Unbelievable!

The House Left Standing.

See for yourself.

Overheard

Overheard in the lobby of my building as I was walking back to the office from grabbing a snack:

"So I lost my PNC ATM card. I've been meaning to call someone about that."

Not sure there's anything to add here other than MEANING TO?? HUH????

Motherhood and Hypocrisy on the Campaign Trail

I'm gonna go ahead and say something crazy and then duck for cover real fast:

Talking about Sarah Palin's family and her as a mother is fair game.



Now take some deep breaths and read this next sentence:

I 1000% agree that talking about and criticizing a politician's (or any other person in the media spotlight for that matter) family should be off limits.

HUH??

How in the world do those two statements, taken together, make any sense?

It's quite simple. The politician-- not the family-- is running for office. That's what matters. That politician's views on the issues that matter to this country should be on the table for discussion, dissection, and political attacking. A child didn't ask for any of it and is just an innocent bystander in all of it.

But once you start parading each member of the family out onto the national stage more than just for when it is necessary, once you start staging photo ops with the kids and place one specifically in the spotlight, and once you start basing your campaign-- your appeal to voters-- on your family and your role in that family, you put it all out there on the table. If you want to tell me that you're "just like every normal American" and that you're the "everymom," just like all other moms out there who are trying to balance it all, then I have the right to ask you about it.

Once you start including motherhood in the picture that you're painting for the American voter, you open yourself up to those questions. Simple as pie. No one asks male candidates about their fitness as fathers, because, among other things, they aren't talking about it. That narrative is just not there.

Please, don't get me wrong. I'm not advocating for the conversation on Sarah Palin as mother to continue. I wish it would die, actually, because every time someone mentions it, it takes time away from discussing the things that do matter, like the fact that she didn't really say no to the Bridge to Nowhere and that she doesn't really hate earmarks as much as she says she does. But the bottom line is this: if you don't want them talking about it, don't bring it up and definitely don't make it one of the the central themes of your campaign.

And forget about Palin's daughter being pregnant-- while many vocal conservatives used to judge and belittle other teenage mothers in the spotlight (it's great that they've seen the error of their ways!), there's no need to keep the story going just to expose the hypocrisy. Instead, we should be talking about the failures of an abstinence-only education policy and be asking our leaders to do more to support teen mothers in need. Not every teen mother is privileged to have parents who are as understanding and in good financial position, such as the Palin's, as support.