So let's compare. Sarah Palin has a 17 year old daughter who is pregnant. Does this mean that Sarah Palin is a hypocrite for championing family values? Does this make her a bad parent? Here is what Palin has to say about the matter: "We have been blessed with five wonderful children who we love with all our heart...Our beautiful daughter Bristol came to us with news that as parents we knew would make her grow up faster than we had ever planned. We're proud of Bristol's decision to have her baby and even prouder to become grandparents. As Bristol faces the responsibilities of love and adulthood, she knows she has our unconditional support."
This to me is the true humble and Christian response. No one is perfect. And there are consequences for actions which people have to live with. Even so, parents can admire the young girl's decision not to take the easy way out and have an abortion. They love their daughter unconditionally, and accept the grandchild unreservedly. I predict that this will strengthen Palin's support both with evangelical Christians and with the American people.
Now let's contrast Palin's behavior with that of Barack Obama. Here is Obama, from his speech at the Democratic National Convention. "It's not because John McCain doesn't care. It's because John McCain doesn't get it." Obama faulted McCain for his cruel and insensitive philosophy, which he defined this way: "Out of work? Tough luck. No health care. The market will fix it. Born into poverty? Pull yourself up by your boot straps, even if you don't have boots. You're on your own."
Obama rejected the bootstraps philosophy in favor of a Christian alternative. In his interview with pastor Rick Warren, Obama said his favorite passage in the Bible is the one where Jesus says: whatever you do to the least of my brethren, that you do unto me. Obama has actually used biblical language to make the point that we are our brothers' keeper. Obama insisted that these are the ideals that have guided his life and the ones that he would bring to the Oval Office.
Now how can Obama's self-description be reconciled with news reports that Obama's younger half-brother lives in a hut in a shanty town on the outskirts of Nairobi? Vanity Fair caught up with twenty six year old George Hussein Onyango Obama, and what he had to say is as shocking as it is pathetic. "No one knows who I am. I live here on less than a dollar a month." George's shack measures 6 feet by 10 feet, and yet he says that Barack Obama has done nothing to reach out to him or to help him. "I live like a recluse. If anyone says something about my surname, I say we are not related. I am ashamed." The two Obamas only met twice, once when George was five and then again in 2006 when Senator Obama visited Nairobi. "It was very brief," George says. "We spoke for just a few minutes. It was like meeting a complete stranger."
So far what has Obama said about his half-brother? Absolutely nothing. Yet the Obama campaign has not denied the story. And Obama's supporters, attempting to cover up for their man, have basically said that young George Obama is trying to benefit from Barack Obama's success. Their argument is that Obama owes his sibling nothing. So the Obama camp has a message for George: "Pull yourself up by your bootstraps, even if you don't have boots. You're on your own." Obama's accusation against McCain turns out to be an accurate description of his own practical philosophy.
Could there be a more striking contrast between Palin's loving approach to her family and Obama's stern rejection of his own half-brother? The media seems to be implying that Palin is hypocritical because she stands for "family values" while her daughter is pregnant out of wedlock. But parents don't have full control over their teenagers' actions. Moreover, isn't Obama an even bigger hypocrite for championing aid to the down-and-out while his own sibling lives in an African hut on pennies a day? By the way the Obamas made several million dollars last year! They are certainly in a position to relieve George's condition if they cared enough.
The major newspapers and networks know about George, and they seem to recognize how damaging this story is for their favorite presidential candidate. So they are not reporting it, even though it is one of the most revealing stories about the candidate's character. And thus, with the GOP convention under way, we have the ridiculous spectacle of Obama getting credit for talking about compassion while Palin gets criticized for practicing it.
A slightly different version of this article appears in the online edition of National Review.
Reader Comments ( Page 6 of 46)
76. Pliny the difference is the murder of innocent life. Murders are not innocent.
Man_in_Wilderness at 2:48PM on Sep 2nd 2008
77. Botts - actually the McCain camp was aware of her daughter's pregnacy, and her husband's DUI back in '86. Is that relative to the experiece SP brings to the ticket? No, she has more experience than BO.
Man_in_Wilderness at 2:51PM on Sep 2nd 2008
78. But isn't all law exactly the imposing of morals? Aren't morals imposed on a lunch counter owner when he's told whom he may not refuse service? Aren't morals imposed on a campaign contributor when he's told that he can't contribute as much as he pleases? How about a landowner who is not permitted to pave his ephemeral wetland?
This is fundamental but I fear it needs reiteration for the benefit of some of the young commenters who might not have considered it yet.
