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Bristol Palin gave Greta Van Susteren an exclusive interview on the challenges of being a teen mom. Bristol’s baby, Tripp, and Sarah Palin both make an appearance. The quote everyone’s buzzing about — Bristol says abstinence is “not realistic at all.”
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back to top62 Comments to “Bristol talks about teen motherhood”
gag
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So . . . we now have an authority on the subject to end the discussion. Not.
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1. Why?
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I find this hard to believe. It’s saying no one on the planet has self-control, and I don’t believe that. This is an excuse for her lack of thinking things through.
It doesn’t seem to bother the parents at all, but then again, maybe only Sarah Palin has ambition.
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I find this hard to believe. It’s saying no one on the planet has self-control, and I don’t believe that. This is an excuse for her lack of thinking things through.
It doesn’t seem to bother the parents at all, but then again, maybe only Sarah Palin has ambition.
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The Bible has a term for this girl and it’s not “teen mother”.
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The quote everyone’s buzzing about—Bristol says abstinence is “not realistic at all.”
This is the line that she’s been fed all her life from the culture, and it’s an easy one to swallow when we want to believe it to excuse our own behavior. It’s not surprising, but it is disappointing.
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Let’s call this girl names. That’ll fix everything. Lot of people lining up to throw that stone. I didn’t realized there were so many on here without sin.
She did the wrong thing, now she is doing a lot of right things to make up for it.
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What’s the word, Bianca? I mean, if you’re going to allude to it, might as well come out and say it.
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Not realistic at all? Is that why ALL teens are sexually active?
I don’t think she is very credible on the subject of abstinence.
It’s hard. But it is realistic to many, many teens. She does a great disservice to them.
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#2, discuss all you want!
#3, why “gag”>
Because the fact is there are thousands of teen-aged mothers in this country, and many of them have more interesting takes than Bristol, I’m sure. The only reason she’s being accorded a platform is because of who her mom is.
Which makes this like any other “celebrity” screw-up story. About as interesting and edifying as a Jamie Lynn Spears story in the tabloids at the supermarket checkout. They always strike me as a low form of voyeurism, except that these people allow us to view their dirty laundry. No, they seem to thrive on us viewing their dirty laundry. I would hope that indeed Sarah did not know about this interview, or that she would have stopped it had she known. Would you let your daughter be interviewed like this?
But what really triggered my “gag” reflex is the quote – that abstinence is “not realistic at all.” What a vapid comment to make.
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#4- Vicky
Perhaps if Sarah spent a little more time parenting, and a little less time chasing “ambition,” things would have turned out differently. And, your grammar lesson for the day is: …”they pay her bills, and help care for
sheHER and her infant son…”#8- REE
I can only infer you mean the conservative culture of Alaska, where Bristol has lived her whole life?
#10- Buddy
I’m sure Bianca was simply clarifying that Bristol is a mother.
#11- Amphipolis
Maybe Bristol means abstinence is unrealistic when your mom is off pursuing ambition, and leaves you to find love and attention from the son of a hillbilly heroin dealer?
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Kbells
I don’t believe anyone should call Bristol names – I do however question her comment when she says abstinence is “not realistic at all.” – there are many parents who have trained their sons and daughters to abstain from sex until marriage – there are many kids who are overcome with emotion and lust that they go right ahead and have sex – - – - – it’s one thing to make a mistake, its another thing to say that not having sex is “Bristol says abstinence is “not realistic at all.”
The Palin’s have made it clear they are strong Christians, I would think they had taught their daughter that sex before marriage is not right. Even though Bristol went ahead with her boyfriend and had sex anyway, its REVEALING when she defends it by her remark “not realistic at all” – a smug comment indeed, which smacks of ME, ME, ME -
I made it clear in another thread over a month ago that I made a mistake by supporting Sarah Palin for Vice President. I still stand by the fact that it was a mistake. This woman obviously needs to be home with her children, giving guidance which appears to be missing. I thought the line Sarah made “all those guys and gals in Congress and the Senate” was unlearned – embarrassing to say the least.
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Abstinence is not realisitc because “kissing boys is just really, really fun!”
