An article from Sarah's Scandals you should all read

You can read the article at Sarah's Scandals



One thing is for certain here, she did not indicate she was pregnant

A recent picture of Trig and Tripp

From Laura Novak's blog

Trig Palin and Tripp Johnston

I see Palin in Trig but I also see a lot of Levi Johnston as well.  As for Tripp he looks a lot like Bristol and Chuckles aka Sarah's dad Chuck Heath but no Levi in him at all, except for the blond hair.  Levi was blond when he Tripp's age.  Trig is 3 years old but he looks closer to four and Tripp looks like he is almost three and not two and a half.

Babygate is now hitting the tabloids

Yes it is from the National Examiner and NOT The National Enquirer but it is a start.

Sarah I would be getting very nervous if I were you.  Give John Edwards a call maybe he can talk you through this.

Elan Frank's video on Sarah Palin

and an e-mail from him:

Sent: Friday, August 29, 2008 1:42 PM
To: Leighow; Sharon W (GOV)
Cc: Governor Sarah Palin (GOV sponsored)
Subject: Fwd: To Gov. Palin

Hi Sharon,

I CC'd you to this e-mail earlier. Let me know if I can be of any help with the footage I have . The footage I have and my approach present the governor in a bright and positive light , and can be very helpful. You can direct news agency's to me, J will make sure they get only the very good stuff. We can also think of perhaps creating a film about her , with what I already have and more we can shoot between now and the elections. I was approached by NBC for footage, and I want to be coordinated with the governor of what I release to them.

I love her and what she stands for and want to make sure she is shown only in the most positive way.
Please convey my e-mails to her and let me know if and how we can cooperate.

Thanks,
Elan
Elan Frank
Exec. Producer
Looks like Elan is on the deception too.  I hope he gets deported back to Israel.

The most bizarre e-mail ever

From: Sarah Palin
Date: Mon, 7 Apr zoos 14:17:11
To gov . sarah@yahoo . com
Cc gov . palinoyahoo . com

Subject Baby

To the Sisters, Brother. Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, and Friends of Trig Paxson Van Palin (or whatever you end up naming him!):

I am blessing you with this surprise baby because I only want the best for you. I've heard your prayers that this baby will be happy and healthy, and I've answered them because I only want the best for you!

I heard your heart when you hinted that another boy would fit best in the Palin family, to round it out and complete that starting five line-up. Though another girl would be so nice, you didn't think you could ask for what you REALLY wanted, but I knew, so I gave you a boy because I only want the best for you!

Then, I put the idea in your hearts that his name should be "Trig", because it's so fitting, with two Norse meanings: *True' and "Brave Victory'. You also have a Bristol Bay relative with that name, so I knew it would be best for you!

Then, I let Trig's mom have an exceptionally comfortable pregnancy so she could enjoy every minute of it, and I even seemed to rush it along so she could wait until near the end to surprise you with the news - that way Piper wouldn't have so long to wait and count down so many days - just like Christmastime when you have to wait, impatiently, for that special day to finally open your gift? (Or the way the Palins look forward to birthday celebrations that go on for three, four day.. you all really like cake.) I know you, I knew you'd be better off with just a short time to wait!

Then, finally, I let Trig's mom and dad find out before he was born that this little boy will truly be a GIFT. They were told in early tests that Trig may provide more challenges, and more joy, than what they ever may have imagined or ever asked for. At first the news seemed unreal and sad and confusing. But I gave Trig's mom and dad lots of time to think about it because they needed lots of time to understand that everything will be OK, in fact, everything will be great, because I only want the best for you!

I've given Trig's mom and dad peace and joy as they wait to meet their new son. I gave them a happy anticipation because they asked me for that. I'll give all of you the same happy anticipation and strength to deal with Trig's challenges, but I won't impose on you.. I just need to know you want to receive my offer to be with all of you and help you everyday to make Trig's life a great one.

This new person in your life can help everyone put things in perspective and bind us together and get everyone focused on what really matters. The baby will expand your world and let you see and feel things you haven't experienced yet. He'll show you what 'true, brave victory" really means as those who love him will think less about self and focus less on what the world tells you is 'normal' or "perfect'. You will grow and be blessed with greater understanding that will be born along with Trig.

Trig will be his dad's little buddy and he'll wear Carhartts while he learns to tinker in the garage. He'll love to be read to, he'll want to play goalie, and he'll steal his mom's heart just like Track, Bristol, Willow and Piper did, And Trig will be the cuddly, innocent, mischievous, dependent little brother that his siblings have been waiting for..in fact Trig will - in some diagnostic ways - always be a mischievous, dependent little brother, because I created him a bit different than a lot of babies born into this world today .

Every child is created special, with awesome purpose and amazing potential. Children are the most precious and promising ingredient in this mixed up world you live in down there on earth. Trig is no different, except he has one extra chromosome. Doctors call it "Down's and Downs kids have challenges, but can bring you much delight and more love than you can ever imaginel Just wait and see, let me prove this, because I only want the best for you!

Some of the rest of the world may not want him, but take comfort in that because the world will not compete for him. Take care of him and he will always be yours! Trig's mom and dad don't want people to focus on the baby's extra chromosome. They're human, so they haven't known how to explain this to people who are so caring and are interested in this new little Alaskan. Sarah and Todd want people to share in the joy of this gift I'm giving to the Palin family, and the greater Alaska family. Many people won't understand..and I understand that. Some will think Trig should not he allowed to be born because they fear a Downs child won't be considered "perfect" in your world. (But tell me, what do you earthlings consider "perfect" or even "normal" anyway? Have you peeked down any grocery store isle, or school hallway, or into your office lunchroom lately? Or considered the odd celebrities you celebrate as "perfect" on Have you noticed I make 'em all shapes and sizes? Believe me, there is no 'perfect"!)

Many people will express sympathy, but you don't want or need that, because Trig will be a joy. You will have to trust me on this. I know it will take time to grasp this and come to accept that I only Want the best for you, and I only give my best. Remember though: "My ways are not your ways, my thoughts are not your for as the heavens are higher than the earth, my ways are higher than yours!"

