Perhaps the real reason Palin quit is that some of the facts about her personal life are about to get wide publicity. For example, her first-born child, according to the medical report released by her personal physician, but only on the very eve of the presidential election, was "full" term, which means 9 months plus or minus 2 weeks of gestation. But this baby was born April 20, 1989. Yet the lady's marriage, by an apparently hasty elopement, took place less than 8 months before, on August 29, 1988. DO THE MATH. It seems very unlikely that this child was conceived after the wedding. It's an almost certainty that the baby was the result of premarital sex.

Now ordinarily, this would not be such a big deal. But this person is such an avowed right-wing moralist, such an abstinence-preacher, so opposed to sex-education, such a "holier-than-thou" fundamentalist -- that it seems clear she is also an outrageous hypocrite. A do-as-I-say, NOT as-I-do moralizer. Seems like a case of like-daughter, like-mother, perhaps.

Is that the best you can do?

Where is Dr Snitch Bitch when you need him?

AlFeldzamen:

Perhaps the real reason Palin quit is that some of the facts about her personal life are about to get wide publicity. For example, her first-born child, according to the medical report released by her personal physician, but only on the very eve of the presidential election, was "full" term, which means 9 months plus or minus 2 weeks of gestation. But this baby was born April 20, 1989. Yet the lady's marriage, by an apparently hasty elopement, took place less than 8 months before, on August 29, 1988. DO THE MATH. It seems very unlikely that this child was conceived after the wedding. It's an almost certainty that the baby was the result of premarital sex.

Now ordinarily, this would not be such a big deal. But this person is such an avowed right-wing moralist, such an abstinence-preacher, so opposed to sex-education, such a "holier-than-thou" fundamentalist -- that it seems clear she is also an outrageous hypocrite. A do-as-I-say, NOT as-I-do moralizer. Seems like a case of like-daughter, like-mother, perhaps.

I'm no Palin fan, but you're really wrong to think it might hurt her if her pre-marriage "bun-in-the-oven" got more publicity. I remember when she was first picked by McCain, and the national media went into a frenzy over her daughter's pregnancy -- as though that was the ONLY news story at the time. To me, it showed how out of touch those journalists (and their editors and producers) are about mainstream America. The resulting backlash kept those same media people intimidated by Palin for weeks -- it was only when Tina Fey did her devastating impersonations that the media regained enough confidence to criticize Palin.

Most right-to-lifers are aware that sex occurs outside of marriage. I'm sure many of them have their own in-family embarrassments on that score. However, they would say it is a GOOD message that Palin kept her baby (and "made an honst woman of herself"). Similarly, her family was celebrated publicly because her daughter chose to keep her baby. If you noticed, the pregnant daughter and her single husband were prominently displayed during the campaign -- as was Palin's Down Syndrome son. They did this because they understood full well that their Base would LOVE IT!

AlFeldzamen:

Now ordinarily, this would not be such a big deal. But this person is such an avowed right-wing moralist, such an abstinence-preacher, so opposed to sex-education, such a "holier-than-thou" fundamentalist -- that it seems clear she is also an outrageous hypocrite. A do-as-I-say, NOT as-I-do moralizer. Seems like a case of like-daughter, like-mother, perhaps.

At the risk of sounding snarky, characterizing Palin as a hypocrite on this matter seems more reflective of your personal animus than anything else. Would it not be fair to presume that perhaps because of her experience with an out-of-wedlock pregnancy TWENTY YEARS AGO that she NOW preachers abstinence and marriage? I mean, I know it's fun to bash the stoopid konservative holy-roller, but are you really saying that a person can't change their views on something over the course of two decades? Was it Benjamin Disraeli who said (paraphrase) 'I change my mind when the facts change. What do you do?'

Whoopdeedoo. So she might have had sex with her fiance a couple of weeks before she got married.

You have a narrow interpretation of Christianity. To Christians marriage is the commitment between two people to be forever faithful and monogamous to one another. The piece of paper you get from the government doesn't mean squat. It's simply a legal document. There would be some real fundamentalists who would say it would be sinful to have had sex before they had the marriage lisence, but most wouldn't be too bothered by it. In fact, the Bible does not recognizes a union as marriage until it is "consumated", in other words, by Biblical standards, you can get the government piece of paper, but until you actually do the "dirty deed", you ain't married.

The reason most Christians advocate waiting until the actual marriage ceremony is, "there's many a slip between the cup and the lip." Girls in particular will allow themselves to become sexually involved with a young man who isn't as commited as she thinks he is. Case in point, Bristol Palin. She'd been dating the guy for a couple of years, thought it was the "real thing", slept with the guy, got pregnant, then found out he was actually not mature enough to make that kind of commitment. That's why we tell our kids to wait. it's not because we think sex is evil. Statistically married people and Christians have better and more enjoyable sex lives than the average Joe. If you believe statistics.

It is my personal opinion that the real reason for Sarah Palin's sudden departure is financial. The decision was probably a very practical assessment between Todd and Sarah on how to maximize the remaining income she might have from her book deal, speaker fees, and anything else that may derive, like a movie. The fame and money will not last forever. A legal debt of $500,000 could quickly rise to one or two million dollars before the end of her term. the multi-million dollar book deal is a gross amount that will be whittled by taxes, expenses related to the writing, and a life style to which Todd and Sarah will not relinquish very easily. Who wants to go through the aggravation and yield, after 3 or 4 years, only about $750,000 in their pockets, if they are lucky?

Sometimes it is as simple as listening to her protest too much about how much money it was going to cost [this] Alaska[n], if she lived up to her responsibilities and completed her term as Governor.

It's as if Christians get knocked up before marriage they need to be flogged.

If a liberal gets knocked up, and butchers the unborn, it's "keep your laws off my body".

After defending her daughter's unwed pregnancy I don't she why she would worry about her own from years ago.

You seemed have missed the entire point about fundamentalists. When they stray, ala Mark Sanford and Ensign, it's forgivable. When anyone else does it's unforgivable.

vicki in flyover usa:

Statistically married people and Christians have better and more enjoyable sex lives than the average Joe.

Also, if we in the States weren't so prudish about sex and sex ed (including birth control), we wouldn't have one of the highest teen pregnancy rates in the developed world. I know that at least one of the countries with the lowest teen pregnancy rate (the Netherlands) has very good sex ed classes, started early (age-appropriate, of course), and a much less prudish attitude towards sex in general. I don't know of any studies done on correlations between the two, but to me it doesn't seem like a huge leap to make a connection there.
/soapbox
(Since I griped to Vicki about citations: yes, I can provide a non-Wiki citation for teen pregnancy rates, if anyone wants it. ;) lol )

And, regarding the OP. I seriously doubt that the fact that Bristol was born "too early" had anything to do with her resignation, and anyone who makes a big deal of that fact is acting like a jackass. lol

tsukuhara@hotmail.com:

It's as if Christians get knocked up before marriage they need to be flogged.

If a liberal gets knocked up, and butchers the unborn, it's "keep your laws off my body".

No, actually it's as if when Christians who preach abstinence before marriage get knocked up (before marriage), it's pointing out the splinter in another's eye while refusing to acknowledge the log in your own. Hence the flogging.

Adrasteia:

After defending her daughter's unwed pregnancy I don't she why she would worry about her own from years ago.

You seemed have missed the entire point about fundamentalists. When they stray, ala Mark Sanford and Ensign, it's forgivable. When anyone else does it's unforgivable.

Sorry Adra, but there ain't NO absolution if you confess your sins to Buddha. ;- ). For the 4-5 billion non-Christians on earth you shit outta luck.