Sarah Palin pregnancy smear debunked

It is clear that the Left is threatened by Trig Palin's mere existence.

Andrew Sullivan was point-manning a lot of this. He's really gone overboard on this one. Even now he's STILL demanding the McCain campaign confirm that Palin was pregnant. What? Photos of her pregnant, her delivery and oh, I don't know, a small infant aren't enough for you, Sullivan?

It is fairly low and unbelievable and I'm glad you going to keep yourself above it all. I trust we won't be seeing any posts questioning whether Obmama is really a citizen or whether he is some kind of Manchurian candidate for islamic terrorists (you can mention he went to a madrassa if you like).

Peter,

None of the outlets spreading those sorts of rumors about Obama have been granted the same legitimacy by the McCain campaign that Daily Kos was granted by Obama's and most of the other Democratic presidential campaigns when the candidates appeared at Kos's convention -- I forget what the event was called. These sorts of rumors merit special attention since they issue from quarters at the very heart of the activist base of one of the two major parties. Republicans have shown themselves capable of behaving just as badly as Democrats do, but, for now, the Democrats are taking the cake when it comes to psychopathic acting-out of "bitter antipathy" toward those who are not like them.

Rod:

I think it is time for you to seriously look at the role that Andrew Sullivan played in this - which was major - and consider never linking to him again.

I think the Atlantic should be called to account and Sullivan should spend the rest of his writing career as a Kos diarist, the place where he fits the best.

I have long enjoyed reading Sullivan (aka, the "beagle blogger," as JPod has labeled him in a Contention's post today that has already become the top Google hit for that phrase), even recently, because he consistently made me think hard about my positions and reconsider my commitments. He's had good things to say about torture, and he's written movingly about a wide variety of topics. His Obama boosterism had grown annoying, but I found that to be merely entertaining - indeed, watching him deteriorate into an Obama partisan, or more accurately, hack, has been riveting. But this Palin nonsense takes it to a whole new level.

The problem is not that the story couldn't be true - we had family friends who did this very thing for their daughter shortly after she and I graduated from high school. The problem is his desperation to broadcast this story and demand "answers" from Palin and the McCain campaign when the only source for his "concern" was a post deep in the putrid underbelly of the left-wing blogosphere. It's beyond any doubt that he would have responded to similar accusations involving Obama's family made on, e.g., Human Events with - rightly - a Malkin award nomination and - wrongly - accusations that such a post was representative of what the entire right-wing of American politics has become under the deleterious influence of the dread Christianists.

The problem is not, as the beagle blogger asserts, assuaged because it's plausible enough to "make you go hmmmmm." Every conspiracy theory makes you go hmmmm. That's an essential element - a conspiracy theory that doesn't make one go "hmmmm" never gets off the ground. To distinguish between crackpot speculation and a possible scandal, you've got to have more - this could be any of several things, but here, all Sullivan had was a possibly insane poster at Kos, and as Kaus suggests today, if that's all you've got to go on the quality of the sourcing matters; if it didn't matter, then the rumors about Obama's birth certificate certainly deserved equal or greater treatment.

And the problem is compounded by the fact that the beagle blogger's not just casting aspersions on the candidate herself but is also exploiting her two children in the process. If one were to apply his standards to Obama, one could make the case that he's made his image as a good father central to his campaign and then demand that he prove the falsity of any number of random facts that would contradict that image: That he's had an affair; that he's abused his kids; that he procured an abortion for a mistress. Some of these would be more scurrilous than others, and the most scurrilous would be those that brought his minor-aged children into the scope of his accusations.

At this point, the beagle blogger's increasing derangement is both intolerable and as dramatic as a slow-moving train wreck. I'm loathe to give him the page views, but I find it hard to turn away. What am I to do???

I'm also wondering how much of this venom, particularly by the beagle blogger but more generally by the left, comes from a loathing for strong, fecund womanhood.

