Palin's Pro-Life Failin'? What a long, strange "Tripp" it's been

Fighting Irish Thomas ^ | 12-30-08 | Tom O'Toole

[mlizzy]

Reading the announcement yesterday of the Dec. 27th birth of Sarah Palin's 18-year-old unwed daughter Bristol's baby, it dredged up memories of the many triumphs but more failings of the McCain/Palin campaign. Alas, the fact that the story of the coming-into-the-world of 7 lb., 7 oz. Tripp Easton Mitchell Johnston (the rad-dad's last name) was a "People exclusive!" did not make me particularly happy, as the online version of the blessed event juxtaposed the picture of the allegedly joyful couple with that of a woefully overweight 44 lb. cat. But, while Bristol and boyfriend Levi now understand that if you're gonna take People's 5 or 6 figure payoffs, you will have to share your fifteen minutes of fame with the likes of "Prince Chunk," hopefully Sarah learned if you're gonna let feminists, pseudo-Christians and the MSM dictate what you're gonna say, your pro-life message is going to be confused, then buried.

When Sarah Palin was first announced as John McCain's running mate, I'll admit I was pleasantly surprised. Her introduction speech was short but electric, and her Republican convention talk was no letdown. Sure, it was short on pro-life and probably catered too much to the Hillary Clinton feminists, but her down-home humor and candor certainly made up for that. And who could be more visibly pro-life than a mother of five who recently decided to keep her Down syndrome (pronounced "mistake" in Obama-ese) baby despite her busy schedule as governor?

The soon-to-be-leaked-by-Democrats "scandal" that her unwed daughter was pregnant AND keeping her baby backfired on Barack and only made Palin's platform stronger. But Obama, the "Man of Lies and Smiles" was not done yet, and his underlings' further attacks, coupled with her own team's unclarity, proved her undoing.

For although Sarah Palin did go on to make some powerful pro-life speeches, such as her Johnstown, PA "Every innocent life matters" manifesto, these proved to be the equivalent of Rick Warren's pro-family talks to his own congregation, and were of course widely ignored by the mainstream media, except to twist a phrase or two out of context. And then, when she did use the MSM, she chose Obama minions such as Charlie Gibson and Katie Couric, who not only undercut her "Hockey Mom" strengths, but like the hero of Capra's classic movie Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, made her look silly. But unlike the Jimmy Stewart character, Sarah did not have the last say, for when she did have the chance to hammer Obama or Biden on abortion or other life issues, she rarely did, and by making the economy—not morality—the main issue, the Democrats of Death won handily.

But how could this be so? Certainly, if you were running against Hitler, you wouldn't leave the Concentration Camp issue alone, but keep pounding away until everyone realized that "relocation" was merely another word for "extermination." No doubt part of the problem was McCain himself; just as his own lack of a consistent home church or denomination probably led him to back off the relevant Jeremiah Wright question, his failure to grasp all the aspects (such as embryonic stem cell research) of the pro-life question probably made him tell Palin to focus on other issues besides abortion—except when, such as at Johnstown, she was preaching to the choir. And yet, as strong as Palin's pro-life stance was, I wonder if Sarah, too, did not have one small deficiency (perhaps due to her own church hopping?) on this issue, and this little chink in this "Christian Chick's" armor proved fatal.

