Palin’s daughter not a campaign story
I did the best I could on vacation last week in terms of staying away from the news. You see, in the news gathering business, you aren’t really on vacation if you are still paying close attention to the news.
But after only a peek here and a glance there while away from the job, I broke down Labour Day and tuned in to CNN — ostensibly to watch Gustav come ashore in Louisiana. Then came NewsNet.
And back to CNN.
Between the hurricane coverage came the drips and drabs from the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn.
Yawn.
But then the BIG story broke! Oh, yes, the 17-year-old daughter of John McCain’s running mate, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, is pregnant!
Uhh, big deal.
Teenage pregnancy is unfortunate and requires a huge adjustment for a family, but it’s all too common today for it to be a huge issue, much less a national story.
Yet, Bristol Palin’s pregnancy had CNN’s windbags pondering how this will affect the McCain/Palin ticket.
Well, really it shouldn’t — unless voters in the U. S. start to pay too much attention to the on-air hot air blowers.
As McCain’s opponent, Barack Obama, to his credit, said upon hearing of the pregnancy, family should be off limits during presidential campaigns.
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But that just doesn’t happen in the U. S. During the campaign, no stone is left unturned, let alone a pebble or grain of sand on which a member of a candidate’s family may have once trod.
But Palin also faces Troopergate, where she is under investigation to determine if she fired Alaska’s public safety commissioner for refusing to turf a state trooper who divorced Palin’s sister.
That should have direct influence on the McCain/ Palin ticket if the investigation reveals Palin erred, which seems unlikely at first glance (a certain state trooper tasered her nephew — the trooper’s stepson — and has been reprimanded for violating nearly a dozen laws and policies since 2001). But then again, don’t expect any quick action here, as this will be delayed until after the presidential election. Palin has hired a lawyer who wants to go over every bit of evidence in detail, thereby slowing down the process.
On top of all the Republican goo I saw on the news Monday, came the strong rumours of a fall federal election here at home. Both the Conservatives and Liberals seem ready to have Canadians head to the polls. Both will point at one another and say the other guy triggered this. But this won’t be so much a political tug of war as a holiday wishbone yanking. Both sides know what they are doing as they yank on the wishbone, and both hope they come away with the bigger piece of the bone.
Should the election come down as expected, it will be a very interesting fall, with both Canada and the U. S. heading to vote before the snow flies.
All of this was moot Tuesday morning, as I had more important things on tap — my daughter’s first day of Grade 1. I couldn’t believe how many parents of children at her school did exactly what I did, take time off work, head to school to support their children and find out who their teacher for the year is.
Once all the children headed into school with their respective teachers, many parents lingered about the playground. After a summer of trying to keep their kids entertained and engaged, suddenly the kids were missing.
A few parents breathed loud sighs of relief. I’d bet money a few would have gleefully given each other a high-five.
And still others looked like a part of them had been plucked away.
Bruce Corcoran is the managing editor of The Chatham Daily News. Contact the writer at bcorcoran@chathamdailynews.ca
