We've noted how CNN's John Roberts asked it last week, only to get politely rebuked by colleague Dana Bash, and how ABC News's Bill Weir picked up on Saturday with a similar question about whether Gov. Sarah Palin (R-Alaska) can handle being vice president while also being a mother of five, only to have colleague Cokie Roberts object:
Without mentioning Weir, Roberts said questions "about who's taking care of the children...traditionally has very much angered women voters when women candidates are asked those questions and male candidates never are."
But rather than the question getting old and stale and falling into disuse, the liberal media are using the revelation of Palin's daughter's pregnancy to breathe into openly questioning whether the Alaska governor should be running for vice president at all.
As Newsweek's Andrew Romano noted in a September 1 Stumper blog post covering a luncheon with former Sen. Fred Thompson:
But the most interesting debate--and potentially the most consequential--was about Palin's daughter Bristol, 17, who announced this morning that she's five-months pregnant and planning to marry the father of her child. Pushed by NEWSWEEK's reporters and editors to say whether having a pregnant teenage daughter and five-month-old baby with Down syndrome at home will raise questions about Palin's "priorities," [former Sen. Fred] Thompson responded by questioning the questioners. "Would you be saying that about man running for office in her shoes?" he asked. "I really think you're going to be surprised at how average people and women who are not necessarily political one way or another identify with her. I see nothing in this that will hurt Sarah Palin politically. I mean, I get that it's a necessary part of the process to ask those questions. But we have to keep it fair. If we don't keep it fair, it will redound to her benefit." Judging by the reaction in the room--"I look around this table all these angry men, and I can't believe they're even asking this question," quipped one female NEWSWEEKer--I have a feeling he's right. Saying a woman can't pursue her professional goals AND care for her children at the same time is never a political winner--whether it's conservatives or liberals wagging their fingers.
