ITN: Bristol Pushes Teen Abstinence

79 comments on this post so far. Add yours!

• 

  Sisyphus on May 06 at 2:18 p.m.

  LMAO. more than one actually.

• 

  hhuseland on May 06 at 2:29 p.m.

  It would appear that the producer is herself pregnant.

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  trishgannon on May 06 at 2:51 p.m.

  Could it be the implied “do as I say, not as I do”?

  Just what, exactly, gives Bristol Palin any credibility whatsoever in stating that abstinence is realistic for teens?

• 

  JeanieSpokane on May 06 at 2:59 p.m.

  What’s wrong with this picture is that we are giving publicity to teen prenancy. National Teen Pregnancy Awareness Day, my tush! If you weren’t aware of it before, NOW you are aware that you don’t have a “day” if you aren’t pregnant. Give me a break!

• 

  Frum Helen Back on May 06 at 3:04 p.m.

  How about a talk about birth control pills or condoms instead of abstinence.

• 

  Arpie on May 06 at 3:06 p.m.

  Her baby should be in her arms. She needs a prop!

• 

  Sisyphus on May 06 at 3:09 p.m.

  Trish has an apropos prop.

• 

  idawa on May 06 at 3:30 p.m.

  ah, could it be that in the photo that her handler is preggers…

• 

  Phaedrus on May 06 at 3:58 p.m.

  Let me count the ways.

• 

  Ravenlady on May 06 at 4:32 p.m.

  Boy is this backward. She certainly didn’t believe in abstinence when she decided to be with her boyfriend and have him come “stay” with her at her home. Could this photo oppp be influence from her mother that wants things clean politically for 2012? Again, using her children for political gain?

• 

  toadman on May 06 at 4:41 p.m.

  “… do you see anything wrong with this picture?”

  Yeah.. the angle is disconcerting, the lighting is all off, it’s slightly out of focus, and the central figure has too much fifteen minutes of fame fake smile blush on her face, she needs someone to wipe that off.

• 

  Fishwife on May 06 at 7:14 p.m.

  Poor Bristol. I feel sorry for her. Only cheap politicians use their families as props. Shame on Sarah Palin.

• 

  Cindy_H on May 06 at 7:19 p.m.

  “She certainly didn’t believe in abstinence when she decided to be with her boyfriend…”

  Must disagree with Ravenlady here. I’m sure Bristol “believes” in abstinence— she just didn’t have the self-control to pratice her belief.
  For instance, I “believe” I should lose 20 pounds, but someone in my household just walked in with some delcious fresh donuts.
  I daresay, many of us cherish beliefs that when…er..push…comes to er…shove…we fall short of adhering to.

• 

  Arch_Druid on May 06 at 7:40 p.m.

  Most of the posts took the words right out of my mouth. Hypocrisy anyone?

• 

  hmoffsuite on May 06 at 7:40 p.m.

  Bristol is merely trying to take a bad situation and a bad personal choice and turn it into something positive. She has the visibility to be able to communicate a message. Cheap shots at her and her mother are uncalled for, imo. I respect her for putting herself in the crosshairs of the media and all of you ‘perfect’ liberals.

• 

  Arch_Druid on May 06 at 7:46 p.m.

  I thought that liberalism, Hmoffsuite was to excuse immoral conduct. Since there seem to be a number of posters on this board who aren’t in any way excusing Ms. Palin’s immoral behavior except one—you; the liberal needs to look himself in the mirror.

  And all this from a fellow who was harping about personal responsibility on another thread. Sure, Hmoffsuite, sure.

• 

  Don_Sausser on May 06 at 8:00 p.m.

  Gee, from most of the above posts the opinion is “sure, teenagers, don’t try to follow good advice, just do what feels good and to hell with the consequences”. Sheesh

• 

  hmoffsuite on May 06 at 8:00 p.m.