Rufus Thomas
None of the outlets spreading those sorts of rumors about Obama have been granted the same legitimacy by the McCain campaign that Daily Kos was granted by Obama's and most of the other Democratic presidential campaigns when the candidates appeared at Kos's convention -- I forget what the event was called. These sorts of rumors merit special attention since they issue from quarters at the very heart of the activist base of one of the two major parties. Republicans have shown themselves capable of behaving just as badly as Democrats do, but, for now, the Democrats are taking the cake when it comes to psychopathic acting-out of "bitter antipathy" toward those who are not like them.

'Daily Kos' did not post this. These were diaries, aka, 'any member can write a blog'. They haven't been put on the front page, they haven't been recommended in the 'Diary Rescue' sections that I can tell. You can sign up and write your own if you want.

They're mostly talking about Gustav on the front page, but here is a sort of articles about Palin that are at least making it front page and thus at least somewhat representative of the 'official' POV of dK itself. Although notice that this is a random diary that was 'promoted', and not written by any of the dK team themselves...it's just someone on the team thought it was worth frontpaging.

Notice the huge laundry-list of issues...and no mention of this pregnancy idiocy. And it was posted two and half hours before the 'debunk' post.

Since this bogus 'news' has broken, it literally hasn't made it to the front page of dailyKos at all. (That hasn't stopped it from getting several thousand comments in random diaries, though, most calling it extremely stupid.)

Sullivan, OTOH, is a bit of a nutter, and has always been one. He took it rather personally when he realized how suckered he had been by you guys. I used to read him, as it was interesting reading a conservative who was against the Iraq war, but came to conclusion he was just a loon after various posts convinced me that he reality-denying. There's a reason his blog doesn't allow comments. (In fact, I've stopped reading places that don't allow comments, because they often don't allow them because people call them on their reality-denying.)

ditto: one big circle jerk
Rod,
as much as SSA is a wedge issue, and I'm not trying to hammer that one home any more than it is already being forced down our throats, BUT consider the gender of the proponent opposed to its opposite cradle Catholic: Camille Paglia's reaction to the choice was "polar"ized (perhaps taking a cue from the cute polar bear that adorns the Gov's fave lapel pin)

www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/022591.html (add http://)

Gender is a BIG issue in '08! Authentic femininity is what will capture the imagination of the voters (especially those attracted to authentic femininity which kinda disqualifies Sullie and his ilk!!)

Between the selection of Joe Biden as VP and this kind of thing from some of Obama's most visible proponents, it's tough to see how his arrival in the White House is going to bring a whole lot of change in the way things are done.
I like Obama, but to win, he's becoming part of the machine. . . .

David TC: Fine, we get it. Rightists have propagated a theory about Obama's birthplace. As discredited as that idea is, at least it concerned Obama's citizenship and the constitutional appropriateness of his presidential run. But this is beyond pale. This teenage girl is becoming a quick study in how disgusting American politics has become and how our allegiance to partisan politics triumphs any idea of common decency. Remember when McCain was a darling of the media and many on the left and how Rove and company were rightly denounced by them for allegedly spreading rumors about his adopted daughter. Is this any different because now the Left is the source of the rumors?
As for Andrew Sullivan, I hope these are not his true colors. He has mentioned his Catholic faith in his writings and how His faith in Christ, if not Christians, is intact. Then he must realize that calumny is a serious sin in Christian tradition. Unless this is another part of the Cathechism that was made up by those silly Christianists.

I think it is time for you to seriously look at the role that Andrew Sullivan played in this - which was major - and consider never linking to him again.

I'll second that motion.

Andrew Sullivan is the most deeply and consistently dishonest commentator who is accorded "mainstream" status by journalists. The man retails so many obvious falsehoods that it's impossible to credit him with good faith. The fact that he regularly accompanies his agitprop with girlish hysterics only makes it worse.

This is a perfect case in point. Sullivan doesn't know or care anything about Sarah Palin or her children. But as soon as she was announced, he threw out every despicable smear in the book about her. This one was only the lowest of the low. Remember the speculation about the Palin children being named after the "witches" in some obscure TV show that ran long after they were born?

