delete???

[kpete]

It’s a nice shot, but according to at least once source it was taken on Super Tuesday. That’s in February. At that point, Palin should have been six months pregnant with her last child. It does make me wonder if the following will turn into a story.

…the oldest girl is rumored to have actually been the one who had the last baby, the one with Down’s Syndrome. She was taken out of school the last 4 or 5 months of her mother’s pregnancy.

On March 5th, 2008 Alaska’s Republican Governor, Sarah Palin, announced to the media that she was 7 months pregnant with her 5th child. She is currently 44.

Palin’s daughter Bristol is 16 and attends an Anchorage high school. Students who have attended class with her report that she has been out of school for months, claiming a prolonged case of mono.

Palin does not appear pregnant in any recent photographs. The announcement came as quite a shock to people who had worked closely with her, and have been quoted as saying that she did not appear pregnant whatsoever during the prior 7 months. While this is debatable, you can judge for yourself here: http://gov.state.ak.us/photos.php

(Ed Note: That link has since died since we first looked at it. The pictures were removed today.)

UPDATE: Reader johnkelley e-mails to remind me of a segment which I saw on MSNBC earlier. Rachel Maddow (yes, I know… I know) told what sounded like a completely obscure, irrelevant story about Palin giving birth to her last child. Apparently, as she noted, Palin’s “water broke” while on an extended trip to Texas, but she hopped a plane back home immediately to give birth in Alaska, “so desperate was she not to have her child born in Texas.” Is Maddow on to something related to the first story in this piece but not ready to take it to the airwaves?

http://themoderatevoice.com/politics/sarah-palin/22236/the-fully-vetted-sarah-palin/

[YDogg]

1. I have seen a few related threads. I'm intrigued.

[Overseas]

2. Wow. Now that I see the photo, I can understand the mystery of it all. //nt

[helderheid]

3. desperate housewives anyone?!?!?

[helderheid]

4. kick - this ties that whole teenager pregnant story together.

[helderheid]

5. kpete - why the delete subject?

[helderheid]

6. morning kick

[highplainsdem]

7. This is despicable. You're smearing a teenaged girl, too, and with no proof.

I did a lot of checking online last night, and as far as I could tell checking some web pages where Palin's pregnancy was being discussed and even criticized back in March, there was no hint then that her daughter might be the mother and the governor's pregnancy might be fake (she was being criticized on the one hand for having a baby when it might interfere with her duties as governor, and on the other for supposedly getting pregnant to help her approval ratings; I also saw mentions that she'd been wearing dark baggy clothes and scarves for a while before the announcement, without anyone wondering then just what that might mean). This story saying the baby is her daughter's seems to have surfaced and been pushed online in just the last couple of days.

There are lots of things to attack Sarah Palin on without also attacking a teenaged girl. Democrats should stay away from this. Not only is this a really vicious smear, but teenagers are vulnerable and spreading these stories is a horrible thing to do to a child if this isn't true.

[OwnedByFerrets]

8. I may be missing something....

but I don't see this as an attack on the teen. I see it as an attack on the adult Palin. If she lied about this....if it is her daughters child, its something the voters should know about.
Yes, there are lots of things to attack Palin on. You will never see Obama say one word about this, other than to possibly say that its not relevant and abhorrent to bring it up.
But, it is our duty to dig up truth when lies may have been told.

[highplainsdem]

10. You have to be kidding. You don't see this as also smearing Palin's daughter?

How many teenaged girls do YOU know who wouldn't mind having lots of Internet smears saying they'd had a baby and pretended it was their mother's child instead? She's a kid. You think she's going to be able to shrug it off as just typical politics and nothing to be upset about?

This is a vicious smear, and there's no point in trying to pretend only Sarah Palin will be hurt by it.

We'd be disgusted by any attack like this on a Democratic candidate and her daughter. We shouldn't sink so low as to believe this is okay because the smear is directed at a Republican and her daughter.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

9. Ok, explain this..even if this is a matter of Judgment. While at the Governor's meeting, Palin'

"water" breaks. She goes on to give her speech and then flies from Texas (hours) to Alaska to "give birth". Once one's water breaks, it is very dangerous and leaves the baby and mother open to infection. What woman in her right mind would do what Sarah Palin did?

http://www.amazingpregnancy.com/pregnancy-articles/636.html

If you believe that your water has broken, you should contact your health care provider. If your water breaks and you do not go into labor, there is an increased risk for germs and for infection in your pregnancy. The more time that occurs between the time that your water breaks and the time that you deliver increases the risk to your baby of infection. If your water breaks and you don’t start labor but you are after your 37th week of pregnancy, your health care provider may wish to induce labor so as to reduce the risk of infection.