Besides the point that we really shouldn’t be talking about matters that are NOT our business to know, I gotta ask the question:
Don’t you think it would have been easier for Sarah Palin to refuse to run with McCain than to allow her name, her daughter’s name, their family’s name, dragged through the mud in all the scrutiny and criticism and condemnation that were bound to follow the announcement? If Sarah Palin was at peace with that, and McCain was at peace with that, then we really ought to leave it alone. They saw the wisdom in their decision, and I gotta trust that they are prayerful enough people that discernment led them to the right thing.
However, I still think that this situation bears watching. I’m eager to see what our Lord has in store for us. These are exciting days. We are actually talking about things that matter. How should we be raising our kids? What should we be talking with them about? What do we allow in our homes? How well should we get to know their friends? What does being “present to our children” mean? If WE make mistakes, how should we deal with it? If THEY make mistakes, how should we deal with it? What should we teach them about dealing with mistakes?
God brings about good in everything that happens to us — good or bad. Do we trust enough to know that God will bring about good in any and every situation that comes? For a practicing Catholic, I think the only answer to that last question is “Absolutely.”
I think that Sarah Palin (and her family, and the challenges they are facing right now) are right in front of our eyes these days for a reason. We need to confront things in our lives as families and as a country that perhaps we have not been willing to confront before. It is time to face the reality of just how far down our society has fallen, and take steps to get ourselves back up. It is also time to look into our own families and see what is working right, what is being blessed by God, where the graces are. Because the graces are many, and we cannot let people convince us otherwise. Yesterday, I saw a commentator hatefully call the Palin’s family a “dysfunctional” one. I think it’s sad when we no longer can distinguish between what’s dysfunctional and what’s not, when we can no longer see a family for what it is: bound together, going through suffering and challenges to grow both in holiness and grace, and despite all the challenges, striving to do what IS right rather than just what will make them look good.
Where I’m coming from:
I told you so: Bennett clashes with Blitzer about “abstinence”
What do I think: One Last Time
Miss Palin and Puritans on the Left
Rethinking Mama Palin’s judgment
Doesn’t it give you the goosebumps that what’s happening now with Palin’s family is a very direct response to Obama’s words about “mistakes”? Am I the only one who thinks it’s not coincidental? I rather believe it’s providential.
Calls to mind Don Marquis:
If you make people think they’re thinking, they’ll love you; But if you really make them think, they’ll hate you.
Other’s thoughts worth reading:
A Vote for Sarah Palin By Suann Therese Maier over at First Things
Miss Conceptions: The invisible pregnancies of presidential daughters, by William Saletan: hypothetical, but based on real stats
People are influenced by EXAMPLE, in fact if you have no personal experience in difficult issues, often people will throw that in your face – if you have no experience then don’t comment on it – which of course, is not a fair statement. But it does show people are interested in what a public figure will do with their own public beliefs.
Obama, has said he thinks his daughters should not be punished with a baby for their “mistake”.
Palin is now facing the issue for real and has handled this with grace and with love – we have a situation that may not be ideal, but it IS here and we will support life and demonstrate love, even if there may be challenging times ahead.
So very quickly after Palin has been chosen as VP she has talked the talk and now walking the walk – that is a most incredible example to all that God willing, will speak to the hearts of many who believe the lies of the culture of death.
My take on this is that she’s a GREAT example of pro-life: here she says that her daughter is expecting a baby and how the family is rallying round and how she’s so proud of her daughter for carrying the baby to term and wanting to keep the baby and wanting to get married.
Flash back to a few years ago when this question was asked of the Clintons … “what if Chelsea got pregnant?” and both said “we’d advise an abortion” … that’s the prevalent attitude. Let’s kill the baby because “it will ruin my daughter’s life” … like abortion won’t?
I just think this is another plus for McCain’s choice — who knew about the pregnancy and still asked Palin, and Palin told him before she knew that he knew. Seems pretty pro-life to me!
My take on this is that we can now see some of our “objective” media folks for what they really are – biased, insensitive and downright intrusive. I’m pretty sure Gov. Palin and her family knew what they would face before the VP nomination announcement was ever made. In fact, the McCain campaign said as much to the media – that the scrutiny would be “intense” for Gov. Palin and those she loves.
What bothers me is that there are so many contradictions being tossed about as though they were truths. Not by Sen. Obama himself, nor by Sen. McCain or Gov. Palin, but by journalists and reporters and bloggers.
If Gov. Palin is a bad mom for “letting” her daughter get pregnant (now, I ask you, what was she supposed to do, put her teen on a leash?), would she really be a “good” mom if, instead of choosing life, they chose abortion? No, of course not. She would be a “hypocrite.”
If Gov. Palin shows “bad judgment” for flying home before she went into early-but-medically-induced labor, would she have “good” judgment had she stayed put? No, she’d be wasting taxpayer dollars or neglecting the rest of her family or both.
Where’s the logic in this? Why are reporters badgering the family of a teen girl’s boyfriend? Why are we worried about a DUI from 20 years ago, for heaven’s sake? (Let’s give the man the benefit of the doubt…he’s a little older now…and, after all, if he were more liberal we could just say, “Boys will be boys,” and get on with it!)
What matters is that voters have facts to work with, not rumors and slanders and innuendo and ridiculous behavior by supposedly impartial reporters. (The current media fiesta, in other words, is downright insulting to American voters. It needs to stop.)
Then, what matters is that we make our views known BY VOTING. Period.
Personally, I’m unable to vote for Senator Obama, because I can’t ever countenance the evil of abortion-on-demand. McCain’s VP pick matters to me, yes, but I’d vote for a third party candidate if necessary to make my personal opinion known to our politicians. And, come November, I will make my choice based on candidates and platforms, not on media reporting.