  Kids make mistakes. Haven’t you heard about that, Arch? My problem with this issue is that Sarah Palin must take insults from those with differing political views. She is just trying to be supportive of her daughter, wouldn’t you? I think it would be the liberals and democrats taking the cheap shots.

• 

  Arch_Druid on May 06 at 8:19 p.m.

  Hmoffsuite, I’d agree with that but for the following, if Bristol didn’t have Sarah Palin for a mother, you’d be the fellow tasking her for making a mistake. She’d be unforgivable for being a teen mother with a child out of wedlock. So, why should there be a different standard for B. Palin to any other teenager out there who also made mistakes? At least I am being consistent.

• 

  mia on May 06 at 9:45 p.m.

  Um, yes I think there are many things wrong with this whole picture.
  As a mother, I cannot fathom putting my daughter in the media spotlight, knowing she was pregnant, and accepting the nomination for V. P.,(especially in a race most GOP’s knew was not theirs to win) I find the behavior of all of them to be less than admirable. In my opinion, this should have been a very private event. The fact that each side seems to be willing to go on Larry King or fly to New York, to be a spokesperson for National Teen Pregnancy Awareness Day does not bode well. How about one or or both of you just stay home and raise and adore your son!

• 

  Kage_Mann on May 06 at 10:06 p.m.

  Bristol has to refute what her ex-boyfriend loser says on the talk shows.

• 

  Phaedrus on May 06 at 10:19 p.m.

  her ex-boyfriend loser

  Something about water finding its own level.

• 

  Nick_Adams on May 06 at 10:24 p.m.

  Yeah, Kage, it’s all Levi’s fault.

  I’d like to give Bristol a break on this. She’s young and struggling to find her place in a world thrust on her by a power-hungry and shameless mother. She still has plenty of time to make her own way, but moves like this are not a good step in that direction.

• 

  Cabbage Boy on May 07 at 7:29 a.m.

  Fishwife on May 06 at 7:14 p.m.

  “Poor Bristol. I feel sorry for her. Only cheap politicians use their families as props. Shame on Sarah Palin.”

  It would be fun to turn this into an exercise. Can we start mocking all the poor decisions of kids of politicians?

  The Bush twins and Bristol are easy to mock because they failed at something they believed in. See Cindy’s fine comment above. Who here would be into mocking Chelsea Clinton back in her White House years. How about the Obama girls? I am sure they are NEVER used as a prop.

  Hypocrites. Most of you would scream loud and long if anyone took a shot at the children of the left.

• 

  Arch_Druid on May 07 at 7:43 a.m.

  Cabbage boy, when you’d just love to turn on the Obama sisters, it will take 8 years before they are of an age to “make mistakes.” And we don’t know if President Obama will be president for another term until 4 years from now. As for Chelsea Clinton, for all of dad Clinton’s faults re women, dad didn’t seem to have raised a daughter who’d put herself in the news with a drug and alcohol problem. And the Bush twins were already of an age when their dad became president to have made the choice to go that route. So excuse me, but you take nothing into account when engaging in this specific diatribe.

  It is all about personal decisions and finally all about personal accountability. Obviously, Sarah Palin didn’t prove to be a good parent or Bristol might not now be a teen age mother.

• 

  Cabbage Boy on May 07 at 8:03 a.m.

  “Arch_Druid on May 07 at 7:43 a.m.

  Cabbage boy, when you’d just love to turn on the Obama sisters,”

  You can keep your projections to yourself. I implied nothing of the sort. But I am glad you are fit to deem Sarah Palin as a bad parent because one of her teenage children stumbled. Pretty much shows the arrogance of someone who hasn’t walked that path.

• 

  Arch_Druid on May 07 at 8:17 a.m.

