I don’t agree with BRCK BM that family matters are completely off-limits, particularly if those family members are making political stump speeches. It also extends to spouses, siblings, children and extended family who don’t project themselves upon the public stage, to the extent it reveals something important about the candidate’s character or ideology.
It’s important that we know how serious BRCK BM is when he quotes the Bible on “whatever you do to the least of these, my brothers…” Does his charity start at home, with his own half-brother, living in a shack off a dollar a month? It’s important for us to know why MCHLL BM is only recently proud of her country, and why she and her husband chose Jeremiah Wright to marry them, advise them and mold their socio-religious views.
It’s perfectly fair for us to talk about how Sarah Palin’s socio-religious views play out in her own family. What does it mean for her husband? What does it mean for her children, and her children’s children? Does Gov. Palin advocate abstinence-only education both at home and in public schools? If so, what is the product of that ideology, and how does she personally deal with the benefits and consequences of those views? Further, how practical is that ideology when contrasted with more liberal sex education, and what are the comparative statistics on pregnancy, birth and STDs?
That discussion should in turn bring us back around to BRCK BM — why he thinks it’s “above [his] pay grade” to determine when human life begins, and why he’s willing to gamble with destroying human life in the absence of that assurance. And we should be asking what he meant when he said he didn’t want his daughters to be “punished with a baby.”
I’m not saying minor children of politicians should be over-exposed, exploited or kept under constant news surveillance. Children should be allowed to be children, and we shouldn’t expect perfection from political families. For the most part, all family members should be left alone. But when their lives, actions and public statements tell us something important about the candidate, the public cannot be expected to ignore them.
What aren’t you telling us about Eden and Freckles? I bet there are pictures of them soiling the neighbor’s lawn somewhere!
I’ve been very forthcoming with our personal skeletons: they constantly bark at and try to kill each other, so we send them to reform school and keep them locked up most of the day. Also, Eden is a scientologist and Freckles eats cat poop.