For starters, the Republican VP candidate allegedly hid her daughter’s pregnancy and claimed the baby as her own. Also, she had only met McCain once prior to the nomination announcement (and the phone call between the two regarding the nomination was the only other point of direct contact).
She does not believe that humans are responsible for global warming, thinks creationism should be taught in schools and only has about 18 months of political office experience.
Sounds like it is going to be a fun election.
Daily Kos has a very detailed and somewhat horrific account of how Palin pretended her 16-year-old daughter’s baby was hers. The story only broke on Saturday and it is possible that it in itself is just a bunch of lies. However, quite tellingly, there is no response from Palin herself, not even to dispute some of the lesser charges (for example, even is she is the mother, she put her baby in grave danger while boarding an eight-hour flight while “in labour”). Also read the follow up.
The story has gathered fast momentum online. What will be interesting to observe is how the main media reacts. On the one hand, this could be quite a scandal and therefore a sure-seller. On the other, it could alienate a whole bunch of readers/viewers, especially if the story turns out to be false.
Of course, from the moment that the nomination was made public, Sarah Palin came under immense scrutiny. And remember: Google never forgets. Combine that with other sources of information on the web, a huge number of web-savvy researchers and bloggists, and you better hope you are as clean as you appear to be.
[Update: It has now been announced that the daughter is, in fact, pregnant as we speak. 5 months pregnant. Which would make it impossible that she is the mother of the 4 month old. However, in the interest of conspiracy theories, can we really be sure it is 5 months? Of, what fun can be had ....]
Unfortunately with Sarah Palin, who is already being painted by the Republican Party as a squeaky clean mother of five (better watch those numbers!), this will be a difficult reputation to live up to. Already she is being accused of “fixing” her own Wikipedia entry, a practice that is strongly frowned upon by the web community.
If you are at all interested in the US elections, or just take perverse pleasure in the idiocy of politicians / Republicans, I suggest you follow the links in this post to the full stories. If you want more information, here are 7 resources to learn more about Sarah Palin.
And as a last laugh, have a look at this very brief video which has Cindy McCain saying that Palin has foreign policy experience because “don’t forget, Alaska is the closest part of our continent to Russia”. You can’t make this stuff up.
It makes local politics look mild by comparison.
Oh sweet lord, at last – some political humour amidst all of our disturbing local hooha.
Thank you, Eve!
Vile, salacious, filthy attacks on 16 yo girls (“slut and liar” are frequent allegations in dailykos comments to describe those women) and their mom, tell me Eve, does it make you feel all giggly? do you feel like having a scoop?
because you’re far from anything humanly commendable here, not having taken 2 minutes to check your information before deciding to make yourself a little advertisement on the back of those people.
I hope that you’re very proud of you.
http://www.allamericanblogger.com/3585/pictures-of-a-pregnant-palin/
See the Democratic/Clinton/radical blogger mob have started in high speed straight out of the blocks. The only thing positive the Daily Kos says or gets right about the Republican party is how to spell it.
O well suppose was stupid to think that issues and policies would now be debated, with a great orator but little substance as the democratic choice guess issues must be excluded.
Brent
PS – there are many many scientests (the ones who don’t rely on Government grants) who also don’t believe humans are the main/only cause of global warming
PPS – it is said that casinos are the most efficient way devised by mankind to distribute wealth from the poor to the rich – well the global warming scam will easily push casinos out of top spot as billions of dollars of tax money are relieved from the tax payers and distributed to the rich and powerful
So, if the baby is her daughter’s, how do you explain that her daughter is 5 months pregnant? It doesn’t add up.
And now it turns out that Bristol is ‘expecting’ again(?)
Hey, the last VP guy worked for Halliburton and made millions out of having others make war. And he was head of a firm that was huge in the genetic modification world. And he got the job.
You don’t have to be a saint to be the VP.
Get a real job… slagging may be profitable but it is destructive. Real estate agents are more trustworthy than some journalists
k
you’re right. it DOESN’T add up.
my guess is that she had a baby in, say, february or march and then got pregnant again in april.
but trig is awfully big for a special needs 4.5 month old. and the fact that sarah palin went back to work THREE DAYS after “giving birth” to a SPECIAL NEEDS baby?
lots of shit about these people don’t add up.
No, I am not a fan of Bush, and ergo the rest of the Republican party.
And although I certainly can’t say that Sarah is not the mother, there is something about that story that just stinks all around.
I’d keep my eyes peeled to see what surfaces next. At the very least, you can bet it will be funny.
@thibaut barguil
I think your passion is getting a little bit ahead of itself. Where did I ever attack a 16 year old? And here is a caveat for you: I would actually commend Palin for taking “mothership” of the baby, if she thought it was for both childrens’ good.
The Daily Kos story has disappeared already, it seems. Tentacles of the Republican Party?
John McCain has made a grave error here, I feel. Choosing Palin for her ‘positive’ aspects is being far outweighed by the abuse of power and family scandals that are now surfacing. Clearly not enough work was done vetting her, and the choice of Palin shows McCain doesn’t think things through, and is desperate.
Mark Twain (my favourite writer) once said: “It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.”
Just to let you know, you, Ms. Dmochowska, have removed all doubt in my mind by writing this mindless piece!
I think this piece must have been intended for a tabloid, because I have no idea what it is doing on Thought Leader! I don’t think any thought went into it! Your whole piece is based on allegations and rumours – no facts – except for two sentences! Another Twain quote is “Get your facts first – then you can distort them as you please.” So, next time before you put fingers to keyboard, GET YOUR FACTS FIRST!!!