I wrote that all down for you in the Good Book! Look it up! You claim that you believe me - now it's time to live out that belief!

Please look to me as this new challenge and chapter of life unfolds in front of you. I promise to equip you. I won't give you anything you can't handle. I am answering your prayers. Trig can't wait to meet you. I'm giving you ONLY THE BEST!

Love,
Trig's Creator, Your Heavenly Father

 

A post everyone must read

An anonynmous poster on Immoral Minority wrote a timeline about what happens in the delivery and recovery room after a woman gives birth.  It proves that Sarah could not have sent e-mails two hours after she give birth to Trig, which means she DID NOT GIVE BIRTH TO HIM.  The link is right here.

I myself have given birth four times- once to twins. So I feel I can be fairly accurate with the following estimations. I've had one homebirth, two vaginal deliveries- one with epidural and one without, and one c-section. So I am taking all my experience into account, along with many secondhand experiences as a doula and birth coach.

They say Trig was born at 6:30am, so...

Immediately after the baby was delivered, the cord would be clamped and he would be taken over to the warmer. The would suction his airways, do his first APGAR, put a security bracelet on his ankle or wrist, clean him up, do a closer umbilical clip, put his first diaper on, and swaddle him up. Now due to Trig's medical issues there certainly would have been an exam done by a pediatrician as well as a pediatric cardiologist. I estimate these measures would have taken approximately 18 to 25 minutes. It seems quick because it is- they do these things bam-bam-bam.

So the time is now approximately 6:50.

Now, while they are clearing the baby's airways and cleaning them up, etc, they are watching mom to make sure the placenta is delivering properly, they'll sometimes press on mom's tummy to jumpstart things is they are stalled...one thing that plays a very large part of this scenario is the fact that Palin claimed to have had to be "induced". Pitocin is a nasty, nasty thing...it forces the body into the most wretched, soul-consuming contractions possible.

The pitocin has to be pulled back for the afterbirth because of the risk concerning uterine prolapse. So we can safely estimate that Palin was starting to expel the afterbirth just as Trig would have been swaddled up and possibly held by dad.

Assuming Palin took the least amount of time possible to expel her afterbirth and that she did not have any tearing (which she likely would have as such a petite woman having a pitocin induced labor) then we can add another 15-20 minutes.

The time is now approximately 7:10.

Palin's own narrative says the children came in "minutes after" the birth. Assuming she didn't make the children watch her afterbirthing...the children come in around 7:15. Supposedly Bristol, Willow, Piper, and of course Levi were there. And Track was on the phone. Even if we allot only 5-7 minutes per child to meet, hold, coo over, etc the new baby, that takes up around 25 minutes.

At some point, Trig will have had his second APGAR scoring. His glucose will be checked and his footprints will be taken. These things will add around 15-20 minutes.

So with kids visiting and holding/meeting the baby (and remember we know from Sarah's own telling to People magazine that each child held Trig right after birth- this is when Willow supposedly says he looks like he has DS- preposterous) and the additional tests and procedures Trig went through...we add about 40 minutes.

The time is now approximately 7:45.

DS babies are notorious for difficult feeding. Sarah herself has mentioned she breastfed Trig. With a DS baby there would have been a nurse or lactation consultant to help with Trig's first feed. In a healthy baby without DS, the first feed averages 40 minutes. It likely took closer to an hour but in the name of playing devil's advocate, we'll say 40 minutes.

The time is now approximately 8:25.

So allowing absolutely NO TIME whatsoever for Sarah to hold and cuddle her new baby nor change her blood and amniotic soaked bed linens...yes, she COULD have been sending emails at 8:30.

But truly- who among us believes that Sarah Palin, governor of Alaska, lay in a bed soaked with blood, feces, fluid, mucous...and chose to send nondescript, unimportant emails...before changing her bed linens, using the restroom carefully, with a wash bottle and then putting on a chux pad...and again, not taking any time to just BE with her new baby...?

I can't believe I took the time to type all this out just so I could say once MORE...WHAT AN IDIOT.

Who would believe this??!

A BIG THANKS to the anonymous poster who wrote this.

An interview you should all read

From Laura Novack's blog

Now that President Obama has produced his birth certificate

It's time for Sarah to produce Trig's

Come on Sarah, what are you afraid of?

Where is Trig Palin?

This week Trig had his 3rd birthday.  Apparently Trig celebrated his 2nd birthday twice, according to Malia Litman's blog

The real point is that from the moment Palin was introduced at the RNC she has repeatedly used Trig as a symbol for her right-to-life position. However the lack of involvement in his life is evident from the number of speaking events Sarah Palin has attended without Trig or her other children. We didn’t see Trig with Sarah when she appeared to give speeches to the conferences for special needs children. That would have been the appropriate place for him to appear. His absence conveyed Palin’s real attitude which is that giving birth to the child (if she did) was the extent of her responsibility for the child. Afterwards he appeared only when she needed a reminder of her political position on abortion. Newsmax even credited Trig for saving McCain’s pro-life candidacy.  Throughout the campaign when it was cold Trig made appearances. On the book signing tour, Sarah dragged Trig out of the bus for a photo op before the signing began. The amazing thing is that Sarah few on a private plane to most of the book signing events and simply met Trig in the bus on the way to the event.

On Google Images over 200,000 images appear when searching for “Trig Palin”. Yet virtually none of the images are pictures of Trig wearing his much needed glasses.  On the TLC show Trig was left with a babysitter for virtually every adventure. In the eight episodes we saw a particular focus on each of the Palin children,…all except Trig. There was an episode when Tripp, Bristol’s child was included, but Trig was not. If there is a nanny who provides consistent care for Trig, we didn’t meet her.