I think the real debate is not on the imposing of morals itself, for, again, all law, by definition, is that, but the nature of morals that are being imposed.
All cogent arguments about a proposed law must deal with the morality of the proposal, not the hypocricy of the proposer, the smell of his breath, or whether morals should be imposed in the first place.
I think it might be valuable for us to start a kind of blog on which young people left and right who would care not to make such errors could find mentoring on the basics of logic and civility.
What do you think?
GaryB at 1:44PM on Sep 2nd 2008
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I think your post should be embraced by left and right as sagacious, practical, and as a starting point for mutual respect and reconciliation.
As such it will surely be ignored. Nice try though.
birdinhand at 2:52PM on Sep 2nd 2008
79. "You would not be saying that if your mom had aborted you. Nice to be able to sit on your stool of do nothing and say how great it is. huh? I agree with Troy, abortion is murder of innocent life. The decision these girls and women make is whether to murder a child or not. A very, very selfish act."
And you, trying to implement your belief and make it rule of law to control everyone is just as selfish.
I'm Pro life by Choice. So are you. It's all about choices.
Until you can find families for every abandoned kid, and have built enough prisons for Women that have abortions coupled with Doctors who perform them, you can't really do anything.
Religion needs to stay out of Government. You don't get it MIW. Our faith is not supposed to rule. It starts with Abortion. If institutionalized Religion gets that overturned, it opens the door to do many other things based on a certain Faith.
It is separation of Church and State for a reason. That reason is for us to not be Iran or Saudi Arabia.
If you are against Abortion, don't have one.
Botts at 2:53PM on Sep 2nd 2008
80. Botts post 3 - That is a cop out... Do you or do you not feel any responsibility for your brothers and sisters? Extended family or not? Sure they should fend for themselves, but those who can't should be cared for, given a hand up, not a hand out.
Man_in_Wilderness at 2:55PM on Sep 2nd 2008
81. The questions regarding Palin aren't about her daughter, but it does highlight the idea that the official platform of the republican party could not be adhered to by the vice president's family.
That's going to provide a lot of problems when kids want to do what the VP's kids to as will certainly happen if she got in.
I still have not heard if she has admitted that her last pregnancy was actually her daughter's since her colleagues noted she didn't show, and there's been no documentation like sarah's medical visits, or proof positive by providing a dna sample from the downs syndrome child to put the rumor that she was covering for her family to rest.
But outside of illustrating the same basis for sex education as Cheney offered for invading Iraq, that if you really believe kids won't be kids or you'll be welcomed as liberators, you can ignore history and psychology, there's no need to look at her family.
What's important are her ties to a secessionist party, her flipflop on the bridge to nowhere, her acceptance of 27 mil in other earmarks, her lockstep stance on big oil and dominionism, the bipartisan alaskan investigation of use of influence to fire a man who disagreed with her politically, her close ties to Ted Stevens, and a reputation of fighting corruption that was largely done by a democratic state legislature.
There's this continued allegation that she has more 'executive' experience than Barack Obama. Using the standard you'd have to use to come up with this, she also has more executive experience than John Mccain, hilary clinton, joe biden, joe lieberman, and anyone else in the senate or the house!
Of course, it's patently ridiculous, as is the claim of 80% approval. Those were old figures and the latest were in the sixties.
She comes off as being no different at all from the worst neoconservatives, but her membership in a party that advocates secession from the U.S. is pretty scary.
The party appears to be in a bit of a panic. I heard a report from an Alaskan talk show host that there are about a dozen republicans descended on Juneau to continue the vetting process they overlooked.
I have a question for mothers who like the church lady: If you only met a person once as was the case with mccain and palin, would you entrust your children to them for four years?
If not, why would you do it with your country?
Clif Kuplen at 2:56PM on Sep 2nd 2008
82. "Botts - actually the McCain camp was aware of her daughter's pregnacy, and her husband's DUI back in '86. Is that relative to the experiece SP brings to the ticket? No, she has more experience than BO."
MIW,
Your argument is flawed. You're basing it solely on executive experience. By that case, she has more experience than McCain as well.
Experience consists of everything involved in your life. B.O. has much experience in dealing with people and understanding their situations. He has experience in the Constitution and believes in it.
It's subjective on what you feel experience is and what another person feels. It's solely an opinion, and not factual in any way.
This will prove to be a disastrous move on McCain. It really does show his judgment. If Hillary was Obama's VP, do you think he would have chosen Palin? Answer that honestly.
