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From a column in today's Washington Post about the repub rally in northern virginia yesterday comes the following quote from a woman supporter: "There're more American parents with unwed pregnant teenaged children than American parents with Harvard grads."
And that, in a nutshell, explains why attacking Palin's parenting skills/performance will not be effective. There are around 2000 teenagers giving birth in a state like West Va every year. How many kids from W.VA are getting into Harvard,Yale, Columbia? Its an identification thing. There are literally millions of middle class/working class families in which "mom" works not because she wants to but because she feels she needs to in order to help make ends meet. These moms aren't breaking glass ceilings. They're in retail, administrative, clerical or other mid to low-level positions. They worry about whether they're doing the right thing, about whether their kids will fuck up as kids always do and whether they will be labelled parents when it happens. They are inherently sympathetic/empathetic towards a parent who has kids that fuck up and aren't about to start labelling them as bad parents and will be resentful towards those who aren't in their shoes and who toss brickbats at someone they identify with.
Now, that's not to say that these working moms should be identifying with Palin. Palin has advantages that these moms don't have. But that doesn't matter so much. Paln's per diem? Its outrageous, but there isn't a working mom out there that would turn down a similar deal if it was available to them.
So the answer isn't to hit at Palin's parenting. Its to emphasize that she cannot and will not do anything to help these working moms have an easier time of it. That she and McCain have no plan for improving the economy, and that their policies favor the rich over the working class. That has to be hammered home at every opportunity.
My two cents.
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