More Filth

Vanity Fair decides it wants to get the McCain/Palin ticket elected.

Political Commentary

Some of the filthiest of political filth has been perpetrated by the nutroots. And these smears do NOTHING to help Obama:

The Internet rumors claimed that Sarah's baby, Trig, born four months ago with Down syndrome, wasn't really hers but her daughter's. They plucked some photos from the Internet, photos out of sequence, to make it appear as though Gov. Palin hadn't been pregnant, proving once again that on the Internet, the casualties are credibility and civility. Reading it, you could almost hear the saliva dripping from their teeth as they typed anonymously.

And this:

I don't know if Komodo dragons can type, but their mouths are so full of bacteria that if they bite your leg you'll likely die. This anonymous Komodo was probably in mommy's basement, perhaps with a bowl of Chex Mix and a Diet Coke nearby.

That's the charitable explanation. I really would like to know this person's identity to see if indeed it is some pimply kid in somebody's basement or whether the person was a paid operative. He or she spent a LOT of time on those posts, which were transparently bullshit on their face. The person reminded me a little bit of the notorious "Buckhead" on Free Republic who alleged the Killian memos were forgeries (NEVER proven, by the way).

In the end, it's all about sexism.

By the way, Clinton was as much a victim of it as Palin.

More Palin [Updated]

Instead of apologizing for allowing a hoax to be published on his site and for failing to track down who "ArcXIX" really is, Markos Moulitsas decides to change the subject and point to his bloggers doing the "vetting" of Sarah Palin (of course not Obama):

Moulitsas says he doesn't know who the anonymous ArcXIX is -- his contributors decide whether to identify themselves -- but that his site also disclosed that Palin was once a member of the Alaskan Independence Party, which has pushed for a vote on seceding from the United States. That was confirmed Monday by ABC News.

"Our people are doing the vetting. Even if some of it is hitting dead ends, other ones are striking direct hits," Moulitsas says. His role, he adds, "is to sit back and let the citizen journalists do their job, and I amplify the stuff that shakes out."

Not good enough, Markos. You need to publicly apologize for allowing the hoax to be published and track down the offender for TOS violations. If you won't do it, somebody else in the blogosphere with the capability should "out" this individual to see if the person has any connection with either presidential campaign or is just a troll.

Update: Markos finally got around to deleting the offending posts.

Another update: A couple of blog comments to note:

No Quarter

Cannonfire

Palin

I wouldn't be surprised if the GOP had not only fanned but even started the silly tale about Sarah Palin and her daugther.

The person who created the hoax at the Daily Kos, Arc XIX, had just three posts to his or her name, and the last one before this weekend's final two was in 2005. Reading the posts it is easy to surmise this was a well-planned hoax.

And yes, the fact Obama was late in the condemnation actually made him look worse and, as Cannon notes, he only referred to children being off-limits to smears.

It is okay to smear adults, of course. He is the absolute master at that.

No matter the origin of the rumors, the onus is on Obama.
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Campaign Filth Rebuttal

Now that fanatics or paid operatives already spread the filth about Sarah Palin and her daughter so that the story is out there regardless of the truth, Barack Obama condemns it and vows to fire any staffer who spreads the rumor.

Obama denies his campaign had anything to do with the filth.

He reminds us he was the son of a teenage mother (and a married father).

Palin [Updated]

To rebut the absolutely ludicrous rumors, Sarah Palin announced her daughter, Bristol, IS pregnant and plans to marry the father.

Bristol is about five months pregnant. It also was no secret in her hometown of Wasilla, Alaska.

Well, Kos and those guys will continue to insist that Bristol gave birth to Sarah's baby when she was one month along with another baby!

Along these same lines, No Quarter's Larry Johnson has nothing but the kindest words for Andrew Sullivan for posts like this.

All you have to do, Andrew, is look at the goddamned photos of Sarah Palin when she was pregnant with Trig, you idiot.

Update: Here are a couple of posts about the filth by the so-called "progressive blogosphere":

Tennessee Guerilla Woman

Cannonfire

This stunt was an all-time low, even for the Daily Kos.

