Attacks on mothers we can believe in!

On the Laura Ingraham Radio show, Friday, attorney Howard Gutman — an original member of the national finance committee for Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill. — very directly criticized the parenting of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. Ingraham was taking issue with a column by Washington Post columnist Sally Quinn, asking whether Palin’s 17-year-old daughter’s pregnancy is raising “the question among the evangelical base about whether Sarah Palin has been enough of a hands-on mother.” Pondered Quinn: “Not only do we have a woman with five children, including an infant with special needs, but a woman whose 17-year-old child will need her even more in the coming months. Not to mention the grandchild. This would inevitably be an enormous distraction for a new vice president (or president) in a time of global turmoil.” To Ingraham, the insinuation was sexist, since no one would ask such questions of a man. […] “So you are judging her parenting skills,” Ingraham said. “You’re saying you don’t think she’s a good parent for doing this job.” “I’m saying the proper criticism is not that it’s a woman or man – it doesn’t matter whether it’s Todd or Sarah,” Gutman said. “Think of how many politicians have said it’s not the right time in my family’s life for me to run.” Gutman cited approvingly Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., in 2004 and former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner in 2008, both of whom said they weren’t going to pursue the presidency because it wasn’t the right time for their families. “They put their family above their career,” Gutman said. “Your responsibility is to put your family first.” “So you’re saying she’s not putting family first,” Ingraham said. “Absolutely not,” Gutman said. “If you take a daughter who’s got this emotional strife and subject her to the most intense scrutiny of the world at this time in her life, I think you’ve put your career above your family.”