I'm convinced that the more people find out about Palin, her choice will backfire on McCain. And if Monegan really does have emails showing she pushed him to fire Wooten, then I think that will blow up in McCain's face and she'll be forced to resign from the ticket. Set, game, match.
What I don't see is anyway this does enough good for McCain for him to win.
She can't be all bad, she supported BUchanan when he ran for pres, thinks Ron Paul is ok and is a member of the Alaska Independence Party.
A coworker asked me yesterday if I was prepared to vote Communist (by which he meant Obama). After I again patiently pointed out that Obama's about as Communist as I am, I asked him if he was still satisfied with settling for the orts and crumbs off the tables of the rich.
So, after the ritual snarling at each other, we parted ways.
This is exactly right. In making this one decision, McCain has shown himself to be reckless and impulsive and has made it clear that Obama is the serious and sensible candidate.
In a country with a functioning independent news media, the race would have ended right here, but it looks like it will still be a close race all the way to the end.
Is it the Palin family tradition to hide pregnancies? Reportedly Sarah didn't reveal "her" last one until she was 7months. Now, Bristol doesn't announce to her own mother and father until she's FIVE months along?
WTF is that about? It's like there's some kind of shame associated with such a blessed event in that household.
I'm interested to know what alllllll those "christian" right wingers are going to say now since their major meltdown over jamie lynn spears' almost identicle situation. They sure gave her hell and her mother too. Hmmmmmm.
We need to invent a whole new way to do popcorn for this show!
My problem here is not that a child is pregnant. It is that Sarah Palin wants to pass laws making abortion illegal EVEN IN THE EVENT OF THE RAPE OF HER OWN DAUGHTER. Yet the words "birth control" clearly have failed to make it into her own child's education.
Thank you for those words Jesse.
All the folks out there who are saying leave this alone or that the discussion about Palin's daughter's pregnancy is distasteful and wrong need to understand the underlying issue here you pointed it out succinctly.
McCain didn't even vet Palin and now it's all going to bite him in his shriveled ass.
I guess my question is if he wanted a female right wing nutter as VP why Palin scandals or no scandals.
Maybe the other GOP women out there had better sense than to join McCain's campaign.
Sit back and enjoy folks it's only going to get worse.
Are we expected to believe that McSame fully vetted Palin, knew about the teen pregnancy, and selected her anyway? Did McSame say, "Great. I really want to deal with a major distraction while I'm running for president."
Here's my question - Apparently the rumor about baby #5 floated around the state house for a good 4 months before she was announced as the VP candidate. She must have known about it. Why not be prepared to put it to rest coming out the gate? And why now counter it by announcing her 17 year old, unmarried daughter's pregnancy?
Why does this woman keep throwing her daughter to the sharks?
-----
The problem is not that the girl got pregnant, that happens. And the family is clearly dealing with it. The problem is that she's running on the holier-than-thou platform, "christian", moral, responsible, values based, and so on. Yet her actions are clearly showing the opposite, both in her daughter getting pregnant and in her throwing her to the sharks.
The way the Palin statement is worded, THEY just found out so how could mcbush have known? I mean is THIS another cover for the sarah pregnancy?
Dammit!! I wish I would have not stopped watching All My Children.
NONE of mccain's shit is making any sense at all! Or is THAT the point here? Are they intentionally mindfucking with us? Like "We're going to lose but let's at least fuck with them on the way out" kinda deal?
Arrrrrrrrgh.
And watch as this morphs into "The dems want Bristol to abort her child"!!! Gah. They are perfectly crazy!
One thing is sure. This news takes the heat off of Sarah and the assertion of her pregnancy details.
Annie C - exactly. Lies to cover more lies. We need bigger and bigger lies.
NYTimes: The McCain campaign says it was aware of her daughter’s pregnancy before it named her as the running mate on Friday.
This choice is crazy. LM's tag that McSame is Dangerously Flawed plays out again in the vp choice.
I want to see a side by side choice of Palin's work over the last 6 months and that of Biden and Obama.
Which is more damaging to the McSame campaign? Staying with Palin or ditching her and picking someone else for VP?
OT - There's one more of hour of "Songs of Labor" Folk music for Labor Day at http://www.radioflagstaff.com/player.htm
or open this in your media player:
http://206.80.217.135:8080
Lots of labor going on today 
Of course, there's the rumor that Trig Palin, Sarah's son with Down's Syndrome, is actually Bristol's first baby, and that Sarah pretended to have him to try so save Bristol embarassment. But that's so bizarre that it's hard to give it much countenance.
