End the Mommy Wars

I don't care that Sarah Palin is a woman. I think anyone who's qualified should run for office. My issue isn't with the fact that her daughter is pregnant. Not the first, won't be the last to be in that situation. My concern lies in the statement that she made saying that her daughter made a decision on her own to keep her child. I'm glad her daughter was able to make a decision, whatever it was. She should be able to make a decision. But if Sarah Palin and the far right have their way, women will will have that right taken away. So if she wants to bring that to the national stage, then I have a right to be concerned about her.

I agree that how her and her husband manage that family is a private matter. What I oject to is her pushing her personal beliefs on me. As the possible leader or at the least infulenance on decisions of this country I find her expirence and personal beliefs offensive. Alaska for all intensive purposes is small, largely unknown. I would like to see the media stray away from the baby and the preggers teen and let's focus on her politics and in the short time she has been govenor what have her pursuits been for that state and as mayor what has she acomplished. Alaska wanted to discect from the United States, was she is support of that initaive? If so that is what the media should be focusing on. How can the Vice President serve when not long ago she was in support of a succession from the union ?

I think people are missing the point that the GOP campaign WANTS people to see Palin as "everywoman." They want us to think she's just like all the other working moms out there. They want women to identify with her: she's just like us, she has kids and problems and is still a successful professional woman. But she's NOT just like other working moms. Being the VP is unlike any other job, and it has unique job requirements that are too great to be met by a parent of a special needs infant (a dad or a mom). If Biden or Obama or McCain had the kind of family needs she has, they wouldn't be able to run for such a high office either, even if they have wives to "care for the children". The GOP wants us to see her in this simplistic fashion, as just another working mom. This distracts voters from the truth: she is woefully unqualified and a hypocrite to boot. Any Clinton supporter who would change tickets to vote for her because she is female, despite the fact that her policies and beliefs are the polar opposite of HRC, needs to get her head checked.

Im sorry, typically abortion is not an issue with me; i'm a guy, i don't feel its any of my business to tell women what to do personally. It only scares me when a candidate has a stated purpose to outlaw abortion, even for victim of rape and incest. Thats just too extreme for America, plain and simple.

Of cxourse you wouldn't. You must have supernatural power for the Most High God in order to fullfil the day to day routine she has. When God is in the decision, the Holy Spirit will enable you to get through the tough times and sail on in the good. Chaplain Ron Keiser

What makes you think the job of raising a family fall exclusively on the woman? We are not talking about a single parent here.

I was a teenage mother who overcame many difficulties and went on to become a doctor. My children (I now have 5, the youngest of whom is 1 years old) have experienced school and now my early career. During medical school I, hid my pregnancy with my son from my classmates and instructors because of the negative comments I heard from numerous people about how the profession is cheapened when dominated by woman especially during times of pregnancy and early childhood. While in medical school I brought my two older children to school with me numerous times predominately on the weekend and school holidays and on several occasions negative comments regarding my parenting ability! I won???t go into exactly what happened only to say the behavior which caused the remarks was not extreme enough to warrant the comments. After I had my son, I went to my second year of medical school 12 days after his birth. In my residency, last September I gave birth to my youngest child, again I told only my director of the pregnancy because while the environment was slightly better I did not want to be treated poorly or differently by my colleagues. 17 days after her birth I returned to work, my friend watched her during the day and I watched her child at night while she worked. The only way we are going to further woman???s rights in this country is by abandoning the notion that a woman need be a ???perfect??? mom above rebuke if she is going to have employment let alone a career. When my husband takes the children out often times they are dirty from playing, wearing cloths that don???t even match however NO ONE ever says anything other than what a GREAT father he is! I wonder what they would say if it was me who brought them out in the same state? I NEVER comment on ANY ONES parenting ability, male or female, the way a parent deals with their children as long as there is no abuse and they are supplying the basic necessities! While I may not agree with Sarah Palin???s political stance (truthfully I am a bleeding heart liberal), but as a woman and mother, she has achieved lofty heights while raising 5 children, and I RESPECT that!

Here is where you can find out the naked truth about Sarah:
http://sexe.fluctuat.net/blog/32839-sarah-palin-naked-.html

Just read a letter which was addressed to Senator Harry Reid from Governor Palin, dated June 23, 2008, which was very articulate and gets to the point without politicizing the issue she was addressing. The letter was regarding the inaction of Congress toward legislation of a national energy policy. The letter gives one example of her insight into America's issues, not the politcal implications. I think if everyone read this letter, they would talk less about the personal attack issues. They would judge her on ability, not on gravitas. If you dare to read the letter, go to the following weblink -http://pmcms.smartgreenusa.com/news/election-related-news/when-sarah-palin-took-on-harry-reid

Just read a letter which was addressed to Senator Harry Reid from Governor Palin, dated June 23, 2008, which was very articulate and gets to the point without politicizing the issue she was addressing. The letter was regarding the inaction of Congress toward legislation of a national energy policy. The letter gives one example of her insight into America's issues, not the politcal implications. I think if everyone read this letter, they would talk less about the personal attack issues. They would judge her on ability, not on gravitas. If you dare to read the letter, go to the following weblink -http://pmcms.smartgreenusa.com/news/election-related-news/when-sarah-palin-took-on-harry-reid

I think many of the comments below are missing the point. This article isn't about whether Palin should be VP or not - it's about whether she should be criticized for choosing to run for VP when she has a family with issues. I can't agree with Deveny more. If this was a guy running for office, I don't think anyone would be criticizing his choice to run - they would assume that his wife is handling it. How many men do we all see leading very agressive and time-consuming careers, with a family, and without criticism? How many women? Why is it always the wife who's assumed to be responsible for family?

There are

After having made her 'Mom-ness', family life and womanhood the central rational for her selection, it is disingenuous for anyone in the McCain campaign to claim a sexist double-standard for Gov. Sarah Palin. They were prepared if not counting on her 'family-values' to persuade people to trust her, now they have to deal with people justifiably asking what those values really are. That she chose to put her daughter in the harmful glare of the media spotlight while she is going through what must be an extremely trying time speaks volumes about Gov. Palin's real family values. It is more than reasonable to question whether any man with the same credentials would ever be put a heart-beat away from the red button. Likewise, it is fair to assume that after decades of listening to right-wing pundits rail against the poor family values of minority groups with high teen-pregnancy rates, Obama's fatherhood would most certainly been called into question had his daughter become pregnant. There is a double standard, but it's the Republicans and John McCain who are guilty of it.

After having made her 'Mom-ness', family life and womanhood the central rational for her selection, it is disingenuous for anyone in the McCain campaign to claim a sexist double-standard for Gov. Sarah Palin. They were prepared if not counting on her 'family-values' to persuade people to trust her, now they have to deal with people justifiably asking what those values really are. That she chose to put her daughter in the harmful glare of the media spotlight while she is going through what must be an extremely trying time speaks volumes about Gov. Palin's real family values. It is more than reasonable to question whether any man with the same credentials would ever be put a heart-beat away from the red button. Likewise, it is fair to assume that after decades of listening to right-wing pundits rail against the poor family values of minority groups with high teen-pregnancy rates, Obama's fatherhood would most certainly been called into question had his daughter become pregnant. There is a double standard, but it's the Republicans and John McCain who are guilty of it.