I kid you not, I met some guys the other day who voted for McCain simply because they thought Palin was hot. And then complained about Obama winning because of the black vote.
...
Oh no they didn't!
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Sonic Youth
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Palin's family drama not likely to halt political ambitions
As details of her daughter's break-up emerge, Alaska governor Sarah Palin continues raising her profile in Republican party
Ed Pilkington in New York
The Guardian
The tattoo told the story. Just days after the governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin, was announced as the Republican vice-presidential choice late last summer, to the astonishment of political observers across America, a second bombshell landed: that her 17-year-old daughter Bristol was five months pregnant by her boyfriend from school.
In a textbook case of damage limitation, Republican public relations advisers went to work. An unfortunate teenaged pregnancy was turned into a happy manifestation of Palin's opposition to abortion. The young couple were in love, committed to having the baby and would marry soon.
To prove the point, on camera, they were paraded in front of a TV audience of millions at the Republican National Convention in Minnesota. In an image-maker's dream, the boy, Levi Johnston, sported a tattoo on his ring finger.
"Bristol".
Six months later, Johnston is facing the painful prospect of tattoo removal. The loving relationship that was blast all over US newspapers, and that helped to salvage the political hopes of Sarah Palin, is over.
It ended a "while ago", Johnston, now 19, told the Associated Press from outside his home in Wasilla, the tiny town of 9,000 in which the Palins also live. His sister Mercede is reported to have told a magazine that on top of the breakup Bristol was making it difficult for Levi to visit their baby, Tripp, on the grounds that "she doesn't want [the baby] around 'white trash'!"
Bristol lashed back, saying in a statement that "unfortunately my family has seen many people say and do many things to cash in on the Palin name. Sometimes greed clouds good judgment."
Just another day in the polarised and partisan life of Sarah Palin.
Since last August, when she was announced as John McCain's Republican running mate, she has shown an almost effortless ability to attract love and hate in equal measure.
Her support for an abstinence-only approach to sex, and opposition to abortion, as expressed through her daughter's pregnancy, became as popular in the course of the presidential election among the rump of socially-conservative Americans as it was unpopular to liberal bloggers who accused her of forcing her daughter to go through with the pregnancy against her will.
Last month, in an interview with the right-wing Fox News channel, Bristol denied that any pressure had been placed upon her by her mother to have the child. But she also criticised the abstinence policy to which Palin has lent her name, saying it was "not realistic at all".
These are not the kind of news stories that Palin might hope for, adding to earlier controversies over her fondness for expensive clothes and use of public money for family holidays that have consistently dogged her. Yet once again she is back in the news, and in media-saturated America that gives her an enormous strength that few within the flailing and defeated Republican party can emulate.
Michael Tanner, senior fellow at the conservative think-tank the Cato Institute, thinks that even seemingly negative stories about her family work to her benefit. "The Bristol story will inevitably draw snide comments from media figures like Jon Stewart who will have something nasty to say about this; and every time that happens her followers get that much tighter around her."
Tanner has been struck in the four months since the presidential election by how loyal and fervent Palin's core support of small-town conservatives has remained. When he wrote a recent blob gently chiding Palin for her stance on the economy he was inundated with angry emails.
"I was amazed by how passionate they were, they really believe she shouldn't be attacked," he said. The question now facing Palin is whether, over the next 18 months, she can use her regular exposure in the media and her enviable name-recognition to reach outside her core following to a wider base. She can already be seen to be making the first tentative steps in that direction.
Last month she launched a new campaigning entity, SarahPac. It vaunts her conviction that "America's best days are ahead. The Republican party is at the threshold of an historic renaissance."
Both those beliefs sound wildly optimistic today. But SarahPac does at least give Palin the ability to raise money which she will use to fund trips across the country. She is actively planning a low-key but conscious engagement that it is fair to presume she hopes will end on election day 2012.
She recently toured western Alaska with Franklin Graham, son of Billy and a growing force within Christian evangelicalism. In April she will attend a 2,000-strong gathering of anti-abortionists in Indiana under the "Freedom for Life" banner, followed by a celebration of Alaska's 50th anniversary of statehood in June that will conveniently take place in the key fundraising territory of New York.
