Breaking: Obama supports gay marriage

Without comment: Barney Frank and Tony Perkins debate the issue on Hardball.

 

I wasn't referring to the "out of wedlock child" part. I was referring to the teen abstinence part. If she would have started ripping on people for having out of wedlock kids while having one herself, that, too, would have made her a hypocrite.

She also made over a quarter-million dollars spreading her message: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/04/06/bristol-palins-abstinence-campaign-payday-her-latest-teen-pregnancy-outrage.html

So it's not like she's just doing it out of a genuine change of heart.

 

From teh Wikipedia, so take this for what it's worth ...

"In May 2009, at age 18, Palin started working with the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy to inform young people about the negative consequences of teenage pregnancy. The campaign's spokesman, said that working with Palin made sense, because "she's had the highest-profile teen pregnancy of the year."[11] Several interviews and pictorials for similar organizations followed. Also in May 2009 Palin was named a Teen Pregnancy Prevention Ambassador for the Candie’s Foundation,[12][13] a teen pregnancy prevention organization that is a division of the Candie's clothing brand.[14] In April 2011 it was reported that Palin was paid more than $262,000[15] by the foundation for her work in 2009. This level of compensation, which constituted 12 percent of the Candie's Foundation operating budget, was criticized by some commentators[who?] as excessive.[16][17] Her duties as a paid spokeswoman involved attending town hall meetings, public service announcements, and giving interviews on morning talk shows.
On Good Morning America, she stated, "Regardless of what I did personally, abstinence is the only 100% foolproof way you can prevent pregnancy."[18] In another interview on Good Morning America with Robin Roberts she stated that 'Pause Before You Play hits a wider range of message, it can mean pause and go get a condom, it can be pause and think about your life, or it could be pause and wait until marriage.'[19] Before Palin became a spokeswoman, she told Fox News that abstinence is "not realistic at all", but that she would like it to become more accepted among people her age.[20] Several weeks later, she stated that that quote had been "taken out of context."[21] However, in a July 2011 interview with Drew Pinsky, she said she doesn’t want to "be named as an abstinence preacher…. I’m not out there saying don’t have sex. I hate that kind of stuff. Birth control needs to be used effectively each and every single time if you’re gonna be having sex.... I’m not advocating [abstinence] for everyone else."[22]
Her role as a spokesperson has been controversial. Bonnie Fuller, former editor-in-chief of YM, has questioned whether the net effect of Palin's presentations has glamorized rather than discouraged teen pregnancy, noting that the "picture perfect" imagery of a People magazine spread seemed to make her "the poster girl for teen momhood."[23] Meghan McCain stated her support for sex education and criticized Palin's sexual abstinence campaign, saying it was "not realistic for this generation."[24] Former MSNBC commentator Keith Olbermann declared Palin his "Worst Person in the World" for her advocacy,[25] to which Palin replied "Accusing me of hypocrisy is by now, an old canard... Parents warn their children about the mistakes they made so they are not repeated. Former gang members travel to schools to educate teenagers about the risks of gang life. Recovered addicts lecture to others about the risks of alcohol and drug abuse. And yes, a teen mother talks about the benefits of preventing teen pregnancy."[26]"

Damn, what a hypocritical mercenary wacko!

 

The bigger question is why in the world anyone would care about anything Bristol Palin says.

 

Sigh ... and then you go and get all reasonable on me!

 

Fantastic design work by the New Yorker.

 

Bottom line is, her mother preaches abstinence. She didn't listen to her mother.

So why should anyone else listen to her?

 

I agree. Why should anyone listen to her?

Yet you seem to be enormously bothered by what she says. Why do you care?

 

No, the bottom line is ... oh, what the hell. I'm a pretty good teacher, but if you can't figure this out then I ain't trying anymore. Carry on.

 

Judging by the reaction to her comments yesterday, I'd say a lot of people care.

Oh, and by the way, she also thinks premarital sex as a sin.

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2011/julyweb-only/bristolpalinabstinence.html?start=1

 

I recommend starting with Bart Ehrmann's "Misquoting Jesus", a terrific introduction to Biblical scholarship for lay people focusing on the difficulty of studying a book with no available Urtext. Really fascinating stuff.

 

I think Bristol Palin is a classic example of the immature teenager who makes a mistake that she can't undo. So given that, might as well make the best of it and try to warn others.... while not doing it again, of course. Kind of like the addict who later goes on to be a drug rehab counselor. Nothing to make you passioante over something than a personal experience.

Sarah Palin certainly benefitted financially from the VP run in 2008. But it did her family no favours. It suddenly and unexpectedly thrust them into a spotlight in ways they never imagined. How many of us would want our personal lives under so much scrutiny, especially as a teenager?