The hit squads are starting

[cpawfan]

http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-69834

Alaskan Governor's child may be her daughter's?

The nation has been abuzz today with talk of Sarah Palin, John McCain's surprise vice-presidential pick. The internet and news media exploded in the hours following the announcement.

Along with all the stories making their way through the news cycle is one regarding Trig Palin, her youngest child. Apparently, there has been suspicion, some reported through Alaskan media outlets even before the Vice Presidential buzz, that the child actually belongs to her daughter, Bristol Palin. Normally this would be a personal issue, but this becomes a public matter because of Sarah Palin's stance against abortion and birth control, promoting 'abstinence only' beliefs.

The story seems ludicrious, and surely the GOP workers that vetted her would have stopped McCain from choosing her if anything like this were true. Only, now it has come out that Governor Sarah Palin was not vetted properly. The McCain camp states that they didn't feel it was necessary.

Even if it is entirely false and ludicrous, people are talking about it, and are quite interested in it. It has cropped up on a number of liberal and conservative blogs and sites. One Republican blog pre-empted the rumors, urging people to support Governor Palin "no matter what happens." It is absurd to believe Barack Obama is a Muslim, but that hasn't stopped 10% to 15% of America believing it is true. It remains to be seen if this story will sprout legs. So far, no media outlet has outright disproved the rumor (which should be very easy to do), though the Anchorage Daily News has reported the rumor.

The believers have a few scattered points:
1. Bristol Palin left school for an extended period of time, due to mononucleosis according to her family for the last 4-5 months of Trig's pregnancy. Some classmates claimed later that they had seen Bristol Palin pregnant.

2. Sarah Palin did not reveal to anyone outside her family that she was pregnant until 8 months into her pregnancy. Even then, she showed no signs of pregnancy. Alaskan news outlets commented on this, but did not go further. There are pictures of her at Super Tuesday (just a month before the baby was born).
http://www.adn.com/politics/story/339576.html
She is notably a very trim woman, so it would likely be difficult to hide a pregnancy.
3. There are supposed photos showing Bristol Palin having gained weight, possibly significantly so in the abdomen. I haven't been able to verify these.
4. Sarah Palin went into labor in Dallas just before she was due to deliver a keynote address at the Republican Governors' Energy Conference, and flew to Seattle, then Alaska while still in labor.
http://www.newsminer.com/news/2008/apr/22/palins-flight-labor-falls-under-scrutiny/
Supposedly, she was in labor during the 8 hour flight, and the crew and attendants did not know.
(Quote from the Article Above):
""Governor Palin was extremely pleasant to flight attendants and her
stage of pregnancy was not apparent by observation as she didn't show
any signs of distress," Boren said."
This is extremely risky behavior, and you are advised by doctors, traditionally, not to fly once you are past 7 months pregnant. If airlines are made aware, sometimes they will prevent you from flying. Sarah Palin did not inform the flight.
5. Sarah has had four children before, and a prolonged labor that lasted a flight from Dallas to Alaska is extremely unlikely, as labor times usually decrease with the number of births.
6. There is also some rumor of an interview with a co-worker of Todd Palin at the oil fields in Prudhoe Bay (North Slope, where Todd Palin worked for BP), though I haven't been able to verify this. The co-worker claims Todd told him of the situation, supposedly.

7. Likewise, there were at the time a few classmates of Bristol's that claimed they had seen her pregnant.

8. Sarah Palin appeared 4 months before the baby's birth in Vogue magazine, and was "trim and lithe." (Searching for photos.)

Now, the counterpoints are that:
-Of course, this is all very far-fetched. Republicans would have vetted her and this would have never slipped past them
-She may not have been showing the pregnancy, despite her trim and slim frame, because of the low birthweight of infants with Downs Syndrome.
-Mothers at 44 (as Sarah Palin is), have an extremely high rate of Downs Syndrome in their children. However, this does not exclude Bristol Palin, as very young mothers also have an increased risk of Downs Syndrome in their children.
The attached photo is Sarah Palin at Super Tuesday (2-05-08), credit to Brian Wallace of the Juneau Empire.
I had another photo of Palin at the Dallas RGEC, but I cannot seem to locate it.
I was hoping you could just clear this matter up. It might make interesting filler, to have a story on what the internet has been talking about!
Paul Tosone
Atlanta, GA

<Updates>

-A picture of Governor Palin at home with her family that was printed in the Anchorage Daily News, taken six weeks before Trig's birth on March 9th.

http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/v-ga...alaska/v-enlarge/story/339587-a339583-t3.html

