Did she really offer to serve in the Obama Administration?
'Who cares' indeed? Why even bother to read what this sad, silly man writes?
Here's the real question, if you ask me: where do these people think turkey meat comes from? Have these people never even watched an episode of Iron Chef?
The real sickness (when you think about it) isn't the slaughter of turkeys for food, it is the Presidential pardon of one (and only one) turkey who then gets to live the rest of their life at DisneyLand. What is that supposed to be symbolic of, anyway? How arbitrary and unjust presidential pardons are, in general? Or is it some throwback to the days of slavery where, yeah, we know we have a real problem as a society and in order to make ourselves feel better about it, we'll pull a reverse-scapegoat and pardon a member of the oppressed minority?
Sullivan is a debater. He has debating in his history. He latches on to one point, whether it is large or small and wrings it dry. In doing so he is able to distort the entire picture. Debaters, SULLIVAN have a way of ensuring the trees get in the way of the forest. Palin's faith, her conservatism, is a threat to Sullivan. He knows it so he will do anything he can to distort the truth about her.
I guess nobody wants to answer my question: Did she offer to serve in the Obama administration?
She offered to serve turkey.
She offered to serve turkey.
Pavel: Thus Sprach Telegraph
The Alaska governor said she would be willing to help if Mr Obama asked her for assistance on some of the issues she highlighted during this year's campaign, such as energy or services for special-needs children.
"It would be my honor to assist and support our new president and the new administration," she told CNN.
"I speak for other Republicans and Republican governors, also.
"They would be willing also to seize this opportunity that we have to progress this nation together, in a united front."
So she offered to serve, but not serve in, the Obama administration?
What does it take for a prominent magazine to rebuke or even fire someone who is lowering the quality of its blogs?
I know blogs inherently have lower standards, but it'd be nice to know what they are.
As I've said for years...
Stop reading Sullivan. It only encourages him.
So she offered to serve, but not serve in, the Obama administration?
That's what it sounds like to me, Pavel. Standard biolerplate losing-side-of-the-election talk: let's make the best of this mooseturd sandwich.
+J.M.J+
>>>The real sickness (when you think about it) isn't the slaughter of turkeys for food, it is the Presidential pardon of one (and only one) turkey who then gets to live the rest of their life at DisneyLand.
I also don't care for the "pardoning" of turkeys. What crime has the bird committed? Being a turkey at Thanksgiving time? Since when is that a crime necessitating a "pardon"?
If you want to spare one lucky fowl then just spare him, but don't "pardon" him; that's just silly. As if the Prez isn't busy enough with real affairs of state. And we wonder why the wheels of government grind so slowly.
In Jesu et Maria,
The imabalance and disorder characteristic of his life manifests itself again in print.
Is anyone suprised? More to the point, why is anyone interested?
If anything would indicate dementia it would be Mark's consistent attacks on Sullivan's person in the face of Sullivan's repeated arguments.
Sometimes it's right to be angry. Sometimes it's right to react strongly to an outrageously irresponsible behavior, like that of McCain picking such an ignorant, unvetted person to be potentially second in command of this country. You want to talk about what it is that causes Sullivan to be wrong (dementia, hatred, animal-like behavior) but you haven't bothered with the first step. Showing that he is actually wrong. You must do the first before doing the second. You don't even try. Laughing him off is not a response.
It is not an attack on Sullivan's person to point out that he hated Palin first and only found reasons to do so afterward. He *began* with Trig Trutherism until she kindly handed him actual reasons to attack her. It was, as I said, prerational and visceral. Now his hatred continues even though she's not longer important. As I say, "Who cares if she lied about standing in front of turkeys?" Sullivan cares. Because he hates her and can't let it go.
Exactly. Sarah Palin will still be governor of Alaska on January 21, no matter what Sullivan says. There are four more years until the next election. There is simply no reason to keep looking for reasons to defeat her. It's been done.