Sarah's water broke while she was in Texas, and she immediately flew home to have the baby. If she was "carrying" a fake pregnancy it was one hell of a coverup.
Ever notice that Republican family values seem to be about everyone else’s families and not their own?
A thought; maybe Hillary will break her silence on Palin (Notably about Palin using Hil as a stick with which to beat the democrats) to ask Palin if she still favors "abstinence only" sex-ed?
You know, in a way this whole thing is sad, but dammit, if "gotcha" is the name of the game, and it IS, then we get to play it, too.
" Of course, there's the rumor that Trig Palin, Sarah's son with Down's Syndrome, is actually Bristol's first baby, and that Sarah pretended to have him to try so save Bristol embarassment. But that's so bizarre that it's hard to give it much countenance."
I feel the same way...and yet: (1.) Photos of Palin from that time reportedly have her looking anything but pregnant, and (2.) the whole "she broke water in Texas and then flew back to Alaska to have the baby" routine just sounds too Goddamned loopy to possibly be true.
Palin may be a squeaky voiced Sally Field clone, but that doesn't change the fact that she's a fundmentalist fanatic and a far right politician; to her kind, lying about such matters and then brazening it out is like breathing is to the rest of us. Looking at that vacuous face of hers', I can find myself believing very easily that she'd attempt such a stunt.
Rosali, I think McBush has to stay the course ( :o) ) if he dumps her, the republican right (and boy, are they "right"!) will fall on him like a ton of bricks.
If she DOES leave the ticket, of course it will be because of the malicious, unfair, treatment she's received at the hands of the librul press.
Even on Saturday the Palin crew was claiming "no knowledge" of Bristol's pregnancy according to Editor and Publisher (from hp)
http://
www.editorandpublisher.co...t_id=1003844555
Also, there is a photo of Sarah looking pregnant that surfaced just yesterday. It is possible that her claims are true. I just think this is all so convoluted and that is the reason for mccain's choice. Just to keep every talking about anything other than him and bush and the last 7 years....
Sarah's water broke while she was in Texas, and she immediately flew home to have the baby. If she was "carrying" a fake pregnancy it was one hell of a coverup.
Think about that carefully (and, for the record, I do not believe the bizzare internet rumors that the baby was her daughter's). She is seven months pregnant with a baby she knows will have special needs. She breaks water in Texas. This won't be an easy pregnancy. It would seem reasonable to check into the nearest hospital and contact her OB/GYN in Anchorage so that he or she could fax or e-mail her medical history to Texas. She instead flies from Texas all the way to Seattle. Instead of checking into a Seattle hospital, she changes planes and flies to Anchorage. Then takes a 40 minute drive to Wassila. All so that the baby can be born in Alaska. Unless I'm missing some information, this strikes me as extremely reckless behavior.
No wonder McCain finds her to be a good pick -- they share one character trait.
Sarah's water broke while she was in Texas, and she immediately flew home to have the baby. If she was "carrying" a fake pregnancy it was one hell of a coverup.
Think about that carefully (and, for the record, I do not believe the bizzare internet rumors that the baby was her daughter's). She is seven months pregnant with a baby she knows will have special needs. She breaks water in Texas. This won't be an easy pregnancy. It would seem reasonable to check into the nearest hospital and contact her OB/GYN in Anchorage so that he or she could fax or e-mail her medical history to Texas. She instead flies from Texas all the way to Seattle. Instead of checking into a Seattle hospital, she changes planes and flies to Anchorage. Then takes a 40 minute drive to Wassila. All so that the baby can be born in Alaska. Unless I'm missing some information, this strikes me as extremely reckless behavior.
No wonder McCain finds her to be a good pick -- they share one character trait.
I apologize for the double post -- my thoughts were hardly important enough to go out twice.
John D. No doubts about Palin's moral fanaticism giving her the will to do something like that, but I don't know HOW she could do it.
She would have had to be wearing a BIG fake baby-bulge; her entourage would likely have to be in on it, or at least her most trusted staffers;
Importantly, her doctor(s) in Alaska would have to be in on the coverup, and pretend that they had actually delivered a baby, instead of a pad.
A whole bunch of people would have had to sign off on this, to make it happen.
Also, Bristol's friends in school, when she was taken out for five months, alledgedly for Mono, would probably know about HER pregancy, and they would have had to keep quiet about, as well as ANOTHER bunch of medical people who delivered the real kid.
We're talking about the Alaska governor's family hiding one REAL pregnancy, and ginning up a fake one.
I just think it's too much to ask of too many people, to keep all that buried.
