It’s been a big week for Republican Vice President Candidate, Sarah Palin. The Alaskan Governor bound from the announcement of her position as running mate for Presidential nominee John McCain, to announcing her 17-year-old daughter’s pregnancy Monday, to becoming one of the most discussed “subject” on Rants and Raves in these 5 short days.
As the subject of at least 48 posts that name her explicitly. After Democratic nominee Barak Obama at 130 posts, and her running mate John McCain who has been the explicit subject of 116 posts.
As common as it is for candidates to be intensely scrutinized, for anything and everything, immediately following a VP announcement, her popularity may be at the heart of an American political complex: a combination of political criticism, family scandal, and the messy amalgamation the two make.
As the VP pick for the Republican party, a party which strongholds family values, Palin’s family scandal could not have come at a worst time aside the first week of November. Colorado’s newfound status as a swing state was no exception to the public backlash, as shown on Craigslist.org by those who still hold her as a great compliment to the considered moderate McCain, but also by those who feel the scandal speaks to her capacity for the job.
Posts tend to disapprove Palin for the scandal speaking to the heart of a major republican-democratic rift: abortion.
One postsaid, “Republicans are against abortion, yet don’t want the government to give you a dime to help raise that child if you fall on hard times. You’re on your own after the decision they will force you to make!”
Some posts even circulate rumors as to whether Palin’s youngest son, Trig, was hers or her daughter’s child.
Ignoring circulating rumors, Obama is condemning family attacks this election as he was quoted by CNN. “I think people’s families are off-limits, and people’s children are especially off-limits. This shouldn’t be part of our politics. It has no relevance to Gov. Palin’s performance as governor or her potential performance as a vice president.”