I agree with Mark. In fact, Lib elites, feminists, and others of that ilk all hated her before she gave them excuses to hate her. Regarding Andrew Sullivan, the reason to pay attention to Andrew is he
1. Pretends to hold politically conservative values but he doesn't spend anytime advancing them, instead he spends his time criticizing everyone.
2. He pretends to be religious and catholic but he holds positions that willfully and knowingly sets him against the church.
3. He is obsessed with making sexuality issues center stage in the public square, such as homosexuality, advancing the cause of forced acceptance of homosexuality by using government...a decidedly anti-conservative position.
4. When hes not advocating the wonders of homosexuality the "Committed Catholic" is railing against the so-called "Christianists". To prevent the apparent "Theocratic State" that red state wants.
The danger is that the mainstream media like to prop him up as a "Genuine Conservative". The real agenda is to move conservativism to the left. Its ironic because he positions himself as a goldwater conservative...yet he concerns himself with homosexual activism and criticism of neo-cons (which may be deserved)
"If anything would indicate dementia it would be Mark's consistent attacks on Sullivan's person in the face of Sullivan's repeated arguments."
Sullivan was making arguments? One would think he was just blowing out his spleen.
So she offered to serve, but not serve in, the Obama administration?
Yes. Just saying she will support President Obama regarding the issues she emphasized during the campaign. Basic call for post-election cooperation.
Palin does not support gay marriage. All Sullivan's thinking has just one point of origin and that's beneath his belt.
I follow Sullivan closely, and I recall his initial post. He said that the evidence is sufficient for reasonable people to have questions about the pregnancy, so he called on her to release the records and put the issue to bed. He also immediately posted the one photo that made her appear pregnant. He likewise demanded transparency from Biden and Obama with regards to medical records, and when they likewise decided against transparency he repeatedly criticized them. He was hoping for a departure from Bush style politics from everyone. He was shocked as I was to see Palin fail to do a single press conference where these issues might be addressed in the early going. Ultimately she became the only VP candidate in modern times to fail to do a single press conference.
He became irritated with her stonewalling. Then came the interviews where it became clear why she wasn't doing press conferences. She wasn't prepared. In some interviews she'd promise to release the medical records, and Sullivan would applaud her. When she subsequently reneged on her promises it became clear the type of person she was.
As the lies unfolded he became more and more angry about her as a choice, and even more that she is now the so called future of the Republican party. No transparency. Bad at lying. And ignorant. As this unfolded it became clear she was a disaster up, down, and sideways. And the media, believed to be so critical of her by those on the right, just wouldn't follow through on the tough questions with her.
I, like Sullivan, am absolutely appalled that she is being lifted on a pedestal as the standard bearer for Republicans. She ought to be embarrassed. Republicans ought to be embarrassed. I express outrage about her in hopes that sane voices will prevent her from leading.
Sullivan is right that the right thing for her to do is put the pregnancy issue to bed. It's not as if there aren't strange circumstances here. He's right that her lies about the bridge to nowhere were silly. He's right that her lies about the Branchflower report were silly. He's right that she's incompetent. He's right that she's about a lack of transparency. He's right all over the place.
You, on the other hand, call names.
Jon.
Amen.
Methinks the obsessions are not only on Sullivan's end.
Usually those who scream the loudest about the failings of others do so because they are guilty of them themselves.
Bad at lying.
Gee, Jon, would you like her better if she were good at lying?
And Mark: when you ask "who cares?" I do. I admire Governor Palin very much and am glad I voted for her.
Well, then Jon and her would have something in common, so he probably would like her better.
So this idiot hates Sarah and also hates the Catholic Church. I think she is in good company and wonder why we ever bother to go to this person's site or refer people there when he is filled with such hatred.
So, glad we don't have an arrogant, unvetted second in command to worry about.
Now, about that arrogant, unvetted President-elect...
Speaking of hatred for Sarah Palin...