More Palin [Updated]

Here is the Juneau paper/AP report of Palin having given birth to Trig this past April:

Gov. Sarah Palin gave birth Friday to her fifth child, a boy, about a month before her due date.

Trig Paxson Van Palin weighed 6 pounds, 2 ounces. A news release from Palin's office says the 44-year-old governor and the baby are doing well and resting comfortably.

And this:

Palin went into labor Thursday while attending an energy conference for governors in Texas, where she gave a keynote address. Her contractions let up enough for her to fly home on Alaska Airlines to deliver her baby in Alaska, Leighow said.

Until there is proof otherwise the "rumors" are bullshit. After all, there would be plenty of witnesses at the governor's conference to Palin going into labor.

People should take a look at the "urban hike" video again. Palin is wearing what could only be described as a maternity jacket.*

The Anchorage Daily News reported her pregnancy back in March.

She felt safe flying to Alaska to have her baby:

Gov. Sarah Palin’s decision to make the eight-hour flight from Dallas to Anchorage has some people wondering about the possible safety hazards of flying while in the late stages of pregnancy.

The governor, eight months into her pregnancy, noticed amniotic fluid Thursday morning prior to giving a keynote luncheon address at the Republican Governor’s Energy Conference in Texas. After wrapping up the speech, Palin and her husband consulted with her physician about possibly flying home on an earlier flight. After being granted permission from her doctor, she and her husband proceeded with the trek home.

These stories should put the rumors to rest.

Obamabots should be ashamed of themselves, but they have no shame. Sexism knows no political party.

Here is another blog commentary about this despicable rumor.

I will probably lose my membership at Daily Kos, but what the hell:

Why Hasn't Kos Deleted This Filthy Thread? (0 / 0)

There were a number of news reports at the time about Sarah Palin's pregnancy if you had bothered to do your stinking homework, but you decided you had to do something--anything--to trash somebody solely because they are from the opposing political party.

The worst thing about this filth of yours is Palin's children have been thrown out there and perhaps even ridiculed because of the lies you have posted.

You know, somebody should be able to sue Kos for defamation. Just because you have an anonymous handle, don't think you can get away with this crap.

I hope Obama loses every single state, and I think he will. Keep it up, Kossacks, keep up the filth and I guarantee he will be trounced.

by Susan Nunes on Sun Aug 31, 2008 at 07:37:02 PM PDT

Drudge has this filthy rumor plastered on his site.

Some of the overseas media are getting into the act.

Finally, this site has pictures showing without a doubt Palin was very pregnant earlier this year.


Here is another one:




The "smoking gun" photo of the Palin family was taken in 2006:



___

*--After the site being down, it is now up.

More Palin [Updated]

I have heard this rumor going around the internet about her baby not being hers but her daughter's instead.

This is an interesting take from the people who made the video podcast of her urban hike. However, the video podcast of her walk doesn't disprove her pregnancy at all. The baby was born premature, after all.

The only problem with this is Down syndrome is very rare among younger women, especially those in their teens, while it is or was common among women Palin's age, at least before amniocentesis and abortion of DS fetuses. Just because a teen has a "bump," like yours truly has had one all her life, that doesn't mean there's a pregnancy.

That's the problem with this rumor.

If the rumor is true, it could hurt her and even force her out of the slot, but on the other hand it could create a lot of sympathy. After all, whose business is it about a private family affair? Bristol is only 16 years old and could hardly stand the media scrutiny.

This video appears to give the lie to the rumors. Governor Palin appears very pregnant here at a March meeting. I doubt very seriously she was running around with a pillow under her clothing:




People should be ashamed of themselves for peddling this crap. It is similar to the speculation that was surrounding John and Elizabeth Edwards' two youngest children. It is disgusting. I am now anxiously awaiting Larry Sinclair to be interviewed by Larry King.

Update: Somebody has been vandalizing her bio over at Wikipedia, and no edits are allowed there for the time being. Her article was neutral until the idiots decided to put "babygate" on the site.





(HT: Commenter Mary Louise)