Let's Talk about Sarah Palin!

[Anonymous]

it's freakin', not fricken. unless maybe you come from Wasilla.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The problem with attacking substance abuse in her family

It stretches to call Sarah's daughter's boyfriend's mother "Sarah's family."

I agree with a pp who said making Sarah somehow culpable, derelict, or responsible for this other adult's choices is the equivalent to trying to say Obama is responsible because his aunt overstayed her visa, is not legal to be in Boston and receiving tax funded aid. Both arguments are absurd. They reflect far worse on the person trying to justify the connection than they do on either Sarah or Barack.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:True, we do not choose our families, but we do choose our political leaders. And one of the judgments that we make about them (fairly, I think) is the environment that they come from and how they, as individuals, relate to that. Clinton came from shabby means -- so did Jimmy Carter for that matter (remember brother Billy?), but both were smart enough to become educated men and rise above their backgrounds. They both left certain less-gifted family members in the dust.

Sarah Palin, on the other hand, is/ was directly responsible for the upbringing of the family members who are causing this embarrassment. When your first two kids "turn out" to have drug problems, and one is an unwed teenage mother, well gee... don't you think that says something about Mama and the time she spent (or didn't spend) with them, guiding them to pursue a life above the riff-raff of Wasilla (which she herself managed to escape)?

And to the poster who said to give it a rest.... how can we, when all of this keeps popping up in the news?

I guess Al Gore is a lousy father, too, since his son has had speeding tickets, DUIs and has been arrested for possession of drugs. Oh wait, I guess it only matters if they are children of Republicans, right?

[Anonymous]

PP, don't forget about the numerous Kennedy scandals, Biden's daughter's arrest for obstruction of justice and the fact that Obama smoked pot and used cocaine himself.

[Anonymous]

I wish Sarah Palin would drop off the face of this earth.

[Anonymous]

OK, I can't resist.

Palin groupies, please vote in my poll about what she should do now that she's not going to be vp: http://workingmoms.about.com/b/2008/11/05/vote-on-sarah-palins-future.htm

[Anonymous]

15:26, you're darn right I criticize Al Gore, as well, for his son being a druggie. Of course we are not directly responsible for what our adult kids do, or how they "turn out," but there is a common thread here between SP and Gore and probaby many others: overly ambitious, career-obsessed parents ignoring their children during important, formative years. (You know, "Daddy's in the Senate and has an donor dinner tonight.")

This applies equally to Reps and Dems.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:15:26, you're darn right I criticize Al Gore, as well, for his son being a druggie. Of course we are not directly responsible for what our adult kids do, or how they "turn out," but there is a common thread here between SP and Gore and probaby many others: overly ambitious, career-obsessed parents ignoring their children during important, formative years. (You know, "Daddy's in the Senate and has an donor dinner tonight.")

This applies equally to Reps and Dems.

As the mother of a teenager, I would be careful about being quick to judge any parent for their teenager's problems without knowing more about the story. I am just holding my breath and keeping my fingers crossed that my kid will make it through adolescence without doing too much damage to herself or others. So far dd has avoided the extreme problems of Palin's daughter and Gore's son (knock on wood) and so far I think she is maturing successfully, even though she has learned some things the hard way. But I can say for sure that if I were running for national office there would be a number of embarrassing stories that would come out about dd. And I'm not an "overly ambitious, career-obsessed parent" by any means.

[Anonymous]

We have more control over our children's choices than we think. There have been some very good studies that say that kids actually do listen to their parents when parents are persistent and likely to enforce punishments.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have more control over our children's choices than we think. There have been some very good studies that say that kids actually do listen to their parents when parents are persistent and likely to enforce punishments.

Which brings us full circle back to . . . drum roll, please -

Sarah Palin and her poor parenting and the direct and indirect results of that!

[Anonymous]

I completely agree, PP.

What's obvious about Sarah Palin --even not knowing the situation first-hand -- is that she put her own professional and personal interests ahead of those of her children. Now she's reaping the results of those choices. Of course that's fair game for discussion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have more control over our children's choices than we think. There have been some very good studies that say that kids actually do listen to their parents when parents are persistent and likely to enforce punishments.

Which brings us full circle back to . . . drum roll, please -

Sarah Palin and her poor parenting and the direct and indirect results of that!

So was Sarah parenting her daughter's boyfriend's mother? Please! How is she responsible for this other woman, roughly the same age, and her drug use. This is an insane conversation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:it's freakin', not fricken. unless maybe you come from Wasilla.

That should be "It's" and "Unless". Here, educate yourself.
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=fricken

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have more control over our children's choices than we think. There have been some very good studies that say that kids actually do listen to their parents when parents are persistent and likely to enforce punishments.

Which brings us full circle back to . . . drum roll, please -

Sarah Palin and her poor parenting and the direct and indirect results of that!

So was Sarah parenting her daughter's boyfriend's mother? Please! How is she responsible for this other woman, roughly the same age, and her drug use. This is an insane conversation.

Of course it's an insane conversation. Would you expect to have a civilized and SANE conversation about Sarah? can't possibly ever happen!

I don't understand how any woman could come to Sarah's defense. She's an embarrassment to all women/mothers.

And, PP, of course Sarah wasn't "parenting her daughter's boyfriend's mother." That's just a silly comment. But . . . she did surround herself with these people. And rather than "nurture" these types of relationships, she should have set boundaries for herself and her children. But public image won over, as she constantly strove to be just an Average Josephine!

Let me revisit my original point - "Sarah Palin and her poor parenting and the direct and indirect results of that!"

Sarah couldn't tell that something was not quite right with her daughter's boyfriend's mother? If that's the case, she's even dumber that I thought.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Of course it's an insane conversation. Would you expect to have a civilized and SANE conversation about Sarah? can't possibly ever happen!

Wow - a news flash. Sarah Palin renders her opponents insane! Thank goodness it was one of her opponents who said that first!