The Atlantic is otherwise a fine publication. But Sullivan's blog presence there is a major blight on its reputation.

Scum.

Political smears tactics speak more clearly to who we are as the American People than those who instigate these lies. This election season has shown the worst in our political approach. We have seen the Clinton campaign run a race baiting and whisper campaign against Obama. We've seen the usual lies and hyperbole. We've seen McCain's sanity questioned, and his story about his captivity heralded as lies. We seen some nut case walk into a house of worship "to kill liberals who are ruining the country" and similar sentiments both on the left and right echoing those disturbing thoughts.

We decry the treatment of our favored candidates by their opponents but look the other way when our team behaves less than favorably. We like to see our political rivals covered in mud. We like the "attack dogs". Rabid political pundits our popular because we make them so. We've developed shadow organizations to do the dirty work for the campaigns funded by our own spurious contributions. Automatons of character assassination that start the Google searches the moment a name is put forth.

We look the other way when the DNC has "protest cages" in Denver, and blink when the Minneapolis police raid headquarters and homes, taking equipment, cameras, and journals of the opposing protesters.

These smear campaigns come from the darkness of our collective hearts, and we propagate them through our silence and refusal to demand accountability from our own teams. Sullivan is an Obamanic, Rod a Patron of Palin, through their writings they leave the impression that their rose colored contacts won't be coming out anytime soon.

It's trite but fitting, be the change you want to see in this world. If we want this to stop we are the ones who have to stop the smears. It all starts with "Did 'ya hear...

I've just been talking with a DNC operative (note, DNC--not on Team Obama per se, but in constant contact and collaboration with them). Initial internal polling numbers post-Palin are scary. They are now writing off FL, VA, IA, and definitely MO. OH is probably out of reach, and MI, WI and even PA are now in serious play. There is no panic yet, but a realization that this thing is slipping away frm them, and that if they don't get the initiative back, and soon, this is going to be a Dewey/Trumanesque upset in the making.

Interesting. Those numbers may come back to the mean, and Palin's overall impact will be determined by how she does in debates and media appearances.

But you're right: At least for now, she is a definite big plus electorally, and Democratic pros know it. Hence, the venom.

And remember, those 18 "swing states" that the Obama Campaign has been touting as key to the election includes Alaska.

What does it say about someone that he or she would spread this kind of toxic garbage, given that it's about a mother and her children, without proof?

It would say that 200+ years of American Political tradition continues unabated.

Regarding whether or not the rumor has been debunked:

The link to DailyKos doesn't really prove that the rumor has been debunked, it only shows that the Kos folks aren't pushing it.

The timetable of the flight home is very peculiar. Unless there was a compelling reason to give birth in Palin's hometown facility, why wouldn't she got to a hospital in Texas, Seattle, or Anchorage?

http://img364.imageshack.us/img364/4628/sarahpalinla4.png

Looks like the Palin campaign has announced that their daughter is currently five months pregnant, so of course these rumors are baseless.

Well, that would certainly put the rumors to rest - if a statement were the same thing as actual proof. Anyone want to lay odds on whether or not we will see her daughter again before November?

acs
But this is beyond pale. This teenage girl is becoming a quick study in how disgusting American politics has become and how our allegiance to partisan politics triumphs any idea of common decency. Remember when McCain was a darling of the media and many on the left and how Rove and company were rightly denounced by them for allegedly spreading rumors about his adopted daughter. Is this any different because now the Left is the source of the rumors?

I will explain this again, very very carefully:

One person at DailyKos posted this theory as a diary. One person with no extra privileges, someone with no qualifications beyond having an email address.

This would have stopped there, because there are probably hundreds or thousands of diaries posted every day at dK, almost none of which are read by anyone else, and most of which just vanish into the depths of time.

Except Andrew Sullivan, that reality-denying fool, got a hold of it, and wanted desperately for it to be true, so apparently linked to it. Thus resulting in a lot of people actually reading it.