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Thomas, she has had her life analyzed by people who wanted very much to find something wrong with her. I can understand the desire to tell her side of the story.
Victoria, kids sometimes choose their friends and their culture over their family. I would hate to see my mother blamed for some of the things my sister did.
RPN, are you saying women should stay home in their place.
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Well, at least she’s a refreshing contrast to the Octopulet mother who was all about “me, me, me” in talking about her children. Bristol seems focused on her child, even if it is personally hard for her . . .
And her frequent reference to that nirvana “ten years from now” tells me Bristol heard what her family taught her, and chose not to follow it.
A typical teenager in her situation.
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Hmm…I’m obviously not an attractive young female like Bristol is/was (having a child does a number on the body, or so my wife tells me), but once upon a time I was her age…and undoubtedly I did a number of very foolish things back then, especially since I wasn’t a believer. In fact, I had a sister (OK, still have one!) who was just a couple of years younger than me. I didn’t tend to attract much opposite-sex attention, unlike Bristol (who from all the photos I’ve seen of her is a bit of a looker). However, my younger sister was in the Bristol-mold, and received lots of attention…culminating in an out-of-wedlock pregnancy, followed swiftly by a “shotgun” wedding (sans the shotgun) at the suggestion of my father. (Later, this was followed by a divorce, big surprise.)
My sister, receiving all the attention, might have said abstinence wasn’t realistic or an option. But she didn’t share my convictions (prior-Christ, as well) or eventual beliefs. For me, abstinence was not simply the option, but the reality that God led me into. Painful, difficult, but worthwhile when I married.
So we can call her names (which she might deserve), we can recognize her difficulties (it ain’t easy being a “hottie”), and then we can offer her help and support, for the day when she doesn’t receive that attention anymore, and realizes the reality of Christ and her need of Him.
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Kbells
You are right, kids do choose other paths than their parents have taken.
A mother who’s time is consumed being a governor – having five children is a bit much when four of them are under age. Taking it a few steps further; Palin knew her daughter was expecting a child, she also has a ’special needs child’ and still goes ahead to accept the nomination for V.P. which would have consumed much of her time, clearly has a priority problem.
Being a mother of five children is no small job, its a full time position. If a mother has to work, that’s another story -
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In my family, 2 of 3 teenagers practiced abstinence successfully. So, it is rather insulting to say that it is unrealistic.
(Interesting note: the “2″ were girls and the “3″ was my brother. There still does seem to be a “sexist” angle to who is supposed to be abstinent and who isn’t necessarily held to the same standard.)
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ALL teens are NOT sexually active. Back in the day most were not, but we now have 13 year olds becoming fathers (in the UK). There is a thing called self-control, and until the society demands it again of children, teenagers will continue to make poor decisions for their long-term benefit. That so many just give up so easily is indicative of how so many parents don’t care about their children’s future. This does go back to parents, and in this case, to the Palins. I realize that mistakes are made, but it is obvious from Bristol’s comments that the idea to get an education first never entered her head. It’s a big “well, why not?”
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One thing I’ve learned from incidents like this is that conservative Christians have their own celebrities, scandals, and media obsessions just like us “heathen” do.
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Bristol is not a celebrity – for all we know she called Greta for the interview, maybe she likes the attention. If I were her mother I would have been saddened that I wasn’t asked before bringing the interview to my home without permission- I would have been embarrassed that my daughter was making a spectacle of herself -
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Bristol is not a celebrity
She was paraded on stage like a “prized pig” at the Republican convention and before millions of people watching on TV. Worldmag has seen fit to cover her numerous times.
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Bristol is definitely a celeb. As she said in the interview, the Palin’s are “independent” and just kind of do their own thing…. Doesn’t sound like the parents are involved much when the kids make their choices. They’re too busy playing snowmusheeen racer and fulfilling political ambition.
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RPN, you are so right. Uppity women.
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It doesn’t seem to matter so much what people do as what they say about it.
Everybody together, write the word “abstinence” on the blackboard 1000 times. (Keep your legs crossed while doing it, also.)
As long as you say it enough times it will happen.
No, make it 10,000 times and write it on the blog board. No cutting and pasting either, write it in cursive.
