The Trail: A Daily Diary of Campaign 2008

Sarah Palin's FIRST RESPONSIBILITY is to her down syndrome child and her 17 year old unmarried pregnant daughter. The down syndrome child will need special care and from a mother and father; the daughter will need reaasurance (not just freedom and money) that her overly ambitious mother will not continue to forsake her and her younger sibblings as she pursues her power trips first with senator Ted Stevens; mayors and now as Governor of Alaska.

I am not sure why others are not seeing this for what it is. DAMN THE CHILDREN ... I want to represent women that the whining Hillary could not do!!

I pray for her children.

Something has been bugging me since I watched her acceptance speech - she never once held her baby, which is what anyone would do at least after the speech, and I wondered why - now I know! she was actually hiding her daughter's belly! Made her daughter stand and hold that baby the whole time! I wonder if I am the only one who noticed that - I think that was sneaky and dishonest - also the other daughter constantly held the baby's blanket over HER belly. Could there be another announcement later? I really think this lady is hiding a lot of secrets.(Troopergate, oil deals, backing Ted Stevens although she claims to be a reformist, etc, etc...)So much intrigue in such a short time! Also,this "average hockey mom" governor would like people to think she's a supermom - PLEASE - she has "people" to do all the mommy stuff - she will have "people" take care of her baby, just like they have taken care of her other kids. She can't govern AND drive kids to practice, etc. I'm not fooled.

Before Palin can play pretend to manage the national affairs of the White House she needs to practice at running her own household affairs.

This a sad day for Republicans, No matter how hard they try to cover it up
'If it smell like.. and it feels like.. and tastes like excrement, than it must be excrement"
I now know Obama will win this election, McCain is a slithering snake in my book now.

Three days post vetting.

Three days.

-Was for the Bridge to Nowhere before she was against it (and only then when it was GOING nowhere);

-Failed to reveal that her 16 year old daughter became pregnant illegitimately until the facts were about to be revealed. Has taken a solid stance against sex-ed and favors abstinence only education;

-Hired a lawyer to defend against charges related to threats of firing her brother-in-law;

-Was a member of a group that favored the secession of Alaska from the United States;

-Was part of Ted Stevens' 527;

-Husband (and potential first Man) arrested for DWI.

So, she was part of a movement to have Alaska secede from the United States.

More foreign policy experience!

I had a NON offensive Opinion about what I think will happen, and just like i posted, they erased/deleted my comment. Freedom of Speech...KMA!! Your FOS, and BTW...You guys are no good. ERASE THAT!! ASIUYA!!

Is the baby's from the 19 yr. brother or from her father; where was the mother; this smells of incestial behavior. Leave it up to the Alaskans moral behavior which was the VP's candidate platform which she ran to win the Governor's position. How shameful, but they can't turn back now, thus the GOP will twist the facts and justify this incestial behavior as family value....Thank you Ronald and George and our beloved Karl Rove.

Obama is right to take the position he did, but the rest of us who have to vote to chose our next leader don't have to be so diplomatic. If you are going to put yourself in the spotlight, then yes, your personal behavior and that of your family members does become an issue. As my teenage son said so eloquently... She is such a staunch social conservative and wants to this country to follow the same idealism, yet she can't seem to get her own children to follow. What kind of a leader is that?

She has proven that their position and preaching abstinence really does not work. Fortunately, we do still have the right and schools are able to teach sex education. One of the very small issues of this campaign, but certainly a glimpse of why this choice was so bad for Senator McCain.

Good choice John McCain! Thank you for helping me make my decision.

Congratulations Bristol! Hope yours is an uneventful pregnancy. I am a democrat. Let's make it clear that I do not speak for the democratic party, or the Obama campaign. I speak only for myself.
I hope that the rumors about Gov. Palin's 5th child is not true but if it is I hope McCain ends her nomination immediately. To exploit any child with a disability is just wrong!

I'm looking at most of the comments above me and I fear for the future of America, because it confirms to me what Winston Churchill knew all along: te best argument against democracy is spending five minutes with the average voter. I suspect that if you opened up the head of the average voter you'd find it filled with the same stuff they use to stuff Twinkies. :O People like that are the reason why slime-mags like the National Enquirer exist. Bunch of low class morons.

Seriously people, you got nothing better to discuss than a VP candidate's daughter's pregnancy? Oh ... btw, for those sheep who are going to bleat along party lines and blast me for being a McCain supporter ... no, I'm an Obama supporter. Nonetheless, like Obama, I'm cheesed off by the rodents who would resort to such ugly personal political tactics.

