Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: Go Us

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  • sagenz,

    Russel, I will second what has been said above. You are jumping the shark delving into this.

    Your whole social outlook is a womans right to choose. And yet you are such taking a self-righteous attitude. Sullivan is talking crap. Palin is the new VEEP choice. If they did not disclose she had a downs child you would accuse her of hiding the fact. It is a fact of her life. Get over it.

    I do not think this is one of the low lights of your blogging career. I have been reading you since the start and I think it IS the lowlight.

    Take your hands away from the keyboard.

    uk • Since Nov 2006 • 128 posts Report

  • tim kong,

    McCain checking out the Veep.

    Apologies to all those offended.

    But it did make me smile.

    I couldn't get the embed working - so mods, please feel free to do so.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 153 posts Report

  • sagenz,

    Russell. This is what you really need to read to get some facts about Palin. Palinfacts

    A few choice ones.

    Sarah Palin isn’t allowed to wield the gavel at the convention because they’re afraid she’ll use it to kill liberals.

    Sarah Palin doesn’t need a gun to hunt. She has been known to throw a bullet through an adult bull elk.

    Sarah Palin uses French Canadians as bait to catch giant king salmon.
    When Sarah Palin booked a flight to Europe, the French immediately surrendered.

    uk • Since Nov 2006 • 128 posts Report

  • Steve Barnes,

    Bwah! Does threatening me in Latin make it more classy, or just more dorky? It's hard to say...

    Your translation leaves a little to be desired. As usual you see more than is intended.
    If nothing is there to find you will find whatever it is to fit your agenda. Feminism is a mere construct of those that have the power to divide those that struggle to be heard. You have the vote, use it.

    Peria • Since Dec 2006 • 5521 posts Report

  • Russell Brown,

    Your whole social outlook is a womans right to choose. And yet you are such taking a self-righteous attitude.

    Well, perhaps I am, and perhaps I wouldn't do so had the moral dimensions of Palin's pregnancy not been such an integral part of the sales pitch.

    I'm judgin'. I read up on it and I thought her behavior was bloody risky (so did this doctor). It's an angle that was canvassed in her own newspaper in April, when it happened. The ADN story quotes an obstetrician saying, basically, WTF?

    And I confess did think when I read in the other ADN story about her being back at work three days after giving birth: couldn't you have spent a week with your new little special-needs baby?

    Perhaps that's unfair of me, and I wish I'd never bothered saying so, but it is what I thought.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report

  • Russell Brown,

    When Sarah Palin booked a flight to Europe, the French immediately surrendered.

    You mean she's been to France?

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report

  • Deborah,

    And I confess did think when I read in the other ADN story about her being back at work three days after giving birth: couldn't you have spent a week with your new little special-needs baby?

    Perhaps that's unfair of me, and I wish I'd never bothered saying so, but it is what I thought.

    Yeeeess... and I have to admit that it's my reaction too, but I know that I wouldn't have had the same reaction to a daddy heading back to work after three days. Those "this is what a mother ought to do" ideas are embedded very deeply.

    New Lynn • Since Nov 2006 • 1447 posts Report

  • Trevor Nicholls,

    Yeeeess... and I have to admit that it's my reaction too, but I know that I wouldn't have had the same reaction to a daddy heading back to work after three days. Those "this is what a mother ought to do" ideas are embedded very deeply.

    Oh yeah, this motherhood-and-apple-pie Mom had the sort of pregnancy a man would have.

    Wellington, NZ • Since Nov 2006 • 325 posts Report

  • Rex Widerstrom,

    There's one thing that I really don't understand in all this Palin business...

    According to that Alaskan blog 'those who like her are generally appointees who are locally referred to as “Palin-bots”...'

    Wait... you mean they missed the chance to coin Palin__drones__?!

    Perth, Western Australia • Since Nov 2006 • 157 posts Report

  • Deborah,

    Huh? I was trying to say that as a dyed-in-the-wool feminist, I still managed to have the same instinctive reaction as Russell had, even though I wouldn't have had the same reaction had a daddy gone back to work so soon. And I see that as a flaw in my thinking.

    New Lynn • Since Nov 2006 • 1447 posts Report

  • Deborah,

    NB: The flaw is that I am not applying the same standards to men and to women, when it comes to parenting.

    New Lynn • Since Nov 2006 • 1447 posts Report

  • Paul Williams,

    Well, perhaps I am, and perhaps I wouldn't do so had the moral dimensions of Palin's pregnancy not been such an integral part of the sales pitch.

    And I guess that's my only interest in this element of her candidacy. We don't tend to assess what kind of parent a politician is, if in fact they are a parent, but when their apparent ability is presented as a key part of their candidacy it does justify some scrutiny.

    If this story is proven false, it'll be rightly decried as tacky scandal mongering however, if it turns out to be true, then it really does matter and does go to her character.