Although she was baptized a Catholic, Palin has not only left this church but also switched Protestant denominations several times, including the Assemblies of God and, more recently, a non-denom bible church. Since these churches do not have a definite stance on the issue, one would have to conclude that this contributed to Palin's in-some-ways-confusing position on contraception. While originally stating she wanted abstinence-only sex education taught in public schools, she later changed (or as they say in politics "modified") her position, stating, "I'm pro-contraception, and I think those who may not hear about it at home should hear about it in other avenues." On the other hand, her original house of worship, the Roman Catholic Church, has a very decisive teaching on this question, being against it (as the Church is with abortion) in all instances, even inside the marriage. Just as James taught, "Then desire conceives and brings forth sin, and when sin reaches maturity it gives birth to death" (Jas 1:15), so Pope Paul predicted (in the landmark 1968 encyclical Humanae Vitae) that the contraceptive mentality would not only lead to increased divorce but wholesale legalized abortion, two prophecies that have sadly come to pass. As stated in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, "Thus the innate language that expresses the total reciprocal self-giving of husband and wife is overlaid, through contraception, by an objectively contradictory language, namely, that of not giving oneself totally to the other. This leads not only to a positive refusal to be open to life but also to a falsification of the inner truth of conjugal love... The difference, both anthropological and moral, between contraception and recourse to the rhythm of the cycle ... involves in the final analysis two irreconcilable concepts of the human person and of human sexuality." In other words, since contraceptive sex cannot by its very nature be an act of total self giving, it will always be in some respects selfish; not being open to the procreative aspect of the act will eventually destroy the unitive aspect as well. Thus, while I agree with Sarah Palin (and disagree with the Democrats that her daughter's decision to have relations outside of marriage was dreadfully wrong, and her choice to deliver the baby was wonderfully right, I do not believe Bristol and hopefully soon-to-be-her-husband Levi Johnston's decision not to use contraception was an additional sin.

I most certainly wish Bristol and the little Tripp-ster well, and, despite their dubious windfall from the country's leading rag-mag, it sounds like her fiance, who dropped out of high school and whose Myspace recently read, "I'm a ... redneck" and "I don't want kids," will need my prayers too. As for Sarah, besides being a devoted wife and mom, she is definitely an astute politician, and I'm sure she in another four years will be completely caught up on foreign and domestic policy if she decides to make another national run. Still, I hope Sarah comes to complete terms with that one questionable position in her otherwise stellar pro-life profile, if not for the nation's sake, at least for her daughter's. As Humanae Vitae states, "Not much experience is needed to be fully aware of human weakness and to understand that human beings—and especially the young, who are so exposed to temptation—need incentives to keep the moral law, and it is an evil thing to make it easy for them to break that law." Thus, while there are many things Sarah could do to help make her daughter's thus-far shaky union sacred, contraception isn't one of them. Because Sarah Palin is no longer Catholic, I realize (unless someone sends her this column!) she will probably not find her answer to the contraception question in Humanae Vitae—but I know she definitely won't find it in People.

[randog]

...her fiance, who dropped out of high school and whose Myspace recently read, "I'm a ... redneck" and "I don't want kids," ...

I thought that was a hacker...?

[Toki]

I think it was announced at around the same time.

[RightWingConspirator]

"... But unlike the Jimmy Stewart character, Sarah did not have the last say, for when she did have the chance to hammer Obama or Biden on abortion or other life issues, she rarely did, and by making the economy—not morality—the main issue, the Democrats of Death won handily."

I suspect that McVain's "handlers" were responsible for that, not Palin.

[txrangerette]

When you cut through all the verbiage, the bedrock point of this piece is Sarah’s pro-life position is more squishy now that she’s no longer a Roman Catholic, which she was born into, but a church-hopping Protestant...

And THAT more than anything else is why she didn’t stress it as much as the writer wished she had stressed it during the campaign.

Let me say, if the writer just wanted her to stress it more just because of it’s importance to him and certain others, that’s one thing.

But if he wanted her to stress it more, thinking it would’ve helped the McCain-Palin ticket win, that’s very different.

Of course it wouldn’t have, because hammering away at that particular issue wouldn’t have helped people go vote for them who already knew and didn’t turn out.

And that’s what we had.

The Dems held a turnout election and the Republicans held an election.

Studies show a few mil Conservative voters didn’t vote.

There’s no way Sarah harping on pro-life more would have stirred ‘em when they were bound to have known already about the Supreme Court picks at stake and Obama and Dems devotion to pro-death.

You don’t need harping. You just need to decide, do I vote at all when I’m unhappy with the choice of McCain, given what’s at stake if the other guy wins.

