Bristol, Honey, This Is Just the Beginning
Sex and relationship conflict always give the morning news a little sizzle to go with the caffeine jolt.
Jill Miller Zimon over at writeslikeshetalks already said most of what I was thinking this morning as I watched media reports of the breakup of Bristol Palin and her boyfriend-fiancé-baby daddy, Levi Johnston:
Frankly, I think the only one who should be asked questions and be allowed to say, “no comment” is Bristol herself. She is 18, she is a single mother and it’s her life. Questions to Palin should go only to her existence as Bristol’s mother and either she is going to comment on that or not. I’m not even happy that she’s being asked about the subject at all – leave them all alone as far as I’m concerned. True, she kicked the door wide open during the campaign, but the Bristol-Greta interview demonstrated that Bristol is at least making some decisions, it seems.
Sigh.
I’d love to have an epistemological conversation with Sarah Palin about the word, “choice,” even knowing her whole thing about God opening doors, or not.
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On the plus side, both Bristol and Sarah have now acknowledged that perhaps abstinence isn’t the 100% foolproof birth control method it’s cracked up to be. Because like all methods, it only works when it’s actually used.
However, I doubt that media attention will disappear from Bristol and baby Tripp for quite some time, at least as long as Sarah Palin is in the political limelight where she seems determined to stay to the chagrin of many in the party that used and abused her during McCain-Palin’s failed presidential campaign.
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Since you opened the door on Sarah Palin, I’d like to come right in. Regardless of one’s affiliation, I wonder if there are others out there who thought Sarah Palin showed remarkable grace under both friendly and enemy fire? That she was thrown to the wolves is not arguable. Nevertheless, she held her own. Her gaffes, and lack of Hillary-slick coaching notwithstanding. she proved to have terrific charisma and authenticity for the common man as well as women. Make no mistake, when you get out of the biggest urban areas there was and is a lot of support and connection to Sarah. That our heroines prove to have feet of clay may only render them more appealing.
Elaine, there has been quite a lot of discussion about how Palin was treated, how Clinton was treated, etc.
In particular, you might want to check out this rather spirited exchange during the campaign: https://gloriafeldt.com.previewdns.com/heartfeldt-politics-blog/2008/10/31/moose-mousse-and-spalinism-by-robin-morgan.html
Though I strongly disagree with her politics, I do agree with you that Sarah Palin resonated with many voters. At the same time, it seems to me that she is quite hypocritical demanding privacy and respect for her family while denying it to others in their reproductive decisions.