One quick note about Mark Sanford

I agree with many of my friends who believe this topic is getting too much attention, up against wars, starvation, the most corrupt medical establishment in the world, etc. But a quote from a conservative activist in SC from this morning’s Yahoo news page pretty much sums up my thinking too:

“Joining the calls for resignation was a one-time ally, the head of the group that’s pushed Sanford’s school choice effort. If Republicans are going to criticize Democrats for moral failings, Sanford has to go, said Randy Page, president of the conservative advocacy group South Carolinians for Responsible Government.”

You don’t get to have it both ways, folks. If you’re going to campaign on and preach morality, you have to hold yourself to your own standard.

I wish this were amazing

Throughout the day, I’ve been seeing “reports” (read: smear efforts) to the effect that Sarah Palin’s 5th child is, in fact, her 17-year-old daughter’s.  I wasn’t taking these very seriously, except to the extent that I was upset to see this kinds of smears emerging from opponents to the McScum/Palin ticket.  There are plenty of reasons to vote against that ticket without inventing any.

So the news now is that Sarah Palin’s 17-year-old daughter is, in fact, pregnant.  The pregnancy itself is none of my concern.  People have sex.  People who never learn about, or who learn to reject, birth control get pregnant.  People who reject abortions have the children.  OK, fine.

What gets under my skin is that in the very same announcement of the pregnancy, the Palin folks contend that Democrats don’t get to “politicize” it, that is, we don’t get to make any claims about it at all.

That’s crap.  People like Sarah Palin have been politicizing families, births, pregnancies, abortions, birth control and the rest of it for decades.  Now that their attacks on anybody who disagrees with them might come back to bite them, nobody’s allowed to talk about it. And you can BET, I mean BET WITH UTTER CERTAINTY, that the campaign will exploit the daughter to demonstrate Palin’s commitment to so-called family values.

Chalk up another one to shameless, two-faced, hypocrisy.  Gee, what a surprise.  The first time any Republican mentions the daughter in this way, it should be open season to accuse her of having premarital sex and getting pregnant, exactly what Christofascists condemn people for every day.