one sentence that explains why attacks on Palin as a "bad mom" won't work

[onenote]

From a column in today's Washington Post about the repub rally in northern virginia yesterday comes the following quote from a woman supporter: "There're more American parents with unwed pregnant teenaged children than American parents with Harvard grads."

And that, in a nutshell, explains why attacking Palin's parenting skills/performance will not be effective. There are around 2000 teenagers giving birth in a state like West Va every year. How many kids from W.VA are getting into Harvard,Yale, Columbia? Its an identification thing. There are literally millions of middle class/working class families in which "mom" works not because she wants to but because she feels she needs to in order to help make ends meet. These moms aren't breaking glass ceilings. They're in retail, administrative, clerical or other mid to low-level positions. They worry about whether they're doing the right thing, about whether their kids will fuck up as kids always do and whether they will be labelled parents when it happens. They are inherently sympathetic/empathetic towards a parent who has kids that fuck up and aren't about to start labelling them as bad parents and will be resentful towards those who aren't in their shoes and who toss brickbats at someone they identify with.

Now, that's not to say that these working moms should be identifying with Palin. Palin has advantages that these moms don't have. But that doesn't matter so much. Paln's per diem? Its outrageous, but there isn't a working mom out there that would turn down a similar deal if it was available to them.

So the answer isn't to hit at Palin's parenting. Its to emphasize that she cannot and will not do anything to help these working moms have an easier time of it. That she and McCain have no plan for improving the economy, and that their policies favor the rich over the working class. That has to be hammered home at every opportunity.

My two cents.

[msongs]

1. dems should completely ignore palin instead of falling for the repub scheme nt

[tekisui]

2. She is not the threat.

She is there for the fundies, and the fundies alone.

She panders to them, so mcPOW doesn't have to. This frees him up to put on his new "change" outfit. He needs to be hammered day in and day out. As a liar, as confused, as a neo-b*sh, as a lobbyist lover, as a war monger....

[dkf]

5. I think you are wrong.

Her message is universally appealing...basically clean out the bad guys in Washington.

Reform (get rid of waste) is a more specific label than simply change, which is vague.

She seems more credible than McCain because on face value she looks and sounds like she means it. It is only upon closer examination that you realize it is "rules for thee but not for me".

And the stump speech I heard yesterday has NOT ONE FUNDIE APPEAL.

[alcibiades_mystery]

3. Whoever is attacking her that way is a political imbecile

It's not clear that we need a thousand pieces of advice stating the obvious, even if there is a rather inordinate number of folks who fail to grasp the obvious on these boards.

[onenote]

4. which is why I decided to post this

Its lousy that the obvious needs to be stated. And while an occasional counterweight to the number of posts that think yelling "bad mom" will turn voters away from the repubs may not help, it can't hurt.

[treestar]

6. What's the argument when they say they identify with her?

I like: I'd rather have someone smarter than I am in the WH - or how about emphasizing the differences, how much help she must have and how she is after all governor of a state and not many people can personally identify with that.

someone who would vote for her because they identify with her is someone I can hardly identify with. What the heck drives these people? Maybe it is possible to find a way to get them to think? They can only reach the conclusion that voting for her because she is a mother like them by not thinking at all. Maybe their husband will vote for Obama, obviously being able to identify with him more, being a father. It's that idiotic!

[yellowdogintexas]

7. and her position on sex ed, birth control, choice.

The only legitimate connection between her actual children's situations and this election is how the legal implications of her views can roll down and impact all of us.

The salient aspects of "All Sarah's Children" unfortunately have very long and strong legs, and in this People Mag/InsideEdition/Us/National Enquirer/gossip columnist media world it is what way too many people think is important.

Our job really is to push that discussion back up to the question of McCain first; can he really be president? His policies, his potential actions as Leader of the Free World and the impact of his VP should he leave office for whatever reason

[mitchum]

8. Carlos!

[onenote]

10. Crazy!

[LibDemAlways]

9. Re: Palin's parenting. Despite the truth of

everything you posted, there is still a chunk of the electorate squeamish about Palin because they question her priorities. It's not that a parent - man or woman - shouldn't be out in the workforce. Of course they should, and it's often a difficult balancing act. It's just that Palin is so politically ambitious that she put her pregnant teen and Down Syndrome infant on the back burner at a moment's notice for career advancement.

As a working mom whose daughter is always first and foremost, that makes me wary of her judgment. Not PC to admit it, but that's how I and others I've talked to feel.