Resulting in this theory being immediately denounced by almost everyone there who read it, and even those who thought it was possible said it was horrible to publicly speculate like this and that this is the job of the media. Seriously, read the damn comments to see what 'the left' think of this story.

Of course, there was one commenter who said that it didn't go far enough, and he'd be willing to do anything, even wrongly destroy this family and lie and cheat and steal, to keep Republicans from being elected. He, too, was called various harsh names, many of which I can't repeat here, by his fellow Kossacks.

The DailyKos editors, doing something rather unprecedented, have fail to put this amazingly popular, number-of-postings-wise, diary on the front page or write a story about the diary or mention it at all. Probably because they are as disgusted by it as anyone and don't want to give it any publicity.

So...three people. One to post the diary, one to post some rather idiotic comments, and Andrew Sullivan to promote it. This is 'the left' that promoted this theory. Three people.

And we don't actually know who two of them are, they could be Republican plants for all anyone knows, and the third is an incredibly bitter and somewhat paranoid ex-Republican who already has absolutely no credibility but is still inexplicably read by many on both the right and left.

In fact, there actually are quite a few people in the comments on those diaries who think there is a conspiracy...namely, that the people who came up with this 'theory' have deliberately planted this false story to try to discredit Democrats. Either by Rove or other McCain operatives, or possibly just some freelance concern troll. (dK gets a lot of right-wing trolls.)

Like I said, read the comments to these diaries.

I went back to Sullivan's original posts and while not as vile as Podhoretz would have you believe, they nonetheless show that Sullivan is more than willing to abet and spread rumors. I've never cared for Sullivan as pundit because he lets his love of his own opinion crowd out facts. But this is the first time I think he's ever helped spread a pretty disgusting smear. I've always loved the Atlantic because of the quality of the writers, even those that I've disagreed with. I'm with the others who hope that fine magazine rethinks its association with Sullivan. Spouting daft opinions is one thing, trafficking in smears is another.

DAILY KOS ARE SCUM BAGS !!!
All you small minded people who are crucifying Governor Palin over the question of her fifth child, are just fueling a vicious smear campaign. Besides, if you want to exhibit your holier-than-thou attitude ... why don't you get even more angry at Obama, Michelle, and their children, for spending 20 years in an anti-American racist church, as well as associations with Farrakhan, Wright, Ayers, Rezko, etc.. These facts are much more relevant to the next administration, than the possibility of a loving mother taking the heat to protect her child and grandchild.

Well, whether Andrew Sullivan or anyone else in the MSM pursues this or not,
what do you want to bet that the National Enquirer is up in Alaska right
now, prospecting for dirt, just like they did in the John Edwards affair.

Thought about posting this over at Robert Reich's condescending post, but I couldn't get to the end of the comments before I gave up.

One of the items brought up in that post is that Palin only recently got a passport. And this is supposed to show that she has no interest in the outside world!

Until very recently, the only people who needed US passports were those who could afford transoceanic travel or spent time in Latin America -- effectively transoceanic if you live in Alaska. The only exceptions were military dependents, merchant seamen and airline flight workers. Sarah Palin doesn't appear to fit in any of those categories; certainly not the wealthy one, since her family hunts to supplement the larder. She probably got her passport about the same time I did: when a passport became required for returning from Canada and Mexico.

Most ordinary Americans don't have current passports, and only get one when they take once- or twice-in-a-lifetime vacations. That a current passport is considered necessary bona fides of an interest in the outside world is risible.

I notice that 2 men have posted comments/ questions as to why Gov. Palin would fly home to give birth. Again, there is a recent Newsweek story that interviewed both Palin and her Dr.
But really - go ask any pregnant woman you know if she'd like to give birth near her home or hundreds of miles away, without her husband or the doctor she trusts present. You should mention that the birth would be premature, so she'd be staying in that location with the baby for a while while the baby got stronger in the NICU. And also that the doctor has given the go ahead to fly home.
Now go ask someone with more than one child if they would rather fly home, having 1 or 2 contractions an hour (NOT active labor; I do that for 4 months before my due date), or would they rather wait in a hospital out of state (again, without their husband) until the baby is finally ready to come. I am sorry, but think your questions are pretty easily dismissed.

