Claim: "It is 'SEXIST' to talk about Sarah Palin's Daughter"

This is being asserted by Andrea Mitchell and Mika Brazynski of MSNBC. I will offer the caveat that I really do not care about Mika's opinion. She is a relative newcomer to political commentary. However, Andrea Mitchell is an old hand at this and has even served as White House Correspondent. As such her opinion carries weight and she should be much mor ecareful about checking her opinion against facts.

There are countless examples where the behavior of children has ben closely scrutinized during political campaign's. I would expect that if Sarah Palin had run for high elected office more than once she would know that.

If she had run for Mayor of a large city- some larger than her state- Governor in a more populous state or for the senate she might have been exposed to such scrutiny before.

If you doubt me- google it. But looking strictly at running for the highest office in the land (or a heart-beat away) one need look no further than Al Gore in 2000. His son Al was in an incident involving driving while intoxicated. For about 2 weeks or more we heard a constant barrage- from the hypocritical right about the elder Gore's fitness as a father, his ability to juggle job and family, his judgment and ability to control his own son- his 'family values.'

The issues- if you really care about the values the Repugnicans claim to care about- of fitness and abilities as a parent, ability to handle the rigors of the job, judgment and ability to manage her family are indeed issues to be explored.

Try it this way: What if Barrack Obama had a son who impregnated a teenage girl? Would it be enough to say- He has had "to grow up faster than we would have liked" and that the two intend to get married? I hardly think so.

Separate gender of the child from the equation and this issue is one that Repugnicans would not ignore. Frankly, given their track record on women's issues, They would attack an opponet if the situation were exactly reversed.

And their attack would be unapologetically sexist. They would would wonder out loud how this girl came to be pregnant. They would want to know more about this father. They would use surrogates to ask the most embarrassing and personal questions you can imagine all for the purpose of making the point- If she can't handle her family, how can we expect her to handle the government.

But since we are liberals. We tear our garments and beat ourselves up with self examination over issues of mercy and compassion.

Maybe, in reality, this all is and should be out of bounds. But let's say that without calling anyone sexist. If she cannot take the heat, she should get out of the boiler room.