- Top Features:
- War Room
- Glenn Greenwald
- Broadsheet
- Joan Walsh
- Camille Paglia
- Since You Asked
- Follow Salon:
Read other letters about this article
John McCain’s selection of Sarah Palin as Vice-President raises a number of questions:
John McCain is the oldest nominee in history for the office of President. While doctors from the Mayo Clinic say that he is reasonably healthy for his age, he is more likely to experience health problems than a fit male who is 20 years younger. That is why his pick of Sarah Palin truly matters. Is SHE presidential material?
Sarah Palin is being praised because she knowingly decided to give birth to a child, four and a half months ago, who has Down Syndrome. Her son, Trig, is classified as a special needs child. But apparently such a child who at this critical, formative stage in his development, may have a special need for an attentive mother, is not going to have that need fulfilled. His mother is off running as a Republican Vice-President and she is receiving praise for being a “pro-life” politician. Is this the best that a truly loving mother can do? Abandon her child to others, while she pursues a political career?
Sarah Palin, we are told, opposes sex education in public schools. Apparently she did not do a first-rate job of sex education in private either. Her 17-year-old daughter is now an unwed mother-to-be. This dubious achievement is now being hailed by social conservatives as proving, once again, how “pro-life” the Palins are. Bristol’s boyfriend, Levi Johnson, used to have a YouTube page in which he reportedly said he did not want to have children and described himself as “a f**king redneck”. (The website recently disappeared).
One reasonable question would be: has this young couple been “bought off” for political reasons? (Along the lines of John Edwards’ mistress receiving a great deal of money to keep scandal at bay.) Someone should look into the possibility at least. The Republicans have a lot riding on protecting McCain’s reputation during a close election race.
Time will tell how long this teenage romance will last… but those who run McCain’s campaign care that the marriage looks as respectable as a shotgun wedding ever can and that it endures until the election has taken place
No one who was in favor of voting for Hillary Clinton could possibly think of Sarah Palin as an equivalent, simply because she is a woman. Whatever McCain’s reasons for choosing her as a running mate, he should not mind if the national press vets Palin for a second time, assuming she has nothing to hide.
