AFAIAC, Palin's family is fair game now....

[Rosco T.]

http://www.talkleft.com/story/2008/9/3/32243/51143

(snip)

Gov. Palin, who asked for privacy concerning the matter of her teenage daughter's pregnancy, is flying Levi Johnston, the father-to-be (now her daughter's fiance) to Minneapolis to be on stage with the family during her speech tonight.
If Palin wanted privacy, why showcase the couple to the world? As the parent of a son who is now a young man, I find it reprehensible that she would parade him on national television, just to show he really will be a member of the family.

(snip)

But how, when Sarah Palin puts them both on a stage at an event celebratimg one of her personal accomplishments -- as opposed to one honoring the child's accomplishments -- can she possibly expect that people won't discuss it? She's thrown it in our face and thrown the children into the lion's den of the media. She's using them to enhance her image in the eyes of voters.

There's no longer any reason to be silent. Palin gave up these kids' privacy, possibly to benefit her vice presidential bid. Whatever the reason, now that she's parading them on tv, she's forfeited the right to ask for privacy. They are now fair game to discuss.

(snip)

Whatever modicum of restraint I felt Palin was entitled to is now gone. Since she has made the deciison to put her unwed daughter and fiance on stage in front of the world, she's forfeited any right to privacy I or anyone else previously granted her. So, from this time forward, Palin's family issues are no longer off limit. I predict tomorrow night's convention ratings will be the highest ever. Millions will tune in to gawk at the young couple. They will be the talk of the water coolers around the country Thursday.

-------------


Youbetcha.... Game On.

[JamesA1102]

1. They are not fair game.

Obama had his wife and kids up on the stage too. That doesn't make them fair game. Going down that road make us no better than people like Rush and Hannity.

There is plenty to after this woman based on her record and stand on issues but her family should be off-limits.

[gal]

2. Her family may be off limits but not the way she treats them.

[Virginia Dare]

8. I think if she's going to present herself as mother of the year..

then her parenting skills could be called into question as well.

The right has been screaming over Michelle being an absentee mother for months.

Don't candidates always showcase their families, especially at conventions?

[Lochloosa]

3. ...

:thumbsup:

[Egnever]

9. I will worry bout that after obama is in office.

[Virginia Dare]

10. The right has been mocking Michelle for months..

for hating America and being an absentee mother. The kids are too young to have done anything wrong yet, other than be born to Barack and Michelle, otherwise they'd be on them too.

[JamesA1102]

18. And just because they do it doesn't make it right.

We lose the moral high ground by engaging in that kind of politics. In the end it will only energize the other side.

[Virginia Dare]

24. There's your mistake, there's no moral high ground in politics...n/t

[JamesA1102]

29. Yes there is.

You're just too blinded by your bias to see it.

There is enough to go after this woman based on her record and stand on issues. Going after her family is wrong and playing right into the GOP's hands.

McCain and Palin are on the wrong side of all the issues. Keep the campaign focued on issues and we win. Make it about her family they'll just cast her as a victim and we will lose on more than one level.

[Tesha]

28. Sometimes it's better to hold Capitol Hill (and the White House) than "the moral high ground". (NT)

[JamesA1102]

32. Moral relevance nt

[nxylas]

34. And how many votes do you think we'll gain by going after her kids?

I mean, seriously. This does nothing to help Obama win the White House.

[Virginia Dare]

36. John McCain went after Chelsea Clinton..

it didn't seem to hurt him politically.

[nxylas]

40. Didn't help him either, I'm sure

And with Clinton, his family life was about all they had on him, unlike Palin, who has more skeletons in her closet than an Agatha Christie novel.

[breakaleg]

12. But this kid is not her son and she's using him for political gain.

[JamesA1102]

33. That's for him and his parents to decide, not you nt

[Virginia Dare]

37. We can sure as hell talk about it...n/t

[stillcool]

15. Michelle Obama has already...

been taken apart by the media. This woman hasn't even been vetted, and she is the nominee for the Vice President of the United States!! I really don't give a shit about her family, except as it pertains to her background of which I know nothing.

