back from beach, more Palin
Mood: chipper
Posted on 2008-09-02 10:21:00
Tags: travel politics
Words: 176

Port Aransas was fun. I got sunburned but they're mostly gone by now. Better recap will follow at some point in time. But, for now...

I'm feeling a lot better regarding Palin than I did on Friday. Turns out she's more conservative than I thought especially on abortion and sex education - she supports abstinence-only education, which will prompt an angry rant sometime this week.

And it turns out her 17 year old daughter is 5 months pregnant and will marry the father. I don't think her daughter is fair game, but it gives a slight "hypocrisy" angle to the abstinence-only education which is enough to give the story legs. As Atrios says, "Policy matters".

And she hired an attorney today in that trooper scandalish thing. And...well, here's a list. (was a member of a fringe group wanting a vote on Alaskan secession, did actually support the "bridge to nowhere")

Anyway, announcing the pick on Friday seemed like a good idea at the time but now it seems like these stories are gonna overshadow the Republican convention.

14 comments

Comment from onefishclappin:
2008-09-02T11:08:02+00:00
I have an issue w/both candidates regarding "Families are off limits" because they seem to really mean "Families are off limits, except when I want to drag out my cute kids and have them show how [human|warm|loving|etc] I am." In other words, the bad parts of families aren't to be talked about, but stay away from the controversy.

Barak has been very bad about this, from what I can tell.

Part of Palin's appeal and reputation is partially built on her being a mother & a family-woman. I have a hard time if she wants to tout that, but then wants us to ignore the fact that she really failed her daughter wrt family planning. I guess I see it as not her daughter's scandal, but Sarah Palin's herself's since the critique of of her parenting skills. It's like a coach who teaches a little league team in his free time & is trying to showcase his major league talents. If the kiddie team is just merely bad (as in unskilled, untalented, weak), I think they don't factor in, but if said team cheats, intentionally fouls,etc, I think they should factor in when judging the coach.

Plus, on the "trash Palin" side, I want to know more about the birth of her 4 month old son. In the initial "scandal" (which the announcement of the pregnant daughter was refuting), people were asserting that Palin's baby boy was really her daughter's baby & they faked Sarah's pregnancy to cover up the daughter's. Part of this was (and I don't know the validity of this), Sarah Palin going into labor (water breaking), giving a speech, & then flying 8 hrs back to Alaska & driving 2 or 3 hours to her local hospital. They used this absurd behavior on her part to help justify the fact that it wasn't her who was really pregnant, but her daughter back in Alaska giving birth & they needed to get fake mama there. If the travel is true & Sarah Palin really did give birth under these circumstances, it is almost criminally medically negligent. Most states require that babies be born within 24 hrs of water breaking (except in extreme monitoring situations like major prematurity, in which case the mother is hospitalized) due to risk to the baby due to infections. Most airlines will not fly women past 7 months pregnancy without a note from the doctor (and the report was she didn't tell them she was pregnant, much less that she was in labor). The baby was premature (36 weeks) & known special needs. You don't travel like that, bypassing 2 major cities with spectacular NICUs to go to a small regional hospital. If any of this is true (again, I don't know, internet rumors and all), I find it really hard to trust this woman. People talked about Clinton being political, cold, calculating, single minded, overly driven, to the exclusion of all else. This seems 100 times worse since it points to her putting her political career ahead of clearly evident medical risks to herself & child.

Sorry, this ended up being a rant.

Comment from gregstoll:
2008-09-02T11:42:13+00:00
I agree that families are used as backdrops and the like. But I'd imagine it isn't really up to them - surely Bristol (Palin's daughter) would have preferred to stay out of the spotlight but it wasn't up to her, it was Sarah's decision...

Found from Wikipedia, it looks like she did fly back to Alaska after her water broke (that's the same thing as "leaking amniotic fluid", right?). The story's in the Fairbanks newspaper so it seems legit. If that's true that does seem awfully fishy, or what was she thinking?

