So, Bristol Palin and Levi Johnston are engaged!

Abortion

Abortion

What the heck?  Is your head spinning like mine?

Okay, let me stop chuckling for a moment and compose myself.    There now.  So, I guess the first thing I want to do is take a moment to wish the lovely young couple well.  I am sure they are looking forward to years and years of marital bliss, lots of kids, Mommy running for President, etc.   Still, there is something sticking in my craw (wherever my craw is).

According to newspaper reports, the kids made the announcement in the latest edition of “Us Weekly” Magazine.  In other words, they didn’t tell Mommy Palin.  Yes, Sarah Palin learned that her daughter was engaged when she picked up “Us Weekly,” one of the few magazines that she probably reads.  And get this – young Bristol said that she didn’t tell her mom in person because “it is intimidating and scary just to think about what her reaction is going to be.”    So, instead, she just went straight to the magazines.

Bristol Palin, the daughter of a Presidential candidate who criss-crossed the country touting the importance of “upholding family values,” was afraid to tell her mother that she was going to get married!   Oh, sweet irony!

But let’s take this a step further, shall we?

A few years ago, then Governor Palin came out publicly in favor of a ballot initiative in Alaska that would have required a minor to notify her parents that she was going to have an abortion.   Indicating her support for the measure, the Governor said that “the young girl should have the counsel of her parents in such a major decision.”     See where I’m going with this one?

So, Governor Palin thinks that when a young girl is contemplating abortion she should feel comfortable enough to run to her parents with the news.  And, even if she is not comfortable, then too bad, you gotta tell your parents anyway and they will surely understand and be sympathetic.

But, wait a second, what about Bristol?   Why didn’t she feel comfortable going to her mom to tell her about this important decision?  Well, as Bristol said herself, she was intimidated.  She was scared.  She just could not face her mother.  And now, her mom is saying that that is Bristol’s decision and she will honor it.

The point I’m trying to make is that folks like Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh, Newt Gingrich, et al love going out and talking about how their party is the party of “family values.”  They stand in front of large crowds in a supermarket parking lot and talk about restoring traditions, reminiscing wistfully about the good old days.  Of course, we know about Rush’s drug addiction and Newt’s marriages, but that’s beside the point.  They don’t have to practice family values, they can just go out and say they believe in them.

And Sarah Palin says that every young woman out there who is contemplating an abortion should talk to their parents because, gosh darn it, good families would welcome that kind of discussion and would be oh-so-understanding.    Too bad her daughter didn’t see things that way.