No Way John McCain Knew About Sarah Palin's Teenage Daughter's Pregnancy

The rumors got to be too much for the GOP, it would seem, and, instead of attempting to wait it out or hide what was forming, the Republicans and the Sarah Palin clan announced yesterday, September 1, that Alaska governor Sarah Palin's teenage daughter, Bristol, was pregnant. Speculation had been rampant on liberal blogs like Daily Kos that Palin's 4-month-old child, Trig, was actually Sarah Palin's grandchild. So to dispel rumors and head off what would surely have been a media frenzy once Bristol began showing her pregnancy, Sarah Palin and her husband issued a statement that their 17-year-old daughter was five months pregnant.

And that they asked the public to respect their privacy.

That should have been thought of before the acceptance of the vice presidential nomination of the Republican Party. Consider that Governor Palin apparently has known about the pregnancy. It is fine and well that the Governor issue a statement that professes love and support for their 17-year-old pregnant daughter but quite another to think that the media is respectful of privacy, especially of the person nominated to be the second-most powerful person on the planet.

And what does that say about the judgment of the man who would be the most powerful?

When asked if he had known about the pregnancy during the vetting process, Senator John McCain said that he had and that Sarah Palin's private life was a separate issue.

A separate issue from what? An individual's private life is never a separate issue from their professional, no matter how many times you hear that it should be, specifically if that individual chooses to take part in a profession that thrusts them into the public eye. And dragging your underage pregnant daughter through the vetting process of the media and public opinion show's a lack of familial concern, a blind pursuit of political office, or a ridiculous wishful thinking that borders on the delusional (or a combination of the three). It shows a particular lack of concern on the part of Senator McCain for Bristol Palin's welfare as well, for McCain is no stranger to public scrutiny and ridicule and knows how tough it can be to weather the storms of public allegation and even condemnation.

It must be stated here that Senator John McCain has more than likely stepped off the straight-talk bus again. Although it is quite believable that McCain's vetting team fully knew about what is being dubbed as "Troopergate," the investigation of Sarah Palin's Alaska Goernor's office for possible abuse of power in the dismissal of a government employee, it stretches the limits of credibility to believe that the McCain camp would chance to weather two potential scandals associated with a person chosen as a running mate for the presidential election. It is plausible and possible. However, it is most unlikely and foolish.

Which brings one back to the assumption that Senator McCain either knew nothing about Bristol's pregnancy or that he did and made a potentially devastating political decision. One shows poor decision-making, which falls in the category of foolhardy or ill informed (or both). The latter shows a reckless gamble that, when looked at from a political standpoint, makes absolutely no sense, given that Senator McCain had literally dozens of potentially strong Republican candidates that he could have chosen to fill the slot of vice president.

But there is a third possibility: Governor Palin may not have told McCain's vetting team before he announced her as his running mate, hoping to hide it from him and the public until after the November election. And a fourth: Governor Palin was up front about Bristol's pregnancy and Senator McCain and his campaign planned to hide it from the public until after the election. Both possibilities seem rather ludicrous but just as possible as any other scenario.

But the most probable is that the McCain camp knew nothing of the pregnancy, that the media attention being given the 4-month-old child as Sarah Palin's grandchild instead of actual child was about to blow wide open with the soon-to-show pregnancy of the daughter (who was already the suspected mother of the 4-month-old). It is the most plausible and probable explanation for Sarah Palin's choice as running mate.

Because to think that John McCain chose a running mate in the midst of family disruption - and there is no doubt that a teenage unwed pregnancy in the immediate family is not a disruption that affects both the private and public aspect of one's life - simply defies logic. It shows a monumental lack of judgment when considering his various and myriad options. It reflects a man who puts political expediency and pandering above the welfare of the family unit (which might be pathetically spun as sacrifice for public service). In a party that promotes itself as pro family values, this would seem dismissive of a core value.

It simply does not make sense that Senator John McCain knew about the 17-year-old's pregnancy. Which means that Senator McCain is not talking straight.

If Senator McCain was indeed ignorant of the fact of Bristol Palin's situation, and given the fact that the blogosphere has been all over the grandchild speculation, it must then be pointed out that Senator McCain's vetting process was sorely inept. It is now well known that Senator McCain met Governor Palin only once before offering her the job of vice president. That his vetting team did a poor job could be posited, but McCain's was the final decision in the process. Choosing the person who would become president in one's stead, a decision not to be made on a whim, came down to a single meeting. The most important decision that Senator McCain would make before assuming the presidency (if elected) and he foregoes former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty, and a host of others to choose an unknown governor under investigation in her home state with a teenage unwed pregnant daughter.

And he says he and his campaign staff knew all about it before Governor Palin was asked to join the ticket.

Which again leads one back to the matter of judgment. This writer, for one, does not believe that Senator John McCain is a fool. Given that the "Troopergate" allegation may be a prosecutorial dead-end and not a political liability, Senator McCain's knowledge of that potential problem and that it cannot be proven does not seem to be too politically reckless. However, inviting into your presidential campaign a candidate with a teenage pregnant daughter and the enormous potential that it would have for scandal borders on the foolish, the reckless, and the asinine. There is no way a political campaign in a party that promotes sexual abstinence, family values, and family planning would invite so much controversy into its midst in its relative infancy.

Senator John McCain is not being truthful or, if he is, is not showing very sound judgment for a man who would be president.

The spin begins now...

Sources:

CNN Television
ABC Television
Comcast.net