Friday, December 11, 2009

Final Pages of Chapter 3

In this section we get Sarah’s pregnancy with Trig, her traveling a lot, and more whining and rewriting of history.

The chapter opens with Sarah discovering she is pregnant with Trig.

There was no way I could buy a home pregnancy test in Alaska. The cashiers would know, the people in line would know, and the next thing I'd see was a headline...As governor, I knew that my life was even more of an open book, and there were a few things that I thought were not for public consumption, at least not at first. (171)

Okay 2 Things: (1) Sarah isn’t close enough to one of her friends or her mother or her sister and they couldn’t go to the drugstore to pick her up a pregnancy test. & (2) For someone who drones on & on about her common sense, Palin, per usual, has exhibited very little. You can buy things like pregnancy tests online from stores like drugstore.com. I guess Sarah never thought of using the new fangled Internet.

We continue on with Sarah wondering how this pregnancy will effect the public perception of her & I am going to go with the conservative response: She spread her legs, she’s getting what’s coming to her. Slut!

Sarah contemplates abortion on the next page writing:

And for a split second it hit me: I'm out of town. No one knows I'm pregnant. No one would ever have to know. It was a fleeting though, a sudden understanding of why many women feel pressured to make the "problem" go away. Sad, I thought, that our society had elevated things like education and career above the gift of bringing new life into the world. Yes, the timing of this pregnancy wasn't ideal. But that wasn't the baby's fault. I knew, though, what goes through a woman's mind when she finds herself in a difficult situation. at that moment, I was thankful for right-to-life groups that affirm the value of the child. That say, yes, every child has value and a purpose and a destiny. (172)

Oh wait, she’s clarifying her remarks from earlier this year & saying it was only a half-second thought. Amazing that wouldn’t even nudge her a tiny bit. And since simple Sarah doesn’t believe in teaching women about contraception, quite a few of us will be pregnant in “less than ideal situations.” Thank God for those right-to-life groups for helping us through those unplanned pregnancies.

Without that message out there, it would be easy for women to wonder, well, am I the only one who thinks maybe there is some purpose for this baby? Am I off base in believing that what's easiest isn't always what's best? If not for those groups providing an affirming voice, it would be so easy to go along with what society wants women to believe: that it's easier to end a pregnancy than to bring the baby into the world. Society has made women believe that they cannot do both--pursue career, or education, or anything else, and still carry a baby. Pro-life and pro-adoption groups affirm the power and strength of women. Even if it's just a seed of faith the pro-child message plants in a parent's mind, that bit of faith can grow. I reassured myself that it was going to be okay, that giving this baby life was the right choice. It wouldn't be the last time I had to hold on to that seed of faith. (172)

I find her tone to be incredibly patronizing & rude. Sarah, why don’t you actually talk to a woman who has gone through an abortion. Abortion is NOT a simple, easy decision. Women agonize over it & there are a number of reasons why a woman would chose abortion. While I find it commendable that you support adoption groups (b/c I think adoption is amazing), that does not give you the right to take such a judgemental tone with your fellow women. What was written on your Starbucks cup? That’s right! "There's a place in hell reserved for women who don't support other women!" (Even though you completely botched the quote! But you betcha I think it's cute Palin gets her philosophy off of those liberal coffee cups.) You are not supporting women by taking a pro-life stance. So instead of pretending to support other women, actually fucking do it.

Two pages later, we learn that Trig has Down syndrome & Sarah is, per usual, arrogant enough to wonder why God would make her family suffer so much, as her sister had a child with autism. “Obvious He knew Heather had a special needs child. Didn’t He think that was enough challenge for one family?” (177) Of course, God always is watching & plotting every move in the Palin family’s life.

We get Sarah talking even more about abortion, saying:

I read that almost 90 percent of Down syndrome babies are aborted—so wasn’t that a message that this is not only a less-than-ideal circumstance but that it is a virtually impossible to deal with? Now, just a couple of hours into this new world, I could not get my arms or heart around it. That fleeting thought descended on me again, not a consideration so much as a sudden understanding of why people would grasp at a quick “solution,” a way to make the “problem” just go away. But again I had to hold on to that seed of faith. (178)

Like so many other pro-lifers, Sarah Palin is pro-choice when it comes to herself. Of course, she is different & special, even ordained by God. I love how Palin obviously considered abortion but is not back stepping, as the anti-choice loons make up such a huge part of her base. And again, abortion is not decision for a woman to make. I find it incredibly patronizing that she goes on & on about how many women take the easy way out—wait, isn’t the easy way out something like quitting halfway through one’s term.

