In a blog post yesterday, eternal media hog “who just wants to be left alone” Bristol Palin blasted President Obama for declaring his support for same-sex marriage. But what’s surprising is how she did it: veering away from tired religious rhetoric (she didn’t even use the phrase “Adam and Steve” once!), Palin focused on the minor detail that Obama’s “evolution” on the issue was aided by talks with younger Americans, including his daughters Sasha and Malia.

While it’s great to listen to your kids’ ideas, there’s also a time when dads simply need to be dads.  In this case, it would’ve been helpful for him to explain to Malia and Sasha that while her friends parents are no doubt lovely people, that’s not a reason to change thousands of years of thinking about marriage.  Or that – as great as her friends may be – we know that in general kids do better growing up in a mother/father home.  Ideally, fathers help shape their kids’ worldview.

Palin jabbed that if the girls were younger, the president might have announced that he was appointing “Dora the Explorer as Attorney General because of her success in stopping Swiper the Fox.”

I am really stunned at how Palin has changed the conversation here- and how quickly and eagerly readers and the media have spread her message. Palin ignores the fact that at its core, this issue is about the most basic of civil and human rights- the right for two consenting adults to spend their lives together; for the government to apply its laws equally and consistently to all of its citizens; and for fundamentalist Christians to accept that the freedom to practice their religion does not include forcing it on others. She exaggerates and singles out one point the president made about putting the issue in context, and somehow turned this story into a critique of Obama’s (supposed lack of) leadership and of the “liberal media bias.”

For the record, Sasha and Malia aren’t the only young people who pushed the president to “evolve.” 62% of Americans aged 18-29 support gay marriage, including 49% of Republicans in that age bracket, according to the Public Religion Research Institute.

One of the common observations about Bristol’s mom, former VP candidate Sarah Palin, was that her opponents underestimated her at their own peril. For all of the elder Palin’s incompetence on policy, she was a true media sensation when she was in the zone, and that can be the most important thing sometimes. Is it possible that Bristol inherited this media savvy and spin ability from Mama Grizzly?

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