-This is a picture from the Alaskan Governor's website. It is only dated "2007." Some say that Bristol here appears to have perhaps a baby bump.

http://gov.state.ak.us/photos/PalinFamily_Outside_v01.jpg
-An Alaskan PodShow Podcast called Hike of the Week. Sarah Palin appears here and takes a hike and tour with the host. She is seven and a half months pregnant.

http://alaskapodshow.com/index.php/2008/02/20/my-visit-to-juneau-alaska/

-The Alaskan Government website has removed links to some photographs of the Palin family. This probably has nothing to do with this story here, but I thought I should mention it, for posterity.
-Here is an article posted on DailyKos that compiles much of the same information I have here.
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/8/30/121350/137/486/580223

-Here is an excerpt from a Wallstreet Journal article, accounting her labor, according to her:

Gov. Palin's opted to board a jet from Dallas in April
while about to deliver a child. Gov. Palin, who was eight months
pregnant, says she felt a few contractions shortly before she was to
give a keynote speech to an energy summit of governors in Dallas. But
she says she went ahead with it after her doctor in Alaska advised her
to put her feet up to rest. "I was not going to miss that speech," she
says.
She rushed so quickly from the podium afterwards that
Texas Gov. Rick Perry nervously asked if she was about to deliver the
baby then. She made it to the airport, and gave birth hours after
landing in Anchorage to Trig, who is diagnosed with Down Syndrome.
"Maybe they shouldn't have let me fly, but I wasn't showing much so
they didn't know," she says."

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122002615833483595.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Also

 

[huevonkiller]

I really doubt this matters in the end.

More proof would be needed, and I don't care.

 

[The Return of the Raider]

Why are people even reporting about this, whether its true or not? Don't answer that.

This is like when people started publicizing the Bush daughters underage drinking. What about the time Rush Limbaugh was on Letterman, ripping Chelsea Clinton because "she looks like a dog". Letterman was quick though, and retorted with "Well, being the perfect human specimen that you are, Rush, it must be easy for you to criticize her."

 

[The Return of the Raider]

You're absolutely right about the "sheep", Cpaw. They will eat this up. Just like the 15% of people who think that Obama is a Muslim terrorist cronie of William Ayers.

 

[Real]

It's bullshit.

If it were true, she wouldn't have been picked.

 

[huevonkiller]

It's bullshit.

If it were true, she wouldn't have been picked.

The article said she wasn't vetted properly, so that idea isn't exactly valid.

It still is BS most likely.

 

[The Return of the Raider]

Wait, can't one look up the public record of the birth? Wouldn't that kill the whole discussion?

 

[cpawfan]

It's bullshit.

If it were true, she wouldn't have been picked.

I do not believe the leaders of the Republic Party have enough brain power to turn on a cheap solar powered calculator outside, at noon, on the sunniest day of the year.

They could have very easily screwed up

 

[Real]

I do not believe the leaders of the Republic Party have enough brain power to turn on a cheap solar powered calculator outside, at noon, on the sunniest day of the year.

They could have very easily screwed up

Haha bullshit.

Who was the party of screw ups the last two Presidential races? Which was the party that got it right?

 

[cpawfan]

Haha bullshit.

Who was the party of screw ups the last two Presidential races? Which was the party that got it right?

Just because the Dem's are dumber than them, that doesn't make the Republican leadership smart.

I'm not saying that any of what I quoted is true. I'm only saying the Republican leadership could easily have made a mistake.

Remember, I'm a centrist and I loathe both parties

 

[Real]

Just because the Dem's are dumber than them, that doesn't make the Republican leadership smart.

I'm not saying that any of what I quoted is true. I'm only saying the Republican leadership could easily have made a mistake.

Remember, I'm a centrist and I loathe both parties

They know what they are doing. They proved it by mocking Obama's celebrity, calling him the messiah.

Democrats got pissed off, that's a good move. It's a smart move.

 

[cpawfan]

They know what they are doing. They proved it by mocking Obama's celebrity, calling him the messiah.

Democrats got pissed off, that's a good move. It's a smart move.

Yes, acting like first graders takes a lot of brain power. I'm sure when they got home their mommies had some cookies and milk waiting for them.

Of course, being republicans, that means the mommies were wearing high heels, an apron and a string of pearls.

 

[DennisRodman]

I'm intrigued by this to say the least. (a good conspiracy also gets my attention). Especially with the photo of Bristol looking possibly pregnant, and her absence from school for 4-5 months. But it'd be nice to get some more solid evidence. (to prove or disprove the rumour) (Birth certificate, doctor who performed the delivery, even if those can't be gotten, a DNA test should do it.

