The real shame

At the risk of dating myself, when I was a teenager the best deterrent for finding oneself in “the family way” was shame.

Sex aside, argueably a major contributor to teenage pregnancy today is the absence of shame.

The real shame, though, is the exploitation of a 17-year-old girl for political purposes and the selling of media sensationalism.

According to CNN, the left-wing blog, Daily Kos, was the source of the rumor that Sarah Palin’s daughter is the mother of the 4-month old baby with Down’s syndrome. Pretty neat trick, since the daughter is five months pregnant.

Has it occurred to anyone that left-wing propaganda is just as despicable as attacks from the right?

Republicans are not without blame. Fox News spent the hours after the introduction of Sarah Palin to the GOP ticket parading one right-wing pundit after another delivering talking points about how great it was that Palin didn’t abort her afflicted baby.

Now, they have used Bristol Palin’s pregnancy to try to turn this election once more on the issue of abortion – a maneuver meant to mask eight years of ineptitude.

George W. Bush once addressed a fundraiser crowd, “Some call you rich; I call you my base.” Nothing like a culture war to bring low- and middle-income folks into the fold and make them forget they’re the ones being screwed.

As for Democrats, I thought we were the good guys. We’re beginning to sound more like the right than the right.

Even in our patriarchal society, no one accuses fathers of abandoning their family role when seeking - and serving in - public office.

We had better back off, or we might just find that bullet we’ve shot into our collective foot is sexism.

I’m ashamed.