandmother, but the rest of the society is getting the wrong message. If that behavior continues,the crime rate will soar. Three quarters of our juvenile offenders were raised by single moms. The percentage of robbers raised by single moms is even higher.

Mrs Palin should take a good look at these numbers. Her daughter, being white and upper class, is not the typical teen mom, so she has not attracted society's wrath nor will she ever face social exclusion and isolation. But before she raises her fist again screaming for "abstinence only" she should co assess social costs and benefits. Because possession of an analytical mind is one of the stronguest qualifiers for the position she seeks.

Anonymous said...

Andy,

You are totally going crazy. I really wish you could read the crap you are spewing out lately. You actually think her daughter's pregnancy is going to matter to anybody except Libs that are fantasizing about an Obama win? Your nonsense on Palin is laughable. Keep it up, though, you are only hurting your cause. Sure, the insane far left lap it up but the rational see it and can't decide whether to laugh or puke.

The Ostroy Report said...

Angry-Republican-sticking-around-OstroyReport-posting-nasty-messages-non-stop-and-trying-real-hard-to-appear-unfazed=WORRIED Republican.

Welcome, my brother, welcome. After Sen. Barack wins in Novemebr we will gladly accept you into our party...after, of course, the necessary 6-week deprogramming and detoxification. Don't you worry. We'll make you hole again....
Andy

Anonymous said...

"Make you hole"?

Jeez Andy, you find ways to be both ignorant and illiterate in the same sentence! The GOP can't top that feat. I suppose you'd probably say "feet".

It's one thing to be a partisan. It's another thing to be an animal. Picking on a kid? Have you no decency?

I am always shocked - but sadly not surprised - when bastions of tolerance show their intolerance so blatantly.

Sex is a private thing when it applies to a degenerate Democratic president who obstructed justice, but the child of a GOP veep candidate is a huge issue?

None of the relgious people I have come to know - of any faith - have ever claimed perfection. The Catholics have their confession, the Jews have their Yom Kippur - sin is present in just about every life.

The real question is whether its a focal point of a person's life. Like it is with Bill Clinton, for example.

Obama's mother was a whack job - shall we hold it against him? Joe Biden has, to use Jimmy Carter's terminology "milked" the horrific death of his wife and daughter for all it's worth.

Obama came up thru the corrupt Chicago system and NEVER tried to reform it. He BENEFITTED from it. He spent SIX MILLION bucks on a 45 minute speech decrying policies that revolve around unhealthy allocations and uses of wealth. McCain may have 7 homes, but that 6 million spent on Obama's stage in Mile High Stadium could have helped dozens of needful families. What a decadent use of money.

I get it - there is real fear about the fact that Obama does not have the chops for the job of President. He barely has any experience, and as Palin is a first term governor, he is a first term senator who has spent 2 of his 3 years in the Senate running for president.

But what is really on point regarding the Palin pregnancy situation is the contrast. Barack Obama voted to kill babies who are born alive during unsuccessful abortions. Palin decided to have a child with Down's Syndrome and her daughter refused to abort a pregnancy.

I'll take the Palins over murdering Obama any day.

Sidney Condorcet said...

For any Republican who dares chastise liberals for calling into question Palin's teenage daughter's pregnancy in light of her public stance against sex education and her extremist position on abortion try to think about how restrained Republican blogs and media outlets would be if Senator Obama had a teenaged, unwed pregnant daughter. Oh, the field day they would have. An urban black liberal is pregnant!! The holy trinity in Rove and his ilk's perspective. So spare us the indignation. Lest we not forget that Republican zealots impeached the President of the United States for lying about receiving a few blowjobs, while our current President has authorized the violation of countless United States and international laws, yet he roams free and even attends the Olympics in Beijing on the taxpayers' dime. Oh, the irony.

Anonymous said...

Don't get distracted by tromping around in the cultural war gutter, Dems.

The only impact should be: knowing what we know now, what does this say about McCain's ability to make big decisions?

1. He clearly didn't vet her
2. It was impulsive (or cranky -- he couldn't get his way and have Lieberman)
3. It was totally calculated / cynical

Country first?

The Ostroy Report said...

Listen to you whiney little Repugs. You just can't stand it when the shoe's on the other foot, can ya!? Let me explain this one more time to you all: the reason we Democrats get all excited when one of yours is faced with a personal "moral" crisis is because it's you judgemental conservatives, not liberals, who are constantrly sanctimoniously preaching to the rest of us about ethics and morality and deceny and how we should live our personal lives....and then time after time you're caught with your proverbial pants down. You're hypocrites. The reason why we feel compassion and sympathy for people like Bill Clinton is that yes, you are correct, people do sin. We ALL sin. But Clinton never went around preaching about morality. You guys are the ones who constantly throw stones while living in glass houses...and then you whine like little NancyBoys when it's your turn on the hot seat. Live and live, and then maybe people/Democrats will feel sorry for you too when you and yours fall...
Andy

Anonymous said...

no, andy the laugh's on you and all these stupid dems. That put party before reality. I myself don't believe in abortion but do not hold it against someone who has one or wants one.Thats between their maker and them.You make it sound like Sarah should run to a clinic and have the problem taken care of(HIDE THE SHAME)In real life, it shows SARAH has the guts to stand what she believes in. Everyone in Obama's life he's thrown under the bus. Grandma,the rev.wright,Him and his people even made WILLIAM JEFFERSON CLINTON into a racist.Your right the choice is clear. And it ain't OBAMA

Anonymous said...

