Danny Doom’s Booze Cabinet

“We’re proud of Bristol’s decision to have her baby…”

The moment that I heard the word “decision” in regards to Sarah Palin’s daughter’s pregnancy, I thought, “hmmm, that sounds an awful lot like ‘choice.’” It appears that, after some consideration, she made a choice to keep the baby! What a great thing she was able to do: think about and then make a decision as to what she wanted to do about her very personal situation. It’s so…how do you say…American? Free. The way it should be.

While the Republicans fall over themselves tonight cheering Ms. Palin, let’s not forget that their platform–and indeed, her platform–is to take away that choice, the very choice that her daughter has been allowed to make, and that all teenage girls are allowed to make, in the face of a very difficult situation. How very un-American that would be.

Neil Steinberg, in today’s Sun-Times:

This week the religious right, with crashing swiftness, has rediscovered privacy, at least when it comes to the pregnancy of newly named Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin’s unwed 17-year-old daughter, Bristol.

“We ask the media to respect our daughter and Levi’s privacy,” said Palin and her husband, Todd, in a joint statement.

Why sure. Of course we will. That is the decent thing to do. But is it too much to ask that Palin — and John McCain, and all those so moral that they are overflowing with morality and need to impose a little of their excess morality upon everyone else — that they in turn respect OUR daughters’ privacy and let them work out THEIR own personal and gynecological lives as THEY see fit? Apparently it is.