I read this sweet little newsletter article from the Alaska PTA about Sarah Palin. Only, it wasn’t the Alaska PTA, it was the New York Times. This article doesn’t tell you anything. So I’m filling in some blanks (in red) from alternative media sources (in green). You can read the full article here.
Sarah Palin’s baby shower included a surprise guest: her own baby. He had arrived in the world a month early, so on a sunny May day, Ms. Palin, the governor of Alaska, rocked her newborn as her closest friends, sisters, even her obstetrician presented her with a potluck meal, presents and blue-and-white cake.
Most had learned that Ms. Palin was pregnant only a few weeks before. Struggling to accept that her child would be born with Down syndrome and fearful of public criticism of a governor’s pregnancy, Ms. Palin had concealed the news that she was expecting even from her parents and children until her third trimester.
But as the governor introduced her son that day, according to a friend, Kristan Cole, she said she had come to regard him as a blessing from God. “Who of us in this room has the perfect child?” said Ms. Palin, who declined to be interviewed for this article.
From MotherJones: As governor of Alaska, Palin has been quite accessible to the Alaskan media. But since McCain selected her, she has not. And the question is how soon after her acceptance speech will the McCain campaign make her available for questions. (And the questions ought to not focus on only the baby stuff; there’s the investigation into whether she improperly applied to get her former brother-in-law fired as a state trooper, there’s her connections to the Alaska Independence Party, which advocates Alaska’s secession from the United States, there’s her experience–or inexperience–in foreign policy, and much more.) Will the campaign let the media question her right after the convention? Or does it want to put this obligatory exercise off for longer?
On Monday night, I encountered Mark Salter, a top McCain adviser, outside the St. Paul Hotel, and I asked him when Palin’s first press conference would be. He did not seem eager to talk about it. “After the convention,” he said. Soon after the convention? “After,” he repeated. Whenever it occurs, it will be some session.
She will talk to the uber-conservative Newsmax.
But her son has given Ms. Palin, 44, a powerful message. Other candidates kiss strangers’ babies; Ms. Palin has one of her own.
Ron Reagan commented on the Thom Hartmann Program that “they passed the baby around like a bong at Burning Man” at the RNC Convention. You can listen to their comments here.
He is tangible proof of Ms. Palin’s anti-abortion convictions, which have rallied social conservatives, and her belief that women can balance family life with ambitious careers. And on Wednesday in St. Paul, she proclaimed herself a guardian of the nation’s disabled children. “Children with special needs inspire a special love,” Ms. Palin said, echoing the message she had shared at the shower.
From Huffington Post: During 2006, children served by special education facilities and programs, including the Special Education Service Agency (SESA) and the Alaska School for the Deaf , received more state support; but as of 2008 and 2009, the proposed budget was cut from $7,949.30 down to $3,156.00.
She assured them she would not take much time off: she had returned to work the day after giving birth to Piper. “To any critics who say a woman can’t think and work and carry a baby at the same time,” she said, “I’d just like to escort that Neanderthal back to the cave.”
Just who are these critics?
John McCain has been no advocate for women; when asked during the primaries, on the subject of Senator Clinton, “How do we beat the bitch?” he responded, “Excellent question.” (Note to the GOP: that IS sexist.) He has been either hostile or clueless on issues like contraceptive funding, workplace protections and aid to poor mothers. And his running mate will likely walk in lock step with him on all those things.
That’s from Anna Quindlen in Newsweek. In her bio, it is mentioned that “her column appears every other week on the magazine’s back page.”
Here is commentary from Feministing.com on Palin as a feminist.
There was no mention of the baby’s condition. Instead, she joked about giving her child the middle name Van, since Van Palin would sound sort of like the hard rock band Van Halen.
Oh ha ha. “Running with the Devil, oooh!”
For much of the summer, she carried Trig in a sling as she signed bills and sat through hearings, even nursing him unseen during conference calls.
What kinds of bills and hearings? Here’s one example from Grist.org: Palin and other state officials expressed concern that listing polar bears as threatened would impair oil and gas development in the state. Palin argued that the listing decision was based on “the unproven long-term impact of any future climate change on the species” and that a “comprehensive review” of the federal science by state wildlife officials found no reason to support listing the bears as endangered.
But emails released via a public-records request later showed that Alaskan state scientists agreed with federal researchers that polar bears are threatened by shrinking ice. “Overall, we believe that the methods and analytical approaches used to examine the currently available information supports the primary conclusions and inferences stated” in federal reports, wrote Robert Small, head of the marine mammals program for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.
Also take a look at Alaskankid’s comments.
More about the polar bears vs. big oil here.
At her baby shower, Ms. Palin joked about her months of secrecy, Ms. Lane said. “About the seventh month I thought I’d better let people know,” Ms. Palin said.
“So it was really great,” she continued. “I was only pregnant a month.”
Kitty Bennett contributed research.
What research?
Here is someone else’s opinion about the NYT newsletter article.
Here is the first part from a transcript from Democracy Now of Max Blumenthal trying to get questions answered:
MAX BLUMENTHAL: Max Blumenthal from The Nation. The official Republican Party plank rejects sex education and the distribution of condoms. Do you think Sarah Palin’s seventeen-year-old daughter could have benefited from sex education?
REP. ROY BLOUNT: I think what you have with that family issue, I think Senator Obama responded to that appropriately. More importantly, I think to most Americans, this is another welcome to everybody’s kitchen table. Everybody has challenges that are challenges to their family. Some challenges are exactly like this one. Generally, you don’t want this to be a challenge in your family. But I think moms and dads who have to deal with questions like this, who have to figure out how to pay their bills, who have to figure out how to make a small business work, I think that is something that the American people understand and appreciate. And I also think they appreciated the way Senator Obama responded to that.
MAX BLUMENTHAL: Do you think they should understand more about contraception in public schools, like the school that Sarah Palin’s daughter went to? And do you think the Republican Party is being helpful by opposing that sort of education?
REP. ROY BLOUNT: I was actually real happy with the answer I gave.
MAX BLUMENTHAL: I wasn’t.
Do you think Sarah Palin’s seventeen-year-old daughter could have benefited from more sex education, which the Republican Party plank rejects?
MEGHAN McCAIN: We’re just here to enjoy the convention, and we’re sitting in the box, so, you know.
MAX BLUMENTHAL: Do you think they should teach it in public schools?
MEGHAN McCAIN: You know what? We’re just here to enjoy the convention and to watch my mom speak. So I prefer not to do an interview. We’re just trying to enjoy the moment.
Full transcript is here.
