By Steve Holland
Monday, 1 September 2008

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The Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin has announced that her 17-year-old daughter is pregnant, in an announcement intended to knock down rumors by liberal bloggers that Palin faked her own pregnancy to cover up for her child.


Bristol Palin, one of Palin's five children with her husband, Todd, is about five months pregnant and is going to keep the child and marry the father, the Palins said in a statement released by the campaign of Republican presidential candidate John McCain.

Bristol Palin made the decision on her own to keep the baby, McCain aides said.

"We have been blessed with five wonderful children who we love with all our heart and mean everything to us," the Palins' statement said.

"Our beautiful daughter Bristol came to us with news that as parents we knew would make her grow up faster than we had ever planned. As Bristol faces the responsibilities of adulthood, she knows she has our unconditional love and support," the Palins said.

The Palins asked the news media to respect the young couple's privacy.

"Bristol and the young man she will marry are going to realize very quickly the difficulties of raising a child, which is why they will have the love and support of our entire family. We ask the media, respect our daughter and Levi's privacy as has always been the tradition of children of candidates," the statement concluded.

Senior McCain campaign officials said McCain knew of the daughter's pregnancy when he selected Palin last week as his vice presidential running mate, deciding that it did not disqualify the 44-year-old governor in any way.

In the short period since she was announced last Friday, Palin has helped to energize the Republican Party's conservative base, giving the McCain camp fresh energy going into the campaign for the November 4th election against Democrat Barack Obama.

McCain officials said the news of the daughter's pregnancy was being released to rebut what one aide called "mud-slinging and lies" circulating on liberal blog sites.

According to these rumors, Sarah Palin had faked a pregnancy and pretended to have given birth in May to her fifth child, a son named Trig who has Down syndrome. The rumor was that Trig was actually Bristol Palin's child and that Sarah Palin was the grandmother.

A senior McCain campaign official said the McCain camp was appalled that these rumors had not only been spread around liberal blog sites and partisan Democrats, but also were the subject of heightened interest from mainstream news media.

"The despicable rumors that have been spread by liberal blogs, some even with Barack Obama's name in them, is a real anchor around the Democratic ticket, pulling them down in the mud in a way that certainly juxtaposes themselves against their 'campaign of change,'" a senior aide said.

http://www.independent.co...15378.html

Do they take lessons from the Org?
Because it's being spread it has to be liberals, Democrats (partisan, not the mainstream they think they can attract), and the Obama campaign.

I guess anything that doesn't give them a poll boost is Democratically inspired, led, or spread.

Or maybe its their M.O. that has infiltrated the Org.

Do they take lessons from the Org?
Because it's being spread it has to be liberals, Democrats (partisan, not the mainstream they think they can attract), and the Obama campaign.

I guess anything that doesn't give them a poll boost is Democratically inspired, led, or spread.

Or maybe its their M.O. that has infiltrated the Org.

Do they take lessons from the Org?
Because it's being spread it has to be liberals, Democrats (partisan, not the mainstream they think they can attract), and the Obama campaign.

I guess anything that doesn't give them a poll boost is Democratically inspired, led, or spread.

Or maybe its their M.O. that has infiltrated the Org.

SUPRMAN said:

This isn't some cooked up conspiracy about baby swapping or a woman in the public spotlight putting pillows up her shirt. Just a plain ol' story about a teenager overcome by lust and now is punished with a baby.

topperharley said:

A baby is punishment?

SUPRMAN said:

This isn't some cooked up conspiracy about baby swapping or a woman in the public spotlight putting pillows up her shirt. Just a plain ol' story about a teenager overcome by lust and now is punished with a baby.

Byron said:

that's what i thought. i thought babies were good things.

I never believe rumors that are not substantiated - but we live in a tabloid hungry society. The masses lap up this kind of sensationalism, and the internet is an even more immediate way of spreading rumors like this like wildfire, often times using false sources and associations.

Still, being 17 years old and pregnant is awfully young. As a woman who is being touted as a super mom of five ADN a public servant, do you thin this will hurt Palin's image at all? She claims to be anti-abortion but pro-contraception. Also, that she is a member of the party who advocates family values, will she be questioned for perhaps not instilling those values in her own family?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbZJYWjkAPo

Byron said:

that's what i thought. i thought babies were good things.

topperharley said:

A baby is punishment?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbZJYWjkAPo

topperharley said:

Yep - he was talking about sex education and in a hypothetical statement he said that he did not want his daughters to be "punished with a baby." He probably meant burdened, but he said punished.

Well, Ok - don't vote for him.

DiminutiveRocker said:

Thats exactly what he meant.

i seriously doubt that the Obama camp was behind any rumors - just like McCain would know better. lumping everybody on the left together is just plain partisan stupidity.

and the line about "respect our daughter and Levi's privacy as has always been the tradition of children of candidates" is just laughable. they called Chelsea the "white house dog" - hell, McCain himself said Chelsea was ugly because Janet Reno was her father.

i seriously doubt that the Obama camp was behind any rumors - just like McCain would know better. lumping everybody on the left together is just plain partisan stupidity.

and the line about "respect our daughter and Levi's privacy as has always been the tradition of children of candidates" is just laughable. they called Chelsea the "white house dog" - hell, McCain himself said Chelsea was ugly because Janet Reno was her father.

hell, McCain himself said Chelsea was ugly because Janet Reno was her father.

I said up above that I think it's the part about Bristol getting married that will actually do the most damage...The "family values" thing won't have any bite simply because that's a phrase from almost 20 years ago. The "Compassionate Conservatism" phrase bit the republicans in the ass more because it's associated with this current administration..."family values" is connected more with Dan Quayle and Murphy Brown lol ...

But seriously...it's gonna look like Palin and her husband are forcing their teenage daughter to get married in order to appease the Far Right, because to them having a child out of wedlock is a no-no ...Every parent in America can relate to the fears and realities of their teenage daughters possibly getting pregnant...but them getting married?...

Well, I hope their family is prepared, they are in the international spotlight now. As far as the daughter is concerned, it happens. But I'm sure it's going to really raise more questions about Palin's ability to be there for her children. I was watching a kind of question and answer session involving a conservative audience and their feelings about Palin as VP, it was mixed but one thing that was brought up is her ability to raise her children with the added responsibility.

True - getting married so young is a scary thought. It seems to be an old fashioned type of solution, doesn't it? Like legitimizing the pregnancy or saving face in public. Is it as irresponsible as getting pregnant that young?

I don't know, the whole "family values" thing can be dusted off and brought up again in light of this news. The point is, will her good mom image be smudged?

True - getting married so young is a scary thought. It seems to be an old fashioned type of solution, doesn't it? Like legitimizing the pregnancy or saving face in public. Is it as irresponsible as getting pregnant that young?

I don't know, the whole "family values" thing can be dusted off and brought up again in light of this news. The point is, will her good mom image be smudged?

IrresistibleB1tch said:

He really said that?

Hilarious. Tacky, but hilarious nonetheless.