@McTag,
Quote:At the least, her unborn child's welfare was not a priority.
I think that is a reasonable conclusion.
Palin has also had 5 months to explain why she did such a risky thing when she was going into labor. Why hasn't she explained it?
Perhaps she just has very bad judgment...
Perhaps her children's welfare is not at the top of the list of her priorities...
This was my concern when I questioned why her special needs infant was in the audience Wednesday night, in a crowded, very noisy auditorium, rather than in a protected backstage location until the speech was over and he could be brought out on stage.
That was also my concern when I asked who cares for the Palin's 4 minor children.
Palin, as governor, works in Juneau. The family home, where her husband stays, is in Wasilla--which is nowhere near Juneau. They do not appear to live together, and the children do not all seem to live under one roof. Palin's husband works, at least part-time, and he seems to spend considerable time travelling around the state of Alaska. He also pursues rather serious hobbies that take him away from home for long periods of time. So who is caring for the children?
It is difficult to even find reliable info on where the children have been attending school, or who actually cares for them on a consistent basis. Palin has been asked these questions long before she became the VP pick, but her responses have been very vague, simply referring to some extended family which helps out with the children. As governor, she dismissed the problems, and time and attention, her special needs infant will require, by saying only that she planned on taking him to work with her, and will leave the office to attend to his needs if necessary. That's not exactly a feasible solution if she becomes VP, you can't put the country on hold to minister to your child's needs, and an infant with Down Syndrome requires quite a bit of time and attention.
Part of what fuels the rumor mill with Palin is the fact that she does not provide straight, clear answers to basically simple questions regarding her children and how she and her husband manage their care, and where parenting is on their list of priorities.
Palin's daughter Bristol missed months of school precisely during the time Palin was in the second half of her own recent pregnancy. Bristol was not allowed to have vistors during this time. The reason given for this, that Bristol had mononucleosis, seemed very questionable. Mono does not cause that sort of lengthy at home recouperation, nor does it require one to be, in effect, quarantined for months. The skeptism about the reasons for Bristol's prolonged absence from school, led to the rumors that Palin was faking her own pregnancy in order to cover up the fact that it was Bristol who was pregnant. Palin herself created the climate for these rumors by failing to provide a more reasonable, credible explanation for what was going on that caused Bristol to miss months of school. And, when Bristol did emerge from seclusion, she seems to have become almost immediately pregnant, conceiving at about the same time her mother gave birth to her brother. All of this does suggest that some type of significant family drama was occuring behind the scenes for the Palins. Family dramas can influence people's attention to their jobs--including the jobs of being governors and VPs.
How well one provides for the care and welfare of one's children does reflect on one's judgment. It does reflect on one's sense of responsibilty.
The impression one gets about the Palins (both the governor and her husband) is that they handle such things in a haphazard manner. Not that they aren't concerned or loving parents, but rather that they seem to put a lot of things ahead of the needs of their children. By not being more open about how they manage their parental responsibilities, they generate more questions, and assumptions about their parenting skills.
No one is saying that Palin is totally responsible for child care--the children have a father as well--but the arrangements the Palins make, including the use of surrogates to care for the children, tells us something about their personal values, and it really should not be so shrouded in secrecy or ambiguity. She is an elected public official, now running for VP, and that does require you to forfit a considerable amount of privacy.
If someone makes poor decisions, or shows poor judgment in one area of their life, like being a parent, doesn't that tell you something important about that person and their character?
Being a hockey mom, or active in the PTA, does not make one a good mother or good parent. When you are a public advocate of abstinence-only programs and your own teenage daughter gets pregnant, you really have some explaining to do, if you want to go on espousing that position. Thus far, Palin just smilingly says her daughter will marry the father, as if that solves anything at all, and as though that doesn't open up a whole new host of problems for her daughter. If Palin deals with her personal problems by putting on blinders and flashing a smile, it says a great deal about her character and her judgment, and even about how she regards her children's welfare. She definitely needs to explain her advocacy for abstinence-only programs in schools ASAP in light of her own family situation.
We do not, obviously, elect public officials just based on how they provide for their children's welfare, but we also should not completely disregard this info when considering their fitness for public office--and this goes for both men and women, and not just female candidates. Male candidates most often leave it to their wives to discuss such matters with the public, if they have minor children. Palin's husband has not been very forthcoming about the matter in the past, and Palin herself keeps emphasizing the fact she is a mother. She's opened herself to questions about how she handles her responsibilities as a mother and parent, and asking these questions is not sexist--she uses "sexism" as a dodge to avoid giving credible answers.
Palin might start by explaining why she got on that plane, for a lengthy trip, after her water broke, and she was about to deliver a child she knew would have significant birth defects. The answer might tell us a lot about her judgment in general, as well as her sense of parental responsibilty.
