Reply #67: Most polticians are impotent when the media decides to make spectacle.

[Igel]

Bristol was dragged into the fray; she wasn't put into the fray by Palin, but by the cover-up/incest folk.

There are then two approaches: Tell them all to go away--like that would work. Or be up-front and be brutally open.

I'd also have gone the "open" route. If cover-up/incest with little evidence is a going proposition, when Bristol in October is clearly with child and it can't be denied, it would be a deja-vu moment minutes before the election. Not exactly good timing. Again, telling people--political adversaries and the press--to go away would be pointless; and the lack of a full confession in prior months would be seen as a failing of transparency and honesty.

That was one of the complaints about Edwards--he denied his acts, and while many forgave him is adultery, and declared the entire issue of whether Hunter's kid is his out of bounds, many others found his not being forthcoming a liability. Of course, in Edwards' case it's Edwards' behavior; in Bristol's case, it's her daughter's. It reflects on Palin like any other similar pregnancy that happens pre-marriage and entails a "shot-gun" wedding; for example, Miss Dunham married Mr. Obama in early 2/61, but had baby Barack in early 8/61, six months later (although reports are both sets of parents opposed the marriage). At least she was 18 when she got pregnant.

However, it says little about Barack Obama's grandmother, IMHO.