http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/09/01/MN4612MCRH.DTLLike a boomerang, Palin's stance on sex ed coming back to smack herCarla Marinucci, Chronicle Political Writer
Monday, September 1, 2008
(09-01) 18:25 PDT St. Paul, Minn. -- When she ran for governor of Alaska in 2006, Sarah Palin was asked if she would support abstinence-before-marriage programs over sex education, school clinics and contraceptive distribution. She was firm in her answer: "Explicit sex ed programs will not find my support." But that response came back today to haunt her - and presidential campaign of GOP candidate John McCain - with the news that Palin's unmarried, 17-year-old daughter, Bristol, is five months pregnant.
Palin and her husband, Todd, released a statement saying they welcomed the news that their daughter would keep the baby, marry and make them grandparents - unexpectedly, but happily, they said.
Palin's news is by no means unfamiliar to American families of any background. But even in an era when little seems to shock us, the eye-opening situation of the woman with five children who hopes to be the nation's second most powerful executive - a heartbeat away from the presidency - is cause for concern in the harsh spotlight of a presidential contest. It's especially troubling since voters have just been introduced to the virtually unknown Palin, her biography and her record as a Republican, a party that has long trumpeted its support of conservative "family values."
And the Palin news, at the start of the Republican National Convention, came just 72 hours after McCain had named her his running mate. It raised questions about whether she had been property vetted, if story would be a distraction to the campaign and whether there might be any more unexpected news to come.
"It shows the problems of picking someone out of the blue," said Hoover Institution media fellow Bill Whalen. "It doesn't happen with someone well known like Mitt Romney, who we know," and whose every detail of business and life experience has been examined with a magnifying glass by media.
The surprising announcement of Palin's impending status as a grandmother first surfaced with Internet rumors that daughter Bristol may be the mother the mother of Palin's 5-month-old son, Trig. The McCain campaign strongly denied such rumors, but the news of the daughter's pregnancy - never mentioned this week during Palin's formal introduction to the press and voters - still had GOP loyalists buzzing at the start of the party's nominating convention here.
Most staunch Republicans in St. Paul, hearing the news, aimed to accentuate the positive: Palin's daughter is keeping the baby and getting married, a plus - the embodiment of family values, they said.
"I'm not a feminist, never have been, and I opposed the Equal Rights Amendment because it was bad law," said Jo Ellen Allen, a delegate from Newport Beach. "But women ought to be applauding her. ... This happens to the best of families." "As a delegate, and as a woman, I respect them even more now,' said Miryam Mora, 26, a GOP delegate from Los Angeles, whose reaction mirrored many inside Xcel Energy Center. "It's a family with real issues and real problems ... but it's an amazing family."
Even demonstrators outside the convention center had a different reaction.
Mary Kay Ryan, 54, of Chicago, said she was "of two minds when I heard the news. From a feminist point of view, I hate it when people use women's bodies to make a point." But as someone who says she doesn't want McCain to win, "the bratty side of me says, 'Na-ne, na-nee.' I feel really, really bad for the girl." Sarah Smith, 21, a marketing manager from Chicago, said that the story "proves to me that we really need more sex-positive sexual education programs in the United States. If the potential vice president's daughter isn't getting the message - then what does that say?"
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