Josh makes a good point:

The standard procedure in a case like this would have been for the campaign to have gone to a trusted reporter -- and by that I don't mean a hack but someone the campaign knew would deal with the story in an appropriate way -- and given them the story about the family drama the Palins are going through, how the daughter is planning to have the baby, how it confirms the family's values, etc.

That's exactly right. If the campaign had known about this in advance, there would have been a plan to release the information about Bristol Palin in the least damaging manner possible, and as quickly as possible.

And no matter how poorly you think of the McCain campaign, that plan would not have centered around pushing out a press release on the first day of the Republican National Convention.

And certainly it wouldn't include purposefully lobbing a big softball to late night comics by announcing this on Labor Day.

No: the McCain campaign didn't have a reasonable plan to deal with Bristol Palin's teen pregancy, because they didn't know about it.

That says volumes about McCain's judgment in selecting Palin, and about his failure to properly vet a woman who will be a heart beat away from the presidency.

Not to mention the questions this story raises about Sarah Palin's wingnut views on abstinence-only education.

Technorati Tags: politics, McCain, Obama, palin, presidency, elections.

I can't believe anyone would want this country to continue in the direction it has been heading. Or to remain in the place where we have already arrived.

Technorati Tags: politics, McCain, Obama, palin, presidency, elections.