Has anyone checked out Matt Taibbi's article(s) about her for Rolling Stone? Here's one:
http://www.rollingstone.com/poli...0/
mad_dog_palin
I think he outdoes Andrew Sullivan. He has to be one of the most arrogant pricks (sorry, but that's my impression) I've ever read in my life. And that goes for whether one even likes Sarah Palin or not.
I do like her. Hey, at least she knows when life begins. That's kind of an important point.
Jon - a woman has to make her medical records public in order to prove that she is indeed the mother of her child?
Under what standards of decency, civilty, treating women as equals, or even sanity is this kind of request made?
So you'd be perfectly happy to tell a female acquaintance of yours who announces a surprise pregnancy "Sorry, unless you show me your doctor's evidence that this is true, I don't believe it"?
For what it's worth, my mother became pregnant with my youngest brother at the age of 42. It was a surprise to everyone, including herself, and she didn't look pregnant (that, by the way, seems to be the 'evidence' all this foolishness started off with - "Oh, she didn't look pregnant in any of the photos I saw").
So she would have had to provide a signed letter from our family doctor to prove she was the mother, not me? Thanks, Jon!
I won't say what my wife thinks of those who insist Palin owes it to us to turn over private information regarding the birth of her child. I tell her it's what happens when you mix people with politics.
Fuinseoig, there is a difference between an ordinary private citizen wanting to keep certain information to themselves and a person running for the 2nd highest office in the land. Palin said her life was an open book. It needs to be. Palin demanded a marriage license from one of her political opponents when there were questions about whether he was legitimately married. She's not implying that her opponent wasn't married. She was saying that there were legitimate questions about it, and if you want to run for public office, the public has a right to ask that things be clarified. She was absolutely right then. But of course the same reasoning applies to her.
Questions about Trig are not completely random, pulled out of the air with no basis whatsoever. The circumstances surrounding this pregnancy were very odd. She could put it to bed so easily, even while keeping most of her other info private. She promised to do so, yet repeatedly failed. Her inaccessibility, unwillingness to follow through on promises, complete lack of transparency while talking like she is about transparency, and absurd lies all combine to make her an outrageously terrible pick for VP and likewise horrible person to lead the GOP. Good for Sullivan to be angry. Would that more so called Republicans cared as much about honesty, decency, transparency, and intelligence.
He said that the evidence is sufficient for reasonable people to have questions about the pregnancy....
He was wrong.
Questions about Trig are not completely random, pulled out of the air with no basis whatsoever.
Yes, they are.
The circumstances surrounding this pregnancy were very odd.
No, they weren't.
It isn't like people wouldn't have made excuses for it. They've been making excuses for her the whole campaign. I personally don't care. I think the incident makes a good Rochardt test. The question itself is indecent, but I have trouble telling the difference between this and the coverage of John Edwards and his alleged out of wedlock child. To put it another way, go ahead and be outraged about the prying into a personal life if you desire, but the record is solid enough not to warrant incredulity that questions would be raised.
Questions about Trig are not completely random, pulled out of the air with no basis whatsoever. The circumstances surrounding this pregnancy were very odd.
Huh?! Since when is it "very odd" for:
1) A woman under 50 to be pregnant;
2) A 40-something woman to give birth to a baby with Down's syndrome?
I'll tell you what my fiancé's first response to what Mark calls "Trig Trutherism" was. His exact words were: "OK, 17-year-olds don't have babies with Down's syndrome. Forty-year-olds do." I suppose it's within the realm of possibility that a 17-year-old could have a Down's baby, but it's FAR less likely than a 40-year-old.
And my reaction is, frankly, quite similar to what my reaction was when Bill Clinton finally lied on camera about Monica Lewinsky. If all they could prove he did was lie under oath about something that really shouldn't have been a point of investigation (consensual sexual relations with an adult woman who was not claiming sexual harassment or anything else illegal), then I have little patience with the people who put him under oath about it to begin with.
