Unwed teenage moms

One of the things I've noticed in the media melee that is coverage of presidential politics is how QUICKLY the media hushed up about Sarah Palin's 17-year-old unwed pregnant daughter, Bristol.

Supposedly, this is a media "tradition," wherein the media doesn't maim, gore and eat the young offspring of politicians. For that, we can all be thankful. That poor girl being readied for her shotgun wedding even as we speak already has enough to deal with given the rumors that the little child she was toting around at the RNC was actually hers, not that of her sultry and seductive librarianesque governor-mom. No teenage girl needs to live with that kind of shit. It just ain't right.

But I've got a few questions:

First, what kind of "family"-oriented mother exposes her teenage daughter to this kind of media scrutiny by accepting the nomination? If teenage girls don't already have enough to give them oh-m'god-i'm-totally-going-to-DIE fits, this surely is a horror show beyond horror shows for a pregnant 17-year-old.

Unless you might be someone else's daughter.

Which brings me to my next question: Say it had been Barak and Michelle Obama with a 17-year-old daughter who managed to be five months pregnant at this point in the campaign. What would the talking heads on Fox and other media be saying about the situation? Do you honestly think they would have gone so mum on the subject this quickly? Do you honestly think they'd be honoring that "media tradition" of leaving alone the youngsters of political families?

Or would we be hearing the same noxious rhetoric they tend to spout off when it comes to teen pregnancy? Would we be hearing about absent parents? Lack of religious or moral values in the family? Another generation of "welfare moms" -- only now in the White House?

Think about it.

What would the media say about the prospect of an unwed black teenage mom living in the White House? Quite a bit more, I imagine, than what we're hearing about Bristol being in the baby way.