But, I suppose I should be honest with you and all the GNB'rs, and say that I hope they TRIED. :o)
All this goes to prove the point the Huggy McSame and She Who Is to Be Obeyed reflect the basic "F*ck You America" mentality of the so-called ruling party and their dominionist masters.
This is how they think. The voters are rubes, easily mislead, distracted and fooled. The citizens are merely those who foot the bills on their backs and the backs of their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. Only we know G*d's will and we will enforce it on ALL OF YOU.
Perhaps these shmucks have read us correctly. But, I think that the larger American body-politic has come to realize the incipient threat the wrecking crew poses to their way of life (and lay of wife).
I, for one, am damn sick and tired of the continuous "F You!" coming from this criminal gang. And I'm ready to "get medieval" on their asses...
SP
She and the campaign also are asking that the media respect the family's privacy on this matter.
From the E&P article.
This just is ripe with the stench of bullshit. How in the hell can Sarah Palin even speak the words "respect" and "privacy" in the same sentence when the centerpiece of her, and all the fundies', policy is the complete and utter DISrespect for the privacy of every woman in this country regarding THEIR own body, their own family planning practices, their own personally owned and privately operated uterus!!!!!
Some RICH fertilizer product here.
I do not believe in the cover-up rumors.
I believe that the first baby is indeed, Ms. Palin's own child.
Why?
Because a well-known photographer -- who has probably taken more photos of her than anyone else -- vouches for seeing her clearly pregnant during the final months.
Read what Denis Zaki says (http://alaskanabroad.typepad.com/
an_alaskan_abroad/2008/08/and-so-it-
begins.html#comment-128483304):
"I have media from around the US emailing me about this. I saw Sarah up close many times in the last weeks of her pregnancy, she was pregnant without a doubt. Dennis Zaki"
That puts the rumor to bed for me.
We do ourselves NO service by going with the rumor. I put it up mostly for fun, yesterday, and because I was traveling and tired.
It's a rumor.
Let's go with with we know.
"John D. No doubts about Palin's moral fanaticism giving her the will to do something like that, but I don't know HOW she could do it...A whole bunch of people would have had to sign off on this, to make it happen."
I know, Tanbark, and that's the only thing that's preventing me from just automatically assuming it's true. However bizarre the "real" story is (if it is real), and the entire saga of her jetsetting about, hither and yon, in between breaking water and giving birth, is nothing if not bizarre.
(I'm beginning to think there may well be something to Myrtle June's theory of McStain choosing this kooky bint for his running mate because she provides enough material all by herself to keep our minds off of him and Bush and the past 7 years!)
As DJ points out, even this version of events doesn't exactly paint Palin in a flattering light. But one thing's for sure: If this were a Democratic politico we were talking about, the "Is It Her Baby Or Not?" rumor would be currently trumpeted from the fucking rooftops by the media and the usual far right mouthpieces.
I dunno, John. It's just curioser and curioser. But, as Jesse said, I AM glad that Ms. Family-Values-no-sex-ed-in-the-schools is dealing with the real world.
Something to watch for:
Will Hillary come to Palin's defense regarding Bristol's pregnancy?
It would seem unlikely, but it wouldn't totally astound me.
What a chance to make points with the right! And, as we know, that's not an opportunity that she likes to miss. :o)
And of course, John, you're as right as can be, about the trumpeting.
Good link Jesse. Another commenter claims she got a trooper fired for ticketing her for not securing her baby in a car seat. Lots of resources offa that blog though.
http://
alaskanabroad.typepad.com...s.html#comments
The video posted there is the video I saw the other day where she does look sorta pregnant. I can't find the photo link though.
I think it is a rumor too. However, so is Obama's muslim stuff. They seem to have no problem with that one. 
What we do know is there is ALOT of controversy surrounding Sarah Palin. Up front of any rumor are ligitimate factual bullshit to be hammered here. Like this plea for "privacy". Ha.
The debates will be a key factor, methinks. Tar McCain/Palin with the entire Bush/Cheney legacy, and keep ladling on the bitumen, while at the same time wait for both GOP candidates to bury themselves in their lies (or cut their own throats with their own tongues).
Wanderer; if the debates were real debates, I'd be with you; but they've gotten so structured and so scripted (and don't tell me participants aren't given the script :o) ) that someone has to put their foot in their mouth up to their kneecap to "lose" big.
There is this: the republicans have been in such denial about Iraq, and all the rest of the bush debacle, that a substantial part of their brains have been voluntarily shut down.