And make sure your FACTS come from a reliable source – Daily Kos and Wikipedia don’t count!
The bloody woman is liar. If she can lie about her daughter’s pregnency that shows that she is a lying untrusworthy person. Surely sane Americans can’t trust her with helping the president to run the country. If she can’t lead her teenage daughter to the right direction, then how is she going to lead more than 300 million Americans. And again she was a beaty queen. I mean really now! beaty queens don’t have brains.
Obama’s mom was a 17 year old when she got pregnant by a married man with a child. His dad then proceeded to marry his mom without getting divorced and subsequently dumped her when he got a bursary to Harvard. Democrats can hardly afford to be throwing stones…
Your Daily Kos article seems to have disappeared. So, too in the 8/28 WikiP change over “Pre Gubernatorial Experience” Line 80
“Young Trigg” didn’t seem to think Mom’s Health Care experience was worth mentioning and somehow deleted it.
“Palin also served an elected term on the Valley Hospital Board ” , Valley Hospital aka Mat-su Medical Center Palmer/Wasilla, Alaska. (wasn’t baby Trig born there???)
There is so much conflicting stories about this baby that most of them have to be lies. But this doesn’t deter reporters because most journalists are shameless liars, that is why they ignored the lies about Saddam’s weapons of mass destruction; did you, Eve? That is why they give Obama so much undeserved good press; did you, Eve?
American politics are wonderful. Palin was nominated in order to get a woman vote. What other reason, will the Americans fall for it?
Who knows.
This time I don’t think so.
The election is a battle ground between the old and the new and the new is using social media.
I am watching this with great interest
I’ve started a website with regards to this story-it has a threefold purpose
1 To separate fact from fiction in regards to Sarah Palin
2 To write about Alaska
3 A girlfriend and myself are being stalked by a violent sociopath career criminal drug dealer-she has been unable to communicate with me in any way for the past four days-police are on the case but I want to get the word out there in case she’s been kidnapped or hurt
The website is here:
http://www.sarahpalinrumorcheck.blogspot.com
@Mike
Mark Twain also said :”It is better to deserve honors and not have them than to have them and not to deserve them.”
and
“Honesty is the best policy – when there is money in it.”
Take it from there.
Also, re-read my article (if you can bear it). What facts did I get wrong?
Mark Twain did not say “An open mind is worth two closed ones”. But he should have.
@Walter Pike
I actually feel sorry for her. She is an accomplished woman in her own right, and her ambitions are going to be her downfall. And the fact that she is a woman brings far more scrutiny and hypocrisy than even the Republicans could be happy with.
I predict she will be dropped from the ticket, based on the (probably) negative outcome of the investigation re brother in law.
You begin your blog by stating:
“For starters, the Republican VP candidate allegedly hid her daughter’s pregnancy and claimed the baby as her own.” Sensational claim – and unfactual! Then come a few one liner claims, of which one is untrue (she has in fact held public office for 10 years; however, of that time she has served 21 months as Governor of Alaska. Your “18 months” of political office is wrong either way you look at it). Then you devote a few more paragraphs (the biggest chunk of your article) to pandering to this claim that in the end you quickly “discover” to be untrue (but then you suggest that this may not be the case/conspiracy theory etc.). However, to extensively entertain an unsubstantiated FALSE accusation is just bad journalism – not to mention it makes the reader (me) think that you only used the sensational nature of the claim to attract readers in the first place to what otherwise would have been a ho-hum piece. It would have been better if you had focused on the claims that WERE true albeit less sensational. Lastly, you pander to a claim that Mrs. Palin “fixed” her own Wikipedia entry. Come on!
Is this Thought Leader or a Gossip Column?
@Mike
There is nothing incorrect about the ““For starters, the Republican VP candidate allegedly hid her daughter’s pregnancy and claimed the baby as her own” statement. All it says is that there are allegations that she hid her daughter’s pregnancy etc.
I did not just “quickly” discover the fact that the allegations are incorrect. That is nature of a blog, and why a blog like this can be written. I *know* that if refer to allegations of whatever sort, I will have the recourse to follow up once more facts come up. You cannot do this with, say, a magazine article. Blog posts are continuous discussions between the writer and her readers, and it would be foolish for me not to update the blog as more information becomes available.
My objection is the fact that you keep on insisting that I spewed incorrect fact regarding the pregnancy. I did not. I presented a post about some things you might not know about Sarah Palin. One of those things is that there are allegations re her last pregnancy.
Now comes what I consider the important part: the truth about whether she did or did not misrepresent her pregnancy is actually irrelevant to her character as an “everyday” person. Yes, it is dishonest, unethical, wrong etc. But as a woman and a mother, she could have thought this was best for the youngster. I have *no* issues with that whatsoever. (Especially since if the baby WAS her daughter’s, it would not be covered by health insurance, which would have been awful).
My issue is with the Republican party. Politics is the game they play. Could they not have foreseen the fiasco that their party would face with such allegations *AND* the subsequent pregnancy announcement?
It is not only selfish to the daughter, but incredibly shortsighted for the welfare of the party. There are so many other, strong Republican women that could have presented a real, valid threat to the Democrats.
The Republicans must reap what they sow.
(By the way, I am actually impartial here. I know the Democrats do equally stupid things. For instance, how could Edwards run if he *knew* there was the issue of affairs in his past. Why not just declare it immediately, and move on with a campaign. Do politicians really never learn?)
Having said all that, I commend both parties for agreeing, at least in principle, that families are off the table.
Let’s hope that stays.