On the occasion of Trig’s third birthday, we are reminded of his abandonment. Various web sites supporting Palin remembered Trig’s birthday. See for example: (1) and (2) .
However the most revealing is this one that mentions Sarah’s own tweet that included this picture:

“Today is Trig Palin’s third birthday! Governor Palin shared this tweet and picture this morning:
Awww…growing up to be a fisherman! Happy Birthday! http://yfrog.com/hs9azfoj

This is the picture featured when Trig was celebrating his second birthday.

This is not a mistake in my post. The mistake was in failing to take a picture on Trig’s third birthday. Did they even have a family party? Did they even make him a cake? I guess he had Down’s syndrome when he was two years old, and he still does, so Sarah would have no reason to need a more current picture.

Reading Malia's post got me thinking.  It seems odd that they would use the same picture twice.   Is Trig in an institution?  Is he still a Palin?  Did he go back to his real family, whoever they may be.  Or, GULP, is he even still alive?

Considering the quality of care he has gotten from Sarah, he may have passed away.  Don't get me wrong, I don't want Trig dead.  I'm concerned about his well being.  It does not appear he uses the hearing aids and eye glasses Down Syndrome Toddlers need, like Malia mentioned over 200,000 google images of him and not one of him wearing glasses and hearing aids.

Take a look at this picture of him here during the book tour:

According to people at the book signing, it was 40 some degrees that night and Trig has no pants or socks on. That is child abuse folks. Sarah and Piper are dressed warmly but Trig isn't.

Then you take into consideration Sarah's "Wild Ride".  If it is true, she woke up in the middle of the night in labor while in Dallas, called Dr. Cathy Baldwin-Johnson in Anchorage, stayed to give the speech, Baylor Medical Center was 5 minutes away but she refused Rick Perry's offer of an ambulance, hopped on a plane to Seattle, another city with a hospital that has a neo-natal unit but she stayed at the airport for a 3-4 hour layover, flew to Anchorage, passed the only hospital in AK with a neo-natal unit and gave birth to Trig in Wasilla.  If the Wild Ride is true, she is very neglectful not only for her health but Trig's as well.  When your pregnant and your water breaks you get your ass to the hospital ASAP.


I just can't help but wonder if Sarah killed Trig.  I know it is a horrible thing to say but considering there have been no Trig sightings in months and little of him was seen during Sarah Palin's Alaska it is possible.  God Bless You Trig.

Sarah Palin's Version Of Trig's Birth May Be More Troubling than the Hoax

From Business Insider

This past week, the draft of an academic paper that focuses on the 2008 birth of Sarah Palin's son, Trig Paxson Van Palin, and the various theories that surround his birth, was made public prior to publication through a university newspaper and then exploded, quite predictably, on the Palin-centric blogosphere, where Trig's birth remains a cause célèbre and the source of considerable controversy. It has now spilled over into the mainstream media as well.
"Palin, the Press, and the Fake Pregnancy Rumor: Did a Spiral of Silence Shut Down the Story?" written by Bradford W. Scharlott, Ph.D., an associate professor at Northern Kentucky University, comes to two primary conclusions: 1) that Palin "likely" staged "a hoax" concerning the birth of her son Trig; and 2) that "a spiral of silence" prevented the mainstream U.S. media from adequately investigating the circumstances of Trig's birth.

As both a life-long journalist and an academic--and perhaps most importantly, as the author of the forthcoming book, The Lies of Sarah Palin: The Untold Story Behind Her Relentless Quest for Power--I read Scharlott's draft thesis with considerable interest and anticipation.

Scharlott's initial contention that Palin orchestrated an elaborate "hoax" around the birth of Trig does not hold up to close scrutiny. It remains a premise, not a fact. That said, his second assertion about "the spiral of silence" raises several issues about Palin, her birth story and the mainstream media that must be scrutinized fully as Palin continues to position herself for a run in the 2012 Republican primaries.

In the end--as is the case with virtually all things Palin--the most troubling scenario regarding Trig's birth is the one proffered by Palin herself--a scenario that has been largely muted, or disregarded, by the focus on Trig's birth as being a "hoax."

Let me acknowledge that while researching my book I spent a considerable amount of time and resources trying to sort out the facts of Trig's birth. As with many elements of Palin's life story, there are disquieting discrepancies between what actually happened and Palin's version of events. Her capacity for deceit simply knows no bounds, and this duplicity has contributed significantly to the atmosphere of doubt regarding the details of Trig's birth. Contrary to Palin's contention otherwise, the rumors that Trig was not her son originated long before she was named as John McCain's running mate, commencing immediately upon her public acknowledgment, in March of 2008, that she was pregnant.

Palin, by her own account in Going Rogue, did not tell anyone but her husband Todd that she was pregnant with what would be the couple's fifth child. She kept the news from her parents, siblings, children and her closest staff--odd behavior under any circumstances. Moreover, she did not tell members of her family that the child she was carrying had been diagnosed with Down syndrome. So when Palin announced being seven months pregnant--to a handful of reporters in Juneau on March 5, 2008--the rumor mill went into overtime.

Hoping to disprove the conspiracy theory when I initiated work on my book--and to put the story to bed once and for all--I interviewed several close associates of Palin's, including her friends and political allies. I was anticipating, perhaps even hoping, that they would tell me conclusively that Trig was her child.

I was shocked by the response. One close friend of Palin's--a widely respected woman who had given birth to several children as well and who had close contact with Palin in Juneau up until the time of Trig's birth--told me that "Palin did not look like she was pregnant. Ever. Even when she had the bulging belly, I never felt that the rest of her body, her face especially, looked like she was pregnant." When I asked her point-blank if she was certain the baby was Palin's, she said, "No. I don't know what to believe."

The news of Palin's pregnancy came as a complete surprise to Palin's State Trooper security detail Gary
Wheeler, a well-liked, 26-year veteran of the Alaska State Troopers who worked under several administrations in Alaska state government, both Republicans and Democrats. Only two weeks earlier, in late February of 2008, Wheeler had accompanied Palin back to Washington, D.C. for a Republican Governors Association Conference, where she had just met John McCain and his campaign manager Rick Davis, who was to be in charge of the vice-presidential nomination selection process. Wheeler remembers that Palin had changed into jeans upon her arrival in Washington, with no apparent revelation of pregnancy.

