Principle from the Left

From Hilzoy at Obsidian Wings:

As far as I'm concerned, it's fair game to consider Sarah Palin's statements about her daughter's decision, and to compare them to her own views about abortion. That's a story about whether or not Sarah Palin sticks to her beliefs when they affect her own family, not about her daughter. But it is not fair game to use her daughter, or any of her kids, as pawns in a political argument. To my mind, this extends to using her daughter as evidence that abstinence-only education doesn't work: presumably, no one thinks that it works 100% of the time, and that's the only claim to which this one counterexample could possibly be relevant. (That's why God created large-scale studies.)

Finally, here's a commentator from either side of the political battlefield who acknowledges that a policy's feasibility does not depend on its perfection--who acknowledges that humans are imperfect, that they set goals which they don't always meet, but that the failure to hit the mark has no bearing on the worthiness of the goal.

Likewise, I think that arguing about whether Sarah Palin is a good mother is out of line: we have no idea at all what arrangements she and her husband have made for child care, how their relationship works, and so forth. Assuming that Sarah Palin would have to be her children's primary caregiver is just sexist.

If the past is any guide, some people will respond to this post by saying that the Republicans would not hesitate to use Democrats' teenage children to score political points. That may be. Three responses: first, so what? Just because they do it doesn't mean that we should.

So often I hear from my political allies that some tactic or strategy should be used because, after all, "they would do it to you." I'm always reminded of the excuses that children give to their parents when they fail to meet the standard which their parents set for them: "But Tommy does it too!"

So it's good to have the reminder that the Right and the Left are all equally and all too human.

Brava, Hilzoy, for adhering to the standard--the principles--you have set for yourself.