What did McCain know and when did he know it?
Does the Post really believe he knew about this controversy and still went ahead and picked Palin? Really?

goldwaterX said:
"I can only assume sex education was not taught in Palin household."

You're totally right. It's impossible that Bristol was taught not to have pre-marital sex and then did it anyway.

ji_john asks:
"1. If daughter Bristol was severely ill with mono in March, how was she able to get pregnant? She wasn't at school for 5 months."

She was able to get pregnant by having sex. School attendance is not a medical requirement for conceiving a baby.

I'm voting for McCain/Palin ticket for the entertainment value! If McCain knew that Palin's daughter was pregnant when he selected her as his running mate, he's pretty dumb. If he didn't know than he's even dumber.

I feel bad for the daughter..this lady is a creepy but we all know that..there is a lot of things we don't know...mccain should have picked someone known in the national stage because he wouldn't have to deal with closet secrets and believe me there has to be a lot of them because we americans don't even pay attention to Alaska..mccain should have picked Romney..he is rich so..it would made the campaing more fun..obama is loaded.(biden not so much) ..but I'm voting for obama..I'm not picking Roseanne for president(love the show but no)

At least they didn't try to convince us that it was the result of an immaculate conception.

I almost would have expected it - they're trying to convince us that ms palin is as or more qualified than Obama and Biden (I know,what a laugh, huh?) - so why not give the immaculate conception schtick a try - it's as believable as palin actually being qualified.

Listen up, people! This is breaking right now!!!

Trig is actually the son of Sarah's daughter Willow, who's actually carrying Piper's son and daughter right now by a worker on Todd's boat. Trig himself doesn't have Downs Syndrome but is just faking it in order to get sympathy. Meanwhile, Todd in engaged in a scorching affair with Arianna Huffington, whose daughter is pregnant by Chad, a Palin cousin. But, ***that's not the worst part***. The real father of Trig is Art Bell, who is not really Art Bell but was secretly replaced with a space alien named Morpholm during a botched experiment at Area 51!!!!!

Sarah Palin, I am calling you a liar! Art Bell replacement Morpholm is the real father of Trig!!!!

It's all true! I read it on DailyKos!

Barack Obama was not an illegitimate child. His parents were married. For goodness sake, can we stop printing this nonsense!

What do you suppose the conservatives would have said and done if Chelsea Clinton had gotten pregnant at 17? They would have lambasted her and her parents!!! This soap opera is distracting us from the important things this country needs to be debating! And if this is an example of the decisions McCain makes— Yikes, I don’t know if it’s worse if he vetted Palin and knew all about her or if he didn’t!

Abode:
The NY Times article stated that McCain KNEW about the pregnancy of Palin's Daughter. I wonder did they know what you have exposed in this blog? "...severely ill with mono in March, how was she able to get pregnant?"
"Traveling to Dallas at 36 weeks pregnant in the first place (via plane)
"Not going directly to a Dallas hospital once her water broke (at 4 AM) which would be standard procedure per a number of posts from doctors and newspaper articles (in fact, delivering a speech 8 hours later, and THEN catching a flight to Alaska)"
"Flying home 10-12 hours with fluid leaking risking infection and delivery in transit"
"Not telling the Airline (whose rules prohibit just this sort of thing: plus what regard did she show for the other passengers? What if they had had to make an emergency landing to save her and the baby?)"
"Bypassing the premiere area hospital - Providence, 15 minutes from the Anchorage airport (vs. over an hour to your own w/ no NICU) with an NICU to handle a 36 week preemie w/ the double risk of Downs Syndrome baby where her OB/GYN was on the staff of Dr. Johnson, a practicing OB/GYN, is an expert in child and adult sexual abuse."
What if Pailn is FULLY VETTED?

What a relief it is to clear up the parentage of her 5th child!
Now the medical, moral and ethical judgment questions I have are these:
1. If daughter Bristol was severely ill with mono in March, how was she able to get pregnant? She wasn't at school for 5 months. (Way to go, Levi!)
2. Palin's judgment in the whole story in giving birth to #5 child, in which she severely jeopardized her health and moreover, the health of her unborn child should provide a window into what she would be like as chief executive.
John Nail said it best this morning:
"1. Traveling to Dallas at 36 weeks pregnant in the first place (via plane)
2. Not going directly to a Dallas hospital once her water broke (at 4 AM) which would be standard procedure per a number of posts from doctors and newspaper articles (in fact, delivering a speech 8 hours later, and THEN catching a flight to Alaska)
3. Flying home 10-12 hours with fluid leaking risking infection and delivery in transit
4. Not telling the Airline (whose rules prohibit just this sort of thing: plus what regard did she show for the other passengers? What if they had had to make an emergency landing to save her and the baby?)
5. Bypassing the premiere area hospital - Providence, 15 minutes from the Anchorage airport (vs. over an hour to your own w/ no NICU) with an NICU to handle a 36 week preemie w/ the double risk of Downs Syndrome baby where her OB/GYN was on the staff of Dr. Johnson, a practicing OB/GYN, is an expert in child and adult sexual abuse,
6. What does this mean if anything to the situation?
7. Baby delivered in the local hospital by this "expert" even though it was supposedly 4 weeks premature and had Downs Syndrome
8. Returning to work after 3 days off after this ordeal