Palin increasingly moans about the treatment of her family in the US media, which she puts down to a conspiracy of elite liberal pundits to put her down.
But put in the context of her national, presidential ambitions, this week's headlines may do her no harm at all.
As details of her daughter's break-up emerge, Alaska governor Sarah Palin continues raising her profile in Republican party
Ed Pilkington in New York
The Guardian
The tattoo told the story. Just days after the governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin, was announced as the Republican vice-presidential choice late last summer, to the astonishment of political observers across America, a second bombshell landed: that her 17-year-old daughter Bristol was five months pregnant by her boyfriend from school.
In a textbook case of damage limitation, Republican public relations advisers went to work. An unfortunate teenaged pregnancy was turned into a happy manifestation of Palin's opposition to abortion. The young couple were in love, committed to having the baby and would marry soon.
To prove the point, on camera, they were paraded in front of a TV audience of millions at the Republican National Convention in Minnesota. In an image-maker's dream, the boy, Levi Johnston, sported a tattoo on his ring finger.
"Bristol".
Six months later, Johnston is facing the painful prospect of tattoo removal. The loving relationship that was blast all over US newspapers, and that helped to salvage the political hopes of Sarah Palin, is over.
It ended a "while ago", Johnston, now 19, told the Associated Press from outside his home in Wasilla, the tiny town of 9,000 in which the Palins also live. His sister Mercede is reported to have told a magazine that on top of the breakup Bristol was making it difficult for Levi to visit their baby, Tripp, on the grounds that "she doesn't want [the baby] around 'white trash'!"
Bristol lashed back, saying in a statement that "unfortunately my family has seen many people say and do many things to cash in on the Palin name. Sometimes greed clouds good judgment."
Just another day in the polarised and partisan life of Sarah Palin.
Since last August, when she was announced as John McCain's Republican running mate, she has shown an almost effortless ability to attract love and hate in equal measure.
Her support for an abstinence-only approach to sex, and opposition to abortion, as expressed through her daughter's pregnancy, became as popular in the course of the presidential election among the rump of socially-conservative Americans as it was unpopular to liberal bloggers who accused her of forcing her daughter to go through with the pregnancy against her will.
Last month, in an interview with the right-wing Fox News channel, Bristol denied that any pressure had been placed upon her by her mother to have the child. But she also criticised the abstinence policy to which Palin has lent her name, saying it was "not realistic at all".
These are not the kind of news stories that Palin might hope for, adding to earlier controversies over her fondness for expensive clothes and use of public money for family holidays that have consistently dogged her. Yet once again she is back in the news, and in media-saturated America that gives her an enormous strength that few within the flailing and defeated Republican party can emulate.
Michael Tanner, senior fellow at the conservative think-tank the Cato Institute, thinks that even seemingly negative stories about her family work to her benefit. "The Bristol story will inevitably draw snide comments from media figures like Jon Stewart who will have something nasty to say about this; and every time that happens her followers get that much tighter around her."
Tanner has been struck in the four months since the presidential election by how loyal and fervent Palin's core support of small-town conservatives has remained. When he wrote a recent blob gently chiding Palin for her stance on the economy he was inundated with angry emails.
"I was amazed by how passionate they were, they really believe she shouldn't be attacked," he said. The question now facing Palin is whether, over the next 18 months, she can use her regular exposure in the media and her enviable name-recognition to reach outside her core following to a wider base. She can already be seen to be making the first tentative steps in that direction.
Last month she launched a new campaigning entity, SarahPac. It vaunts her conviction that "America's best days are ahead. The Republican party is at the threshold of an historic renaissance."
Both those beliefs sound wildly optimistic today. But SarahPac does at least give Palin the ability to raise money which she will use to fund trips across the country. She is actively planning a low-key but conscious engagement that it is fair to presume she hopes will end on election day 2012.