If your answer is no, then you know the motive behind this pick. The motive clearly isn't "Country First". It is getting votes and pandering.
You really need to know how to look at things objectively and finding facts. You rely on rumors, and bigoted towards a person's birth name.
Botts at 3:01PM on Sep 2nd 2008
83. the same people who want small government also want an end to privacy and a government large enough to monitor everything you do, especially your sex life.
If you control sexuality, its sublimation is an immense natural resource.
What's appalling is that there are so many people who fear sex as much as terrorists or gays or libruls or afeists. I hope there aren't enough voting hockey pucks to get these criminals in for four more years.
Clif Kuplen at 3:02PM on Sep 2nd 2008
84. There's a betting line on palin being dropped before the election already!
It's 5 to 1 against, but let's see if it narrows..
Clif Kuplen at 3:03PM on Sep 2nd 2008
85. "Botts post 3 - That is a cop out... Do you or do you not feel any responsibility for your brothers and sisters? Extended family or not? Sure they should fend for themselves, but those who can't should be cared for, given a hand up, not a hand out."
I love all my Brothers and Sisters in the name of humanity.
You holding it against Obama is foolish and biased. He met him once. He didn't even know his own father. His Father had all kinds of kids from different women.
You're telling me, that it is Obama's duty to take care of people he doesn't know, with his income, solely because his Father planted his seed all over the place? Obama has a wife and two children. That is his first responsibility. He hasn't been "rich" at all until his books were selling. That didn't happen until recently. What he does in regards to helping people, is up to him. And you don't know him well enough to know what he's done for others with his money and time.
Give me a break. You don't even know if Obama has helped his half brother. You're assuming he hasn't. That's your fault.
Botts at 3:06PM on Sep 2nd 2008
86. What you should be asking is if George even ASKED for help from Barack. Some people are okay with living in a hut. It's NOT always a good thing to have a good house in a bad neighborhood.
Mokele Mbembe at 3:06PM on Sep 2nd 2008
87. Botts; "If you are against Abortion, don't have one"
Well said.
Troy: "Should a woman's right to not have a baby trump a baby's right to have life?"
Yes.
Ryan Anderson at 3:06PM on Sep 2nd 2008
88. Botts post 77 - I do agree that it is a fine line. But call it what it is. It is murder, life begins at conception. To abort that conception is what it is. Many, many families would love to adopt children. But for it to be the rule of law, many young girls take it as a way out of their responsibility. Most women I have ever met have the controls on whether to spread their legs or not. They have the control of the gas and the brake pedals so to say. Yes, some are raped, or plied with alcohol.... the rape if found guilty should be a capital offense. Capital punishment would work, if they did not sit on death row for 20 (+) years, as a deterrent. I do agree that Church and State need to be separate. Or we would all be saying 3 hail Mary's... etc...etc... But to say that abortion is murder is not a Church issue, it is a life issue for the unborn baby.
Man_in_Wilderness at 3:07PM on Sep 2nd 2008
89. Is it narrow-minded to not want to murder a human? Should a woman's right to not have a baby trump a baby's right to have life? Who's being narrow-minded?
Troy at 1:57PM on Sep 2nd 2008
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Troy, can you tell us exactly how abortion equates to murder? In a secular way that all of us can relate to? (No bible quotes, please).
Would you also explain to me, clearly, why you or any group or any government should be able to seize control of a woman, seize her privacy, and compel her to acceed to your demands to carry to term another human she does not want?
birdinhand at 3:09PM on Sep 2nd 2008
90. "As I said, "it seems to me". That wouldn't be fact, but my opinion"
Nice word game , oh yeah that conforms to ISO. Once again, I say who am I to say your are or not entitled to your opinions.
To borrow a line from FDR "You and I both know" what you are talking about. This has been your line since ,I believe, around 1-3 hours last Friday, just after the announcement of a VP selection. As I said to you then, to just give things a chance to play themselves out. I think I was right, in that more stuff came into play. Fortunately for some like yourself you picked it up and ran the old standard drill.
As for my own opinions: I believe, I think, I feel, I sense, or whatever , that you just play the "good cop" role to Kuplen's "burned out cop" and Okane's "bad cop" and Negative' "psycho cop".
Now realize I am merely stating an opinion so you should take it all with a grain of salt.
P.S. What's this other thing about offing Polar Bears with AK-47's, As I do not frequent some of your favorite sites as I prefer a mix of opinions.
What is this latest "fact"?
M2D5 at 3:21PM on Sep 2nd 2008