 

[lukewarmplay]

This is nonsense. Even if she did this, she did it to protect her daughter and nobody got hurt, and who the fuck cares. Revenge firings and perjury are far more pertinent issues to the matter of her suitability in office.

 

[soul driver]

If there's truth to this, and that's a big if, and if more evidence pops up, yes this is huge. In her acceptance speech, and I'm assuming for the rest of the campaign trail, she'll be talking about HER son with the syndrome. And if indeed the daughter had the son, she's been lieing to the public since day one.
Do you want a liar in a position of power?

..I guess the answer is obvious. We have one right now.

 

[Dumpy]

Haha bullshit.

Who was the party of screw ups the last two Presidential races? Which was the party that got it right?

Ah yes, the comeback of choice: "We're still better than them." I didn't know you had already gone into politics.

 

[Denny Crane]

My grandmother had 6 kids. She surprised the doctor when she showed up at the hospital to have the 6th delivered. After going through the 5 previous, she was pretty much an expert - or so she said. This was in the 1940s, when prenatal care wasn't anything like it is today. BTW, after naming the first 5, maybe they ran out of names. They named the 6th Murial, inspired by a the name on a cigar band.

http://www.newsminer.com/news/2008/apr/22/palins-flight-labor-falls-under-scrutiny/

Palin says she felt safe flying to Alaska to have baby

Gov. Sarah Palin’s decision to make the eight-hour flight from Dallas to Anchorage has some people wondering about the possible safety hazards of flying while in the late stages of pregnancy.

The governor, eight months into her pregnancy, noticed amniotic fluid Thursday morning prior to giving a keynote luncheon address at the Republican Governor’s Energy Conference in Texas. After wrapping up the speech, Palin and her husband consulted with her physician about possibly flying home on an earlier flight. After being granted permission from her doctor, she and her husband proceeded with the trek home.

At that point, Palin was only having minor contractions and was not showing signs of active labor, Sharon Leighow, the governor’s spokeswoman, said on Monday.

After the baby was born, Palin told her staff members that her experiences from four previous pregnancies made her comfortable with the signs of active labor. She felt that neither she nor her baby were in any danger, and so she flew home as scheduled.

Most airlines have specific policies concerning air travel during pregnancy, especially during the final months. For women traveling in the final month of pregnancy, a “permission-to-travel” letter is required by her primary physician. However, most restrictions rely on an honor policy that leaves the decision to notify the airline in the hands of the passenger.
The governor did not feel the need to inform the airline of her condition, Leighow said.

Alaska Airlines is one of the few airlines that does not have a policy regarding flight during pregnancy.
“We leave the decision to fly up to our customers and their medical advisers,” according to Alaska Airlines representative Caroline Boren.

Palin told her staff that she would not have boarded the plane had she thought she or her baby were in danger.
Had Palin needed medical assistance during the flight, ground agents and flight attendants for the airline are highly trained to look for signs of distress or other concerns with a passenger’s condition, Boren said.

“Governor Palin was extremely pleasant to flight attendants and her stage of pregnancy was not apparent by observation as she didn’t show any signs of distress,” Boren said.

Flight crew members are not specifically trained to assist in labor during a flight. But had Palin gone into active labor while en route to Anchorage, the crew would have been prepared to offer medical assistance through a system known as Med Link, a medical advisory service that allows crew members to radio for medical help during the flight.

The flight would not have needed to land, barring any emergency with the delivery.

No medical assistance was necessary for Palin during the flight.

Palin’s flight landed at 10:30 p.m. Thursday. She and her husband drove to the Mat-Su Valley Regional Medical Center, and she checked in with her doctor an hour later.

Trig Paxson Van Palin was born seven hours later.

The governor confirmed Monday that early testing showed that Trig was born with Down syndrome. The syndrome is a chromosomal disorder caused by the presence of all or part of an extra 21st chromosome.

Trig is the governor’s fifth child. She told her staff members that Trig was the easiest delivery of all her children.

 

[Denny Crane]

Downs Syndrome babies are typically 20% underweight and undersized. In the photos that people use for this conspiracy theory, she does look pregnant and like she's wearing clothes to hide her belly.

 

[ghoti]

If she went to this extreme to protect her family, she would have taken her name out of VP consideration.