It's juuuusst possible that McCain could, mid-debate, stand up, strip buck-nekkid, and give us his interpretation of James Cagney's GREAT singing and tap-dancing in "I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy" from decades ago. :o)
ewwwww
Obama's official statement should be:
"Trig Palin is NOT Bristol Palin's child....... as far as I knoooooowwww" *quizical, innocent angelic smile*
I think the Dems should leave this one alone.
But pay close, close attention to what the $$$$ wing of the GOP does with Palin's daughter's pregnancy.
The monied GOP has always considered the Christian Right camp a half step away from being "poor white trash." Now, the veep's kid is preggers, which certainly doesn't give the party a symbolic nod towards traditional values, but towards the PWT slur.
It also indicates that both the Prez and Veep picks are reckless and poor managers. Both have become the political equivalent of "Tom Eagleton" who was a very better human being and pol than either McCain or Palin.
This is exteremly bad news for the GOP and they aren't going to be able to air-brush this away. The money folks are going to be seriously pissed. I fully expect the inter-party GOP knife fight to commence this evening, particularly since the cameras WON'T be rolling very long.
I was just over at Kos' and filched this FINE snark from James Wolcott's blog:
http://www.vanityfair.com/online...9/
soulmate.html
:o)
Brat, good post! The republican "tent" is stretched to the breaking point, with equal parts:
cheetoh chickenhawks...
Pseudo-feminists...
faux-environmentalists...
"Hard-working 'murkans"...
nickel-and-dime "patriots"...
token Uncle Toms...
snake-twirling flat-earthers...
and now, a family-values fundie of a veep nominee with an unmarried pregnant daughter.
rrr-r-r-r-r-rip!!!
Even if we put aside the "Grannygate" rumors, there's still:
1) The irresponsibility of flying in the third trimester
2) The irresponsibility of flying in an enclosed place when one's water has broken (more than one OB has said that there is no such thing as "amniotic leakage" -- from a vulnerability to infection standpoint, they are both the same.
3) The fact that the hospital in question does not have Trig Paxton Van Palin listed on its nursery page:
http://www.matsuregional.com/nur...ep=30&
count=503
But forgetting about all that -- this does make her a bit of a "virtue hypocrite" -- and since the Christofascist Zombie Brigade that supports her thought they were getting Mrs. Perfect Christian Chaste Family, it'll be interesting to see how it all shakes out.
Whoa, Jill; what you said!
and that about the hospital is provocative. :o)
Importantly, her doctor(s) in Alaska would have to be in on the coverup, and pretend that they had actually delivered a baby, instead of a pad.
A whole bunch of people would have had to sign off on this, to make it happen.
Also, Bristol's friends in school, when she was taken out for five months, alledgedly for Mono, would probably know about HER pregancy, and they would have had to keep quiet about, as well as ANOTHER bunch of medical people who delivered the real kid.
We're talking about the Alaska governor's family hiding one REAL pregnancy, and ginning up a fake one.
Everyone keeps asking why the medical people aren't talking.
HIPPA
Let's see.
McCain accuses Obama of being the "Britney Spears" of politics. Then he goes out and picks the real thing for his running mate:
UGLY CUSTODY BATTLES
Spears: Knock-down drag out custody battle with ex spills out into the tabloids.
Palin: Sister's knock-down drag out custody battle spills out into the tabloids and courts.
CHILD ENDANGERMENT
Spears: Accused of endangering child by driving without carseat or with child improperly secured.
Palin: Reportedly caught driving with baby in front seat sans carseat.
TEENAGE MOTHERHOOD
Spears: 16 year old sister gets pregnant and decides to keep baby
Palin: 17 year old daughter gets pregnant and "chooses" to keep baby. I put the "chooses" in quotes as Palin wants to take "choice" away from all other women in the US.
DUI PROBLEMS
Spears: Numerous reports of DUI and other outrageous behavior
Palin: Husband arrested and charged with DUI
-----------------------------------
Who's the real Britney Spears of this year's campaign?
"But forgetting about all that -- this does make her a bit of a "virtue hypocrite" -- and since the Christofascist Zombie Brigade that supports her thought they were getting Mrs. Perfect Christian Chaste Family, it'll be interesting to see how it all shakes out."
Oh, I thoroughly agree, and she's more than a bit of a hypocrite, IMO. Once you begin to examine the whole story, as stated by Palin herself, it just gets stranger and stranger. Seriously (and at the risk of repeating the patently obvious), if this were a Democrat, can you imagine the sort of cartwheels all the usual creeps in the "liberal" media would be doing right now? They'd be dining out on this weird bullshit for weeks...
Not that there isn't any hypocritical double standard the Christopaths can't instinctively swallow and declare null and void, but the rest of us don't have to follow their lead, now, do we?
