Palin and her daughter's pregnancy.

Didn't take long for the smear tactics to start against Gov. Palin.

Evidently a rumor started floating around the blogosphere that her youngest child is really her grandchild. Supposedly she was covering for her seventeen year old daughter. That story is still circulating despite evidence to the contrary.

But apparently her daughter IS pregnant and will marry the 18 year old father of the child. My immediate reaction is, "Big stinking deal"

This isn't the early-to-mid 20th century when teen pregnancy was a scandal and young mothers-to-be were rushed off to points unknown, gave birth and returned to the public eye some time later with a brand new "brother" or "sister".

Children having children are so commonplace these days it's become the chief justification for handing out condoms in schools.

This won't stop the smear machine from going into overdrive. But IMHO it will backfire.

John Q. Public and his sister, Joan, aren't living in a choir loft (and even choir lofts see their share of the beast with two backs). We all know how life is, part of that is realizing your kids will only take to heart so much of your instruction. Then they'll go out on their own and cheerfully make their own list of screwups to lecture your grandkids not to repeat. Much the same as some of us have done.

So I don't think the smear tactics will work. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe a large part of the American electorate is made up of little old ladies going to afternoon tea. November will tell for sure.

On a personal note, from my own extended family I know the truth of children having minds & personalities stubbornly their own. My Aunt Kate was widowed at an early age with four young boys to raise. Since she had to keep food on the table they didn't get as much attention as their peers. She always told them that whatever they might do, if it landed them in jail they were on their own. Other than that piece of advice they were pretty much left to themselves, daycare didn't exist in the sixties and she was fiercely independent so welfare was out of the question.

Only one of my cousins ever got busted. Of the other three, one became a successful building contractor, one retired out of the Navy as a Master Chief Boiler Tech and the last went to 'Nam where he was blinded by friendly fire. He came home and got active in the DAV until his early death by heart attack a few years back. Shit happens.

The one who got busted? He was a priest and back in the early '70's in Chicago he was busily protesting for civil rights. His antics were a little too aggressive.

Palin's kids are like anyone else's. Palin is for homeschooling so I assume her kids were taught at home for part of their education, if not then at least she's able to understand why so many of us consider the public school system a form of workfare. She's an evangelical Christian and probably did her best to pass on her beliefs to her kids. Her daughter proved she's just as human as anyone else. Whoop-dee-doo-dah-day.

Evidently this was divulged to McCain & Co. before her selection. I'd guess they either think there's minimum damage to be had from this or have some spin on it that they hope will successfully toss any smears right into the laps of the Dems. Time will tell.

But there IS a difference between a VP candidate who is evidently ready to support her daughter & new son-in-law through a pregnancy of this nature and a Presidential candidate who speaks of his daughters being "punished with a baby".

IMHO babies are never a "punishment". If you feel you can't be an adequate parent then the little tyke should be placed up for adoption. Believe me, all the couples who go overseas to adopt kids are more than likely frustrated by the lack of candidates here in the USA. I'm speaking from personal experience on that point, until the War Department (finally!) got pregnant with our first child we had begun checking out the international adoption scene.

Contrary to the misinformation provided by the proaborts, many couples would gladly accept that "punishment".