Why Bristol Palin Matters

Two Words: Media Hypocrisy

Last month we had the revelation that a two time presidential candidate and former Democrat Vice Presidential nominee had probably fathered a child with his mistress while his wife suffered from terminal breast cancer.

The media other than the National Enquirer embargoed the story until John Edwards actually admitted the affair. Even then there was no real digging into the paternity of the child.

We currently have a Democrat Presidential candidate who it has been revealed has close personal ties to an admitted domestic terrorist, a convicted felon, an anti-American preacher, and whose wife's salary suddenly tripled when he was elected to the Senate and placed on the committee that oversees federal funds disbursed to institutions such as the hospital she worked at. A hospital that incidentally engages in the (illegal?) practice of encouraging uninsured poor to seek care elsewhere. A practice the wife is allegedly involved in.

How much in depth reporting have you seen on these subjects in the conventional media?

Practically none.

Then along comes Sarah Palin.

The day her nomination was announced a rumor starts that her 4 month old child born with Down's Syndrome actually belongs to her 17 year old daughter. How much coverage has that received?

Pages and pages.

The when it is revealed that the daughter is actually 5 months pregnant she becomes a target. (My favorite attack in this batch - That Bristol's current pregnancy is a fake to cover up the pregnancy her mother faked to cover up Bristol's real pregnancy).

Suddenly the days of polite disinterest are over; Now the media assures us we need to know everything up to and including whether or not Bristol and her boyfriend like to do it doggie style. Substantive comparisons between Palin and Biden or Palin and Obama however don't receive the same level of scrutiny.

Why is that?

Maybe because the media realizes that Palin has the potential to be very popular with blue-collar swing voters and they want to neutralize that effect as much as possible by keeping the focus elsewhere and her daughter is the chosen target. It may also be that they realize that when they start actually reporting that Palin was Governor of Alaska and not just the mayor of a town of 9000, which is the current Obama talking point, that Obama looks a little weaker than he already does in the experience department.

I think they may be underestimating the potential backfire effect this will have. People don't like to see attractive women attacked, and they can tell when the deck is stacked and they don't really like that either. Backlash can be a bitch, just ask Dan Rather and John Kerry how that National Guard documents story worked out for them.