48 HOURS LEFT . . . As we wind down to the election, supporters on both sides get nuttier by the day. On Thursday, editors and reporters at your Favorite Good Morning Newspaper arrived at work to find dozens of e-mails, and even some phone calls, from Obama supporters all over the country imploring us to "do the right thing" and quit suppressing an "investigative report" on the "mystery" of Trig Palin.
They got a lot more than dozens. I personally was copied on dozens... and I did not ask to be copied. The primary call to do this did not come from my site/blog. It came from Cajun Boy who I suspect has a huge readership compared to mine. I would not be in the least surprised if they got thousands. So... why the need to downplay the number?
Groans could be heard across the newsroom as people signed on to their computers and discovered the spam, which resurrected an Internet myth that surfaced, then thankfully died, right after Sarah got nominated for VP.
OK, ADN. Let's review. This was not some fruitcake urban legend that appeared out of the blue on August 30th. The allegation appeared on the Internet from an Alaskan poster before Trig was born, in April, that Sarah was not pregnant and Bristol was. Palin's own spokesperson, formerly with the ADN, confirmed that Palin had discussed rumors that Bristol was pregnant with him PRIOR to announcing her own pregnancy in March. The ADN has confirmed that they looked into it around the time of the birth. And I have been provided with email that proves that the ADN had a reporter on the story in midsummer. Curious timing, actually: Too late to be something they were checking into casually around the time of the birth and long before she got the nomination. Whether he found anything or not, someone at the ADN must have believed that there was enough of a chance that something was there that he was still looking into the allegations 2-3 months after Trig's birth. But now it's "nutty?" "Stupid?"
According to the anti-Sarah mythology, Trig is not her baby. She faked her pregnancy to cover up a Bristol pregnancy.
The list of reasons why this story is stupid are legion, starting with Sarah obviously feeling no need to hide a Bristol pregnancy. The myth also ran into gestation issues when Bristol's actual pregnancy was announced, but conspiracy theorists never seem to let facts deter them. They assure us the current pregnancy is fake.
Again, let's fact check here. Sarah Palin only announced a relatively advanced BRISTOL pregnancy publicly when it appeared that this was the only way it could "proved" that SARAH gave birth to Trig in April. Never, in any way, shape, or form, has the "fact" that Bristol was as of September 1st "five months pregnant" been confirmed. And I have never asserted Bristol's current pregnancy is fake. I don't know anyone who has looked into this seriously or responsibly who has. In fact, I think there's a strong chance it is not. Furthermore, it cannot be stated sharply enough that saying that Bristol could not have had Trig does NOT prove that Sarah did.
Ear usually refers such callers to Lisa Demer's interview with Sarah's doctor, who delivered Trig but, alas, this too rarely works.
What Lisa Demer "interview?" Alas, the only article I can find could hardly be considered an interview. It is the often-linked ADN 4/22 article which contains a few Cathy Baldwin Johnson classics such as: "Things were already settling down by the time she talked to me," (which appears to be a direct contradiction of Palin's earlier statement that she talked to her doctor "around" 4 AM as soon as something started to happen) and "I didn't think it was unreasonable that she continue to fly back." And my personal favorite: Contractions had slowed to one or two an hour "which is not active labor." This is a medically true statement which could well have nothing to do with the birth in question. And slowed? Slowed from what? Are we really to believe that either an experienced physician OR an experienced mom (who has boasted about her fast easy births) felt confident about her getting on two separate four hour flights because "things" had "slowed?"
On Thursday, an exasperated reporter was heard shouting into the phone: "We saw the belly!"
Really? When? A few photographs of a woman "appearing pregnant" prove nothing if the allegation is that the pregnancy was faked.
Come on ADN, do your job.
Let's ask some real questions.
Ask why Sarah Palin told YOUR reporter on April 21st that you could not tell by looking that Trig had Down's and why she told People in September that a fourteen year old spotted it in the hospital.
Ask why Sarah Palin told numerous outlets last spring that Trig's Down's had been diagnosed in December, and why she's said recently that it was at thirteen weeks (which would have been 4-6 weeks earlier.)
Do some critical thinking about why a woman who supposedly would never terminate a pregnancy has now claimed she had testing done at a point in pregnancy where risks are much higher.
Wonder why any woman would not tell her own mother she was pregnant until seven months.
Ask why no photos of the family exist from the time of the birth, even though it's claimed that all three of the Palin daughters were at the hospital.
Ask why Gov. Palin claimed in September that no one realized she was pregnant because she was actually "hiding" it via scarves and blazers, yet numerous photos exist of her at a point at which any reasonable person would think a 44 year old on her fifth pregnancy would be showing, yet she shows NO signs of pregnancy and no signs of "fashion-assisted camouflage."
Ask why a woman who supposedly is competent to handle nuclear arming codes if Codger McCain drops dead would risk having to lie down on an airplane, spread her legs, and push her baby out.
And most of all, ask why Dr. Cathy Baldwin-Johnson, a very respected Alaska family practice doctor has flatly refused to give any statement about this birth since 2-3 days after it occurred. Even when doing so could have prevented a seventeen year old minor from becoming the most notorious pregnant teen in the world.
Sarah Palin's birth story makes no sense and I am not going to be intimidated into pretending like it does. Find one medical professional who is willing to go on record and say that her story is even plausible to say nothing of defensible.
Come on ADN. Ask some questions. And don't denigrate those of us who are doing your job for you as nutty or silly or stupid.
Do your job.
