Comments on: Disgusting

By: smart vote

smart vote — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 02:00:43 +0000

How stupid do the candidates and media commentators think we are?

By: philosopher

philosopher — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 21:20:47 +0000

I do think that Sullivan’s weird obsession about whether the baby was hers or her daughters was, well, weird. But I’m pretty sure that Jason is right about the phrase that Eric bolded in the main post — Sullivan is not attacking her having had this baby (I really can’t imagine him doing so), but rather the way that the baby was & is a significant part of the McCain campaign’s marketing strategy with her. They can’t tout anything substantive, so, it’s her “great pro-life hockey mom” status that they are betting the farm on.

By: Eric Seymour

Eric Seymour — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 14:01:02 +0000

It’s true some folks have pointed to Palin’s baby as adding to her pro-life cred, but I haven’t seen anyone making a huge deal out of it. On the other hand, mentioning it in the dismissive way Sullivan did is really out of bounds.

By: Jason Kuznicki

Jason Kuznicki — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 11:03:04 +0000

Andrew Sullivan was probably the biggest fan Margaret Thatcher ever had. Of course, the difference between Thatcher and Clinton seems pretty striking to me.

By: DMD

DMD — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 02:13:17 +0000

Sometimes I think Sullivan just has issues with powerful women politicians in general. His attacks against Hillary Clinton (”Nixon in a pantssuit”) were always pretty nasty. He’s been nearly unreadable this week.

By: Jason Kuznicki

Jason Kuznicki — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 23:31:19 +0000

I think the reason he brought this up is because so many people have mentioned the baby as a point in her favor. If you’re pro-life, it certainly is. But it’s not much qualification to run a war.

By: Matthew

Matthew — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 22:07:18 +0000

Perhaps the suggestion is that raising an infant, let alone an infant with Down’s Syndrome, is a time-consuming and difficult task and is not best suited for someone who will also be leading (or at least preparing to lead) a nation at war.
Furthermore, the right is using her new baby to tout her conservative credintials. Perhaps you should direct your question: “What exactly does having a child with Down’s Syndrome have to do with…anything” there.