She recently toured western Alaska with Franklin Graham, son of Billy and a growing force within Christian evangelicalism. In April she will attend a 2,000-strong gathering of anti-abortionists in Indiana under the "Freedom for Life" banner, followed by a celebration of Alaska's 50th anniversary of statehood in June that will conveniently take place in the key fundraising territory of New York.
Palin increasingly moans about the treatment of her family in the US media, which she puts down to a conspiracy of elite liberal pundits to put her down.
But put in the context of her national, presidential ambitions, this week's headlines may do her no harm at all.
"What the hell?"
Win Butler
Win Butler
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Sonic Youth
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What I find amazing is that the American reaction to Bristol and Levi would have been much harsher if they were found to have text messaged images of themselves masturbating to each other than it was when Levi got Bristol pregnant. Even though the text imaging would have been a completely harmless way for the two of them to deal with their hormones.
Edited By Greg on 1236879837
Edited By Greg on 1236879837
Reason one million and one that it is good McCain/Palin did not win. Imagine the pressure on those poor kids if that had happened.
The great thing in the world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving. It's faith in something and enthusiasm for something that makes a life worth living. Oliver Wendell Holmes
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Is anyone really shocked? I mean come on...if the campaign didn't strain the relationship, it was clear when the whole thing broke that it was obvious he wasn't going to stay by her side in the end.
Wesley Lovell
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both." - Benjamin Franklin
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both." - Benjamin Franklin
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Sonic Youth
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Bristol Palin and her Baby Daddy... SPLIT!!!
Bristol Palin and her fiancé Levi Johnston have broken up, two sources tell PEOPLE.
The split happened "a few weeks ago," according to a source close to the couple, but it's unclear what precipitated it. "It was a mutual thing," adds the source.
Bristol, the 18-year-old daughter of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, spoke with FOX News in February and told Greta Van Susteren that she and Levi – who are parents to 2-month-old son, Tripp – expected to get married after they completed high school.
"It kind of just happened," says the source, referring to the split. "I thought they would stick it out. But I think they can work together to raise Tripp."
"I'm not sure what caused [them to break up] – it's common knowledge," says another source who knows the family.
Despite the breakup, Levi still sees the couple's son. Levi's dad, Keith Johnston, told PEOPLE recently that his son is a devoted and "proud father."
Plans for the Future
Bristol, meanwhile, is attending Wasilla High, taking a class to supplement course work she is completing at home. She also is considering enrolling in college next fall and studying nursing.
Bristol has been spotted around Wasilla shopping and exercising. She recently returned from Juneau where she was visiting her mother, who is spending the winter in the state's capital with daughter Piper and son Trig during the legislative session.
As for how she is holding up after the split, the source tells PEOPLE: "Bristol's doing okay. Tripp is fine."
Representatives for Gov. Palin have not returned calls for comment.
Bristol Palin and her fiancé Levi Johnston have broken up, two sources tell PEOPLE.
The split happened "a few weeks ago," according to a source close to the couple, but it's unclear what precipitated it. "It was a mutual thing," adds the source.
Bristol, the 18-year-old daughter of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, spoke with FOX News in February and told Greta Van Susteren that she and Levi – who are parents to 2-month-old son, Tripp – expected to get married after they completed high school.
"It kind of just happened," says the source, referring to the split. "I thought they would stick it out. But I think they can work together to raise Tripp."
"I'm not sure what caused [them to break up] – it's common knowledge," says another source who knows the family.
Despite the breakup, Levi still sees the couple's son. Levi's dad, Keith Johnston, told PEOPLE recently that his son is a devoted and "proud father."
Plans for the Future
Bristol, meanwhile, is attending Wasilla High, taking a class to supplement course work she is completing at home. She also is considering enrolling in college next fall and studying nursing.
Bristol has been spotted around Wasilla shopping and exercising. She recently returned from Juneau where she was visiting her mother, who is spending the winter in the state's capital with daughter Piper and son Trig during the legislative session.
As for how she is holding up after the split, the source tells PEOPLE: "Bristol's doing okay. Tripp is fine."
Representatives for Gov. Palin have not returned calls for comment.
"What the hell?"
Win Butler
Win Butler