[spanone]

4. this is what republicans do, they fuck up then rub YOUR face in it.

[Virginia Dare]

5. They tell us to back off, and we do...

they would like nothing more than for us to back off this woman.

[JamesA1102]

I'm not saying back off

There are plenty other places to go based on her record and stand on issues.

[Virginia Dare]

22. Sure, but none that will get the attention and the tongues wagging...n/t

[Balderdash]

6. Families are not fair game

Per our Candidate, Obama.

[stillcool]

11. but not per "We the people"

I want to know everything about this woman John McCain dropped on us like a bomb, leaving it up to the citizens of this country to vet her.

[Virginia Dare]

13. Obama isn't running me, and I'm not running his campaign..

I question her parenting skills, ergo her "executive" skills come into question and the character of the person.

[Balderdash]

16. Then you not supporting OUR candidate.

nt

[Virginia Dare]

21. Whatever....n/t

[sandnsea]

7. What is it about social policies that nobody can get through their head

The soap opera is an opportunity to talk about her horrific policies for education and families. When will supposedly intelligent people start telling America how horrible this woman would be for their children. Do you want your daughter forced to carry a child of a rapist? Even if it damages her health? That's the question. The Obama campaign didn't even get it right.

[JamesA1102]

23. The reason no one is talking about those issues is

because they are too busy going after her family. That is exactly my point. There are enough places to go based on her positions on issues without attacking her family.

[Virginia Dare]

25. Fine, when she quits sticking her family in front of the cameras..

then we'll stop talking about them.

[JamesA1102]

31. Obama put his family in front of the cameras

Does that make little Sasha fair game?

[Virginia Dare]

35. If Sasha were older you could bet on it....

I'm sure if you dug into Rush Limbaugh's archives you would find him attacking Obama's kids.

John McCain himself viciously attacked Chelsea Clinton when she was a teen.

[riverwalker]

14. not only fair game, but open season with no limits

This wacko is within 5 percentage points of sleeping next to the red telephone. If this nuclear armed Tanya Harding becomes VP, I (and the rest of the world) will not sleep for the next 4 years. This bitch wants my grandchildren to fight in her rapture-seeking future wars.
"Fair game" implies a rational contest with mediocre outcomes, the phrase does not apply.
We are up pitted against pure insanity here.

[bushisanidiot]

17. By flying K-fed in, Palin is trying to show that her daughter is a grown woman and is

about to be married and have a child. Therefore, Palin's duties as mother to her child, Bristol are minimized.. in other words, Bristol isn't her problem anymore.. she's on her own. And I think it's absolute CRAP! Bristol is still a child. Just because she is having a baby, that does NOT make her a grown up. Palin will most likely throw that poor girl out of her house and make her live with that K-fed boy, who's barely of legal age. It's disgusting what Sarah Palin is doing to her family for the sake of power.

[Lars39]

27. I keep hoping Bristol will break free and ask for asylum.

[The Stranger]

19. Always have been -- welcome to politics.

[vaberella]

20. Obama said no family. In light of this article,

many people will see it as an open door on the family and those pics of the future sister-in-law will eat Palin alive. Unless they want to resurrect Prohibition.

[cap]

26. and where is Mccain's adopted bangladeshi daughter?

she's been missing in this campaign.

[JamesA1102]

30. She was at the convention last night. nt

[Virginia Dare]

39. They trotted her out last night...

to highlight McCain's selflessness....:eyes:

[Kablooie]

38. Palin made them fair game -- but do we let her call the shots or hold onto our own values?

[glitch]

41. Most excellent point. We can note how tacky she is and still leave the kids alone.

Which does seem to be how it is going here on DU, for the most part.

I love how the pregnancy of Sarah Palin’s daughter is, according to John McCain’s campaign, “a private family matter.” This, after the Republican Party has spent 30 years making policy on women’s bodies.
Why can’t Republicans recognize that reproductive decisions are private for all American women? Claire Bushey