Abstinence-Only Education Worked For Me!

This Palin pick continues to generate more and more WHAT?! moments. So, today it came out that Bristol Palin, the eldest daughter of Gov. Palin is pregnant. I think the obvious question is what the child's name will be. Hopefully something as original as Trig or Track.

But does this really matter? Of course not. A candidate's ability to govern is completely separate from what decisions their children may make. But the news of the teenager's pregnancy - and engagement to the father - does pose more difficult questions. Should a candidate expose his or her children to the national limelight? Literally overnight Palin's children are national news. How is her daughter dealing with the fact that the entire country knows she will be a teenage mother? Did she even have a choice in coming out with the news? More importantly did she have a choice in the engagement to the father? What responsibilities does Gov. Palin have to her family? Should a candidate - man or woman - remove themselves from the race if continuing compromises their family's privacy in such an embarrassing way?

The truth is, anyone in the national limelight exposes their family to scrutiny. This is especially true when that person is running for public office. While we all agree that "families are off-limits" in campaigning, that in practice isn't exactly true. Like it or not, Gov. Palin and her daughter will be judged for their Juno situation. Gov. Palin will be judged for her decision to make the news public and Bristol will be judge on her decision to create the situation.

As Gov. Palin's skeletons continue to stumble out of the proverbial closet, will we begin to realize that her lack of preparedness in dealing with public scrutiny is demonstrative of her lack of preparedness to actually be a national public figure? As a Sen. McCain, I would be concerned about what else may come tumbling out...and may reevaluate the decision to apparently forgo the vetting process.