I was not surprised to see her children around her when she accepted the nomination. That is something every candidate, male or female, does as a matter of course. But when her family was CONTINUOUSLY pictured with her at events almost daily I did a little checking. It seems this was a habit of hers in Alaska as well. She was often asked to make an appearance as governor and would show up with the entire family in tow - when no arrangements had been made for the family. It has also been reported in the Alaskan press that when she would be asked to attend an event alone she would insist arrangements be made for her family - at state and/or someone else's expense - or she would not attend.

I do see where you're going and agree with you. But I also know she is heavily courting the "family first" evangelical base and so she will drag her children out to appeal to this fringe whenever possible. Even when it isn't the best for the kids. And, as Yitzhak pointed out, Obama kept his daughters out of the public eye after one regretted family interview. Bill and Hillary kept Chelsea off-limits to the press and she was seldom seen with her parents in public during the Clinton years. I have always had this feeling that was Hillary's call and I respect her greatly for it.

Nope - Sarah thew her family out into the public eye when she used them on the campaign trail. With her daughter's pregnancy she pulled in the boyfriend (who was seen with the family at the convention and other events following) and, by association, his family. This is a can of worms she opened herself and it seems she had to know there would be consequences. And here they are.

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I still don't think this woman's drug dealing really has much to do with Palin, though. The only way you can keep your teenage daughter from having sex if she wants to is to physically restrain her, sometimes. Certainly there's an irony to the pregnancy itself and it makes Palin look like a moron for being on the "abstinence only" team.

However, I'm hesitant to judge people based upon the actions of their nearly-grown children because, unless those actions stem directly from a parent's abuse or something like that, I just don't think they are entirely a reflection on the parent.

In any case, whether or not you think you can directly blame the pregnancy on whatever Palin supplied in the way of sex education, the fact is that you can't handpick your teenage daughter's boyfriend. Ain't gonna happen. So she gets knocked up, you have a drug dealer as a in-law... honestly it has little to nothing to do with your own character, and nothing at all to do with your politics or your ability to do your job.

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What I've taken issue with is how, after news of her daughter's pregnancy came out, Levi was immediately drawn into the Palin clan and began making appearances with the family. I think Sarah had to know about his alleged drinking and drug use since it was all over his MySpace profile and Wasilla isn't THAT big of a town. People in small towns know LOTS of shit about everyone else.

So why drag Levi into the picture in such a public way? Why drag Bristol there, knowing once word got into the media about her pregnancy everyone would be on the trail of 'who's the daddy'? It seems to me if you know a few things or at the very least are suspect, you'd keep your kids under cover for as long as you can. But as I said in my previous post, she was out for those evangelical right-to-life folks who thought her pregnant daughter was "courageous". She couldn't resist and the political greed got the better of her.

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I don't think it's payback, if it's payback it would have leaked during the campaign.

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I have no sympathy for anyone high-school age who is too stupid to use birth control and who mates with a redneck idiot.

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And I don't think we should slut-shame her for having sex when she's 17 and thinks herself in love, even if he does seem a bit of twit. Look at her father, it's not like she's got a great role model there who would inspire her to get something better than ol' Levi.

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And good point about the birth control.

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The relevance is this woman will be, in the near future, a part of the Palin extended family. That aside, there have been many speculations on Levi's real character concerning drug use through some pretty stupid postings he made on MySpace or Facebook, possibly both.

Sarah Palin wanted the spotlight. Now she has it and it isn't all rose-colored gels.

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Palin was absolutely unfit to be leader of a sock drawer, let alone VP. I was staunchly for Obama/Biden all the way. So don't get me wrong--I'm not a Palin sympathizer.

But it's her daughter's affianced's mom we're talking about here. I'm not saying it's not newsworthy, and I'm not saying that Palin doesn't suck, but I just think a little perspective is in order.

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Because if Sarah Palin gets elected in 2012, this lawbreaking piece of trash will be a member of the most powerful family in the U.S. Doesn't that worry you?

And yes, it reflects on Levi (and by extension, his baby-to-be) because presumably his mother raised him and may have passed on her (lack of) morals to her son.

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Really? You've never heard of political dynasties? Can you really guarantee that Bristol and her Levi-spawn will never run for office?

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Yep. Plus he and some of his pals were supposed to have vandalized school buses. I don't think he even finished high school. Education doesn't seem to be a priority (or a neccessity) in the Palin family.

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