"Everyone keeps asking why the medical people aren't talking."
Just for the hell of it, and speaking purely hypothetically (of course!), one should point out that this woman doesn't seem at all shy in fucking other people over to get what she wants. Typical of her brand of Rethuglican/fundie ilk.
Annie, that about the doctors not stepping up to call bullshit on the rumors, is interesting. In fact, the more I think about it, the more I think that it's more than interesting.
It has all kinds of implications. If they did it, and the rumor of Palin's faking her pregnancy were true, it would amount to medical perjury and I would think/hope that the lie would leave them liable to be stripped of their license to practice.
The photog that Jesse mentions carries some weight, but we should remember that if he had regular access to her, it COULD mean that he's in her camp, too.
If the doctors come forth to confirm Sarah's birth, they can nail the lid on the rumor. But then, why is there no record of it at the hospital? And why are her doctors waiting? It should be a simple matter.
The longer they refuse to speak up, the more it will look like the time is being used for everyone to get their stories straight.
Sorry, Annie, I didn't check out the link before I answered you. Should have.
Having said that, for her OB doc to simply issue a statement saying that he or she delivered Sarah's son, hardly seems like an invasion of privacy.
And again, was the hospital "invading" all of the other family's privacy when they listed the kids born during the same period?
The crucial point is this is a GOP problem because they are such hypocrites on the issues. Look at when Deval Patrick's daughter came out, as opposed to Alan Keys' daughter came out.
Obama played things perfectly: by stating that the press shouldn't look at Palin's personal life he comes off as classy, but forces the press to look harder.
Ron Fournier is reported to have a shower of sparks coming from his head as he is forced to decide between covering for McCain and doing the opposite of what Obama says.
A comprehensive update of Palin family values:
http://www.americablog.com/2008/...alins-
asap.html
Apparently out of wedlock pregnancy is a second generation tradition:
http://www.americablog.com/2008/...ceived-
out.html
What's next? My predictions:
1.Track Palin comes out of the closet.
2.McCain is the father of Bristol's child.
3.Edwards is the father of Bristol's child.
The birth announcement did appear in the local paper though.
http://www.frontiersman.com/
arti...48564626298.txt
The flying thing is exactly irresponsible. Here's the best timeline article I've seen... with photos.
http://www.newsminer.com/news/20...under-scrutiny/
Here's an Alaskan blog for some local takes..
http://mudflats.wordpress.com/
And let's please hammer her on the request for "privacy" because after all she cares so much for the privacy of every other woman's reproductive situations by her own official policy. That one just makes me sick.
It's that time that LM described in a post long ago about kicking them to curb and not even being nice about it. Why in hell should we. There's too much at stake here!
Well, the plot thickens a little.
"Plunger", over at FDL, finds some info on the doc who supposedly delivered the little boy to Sarah.
http://www.zoominfo.com/people/
B..._145612389.aspx
Her name is Cathy Baldwin-Johnson and what jumps out, is that she's not an ObGyn, but is a "family physician", and one who was more or less drafted into doing a lot of physical and sexual abuse examination, first in Wasilla, Palin's hometown, and then, more of them in a wider area.
Plunger is all over it, first at post #19 on the "Breaking; Palin's teenage daughter pregnant thread, a ways down on today's page at FDL, and then on #27. I haven't read his other posts, but I will.
IF this thing breaks the wrong way for the republicans, and there IS a cover-up of this, involving her doctor and the hospital, then the media won't be able to ignore it.
OK, my wife is a doctor and we lived in Alaska for 10 years and have 3 girls. Couple points.
1. In Alaska, family physicians probably deliver a lot more babies than OB/GYNs. Our middle daughter who was born in Juneau was delivered by a family physician. My wife is a family physician and delivers hundreds of babies a year. She just did 5 or 6 last night. In rural Alaska most doctors are either family physicians or internal medicine specialists and they pretty much do everything. A family physician is essentially an internal medicine specialist who also does OB/GYN and pediatrics.
2. Hospital announcements are meaningless. When you give birth in a hospital you sign a waiver or form allowing them to put up the birth announcement. If you don't want the announcement then the hospital keeps the birth confidential. It's the patient's choice.
3. No doctor is ever going to come forward and say anything about any patient good or bad. Medical confidentiality is absolutely ironclad. A doctor will not even confirm that a particular person is his or her patient. Of course if the patient waives confidentiality and asks the doctor to come forward then the doctor is free to do so. Otherwise they would jeopardize their license by saying anything public about any patient.
