This page was last updated on February 24, 2010.
Palin should keep family life private; Lynn Coleman Gardner; Beaver County Times; February 24, 2010.
Previous letters from Ms. Gardner are here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.
Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.
“Excuse me, but I can’t help but wonder if Sarah Palin will do anything to be in the spotlight.”
[RWC] I barely pay attention to Mrs. Palin (and most other public figures) yet folks like Ms. Gardner seem to be obsessed with her. What is there about Mrs. Palin that lefties appear to fear so much? After all, if lefties didn’t fear Mrs. Palin, would they spend so much time attacking her?
“Why bring so much attention to her Down syndrome baby? What’s her point? It’s not like she’s the first woman in the world to have this happen. I would respect her more if she spent time raising her children and not be in the news for one reason or another.”
[RWC] Regarding the “spent time raising her children” comment, I haven’t seen Ms. Gardner make the same comment about Michelle “my daughters are/were obese” Obama and I doubt she said the same about Hillary Clinton. Note Ms. Gardner appears to believe a woman can’t be a good mother and in the public eye at the same time. Can you imagine the letter Ms. Gardner would have written if someone else had written that Mrs. Obama should “not be in the news for one reason or another” and should instead stay home and “spend time raising her children?”
“I have a special-needs daughter, and I’ve told stories to try to help other parents in a similar situation, not for attention.”
[RWC] Ms. Gardner and her daughter were the subject of a Sunday Times front-page article entitled “Mom’s love endures” (Adam Boone; June 16, 1996). Pictures of Ms. Gardner and her daughter were on the front page and on page A12.
Let me get this straight. It’s OK for Ms. Gardner to tell “stories to try to help other parents in a similar situation” (complete with photos) in a front-page newspaper article, but it’s not OK for Mrs. Palin to do the same on a larger scale? Does Ms. Gardner also want Mrs. Palin to drop her awareness and fundraising efforts in this area?
“She put her eldest daughter’s pregnancy and stuff about the baby’s father all out in the news, and that should have been a private matter.”
[RWC] Ms. Gardner believes Mrs. Palin should have locked her daughter away and tried to hide the pregnancy? Does anyone want to bet what Ms. Gardner’s reaction would have been if the Palins had tried to keep the pregnancy “a private matter?” As a reminder, Bristol Palin was already about five months pregnant when Mrs. Palin agreed to be John McCain’s running mate and announced her daughter’s pregnancy. Had the Palins chosen to keep the pregnancy “a private matter,” does anyone seriously believe the press would have cooperated? When she was pregnant, did Ms. Gardner tell people or did she keep it “a private matter?”
“Why can’t Palin stay out of the spotlight instead of dragging her family’s business into the public eye?”
[RWC] It’s the mainstream media and folks like Ms. Gardner who insist on “dragging [the Palin] family’s business into the public eye.” As a reminder, it was David Letterman who joked/fantasized about Mrs. Palin’s 14-year-old daughter getting “knocked up … during the seventh inning” by a major league baseball player. Mrs. Palin’s crime? She was attending a NY Yankees game with her daughter while they were in NY so Mrs. Palin could accept an award from a special needs group (Independent Group Home Living Foundation). Remember when some in the press were pushing the story that Mrs. Palin’s Down syndrome child was really her oldest daughter’s baby from a previous pregnancy?
“There’s certainly nothing extraordinary about her family.”
[RWC] Again, what is there about Mrs. Palin that lefties appear to fear so much?
© 2004-2010 Robert W. Cox, all rights reserved.