Wheeler also said that his wife, Corky, actually made fun of him when the news came out because he was supposed to be a "trained observer." Wheeler simply shakes his head: "I had nary an idea she was packin'."

As Wesley Loy of the Anchorage Daily News reported it at the time, Governor Palin "shocked and awed just about everybody around the Capitol" with her announcement.

This is at seven months.

More significantly--and thus begins the troubling nature of even Palin's own account--according to Wheeler, Palin did not tell the Alaska State Troopers who were assigned to protect her that she was pregnant, even though her age and the fact that she was carrying a child with Down syndrome presented potential health complications. All of this both foreshadows and serves as an important prelude to Palin's troubling journey from Texas to Alaska, during which she was experiencing--again by her own account--early signs of childbirth, including the so-called breaking of her waters.

Palin was scheduled to make a speech at an RGA energy conference in Dallas on April 17, slightly less than eight months into her pregnancy. At the last moment before her trip to Texas--which involved a stopover in Seattle--Wheeler says that Palin made an "out-of-the-ordinary" announcement that she wouldn't be needing a Trooper to accompany her on her junket, and that her husband Todd would be traveling with her instead. An email written by Palin--obtained through a Alaska Public Records Act request--confirms Wheeler's recollection. At 9:26 on the morning of April 14, 2008, only a day before her scheduled departure, Palin sent the following email to her administrative assistant, Janice Mason:

J- instead of rga paying for staff, and/or rga (or state) paying for Security on this Texas trip, pis let them know First Spouse is available to travel instead - they can pay for Todd. Pls chk on flt availability for him (on my flts). [sic] Thanks

I cover the ensuing details of Palin's so-called "wild ride" from Texas back to Alaska in considerable detail in my book, but in short--according to information she gave at a news conference immediately following her return--Palin claimed that she called her physician in the middle of the night from her hotel room in Texas to discuss what Palin referred to as "amniotic fluid leaking." Despite the presence of this fluid--a strong indicator of impending birth and which potentially exposed Palin and her child to infection--Palin stayed in Dallas and delivered her speech later that day.

Rather than getting checked at a nearby hospital in Dallas before her departure (Baylor Medical Center was less than ten minutes away), Palin and her husband commenced on their return flight home to Anchorage via Seattle. They did not tell flight attendants of Palin's medical situation. The failure of the Palins to inform airline personnel of her impending medical situation not only put her infant and herself at risk, it also potentially put all passengers and staff on the two flights at risk as well. As The Atlantic's Andrew Sullivan (who deserves a commendation for keeping this story from being buried completely) dubbed it, Palin's decisions were "reckless beyond measure."

Once returning to Anchorage late in the evening of April 17, Palin claims to have bypassed the Providence Hospital in Anchorage (which has a neonatal intensive-care unit and is located only a few minutes from the Ted Stevens International Airport) for the roughly hour-long drive to the Mat-Su Regional Medical Center, located just off the Parks Highway, roughly seven miles outside of Wasilla (and which has no neonatal intensive-care unit).

Three days after Trig's birth, Palin and her husband held a news conference in Anchorage, with Trig joining them. The audio recording of the news conference provides a fascinating glimpse into the Palins' mindset at the time of Trig's birth and their chafing at criticism of their decision to fly back to Alaska. Again, I cite several passages from the press conference in my book, but what follows are some highlights:

Sarah Palin: Well that was again if, if I must get personal, technical about this at the same time, um, it was one, it was a sign that I knew, um, could lead to uh, labor being uh kind of kicked in there was any kind of, um, amniotic leaking, amniotic fluid leaking, so when, when that happened we decided OK let's call her [her physician, Cathy Baldwin-Johnson].

The answer was classic Palin--evasive, circuitous, garbled and indirect. In fact, The Anchorage Daily News story the following day, by Kyle Hopkins, reported that Palin had not asked her physician "for a medical OK to fly."

Hopkins also contacted an obstetrician in California, Dr. Laurie Gregg, active in the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, who said that "when a pregnant woman's water breaks, she should go right to the hospital because of the risk of infection. That's true even if the amniotic fluid simply leaks out.

As for the distinction that Palin was trying to make between "breaking" and "leaking," Gregg was not buying into it. "To us, leaking and broken, we are talking the same thing," Gregg asserted. "We are talking doctor-speak."

The Palins were clearly irritated by the direction of the questioning. "There's a lot of new doctors out there on the streets in the last couple of days," Todd Palin asserted irritably.

An aide to the Palins decided it was time to wrap things up. One final question was allowed.

Reporter: Was it important to you to have the baby in Alaska?

Sarah Palin: It was very important that we have...it was more important that, that Trig arrive safely and healthy and um, and that is exactly what happened. The extra blessing was that Trig was able to be born into this great state, you know, kind of like, I feel like this extended Alaskan family, that he was here, for that.

Todd Palin: Can't have a fish-picker from Texas.

That became the family mantra.

There have also been a number of discrepancies in Palin's story. In Going Rogue, for instance, she makes no mention of her waters breaking. At a speech delivered in Waco, Texas, last year, Palin claimed that she delivered Trig in Anchorage. (Note the passage at 16:55 into her speech.)

The response to Scharlott's paper has been both troubling and predictable. On the one hand, those who continue to subscribe to the "hoax" theory have championed it as a work of academic brilliance. On the other hand, Palin's former flack Bill McAllister threatened to "slap" Scharlott and said that in "a different era," he'd have challenged Scharlott to "a duel." Salon's Justin Elliot used the occasion to take a cheap shot at Andrew

Sullivan by describing him as a practitioner of "Trug Trutherism" -- the belief "that Sarah Palin faked her 2008 pregnancy because Trig is actually the son of Bristol Palin"--when, in fact, all Sullivan has ever asserted is the absence of "easily available and definitive" evidence that Palin is the mother of Trig.

