Daddy DearestRudy Giuliani's daughter is supporting Barack Obama.

Remarks from the Fray Editor:

Whoo, boy... you're not happy about this article. A representative sample of feedback from the Fray follows.—G.A.

Remarks from the Fray:

As a parent of a high school classmate of Caroline's and a former member of the Harvard Crimson, words cannot express how appalling I find this "article" to be. What are you thinking, Slate? Do you really think a 17-year old girl is fair game to be used for a quick, cheap headline? Just because she's the daughter of a politician -- a teenager who you already know has a deeply troubled relationship with her father?

She is a kid, not a public figure, regardless of the technical legal status of the information posted on Facebook. That may matter to your lawyers but not to ordinary people. Do you not care about her as a human being at all? Is there no common decency left anywhere? Even if the tidbit that she joined the Obama group was worth reporting, what possible justification can there be for showing her entire profile? It's prurient and malicious and you should be deeply, deeply ashamed of yourselves. You are just glorified stalkers, the kind of people we are told to warn our kids against. Instead of sexual abuse, you have engaged in psychological abuse of a minor.

Where does this sort of evil end? How would you like it if someone did a little digging on Facebook and started publishing embarrassing facts or photos about your kids that they found there? Wouldn't that be equally justified, now that you've crossed this line? Or is the lesson your readers should take that you don't have kids and don't have the faintest concern about what you are doing on a human level, it's all just a game to you? Because for most of us, we are human beings first, family members second, political animals fifth or tenth or increasingly not at all.

--kkonrad

(To reply, click here.)

OK . . . so Rudy's 17 year old daughter Caroline supports Obama. Well enough ... when she's old enough to vote, she may even vote for him, too, I suppose.

You don't want to know what my politics were when I was 17. Suffice it to say, kids who have yet to hold a real job, set foot in a college classroom, or file an income tax return hold pretty unrealistic theories about the way the world works. These viewpoints might even include dropping the drinking age to their current age, doubling taxes on "fat cats" (everyone earning more than $50,000 a year - an amazing sum to a kid); unilateral disarmament; and legalizing assault on your sister for taking stuff from your closet again without asking.

But we don't have to vote as Caroline says, of course. We could also follow the political lead of Chelsea Clinton, who, if she's not doing so already, will soon be sporting a campaign button which says something like "vote for my mom". there's some well considered, independent thinking also. I say, let's put them on TV and have a debate - Chelsea and Caroline.

Betcha the ratings would rival the "official" debates, and the entertainment value would be through the roof.

--baltimore_aureole

(To reply, click here.)

While she didn't lock her profile entirely, like all Facebook accounts, Caroline's profile was intended to be visible to members. Further, she limited it to people within her network. Yes, you as one of the 42,000 people affiliated with Harvard or Trinity were able to see it, but that doesn't mean that you had permission to publish it for the general public's viewing on Slate. While I don't support Giuliani, I don't think that it's fair to invade his daughter's online privacy either.

--joshc

(To reply, click here.)

(8/6)

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