Similarly, even IF Trig Truthers had been right and Sarah had been raising her grandson, so what? On what possible basis did the public need to know that? Add to that the fact that, given his Down's, it seemed much more likely that Sarah was indeed his mother, and the calls for her to release her medical records seems pretty groundless to me. Whether Trig was her son or her grandson has NOTHING to do with whether she's competent to be Vice-President (which I will readily agree was cast into question by other, more germane things).
Now, apparently all fall various people have been bringing suit against Obama trying to force the release of his actual birth certificate. It's struck me all along as a Trutherist kind of thing, and I didn't have much patience with it; but that, far more than anyone's marital infidelities or child issues, is something that the public has a right to know. After all, they allege he's not a natural-born citizen and thus would be ineligible for the office he's been elected to. And that is definitely something that he could easily have put to rest simply by releasing the documents.
THAT is a better example of when personal records may be relevant to a campaign than a candidate's pregnancy or lack thereof. Do you see the difference?
I have trouble telling the difference between this and the coverage of John Edwards and his alleged out of wedlock child
That's a very good point, and Edwards' alleged indiscretions shouldn't have been a point of public debate either.
The circumstances surrounding this pregnancy were very odd.
Please explain.
"Fuinseoig, there is a difference between an ordinary private citizen wanting to keep certain information to themselves and a person running for the 2nd highest office in the land."
Oh, like how I have to provide my children's birth certificate for them to play local youth soccer, but Obama doesn't have to provide his to show he's eligible to run for POTUS? Come on, we're just asking him to put all the rumors to rest, right?
Does native-born citizen mean only 'a citizen born on the soil of the United States'? The Constitution says native-born, and in 1789, it meant someone born on these shores before they were called the United States; but is there a law that says someone born to American parents, but born outside the US has to be naturalized? Are there laws or court rulings that say whether or not such a child counts as 'native-born' for purposes of running for president? Obama's mother was a US citizen - does that make him a US citizen from birth?
Kasia - thanks for posting the most common-sense reply on Trig Trutherism I've seen yet.
Does native-born citizen mean only 'a citizen born on the soil of the United States'?
I'm not a lawyer, but my understanding is that it's not a clear, bright line. The arguments I've read (which I am not qualified to evaluate on a legal basis) are that some law or another says that children born overseas to American parents are, in fact, born with American citizenship, but that there is a clause in the law saying that the parent must have lived at least five years in the U.S. since the age of fourteen, which, according to these reports, Obama's mother had not yet accomplished.
Obama did release a copy of his certificate of live birth.
http://www.snopes.com/politics/
o...certificate.asp
Thanks for the link, M.Z. It is, apparently, still going before SCOTUS on December 5th: http://origin.www.supremecourtus...cket/
08a407.htm
I'll reiterate that the whole thing strikes me as Trutherism, but on a point that is actually relevant to his eligibility for office. I'll be surprised if the Supremes find any reason to think he was not born in Hawaii.
Jon:
The election's over. Palin lost. Let it go, dude.
"Questions about Trig are not completely random, pulled out of the air with no basis whatsoever. The circumstances surrounding this pregnancy were very odd."
Bullshit. Pure, unadulterated bullshit.
"Just asking questions" is the mantra of the smear artist and the congenitally paranoid. Being a public figure does not mean that you have to acknowledge, much less respond to, the feverish ravings of those who hate your guts.
There is no more evidence for Sullivan's trutherism than there is for those who scream "controlled demolition" about the WTC. He's on a career trajectory to short-wave radio programming, and Godspeed.
Jon:
George Bush released the results of his annual physicals each year of his presidency. Bill Clinton never did.
