Last night, it seemed like the GOP wanted to have it both ways:
ST. PAUL, Minn. – People: Make up your minds.
For two days, the chorus from Republicans on TV news and in the halls of the convention has been resounding: Back off and let the Palin family be. “That’s out of bounds,” said Minnesota’s Republican governor, Tim Pawlenty. “There’s no need to be intrusive and pry into that.”
Yet Wednesday found the following scenes unfolding:
_Sarah Palin’s pregnant, unmarried 17-year-old daughter and probable future son-in-law stood in a nationally televised, politically packaged airport receiving line to meet and greet the Republican candidate for president.
_The extremely cute and bubbly Piper Palin, 7, made her debut on her mother’s behalf, appearing in a video on John McCain’s daughter’s blog. “Vote for my mommy and John McCain,” she said, giggling as Meghan McCain grinned.
_Bristol Palin and her 18-year-old boyfriend, Levi Johnston, were expected to appear together as part of the GOP political narrative at the convention Wednesday night, according to the young man’s mother.
Huh? The Republican message about the Palin offspring comes across as contradictory: Hey, media, leave those kids alone — so we can use them as we see fit.
If you doubt this scenario, consider this: On Wednesday morning, a teenage boy from Alaska stood in a receiving line on an airport tarmac, being glad-handed by the potential next president of the United States — because he got his girlfriend pregnant. TV cameras were lined up in advance. The mind boggles.
“Either the children are out of bounds, and you don’t put them in the photo ops, or you don’t complain when somebody wants to talk about them. You can’t have it both ways,” said John Matviko, a professor at West Liberty State College in West Virginia and editor of “The American President in Popular Culture.”
“Right now, it looks like they’re being used by the campaign more than the media are using them,” he said.
More importantly, when you drag your family into the spotlight like that, you have no right to complain when “privacy” is violated.
Make no mistake, I don’t think politicians should use their children, their spouses, or their parents as political props. We all have nice families, We all have families that have faced challenges. But that doesn’t mean that we’re all qualified to hold political office just because we have nice families who’ve faced challenges.
Endless screenshots of cute children are not a substitute for substance, not matter which political party you belong to.
September 4th, 2008 at 9:54 am
Well, Doug, that — Hey, media, leave those kids alone — so we can use them as we see fit — has certainly heretofore been the rule that has applied to all presidential children, save perhaps for Grover Cleveland’s little bastard. It was applied to Chelsea Clinton, Al Gore’s kids, and John Edwards’, as well.
September 4th, 2008 at 12:47 pm
This seems like basically the same thing the Obama camp has done.
September 4th, 2008 at 12:53 pm
Given that the media had already pushed the kids (particularly Bristol) into the spotlight, what would have happened if these children were kept off camera? You would hear all the leftists crying about how Palin has something (more) to hide!