I cannot believe that these statements came from Americans. obama like me was a iligitmate child... big deal palins daughter will have one as well...

I can only assume sex education was not taught in Palin household.

Are you kidding, this woman doesn't think, she is trailer trash and Mccain picker her for his VP.
You can't make up this stuff.

----------
Why would she do this to her daughter? She HAD to have known this would get out if she accepted the nomination. I guess she's so ambitious that she didn't care what it would do to her daughter! I'm sorry, but she must be an absolute monster.

Posted by: Dan F | September 1, 2008 1:16 PM

Are you kidding, this woman doesn't think, she is trailer trash and Mccain picker her for his VP.
You can't make up this stuff.

----------
Why would she do this to her daughter? She HAD to have known this would get out if she accepted the nomination. I guess she's so ambitious that she didn't care what it would do to her daughter! I'm sorry, but she must be an absolute monster.

Posted by: Dan F | September 1, 2008 1:16 PM

This is not going away. it is just the tip if the iceberg. Every tabloid are without a doubt on there way down there now. Mccain picked the Dukes of Hazzard for a VP you think don't this white trash family don't have a lot of crap in their past? This just gets better and better.

In fact as fertile as Palin seems to be. I would bet my last dollar she has an abortain or two in her past before she was married. I will tell you why I say that. Almost every overly religious person I have even known had a past that brought them to where they are now and it was usually not good. Drugs alcohol you name it.

Palin's stance is so radical on abortion it has to come from somewhere. I know two women in our church who are like her and both had abortions when they were young and never got over the guilt. If I am right and you don't think the tabolids once they go down there and start throwing around a boat load of money they will dig up everything there is on "Daisy Duke" you are nuts.

She is going to implode so fast you will here it two states away. They better dump her as fast as they can.

___________________
Give the GOP credit. They have this ugly little announcement to make and they make it the day a hurricane hits the gulf. Talk about effectively burying the lead...

Posted by: scott032 | September 1, 2008 12:49 PM

This is not going away. it is just the tip if the iceberg. Every tabloid are without a doubt on there way down there now. Mccain picked the Dukes of Hazzard for a VP you think don't this white trash family don't have a lot of crap in their past? This just gets better and better.

In fact as fertile as Palin seems to be. I would bet my last dollar she has an abortain or two in her past before she was married. I will tell you why I say that. Almost every overly religious person I have even known had a past that brought them to where they are now and it was usually not good. Drugs alcohol you name it.

Palin's stance is so radical on abortion it has to come from somewhere. I know two women in our church who are like her and both had abortions when they were young and never got over the guilt. If I am right and you don't think the tabolids once they go down there and start throwing around a boat load of money they will dig up everything there is on "Daisy Duke" you are nuts.

She is going to implode so fast you will here it two states away. They better dump her as fast as they can.

___________________
Give the GOP credit. They have this ugly little announcement to make and they make it the day a hurricane hits the gulf. Talk about effectively burying the lead...

Posted by: scott032 | September 1, 2008 12:49 PM

This is not going away. it is just the tip if the iceberg. Every tabloid are without a doubt on there way down there now. Mccain picked the Dukes of Hazzard for a VP you think don't this white trash family don't have a lot of crap in their past? This just gets better and better.

In fact as fertile as Palin seems to be. I would bet my last dollar she has an abortain or two in her past before she was married. I will tell you why I say that. Almost every overly religious person I have even known had a past that brought them to where they are now and it was usually not good. Drugs alcohol you name it.

Palin's stance is so radical on abortion it has to come from somewhere. I know two women in our church who are like her and both had abortions when they were young and never got over the guilt. If I am right and you don't think the tabolids once they go down there and start throwing around a boat load of money they will dig up everything there is on "Daisy Duke" you are nuts.

She is going to implode so fast you will here it two states away. They better dump her as fast as they can.

___________________
Give the GOP credit. They have this ugly little announcement to make and they make it the day a hurricane hits the gulf. Talk about effectively burying the lead...