Palin has a string of accomplishments to show for her herself. As mayor, she cut property taxes by 75 percent and reduced her own salary by 10 percent. After joining the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission in 2003, she led an ethics probe of the commission's chairman, Randy Ruedrich, who also was the state GOP chairman. Facing conflict-of-interest-allegations, Ruedrich admitted ethics violations and resigned. Besides opposing the $400 million “Bridge to Nowhere,” (During her gubernatorial race in 2006, she endorsed the bridge but as governor rejected it, allocating the federal earmark money elsewhere. Meanwhile, in 2005, Barack Obama voted against a Senate amendment to stop funding for the project.) Palin as governor used her veto power to cut nearly $2 billion from the state budget. She was successful in enacting ethics reform legislation. While pushing to develop more energy resources, she reformed the system for paying Alaskans royalties from oil production. That will enable her to deliver a rebate of $1,200 — in addition to $2,069 in dividends — to each resident of the state.
There are other problems with Obama and citizenship. Obama’s school records in Indonesia show that at both the Catholic and public school he attended there he was registered as a “Muslim” and an “Indonesian Citizen.” It is also reported that his step father, and Indonesian, adopted him making him Indonesian and ineligible.
Kasia: “all they could prove he did was lie under oath about something that really shouldn't have been a point of investigation (consensual sexual relations with an adult woman who was not claiming sexual harassment or anything else illegal), then I have little patience with the people who put him under oath about it to begin with.”
First of all, that was not all Bill Clinton was accused of obstructing justice on. Remember, there were 17 members of the Clinton administration convicted of felonies. Second, Scooter Libby (GWBII) was convicted of lying about the date of a conversation at which absolutely nothing illegal happened. Martha Stewart was also convicted about lying about something that was not a crime. It’s the latest legal fashion.
Jon:
George Bush released the results of his annual physicals each year of his presidency. Bill Clinton never did.
Palin has a string of accomplishments to show for her herself. As mayor, she cut property taxes by 75 percent and reduced her own salary by 10 percent. After joining the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission in 2003, she led an ethics probe of the commission's chairman, Randy Ruedrich, who also was the state GOP chairman. Facing conflict-of-interest-allegations, Ruedrich admitted ethics violations and resigned. Besides opposing the $400 million “Bridge to Nowhere,” (During her gubernatorial race in 2006, she endorsed the bridge but as governor rejected it, allocating the federal earmark money elsewhere. Meanwhile, in 2005, Barack Obama voted against a Senate amendment to stop funding for the project.) Palin as governor used her veto power to cut nearly $2 billion from the state budget. She was successful in enacting ethics reform legislation. While pushing to develop more energy resources, she reformed the system for paying Alaskans royalties from oil production. That will enable her to deliver a rebate of $1,200 — in addition to $2,069 in dividends — to each resident of the state.
There are other problems with Obama and citizenship. Obama’s school records in Indonesia show that at both the Catholic and public school he attended there he was registered as a “Muslim” and an “Indonesian Citizen.” It is also reported that his step father, and Indonesian, adopted him making him Indonesian and ineligible.
Kasia: “all they could prove he did was lie under oath about something that really shouldn't have been a point of investigation (consensual sexual relations with an adult woman who was not claiming sexual harassment or anything else illegal), then I have little patience with the people who put him under oath about it to begin with.”
First of all, that was not all Bill Clinton was accused of obstructing justice on. Remember, there were 17 members of the Clinton administration convicted of felonies. Second, Scooter Libby (GWBII) was convicted of lying about the date of a conversation at which absolutely nothing illegal happened. Martha Stewart was also convicted about lying about something that was not a crime. It’s the latest legal fashion.
I mean really, the best argument against Bristol is Trig's mom is Trig himself, as anyone not completely ignorant of the effects of the mother's age on the likelihood of Down's knows.
While the likelihood rises with age, there are more children born with Down Sydrome among younger women than older women. Younger women have more children which is what accounts for this.
I don't really care to get into a debate at this point, but the best evidence regards presently pregnant Palin. She missed 5 months of school with mono, purportedly. She also had a wreck outside an ob/gyn clinic.
