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It’s taken me a week to write about this because the pain was just too near.  And then the laughter was just too near when the unmarried 17-year-old daughter’s pregnancy was announced.  But today, seeing headlines like “Palin Speech Electrifies RNC Delegates,” I finally feel calm enough to blog.

First of all, anyone with any interest in McCain’s VP pick should check out this blog: Mudflats.  It’s awesome.  I haven’t yet read what he has to say about the unplanned pregnancy because I’m saving it for later.  It’s bound to be funny.

Speaking of the 5-months-along-teen and her upcoming marriage to the baby-dad…can you imagine the conversation that young man must’ve had in a basement somewhere?  Due to the sensitivity over TrooperGate, it was probably carried out by someone just close enough to Palin for it to make sense, but removed enough to not damage her if it comes out.  I wonder if the words “if you mess up her VP chances, I’ll personally…” were used.  But let me tear myself away from the amusement for a moment, and tell you what deeply concerns me about this VP pick.  

She’s a woman, and she damned good at it.  Let me explain.

Sarah Palin is the first female VP pick in decades, which might galvanize feminists despite her politics.  She is a Mother, which will resonate with a lot of women in this country.  I capitalize Mother because she has 5 (count ‘em) kids, speculation about the youngest actually being her daughter’s child aside, and one of ‘em has Down’s Syndrome.  And while raising these children she’s carved out a successful career for herself, alongside a marriage that while I don’t know whether it’s happy, has certainly lasted.  Whether or not I agree with her politics (I don’t), I have to admit she’s a pretty amazing lady.

So I’m worried.  I’m worried that people will look back at Hillary, with all her political savvy and her smarts and her it’s-all-business dress code and her (only) one daughter, 28 and still unmarried (albeit not pregnant), and they’ll compare her unfavorably to Sarah, whose “executive experience” is in a 5000-person backwoods town, whose 17-year-old daughter’s abstinence-only education obviously didn’t sink in…but who is making people reminisce about Jackie O with her style.

I’m worried that they’ll ignore her politics.  Phrases I expect to hear in the coming months: “Well it’s her own daughter, of course she’s against abortion.  Wouldn’t you be?”  ”If drilling in ANWR will lower the price I pay at the pump, hell with the caribou.”  ”Gun control?  There’s few enough people in Alaska homesteading our last frontier, and they need guns to protect them from the b’ars!”  Never mind that Alaska posts an enormous “Violent Crime” rate compared to its population – only 7 states had higher levels of violent crime per 100,000 people according to recent numbers!  Thank heavens “Property Crime” rates are low (probably because you don’t live close enough to the next person who owns a car to bother trying to steal it), or Alaska’s ranking would be much higher than 23rd.

Please, if you were a Hillary supporter and you like the looks of Palin better than Obama, or if you’re a member of N.O.W. and feel compelled to support a womyn for the 2nd highest office, do some research.  Give it some additional thought.  Look deeper into it some time before November. The McCain/Palin ticket is as Conservative as they come, and having one woman break the glass ceiling isn’t worth another 4 years.