What should be done about the Palin nomination; and why public men’s views of sex matter publicly
Laura W. writes:
I’m not sure what you’re thinking, but I hope you will urge McCain’s immediate withdrawal of this nomination. This is his Eagleton moment.
LA replies:
But he KNEW about Bristol’s pregnancy when he chose Palin. So the person at fault here is himself. So he would have to withdraw his own nomination.
Laura replies:
Yes, there’s almost no way he can do this and save face. He’s backed himself into a corner. He obviously didn’t know it mattered in the real world. What a stunning miscalculation that speaks volumes about the man and his fundamental sensibility.
LA replies:
But Laura, does it matter in the real world? The whole point that blew me over yesterday was the virtually unanimous support from conservatives. See the Lucianne thread that I’ve posted this morning.
Laura replies:
Repulsive. These people are know-nothings. It’s like by-passers walking through a town knocked down in a storm and saying, “This is fabulous! Really character-building! See how these fine upstanding citizens built houses that could be knocked to the ground. We congratulate them on their good judgment!”
Laura continues:
I was thinking last night about your comments last year about Giuliani and how his personal marital misconduct was relevant to his candidacy. This incident really demonstrates that, showing how one’s view of these basic moral issues cannot help but seep into one’s judgment about public affairs. These are indeed matters of state.
LA replies:
I hadn’t thought of it before, but your comment about urging the withdrawal of the nomination brings the issue to the fore.
Before I answer, I have to tell you part of the effect this news had on me yesterday. I was thinking, “McCain announces this nomination, gets us on board with this surprising new person, and then three days later lets us know about this other situation, and we’re just supposed to be completely cool and accepting of it?” And it made me switch from, “I like Palin very much, though I think her candidacy is inappropriate,” to, “I dislike and distrust this woman. Why is she doing this to us? Why is she putting millions of people in a situation where they have to approve of her family situation which ought to be a completely private matter?”
It also made me think:
“She’s taking care of a five month old special needs baby, AND she needs to be there for her 17 year old pregnant daughter, AND she will need to be on hand to help her daughter through the birth of her child and her marriage to her 18 year old boy friend, AND she is running for vice president? AND we’re all supposed to think this is great? This is jumping the shark several times over.”
Those were some of my thoughts. But I hadn’t gone beyond that in any practical sense. Further, the total approval of the “base” seemed to indicate that the nomination was not in trouble.
But your statement about urging withdrawal makes me realize that withdrawal is indeed the logical result of what we think about this, even if the great majority of conservatives/Republicans don’t agree with us. So I’m thinking that some kind of statement along those lines is needed.
Laura W. replies:
McCain will surely lose if she stays on.
The best answer is for her simply to withdraw. Don’t you think so? She could give family reasons, all of the things you stated, and save face for him. Look, there’s no way in hell Americans are going to accept the possibility of this woman becoming president. No way. It’s done. It’s over, and it doesn’t matter how many Republicans rave about how peachy-keen this is.
LA replies:
That would certainly be a resolution.
But there are two huge question marks hanging over it.
First, if the Bristol situation is so problematic that Palin must withdraw, how could McCain and Palin not have thought beforehand that this would be a problem? They evidently thought that it would be fine with the American people if she was overseeing her daughter’s out of wedlock pregnancy and shotgun marriage right in the middle of her running for vice president. Also, they evidently thought it would be perfectly fine with the American people if, three days after Palin’s nomination was announced, Palin announced that her daughter was pregnant, while the McCain campaign simultaneously informed the press that McCain had known about the preganancy prior to choosing and anncouncing Palin as his running mate.
Second, doesn’t it appear that McCain and Palin were correct in their sanguine expectations that people would swallow all this, or at least the Republican base? The base is absolutely gaga over her. So why should she withdraw? It’s only a handful of curmudgeons like us at VFR who feel the situation is problematic.
Posted by Lawrence Auster at September 02, 2008 08:08 AM | Send