David Frum tries again, this time with a much better tone…
Whoever imagined that we would see a Republican convention rapturously applaud an unwed teen mother?
Yet that is just what happened on Wednesday night in St. Paul. At the conclusion of Sarah Palin’s triumphant speech, the Alaskan Governor welcomed her family onto the stage: her husband, her five children and the fiancé of Bristol, her visibly pregnant 17-year-old daughter.
That moment confirmed a dramatic evolution in American politics: the transformation of the pro-life movement from an unambiguously conservative force into something more complex.
Well, maybe not. It’s quite possible it was something more complex for a lot longer – in fact, from the very beginning of the culture wars. I am happy to say I’m too young to know for sure… My guess is that the sudden emergence of Sarah Palin has emboldened many a quiet pro-life person; it is now OK to declare oneself in favour of life (or against abortion), and many are relieved finally to say so.








It’s called forgiveness and judge not least ye be judged. Unfortunately, Bristol Palin won’t be the first 17-year-old teenage girl to get pregnant, and she won’t be the last.
What makes her ordeal extraordinary of course is that the entire world found out that Bristol Palin was pregnant in the gold fish bowl of an American election year when her mother is the Vice Presidential candidate for the Republican Party.
How many 17-year-olds could handle beeing pregnant and having the courage, dignity and grace to face an entire nation when her mother could be one heart beat away from the American presidency?
This 17-year-old who’s planning to have the baby and get married really does deserve a rapturous applause as David Frum states in his comments.