Sarah Palin's doctor seems to think that she is Trig’s mother (although she didn't provide any pictures or anything).
Sarah Palin's doctor seems to think that she is Trig’s mother (although she didn't provide any pictures or anything).
the issues with her family, IMHO, are not particularly relevant, although they make an interesting sideshow.
Trig aside, the bottom line was that she was a poorly educated, inexperienced, under-read politican who totally lacked intellectual curiousity or an awareness of the world outside of her bubble. She had never traveled abroad or even possessed a passport (I've had a passport and been traveling internationally since I was a kid!) And then, that woman had the nerve to INSULT Americans who ARE accomplished, educated, intellectually curious, internationally experienced, those Americans who live on the coasts and in the Midwest, who work hard, read hard, go to top universities, who form the professional backbone of this country, live in cities, engage with people of other cultures, as "elites" and not "Real Americans".
Screw you, lady. There are an awful lot of those Not-Real-Americans, especially living in swing states, and they vote. That is why Palin and her culture war bullsh*t is back in Alaska where it belongs and not in the Vice Presidency.
Hopefully, it will stay there. Demographics seem to be marginalizing that culture she appeals to; my generation is more college educated, more diverse, post-culture war, and has largely dropped out of organized religion. Statistically speaking, Palin's brand of crazy, in addition to the stuff I read on this blog, is becoming increasingly irrelevant in the dialogue about what it means to be an American and what America should look like.
I actually did see a picture of Palin during the campaign (outdoors in a parka last February) where she did indeed look pregnant. Here it is and she is showing a definite bulge.http://i.abcnews.com/Travel/story?
id=5690619&page=1
Here's an interesting pre-nomination video of Palin walking to work in February, 2008. http://alaskapodshow.com/index.p...-juneau-alaska/
She's carefully dressed in a loose jacket but you can clearly see that she is considerably bulkier about the center than she was at the GOP convention. She would have been 6 months along and announced her pregnancy on March 8, 2008. That we are seriously still debating this question regarding a very public figure in a 24/7 media age is ludicrous.
The well-educated, intellectually curious, graduate student evidently compares himself with Governor Palin by writing:
Trig aside, the bottom line was that she was a poorly educated, inexperienced, under-read politican who totally lacked intellectual curiousity or an awareness of the world outside of her bubble.
Dear Well-Educated One: your use of the past tense verbs is...curious. The woman lost the election. She is not dead.
The grad student further demonstrates marked intelligence by the supremely savvy comment:
Screw you, lady.
Ah, the benefits this country shall inherit thanks to the highly educated among us!
And lo, the Palin-is-a-moron crowd marched purposefully to the polls on election day and cast their votes for ...
Joe Biden
I didn't know being a grad student gave one some kind of authority.
I'm a grad student. I think Palin was generally right. "Elites"--if by "elites" one means the modern university educated, urban classes of journalists, literati, &c.--are not "real Americans"--if by "real Americans" one means "citizens invested in their country, its history and its traditions."
I live in an east coast swing state and attend grad school in Washington, D.C. Bow before my superior authority. Or learn to recognize bull plop as bull plop. Either works for me.
Grad Student Lurker:
She lost. The election's over. Let it go, dude. Flecking the screen with your tolerance spittle is hardly a way to convince normal people that you are ready to move on. Take yes for an answer. You won. Move on.
Well, I had a passport. Traveled quite a bit. I can speak Spanish and German besides my native English. I can also get around with French, Italian and Turkish. I have a Ph.D. from the #1 school in the world in my speciality. It's a hard science, you know, quantum physics and stuff.
I quit traveling because I never saw much (outside of museums) in other countries that particularly interested me. I'm crazy in love with Jesus Christ. I would rather be ruled by Sarah Palin or the first 400 people in ANY phone book rather than anyone who "is more college educated, more diverse, post-culture war, and has largely dropped out of organized religion. "
Well, I had a passport. Traveled quite a bit. I can speak Spanish and German besides my native English. I can also get around with French, Italian and Turkish. I have a Ph.D. from the #1 school in the world in my speciality. It's a hard science, you know, quantum physics and stuff.