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28. Well, Random, drilling birth control at them 24/7 isn’t working either. What would you suggest? I figure I’ve got about ten years to come up with some way, other than aborting his children, to keep my son from letting his hormones ruin his life.
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Kbells-
Vicky mentioned kids should be “trained.” Perhaps you could get yours fixed
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I, too, think we’re selling kids short when we say “abstinence is unrealistic”. If we expect them to abstain from drugs, alcohol, and cigarettes, why can’t we expect them to abstain from premarital sex (and fooling around, for that matter)? The possible consequences go beyond an unplanned pregnancy, and can be life-threatening. I am teaching my children that God wants them to wait, and He will give them the self-control when they need it. I pray that they can find like-minded spouses.
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And the Obama daughters weren’t paraded around like prized pigs? I think they were.
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The Obama daughters weren’t/aren’t pregnant and unmarried. The great thing is, the Obama’s present a good example of family values. It’s the Republicans who fell short in that area and they had no shame in parading it in front of the whole country,
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They were paraded for the same political reason — to show a family. As were the McCain kids and the Biden kids.
Your mind is the one in the hog pen, Anlir.
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And if I were Bristol’s mother, I wouldn’t be ashamed of my child either.
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RPN, watch what you say about my kid.
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I can guarantee this much – if it were the Democratic Presidential candidate who had a unmarried, pregnant teenage daughter, the jackals of the Christian right would be thundering from their pulpits about the “evils of teen pregnancy” and the “loose morals” of the Democrats. And if they had paraded her on stage at the Democratic convention the Republicans would have used the footage in national campaign commercials to point out the “immorality” of the Democrats. But because it was one of their own pregnant, unmarried teens, the conservative Christians and Republicans roared their approval. Hypocrites.
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They aren’t old enough to be pregnant or married….LOL
The Obama kids haven’t hit the teen years, that’s a whole different ball game!
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If the Democratic Presidential candidate had a unmarried, pregnant teenage daughter the baby would have been aborted and no one would have ever known about it.
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Kbells,
Everyone has forgotten about that one. Obama has made it very clear with this remark:
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blockquote>What was that remark in post 33?
Values? – what sort of values? – the abortion kind of values?
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#28
KBells, I have very little idea. As I’ve said many times, nothing anybody tries works reliably for large groups of people. Neither religious right preaching nor secular teach them birth control and so-called “sensible thinking.”
My daughter didn’t get pregant as a teenager. Of course, she wasn’t that interested in boys, lOL. I was a high school teacher at the time she was a teenager. I remember talking with a bunch of high school students (quite a few of whom I knew were sexually active). They asked me what I was going to do with my child to keep her from getting into trouble. I said, “It’s too late. A child’s personality is mostly formed by the time they are six or so. After that you just have to hope they are on the right path.” Many of these kids (many of whom paid little or no attention to their parents) were shocked.
Even adult humans have a great deal of trouble dealing with their sexual drives and impulses. Teenagers have a graet deal of trouble dealing with most of their impulses. When you add sexual urges, it’s mostly a case of pouring gasoline on dynamite and then playing with matches.
Even Victoria, queen of the preaching women, knows what I am talking about.
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Leave it to the conservative Christians! They denigrate the Obama’s for setting a good example of a family, and praise the Palin’s for setting the example of irresponsibility. Your moral compass is broken I say.
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This means
a.) We can save that $176M per year for abstinence ed.
b.) We better keep paying for it.
c.) We’ll have to increase the budget.
d.) What was that Bristol said about “choice”?
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The whole family stood by one who had made a mistake. This young girl sacrificed her future for her child. This young man is taking responsibility for what he did. Sounds like good family values to me.
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Every conversation with conservative Christians leads back to abortion or gays. They’re completely obsessed with both.
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Gee, what could abortion have to do with teen pregnancy?
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Kbells -
There are those who are stumped by the whole discussion, they can’t figure it out – unbridled sex = pregnancy = abortion for those who are too selfish and too self important to carry the infant —- that simply means their plans have been ruined and they need a surgical thrashing of their unborn child to fix their life so they can go on, and on and on……. but to WHAT?
