|
 |
10/6/2008
Meyer: Palin and family values
John McCain's selection for Vice-President, Sarah Palin, has electrified the conservative base, and has succeeded in attracting voters back to the Republican ticket who were resigned to sit out the election or vote for a minor party candidate.
Palin did nothing to tarnish that prospect during her recent debate with Sen. Joe Biden.
One expects the typical knee-jerk criticism about a surprise choice such as Palin, both from the Democrats and the main-stream media. Obviously, Palin's lack of experience at the federal level is a legitimate concern, but it's really the additional, gratuitous piling-on that is the scornfully predictable behavior I'm referring to.
Perhaps the revelation that Palin's 17 year-old daughter is pregnant out-of-wedlock was the most newsworthy item providing fodder for these attacks. (Obama has suggested that foibles of family members are out of bounds, seemingly not wanting a historical examination of his own rearing. That has the same effect as telling people not to think about pink elephants.)
Other allegations focus on an attempt to fire an Alaska State Trooper who was married to Palin's sister, questions about a controversial statement made by the preacher of the church Palin's family attended years ago, and Palin's religious convictions in general. Undoubtedly, other issues will surface as the dirt-digging excavators continue dissecting Palin's past. So what else is new?
I’ve been confronted recently by a serial e-mail spammer who is using the indiscretions of Palin's daughter to launch a campaign of playground taunting. This individual, following the lead of liberal talking points, asks the questions, "What about the party of values?", and "How can Palin be Vice-President when she can't take care of her own household?" Of course, liberal partisans are never quite so obsessed with personal ethics when one of their own is the object of scandal.
For the record, I have to admit that the revelation about Palin's daughter is an embarrassing and shameful incident. Should that change my decision about which presidential ticket is stronger on family values, which would seem to be the objective at the heart of the spammer's efforts?
Talk about family values, why haven’t feminist groups taken up the advocacy of Palin? Could it be that feminism organizations will only be advocates of women who embrace a left-leaning political and social agenda? Just consider that during Bill Clinton's presidency, his alleged abuse of numerous women never got traction with women's' organizations. That is chiefly because Clinton's abortion-rights support made it easy for them to ignore his transgressions.
Palin represents the values of women who have been underrepresented, if not ignored outright, in the public discourse on women's' issues.
Of course, one can conveniently redefine principles in an effort to change the terms of the debate. One correspondent asked me whether it was more important to oppose abortion, or to support the Family Medical Leave Act? Alright, I'll up the ante then. Any political party that doesn't pay for food, a home and free transportation, must be functionally anti-family, correct? Don't we have a "right," or at least a need for all those things?
So it comes down to this: we have shifted the argument from ethics and morality to encompass only economic considerations as relevant to family values.
It doesn't seem at all rational to attack Palin's inexperience and her “family values,” then vote for Obama, particularly when he's at the top of the ticket, not just a "heart-beat away from the presidency."
Robert E. Meyer, Fox Valley
COMMENTS
The choice of Palin remains a cynical one aimed at getting the support of "conservatives." If Palin was as good as she is made out to be, what the devil is she doing with the hot head, big government, anti-constitutionalist, anti-freedom McCain?
Nope, time for people of principle to vote for other than McBAma. I will make mine Chuck Baldwin for president.
An honest man who understands the real role of government as protector of our real rights of life, liberty and property, and very little else.
Ken Van Doren (Mon Oct 06 19:57:26 2008)
Family Values - maybe - but lies & distortions come out of that mouth faster than speeding bullets at a moose or worse yet a wolf from an airplane!
Karen from SC (Sat Oct 18 14:01:14 2008)
|
|
Blog Archives
| 2010 |
  December
|
November
|
October
|
September
|
August
|
July
|
June
|
May
|
April
|
March
|
February
|
January
• Solberg: Healing After an Abortion
• Basketball fans eyeing extension of Miller Park sales tax
• Nanny sex-ed bill goes to Doyle
• A first. Village limits pension contribution for employees
• Nanny State update: Toothbrushing mandated
• Obama pushes education inflation
• WI Investment Board votes to borrow to juice up returns
• So Republicans have brought nothing to the table?