I just read an AP story that Mrs. Palin has announced that her 17 year old daughter is five months pregnant and plans to marry the baby's father.

http://www.wfaa.com/sharedcontent/dws/wfaa/latestnews/stories/wfaa080901_wz_palin.336be3f8.html

I am sorry, but think your questions are pretty easily dismissed.

FWIW, I have looked back at newspaper articles and blogs from March of '08 when Gov Palin announced her pregnancy at seven months, and there was near-universal shock at the time, as this blog shows.

It is striking to me that Palin was able to hide her pregnancy for seven months. The trip back to Wasilla to deliver also strikes me as odd.

"She's been to Kuwait."

I forgot. It wasn't specified just when she got her passport and "recently" could mean any time in the past decade. Her Kuwait visit was as governor, but the passport requirement for Canada came into effect in about 2002 or 2003.

Still... "She didn't have a passport, she must not be interested in anything beyond her itty-bitty hick town."

BWAH-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. What a pro-vinchyal maroon. "I can't imagine how Nixon won, I don't know anyone who voted for him." Snort.

Oh MY G-D! This is the first time this has ever happened in the history OF THE WORLD!!!!

What will conservatives DO NOW, Brian???!!! After all, they don't do sex. Oh, wait. Mainly it is the unmarried and abandoning part they don't like.

Responsible realists is what we are.

Folks, a reality check from your friendly neighborhood Democrat. Whenever you see anyone claiming a "true conservative" viewpoint, as Andrew Sullivan has, you can be just about 100% assured they're neither. It must be a lot easier for those of us who don't consider ourselves conservative to see this.

Can I please say, for the record, that quite literally the only people I have actually heard raise questions about Obama's citizenship and faith have been PUMA Hillary supporters. And they felt comfortable enough to offer these ridiculous notions as explanations for their opposition to Obama in news reports. Let us not forget that it wasn't 1 in 5 Republicans in places like Penn. who admitted that they wouldn't vote for a black man - they were Democrats. Which is not to say that Republicans are innocent. However, this continual insistence that the xenophobic slurs against Obama are exclusively, or even mainly the province of Republicans. Plenty of guilt to go around.

Ann,

I am cracking up. Good stuff.

I'll just add that my mother conceived me out of wedlock when she was 18. Doctors tried to convince her into having an abortion - they would make it clean and easy, they assured her, and she was far too bright and promising to ruin her life with a young pregnancy. She and my father loved each other deeply; they married. He died very young, and she was a widow with a toddler. Her life would have been "easier" for sure if she had aborted me, but far emptier, too. I suppose you can understand if I take the abortion debate somewhat personally.

Well Brian, Mr & Mrs Palin's humility in their graceful promotion to grandparenthood surely beats Mr & Mrs Obama's vanity in their fawned concern for "don't want my daughter punished" (in reality read: don't want our bright ego's tarnished)

I had, and still have, my concerns about the intellectual load that McCain/Palin can carry going forward re: personhood in American jurisprudence and the purchasing power of the national currency, both issues where the "potestas" of the state outweights the "voluntas" of its citizens in the tyranny of relativism.

BUT - Like many grandmoms out there I too was blessed to be the one to encourage my progeny to carry the torchbearer of the next generation to term against the swell of the moralists approbrium (I had done the same almost thirty years ago, so it came naturally).

What the Dems don't get is that their "labor theory of value" is just as warped as Adam Smith's: their nanny state will pay for your euthanasia but not your chemotherapy (Oregon), their city custodians will pay for your abortion but not for a hetero-home for baby to be adopted into (San Francisco), their "safe-environment" schools will pay for a students' condoms but not for HIV or paternity tests when they fail (everywhere) since "Change we can believe in" tells us sex is a now classed as a recreation sport, not the means that the human race has used to nurture the next generation conjugally for time immemorial!