    Yeeeess... and I have to admit that it's my reaction too, but I know that I wouldn't have had the same reaction to a daddy heading back to work after three days. Those "this is what a mother ought to do" ideas are embedded very deeply.

    Agreed. Her performance as a mother might be subject to a standard far higher than any father.

    Sydney • Since Nov 2006 • 2273 posts Report

  • Paul Williams,

    Wait... you mean they missed the chance to coin Palin__drones__?!

    Well played.

    Sydney • Since Nov 2006 • 2273 posts Report

  • Sofie Bribiesca,

    Huh?

    but I know that I wouldn't have had the same reaction to a daddy heading back to work after three days.

    Well, physically, that's a no brainer. He ain't stitched up and the rest of it. Most people just do what any couple plans to do that will work for them, and, get back to whatever they gotta do. I feel like I 'm getting sucked into the matrix here. Cheezes! (rant over)

    here and there. • Since Nov 2007 • 6796 posts Report

  • Craig Ranapia,

    Your whole social outlook is a womans right to choose.

    Sage, love you and love your work, but Russell has said (and I quote) "I have not had anything to say about her decision to continue a Down's pregnancy, but for the record, I think it's admirable. I know a young Down's guy and his mother and they're sweet. I also have two special-needs kids myself, and I'm on record as dreading the day that there's a screening test for autism."

    Now, I have nothing but mad respect for Russell and Fi - and the Palins, come to that. But what, as a matter of principle, is wrong with comparing a candidate for elected office's actions with their policy statements? Yes, I think BabyMamaGate is truly vile and degrading, and Sullivan's rationale for inviting readers to scan photos for baby bumpiness is (to put it mildly) strained.

    But in the end, here's where I stand on Governor Palin -- I don't give a fuck about her marriage, family, hobbies or anything to do with her private life that is not illiegal or proof of hypocrisy. I don't really care that she has a vagina rather than a penis. And as someone who rates Margaret Thatcher as a political icon, I've certainly no problem with women in high public office.

    But she's not standing for Mum of the Year. She's not interviewing to be my cook, Sunday School teacher, life coach or hunting buddy.

    In a week, she will be the Republican nominee for the Vice-Presidency of the United States. And the more I see of her, the more I come to the conclusion that she is neither fit, nor ready, to fulfil the constitutional duties of the office (replace McCain in the event that he resigns, dies or is otherwise unable to fulfil his duties; and act as President of the Senate) in a time of war abroad, and deep economic insecurity at home. She's got to bring a little more to the table than being political Viagra for evangelicals

    Now, it's easy to crack wise about VP Palin resuming the traditional role of attending funerals and the more tiresome formal functions, both foreign and domestic. Given her apparent lack of knowledge or interest in foreign affairs, I just hope she doesn't talk to anyone.

    Is Vice President Palin going to have the institutional knowledge and relationships to be the McCain Administration's point-man on Captiol Hill, when its legislative agenda hit the wall of a Congress firmly under the control of the other party? No. and if she's going to develop them (despite McCain's apparent disinterest in her having such a role) her learning curve isn't going to be steep but vertical.

    And I don't want to join in any nasty cracks about McCain having one foot -- and three toes of the other -- in the grave. That's cheap, ageist shit that's frankly unworthy of the people who make them. But here's some cold hard stats: Out of forty three Presidents, nine of them (twenty percent, folks) were succeeded by their Vice Presidents. Four died in office. Another four were assassinated. One resigned.

    It really does matter, and it's a dirty shame McCain doesn't really take his own campaign slogan seriously -- you know, Putting Country First.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report

  • Deborah,

    Well, physically, that's a no brainer. He ain't stitched up and the rest of it.

    But that varies enormously from woman to woman, and from birth to birth. I was much more fit and able after the births of my second-born twins, than I was after the birth of my singleton eldest.

    New Lynn • Since Nov 2006 • 1447 posts Report

  • sagenz,

    You mean she's been to France?

    No. The evil Republicans just booked it to make it look like Palin has international experience. :^)

    uk • Since Nov 2006 • 128 posts Report

  • Trevor Nicholls,

    Huh? I was trying to say that as a dyed-in-the-wool feminist, I still managed to have the same instinctive reaction as Russell had, even though I wouldn't have had the same reaction had a daddy gone back to work so soon. And I see that as a flaw in my thinking.

    Oh, I wasn't trying to say anything about you, Deborah. I just think it's funny that the Republican Party's token woman VP nominee - although clearly chosen to appeal to the righter end of the spectrum, the evangelical Daddy-is-the-head-of-the-house brigade - doesn't cook what Daddy shoots but shoots it herself, is the Governor not the Governess, and in almost every respect appeals to the men far more than to the women.

