Harriet Miers, anyone?!

She has more experience than Obama (yes, 2 years of governorship is more than 4 years in a 100-person senate).

I think your people owe an apology to the actually "just chubby" girls. We're waiting.

That picture was taken in 2006. Chubby girls can get pregnant too.

It's VPILF...you need to capitalize that.

by the way, I don't think Obama has been in the senate for 4..more like 3 years and half the time he's been running for president.

ok, which republican uses the hillary line?...NO WAY, NO HOW, NOBAMA.

I just wonder what else we will find out about gov. palen in the next few weeks. i. can't. wait!!

I think it *could* bring out the compassion in voters & gain the women sympathy vote. It helps the pro-life business as well. Two pregnancies that could have ended in abortion but did not.

This is like watching Jerry Springer! I have never in my life witnessed such rabid hatred for a 17 year old girl or a baby with Down's. Too bad this isn't 2004. If John Kerry could make Chris Reeve walk again, think of what he could do for the Palins!

the liberals are using this pregnancy to try to counter Rev. Wright, Ayers and Rezko...if they continue, I say the republicans ramp up the rhetoric on the community organizer and his shady friends.

NOBAMA has control who he's friends with...Palin can't control who her daughter screws.

Admiral Ackbar says... it's a trap! There's no way the Democrats can use this without having it blow up in their faces. Obama's people realize this, but the Kos kids were too stupid to think it all through. The conservatives who were planning to sit the election out because McCain isn't conservative will now be donating and manning the phones.

There is so much that may or may not be true, and sorry but this coming out right when the other story was gaining momentum does indeed seem beyond convenient - although quashing that with this is strange indeed especially if any (irrefutable) proof comes to light that her five month old is indeed her daughter's. And it is indeed relevant to the campaign, it is a glaringly evident to all now that this family is more Jerry Springer(as dana superstar said) than Jerry Falwell in how they live their lives. And so she has no right to preach to anyone, nevermind be a (72 year old) heartbeat away from the Presidency when she seriously believes in Creationism. And even if Palin gave birth to that five month old (unlikely at this stage, no? Ever known a kid that had mono for 5+months? me neither), if we take her at her word on that one, we are supposed to think it's ok that she hopped on a plane for an 8+ hour journey, knowing she was in pre-labour with a baby that one would presume she knew had special needs? What the hell kind of judgement is that? I almost prefer the grandma story to that. Sorry but showing they are a strong family unit by forcing the kid into teenage motherhood and a marriage that will no doubt end in divorce is not my idea of exemplary family values.

Steff, the "special needs" of a down syndrome kid are no different at birth. They can cry, eat, and poop, which is all babies are expected to do. Given that this isn't her first child, don't you think it's likely Sarah Palin has some idea how the whole birthing process works, and about how much time she has left? Isn't it something that's, well, her business, and doesn't the fact that she was right about the timing speak to the value of her judgment over yours?

As far as Trig being her grandchild... there was never any evidence, even circumstantial, supporting that contention. The whole idea makes 9/11 truthers look like cynical skeptics. The other story wasn't "gaining momentum" anywhere but in Andrew Sulivan's steroid-addled noggin, and really, that's not company you want to be in if you value logic and consistency.

So her daughter got pregnant at 16. I hate to break this to you, but that's a pretty common situation families deal with. Anybody who's had any contact with teenagers knows they don't always listen to their parents. It doesn't reflect poorly on Palin's competence as a mother - sixteen is old enough to know better.

I think that, as someone said up above, the Democrats are belatedly realizing the presence of a deflector field = not good things.

Seriously, from the Dem side, how do you use this to attack? This election cycle Obama will be held accountable for any media attacks as well by the electorate (one thing Hillary did well was tie those two together), so how does continued emphasis on this help his cause? I'm sure that most people, like silly me, actually believed the Dem's rhetoric that a woman's child is her business, anything else is patriarchal bullsh*t, etc., etc.--so what does the party gain versus lose when they're basically trying to paint the young Miss Palin as a wanton slag. (Oh, and whatever happened to not hitting candidates' families? How'd that work out for Kerry-Edwards again?)

Once more, the Left is showing that the Right has no monopoly on hypocrisy. Compare and contrast with how much we've heard about a 17-year-old's baby versus how much we heard about John Edwards' affair and you see why the general public thinks the media is in the tank for Obama. Barry may get it (or at least has the reptilian survival sense to rail against it), but if he or the Democrat party's leaders don't make everyone else "get it" then there's going to be another flurry of stories about conspiracy theories, Diebold machines, and why the "flyover yokels" are killing this country.

Personally, I think that it shows the Palin clan is just like anyone else in America. Which, btw, is going to be a powerful help with said red state inhabitants. How easy would it have been for the governor to get a doctor to just make this problem go away while simultaneously ensuring the father to be met up with a Kodiak? Pretty darn easy, methinks. Yet it didn't happen. That's going to resonate in middle America (i.e., Ohio).

Sorry, "special needs" is sort of a generic term for disability where I live. But regardless I very much think that it should have influenced her decision making. Contrary to your assertion it would have been smooth sailing, nearly half of all Down's babies have heart defects, many have stomach and intestinal problems - NOT something she would have been able to deal with had she gone into labour on the plane/in transit. No amount of her previous experience would have equipped her for that. But obviously I'm just making this stuff up because I want to call her a bad mother. I don't judge her for having a pregnant teenager, I do question her thinking that marrying the girl off and expecting her to raise the child without question is in the best interests of her child. I question whether that child will have had much say in whether she raises this baby or not, or gets married at such a ridiculous age - in my opinion as a mother she is deficient in that respect, especially as she follows a religion that is so quick to judge others.

