Sarah Palin: Trig's Grandmother, or Mother?, page 1

Hang on!

I know what you’re thinking. This story ranks right up there with Obama being born in Kenya, right? You’re probably also thinking this has been covered on ATS to death and it’s a hoax.

Is it?

I’ve always wondered about this issue because the people making the allegations had some interesting points to make. Personally, after it died out on the internet leading up to the election I assumed it was discovered to be total bunk.

Fact is a new report came out today, April 13th, and of all places it was published in Business Insider.

www.businessinsider.com...

Still reading? Cool...

Professor Bradford Scharlott of Northern Kentucky University has looked into this story in detail and written a long academic article about it. He concludes two things:

* First, that the "conspiracy theory" is likely true--Sarah Palin staged a huge hoax, and, second,

* The American media is pathetic for not pursuing the story more aggressively

This Professor Scharlott makes some very interesting points in this latest update and it appears he’s got his ducks lined up in a row pretty well. Here’s a link to his complete paper on the matter:

www.scribd.com...

Some highlights from Professor Scharlott's paper:

Palin returned to work three days after the purported birth and held a press conference. A reporter there asked if her water broke in Texas. When Palin balked at the question, the reporter said Chuck Heath, Palin’s father, had said that, and then Palin seemed uncertain how to answer:“So that was again, if, if I must get personal, technical about this at the same time, um, it was one,uh, 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 let’s call her [“her” being Dr. Baldwin-Johnson, Palin’s physician].” 8

Palin thus seemingly confirmed that her water broke in Texas, although her answer was sufficiently muddled that one might argue otherwise. In any event, KTUU reported that Palin’s water indeed broke in Texas, and if that is true, then it’s also true that she waited some 20 hours before going to a medical facility

How about the "suddenness" of the announcement by Governor Palin?

After McCain named Palin as his running mate on August 28, at least a few posters at Internet sites almost immediately began saying that Bristol, Palin’s 17-year-old daughter, was really Trig’s mother. The post that made the biggest splash appeared at the popular left-leaning Daily Kos blog site, where “ArcXIX” wrote on August 28: “Well, Sarah, I'm calling you a liar.And not even a good one. Trig Paxson Van Palin is not your son. He is your grandson.” 11 In that post, the author quoted an Anchorage Daily News article written by Wesley Loy on March 6:

JUNEAU -- Gov. Sarah Palin shocked and awed just about everybody around the Capitol on Wednesday when she announced she's expecting her fifth child. …Palin said she's already about seven months along, with the baby due to arrive in mid-May.That the pregnancy is so advanced astonished all who heard the news . The governor … simply doesn't look pregnant. Even close members of her staff said they only learned this week their boss was expecting. …

(Interestingly, Palin had announced she was pregnant the day after McCain clinched the Republican nomination. Palin had already been mentioned as a potential choice for the VP slot on the ticket.) 12

Then there is the frustration the Anchorage Daily News encountered from Governor Palin's office when trying to DEBUNK this rumor. (That's right, they were trying to help put the rumor to bed and instead ended up getting the run-around)...

As noted, the poster ArcXIX at the Daily Kos said the press had “debunked” the fake birth story in 2008, although that conclusion seemed unwarranted. However, after the election, the Anchorage Daily News decided the time had come do just that – debunk the rumor. Executive editor Pat Dougherty assigned reporter Lisa Demer the task of putting the baby hoax story to rest by obtaining indisputable proof of the birth from Sarah Palin’s office or from her physician, Dr.Baldwin-Johnson.

Demer hit a brick wall – no one would provide the evidence she sought. Furthermore, Palin fired off a furious e-mail to Doughterty, who posted the contents of her e-mail, along with his response, in his Editor’s Blog of January 12, 2009. Palin’s e-mail first complained about some coverage issues relating to Levi Johnston (her supposed soon-to-be son-in-law) and his mother, and then she wrote: “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 responded:

You may have been too busy with the campaign to notice, but the Daily News has, from the beginning, dismissed the conspiracy theories about Trig's birth as nonsense. … In fact, my integrity and the integrity of the newspaper have been repeatedly attacked in national forums for our complicity in the "coverup.”

He then assures Palin that he has always considered the conspiracy theories “nutty nonsense,” then asks rhetorically, Why has Lisa Demer been investigating Trig's birth?

Because we have been amazed by the widespread and enduring quality of these rumors.I finally decided, after watching this go on unabated for months, 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 then notes that Demer had received no cooperation in getting any information from Palin’s side to quash the rumors, and that therefore the story was shelved. He concludes: Even the birth of your grandson may not dissuade the Trig conspiracy theorists from their beliefs. 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.

Time will tell

So easily resolved, and yet...

It is worth remembering that the executive editor of the Anchorage Daily News publicly confronted Palin in January 2009 with the fact that no “clear, contemporaneous public record” of the birth had surfaced; but the nation’s press (or at least those paying attention) chose to overlook this glaring lack of evidence. Nothing could be simpler for Palin than proving she is Trig’s mother,if she really is – yet she has failed to produce a birth certificate, any bona fide medical record, or any other real evidence

There is so much more to read at the full reports link (it's 29 pages, I'm not going to post every single nugget contained within). Be sure to check out some of the photos of Governor Palin taken shortly before Trig's birth. There are a couple of "whoops" that by all accounts show a very UN-pregnant Palin.

Now personally, I don't care about the ethical improprieties behind this alleged scandal.

What I do take great offense to is when public figures try to dictate to us how we should live and act in our daily lives when they themselves cannot live up to the standards they insist we need to be at.

My apologies for the long post, but I had to throw some highlights in otherwise nobody would bother to read the full report and jump to conclusions.

One more time, here's the link to the complete 29-page report:

www.scribd.com...

Let the debate begin!

reply to post by Kangaruex4Ewe

---

Again, good counter-points.

Still, the entire linked paper addresses so many counter-arguments. Please check it out in it's entirety.

There is no hard proof. That's why debunking on Governor Palin's part would be so easy. Provide the documentation and the matter is settled.

Also, did you check out the photos in the paper? (Perhaps I should post them? I've known many women well into a pregnancy and the photos he shows make me really wonder. REALLY wonder.) Now I can almost hear the cries "PhotoShop". No, I'm not buying into that. First, too easy to prove otherwise, which would in turn destroy this professor's career. Secondly, I've seen one of those pictures before and it's never been debunked.

Thank you for replying. I love a good debate. Guess that's why I'm an ATSer!



ETA: I'll gladly upload those pictures if somebody can help me out. ATS Video and I do not always get along.

reply to post by Hessling

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I read the professors article earlier this week, and I think he is on to something. I think this should be pursued as much as the birthers wanting to see Obama's birth certificate. If she faked her pregnancy, she lied to the American people as she was running for VP of America. If she is capable of pulling off a hoax such as this, what else is this woman capable of doing???

reply to post by Aisling

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I don't buy her story, period. There are pictures on the internet of her first pregnancy and she was huge. Could she not have shown so much during her fifth? Maybe. I question her judgment to fly under those circumstances knowing full well she was carrying (maybe) a high risk fetus. She put her life in danger and the life of the fetus. Poor judgment. She never told the flight attendants she was in labor, nor did they even know she was pregnant. Sorry, her story smells.

reply to post by rocha123

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Ask your wife if she would take a 10 hour flight if her water broke and she was feeling the beginning of labor. Preface your question first with suggesting your wife's pregnancy was high risk.

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