Comment from onefishclappin:
2008-09-02T11:51:36+00:00
Yes, "water breaking" and "leaking amniotic fluid" are the same thing (or at least at end stages of pregnancy). Basically "water breaking" usually indicates large amounts of amniotic fluid leaking & the bag of waters is mostly gone. This indicates that the baby has to be born soon. "Leaking amniotic fluid" can happen due to small ruptures, but sometimes it's decided that if enough fluid is left, the baby is sufficiently premature, and the mother is closely monitored (like in the hospital) for infection, they try to extend the pregnancy in order to give the baby additional time to gestate. (This is sorta what happened to Dawn, if I remember correctly, though hers also had some bleeding associated.) At 36 weeks, I think almost all doctors would go ahead and deliver the baby instead of trying to prolong the pregnancy (37 weeks is considered full term), due to the risk to both mother and child. In other words, "leaking amniotic fluid" at 36 weeks falls into the "must deliver within 24 hrs" rule.

But given the advanced maternal age (anything over 35 is considered medically high risk), the downs syndrome, the extended flights & travel, & bypassing bigger and better hospitals... I really question her decision on this one. And that bothers me a great deal as a mother.

Comment from cifarelli:
2008-09-02T12:14:32+00:00
Actually, hospitals/doctors will put a TON of pressure on you to deliver within 24 hours due to risk of infection, but they can't FORCE you to do so. I had this argument with my doctor when they wanted to put me on pitocin about 8 hours after my water broke. What she said was that if we didn't do the pitocin and labor went more than 24 hours, the baby would have to go to the NICU after birth due to risk of infection. But she couldn't force me to do the pitocin or have the baby within 24 hours.

Not saying the story isn't fishy (it is), but the 24-hour rule you're referring to is not a hard and fast thing.

Comment from djedi:
2008-09-02T12:58:55+00:00
yeah, but FLYING while the baby is being born is just crazy.

Comment from onefishclappin:
2008-09-02T13:15:49+00:00
I think it varies by states (and by hospitals). But yes, it's "AMA" (against medical advice) to delay after water breaking.

Comment from djedi:
2008-09-02T12:55:25+00:00
/agree to all that. This VP nominee scares me more than McCain does...which is the point, she is supposed to be more conservative than him, but it's more than just conservative.

Comment from djedi:
2008-09-02T13:29:19+00:00
It looks like we have many more interesting things to learn about Palin.

Comment from wonderjess:
2008-09-02T17:43:25+00:00
I agree with the abstinence-only thing, but for me (and this isn't mine originally, it's been floating around) the more interesting critique is:

1) this is a private family decision is a PRO-CHOICE position. government forcing you to make a certain decision based on the morals of other people is an anti-choice position.

2) why are both of them being praised for making the choice to keep their babies -- she doesn't believe it should be a choice! they believe all pregnant women (no rape/incest exception, no health of the mother exception) should be forced to have the children. so the praise is just for not being wildly hypocritical?

Comment from gregstoll:
2008-09-02T17:53:13+00:00
These are both excellent points.

Comment from wonderjess:
2008-09-02T18:44:04+00:00
We were also talking today about the chances for a made for TV movie based on this. But if they do it during the campaign, they'll have to abide by equal time! And who wants to see Less Boring Than Someone Else Out There, We're Pretty Sure: The Joe Biden Story?

Comment from bringmeheart:
2008-09-02T22:37:10+00:00
Yeah, I have nothing against Palin except that I don't agree with her. I never understood why some people attack another party that hasn't affected their lives at all with hatred. I can't stand Bush b/c he has affected my life in adverse ways but I don't have anything against Palin or McCain(yet). The most eye opening thing about it all is that now I understand how others feel about Obama - don't agree with him and think he's inexperienced. Difference though is that we have democratically push Obama up to the top where McCain has artificially selected Palin and told us she was "ready".

Anyway you look at it - Obama is running a phenomenal campaign that has been inspiring and reveals how he will manage large systems of government. Plus with Obama breaking 50% and having an 8% lead over McCain - I am not worried that Iran & Russia are over the horizon.. ugh!

Comment from gregstoll:
2008-09-03T14:20:46+00:00
The Democratic convention went really well, so that 50% is probably including a convention bounce :-)

Comment from taesmar:
2008-09-03T08:45:46+00:00
I agree that the medical circumstances around the birth were really fishy. She not only flew back to Alaska leaking amniotic fluid, but she then drove from Anchorage where they have reasonably good medical facilities, to Wasalia to have the baby. Ahem. At the very least, this story if true shows that she is incurably stupid.

As a side note, people are calling her the VPILF.

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