"And for anyone suffering, as I am, from the overwhelming number of articles that focus on Palin's daughter's pregnancy instead of her actual disqualifications to be V.P..."

There, fixed it for you. You're welcome!

Sarah Palin - like many rural and suburban women - is apparently eager to identify herself as a mother: hockey mom, soccer mom, PTA mom, church mom, ad nauseum. Few men would respond to the question "What do you do?" with "I'm a dad." It's really not valid to portray the mommification of Palin as a media conspiracy. She did it herself. It's the cornerstone of her political and cultural posture, and people who cringe at the American fetish of Motherhood are quite justified in having a bit of fun at her expense.

Palin was objectified by John McCain when he picked her because he thought a woman--any woman--would attract Hilary voters, despite her incredible lack of qualifications.

What the articles you're talking about are doing is simply reporting on that.

this is the person that the party of high standards, personal responsibility and traditional values thinks belongs next in line to the very aged, mentally and physically, McCain. Pathetic.

I think you're missing the point, Vinnie. It's not that the liberals are prudes and don't understand that pregnancies "just happen"; it's that the conservatives say their "family values" are higher and make such things less frequent. It's that they claim to be "paying more attention to the needs of the family" and therefore avoiding these pitfalls that "just happen". It's the moralistic tone when it's somebody else's child (remember the McCain ad about Obama's children?).

I agree entirely that Ms Palin's family has nothing to do with her political career. I agree with those that her opinions and lack of experience are sufficient for us to see her as a bad VP candidate. It's the conservatives who make a candidate's family life an important issue; it's the conservatives who say liberals are "too loose". I, for one, was always against considering, say, John Edwards' adultery as having anything to do with his capacity as a politician; how many people in the right said that? Now, since conservatives find it OK to discuss evidence of failure in other people's family (and to derive political clout from this--we're better than them!), they should also take it when others discuss theirs.

Announcer: Hey Sarah, what are your qualifications to be the VP?

Sarah Palin (as played by Tina Fey): I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night

How about Governor S' membership for a time in the early 1990s, in a so-called "Independent" Party, one principal plank of which was to seek secession for/by Alaska? Hey, if the Rovers and the extreme right like this lady, then the rest of us need to be afraid, very afraid.

Then farts the star spangled banner. Psycho chicks are awesome.

Why is it viewed, here and on Slate XX factor, as horrible to discuss Palin as a mother? Her Mom cred is a large part of her own self identity. And in contrast to the other politicians listed, she's what misanthropes like me call a "breeder"--five kids is a lot in this day and age, and for the social class that we always seem to put up for high office. Further, theres that, ya know, special needs infant she's got, which is pretty unique amongst VP and presidential contenders...most don't seek the presidency until their youngest are teenagers. On top of all this, the woman is getting all this FAVORABLE supermom coverage (particularly at slate)for having this huge family and a big career, though what gets lost is that she was in fact a stay at home mom for the bulk of her kids lives, and her time on the city council and in the mayors office of her town was part time, and now, as I understand it, her husband is a stay at home dad.

OK, that was a little rambling. But my point is, "mother" is a large chunk of her self promoted positive image, so why is it off limits as a focus of scrutiny or criticism?

The minute Palin was announced as VP pick, conservatives held her up as an exemplar of family values--a propaganda club they were most certainly planning to beat the "eeevvilll secular Dem ticket" with. So, now her mothering/family values are off-limits?!!? Nope, sorry--Palin made this a public issue. If she didn't want folks to go there, she shouldn't have put her hat in the ring--thereby dragging her poor daughter into this.

Certainly its not the fact that she is a mother that's got people worried. Its that she's already a mother of five, who JUST had an infant with special needs and who's minor daughter is pregnant. Palin became pregnant in her first year of being governor! Talk about not taking the job seriously. At least wait until your up to speed. I wouldn't hire someone like that to balance my books to be honest. That should be the biggest issue, whether someone who lives their life so chaotically should be running anything but her own household.

Some things do matter. Sarah Palin has close ties to the Alaska Independence Party (AIP). Here is what the founder of the AIP said.

From Wikipedia

The Alaskan Independence Party quotes Vogler as stating "I'm an Alaskan, not an American. I've got no use for America or her damned institutions."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaskan_Independence_Party

Although it is debatable whether she ever "belonged" to the party, her support of them is not. Here is a recent speach that she taped for their convention.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4iCDBIAde8

This is right up there with ties to the John Birch society or the Posse Comatatus (sorry don't remember correct spelling).

as many other posters have stated, the GOP and Palin went out of their way to promote Palin's biography as a salient feature of the campaign. If I paint my skin blue and get on the NYC subway, I can't complain that people are staring, whistling and pointing. Moreover, McCain implies that he is the man of experience and sound judgment, yet he picks a relative unknown with a lot of baggage.

Price also fails to understand that if Palin had more of a record for people to discuss, the personal stuff wouldn't be as much of a topic. and it's not just because she's a woman: during this election cycle, did people talk about Hillary's parenting of Chelsea? no, people talked about her stance on healthcare, her controversial vote to authorize the Iraq war

(of course there are the intractable Clinton-haters on the far right, but for the most part, the criticism was about the issues and the poor manner in which she ran her campaign)