Oh, and btw Steff--some of us come from those "forced marriages that are destined to end in divorce." Funny, but my parents will (hopefully) celebrate their 37-year anniversary in November. Oh, did I mention that all of us kids have gone to college (and two of us beyond), have no criminal records, and are gainfully employed? But, hey, you keep looking down your nose at the family that looks a whole lot like many of the ones I know. At no point are the Palins acting like this is ideal, but they are also not acting like this is some horrible calamity for which they should wear sackcloth and ashes. Notice that it sure has shut up the conservative right, which means McCain is coming out ahead for young Ms. Palin's indiscretion.

Last time I checked, wasn't what a woman did with her body her business? Oh, wait, that's right--only if she's a Democrat. Somehow I think that numerous entities (her security detail, the people flying the plane, her OB/GYN) would have all thrown a slide tackle into flying back to Alaska if there were any serious danger to her trip.

I find it quite amazing that those who have expressed strong woman equality ideals here previously are suddenly wanting to push the pregnancy = frail, terrible condition which must utterly change your life plans meme. That's BS, and it's a disservice to any woman who intends to do the motherhood / career thing rather than just the former.

Steff, those potential problems would have been known before the birth. And she was in contact with her doctor throughout the episode. Are you trying to suggest your judgment, with none of the relevant medical data at hand, is more reliable than that of Sarah Palin's doctor?

"Married the girl off"? In this day and age? Oh please.

James,

Hm never noticed I was looking down my nose at anyone - lord knows Sarah Palin would look down her nose at my extended family for having homosexuals in it. I was questioning her judgement with regards to her actions - to me it was reckless and bizarre, and I do need to know how this woman responds in a crisis. I never said the daugter's pregnancy was terrible, but yes I do agree it will have a very significant effect on her life plans - they will be temporarily on hold, her life will be about her child, all of which I would have no problem with were I confident this was truly her decision. Out of concern for her rights as a woman - well technically she is a child, I do question this. Calling her a woman because she is pregnant does not change the fact that she is a child from a home where I doubt she would have had much say in this first foray into motherhood. She has been treated like a child by her family, locked away under guise of illness like someone from a hundred years ago - yet now expected to become a grown up. Sorry for daring to slight arranged marriages, I forgot they are obviously the done thing nowadays?! You have read a ridiculous amount into a couple of quite simple points really, I'm amazed!

Steff, to believe that Trig is her daughter's child would mean that her daughter had Trig and then got pregnant again. Very unlikely. It's a coincidence that the Left's conspiracy theories matched reality at all. They wanted Jerry Springer but got a plain old story of a teenage girl with a bun in the oven.

See what happens when you spend too much time at the DailyKos?

And even if Palin gave birth to that five month old (unlikely at this stage, no? Ever known a kid that had mono for 5+months? me neither)

Bullshit. Putting aside whatever is going on in the Palin family, you should get your facts straight before making such blanket statements.

It's unlikely for mono to last that long, but chronic cases are not impossible nor unheard of. One of my friends had mono in junior high, and his chronic he effectively missed a half year straight of school.

Strike "his chronic" from above. The rest stands.

lord knows Sarah Palin would look down her nose at my extended family for having homosexuals in it.

And you are the product of their union.

Also Lord is capitalized - don't ever forget it.

Slattern.

Is anyone worried that Sarah Palin being a mother of five including a new born with down syndrome and with an unplanned pregnant 17 year old daughter will have to much on her plate just being a Mom? Will she have the time and effort needed to be VP on top of her family obligations and stress?

My friend and I had this discussion. Is anybody else? I believe this will be an issue in this election.

Is Sarah Palin the grandma or mom? How do we truley know that her daughter is 3, 4 or 5 months pregnant? By saying she is 5 months pregnant this month, does not rule out the fact that this could be her 2nd baby. Apri to Sept is 5 months! A woman can get pregnant right after they deliver if they don't use protection. And Sarah Palins "pregnancy" is quite suspicious:
1.Pregnancy not announced till March- 7 months pregnant, and no one in her office was aware that she was pregnant?! In fact, everyone was shocked.
2. Palin travels to Texas the day before the birth- breaks her water, and continues on with political speech, tnen travels 10 hours by flight back to Alaska, then drives an hour to a small town hospital!? All along, knowing that this was a high risk pregnancy due to her age and the fact that the baby had Downs Syndrome.
3. No one on the flight was aware that the passenger had broke her water and was in labor!?
4. Palin returns to work 3 days after giving birth to an infant with major illness.
5. Palins daughter was out of school for 5 months with "mono"!? This is an illness where you are usually assymptomatic or ill for 1 week - 3 months max. I am in the medical field, and never heard of such a thing---the daughter was pulled to hide the pregancy.
6. If you look at photos, the proof is there...the daughter looks pregnant while the mom is not even showing at 7 months....thought, she was huge at that point during prior pregnancies.
7. Rumor has it that a classmate of Palin is going around telling everyone that she was pregnant at 16yo.
8. There are no hospital records of the birth.
9. The OBGyn who delivered the baby has mysteriously vanished.

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