Posted by: scott032 | September 1, 2008 12:49 PM

Dear Washington Post, Please report on this story. The girl, or I guess woman in this case, is 17 and old enough to marry so I'd like to know who the father is, how old she was when she got pregnant, if her mom supports birth control Iif not why not), and why they waited until a level 3 storm hits to announce this "happy news". If you fail to cover the issue I might just have to switch my subscription to the National Inquirer, who hit the last big story out of the ball park. Get with the program Wash. Post. This is the info I want to read about. Much more interesting than the conventions.

What about B.O. Supporting Louis Farrakahn who is a real Hollocost denier. This man would personally like to see all Jews dead.

Disappointing that WaPo makes you click a link to get the Reuter's article which reports the real reason they had to release this news: YOU hateful Obama bloggers spreading rumors that Gov Palin faked Trig's pregnancy when in fact her daughter gave birth to Trig. The bar cannot be set too low for you people. It's disgusting and a big reason this independent will never support Obama. It's about time the MSM exposed the online hate smears by Obama bloggers to which his majesty has turned a blind eye and probably even promoted. It's unfortunate that WaPo chose not to disclose this directly but I'm sure other news sources will report it more prominently.

Were the Palins covering this up because her daughter would have been sixteen (or younger) at the time? If the man in question were older, by even a year, the Palins would be guilty of covering up felonious sexual abuse.

Don't forget that Palin believes global warming is not being caused by human activities.
That McCain would pick someone from a shrinking group of idiots who have no knowledge of, nor respect for science is another example of McCain's poor judgement.
Our miracle planet's biosphere just lost eight precious years of opportunity to take action on global warming, mitigating effects on future generations.
Life on Earth cannot afford another 8-16 years of inaction in order to educate another moron in the White House

this is crazy. so the rumours of Palin covering up the fact that Trig, her 5th baby is actually her daughter's child must be true. is it really a coincidence that just when this rumour was heating up they put out this announcement? awfully fishy. ugh . This Palin is already scandal-ridden. what a disgrace.

Why would she do this to her daughter? She HAD to have known this would get out if she accepted the nomination. I guess she's so ambitious that she didn't care what it would do to her daughter! I'm sorry, but she must be an absolute monster.

Anon,
Why don't you go back to Ben Smith's blog on Politico and look at the update on Palin '96. She wore a Buchanan button when he visited her town, but actually supported Forbes. If you so distrust Buchanan because of his views (no argument from me) why would you accept him as the source for this issue?
She's also expressed that both creation and evolution should be taught. What exactly is wrong with debating an issue or hearing both sides of the story?

No way she gets nominated. Within the next 24 hrs, she will blame the hateful lib bloggers, declare that her family needs her, and resign. Then McCain will appoint somebody he wants, like Lieberman. He will say to the religious right, "Sorry, but I tried. By the way, I'm keeping your $, thanks." You heard it hear first.

There are a lot of unanswered questions to this story that get to the heart of the honesty of the candidate and her instincts when responding to crisis. I hope the media continues to dig further...

As a human being, you have to feel bad for Bristol being dragged through the mud. But shame on mommy Sarah and McSame for subjecting her to the inevitable media scrutiny. As experienced pols, they had to know that the news would break before election day and that it would get ugly. Especially after McCain and his crowd have been slinging mud for months.

Wow, what a truly embarrassing VP pick. I'm a Republican who decided in February to cross over and back Obama. Watching 60 Minutes last night and seeing Obama and Biden together, it became even more obvious which team is serious about the issues facing this country. If the McCain/Palin camp had agreed to an interview that would have aired immediately after Obama/Biden, the world would have seen what is so obvious to those of us in the Republican Party who have a shred of rational intellect: Barack Obama is the strong leader that this country needs.

Give the GOP credit. They have this ugly little announcement to make and they make it the day a hurricane hits the gulf. Talk about effectively burying the lead...

If she cares anything about the party she needs to step aside and let them put in the Bobby. He is the star this week and the best Mccain could pick.

The gift that keeps on giving, Wait till the Enquire offers buckets of cash to get the dirt on this backwoods trash family. They are tabloid gold. My God

Thanks John.

God....is this the Spears family?

Just another example of how the modern GOP could give a damn about actually being conservative. You can't go around preaching family values and trumping up the 'sanctity of marriage' if your own daughter is having sex out of wedlock. Such hypocrisy. Looks like Palin just turned off even more of the conservative base.

Aw yes - such beautiful Family Values on display from yet another Social Conservative.

Having your 17 year UNMARRIED daughter being knocked up.

Perhaps Palin can put her wonderful parenting skills to use for the rest of us with the Socialist Family Values she would want to impart on all Americans....