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“RPN, watch what you say about my kid.”
Victoria thinks it should be trained.
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“Bristol DID NOT obtain an abortion”
Do you know for fact this is her first pregnancy, and she has never had an abortion previously? Not that it’s our business, but you can’t know that.
“They (Obama girls) aren’t old enough to be pregnant or married….LOL”
From Womens Health “The average age of the onset of menstruation is about 12 or 13, however it may begin as young as 8 for some girls or not until 14 or 15 for others.”
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Anlir was completely correct in #37. Funny how nobody’s really disagreed with him.
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Yawn — 15 minutes is up.
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I had the impression that she was really trying to say “hey look, abstinence is not working because the pressure from society is too strong.”
She mentions several times for teens to wait to have kids. She doesn’t advocate birth control in the interview. Probably we need to give her a little bit of a break. She admits that she has had to grow up very fast. It’s clear she still has a lot of growing up to do – but I can’t think of an 18 year old that doesn’t still have a lot of growing up to do.
When my brother was dating a Hispanic girl (who is now his wife), a sister always came along. It made the date more expensive, but I’m sure it was an encouragement to keep things in proper prospective.
If more families and teens did this it would help keep the teen accountable and help give them the strength to counter the culture. Few people (and fewer teens) have the strength to face the culture alone. It seemed to me that she was admitting her weakness.
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50. He’s not an it either.
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37, 52. If he’s right, can you come up with an incident where the child of a Democrats was treated any where near as badly as Brisol Palin or Jena and Barbara Bus h for that matter.
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KBells: Can you name a child of a Democrat who became pregnant as a teenager?
You know he’s right. If Obama had a daughter Bristol’s age who was pregnant by her boyfriend, we would still be hearing about how it just shows the rampant immorality of Democrats.
How was Bristol treated badly? Unless you consider it bad treatment to notice that she’s pregnant?
How were the Bush twins treated badly? They were largely off-limits to the media (as they should have been).
Chas’s hero Rush said that Chelsea Clinton was “the new White House dog” — she was, what, 13 at the time? I doubt anyone said anything that cruel about the Bush twins.
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I’ve heard a lot of cruel uncalled for things about the Bush twins. SNL, did a skit where they crashed a plane doing a striptease in the cockpit. SNL also suggested that Bristol was being forced to get married and the View thought this was soooo funny. Bill Mahr referred to Trig as an “it”. It was ll over the Internet that Bristol was Trig’s mother. And as RPN suggested how do we know if any of the daughters of Democrats have been pregnant. They would have been protected by the MSM until they could get an abortion.
ps, Rush was a jerk for calling Chelsea a dog.
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#54: I, too, had the impression that Bristol was not saying that abstinance was not possible, but that we, as a society are making it almost impossible for the young people. She is a young woman and was trying to articulate her thoughts. What does everyone think she meant by saying that she wished she had waited ten years? She was clearly telling other young people not to make the same mistake as she and her boyfriend did.
At the same time, she does not want to have some press out there that will make her son feel like she did not want him. She also spoke up about the fact that she is loved and supported by a family who is helping her. That is a good example. Too many families are ready to assume the young person can just handle everything themselves with a little government help.
I abhor this trashing of her. I abhorred the fun making of Chelsea too and hope not to see it with the Obama daughters. How sad that we have bought into the thinking that it is ok to make fun of others, as long as it is funny. What we laugh at says a lot about who we really are as a person.
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I have often thundered against teen pregnancy. I don’t think anyone will disagree. I’ve even taken heat from parents here.
Bristol wasn’t “paraded” any more or less than the Obama girls were. She is a member of a candidate’s family. No one denied what was going on, but rather, the liberals made many disgusting remarks about Bristol and her baby, as well as her new brother.
Anlir, who is always condemning Christians for calling him on his sin and says we judge him, now sits in judgment — nasty judgment I might add — of a fellow sexual sinner. Now that’s hypocrisy!
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I wouldn’t expect NJLawyer to recognize hypocrisy if it was a Mack Truck and it slammed into the side of her head.
As for “calling” me on my sin… what sin?
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Oh, now he plays the innocent?
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