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'Love Child' Query Rebuked by McCain Camp
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ShareSeptember 01, 2008 5:00 PM
ABC News' Teddy Davis and Arnab Datta Report: John McCain's top policy adviser rebuked a reporter on Monday for asking if there was "no sense of panic" in the campaign "over the love child issue," a reference to the announcement made earlier in the day that the 17-year old daughter of McCain's running mate is five-months pregnant and planning to marry the father.
"All kidding aside -- a little respect. I mean 'love child' issue? I mean this is a young woman," said McCain adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakin, referring to Bristol Palin, the daughter of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R). "She is 17-years old, and I believe that treating it with a little bit of respect is appropriate."
"This is the governor's daughter," he continued. "It is their issue. It is something that we believe should be treated with a lot of respect. This is clearly something that we have a lot of concern about: the future of this young lady. She's a wonderful woman. From the campaign's perspective, we have an outstanding candidate who is a governor and she has a family. She loves that family, and this is their business."
Holtz-Eakin made his comments in response to a question from Paul Bedard the author of "Washington Whispers," a regular feature in U.S. News & World Report.
Bedard questioned Holtz-Eakin during a Christian Science Monitor lunch with reporters held in St. Paul, Minn.
The rebuke from Holtz-Eakin came after Bedard said: "I covered the Dan Quayle campaign. Is there no sense of panic over the love child issue or is there a belief that it shows that she is like a lot of American families?"
Another reporter attending the lunch asked Holtz-Eakin when he first became aware that Palin's daughter was pregnant with an "out-of-wedlock baby."
"It doesn't matter when I became aware," said Holtz-Eakin. "I mean, the governor and Todd Palin issued a statement this morning. The statement, I think, speaks for itself -- which is to say, that they are now conscious that their daughter will have to address the great challenge of raising a child sooner than they might have hoped. And that they are being supportive of her and the man that she will marry and they would ask that we respect their privacy and I think out of respect for that request that's probably all we should say."
Asked if the campaign knew about the pregnancy at the time of Palin's selection, Holtz-Eakin said, "As I said, what I think we ought to do is recognize that the governor was completely vetted by the campaign. Senator McCain has complete confidence in her as a running mate and as a future vice president of the United States, and the particulars of the family life of the Palins is really something that's best left to them."
September 1, 2008 in McCain, John, Palin, Sarah, Vote 2008: Republicans | Permalink | User Comments (390)
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Biden08, McCain/Palin08 Three very good Americans.
Posted by: Kitty | Sep 1, 2008 5:12:09 PM
McCains campaign have told those in, and close to, Palins family to not talk with anyone from the media. Time 9/1/08 "In Wasilla Pregnancy Was No Secret"
Posted by: BabyGate | Sep 1, 2008 5:16:10 PM
5 kids
1 with special needs in diapers
1 in iraq
1 pregnant at 17
She does NOT need to be running for VP. She needs to put her family first. She's throwing her family to the wolves and they're going to be scarred for life.
Ridiculous.
Posted by: Chad | Sep 1, 2008 5:20:38 PM
Why didn't they talk about this on day one? What will there excuse be?
Because they were hiding it....
Posted by: McCains on crack | Sep 1, 2008 5:21:37 PM
Hey Bots your leader the great one has made this off limits. The world is waiting and watching for how you will behave, please make this an issue!! Your candidate will take the heat for it. Let's see how disciplined you all are.
Posted by: Kim | Sep 1, 2008 5:23:55 PM
I just want to remind readers that this is a political issue. Ms. Palin does not believe in sex education in schools or the use of condoms, she advocates abstinence. That alone makes this political. I am a mother of two teenage girls and I do not want this woman anywhere near my daughters. Furthermore, what judgment does it show when a mother places her child in a national light in the knowledge that this would be aired for all of America to judge. Shame on her.
Posted by: kayT | Sep 1, 2008 5:25:24 PM
"Why didn't they talk about this on day one? What will there excuse be?"
Maybe because it's a family matter for the Palins and not a liberal National Esquire headline? Doh.