And in what can be described only as  pathetic response to Scharlott's paper, Anchorage Daily News columnist Julia O'Malley contradicted her own newspaper's body of work on this matter by invoking a "spiral of silence" perspective and demanding that "someone" should "Make. It. Stop." She doesn't say who and she doesn't say how. What she means is that she doesn't want the issue even discussed.

Perhaps O'Malley was too high on her horse to recall that in December of 2008, in the aftermath of the national election, the Anchorage Daily News tried to confirm once and for all--as did I--that Sarah Palin was the mother of Trig, only to be rebuffed by Palin herself. The ADN's executive editor Pat Dougherty assigned his fine reporter Lisa Demer to the task of investigating the rumor. But a story was never published.

On December 31, Palin sent Dougherty an email attacking him for the line of questioning:

And is your paper really still pursuing the sensational lie that I am not Trig's mother? Is it true you have a reporter still bothering my state office, my very busy doctor (who's already set the record straight for you), and the school district, in pursuit of your ridiculous conspiracy?

Dougherty's response should be of particular interest given O'Malley's commentary. He said that his goal was "to let a reporter try to do a story about the 'conspiracy theory that would not die' and, possibly, report the facts of Trig's birth thoroughly enough to kill the nonsense once and for all." Dougherty said that Demer received "very little cooperation" from Palin or her family. He killed the story. But he made a telling observation to Palin:

It strikes me that if there is never a clear, contemporaneous public record of what transpired with Trig's birth, that may actually ensure that the conspiracy theory never dies.

And there's the rub. O'Malley's own editor did not Make It Stop because Sarah Palin has never provided sufficient concrete evidence to put the conspiracy theories to bed. She hadn't in 2009, and she hasn't now.

The problem is rooted not in the wild imaginations of bloggers, as O'Malley would have us believe, but in the calculated obfuscation of the issue by Sarah Palin herself.

A week after her email to Dougherty, Palin issued a formal State of Alaska press release from the Governor's office. "As a public official, I expect criticism and I expect to be held accountable for how I govern," Gov. Palin said. "But the personal, salacious nature of recent reporting, and often the refusal of the media to correct obvious mistakes, unfortunately discredits too many in journalism today, making it difficult for many Americans to believe what they see in the media."

Held accountable? Throughout her political career, Sarah Palin has been the master of the dodge. She has never held herself accountable. At one point she claimed that she had made Trig's birth certificate public; she did not. The hospital has never issued a formal birth notice. She said that she would make her health records public. She did not. It was another lie.

This past week Palin had the gall to giggle and smirk her way through an interview on Fox News in which she supported Donald Trump's investigation of President Obama's birth certificate in Hawaii: "Well, uh, I appreciate that 'The Donald' wants to spend his resources in getting to the bottom of something that so interests him and many Americansm," Palin opined. "You know, more power to him."

The hypocrisy is staggering. There is one person who can put an end to the Trig matter immediately and instantly, and that is Sarah Palin. Before she takes another step in what has been a hapless bid to position herself for a run for the presidency, the American media should demand that Palin produce full and conclusive evidence of Trig's birth and parentage. It's that simple.

Once that step is taken, then the American media needs to break its "spiral of silence" about Palin's "wild ride" from Texas to Alaska and to demand direct answers from her about the decisions she made, the actions she took and what motivated her to do so. Anyone who examines Palin's own story closely will come to no other conclusion that she was "reckless beyond measure"--as Andrew Sullivan so succinctly put it--and entirely unqualified to hold higher office in these challenging and demanding times.

The things that convinced me she was lying was "the Wild Ride" and the fact she took him to the office three days after birth.  No way in hell would a Dr. risk his or her license by letting a Down Syndrome baby born one month premature out of the hospital after three days.  And allow the mother to take him to work with her.

I gotta feeling by Memorial Day Sarah will either 'fess up or produce a birth certificate. 

Could Sherry Johnston be the mother of Trig Palin?

Yesterday was Trig's alleged birthday. The reason I say alleged is because it's obvious Sarah did not give birth to him. It's possible he was born before April 18 because its been suspected Bristol gave birth to him. She went into hiding in the fall 2007-Winter 2008 timeline because she had "mono".

However I'm starting to wonder if it is Sherry Johnston. Sherry is the mother of Levi Johnston Bristol's ex-fiancee and the grandma of Trip Johnston. Syrin from Syrin's Blog made this interesting comment regarding Babygate:

Appreciate that the msm has taken this story one step further. I’ve stayed clear of this subject. My opinion on this subject has been based on a few important circumstances and totally independent. People… Bristol did not have the child name Trig, born in Arpril 08 ?! There is NO WAY it could have happened, because Bristol was pregnant with Levi Johnston’s child Tripp Johnston, born in Dec. 08 who Levi is presently payng child support for, so he does belong to Levi.. So lets not add that impossiblity to this mix! The thought that a 16 year old Sadie Johnston would NOT know the correct family labels of relationships is laughable to me. I’ve raised 3 children. They know the relationships between themselves and of those around them.
 
Kids always write appropriate captions to their pictures when sharing with their friends, as did Mercedes on her MySpace Page… Another thing.. No boyfriend or girlfriend would be a part of the birth if it where me having a baby..I’ve done some asking around and that would be the case for most women. The Sherry Johnston story is an interesting one. Remember, I live in Wasilla!! I continue to maintain my opinion that it is very possible that it was Sherry Johnston who gave birth, (unplanned pregnancy- it happens) perhaps after Keith left her she got into a relationship that went bad.

Moving forward….Shortly after Sherry’s drug bust.. it was almost forced on the public as a major part of the story that she had a hysterectomy. At the time it seemd the media was making the connection that she was doing drugs because of a medical condition. But, I’m sorry, I just can’t get over it……What the hell is the sister of the boyfriend doing holding the infant of the girlfriends mother and calling it her (little baby brother)? Also note: Bristol looks like she’s at the beginning of her pregnancy with Tripp in this picture and Sarah Palin does not look or is positioned as if she just gave birth. Finally, it is Sherry Johnston who is taking these photos!!! One big happy family!?! The Johnstons are involved in this in some way! Quite possible and very convenient for the Palins at the time. All IMHO.

