Notes from Evil Bender

As you no doubt know by now, presumptive Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin’s 17 year old daughter is pregnant. She’ll keep the baby and marry the father.

I want to point out, first and foremost, that Melissa is absolutely right about the situation when she says

So, in my earlier CifA piece regarding the annoucement of Bristol Palin’s pregnancy, I said:

If there’s any political point to be made here at all, it is about the very real possibility that the McCain campaign did not know about this pregnancy, despite reports to the contrary. There is a whole lot McCain evidently didn’t know about Palin – and there have been reports that McCain chose her for the ticket after a half-assed vetting, about which even Republicans outside of DC have been grumbling. But even that is predicated on the idea that an out-of-wedlock pregnancy is so scandalous as to warrant preclusion of a related politician on a national ticket.

And I stand by that wholly. I don’t think Bristol Palin’s pregnancy should be used as a political football against McCain [...]

Obama has already made the same point. Going after Palin’s daughter is offensive and way, way over the line.

That said, given McCain and Palin’s anti-choice stance, I think it’s completely acceptable and in fact essential that we call attention to the McCain campaign’s stance on the matter:

Bristol Palin made the decision on her own to keep the baby, McCain aides said.

I’ll take them at their word on that. Bristl Palin is of course quite capable of making decisions about her own life and reproductive health. I’m pro-choice, and I support her in making that choice, whatever it is she chooses. But the McCain aides “clarification” also illustrates how out of touch with mainstream America McCain’s campaign is. As Ann notes,

I mean, John McCain and Sarah Palin don’t believe women have a right to choose. It’s absolutely absurd for the campaign to emphasize the fact that Bristol “made this decision,” and then push for policies that take away that choice.

In reality, Bristol’s actual “choice” was probably not whether to terminate the pregnancy or carry it to term, but whether raise the child herself or put it up for adoption. But the reason that the McCain campaign chose to emphasize Bristol’s agency in this decision was to reassure the public that this pregnancy is not coercive.

The McCain campaign was in a tough spot. Obviously they had to reassure voters that they weren’t going to force Bristol Palin to give birth, but they had to do so while opposing reproductive choice (Palin appears to be against abortions even in the case of rape an incest). The McCain campaign, which supports forced childbirth for other people, sings a much different tune when explaining a personal matter to reporters.

And they do so because they know their real position is shockingly out of line with mainstream American politics. Very, very few people–even among so-called “pro lifers”–are truly in favor of forced childbirth in all circumstances, and most Americans support a woman’s right to choose. So extreme is the anti-choice base on choice that McCain aides need to reassure voters that they didn’t force Bristol Palin give birth, even while advocating that women be forced to give birth.

That’s hypocracy to an extreme degree, and it’s most certainly politically relevant. And it is time we called the McCain campaign out on this: why are they pro-choice when it comes to their own families, but anti-choice when it comes to everyone else’s?