Kent; fair enough. But at this point, the whole thing could be laid to rest, by Palin calling Cathy Baldwin-Jones and saying "Issue a statement about your delivering my son", and that would be the end of it.
No speculation. No nascent media frenzy. It's over.
Will we get that? And if not, why not?
It was the rumor of Palin's pregnancy that prompted her to announce Bristol's real pregnancy..... under cover of Gustav.
There's more to this. Again, I don't intend on given Palin any privacy until she changes her policy to respect the privacy of reproductive choice of every other American woman.
Another point Hillary could make in her support of Obama.
I worked at Duke hospital for several years. I understand about patient confidentiality.
But why on earth would Palin want to continue to expose herself and her family to this rumor, if she could end it with a phone call to the doctor who delivered her baby?
As I said, that the direct refuting of the questions about Palin's most recent pregnancy, and the speculation that the little boy may be her daughter's, has not been forthcoming, is making it worse.
It's the kind of delay that COULD be caused by the principal's getting their stories straight, or trying to.
All of the things you point out are are valid. I don't doubt a word of them. I worked on a purse-seiner up there for part of a season, and even from the panhandle, you can tell that it's a different world. Not suburban america, except in a few small populations centers, and even there the wilderness is just a step away.
But at this point, it's a case of how easily Palin could lay the rumor to rest. And so far, all she and the republicans are doing is complaining that people are talking about it.
One disclaimer; "Plunger" who's posting at FDL extensivly, about this, has his own blog, and I went there. He raises some good points, but is too heavy into SOME of the conspiracy stuff, for my to buy it.
Case by case, I'd say.
DDay has a good thread at Digby's;
http://www.digbysblog.blogspot.com/
"Yes, Sarah Palin was vetted"
Only, it wasn't the McCain campaign that did it; it was something I've never heard of, called:
"The Council for National Policy"
DDay says they're compulsively secretive about when or where they meet, and about who takes part in their programs.
They are, it seems, just a bunch of wealthy conservatives.
But one thing seems clear: If they had known that Palin had an unmarried pregnant daughter, Jane Fonda would have had a better chance of passing muster with them.
McCain is obviously lying when he says that he knew about Bristol's pregnancy. And so is Palin, when she's saying that she only recently learned about it, herself.
Of her daughter's pregnancy, as Jesse said at the beginning of the thread, it's relevance lies in the fact that Palin is so admantly against sex-education in our schools, and that she believes in the damn-foolishness of abstinence for teen-agers.
That's it. But now that they're fucking around with all the dates and the truth, it just keeps getting bigger, and by association, so does the rumor that the little boy is actually Bristol's, too, and that there was an elaborate charade involving Palin, herself, to conceal the fact of her first pregnancy.
The MSM is always pissing and moaning about the blogs. I say we help this thing keep legs, and REALLY give them something to piss and moan about. :o)
Then takes a 40 minute drive to Wassila. All so that the baby can be born in Alaska. Unless I'm missing some information, this strikes me as extremely reckless behavior.
No one I've talked to who has had a baby believes this story. It just makes no sense. No doctor on earth would let her patient do something as dengerous as that.
She's lying.
oh boy. The CNP is a major Christian Reconstructionist group. If Palin got their endorsement.... eeeeuuuu!
That also means Palin is a serious religious nut.
The anti-sex ed stance is classic. "If we don't teach kids about sexuality they won't be having sex" sort of nonsense. No, they'll be having sex, and it will be unprotected sex.
All this magical thinking made into public policy makes me very angry. I also feel quite badly for the 17 year old kid. This can't be much fun for her.
Palin has all the hallmarks of a Grade-A disaster. She's already denying she communicated with anyone in regards to firing Wooten (her hard-drive begs to differ) or that she supported the Bridge To Nowhere (pretty idiotic since she's already on the public record as supporting it), & that's just for starters. She was a director on the board of a 527 in support of none other than Ted "Series Of Tubes" Stevens - "Ted Stevens Excellence In Public Service Inc." would you believe - & got his enthusiastic endorsement in her run for governor ... so you needn't so much as glance at her abysmal personal life to lock-&-load on this creature. Her public life is ripe for the picking.
I'm seeing reports that McCain has sent an 8-man team up to Alaska to vet Palin now - AFTER announcing her as his VP choice. Also local suspicion that it's no vetting team but a "clean-up" squad to sanitize her, um, biographical oddities ... there've been many odd changes to state websites in the last week or so.
She's shown more serious flaws in the last 2 days than Obama has in his entire political career. You may be measuring her future career as the GOP's VP nominee in days at this rate.