When I think about it, yes it is a strong possibility.  Sadie refers to Trig as her baby brother.  Also Sadie has been very vague about Trig when writing about him on her blog.  Did the Palins pay her off?   So if Sherry is the mother, who is Trig's father?  Todd Palin perhaps.  Remember he is very affectionate with Trig while Sarah carries him like a sack of potatoes.  And I wonder if Sherry threatened to spill the beans or wanted Trig back after the election so she was set up on those drug charges as a way to keep her quiet.

Since I live in the Lower 48, I am not in the know, I rely on the Anti-Sarah and Alaska Blogs to get my info.

Update-The Professor's paper is being picked up by other media outlets

Business Insider

Gawker

Update-Anchorage Daily News has now picked it up as well, even if it is an op-ed piece.


Yes they are not major outlets but its a start

Salon.com's Justin Elliot explains on Young Turks Babygate

I'm so disappointed that Salon.com even has Justin on their payroll. Babygate needs to be out in the MSM now. If Sarah will lie about her son's birth, she will lie about other things.

Journalism Professor questions how the MSM handled the babygate rumors

University of Northern Kentucky Associate Professor Bradford wrote a paper on how the MSM handled the Trig rumors.  You can read it here.

Updated April 8, 2011 to include a copy of Professor Scharlott’s paper)

A Northern Kentucky University professor’s research about how the news media handled rumors of a pregnancy hoax by former vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin has gotten a spirited response from her former spokesman.

In his paper “Palin, the Press, and the Fake Pregnancy Rumor,” associate journalism professor Brad Scharlott explores how the press handled the rumor that Trig Palin may not actually be the son of Sarah Palin, asserting that there was enough evidence of a pregnancy hoax to warrant asking more questions.

“[There’s] a theory out of mass communications that ideas not in the mainstream can be squeezed out of the public sphere entirely,” Scharlott said. “I think that’s what happened with the idea that Palin may have faked the pregnancy and now, while some people may privately speak about it, no one in America wants to be quoted about it.”

Once Scharlott completed his research, he said he submitted a copy to Bill McAllister, who is currently the communications director for the Alaska Department of Law and had previously served as the communications director for Sarah Palin during her vice-presidential bid in 2008.

“[In the paper,] I suggest that he was in fact, possibly, involved in a hoax,” Scharlott said.
“In the spirit of fairness, I thought he should get a copy. That’s what journalists normally do.”

But McAllister, who was a reporter before becoming Palin’s spokesman, said Scharlott is trying to connect two things that have nothing to do with each other.

In his research, Scharlott indicates that Palin may have hired McAllister because he caught on to the pregnancy hoax rumor, but McAllister maintains he never knew anything of the rumor until she announced her vice-presidential bid.

After sending his research to McAllister, Scharlott said he was not expecting what came next.

“If we ever meet, I’ll slap you,” McAllister wrote in an email to Scharlott on April 5. “In a different era, I’d challenge you to a duel.”

McAlliser’s email continued, calling Scharlott a “scoundrel” and “despicable.” He then forwarded his response to Scharlott to five other members of the Communications Department, with the subject line “Brad Scharlott disgraces your university.”

“He should be fired, frankly,” McAllister said. “I can’t believe [the] university is going to let some idiot present a paper [like this.]”

McAllister is quick to point out, both in his emails and over the phone, that he is, in no way, speaking on behalf of the Alaska Department of Law, but as “someone who is demeaned and lied about in this paper.” Emails obtained by The Northerner were sent to and from his personal email account, and he said he spoke to reporters on his lunch break.

“I had never even heard a rumor [about this] until she was chosen by McCain, then that weekend all kinds of shit came out that no one had heard before,” McAllister said. “[Scharlott’s research] defames me and I’m just not having it.”

McAllister said that after he sent the emails to other members of NKU’s communication department, Scharlott responded to him again, this time telling McAllister that he “made a deal with the devil.”

“That blows any pretense that he’s objective or fair,” McAllister said. “It proves it is not academic rigor but vitriol.”

McAllister said he found many factual errors in the paper when he read it, such as incorrect call letters to TV stations, and facts taken out of context.

“He doesn’t come out and say it, but he is implying there is some link between the story about Trig [Paxton Van Palin] and my being hired by her,” McAllister said. “The two things have nothing to do with her. She hired me because I was the best known politics reporter in the state of Alaska.”

McAllister said he denied the charges on behalf of Palin because he was her spokesman, not because he had any role in a pregnancy hoax. He said the only part he played during Palin’s pregnancy was that of a reporter.

“Aside from interviewing her in her office when she came back to work, I had nothing to do with it,” McAllister said. “I had nothing to do with her personal life.”

Scharlott said McAllister should have responded to the research in a different way.

“If I were him, I would have tried to have been cool and calm and try to explain away in a cool and calm way what ever seemed to indicate that he was part of the hoax,” Scharlott said. “He was wildly swinging out trying to make me look bad any way he could, but he didn’t really think through what he was doing really well, or he doesn’t really understand what universities are about.”

McAllister said he normally would not have bothered responding to Scharlott, saying there are “nuts all over.”

“But he implicated me in it, and i’m just not going to stand for that,” McAllister said. “I worked in journalism for 30 years, and I have a reputation for honesty, and I’m not going to have it besmirched.”

Scharlott said he first became interested in the pregnancy hoax rumor after Palin was nominated as a vice-presidential candidate, and said he was fascinated that no one from McCain’s camp chose to rebut the rumor.

In his paper, Scharlott says that the “oddness of the McCain’s campaign response to the fake birth rumors should have caused reporters, ostensibly skeptical by training and nature, to wonder if something was amiss.”