  Sorry, CB but it sure looked like you had from your prior post. Let’s put it bluntly, Bristol Palin is a teenager still living under the roof of her mother. Mom should be exercising some authority over her daughter’s comings and goings and what goes on in the bedroom between Bristol and Levi. Mom should have been very prepared to set ground rules for her daughter’s behavior while she was still living in mom’s house. This is what is meant by bad parent. Mom Palin being too busy advancing her own political career to much care about Bristol getting into trouble does make her a bad parent. And there would be no excuses for that if say Mom Palin had been a DEMOCRATIC guv of Alaska instead of a Republican. So, let’s stay consistent. There are no excuses, period.

• 

  hmoffsuite on May 07 at 8:27 a.m.

  Arch >> “Obviously, Sarah Palin didn’t prove to be a good parent or Bristol might not now be a teen age mother”

  So, if a teen becomes pregnant, it is because of bad parenting? Sure are a lot of bad parents out there, aren’t there?

• 

  Arch_Druid on May 07 at 8:32 a.m.

  You have that right, Hmoffsuite. You do have that right. There are a lot of bad parents if kids can get preggers out of wedlock and dads don’t teach their sons to keep their pants zipped. Guess they must be waiting for some authority from above to teach them how to be parents.

• 

  OfCoffee on May 07 at 8:35 a.m.

  So if I follow the liberal commentary here, Bristol (and by some osmosis, Sarah) is a hypocrite because she is encouraging other teens to not make the same mistake she did. So I guess that ex-gang members shouldn’t talk to kids about not joining gangs, and ex-drug offenders shouldn’t talk to kids about not using drugs. Because after all, they would just be “hypocrital” to encourage kids to obstain from activity that “they are going to do anyway, since, afterall, they’re teenagers.”

  Good for Bristol.

• 

  idawa on May 07 at 8:37 a.m.

  I disagree with Arch, many good parents have teens who have gotten pregnant. I can name a couple of people who I went to high school with in CDA who accidentally got pregnant who came from good homes, parents who were loving, educated, supportive, etc… It happens.

  I just think this is a good example of the failure, though, of an abstinence only based strategy. Clearly, some teens have strong sex drives regardless of how pious the household is and should be educated on options to protect themselves should they succumb to their desires - if there was a failure of parenting is was that she didn’t feel comfortable to come to her mother and ask for protection when she decided to start having sex.

• 

  toadman on May 07 at 8:42 a.m.

  “Only cheap politicians use their families as props.”

  I dunno. I’d definitely use MY family as props. They’re nicer looking than me, for one, and they don’t say as many stupid things as me. If I were a politician, I’d put them out front all the time!

  As for mini-Palin endorsing abstinence, well, she’s more than welcome to advocate any birth control method she thinks might work to prevent unwanted pregnancies. Obviously, if you are abstinent, you WON’T get pregnant. So in that sense, yes, it’s a method that works 100% of the time. My personal opinion, however, is that people (especially teens) aren’t perfect, and need more than one method available to them. I’d advocate abstinence for those who think they have the will power to resist millions of years of evolution, and FREE CONTRACEPTIVES for everyone else…meaning, like the other 95% of us.

• 

  toadman on May 07 at 8:44 a.m.

  “So if I follow the liberal commentary here, Bristol (and by some osmosis, Sarah) is a hypocrite because she is encouraging other teens to not make the same mistake she did.”

  Did you follow my liberal commentary, above? I never said that…and believe me, I’m a big fat flaming pinko commie leftist liberal loser…

  ;-)

• 

  Arch_Druid on May 07 at 8:48 a.m.

  First to Idawa, good parents set ground rules for their kids. They can be loving and supportive all right but they should also inform their kids about what can and should not happen when Susie starts dating Johnny. If Susie follows mom’s advice, then she won’t get accidentally pregnant.

  Second, I have absolutely no objections to ex-gang members who have reformed instructing today’s youth against joining something that is ultimately both dangerous and destructive. The same thing with ex-drug users. However, I do have a problem with all the liberal excuses given to Sarah Palin for a teen age daughter who ultimately did not marry the young man who got her pregnant. Only because Palin is a Republican. A different standard would have been set if she weren’t. A different judgment call would have been rendered if she weren’t. If she weren’t Alaska’s guv a different judgment would have been rendered on both herself and her daughter.