Toro, toro:

You're just speculating out of your rear end here. I knew a girl in high school who had mono and was out for months and had to be home-schooled. So it's not "decidedly unlikely" at all, or are you a public health expert? For crying out loud, readjust your tinfoil hat.

Now it comes out that the unmarried daughter is pregnant. Yes indeedy, conservative Christian family values, Ms Palin certainly knows how to impart those. She failed with her own family... I have an idea, let's make her VP and she can try with 300 million people.

Sigaliris: "Yay family values . . . ."
even messy families are families - barren wombs are still barren bombs.

The women the pantsuits-panderers on the left think will vote for Mr "above my pay grade" are also those carrying the nuclear fallout around with them of abortion's aftermath and they may find Mr GranMommy aka First "Dude" a lot more attractive than he-who-weasels (there's a lot of that about, and its NOT attractive)

The odds of a teenager delivering a baby with Downs syndrome are nearly zero.

Depends on what you mean by "nearly zero." My sister's sister-in-law has Down and was born when her mother was 20. The Wikipedia article on Down doesn't list frequency for women under 20 but the 20-24 incidence is reported at 1/1562, which would mean about 64 Down syndrome cases for every 100,000 births in that age range.

As I've said, the photos from five days before the delivery are pretty much universally agreed to provide the "smoke-free gun" which puts the lie to the speculation.

Yes, Gov. Palin obviously appears pregnant in photos taken after she announced her pregnancy.

But why did none of her staff or associates notice she was pregnant before she announced it at 7 months?

Honestly...does this strike none of you as odd?

Here's an article from the Anchorage Daily News from April of this year discussing Gov. Palin's airline flight from Texas to Alaska, while experiencing signs of early labor. Note this comment from the Alaska Airlines spokeswoman:

"The stage of her pregnancy was not apparent by observation. She did not show any signs of distress," Boren said.

At minimum, the Alaskan press was asking questions about Palin's pregnancy in March and April of this year...well before the speculations of the last few days on Daily Kos.

And some of the questions raised by the Alaskan press still do not seem to have good answers, imo.

sig, the nasty rumors were that Bristol was Trig's mother and grandma Sarah was engaged in a huge hoax to cover it up. The rumors weren't that Bristol was, in fact, actually pregnant.

And Rick and John E, if you could take your tinfoil hats off for a minute, how exactly is Bristol going to be 5 months pregnant today while her little brother is only 4 months old, if there really were "unanswered questions"? Hello?!?!

Maybe she really isn't 5 months pregnant today.

One possibility. Or, maybe Trig is neither Gov. Palin's nor her daughter's biological son.

I'm not asserting anything, except this: The fact that Gov. Palin's pregnancy was not known until she announced it at 7 months, and her flight to Wasilla from Texas when early labor had begun, are odd. I'm not sure this story is over.

Why did she travel after her water broke? The number one rule of the third trimester is no flying and she does it with a high risk delivery! Something doesn't make sence.

The stuff I have seen says her husband was with here for the speech.

Hi I am just reading your posting today. Why do you jump to calling it smear when people are curious? I have been a L&D and neonatal ICU nurse for over 20 years and the whole story is frankly...a bit suspect. Think about it, she never looked pregnant or post partum. At her age, she should have. I have been looking at women who delivered babies at all ages for years and she does not fit the bill. Trig looks older than his purported age. I think one possible scenario might be that she wanted to protect her daughter and family. In trying to claim the baby, she created this pregnancy for herself. This is all her own business and I don't think she EVER thought that McCain was going to ask her to join the ticket. I think that this will play out in time. If it is as I describe, it will come out. Too many people know too much for a secret this size to survive

No, the rumor was not "whipped up" on Daily Kos -- it was an ongoing rumor that began in Alaska way last winter and has been simmering all this time -- and the official version still does not add up. By saying that it was "whipped up" on Daily Kos, I wonder if the writer of this page is just ignorant, and therefore irresponsible as a pretended journalist, or is actively using a so-called "white-lie" (in his own Puritanist mind)to mislead?