Scharlott asserts that this topic is relevant because Palin is still saying she may decide to run in the upcoming presidential election, “because if Palin has lied about the pregnancy, it says a lot about her character, her fitness for the presidency, and maybe even her mental health.”

But McAllister continues defend himself from allegations of a hoax.

“The burden of proof ought to be on him,” McAllister said. “He said I attempted to pull a hoax on the American Public. He should have to prove that.”

Scharlott defended his research, saying he did not explicitly accuse anyone of being involved in a hoax.

“I’m saying its possible, maybe even likely, there has been a hoax, but I am not saying its proved.” Scharlott said. “The ball is in their court to provide some proof.”

McAllister is leaving his position after this week to go back into journalism, and he said his departure from the Attorney General’s office has nothing to do with Scharlott’s research. McAllister said he was not aware of Scharlott’s research until Monday, the day after the Anchorage Daily News leaked that he is leaving the Attorney General’s office.

Scharlott has submitted his research for publication and to present it at an academic event, but it has not yet been accepted.

Former Palin spokesman Bill McAllister's response in the Alaska Dispatch to the Professor's paper:

Associate professor Scharlott -- whose name aptly combines “charlatan” and “harlot,” both phonetically and symbolically -- compares himself to an investigative reporter but demonstrates none of the tenets of responsible journalism.

For example, he “buried the lead.” You have to read several paragraphs into his diatribe before you discover that the reason for my response to him was not the seemingly ludicrous premise of his “paper” -- that Trig Palin is not really his mother’s child -- but his cavalier attempt to draw me into a controversy that doesn’t concern me except in the most tangential way.

On Saturday morning, Sept. 12, 2009, I narrowly escaped death due to complications from a cancer that had been diagnosed 11 months previously. I have an incurable condition that, thankfully, is at the moment under control. But I do not know if I will get to live a normal lifespan for an American man of my generation.

It is in this context that I have adopted a “zero tolerance” policy for lies about my character. The charlatan associate professor suggests that I should have responded to his completely unsubstantiated innuendo with some helpful comment or diplomatic riposte.

No chance. At this stage of life, I’m not going to sit still when anyone alleges that I was part of an unprecedented hoax perpetrated on the American people. That’s calling me a liar. That’s calling me a conspirator. That basically says that a record of 30 years of quality journalism should be chucked into the trash because of a fleeting association with Sarah Palin.

The harlot takes at face value and very seriously my comments about slapping and a duel. That’s fine. I just think it would be incumbent upon him, then, to take every other part of my email just as seriously: That he has no reason and no proof to cast aspersions on me in regard to the Trig controversy. That to treat me as collateral damage for his ideologically inspired slash-and-burn campaign against Sarah Palin is immoral.

Let’s review the facts. On the 6 p.m. broadcast of Channel 2 News on March 5, 2008, I announced to Alaskans that the governor revealed she was in the seventh month of pregnancy. The governor shared this information with me and two other reporters just under 30 minutes before the newscast.

When the birth of Trig was announced on Friday, April 18, 2008, I was in Anchorage -- not at the valley hospital -- sitting in at an Alaska Press Club panel discussion on the presidential race, with, among others, syndicated columnist Leonard Pitts Jr. There was no conversation -- at least that I was a part of that weekend -- that included any speculation that the child was not really the governor’s.

The following Monday, when Gov. Palin returned to work, I interviewed her in her Anchorage office about, among other things, the fact that she was only the second sitting governor in U.S. history to give birth.

And that is the extent to which, as a news reporter, I had any significant involvement with the story of Gov. Palin’s pregnancy and delivery.

Mr. Charlatan, for no reason other than the fact that I was later hired by Gov. Palin, insinuates that I ignored evidence of a pregnancy hoax. But he provides no names, dates or means of communication demonstrating that I was told about such a hoax. He does not cite other reporters who were told of the alleged hoax. He does not provide any trail of evidence that a reporter should have followed up on.

The truth is I never heard of this rumor until the governor was picked by McCain for the ticket. Try to find one person who says otherwise, that they told me about it. You can’t.

And then, yes, she denied it, and as I was by then working for her, I denied it on her behalf. I certainly had no reason to believe it was true, so there was no crisis of conscience involved.

Ah, but the harlot asks, what about the photos taken on the second floor of the Capitol on April 13, the final day of the regular legislative session. Well, what about them? The KTUU and KTVA news crews interviewed Gov. Palin about her thoughts on the close of the session. What’s unusual about that? The camera was not mine, but I agreed to pose in one of the shots, which shows a seemingly very pregnant governor. How did they get on the web later? I have no idea. I was never in possession of the photos or the camera they were taken on. KTVA reporter Andrea Gusty later did a news story on the conspiracy theory involving the photos. 

She is a better person to address this than me.

What does the associate professor think I should have done? Asked for permission to feel the governor’s stomach? Question her aggressively about the progression of her pregnancy and the timing? Why? What reason existed on April 13, 2008, to do anything of the sort? I was reporting on politics, not gynecology.

Unfortunately, Palin’s polarizing national persona has created an incredibly toxic environment in which it is not considered enough to attack her. It is also necessary, at any cost, to destroy anyone who ever said a nice word about her.

After going on three years of this horrendous behavior by supposedly reputable people, it is fair to say my patience has long past worn out. I am not paid to speak for Sarah Palin anymore, and I don’t feel I have to be the one to defend her against the dozens of bogus allegations that have been leveled. But at the same time, I am not going to let it be said in my obituary -- however soon that might be written -- that I allowed unsavory, unethical political opponents of hers to shred a reputation I have built up over decades, winning numerous state, regional and national journalism awards in the process.

Believe whatever you want. But keep me out of your fantasy. Or there will be a response.

And Professor Scharlott's response to Bill McAllister in the Alaska Dispatch here:

Sarah Palin’s former press secretary Bill McAllister wrote this to me last Tuesday night. “If we ever meet, I'll slap you. In a different era, I'd challenge you to a duel.”

