Sarah Palin: Americans Have "God-Given Right" to Be Fat?

Sarah Palin lashed out at Michelle Obama's "Let's Move" campaign. (TLC/AP)

(CBS) Americans don't usually get fitness advice from Sarah Palin, but last week the mother of five lashed out at Michelle Obama's "Let's Move" program to help curb childhood obesity by helping kids eat well and stay active.

"Take her anti-obesity thing that she is on. She is on this kick, right. What she is telling us is she cannot trust parents to make decisions for their own children, for their own families in what we should eat," Palin said on Laura Ingraham's national radio show.

"Instead of a government thinking that they need to take over and make decisions for us according to some politician or politician's wife's priorities, just leave us alone, get off our back, and allow us as individuals to exercise our own God-given rights to make our own decisions and then our country gets back on the right track."

The "God-given rights" Palin hopes to protect apparently involve not having to listen to healthy eating advice, learning about portion size and encouraging kids to play more sports and watch less TV.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, childhood obesity has tripled in the last 30 years, putting millions of kids at risk for diabetes, cardiovascular disease and bone and joint disorders.

As for Palin's own family, exercise is a priority.  According to a Wall Street Journal profile, the former Alaska governor's parents were marathon runners and Palin herself runs three miles a day. She even named her first son Track because he was born at the beginning of the running season.

"Conventional running is my sanity," she told the paper. The Palins eat well too. "My family and I eat a healthy diet heavy in wild Alaskan seafood, moose, caribou and fresh fruit," she said.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Is Sarah Palin fighting for parents' "God-given right" to make decisions about  the health of their children, or is she railing against a sensible government program to help kids lose weight and stay active?

10 Photos

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[loyalmoonie]

Palin is right.
Just because childhood obesity is a problem does NOT give the government the right to regulated.

Key word: HANDS OFF GOVERNMENT.

[Zann-Zel]

LOL! I really didn't think even Palin would sink this low! What's next? The Obamas stand for Love and Palin stands for Hate? This is getting ridiculous!!

[saneObserver]

Obesity in this country is an epidemic and needs to be treated like any other epidemic. It has considerable health & fiscal implication for the country. When it reaches the proportions that it has, it becaome a government concern as any other epidemic would be. Type 2 diabetes, the risks of which go up considerably with obesity, is spiralling in this country and not in other countries. It ruins millions of lives and costs medicare & medicaid and the private health insurance system trillions. It has moved into the range of being a government concern and we ought to be ashamed that it has.

[fred2432]

I was not aware that Ms Obama was in a position to enact laws. As with Ms Palin she has the right to make suggestions. Ms Obama is not the government and neither is Ms Palin. Any time opposing views clash one must take from the one that make the most sense. It is a fact, according to medical experts, that if obesity continues on its present trend the cost will be insurmountable. Now if one loves her/his country one should sould sound the alarm if a problem is found. Using Ms Palin logic, I guess she would have been opposed to that guy in Boston who attempted to warn the people that someone was coming.

[WVVic]

Americans have a God-given right to be mean too. That's why Palin opposed giving hard-working Americans an option to add their children up to age 26 to their work-place health care coverage.

[kjfreas]

I agree with "For crying out loud....since when is it wrong for ANYONE to SUGGEST exercise and healthy eating????" Palin needs to
come up with her own platform instead of just bashing everyone elses.
Every time she pulls a stunt like this, she shows how stupid she really is. No one wants the government to tell us what to eat, but it is obvious that the US needs some suggestions on healthy eating and exercise. I am a republican, but if she's on the ballot, I'll have to vote against.

[JV1970]

I think most people already know how to eat healthy and exercise but they just don't do it! That can of soda with sugar tastes better than the diet soda or water and a candy bar tastes better than a carrot or a stalk of celery! We Americans are much like children! If it doesn't taste good we aren't going to eat it no matter how good it is for us! We order the Big Mac's and the fries knowing full well what they are doing to us but we order them anyway! Therefore, the government's "suggestions" won't do a bit of good! We are going to eat what we want anyway!

[bulldogss]

Who needs end tables===when you have hips like that

[bulldogss]

NEW==1st Lady Replication BARBIE DOLL--Comes without a box--COULD NOT IT IT IN

[bulldogss]

1st lipo-suction lady

[bulldogss]

NEWS -WTO AND IMF stunned over saladgate=Calorie counts could determine World Climate.==Jeeze