• You have got to be kidding me
• Nygren: Governor Continues Terms of Failure in State of the State
• Sen. Fitzgerald: Governor down the wrong track at high speed
• Phosphorus is the new CO2. $Billions in Wisconsin
• More Obama giveaways
• A reprimand? Would you keep him on the job?
• Burri: Sarah Palin for Prez troubles me
• Quote of the Day – Obama after the pie-eating contest
• Populism, abused and trampled
• Fitzgerald: Senate Republicans Propose Real Job Creation Agenda
• Stripped down health insurance – it’s about time
• Ok GOP, scrap the Party of NO; time to lead
• No way Feingold is a Coakley. Is Wall a Brown?
• Burri: Conservatives off the chart for a RINO?
• Paltry quid pro quo?
• Doyle says ARRA has ‘created or retained’ 44,000 WI jobs
• Does most of the public fall for this stuff?
• When you get signatures, always get a couple extra
• Blame it on the outmoded computers
• Scott Brown victory does not scuttle health bill
• 8th Congressional Candidate Forum, Jan. 25
• Scott Walker Meet-and-greet, Monday, Jan. 18
• Aren’t consumers taxpayers too?
• MORE taxes on investment income - dreadful and wrong
• Join the blaze orange army and say ‘Enough is Enough’
• The future of government-run health care
• Tax on banks is a really bad idea
• Roth, Savard on the stump, grassroots style
• Savard speaking in Appleton, 8 PM, Wed., Jan. 13.
• Rahmlow: Savard, Bies frontrunners for State Senate
• Burri: Failing Political Correctness 101
• School contracts and Race to the Top
• Senator Feingold worrisome and big red flags
• Psephological?
• This is really important. Contact Rep. Kagen. Now. Please.
• This is exactly what we need from Governor Doyle
• This guy is my hero
• Why am I not surprised?
• Talk health reform with Feingold (Th), Petri (today)
• Give the Mayor power over MPS - if he can break contracts
• Burri: Yup, Dems really are going to bypass a conference
• The $2.7 billion Wisconsin deficit no one told you about
• Walker launches county accountability website
• Rahmlow: Why is Van Hollen dodging the Nebraska deal?
|
| 2009 |
December
|
November
|
October
• The Lawton-Bader files
• Yup, it’s the TAX LEVY, not the tax RATE
• Ellis: costly automobile insurance laws must be rolled back
• If not Barrett, who?
• The subsidy game
• Burri: Bailouts, Banks, Health Care, and the Mob
• Attend Appleton Schools budget meeting tonight
• A public option WON’T increase costs? That’s delusional!
• Appleton Schools budget meeting Monday
• Wisconsin should be screaming for accountability
• Burri: If anything, we need more obstructionism around here
• WI on the leading edge - in the wrong direction
• Rep. Montgomery: Utility Customers Join State’s Crime-Fighting Efforts
• Public Conservation and Recreation Lands Total 16.5% of State
• In the crow's nest of the Titanic, shouting 'Iceberg!'
• Is Rep. Nelson a political hack?
• Health care: The road ahead will be brutal
• Kagen's pandering again
• Birthers - good stuff for you
• How much do we bend over backward for seniors?
• The trouble with health care is paying for it
• Two-parent families: The Gold Standard
• Burri: Kids... the joys and blessings
• Very, very worried about health care
• Rep. Huebsch: Wisconsin is proof government health care isn’t the answer
• School district contracts push up tax levy
• What? Obama, the Peace Prize?
• TODAY - hearing on Campaign Finance Reform
• Appleton School District tax levy up way too much
• CBO report is out - and the bill isn't even written yet?