We also get Sarah Palin mocking Senator Kerry:

I recalled Senator John Kerry’s comment to California college students in 2006: “You know, education, if you make the most of it, study hard, you do your homework, and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. And if you don’t, you get stuck in Iraq.”

What a loon, I thought. What an elitist loon. (181)

Oh geez, Sarah. It’s not like you’ve ever misspoken.

We have Sarah complaining about how mean the Senate president was to her. Of course, she does not bother to name the Senate president, who is Lyda Green. I wonder if Palin is so angry, because Lyda had this to say about her when McCain nominated her: “She's not prepared to be governor. How can she be prepared to be vice president or president? Look at what she's done to this state. What would she do to the nation.” (source)

Anyway, Palin wanted to move her speech time for the opening of the legislature, and Sen. Green said no, that it should be at the traditional time. Sarah whines:

I had scheduled our trip for Track’s graduation a month prior. My chief of staff made sure the state Senate president knew I’d be taking two days outside of Alaska to attend. (The sixty-nine-year-old Republican was a fixture in state politics and was one of the gang not happy to see a new administration rock the boat.) We gave her the date. A letter was sent. We did this because after I was elected, the rules for governors’ travel seemed to have changed with no notice. (181-182)

Poor Sarah, everyone is so mean to you & victimizes you all the time & you are so damn important to Alaska that they never, ever allow you to leave.

I sensed the senator was enjoying the media attention that this “showdown” brought. She rallied a couple of radio talk show hosts to her cause, and they were milking the drama, such as it was. Such drama: it must have been a slow news week. (183)

Yes, because Sarah Palin has never, ever stirred up a fight/controversy for media attention.

In the next page, Sarah Palin is arrogant enough to write her family members a letter from God announcing Trig’s Down syndrome. And God tells us why Trig will be named Trig: “I put the idea in your hearts that his name should be ‘Trig,’ because it’s so fitting, with two Norse meanings: ‘True’ and ‘Brave Victory.’” (185) God, I just love the naming of Palin babies, but this one isn’t that funny. And then God goes on to complain that, “Some will think Trig should not be allowed to be born because they fear a Downs child won’t be considered ‘perfect’ in your world.” (186) There she goes with the “perfect” argument. People don’t abortion Down babies because they are imperfect—they abort them because not everyone has the resources, time & Bristol Palin to raise those children.

Now we have Sarah & Todd in Dallas, where she is keynoting an oil & gas conference. Sarah feels she is going into labor 4 weeks and like a normal person who is older and has a higher-risk pregnancy, she goes to the hospital. HA! Of course she didn’t. She gave her speech & then got on her plane & went back to Alaska to give birth. However, once she is back in Alaska, she gives birth to Trig Paxson Van Palin. I’m going to guess: Paxson after Bill Paxson & Van after Van Halen.

Sarah brings up that stupid perfect argument again saying, “she sees it in the eyes of other parents who have a child that perhaps our world doesn’t consider precious or prized.” (196) Blah. I’m done talking about that.

We get info on Troopergate, which was apparently started by some mean, local Alaska blogger & those liberal media types didn’t bother fact checking it.

The next page we get Sarah talking about China, which is hilarious. “An energy-thirsty Communist nation controlling Alaska’s natural gas reserves was not in the best interests of the state or country.” (205) Things which scare simple Sarah: (1) Muslim terrorists, (2) Russia [she can see it from her backyard!, (3) brown people in Hawaii & finally (4) communist China.

Sarah also manages to attack Katie Couric when she talks about how all simple Sarah does is read & read & read. “Perhaps that’s why I was so shocked during the VP campaign when Katie Couric wondered which papers and magazines I read. Maybe I should have asked her what she reads. She didn’t sound very informed on energy issues.” (207) Sarah, I’m sorry that answering a simple question is so hard for you. But what did you expect out of the election? Easy, softball questions at every turn? And furthermore, Couric is the journalist, SHE ASKS THE QUESTIONS. I’m sorry that stammering out 2 or 3 newspapers/magazines was way too complicated for you.

The chapter ends with Palin announcing Bristol's pregnancy. "Truthfully, I was devastated for my daughter. It wasn't the morality of the situation--what was done was done. It was that I saw her future change in an instant." (207) Okay, wingnut Sarah. Had you taught your daughter how to make Levi strap on a condom, you would not be in this situation. These people just don't get cause & effect, do they?

And that ends our chapter. Next chapter, we are GOING ROGUE!!

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