Andy,

It really amazes me how completely tone deaf you and your ilk are to what conservatives think and feel.

Teenage pregnancy is something that people from all walks of life are subject to. We do our best to raise our kids, and still they have the ultimate control over the choices they make.

You and your libs are gravely mistaken if you think that the McCain ticket will lose votes because of this pregnancy. The common plight of parenthood will paint Sarah Palin as a common person "just like me" to many voters. No, the pregnancy will not create more votes, but how she handles and carries herself in the midst of adversity will cause many people to admire her.

So please, keep up your animalistic and full moon crazed attacks. It makes you and your guys look like shit.

The left ALWAYS overplays its hand.

Anonymous said...

8:16 AM is right!

Another thing, " Adding insult to injury, Palin likely lied about it all to Sen. John McCain"

You are wrong (again). Her whole town knew about the pregnancy so your dream that Palin lied to McCain is in your liberal head right next to the Bush orchestrated 9/11 dream.

The attacks on a 17 year old girl really illustrates how hate-filled and disgusting liberals are.

I also noticed, now that yet another female is getting beat up on - Sidney shows up! Imagine the coincidence.

Anonymous said...

On last week's Ostroy blog all the abortion right people were screaming that everyone is entitled to sex and should not be penalized for having sex by being refused abortions. This week the 17 year old is the object of shame and criticism. What happened in a week in the Dem. thinking?

And, Sarah herself didn't have sex outside of marriage (that we know of.)Her daughter did. Her daughter is not hypocirital because as far as we know whe has not preached abstinance. How can she be an object of derision for being hypocritical? She has, like so many children of Christian preachers, gotten into moral trouble because of some kind of teen-age rebellion, or whatever. The parents are not always to blame, for sure.

And, if we want to get to the real issue: Sarah gave birth to a Down's Symdrome child and her 17 year old daughter is going to give birth.

Obama voted for the death of all children who survive abortion. He is responsible for the death of at least one Down's symdrome child we know about.

Which is the sin and the crime:

Giving birth to a child conceived before marriage or killing babies surviving abortion?

The people criticizing the young girl sound like the Muslims who kill their daughters for the shame they have brought on the family. I thiough Democrats were liberal and humane.

Anonymous said...

Sarah Palin is not running for the most powerful position in the world - Obama is. He is not ready for that responsibility.

Anonymous said...

The older women who were for Hillary are not affected by this pregnancy. Some of them went the entire reproductive part of their lives without the choice of a legal abortion, so many of them learned to prevent pregnancy and many others had their "unwanted" babies. The Palin's family's challenge is one they sympathize with.

As far as another issue mentioned - gay rights. Many of those women have sons amd daughters who are gay, have friends who are gay and do not believe, as some do, that homsexuality is a sin. However, few of these women are gay, and most grew up when "gaydom" was not a big issue. Gay people went through their lives living them fully and few knew their sexual orientation. For these "Hillary" women, the "big issue" now is mysogyny. It has gone on too long and women have suffered too much.

They do not like the way Obama's poeple and the DNC treated Hillary and thus "women" in general.

Anonymous said...

Repugs. How cute. How bright. How tolerant. Ad hominem is the last vestige of losing arguments.

It is sad, Andy, that name calling is such an important part of your playbook.

You remind me of the violent pacifists who demonstrate at both conventions - packs of Democrats who can't even see the inherent contradiction of their own behavior.

Sarah Palin is her own woman. Her daughter is old enough to make her own decisions regarding her sexual activity. No one would presume to dictate to a 17 year old how to conduct themselves sexually in the traditional liberal playbook. Yet here we go - because it is a conservative whose daughter is a pregnant teen, you are apoplectic.

There is nothing hypocritical afoot here - I am a conservative person who has preached conservative values. But I do not presume to live the life of my teenage kids - all I can do is deliver a message. It is up to them to make their own personal decisions. All I have as of right is that they consider my views. I can't ram it down their throats.

Perhaps you can't see that because you are so busy ramming all your liberal ideology down the throats of anyone and everyone at pain of being ostracised or hit with your patented liberal playbook ad hominem.