• So, how much do YOU budget for health care?
• Burri: Copenhagen trip was amateurish
• “Sotomayor, you have blood on your hands...”
• Cap and Trade. Always follow the money
• Rep. Kagen gets (almost) free health services
• I actually agree with Rep. Kagen
• Future Wisconsin Conference for Conservatives, October 10, Wauwatosa
|
September
|
August
|
July
|
June
|
May
|
April
|
March
|
February
|
January
|
| 2008 |
December
|
November
|
October
|
September
|
August
|
July
|
June
|
May
|
April
|
March
• Important votes Tuesday, including Appleton Common Council
• Democrats are becoming supply siders??
• Further debunking Hillary myths
• WEAC has created an unsustainable monopoly
• From Mark Gundrum: One of the greatest honors an American can experience
• 'Operation Chaos' working?
• Joe Martin the best candidate in Appleton's 8th
• State programs to cut? - Volume II
• Oh the naivete of youth
• Not just disingenuous - flat wrong
• Steve - you will be missed
• Make cuts only AFTER you're elected....
• Getting serious: What programs can we cut?
• Rep. Steve Kagen joining me on Jerry Bader Show today
• Rep. Van Roy: Dental Care Pilot Program
• Has Dave Obey turned the corner on earmarks?
• Speaker Huebsch: Governor turns down Federal Aid?
• Mark Rahmlow: "We're Broke."
• As taxpayers, how do we know if it's a Chevy or a Lexus?
• This is trash talk - about a veteran
• Frank Lasee: Take time to get the Compact right
• 'The Gableman Ad' - is it racist?
• Roth thankful, Kagen shaking money tree
• Gov. Doyle's office not enamored with Freedom of Information
• Governor Doyle will never do it
• Leadership on smoking ban? Not Hanna
• Rep. Van Roy speaks out about smear ads
• You're threatening me about potholes?
• Losing the Hastert seat is NOT a trend and NOT curtians for the GOP
• First suggestion for 'slashing' programs
• Big money-saver for municipalities
• More one time fixes. Nuts.
• Any chances???
• I'm doing the Jerry Bader Show, today, the 11th
• Representative Frank Lasee: Final Waltz of the Season
• Guest Blog: It's not the county's business to be in the nursing home business
• Yup, Hillary won Texas and Ohio
• Gableman/Butler race featured - and it isn't pretty
• Lies from Planned Parenthood and NARAL
• He who sacrifices liberty.....
• Duh.
• The Troha sentencing, Doyle and that $200K
• Guns, passion and "originality"
• How hard is it anyway, to shut down a government program?
• Voting is a PRIVILEGE. And so are property taxes....
• Guest Blog: Governor Doyle, cancel your Ireland trip
|
February
|
January
|
| 2007 |
December
|
November
|
October
|
September
|
August
|
July
|
June
|
May
|
April
|
March
|
February
|
January
• Lots of ideas. No money.
• The Cigarette Tax - "Poor Policy Instrument?"
• School budget Lite?
• Frankenstein - not in the library, but in the legislature
• A librarian, a legislator, a president
• $1.25/pack - NO, NO, NO, and NO
• Kagen and Reagan in the same breath?
• Menasha: behind the 8-ball, but not biting the dust
• Any way you slice it, Wisconsin government wants (further) in on health care
• The World is Flat...what about health care?
• The PAC - too precious to fail. Day 3
• News follow-ups: Appleton West, Kagen at the White House
• Fox Cities PAC - too precious to fail - Day 2
• Fox Cities PAC - too precious to fail
• New Transit Tax coming your way
• Rep. Petri has his finger in the dike - I guess
• AASD Retirement Costs Burdensome
• Health care, health care, health care, health care
• Water rate increase was no slam dunk
• Education for all is just a bad dream
• New Year's resolutions from a parade snob
|
| 2006 |
December
|
November
|
October
|
September
|
| 2000 |
May
|
|
