Column: Palin using her child as political prop
September 17th, 2008From the Providence Journal and Harper’s Magazine:
John R. MacArthur says the TV images of Sarah and Todd Palin with son Trig at the Republican convention triggered some unpleasant memories.
When I visited Hanoi in 1994, beggars, sometimes men, would confront me on the street carrying limp babies that looked as though they were on the verge of death, if not actually dead. I later learned that the babies were drugged into listlessness and that many of them were “rented” by the beggars for their daily rounds. I confess that I was so horrified by this tactic that I recoiled instead of giving them any money. How could anyone, no matter how desperate, use a baby in that way to get sympathy?
I think we should pose the same question to Governor and Mr. Palin. While they certainly deserve consideration for the suffering they will endure as parents of a handicapped child, I don’t see how that earns Palin my vote … nobody knows better than a special-needs parent how hostile the G.O.P. has become to the idea of spending public money on the helpless.
… Of course, the Palin baby show was mostly just an advertisement against legal abortion, so why not just come out and say it instead of pretending to support government social spending?
John R. MacArthur is publisher of Harper’s Magazine.
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September 18th, 2008 at 8:03 am
I fear this man is so angry about so many things and he is frustrated and stressed. We have all been mad at some time or the other about the treatment of our children by schools, the government, other people etc. Nobody can fault him for that or fault him for not believing a particular candidate.
I think what has everyone upset is that, in addition to these things, he also comes across as disrespectful to special needs individuals. He sounds like he is ashamed of his situation and mad that he has to deal with it. He calls his child his special-ed daughter, he has her in a separate non-inclusive school, he says “Down syndrome baby” rather than a child with Down syndrome and he talks of the suffering such a child brings.
I feel this man has not allowed himself to know what joy any child (yes, even one with a disability) can bring to one’s life. I think he needs counseling.
September 17th, 2008 at 6:28 pm
I have a couple of thoughts is this article.
1. If Trig Palin didn’t have Down syndrome, would he be considered a political prop? He was there because he is part of the Palin family. I can only imagine the commentary if they chose to keep him away from the convention and/or cameras.
2. He nor anyone else is a Down syndrome baby. He is a baby who has Down syndrome.
3. I hope the author doesn’t introduce his daughter to anyone as his “special ed daughter.”
September 17th, 2008 at 6:19 pm
What a hate filled article. I do not need his sympathy…maybe he ’suffers’ as a result of having a daughter with special needs, but I do not suffer as a result of having a child with Down syndrome.
It sickens me that someone could look at Trig Palin and only see a ‘thing’ that should have been aborted.
Maybe the reason that people condemn the Palins for having Trig on stage with them is that the very idea of being proud of your child w/Down syndrome is so foreign to them? It was and is very obvious that the Palin family is totally in love with Trig, and it is the most natural thing in the world that he would be with them at the RNC.
When we are urged to write our Representatives about funding for government programs, we are often told to relate some story about why the funding is important to us…to our child..why is that not seen as using our children as political props? Why are other candidate’s children not being singled out as political props? Is it just because Trig has Down syndrome, and presumably, shouldn’t even have been allowed to be born?
Whatever happens in November, only the most biased person can fail to see that Sarah Palin has already done a lot to increase Down syndrome awareness just by showing everyone that life doesn’t stop, and families are not torn apart due to having a child with Ds. It is obvious that his sisters love Trig as well. It is sad that people with an agenda are being so harsh in their comments about this family.
September 17th, 2008 at 3:38 pm
Mr. MacArthur uses sympathy for parents of children with special needs as an excuse for a nasty attack on Sarah Palin. In the full article he assumes two women he knew who had children with Down Syndrome could not possibly be Republicans. He didn’t even bother to speak to the parents. He also uses out of date language to refer to baby Trig. Mr. MacArthur seems to have done no research for this article. Instead he just let his venom spew forth. I’m shocked that a magazine publisher could be so unprofessional and lazy.