I quit traveling because I never saw much (outside of museums) in other countries that particularly interested me. I'm crazy in love with Jesus Christ. I would rather be ruled by Sarah Palin or the first 400 people in ANY phone book rather than anyone who "is more college educated, more diverse, post-culture war, and has largely dropped out of organized religion. "
Team Obama, by and through his lawyers, refuses to release for inspection the following:
1) His original birth certificate. Access is sealed by the Governor of Hawaii.
2) Admissions/College transcript records from Occidental College.
3) Admissions/College transcript records from Columbia University.
4) Admissions/College transcript records from Harvard University.
5) Records of his editorial writing in the Harvard Law Review.
6) Medical Records.
7) Selective Service Registration Records.
His Illinois State Legislative calendar.
9) The list of his legal clients from his days of private law practice.
Something is very wrong here.
Team Obama, by and through his lawyers, refuses to release for inspection the following:
1) His original birth certificate. Access is sealed by the Governor of Hawaii.
2) Admissions/College transcript records from Occidental College.
3) Admissions/College transcript records from Columbia University.
4) Admissions/College transcript records from Harvard University.
5) Records of his editorial writing in the Harvard Law Review.
6) Medical Records.
7) Selective Service Registration Records.
His Illinois State Legislative calendar.
9) The list of his legal clients from his days of private law practice.
Something is very wrong here.
So Mark, you want to call Sullivan a demented, hateful man-ape, and if anybody objects to what you say and tries to defend him they need to "move on"? I'll move on when you start acting more reasonably.
Kasai, there's nothing unusual about a woman under 50 being pregnant or a 40 something woman giving birth to a Down's child. These are not the factors that make the circumstances of the case unusual.
And I do agree that Obama should release a birth certificate. I'm not sure it's relevant to his citizenship, because I understand that a child born overseas to a person that is a U.S. citizen is a U.S. citizen, so Obama is a citizen regardless of where he was born. But I'm all for more transparency from all politicians.
Dave G, thanks for asking about the circumstances before dismissing them as irrelevant.
The unusual circumstances are these:
Her daughter Bristol was removed from public school in the 5 months leading up to the pregnancy, with the claim that she had mono, which is an unusual length of time and unusual timing given the birth of Trig.
She did not appear pregnant at 7 months in photos. Her staff was stupefied. On photo has been produced showing her to be pregnant, but I'm not aware that the dating has been confirmed. It may have been.
Bristol actually looks more pregnant than Sarah in photos.
Sarah claims her water broke in the morning while in Texas. Normal people, especially with a Down's child, get to the doctor immediately. Problem is Sarah went on to first give her scheduled speech. But after that she didn't go to the doctor. She went to the airport and flew commercial to Seattle, or some place near there. She then caught a connecting flight to Alaska. The flight staff claim that she gave no indication she was in labor. Upon arriving in Alaska she did not go to the hospital. She drove another 45 minutes (Wasilla I believe) where she gave birth. The child does not appear in the hospital registry.
Does this prove it is not her child? No. Do I even think it is not her child? Actually I don't. I think it is her child. But I think the circumstances are unusual, and I think it would be worth putting to bed with a simple doctors note of something like the results of some screening with her while pregnant. She promised to offer this information, then didn't do so. I want better from politicians.
Trig obsession makes perfect sense if you regard American elections as a kind of reality TV on steroids. (But then, I'm not an American, so I can afford to be glib about it.)
I would rather be ruled by Sarah Palin or the first 400 people in ANY phone book rather than anyone who "is more college educated, more diverse, post-culture war, and has largely dropped out of organized religion."
