Revdarth.com

I have linked to Roland Martin’s work before on CNN.com and I need to do so again.  This time Mr Martin is trying to focus on how to get past the political sides of the discussion regarding Gov. Palin’s daughter’s pregnancy.  While I doubt his words will really make a difference in the debate as a whole because the story is too juicy for the media and blogs to ignore, I do think that we need to listen to the larger point he is making.  His point is that we are not talking exclusively about a political issue here, but we are talking about people, often young women (and also some young men) who are facing the most difficult period of their lives in making a choice about what to do about an unintended pregnancy.

Yes there are issues in this regarding Gov. Palin and her support of abstinence-only education and really how much the families of candidates are “off-limits.”  For example, should there be discussion about the political viewpoints of Todd Palin as much as there have been about Michelle Obama?  What about Cindy McCain or Jill Biden?

But ultimately, we cannot miss the people who are in the middle of all this.  I may not support Sen McCain and his choice of a running mate, but I do pray for Bristol Palin and the difficult period she is in.

Note - read also Martin’s column from a few months back about the response (or more accurately, lack thereof) to the crisis of AIDS in America.