Is there any question that had the Democratic ticket trotted out a pregnant 17-year-old unmarried daughter of the vice presidential nominee, Republicans would have spent their entire convention berating those godless, liberal Democrats for not having family values? Is there any doubt that the GOP gathering would have made the "A" word the party's rallying cry? Abstinence makes the heart grow fonder, according to these moralists.

An exaggeration you say? Do a Google search of conservative talking head Bill O'Reilly's comments about the unmarried pregnant sister of pop star Britney Spears.

Or, review Republican President Bush's foreign aid policy that prohibited dollars being spent on birth control programs. It's all about abstinence — even in Third World countries in the grips of an AIDS epidemic.

But yet, when Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin, the governor of Alaska, revealed that her 17-year-old unmarried daugher was pregnant, party faithful at the convention in St. Paul, Minn., were quick to tell any reporter who would listen that such teenage sex before marriage epitomizes family values. After all, the girl did not have an abortion and the young man, who was brought to the convention from Alaska, intends to marry Palin's daughter.

And by the way, the family intends to absorb all the costs for this blessed event, the GOPers said, making the distinction between the daughter a hockey/soccer mom getting pregnant while in her teens, and a daughter of a welfare recipient living in poverty in the inner city.

Get the idea?