Some Thoughts About the Bristol Palin Controversy

I've been giving a lot of thought to the controversy over Bristol Palin's pregnancy and the implications thereof.

It seems a bit silly to make any judgments about a person's ability to serve as vice president based on her and her husband's apparent failure to instill in their children what are presumably (for them) very important values.

It's been fascinating to see prominent Evangelical leaders like James Dobson openly expressing their understanding and compassion, and even citing Bristol's pregnancy as evidence of Sarah Palin's "pro-life" bona fides.

A lot of people (including Obama) have been arguing that candidates' families should be "off-limits." And so they should. I couldn't help but wonder, though, if perhaps the family members who are "off-limits" should be kept off the stages and perhaps not paraded in front of the cameras. If Sarah Palin doesn't want people talking about her kids, why are we seeing so much of them?