The American Spectator

Reader Mail

The Leave Baby Alone Coalition

9.3.08 @ 12:01AM

BLESSED WITH LIFE
Re: Robert Stacy McCain's 'Punished With a Baby':

For once in his life, Obama got it right: leave the children of the candidates alone.

Palin's daughter has nothing to do with her qualifications or capabilities.
-- Dudley McFadden
Sunnyvale, California

Please, editors, check on Robert McCain, make sure he's alright.

Just read his article about Bristol Palin's pregnancy. Mr. McCain is really hyper-ventilating over this development.

I consider myself pretty much as Conservative as one can get, Republicans in general are liberals as far as I am concerned. However, my family has lived through surprise and single-parent pregnancies. Nowadays, whether ya like it or not it's almost impossible to prevent.

I am quite happy to find that our future Vice President has a family as screwed-up as the rest of us.
-- Andy Grego
Richland, Washington

That puck and goal comment from Stacy McCain is so crass and tasteless it makes me furious the more I think about it. I guess he couldn't make any clearer that he thinks the Palins are trash, unworthy of office. Fine. You of the completely pure lives can fund The American Spectator. And Stacy can go straight to hell -- or to the Democrats. I don't ever want to see your rotten mag again.
-- JSE

'Punished With a Baby' does this not sum up how liberals feel about child bearing and responsibility? The Dems exude the culture of death. They can't even bring themselves to speak out against the infanticide that is partial birth abortion. However, Republicans like Sarah and Todd Palin see this for what it is: life. I have a 17-year-old daughter as well and I could not imagine responding any other way. Will Bristol struggle and regret her actions? Most likely. But she will never regret having her baby and learning a valuable, but tough lesson. It's always tough to do the right thing. These are the moments that reveal individual character and more importantly, those of individuals who profess that they are looking out for the little guy.
-- Seth Kanter

I am going to have to disagree almost totally with Robert McCain on his assessment of this issue. To put it bluntly, there is no down side for the McCain/Palin campaign because of this pregnancy. Why, you ask? Let me 'splain, please.

In the first place, the campaign did not attempt to hide the fact of this young woman's pregnancy. They simply did not notify the press about it. Neither did they trumpet the existence of a Down's Syndrome child -- they let the media do that on its own. They wanted it to be treated as a private family matter that had no bearing on the campaign. There was no possible way that this matter could have been kept confidential. The news media or Democratic political operatives would, and did, ferret it out in short order as it was fairly common knowledge in Gov. Palin's home town. And the media, in this era of "press release" journalism, would automatically assume that if they actually had to do their job and go out and find information, then someone was trying to hide it from them.

In today's society, this is a non-issue. Two children made a mistake. Apparently all parties involved are going to assume responsibility and bring the child into this world and attempt to provide a stable home and family for it. What is the downside for the campaign? There is none. Gov. Palin's family adheres to her stated values of anti-abortion, personal responsibility and family values. If she ran for President today, she just wrapped up 80% of the Conservative vote. And, by making this a private family matter with no bearing on the campaign, it takes both family off the campaign table and shifts the spotlight back onto the candidates and the issues. Which is where the McCain campaign wants it to be.

The only downside here is to the Obama campaign. Because of how this was presented as a "gotcha" of Gov. Palin by the media and liberal bloggers, Obama was forced to issue a statement supporting his adversaries' campaign and criticizing the actions of his allied media organs, or risk looking like a political thug. It also has served to highlight Obama's public stance in favor of unlimited abortion.

An added bonus is that it dramatically reduces the power of the liberal blogs, in this campaign. Many of them were touting the theory that Palin's youngest child, born with Down's syndrome, was in fact Bristol's child. Bristol's pregnancy effectively eliminated that possibility and will serve to cast doubt on the accuracy of future liberal blog reports by making the bloggers appear incompetent and petty.

Whether the handling of this issue by the McCain/Palin campaign was extremely good tactics, or extremely good luck, the results are the same; positive for McCain.

Letter to the Editor

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Taxes, Foreign Policy, Health Care, John McCain, Sarah Palin, Mainstream Media, Business, Islam, Abortion, Books, Law, Supreme Court, Military, Iraq, Conservatism, Alaska