 

[BasX]

Bristol is kinda good lookin, but this is a story that really makes me go wtf

 

[The Return of the Raider]

Downs Syndrome babies are typically 20% underweight and undersized. In the photos that people use for this conspiracy theory, she does look pregnant and like she's wearing clothes to hide her belly.

Everyone I know looks fatter in photographs. In that photo, the teenager is wearing shirts that are tight, not loose.

 

[Denny Crane]

Everyone I know looks fatter in photographs. In that photo, the teenager is wearing shirts that are tight, not loose.

Good point, though I was talking about Mrs. Palin.

 

[Real]

Ah yes, the comeback of choice: "We're still better than them." I didn't know you had already gone into politics.

I didn't know you skipped the last two elections.

Why do you think Democrats are calling for Barack to fight back? Because of how their candidates got manipulated and out maneuvered two times in a row.

Why did Barack select someone like Joe Biden who isn't afraid to fight back? Maybe part of it is the experience factor, the other part of it the fact that he will fight back against the Republican attack machine.

 

[Real]

Yes, acting like first graders takes a lot of brain power. I'm sure when they got home their mommies had some cookies and milk waiting for them.

Of course, being republicans, that means the mommies were wearing high heels, an apron and a string of pearls.

Maybe you think it was juvenile, but it worked, and it was brilliant strategy IMO.

 

[44Thrilla]

I wouldn't be surprised if this was true. It could go either way if they prove it to be correct, though. If she plays her cards right, it could have her gaining a lot of respect from women and the pro-life crowd.

 

[Real]

If you want real hit pieces, check out the front page of the Huffington Post.

They're not talking about Barack Obama's speech, and they're not talking about Joe Biden. They're not even talking about John McCain. They're talking about Sarah Palin, because they're scared.

 

[huevonkiller]

If you want real hit pieces, check out the front page of the Huffington Post.

They're not talking about Barack Obama's speech, and they're not talking about Joe Biden. They're not even talking about John McCain. They're talking about Sarah Palin, because they're scared.

This probably scares you if anything:

Palin’s record and her associations will be scrutinized, just as you have done with Obama. And from what I’ve seen so far, it won’t be pretty: As mayor, she left her town of 8,000 $20 million in debt; Her popularity in Alaska derived largely from the windfall profits tax she placed on big oil — an Obama position that McCain is against; Her husband is now on the payroll of big oil; and of course, “Troopergate,” in which the governor already has been caught in on-camera lies about her abuse of power. And then there’s the eminent domain case in which Palin seized private property for a sports complex, which cost her town 10 times more in court than the town would’ve paid on the open market — that ought to be fun both for the libertarians and fiscal conservatives. Heck, those are just off the top of my head.

Adults on the conservative side agree that Palin is unfit. Here’s National Review’s Rick Brookhiser on McCain’s selection of Palin: “Either McCain thinks the war on terror isn’t serious, or he thinks the vice-presidency isn’t. Since the former is obviously untrue, it must be the latter. … We have shown the same color-by-numbers mindset that liberals did when they rallied to Obama. Liberals love Obama because he is a Numinous Negro. Conservatives love Palin because she has a Downs baby and an M-16. For both sides, that is all on earth ye know and all ye need to know. You might call it mystical and childish.”

And here’s conservative maverick Andrew Sullivan:
“The Palin pick says much more about McCain than it does about Palin (all it says about her is that she didn’t have the good sense to turn it down). What it says about McCain is that he is more interested in politics than policy, more interested in campaigning than governing, tactical when he should be strategic, and reckless when he should be considered.

“He is as big a gamble as president as Palin is as vice-president. This decision was about gut, about politics, about cynicism, and about vanity. It’s Bushism metastasized.”

In one reckless stroke, McCain undercut his argument about experience, showed that he is a tool of the right and demonstrated his lack of judgment. But he did excite the ever-shrinking base. And Palin has wilderness skills, which ought to come in handy where you’re headed.

Source: Commentary magazine

It is a retort to an article, and I rather like it.

 

[44Thrilla]

If you want real hit pieces, check out the front page of the Huffington Post.

They're not talking about Barack Obama's speech, and they're not talking about Joe Biden. They're not even talking about John McCain. They're talking about Sarah Palin, because they're scared.

And so is Cindy McCain...
[video=youtube;2zP8uFPWxaA]

 

[Denny Crane]

Sarah Palin reminds me of Afghanistan. The more you study her, the fewer targets of strategic value there are to attack.

 

[44Thrilla]

Sarah Palin reminds me of Afghanistan. The more you study her, the fewer targets of strategic value there are to attack.

Maybe her name should be on top of the ticket.