Palin and Abstinence Education

I'm reading over and over in liberal blogs that the fact that VP nominee Sarah Palin's 17 year old daughter is pregnant somehow invalidates the idea of abstinence education.

It's pretty simple. If you don't have sex, you won't get pregnant. Obviously, Bristol Palin didn't stick with the gameplan. If she had remained abstinent, she would not be pregnant. It's as true today as it was the day before Sarah became John McCain's running mate.

What is truly remarkable is the hatred some people have for the idea that kids should be advised not to have sex. The idea is mocked and ridiculed in the comments thread of nearly every news article and blog post I read. I know that some teenagers are going to have sex but what is so wrong about telling them it's not a good idea? Why can't we teach kids that the sexual ideal is to wait until you're a little older and a little wiser (and yes maybe even married) before becoming sexually active?

Abstinence is still the best advice for any heterosexual who is not in a committed, monogamous relationship and ready, along with their partner, to raise a child. The fact is, we'd be a lot better off as a nation if we embraced that as the ideal and stopped marginalizing people like Sarah Palin.