And Mr. McAllister, not satisfied with sharing those thoughts with me alone, put them in emails under the heading "Brad Scharlott disgraces your university" that went to many of my colleagues at NKU.

Here’s the background.

I’ve written a research paper with the title “Palin, the Press, and the Fake Pregnancy Rumor: Did a Spiral of Silence Shut Down the Story?” I have submitted that paper to the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, with the hope of presenting it at the group’s fall meeting. (Papers go through a judging process.)

And, because he appears in that paper, I sent a copy of it to Mr. McAllister, asking if he had any reaction. 
 (McAllister served as Palin’s director of communications from mid-2008 to mid-2009.)

Ever since August of 2008, I have been fascinated by how the U.S. press reacted to the rumor that Palin did not truly give birth to Trig, reportedly born in April 2008, just as I have been fascinated by the claim that Obama was not born in the United States. Both rumors arose around the same time in 2008 (the Palin rumor started in Alaska), but they have had different histories.

The Obama fake-birth-certificate idea (and variants of that) have had no problem getting into the press -- hundreds of stories about whether he is truly qualified to be president have appeared in the nation’s newspapers since the start of 2008, based on a search in the Newspaper Index database.
By contrast, the idea that Palin may have staged a hoax concerning the birth of Trig has essentially become taboo in mainstream media, with only a few stories in the Anchorage Daily News treating the question in a serious way.

Eric Boehlert summarized the situation nicely last July when he wrote in Media Matters for America that “back in 2008, 99 percent of people in ‘the media’ did the right thing and ignored the Trig nonsense.” And Newspaper Index shows the same has been true since then.

Why the enormous difference in rumor coverage? In my paper, I suggest that the “spiral of silence” phenomenon came into play with the hoax rumor about Palin but not the one about Obama.

In a nutshell, a spiral of silence takes place when people perceive an idea they hold is outside of what most people seem to think and therefore censor themselves, to avoid disapproval or ridicule. And the more such people censor themselves, the more outside the mainstream the minority idea becomes, until the idea is virtually extinguished from the mainstream, at least as represented in the mass media.

A spiral of silence would seem to explain the virtual taboo in mainstream U.S. media relating to the Trig hoax rumor -- even though many Americans privately question Palin's birth story. Prominent British author Christopher Hitchens, writing from Washington, D.C, last year, observed in the Spectator, a British publication: “An astonishing number of well-informed people tell me that Sarah Palin is not in fact the mother of baby Trig, but that she is ‘covering up’ for another family member whose child he really is.”

By contrast, various factors -- such as the aggressiveness of “truthers” and the helpfulness of conservative politicians in, say, proposing legislation relating to birth certificates -- have kept the Obama rumor front and center in the nation’s media.

To make the case in my paper that the media should have paid more attention to the Trig hoax rumor, I pointed out that when the rumor first appeared in nationally prominent blog sites Palin offered no documentary evidence, such as a birth certificate, to prove her maternity.

Instead, she revealed to the world that Bristol was then pregnant, which was supposed to prove that Sarah must be Trig’s mother, given when Trig was reportedly born. But of course, if there had been a hoax, then Trig’s actual birth date is unknown.

One thing that greatly helped the McCain campaign squelch the hoax rumor was the mysterious appearance on the internet, right after the hoax rumor broke nationally, of two photos showing Palin looking very pregnant, much more so than in any other publicly available photos. (The poster of the photos was never identified.)
I
ndeed, during the previous spring, reporters for the Anchorage Daily News variously wrote that Palin “simply does not look pregnant” (at seven months) and that she “did not get big with this pregnancy” (after she reportedly gave birth). Published pictures from the spring support the reporters' observations. 

One of those two mystery photos, taken on April 13, shows Palin being interviewed by a TV reporter. The other picture shows her standing next to TV newsman Bill McAllister, who, I wrote in my paper, “coincidentally would become her director of communications three months later.” (In early April, a Daily News columnist wrote that McAllister was preparing to leave KTUU, and bloggers later wondered if he had been negotiating a job with the Palin administration while still covering it.) 

The fact that I italicized “coincidentally” is what sparked McAllister’s seeming outrage.

He wrote: “The italicized word ‘coincidentally’ … makes you a scoundrel …”
And he continued: “I can tell you that I never even heard of the fake pregnancy rumor until the VP selection. 
 Let me repeat that: As the most connected politics reporter in the state for years, I NEVER EVEN HEARD OF IT!!!!”

However, on August 31, the day McCain selected Palin, Anchorage Daily News reporter Kyle Hopkins wrote that the fake pregnancy rumor was “long simmering in Alaska.”

The day before that, a Daily News reporter had asked McAllister if Bristol was pregnant. He replied: “I don't know. I have no evidence that Bristol's pregnant.” Two days later, the McCain campaign said Bristol was five months pregnant.

What McAllister is trying to do now to me is what I write about in my paper -- a clear attempt to kill any discussion of what happened in April 2008. He could have responded to my paper by explaining the circumstances surrounding the mysterious picture he appears in next to Palin, such as who took the picture and why. Instead, he practically threatens violence against me. Let me implore him here to explain what he knows about those two mysterious pictures and how they got on the internet.

McAllister is covering Palin's ass.   Why would he have such an angry response?

Is babygate finally going to be exposed by the MSM.

According to Gryphen at Immoral Minority it is. All I can say is about fucking time!

The Immoral Minority: Finally! Updated.: "As I have said there are a LOT of damaging facts coming out about Sarah Palin this year. And literally since I first posted&nbsp..."

Reason #4 not to vote for Sarah Palin for President

BABYGATE!

It is pretty obvious Sarah Palin did not give birth to Trig.  Lots of pictures, videos, and comments to prove it too. And it's all right here.  Special Thank you to the authors of Palingates for doing this:

Palingates Babygate roundup

This picture was taken at the end of March 2008  Sarah would have been 7/12 months along.  Does she look pregnant to you?  I didn't think so.

Will add more later.