Which is what they decided.

[navymom1]

“... But unlike the Jimmy Stewart character, Sarah did not have the last say, for when she did have the chance to hammer Obama or Biden on abortion or other life issues, she rarely did, and by making the economy—not morality—the main issue, the Democrats of Death won handily.”
I suspect that McVain’s “handlers” were responsible for that, not Palin.

__________________________________

Naturally. If McCain had allowed Palin to be, Palin, he’d of won the election — all on her skirt-tails. Can’t have that.

[SMCC1]

I’m Roman Catholic, and the RCC is itself squishy on being Pro-life. Not the Pope, but some of the Bishops and the priests are horrible. I’ve heard 50% of American Bishops voted for Obama.

[chickpundit]

Sarah has demonstrated her pro-life stance simply by living it. While she has spoken about the subject, I think that her actions speak more loudly than any words could.

[the long march]

You are so off base it isn’t even funny. Nice to know that you think having a down’s syndrome child is the same as a child born addicted or with fetal alcohol syndrome. One never justs “pumps out” a baby. If you are a man you are ignorant. If you are a woman and you have children then you are a danger.

[Philo-Junius]

Fertility is always a threat to those confused on issues of sexual morality.

[txrangerette]

I understand (even though I’m not Catholic) that American Catholics even hierarchy feel free to pick and choose from the various aspects of Catholicism. The writer seemed to believe even this was better than those Protestant church’s without an official position from a Pope. I’m not accepting his views but tried to see what he was saying.

Bottom line: McCain-Palin couldn’t have won given how many stayed home even knowing what was at stake.

They didn’t want to vote for McCain or the GOP in general.

[panthermom]

Just curious, how many kids do you have?

[Soothesayer]

People are not going to see the truth about abortion until we find a truly charismatic and powerful rhetorician to enchant them with a call to righteousness.

[GovernmentShrinker]

I didn’t say they’re “the same”. But having (or adopting) a child with any of these conditions, or just large numbers of healthy normal children, should involve recognition that providing proper care to the child(ren) will require arranging one’s life around them.

With mom pursuing a high-profile and time-consuming political career, and dad purusing an career than involves being off in the oil fields for days or weeks at a time, the children are either being nanny-raised or left to their own devices. It’s plain to see what the outcome has been for Bristol, and there’s no sign that either of the Palin parents are responding to this by changing their priorities as their next two daughters enter/approach adolescence. This is hardly “devoted motherhood” (or fatherhood). The needs of the Palin children are not being allowed to interfere with their parents’ outside pursuits. If a woman calling herself a Democrat and feminist was running her family life this way, conservatives would be howling about her family being an example of how leftism and feminism are destroying the fabric of society.

[trisham]

She may be an astute politician, and I have no reliable information about her devotion to her role as a wife, but she displays no devotion at all to the role of being a mother. Just continuing to pump out babies without regard to whether they're disabled doesn't cut it. Crack whores do that too.

*****************

You have just voiced the pro-choice position. Is that what you intended? Being pro-life means valuing every life, not just the ones that are perfect or convenient.

[alaskamomma]

ugh..

[alaskamomma]

ugh..

[Anitius Severinus Boethius]

including the Assemblies of God and, more recently, a non-denom bible church. Since these churches do not have a definite stance on the issue

Bull!

The Assemblies of God has a very definitive stance on abortion.

Abortion. The Assemblies of God views the practice of abortion as an evil that has been inflicted upon millions of innocent babies and that will threaten millions more in the years to come. Abortion is a morally unacceptable alternative for birth control, population control, sex selection, and elimination of the physically and mentally handicapped. Certain parts of the world are already experiencing serious population imbalances as a result of the systematic abortion of female babies. The advocacy and practice of so-called partial birth abortion of babies is particularly heinous.

From:

http://ag.org/top/Beliefs/Position_Papers/pp_downloads/pp_4196_sanctity_human_life.pdf

[juggernaut]

I hope you feel better after getting that off your sunken little chest.