Posted by: Don | Sep 1, 2008 5:25:36 PM
Enough already. This young woman will be marrying her fiance, Levi and probably live in Alaska, while VP Palin will be in Washington with President McCain.
If I were a Dem., I'd be far more worried that Obama DID NOT GET THE BUMP IN THE POLLS after Grecian rock concert convention. Man, B.Hussein just cannot get that bump...Hillary dropping out, fiasco World Tour, Biden pick, Dem convention....the debates are yet ahead and we all know how B. Hussein does in debates.
Leave Bristol Palin alone. BO's mom was 17 and 3 months pregnant when she married Obama Sr., who was legally married to a woman in Kenya. They really need to stay away from complicated family business....Obama's background is completely out of the norm!
Posted by: Debra | Sep 1, 2008 5:26:08 PM
Chad you are an idiot, she is putting her family first by running for the second highest office in the land, to make changes that will affect their lives and to insure that their future is secured. Plus they have a father who is equally responsible for them.
Posted by: Kim | Sep 1, 2008 5:26:10 PM
This is a non issue.
Posted by: Ben Straub | Sep 1, 2008 5:31:40 PM
If she had been properly vetted they should have known Sarah Palin was a member (prior to becoming Governor) of the secessionist Alaska Independence Party. She is still on good terms and sent greetings to their convention.
http://freedemocracy.blogspot.com/2008/09/secessionist-sarah-palin-and.html
Posted by: Lars | Sep 1, 2008 5:31:47 PM
Re: Chad's comment--Would you be making those statements if Gov. Palin was a man? Seems to me that some voters are anxious about Palin and what she could possibly bring to the Republican ticket. Otherwise, why would all of these attacks be so fast and furious? She is causing some uneasiness from the opposition, so the only way to bring her down is to continue to make comments that no one would say about a male candidate. It may end up backfiring.
Posted by: Kathy | Sep 1, 2008 5:32:04 PM
"I just want to remind readers that this is a political issue."
Ummm, no it's not, but in any event you should probably tell BO since he apparently disagrees with you.
Posted by: Chad | Sep 1, 2008 5:33:05 PM
==BO's mom was 17 and 3 months pregnant when she married Obama Sr., who was legally married to a woman in Kenya.==
How much play you think this will get in the giddy, Obamarama-friendly media?
Posted by: Mr. Incredible | Sep 1, 2008 5:33:10 PM
Chad,
show some respect. There's a dozen reasons why she should not become VP and her motherhood is NOT one of them.
Talk about her bridge to nowhere. Or her calling Hillary a whiner. Or her fighting against polar bears being listed as a threatened species. There are lots of good reasons not to vote for her.
Posted by: El_Pajaro | Sep 1, 2008 5:33:33 PM
Thank God for people like Sarah Palin. Mother, Mayor, Governor and soon to be grandmother. An everyday person who faces everyday problems just like regular folks. She IS regular folk. She is one of us! Is there anything she can't handle?
Posted by: Guardian | Sep 1, 2008 5:33:49 PM
"There's a dozen reasons why she should not become VP and her motherhood is NOT one of them."
Please inform the liberal attack rats. Thanks in advance.
Posted by: Chad | Sep 1, 2008 5:36:35 PM
Bristol Palin is 5 months pregnant, PERMANENTLY SILENCING THE HORRIBLE DEM SMEAR THAT GOV. PALIN'S BABY SON WITH DOWNS SYNDROME, WHO IS FOUR MONTHS OLD, IS HERS!
I must say, I do not like Obama for President, but his statement today that childen of candidates are HANDS OFF, is one of the smartest things he's said/done in this campaign. Of course if you look into his bizarre family and his own mother being pregnant at 18 and unmarried, he has some understanding of the situation.
STILL McCAIN/PALIN
Posted by: Debra | Sep 1, 2008 5:39:52 PM
==She does NOT need to be running for VP. She needs to put her family first.==
Soooo, discrimination against mothers now. Great.
Posted by: Mr. Incredible | Sep 1, 2008 5:40:36 PM
I guess the Dems have egg on their faces. They can no longer keep the rumor going that Trig is really her 17 yr old daughters baby.
Posted by: S Adams | Sep 1, 2008 5:40:59 PM
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