I'm a man, and you bet I'm going to pass judgment on the fact that Sarah Palin accepted the VP slot even though her youngest child is an infant with Down's Syndrome and her eldest is five months pregnant ... and I would do exactly the same if she were male. It's bad enough when young people are subjected to the media glare through no fault of their own just because their parents decide to run for office (and yes, I'm talking to you, Barack Obama, even though I'm voting for you). It's considerably worse when the family in question is dealing with the kinds of issues that the Palins are dealing with right now. I'm sure they're a very strong family, and I'm sure they're all behind Sarah 100%, etc., etc. But still, the mature and responsible decision on Sarah's part would have been to spare her family, in particular her daughter, the kind of scrutiny and snide commentary that's inevitable in a campaign like this. Instead, she offered them up as her calling card. Any candidate who would do this, male or female, ought to be sent to Parenting 101.

Yes Bristol, your mother was going to make world history by being the first female United States VP, but instead, because of you, she will stay home. Now that is good parenting.

Well, if that's the way she frames the choice, then no, it's obviously not good parenting.

What you're implying it that she should be held to a different standard because she's a woman, because she's "going to make world history." History, schmistory.

Actually, under the circumstances, yes.

I don't mean that she should be held to a different standard. But, good parenting sometimes does require putting aside personal ambition (which you describe as making history) and tending to your child in need. My husband and his colleagues all agreed they would not have accepted the VP nomination if they were in Palin's shoes. This isn't about a different standard for women.

Totally agree with you, equiphile.

I think Palin's decision to bring to term her baby has been retroactively made a political tactic. The Palins are bad parents. If they were black, the Repub convention would be lynching them, not making them saints.

Palin accepted the VP nod knowing she would be exposing her 17 yo daughter to all this scrutiny. I think it is selfish. She's only 44. She may have another opportunity and in 4-8 years, she would have a lot more experience, her daughter would have been married for at least that long, and her youngest would be close to kindergarten age, not an infant. Her timing is not good and I am still shocked that this is the best the republican party could come up with for a vp. Gasp!

You are judging someone for having a baby with downes syndrome? That is not a deliberate choice and should be left out of the conversation.

Bristol had been absent from school for many months this spring, supposedly because she had mono.

Now, all of a sudden, she and her boyfriend Levi are getting married.

I'll bet the original Palin plan was to have Bristol quietly have the baby, give it up for adoption, and go back to school in the fall w/o anyone (except Levi) knowing the real situation.

But after the rumors started flying, Levi and Bristol were probably "encouraged" to get married. It will be interesting to see if they both go back to high school this fall.

First of all, at the age of 44, Palin should have known that the chances of having a child with birth defects were greatly increased. Second, she already had four children, why did she feel she needed another? Is she opposed to birth control as well as abortion? Third, they knew well in advance that the fetus had Down's Syndrome, and they could have terminated the pregnancy. Instead, for strictly ideological reasons, they chose to continue the pregnancy and have a child who will soon be a burden on us taxpayers.

It makes one wonder how Palin possibly thought she was going to keep Bristol's condition under wraps once she'd accepted the VP spot.

Is she really that naive?

Get real. So Palin has a pregnant, unmarried teenage daughter - big whoop. Teenage daughters are precocious, rebellious and sooo much smater than their parent - what family hasn't gone through this stage with a daughter?

I think what really bothers people who want to drag these family issues front and center is that she is a woman.