Assessing the Palin pregnancy

Does it matter that Sarah Palin’s daughter is pregnant?

The news that Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin’s unmarried 17-year-old daughter, Bristol, is pregnant “probably won’t change the political landscape,” said John Dickerson in Slate, “especially since Barack Obama declared it out of bounds.” But it’s a pretty good metaphor for “the gestating and growing surprises associated with the Palin candidacy.” Three days after John McCain named her as his running mate, Palin’s revelations and reversals are making McCain’s “Hail Mary pass” look reckless and short-sighted.

Airing the Palin family’s dirty laundry is meant to “discredit or undermine” Palin, said Charles Mahtesian in Politico, but it “may have the opposite effect.” So far, the Palins’ travails “probably seem awfully familiar to many average Americans.” And in an election “where the voting calculus is so unusually and intensely personal,” her familiar struggles could be a huge advantage for the McCain ticket.

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