None of Your Business??

With the Democratic National Convention behind us and the Republican National Convention underway it has been an interesting week or so in American politics. Obama gave a nice speech, lots of stuff he's said already and McCain picked a running mate that not many people could have guessed, Sarah Palin, the governor of Alaska.

Now, I'm not going to spend any time talking about whether or not she's qualified or has the experience or what reasons McCain might have used to giver her the nod as his VP selection (but you are certainly welcome to and I look forward to hearing your thoughts) but I will take this opportunity to say something about the recent "scandal" involving her pregnant daughter.

I think Obama said it best when he said that "family is off-limits in presidential politics, especially children." It seems unfair to judge the competency of a candidate because one of his or her kids makes an unfortunate decision as a 17yr old. Sure you could try to make an argument about "what kind of parent" he or she might be if his or her daughter gets pregnant but that argument seems to fall to the wayside when we all realize that we have all made stupid choices at one point or another and weren't able to blame our parents for it anymore. I'm impressed that the candidates have no desire to even discuss this issue, showing a level of privacy and respect that seems somewhat uncommon in our more recent political campaigns and yet the media insists on pushing this so called "scandal".

What I've found interesting today is hearing how both sides, Republican and Democratic supporters respectively, are using this issue to make the point that she clearly is or isn't the appropriate choice as the potential VP. You say to-ma-to, I say to-ma-to...