  I am being consistent. It doesn’t matter to me what the political party is. If immoral behavior occurred it is still immoral.

• 

  Cabbage Boy on May 07 at 8:55 a.m.

  “I am being consistent. It doesn’t matter to me what the political party is. If immoral behavior occurred it is still immoral.”

  Just to tweak you a bit, immoral according to what standard?

• 

  Arch_Druid on May 07 at 7:52 p.m.

  According to the standard CB, that if Sarah Palin wasn’t a GOP and Alaska’s governor, was separated from hubby and was basically a single woman head of household, but who wasn’t a “famous name” being asked to be a running mate of a nationally known Senator. In which case, if Bristol suddenly got preggers, managed to become a poster child of unwed teenage mothers, then managed to get a TV show to “counsel” fellow teens against making the same mistake that she did… The very standard, CB, that would have you condemning the whole family without thinking about it. AND you said you were CONSERVATIVE? Looks pretty liberal from here.

• 

  spokelooneh on May 07 at 8:53 p.m.

  Here’s the unstated argument by CB, if I may. If a teenage “couple” for whatever reason, decides to have teh sex, they MUST NOT EVER use contraception, because in having sex, the PRIMARY and OVERRIDING function, above EVERYTHING else, is the “miraculous” possibility that a pregnancy may occur and a child is eventually born.

  If the couple does ANYTHING “unnatural” to prevent pregnancy in the act of sexual copulation, they’re going against God’s will, in fact, against God’s law. Would have to consult at least a Catholic Bishop as to their penalty and repentance for such. Might be the payment of a minor indulgence, or could be rather stiff, no pun intended, depending on the “fruitfulness” of the existing collection plate.

• 

  Arch_Druid on May 07 at 11:33 p.m.

  Spokalooneh, pretty funny. And yet, I don’t exactly hear a “family” argument when making excuses for the Palin family. Nor do I hear an affirmation that the teenagers will get married following what they put in the collection plate. Decades ago, this kind of language would have been frowned on and deemed a radical left extremist bent at the very idea (for shame) that we could ever have unwed pregnant teenagers. That any kind of open discussion could be had about those “bad girls.” Never mind the “bad boys.” I guess it would take the sexual revolution of the 60s and 70s to have such open discussions about Bristol being everything that conservatives of the 50s would have opposed. That mom Palin in not forcing Levi and Bristol to marry, would have gone against the grain of what the cultural view of the 50s would have required, making the girl and her child both legitimate and honorable.

  On a prior thread/post concerning “conservatives” being stuck in the past. I would have to argue instead that if they were indeed “stuck in the past;” they’d have no problem dealing with history as it is. But instead this is a “conservatism” that has no problem with the sexual revolution, irresponsible behavior and monumental outcomes and consequences for “mistakes made,” as long as it involves one of their own. So, what’s conservative about it?

• 

  Cabbage Boy on May 08 at 9:20 a.m.

  Hilarious Spookaloon. /sarcasm off

  If you missed the point, I was tweaking Arch for her claiming the behavior was immoral. According to Judeo-Christian morality, yes it was immoral, but she doesn’t subscribe to that and I wondered how she determined it was immoral then.

  A rather light jab was all.

  As for your reading into it, project much? You must be an ex-Catholic that never let go of the guilt by your statement. Confession is a wonderful sacrament. Gets rid of all that guilt.

  And I don’t think you can justify a sin by claiming at least you aren’t committing two sins. That is my opinion as far as using contraception for fornication.

• 

  Cabbage Boy on May 08 at 9:21 a.m.

  Arch, your projection also goes overboard also. Perhaps your proclivity to judge is yours and not mine.

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