"So, how do the people of New Orleans feel about Sarah Palin"

That was one of Jon Stewart's lines on the Daily Show last night. It is amazing how in the span of less than a week, the good Ms. Palin has suddenly gone from gubernatorial obscurity in a state wedged between Canada and Russia to a lightening rod for both right and left. I have to say, when I think about McCain's choice of VP nominee, I keep going back and forth between "Huh?" and "What the....?"

Here's the thing that really bothers me about Ms. Palin, and it has nothing to do with the experience question, or the questionable ethics (Read: the whole book banning thing, the love/hate relationship with earmarks, and the dismissal of the state police commissioner), or her creationist stance when it comes to science education.

It has to do with hypocrisy within the Republican party: She is being held up as a poster child for conservative family values, but she had her first child out of wedlock and she put her career ahead of her five-month old baby with Down's syndrome. And somehow, teenage pregnancy is now okay with the conservative right, as long as it is Sarah Palin's daughter and she has a shotgun wedding.

Is this a sexist attitude? Perhaps. Doesn't Barack Obama have young children who, should he be elected president, will have their lives turned upside down and effectively be raised without father? That is true, yes, but then again neither of his girls appear to have any kinds of special needs.

My opinion? For the sake of her youngest child, Palin should have declined the offer when McCain made it. I understand that people have to make sacrifices when called to serve, but should those sacrifices be extended to one's children, particular those who truly need the care of both parents? And was it in her oldest daughter's best interest to have her pregnancy nationally outed (and we all know it would have remained a private family affair had Palin said 'no,' but was absolutely going to be made public once she said 'yes')?

And if she had been a Democrat, wouldn't the Republicans be jumping all over her?

I have a great new campaign slogan: "Help Sarah Palin practice family values. On November 4, vote Barack Obama."