    I can't believe that conservative women won't look at her and feel insanely jealous. Of course I've never been a conservative woman so the usual caveats apply...

    Wellington, NZ • Since Nov 2006 • 325 posts Report

  • 81stcolumn,

    I'd like to be a bit like Billy Hunt

    Nawthshaw • Since Nov 2006 • 790 posts Report

  • JohnAmiria,

    Russell
    I have just read the whole thread and frankly I think (hope) there will be a time when you will remember this as a low point of your blogging life
    Bad enough that this sort of thing takes place elsewhere but there is no need to go hunting for dirt

    Sorry, but I can't agree with this sentiment. 'Hunting for dirt'?? That sounds like traditional media bitching about whether the blogosphere actually break stories, or just make shit up. It was because of the blogosphere that this story was debunked so quickly. Why? Because those digging for 'dirt' found none, and reported it.

    If Palin was a Democrat there is no way the MSM would have ignored these rumours/questions, they would have been all over it. And yes, they would have had a bevy of 'analysts' debating whether it was a baby bump or a prosthetic device used by Hollywood; followed by another bevy of medical 'experts' questioning the circumstances of the birth.

    Does that make it right (the rightwing MSM are bottom feeders so the leftwing MSM should do likewise)? Well, actually I still think the questions are valid. It would seem that whilst Palin believes it is not a woman's right to choose an abortion (because a fetus has rights too) it is a woman's right to choose whether or not you get on a plane, take an 8 hour flight, and then drive to a small town (skipping the city hospital in the place you landed at) to have the baby delivered by your family doctor, even though the amniotic fluid started leaking that morning and you know your baby has Downs Syndrome and you're one month premature.

    I'd call that risky behaviour but then I don't have the same faith that Palin has, who I presume was confident it would all turn out as God intended.

    And if Palin was a Democrat I'd still call it risky behaviour. Or PC hippy bullsh!t.

    hither and yon • Since Aug 2008 • 215 posts Report

  • Simon Grigg,

    You mean she's been to France?

    no, no, no, no Russell it was a really really witty reference to that time when the French chickened out and everybody said they were surrender monke.....oh never mind...

    Just another klong... • Since Nov 2006 • 3284 posts Report

  • sagenz,

    The point I was making, albeit not clearly enough obviously is NOT about her right to choose abortion or not of a Downs baby, but her right to choose whether or not to travel late term and to go back to work after 3 days. She made her own judgements. Going back to work in between feeds? so what! A newborn sleeps loads. I am sure she makes her own rules about being with the child. And russel the uber liberal for a womans right to choose is calling her out on it. That whole - She was not really the pregnant one is just wierd.

    She's got to bring a little more to the table than being political Viagra for evangelicals

    She appeals to me because she has character. I suspect that is the reason she also appealed to McCain.
    She is anti gay marriage yet vetoed a bill infringing gay rights. She has 80% support in Alaska. She is anti pork & anti corruption in her own party. She canned the infamous bridge to nowhere.

    McCain met her only once and made a decision. That speaks volumes about both of them. decisiveness is one.

    Would I rather Palin as President on Day 2 of the next term than Obama or Biden. You betcha.

    uk • Since Nov 2006 • 128 posts Report

  • sagenz,

    JohnAmiria

    If Palin was a Democrat there is no way the MSM would have ignored these rumours/questions, they would have been all over it.

    hahahahahahhahahahahahahha John Edwards.

    Simon Grigg - check out the Palin facts link from my earlier. Perhaps you did not quite get the self referential aspects of the whole damn website.

    uk • Since Nov 2006 • 128 posts Report

  • sagenz,

    "After complaints by the Palin family in 2005 Mr Wooten was suspended briefly for shooting a moose illegally, and using a Taser gun on his 10-year-old stepson."


    Undaunted, she held a meeting as governor three days
    after giving birth. “I just put down the BlackBerrys and pick up the breast pump,” she said of her life as a working mother.

    Left-wing websites such as the Daily Kos are leading the chorus of disapproval for now. “Having had two children at home at the age of four months, I know how much help they need even without unfortunate medical conditions,” said one tut-tutter.

    Republican women, however, are delighted by Palin’s example. Kellyanne Conway, 41, a Republican pollster and mother of three, said, “I really feel mother knows best without the peanut gallery giving unsolicited advice. She strongly conveys to women today that you don’t have to choose between a successful career and motherhood. You do have to make sacrifices, but you can have it all.”

    uk • Since Nov 2006 • 128 posts Report

  • Simon Grigg,

    Simon Grigg - check out the Palin facts link from my earlier. Perhaps you did not quite get the self referential aspects of the whole damn website.

    Oh I get it now it is a parody site..well silly me. I like those..this is a good one. Helengrad..that had me rolling....

    Good on you SageNZ!

    Just another klong... • Since Nov 2006 • 3284 posts Report

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