Rumors, Smears and a Question of Judgement

August 30, 2008

UPDATE: MSNBC, and Reuters are now both reporting that Bristol Palin is in fact 5 months pregnant. At 17, she intends to marry the father (not sure who this is yet or his age) and have the child. Thank goodness, we can now lay the rumors of “preggergate” to rest, and focus on the real issues…like why do we really want the right-wing nuts running our sex education system. The abstinence only sex-program doesn’t seem to work all that well in Wasilla…

As a blogger, it’s easy to get swept up in stories as they swirl around. Some of these stories turn out to be of the lowest order - like the Larry Sinclair-Obama story. Others, like the John Edwards “Love Child” story, find themselves followed by a public confession and embarrassment.

In the last couple of days the rumor (or smear), that suggests Sarah Palin is covering-up her daughter’s baby, by claiming it as her own, has swept the blogosphere. This story is complicated for several reasons, not only because it involves a minor, a new baby, and a newly selected Vice Presidential candidate, but there’s also the question of judgement that seems laced throughout the story. I want to focus on what is verifiable and how that relates to judgement.

I’ve looked into the story quite thoroughly, and I cannot find any real justification for this story being true. There’s ample evidence that women, at 6 months pregnant, can still look completely normal. This appears to be the case with Sarah Palin, who surprised even her staff when she made the announcement that she was seven months along.

The rumors that her daughter, Bristol, was not in school for several months, having contracted mono, cannot be confirmed. Nor do I think they need to be. It’s one thing to take on an adult political figure, it quite another to go after their children.

My questions about Palin’s judgement assume that baby is quite definitely hers.

Here are the facts.

Sarah Palin spoke on April 17, 2008 at the Republican Governors Conference in Dallas, Texas. The morning she was to deliver her speech, she noticed her water broke. She delivered her luncheon speech. Then, having conferred with her doctor, determined that the she was comfortable enough taking a flight back to Alaska so that she could have the baby in Wasilla, Alaska.

Palin took an Alaska Air flight from Dallas, Texas to Anchorage, Alaska while knowing that at any moment she could deliver the baby. She chose not to inform the flight crew. Looking at Alaska Air schedules, in best case scenario, and without flight delays, this was a 9 and half hour flight with a change over in Seattle.

She made this flight, feeling that it was safe, based on past pregnancies. However, this was not any ordinary pregnancy. She was an entire month early. She was 44 years old. And she knew her child had Down Syndrome, which can lead to birth defects and complications that require a doctor’s exam.

Once in Anchorage, Palin then made the 40 mile trip to Wasilla. She checked into the Mat-su Medical Regional Clinic. The baby, Trig Van Palin, was born on April 18, 2008.

Sarah Palin was able to return to work within a few days. On August 29th she accepted the invitation to join John McCain on the Republican presidential ticket.

You be the judge. Is this an example of sound judgement, or does it frighten you as much as it does me?