The Case Against Sarah Palin's Faked Pregnancy

 yesterday Andrew Sullivan of The Atlantic wrote:

"[...] I should put on the table what I think was the real news in the interview. On two occasions, she said:

       'When you're running for office, your life's an open book.'

"[...] It seems to me that if you are on record saying that your life is an open book, and you have a state-run web-page about your infant son, and your own children's travel is paid for by the state, and you presented your infant son at a convention televised across the entire world, and you sent out a press release outing your own daughter's current pregnancy, then it is not despicable, evil, vile or outrageous for the press to ask factual, answerable questions about Sarah Palin's experiences as a pregnant and non-pregnant mother and about her marriage and about her parenting of her children. Palin herself just said so."

I agree with Sullivan that if Palin's life is an open book, it is fair to ask about Trig's maternity. After all, protecting Bristol's reputation is hardly an issue now since Palin herself outed her daughter's pregnancy. And more to the point, voters obviously have a right to know if a candidate for the vice presidency did in fact fake a pregnancy while serving as governor. Perhaps the biggest reason to doubt Palin's claim that she is Trig's mother is the very fact that she outed her daughter's current pregnancy to rebut rumors of the faked pregnancy when she could have avoided that humiliation by providing convincing evidence in numerous ways, such as in the form of a birth certificate. And, of course, the announcement of Bristol's current pregnancy does not prove Trig's maternity at all, since we have no way of truly knowing how many months Bristol is now pregnant.

There are other things that cast doubt. For example, has a single independent (i.e., non-family) confirmation of Trig's maternity been produced? The answer one gleans from news accounts is "no.”  And that is odd, for if Sarah Pain is the mother of Trig, then of course the medical staff who attended to her at the hospital would gladly have come forward (with Sarah's permission) and said, "What bizarre nonsense those rumors are -- we helped deliver the baby!" Moreover, as far as I can determine, the physician who delivered the baby has never publicly said who the mother is, and she's declining interviews on the matter -- and that physician just happens to be a political appointee of Palin's.

So, if we accept that Sarah truly is Trig's mother, there's just one strange thing or coincidence after another -- e.g., involving Sarah's seemingly reckless behavior in traveling to and from Texas in the eighth month; the physician's reportedly unsound advice concerning the trip; the inability or unwillingness of anyone to produce an official record of the birth; the amazement of Sarah's staff and the reporters on hand when Palin announced her pregnancy in the seventh month because, as the reporter wrote in his news account, she "just doesn't look pregnant"; Bristol's reported absence from school for over five months corresponding to the second and third trimesters of the pregnancy, etc. On the other hand, if we stipulate that Bristol is the mother, all the anomalies disappear -- except for the idea that a sitting governor would fake a pregnancy, which also seems bizarre. But all considered, I find the Bristol-as-mother explanation far more compelling because of the logical rule-of-thumb known as Occam's razor:  "All other things being equal, the simplest solution is the best." 

So if Sarah Palin's life is an open book as she claims, I think it is time that the press ask her to provide some convincing evidence for her version of Trig's birth, a version which to date is filled with enormous holes.

Two things. The insurance company was never billed for Trig. Only (after he was already here. Second thing anyone who has children knows Sarah is not the mother. Why on earth would her daughter's boyfriends sister be in the hospital room holding Trig as a newborn. Here is the time line , I think. Bristol got pregnant August  2007, has Trig four weeks early to the surprise of her parents. There was a baby boy born  in a hospital about 45 minutes  from the other hospital to one (Amanda and Levi on April 18th, 2008.) Is Bristol's middle name Amanda? Creepy Creepy creepy. Poor Bristol. Creepy mother. Why throw your daughter out there when you could have dispelled all the rumors with one piece of paper. Instead you publically announce to th eword the reason Trig is your son is because Bristol is almost 5 months pregnant with another child. Way to go Mom. Way to really support your kids. I believe Trig belongs to Bristol. I believe Sarah Palin just got booted as a nominee as parent of the year. That's really sad when you do this to your own child. Best pray for forgiveness. Bristol is showing more now because this is her second child.

In case anyone is still curious, here are two websites that collecting information on the question of who are Trig's parents:

http://www.geocities.com/palinbabyquestion
http://www.palindeception.com