Benjamin Franklin coined the catch phrase "Join or Die" to rally support for a cooperative union of colonies. 21st Century left wingers have corrupted it to "Agree or Die". So it is that a guy like Joe Lieberman can't have a principled position without being drummed out of the corps. Bob Casey couldn't have a speaking engagement in a convention held in his own state because he was pro life.

Hillary was pilloried because she sought a middle ground on Iraq.

You people wallow in hate and venom. What a sad place it is to be.

Unknown said...

You don't understand Christians, especially the fundies. Nothing warms their hearts like a repentant sinner.
Unfortunately, I think the Obama campaign is also losing touch with the antiwar movement. The war is an economic issue: all that war money is money that poor and middle class people DON'T HAVE. The war is WHERE IT WENT.

Anonymous said...

The defensive republican with the title of anonymous needs to get an education. First off, he/she needs to take a basic english class at the local junior college because he/she does not know how to form sentences correctly. Secondly, a basic understanding of hypocrasy will be useful in the pursuit of enlightment, which is what Jesus hoped for the sheeple like yourself. Dr. Laura (conservative therapist) would say that it is not resposible of Sarah Palin to neglect her children in exchange for her persuit of power. If she was a good conservative mother like my wife she would have a closer relationship with her children. She would be there for her daughter and the special needs child she unthoughtfully had at an age when down syndrome is highly likely.But her nanny can deal with it. By the way Mr Sheep brain, I am a conservative who thinks that the current administration was likely involved in 911. If you did any research you would see that 2 + 2 does not = 5. The Bush family has been corrupt for 100 years. But research is way to hard for someone like yourself. Therefore, I seriously doubt Jesus will let you into heaven because you lack even the basic level of enlightenment required to enter.

Anonymous said...

I got lost in the typical, repetitive short-list of right wing excuses and talking points. Then I read this disturbing chunk of text...why is it that any story involving republicans and sex is defended by reliving Bill Clinton's blowjob? I don't see a relationship here. In response to the "stupid dems" comment, you're a shallow-minded idiot without a life; go pound sand.

On we go. Everyone knows the GOP is desperate. The wave of support for Obama is overwhelming. It's more a wave of support for change from the misguided war effort, the economy, fuel costs, etc. When we "stupid dems" find hypocrisy, we like to point it out...any problem with that? Let's face it, Palin was just a very poor choice for a vice presidential running mate; it was a poor choice by any standard, but especially so if your most powerful argument against the opponent was inexperience. Wake up republicans, it's not about the pregnant teen. It happens all the time and it happens to republican christians too (I'm sure Palin is a wonderful mother with plenty of time, perhaps on the weekends, away from her statehouse duties to properly raise her daughters). And we all thought this type of thing only happened to "liberal" anti-christian democrats. Just get ready for the "stupid dems" to take control, you shallow-minded idiot.

Anonymous said...

2:31 Jesus forgave everybody when he said "Forgive them for they know not what they do." That applies to the "stupid Dems", so they will all be in heaven no matter their unenlightenment. By the way, don't criticize anybody's grammar are literary skills after the mistakes in your blog.

2:27 Choosing Palin was brilliant. Every time any Dem reminds us she is inexperienced it call attention to Obama's inexperience. And, remember, he is going to have to be ready on the very first day he is President.

Anonymous said...

Sir, you make no arguement that is true, just pure conjecture. But your inability to write is also obviously grade school like. This is not un-like your opinion of John Mclame who was connected to the saving & Loan scandal of the 1980's. But you are a sheep and asleep, and unless you realize that both parties are corrupted beyond repair, you and I will be living in a place that conservative's and liberal's will not want to be.
God Bless
(one God Judges your acomplishments
and the other forgives your sin, and the third brings the light to bend.)

Anonymous said...

Listen carefully to the fundies and you will begin to see something. They do not really mind teen pregnancy, as long as the teens' child will not become a burden on the taxpayer. After all, nothing is more important than multiplying Republicans.

Anonymous said...

Hypocrisy?

How about banging on a woman because her child is pregnant, when your own candidate is seeking to be the first bastard elected as President?

Yes, bastard. When Barry Obama's parents "married" his father had the slight problem of already being married, rendering the second marriage void. Hence the offspring is a bastard.

Sarah Palin's husband had a DUI 22 years ago? How come we don't hear about how Barry's father was a drunken bum who constantly drank and drove, first losing his legs in a drunken wreck, then his life in another?

How come we don't hear more about Barry's fake claims to owe his life to JFK's airlift of Kenyans that brought his father to American and to MLK whose walk across the bridge in Selma created the environment that allowed his parents to hook up (Obama Sr's marital status notwithstanding)?

Perhaps its because the airlift happened in 1959 and Kennedy took office in 1961 and the Selma march occurred in 1965 and Barry was born in 1961.

And they say Palin hasn't been vetted?????

Anonymous said...

Trailer trash is trying to enter the White House, after the dumbest of US citizens made it here.