Tuesday, September 02, 2008
A Palin counter-reaction anecdote
I had a short conversation this afternoon with a female executive of long acquaintance who spent the first 15 years of her professional life as a pediatric nurse at in big city hospital. She is not, far as I know, a Republican. But she was outraged -- literally -- that the "Today Show" crew had been nattering on about Sarah Palin's decision to fly home from Texas to give birth in Alaska rather than rushing to the hospital at the first sign of leaking amniotic fluid, implying or suggesting that she had been irresponsible. "How dare they?"
Made me think that whatever the electoral consequences, the reaction of the media to the nomination of Sarah Palin has further degraded that industry's reputation.
14 Comments:
By 
, at
Tue Sep 02, 10:46:00 PM:
I work with nurses all day. ( all are women nurses at our clinic). I had thought they would back Palin. 5 out of 5 said that if she can not control her daughter then she can not control the country! I asked them if they would say the same about a man and they said men don't have that bond with their daughters so my point was mute...
If my short poll of co-workers is any indication this is not going to work out well for McCain.
By , at
Tue Sep 02, 10:53:00 PM:
A few questions ... what state do you live in, and are the nurses white?
My wife is a nurse with a post-graduate education in nursing. Her take on the pregnancy is decidedly different.
As for "controlling your child", let's be serious. How many people nationwide actually control their 17 year olds?
By 
BrendaK, at
Tue Sep 02, 10:59:00 PM:
Did those 5 out of 5 nurses actually have teenage daughters?
'Cause I did. She's grown up to be a great woman, but those teenage years...oy.
Anyone who has lived through teenagers knows that they make mistakes, and that their judgment is sometimes (even frequently) less than stellar. The test of a parent is how well they are able to support their errant children, and on that score Palin is doing pretty well.
The media has totally ticked me off with their outrageous coverage of this matter. Contrary to what I intended just a few months ago, I will be voting for a presidential candidate in November, and that candidate will be McCain.
By , at
Tue Sep 02, 11:09:00 PM:
Anonymous;
State of Ohio, all are Caucasian. All are 30 to 40s years of age. All with kids. I don't know their politics closely.
As a Physician I see no particular problem with Governor Palin. At some point you can not control your children, we have 4 and I know this all too well.
My wife is an elementary teacher. we are age 49. Interestingly my wife agrees somewhat that she views Governor Palin's inability to provide birth control options to her daughter an indication for her to not trust her all that much..I was surprised by that. She is as conservative as you come but her motherly take on this is more skeptical of Palin's parenting skills and whether her daughter felt open to discuss her life issues with her. She thinks I am simplistic in my meme that this girl is old enough that at a point you are not in control and should not be expected to be...
My argument that maybe she used birth control and it failed was met with a laugh!
I guess we will see how it plays out.
By Miss Ladybug, at
Tue Sep 02, 11:17:00 PM:
checkers~
"Failed birth control" had crossed my mind also. My best friend, who sometimes suffers from TMI, shared with me that her sister's youngest daughter was the result of a condom that failed... Not that the circumstances of Bristol's situation is really anybody's business but the family's...
By joated, at
Tue Sep 02, 11:30:00 PM:
"...has further degraded that industry's reputation."
Is this possible?
By , at
Wed Sep 03, 12:04:00 AM:
America's prenatal care system has the distinction of successfully delivering newborns only as well as Hungary, Malta, Poland and Slovakia (basically the bottom of the world's industrialized countries). I wouldn't look to an American pediatric nurse for the best guidance on what is a safe, proper course of action in this instance.
By Andrewdb, at
Wed Sep 03, 12:12:00 AM:
My sister, the single-mom, high-school teacher, tells me she and her friends are absolutely livid at the way the media (Larry King and his guest Paul Begala in particular) seem to think that a woman's place is in the home raising her children.
She now agrees with Hillary that there is more sexism then racism in the media, and she says tonight she is sending money to McCain.
By , at
Wed Sep 03, 12:19:00 AM:
squealer,
Actually they are Obstetrical Nurses and there are NONE better the world over than American nurses. If we are not up there in worldwide infant mortality data to suit you I suggest you place blame at those whom have been unable (unwilling) to find a solution to providing access to care to all citizens of this country, not those who provide the care.
By Brent, at
Wed Sep 03, 12:19:00 AM:
@Squeaker - Take a close look at how those other countries count "newborns." Most of the countries that claim to be better do things like not counting any babies that die within the first 24 hrs.
By , at
Wed Sep 03, 12:56:00 AM:
She is as conservative as you come but her motherly take on this is more skeptical of Palin's parenting skills and whether her daughter felt open to discuss her life issues with her.
How do we know she didn't? Heck, maybe she talked to her dad instead.
By Punditarian, at
Wed Sep 03, 06:04:00 AM:
1) As far as controlling the children goes, President Theodore Roosevelt was once asked that question by the Press. He told them, "I can control Alice, or I can run the country. But I can't do both." (If you remember the circumstances of Alice's birth & upbringing, you will understand the depth of that comment.)
2) The original post illustrates another reason that the Palin nomination was a brilliant stroke: it brings the pathology of the drive by media into sharp relief. McCain has to run against the press, they are completely in the tank for Barry Soetoro. But you can't do that. So he has to use a rope a dope strategy, and allow the press to destroy itself. You are seeing it happen.
By , at
Wed Sep 03, 07:01:00 AM:
Checkers ... my wife was sleeping when I was posting last night. She asks ... are the nurses college graduates? nursing, as you know, does not require a college education. She also notes that "nurses eat their own".
Humans have sex. It's biological. When they do, pregnancies occur. My parents taught me all sorts of stuff that I promptly violated. I am 47, and watch my neighbor's children starting to drive, hearing about the drug abuse in the high school, etc. How I made it to adulthood, intact, after all I did, is probably a good reason to believe in God.
There are single and working mothers all across the world. They manage to do both. That Palin is more the cosmo mom (does all that, serves in high office, and is good looking to boot) disturbs a lot of people, but it's just asinine to think that an inability to prevent her daughter from getting pregnant, or inability to talk her into aborting it, comdemns her.
And yes ... I can imagine that the conversation concerning the pregnancy ultimately resulted in a discussion around having a choice in what to do.
Lastly, I'd wager that the VAST majority of Americans were not planned, and more than a few could do a little quick math and surmise that we were born in fewer than 9 months from a milesone date, like mommy and daddy walking down the aisle. You know, back in the purer 40s and 50s.
By Dawnfire82, at
Wed Sep 03, 08:19:00 AM:
"5 out of 5 said that if she can not control her daughter then she can not control the country!"
That's absurd. You don't 'control' children, and you don't 'control' the country. People who try to 'control' children are creepy 'People Under the Stairs' parents, and trying to 'control' the country makes you a tyrant. You guide one, and administer the other, and neither has anything to do with the other.
Perhaps you should 'guide' these nurses over to Wikipedia to check out Patti Davis.
"Who?" some of you ask.
Ronald Reagan's 'renegade' daughter who traipsed around with musicians, yoga instructors, and other assorted liberals, and posed in Playboy, all to rebel against her father. (behavior which magically stopped after Reagan was diagnosed with Alzheimer's)
