White House: Palin pregnancy a private matter

ST. PAUL — While President Bush has tried to avoid getting involved in the 2008 presidential contest, the White House said on Tuesday — hours before Bush was set to address the Republican convention via satellite — that the pregnancy of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's 17-year-old daughter is a personal matter.

White House Press Secretary Dana Perino said that it will be up to the media to decide whether to "exploit" the issue of Palin, Sen. John McCain's (R-Ariz.) running mate, and her daughter's pregnancy, but Perino claimed that a lot of the questions being asked denote a sexist mindset. She cited questions about whether a young mother and soon-to-be grandmother has the time to handle the role of the vice presidency.

{mosads}"You know, I don't think that those questions would be asked if it was Todd Palin that was the nominee," Perino said. "And I think that Sarah Palin has proven that you can choose as a woman to be a mother and be a strong executive, and to have a wonderful, loving family. And that's what she's chosen to do. And I think that's why the party has rallied around her so fully."

Perino said she does not expect the president to comment further on the matter, adding that it will only be a campaign issue if the media choose to pursue it as one.

"I think that whether or not this is an issue in the campaign is actually more up to the media than it is to any of the politicians, who have all, across the board, said this is a private family matter and that they support the family," Perino said. "So the media is the one that's going to have to decide whether or not this is a story that they want to follow and they want to exploit. And that will be up to you all."

Perino declined to get into the matter of whether McCain's campaign had thoroughly vetted Palin.

"I'd refer you to the campaign as to when they knew and when they didn't know," Perino said. "They've all been on the record saying that they — that Sen. McCain knew about it. And Sarah Palin and Todd Palin deserve a lot of credit for standing by their daughter."

Bush was scheduled to address the convention in person Monday night, but he canceled his trip to monitor Hurricane Gustav.

Instead, the president will address the crowd by satellite from the White House. His speech is expected to last about eight minutes, Perino said, adding that it was a "mutual decision" between the White House and convention officials for the president not to make the trip at the last minute.