H'mmm. I'm with you and William Buckley on the phonebook vs. university staff question, but I'd ideally hope for people who aren't opposed to intellect, reason and the life of the mind. (Being opposed to "intellectuals" is another matter entirely.) Standard disclaimer of "not my country, I know zip squat" applies, but I gather Palin (or at least some of her boosters) were anti-intellectual in a way that overlapped with being anti-intellect, and that's a trend I don't like to see.
(But as for "diversity", the lady married an eskimo, if I remember rightly; and having working mothers mixed in among the ruling class is a form of diversity I'd approve of in politics.)
(Also, a fellow quantum mechanic? Hail, brother! I'm in quantum chemistry myself.)
Captain Jon Queeg:
Thanks for proving with geometric logic that a duplicate key to the ward room *did* exist.
What you are failing to grasp on all this is that, even if Palin had won, it doesn't freakin' matter if her daughter was Trig's mother. That it still matters so much even now, when only lunatics thinks she was and Palin is now rapidly receding in the rear view mirror of history only goes to show how crazy-obsessed and hate-filled her enemies really are.
Let it go, dude. You won. She lost. It's over.
"There is simply no reason to keep looking for reasons to defeat her. It's been done."
Except they're looking to stop her in 2012.
So Mark, you want to call Sullivan a demented, hateful man-ape
It's so sad that the Vanguard of History contain so many who lack basic reading comprehension skills.
Someday, when you take sophomore high school English, be sure to learn terms like "analogy" as well as "imagery". To say that Sullivan's behavior is "like" the images from 2001 is not to say that Sullivan is a Man-Ape. Similarly, to say that somebody is "beating a dead horse" is not to actually say that somebody is literally physically abusive of our Equine Friends.
Not sure what your "ward room" comment is supposed to mean.
If Palin had won and Bristol is Trig's mom, that matters because character matters. It's about deception. I think she's a deceptive person.
And no, I didn't win. Obama is a psycho abortionist war mongering bailout artist with a strongly Democratic Congress. He'll probably do more damage than McCain would have done. I concluded that Obama is slightly worse for the country, but McCain/Palin is just more irritating because it appears to validate the Bush disaster and further raises the ignorant beauty queen in the forefront of the national stage. There was no way for me to win.
But she didn't and she's not. It was nutty to care about this at the beginning and it's even nuttier to continue caring about it now.
Glad you aren't dumb enough to think Obama is The One. If you just wise up enough to realize that Sullivan is unhinged when it comes to Palin, you'll be back on track.
As to the Ward Room... I think of this every time Sullivan posts some new obsessive thingie on Palin and the turkey, Palin and Trig Trutherism, Palin and the Christianist Menace.
She lost, Andy. Get over it. Move on.
Dear grad student lurker,
I sincerely hope that you will soon be emerging from the graduate school bubble. If so, you may begin to see--despite being so well-read and having such a well stamped passport (!)--that when it comes to being remote and insular, graduate schools lie far beyond the boundaries of any place in Alaska.
I'll never forget my own graduation from one such institution. In the the keynote address we were warned about how patient we would need to be with the world outside the ivory tower. You know, the unwashed masses. Sigh...if only the world were as truly wonderful as we are, there would be no problems.
What a bunch of rot! I remember offering up a prayer in response to that nonsense. God please help the world outside the ivory tower to be patient with this over-educated horde of narcissists.
I don't think over education is the problem. Maleducation is more likely, but then wisdom is much harder to come by than a sheepskin.
Your a batshit crazy moron if you got that out of Sullivan's article, Mark. A.S. was pointing out how Palin is stupid and clueless, and an easy liar to boot.
Banned.
It's over. She lost. Move on. Get over it.
Personally, I think you're a moron if you're calling someone a moron in the same sentence where you use the word "your" incorrectly.
Bush shouldn't have pardoned the turkey. He should have declared it an unlawful enemy combatant and had it shipped to Gitmo to be waterboarded.
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