More Republican Hypocrisy
Sep 5th, 2008 by nick
When I saw the photo of Sarah Palin’s family on stage at the Republican National Convention, I felt like I was a part of some surreal alternative universe. There was Palin’s seventeen year-old pregnant unmarried daughter and her boyfriend. And the conservatives were cheering their hearts out. Even James Dobson of Focus on the Family praised the family. That’s fine; I have no problem with that. The surrealism comes in when you imagine the conservative reaction if that pregnant teenager had been a Democrat’s child, say someone like Chelsea Clinton. Do you think the Republicans would be lauding her decision to keep the baby as an example of good Christian values rather than focusing on the teen pregnancy itself? If so, you must have been in a coma during the 1990s. As a reminder of the vitriol of that era, this might be a good time to revisit one of the most egregious personal attacks against the Clinton family by none other than John McCain. Yes, the same John McCain who’s now running for president as Palin’s running mate. In 1998, he told the following “joke” at a Republican fund-raiser:
“Why is Chelsea Clinton so ugly?
Because her father is Janet Reno.”
Compare that with Barack Obama’s principled stance this week that “…people’s families are off-limits, and people’s children are especially off-limits.” I agree with Obama; let’s hope the Republicans remember in the future that they agree with him now too.