CNN.Com: Obama says Palin’s family off-limits.

I hate giving props for this because what he says is what a decent human being would say but… I also know that he didn’t have to stand up for the Palins’ right to privacy and to deal with Bristol’s pregnancy as a family issue.Â? That he did, even though he didn’t have to, does show some strength of character as I don’t think many other politicians would do that.

I hope John McCain and Sarah Palin show the same restraint in dealing with Michelle and the girls as well as Joe Biden’s family.

**UPDATE**

CNN.Com: Evangelicals rally behind Palin after pregnancy news.

You know… I really don’t think we’d be seeingÂ? people being this grace-filled if it was Obama’s teenage daughter who was pregnant.Â? Instead of James Dobson talking about how “we’re all human”, I suspect we’d be getting a sermon on how “the Obamas aren’t raising their children right”.Â? No… actually I *KNOW* we’d be hearing about the Obama’s “lack of parenting skills” or whatever trash Dobson and his cronies would throw around.

Yes, Bristol Palin is keeping the child.Â? And she should have a medal for this?Â? There are a lot of women who get pregnant out-of-wedlock and keep the kid.Â? She’s not that special so… to the pro-lifers who are being slobberingly supportive of her “making the right decision”: get the heck over it and go prove your lack of hypocrisy by treating another person in her situation decently who is *NOT* high-profile and whose mommy is *NOT* the vice-presidential candidate.

I read the Wikipedia article on Sarah Palin and I’m honestly still a bit like “what?????” in terms of McCain choosing her as a running mate.

At first glance, it seems like he deliberately chose her to make the ticket look balanced — I mean… old dude and young woman.Â? It is actually kind of sexist to have picked her if that was the main reason (which I’m sure it’s up there) and I think I’d be a little surprised if I was her.

It’s also a seriously hypocritical move if his homies want to bash Obama for having no experience because she’s been the governor of Alaska for two years… after being mayor of a small town outside of Anchorage.

Looking at her positions, it does look like her selection is pandering to the Right.Â? The only thing she and I share in common is being pro-life/pro-contraception although I’m in favor of abortion in cases of rape or incest.Â? (I waffle on the same-sex marriage issue so we don’t really share that.)Â? Otherwise, she’s in favor of teaching creationism with evolution in schools, a gun rights activist, supports the death penalty, opposes abortion for any reason, in favor of banning same-sex unions, etc.Â? I can see that she’s not blindly any of these things (which pleases me because I like it when politicians have a brain) but… she’s kind of everything the Bush administration would want her to be.

There’s no chance in Hades that I’m voting for McCain/Palin in November but I’m still kind of blown away by her being his running mate.Â? It just doesn’t seem to compute for some reason.