Jim, thanks. Any links you can get about McCain's cleaners, would be much appreciated. :o)
Now, I wish I could have had a baby.
:o)
But, here goes:
Palin is AT term. Her water breaks in TEXAS. She emplanes for Seattle, switches planes, flies to...Juneau, and then takes a 40 minute drive to Wasilla, where the kid, somewhat double-parked by now, finally makes his appearance.
I'm a man. i WAS in the delivery room for my daughter, but the order of events was mostly, hearsay. And hearsay has it that when your water breaks, the baby can come at practically anytime. Help me, ladies?
We're talking about the guv of Alaska here. Was there a VIP caravan awaiting her at every stop on that improbable journey? Hell, was there a portable OB/Gyn room? I would have thought so.
Strange, it is.
Why is Bristol's pregnancy evidence of Sarah's hypocrisy?
Bristol is having the baby instead of getting an abortion. That's completely in line with Sarah's philosophy -- that a girl or woman shouldn't have an abortion, and that in the case of a minor, it's the parent's decision, not the child's.
As far as a 17-year-old having unprotected sex -- I disagree that this is a sign that Sarah Palin is a hypocrite. What a silly thing to say. Y'all are all acting like you never had a pregnancy, or a pregnancy scare, in your teens. Buncha goody goody two-shoes...
tanbark @3:08 pm
Exactly.
Annie, thank you.
Queequeeg: Agree on the abortion thing. Of course IF Bristol had had an abortion, there WOULD have been a coverup that wouldn't whoa, and it would have been a time bomb.
But the problem lies with Palin's adamant opposition to sex ed in the schools, and with her nonsense about "abstinence education".
Shorter me:
The kids are GOING to screw. We might as well give them the info, AND the birth control, so they can handle it better.
That Palin opposes this, and now has an unmarried pregnant daughter, too, is a little reality check that needs and deserves, to be pointed out, and that is what we're doing.
Excuse me; if Bristol HAD an abortion, I should have said. We don't know that she had the option of having one earlier, yet.
To clarify: What Jesse said. No one did anything criminal, and there is NO shame attached anywhere, that I see, now.
But Palin's position on sexual education, and REAL sex education, in our schools, is out of the stone age, and demonstrably results in unwanted kids and an increase in the abortions which Palin despises and which she is so determined to deny women.
In this, she's as perversely wrong as it is possible to be.
Here's one blog with the story about a team of McCain "cleaners" going up to Alaska to deal with some of Sarah's...issues.
http://divasblueoasis.blogspot.c...heading-
to.html
McHugh Pierre, the republican spokesman, whom CelticDiva's source claims to have overheard talking on the phone about sending McCain's team to Alaska, has posted twice on her blog denying the story; he says that what was overheard was him saying that OBAMA is sending a team there, to mine for Palin-gold. :o)
Other posters on CelticDiva's site are saying that the National Enquirer (Clearly, equal-opportunity muckrakers...:o) ) is getting into it.
Again, I consider the rumor about the first baby being not Ms. Palin's but her daughters to be false.
I strongly urge people not to go with it. In addition to it being the wrong thing to do, it will backfire and make Ms. Palin safe from stuff for which she should get clobbered.
Go after her for stuff on which she is vulnerable. For example, Trooper-Gate.
Looks like I'll need a fresh scorecard and another round of popcorn.
I don't think she's that vulnerable on TrooperGate, Jesse.
The brother-in-law, Wooten, sounds like a real asshole. Bad cop; bad husband.
Abusive and violent. And something of a juicer to boot, I've heard from a friend who's a lawyer up there, and no admirer of Palin.
Palin was stupid to go after him, two weeks into her term. Even given that he was a total jerk, she expended political capital for petty, personal reasons. AND, she fired the Public Safety Commissioner, Monegan, because he wouldn't give in and can Wooten. No matter the morality, she "won" the turf fight, but it's clearly a Pyrrhic victory, at this point.
As I've said, the rumor of her creating an elaborate charade to disguise her daughter having a child, can be laid to rest with ease. All she has to do is have her doctor, Cathy Baldwin-Johnson, make a brief statement that she delivered Palin's little boy last spring.
That would spike the rumor and inevitably, would have some effect toward lessening the noise about Bristol being pregnant. But Palin hasn't done that, and the longer she waits, the more it's going to look as if she's hiding something.
As for the "cleaners"; let the the newshounds find out if 8 cheechagos checked into a Wasilla hotel or motel. It can't be that hard in a town of 6,000.
For a pro-lifer and creationist and a person who would overturn Roe v. Wade to come out and request PRIVACY is the hiocracy here. And, I think its a valid point to hammer her on. Same with the apparent "shame" this family associates with pregnancy all this hiding and shit. All the pissing and moaning the christianista did over little jamie lyn spears and now, its just fine. Hell no. HIPOCRAZY!!!!
I felt bad for Bristol when people were going after her saying she "looked like she just had a baby" because geeeeeze that's misogyny right there. BUT now they've been forced to put out this new version of the truth, it makes me wonder. I DO feel bad for her and for little Trig as well.
Bristol is pregnant at 17 and after such a looooong bout with "mono" I hope she's got her strength back to have a healthy baby. (I do mean that) I have NO problem with her pregnancy or wedded state. The problem is only with her mother's "christian" fundamentalism. These are the people I pass several times a week practically jumping out into the road with 3ft signs depicting an aborted fetus in full color! Shouting at people, shaming people, shooting doctors, terrorizing young women who make a PERFECTLY LEGAL different choice. Terrorizing young women for even taking care with a condom, or even learning about how one works. That's the problem I have with Sarah Palin who now has the unmitigated gall to request "respect for THEIR privacy". NO. HELL NO!!!!
Yes, Jesse's right and it could backfire and trigger all the "defenders" to get behind her, to create a big shut up stick in regards to her. That could happen. I'd advise every get their shin guards on. There's too much at stake to shut up this time. Maybe there is no truth to the Trig story, but there damn sure is truth to the current story and that realates to a KEY issue.. Roe v. Wade, reproductive privacy and CHOICE.
Why is Bristol's pregnancy evidence of Sarah's hypocrisy? Bristol is having the baby instead of getting an abortion. That's completely in line with Sarah's philosophy -- that a girl or woman shouldn't have an abortion, and that in the case of a minor, it's the parent's decision, not the child's.
The hypocrisy is that Palin and her handlers have made a big deal about how Bristol herself as CHOSEN to have the baby. Whereas Palin wishes to eliminate that same CHOICE for all other women across America. The un-hypocritical position would have been to simply say that as her parents they have decided that Bristol will be bringing the baby to term regardless of Bristol's wishes in the matter. As a minor child she has no say in the matter.
she's a fundmentalist fanatic and a far right politician; to her kind, lying about such matters and then brazening it out is like breathing is to the rest of us.
A psychologist friend of mine says that, to the fundamentalists, hypocrisy is a core value.
My interpretation of what that means is that how a situation LOOKS is more important than the truth, so it's ok to lie to make your situation look better. It's a form of saving face, but just doesn't happen to be honest.
I would like to put it out here that if you believe in "abstinence only for teens" you have to also believe in chaperons. 'Cause the only way it's gonna happen is if you watch them EVERY minute! Your piddling little morals are no match for millions of years of biology.
Well, did we help this along, that it's in the MSM?
I feel like we did. :o)
Panic setting in. Sweeeet. :o)
Andrea Mitchell:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p...h?
v=peJOBMaFIRk
Here's one.....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J...h?
v=JSt0NEESrUA
Blogs.abcnew.com:
"Officials of the Alaskan Independence Party say that Palin was once so independent, she was once a member of their party, which, since the 1970s, has been pushing for a legal vote for Alaskans to decide whether or not residents of the 49th state can secede from the United States."
"Again, I consider the rumor about the first baby being not Ms. Palin's but her daughters to be false.
I strongly urge people not to go with it. In addition to it being the wrong thing to do, it will backfire and make Ms. Palin safe from stuff for which she should get clobbered."
Jesse, you're probably right, but I think there are legitimate reasons that this little brouhaha seems to be capturing people's imaginations. And it's not just that the story as stated by Palin herself doesn't exactly show her in a good light; obviously, it doesn't, but never even mind that. My point is that the entire saga is just plain fuckin' cuckoo-for-Coco-Puffs whacko bizarre. You can't exactly blame folks for gawping at such a blatant freakshow. It's all well and good to say "Let's be high-minded and deal with the issues", but if a big ole massive car crash happens, then people are gonna look.
We shuldn't kid ourselves: If anything even remotely like this was unfolding within the Demcoratic ticket, the GOP and their media enablers would be turning summersaults in midair out of sheer joy.
What John D. said. :o)
Fuck being nice; if the Dems DON'T pull out the bulldozer for the mud this time around we DESERVE to loose.
Fuck the goody-two-shoes "nice" stance.
The Rethugs need and deserve every grain of dog shit that we can find on them to be heaped under every Hubble-telescope sized eyeball and EMPHASIZED.
This is war, folks.
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