Sarah Palin's daughter, from Reuters.

[there buster]

Sarah Palin's daughter, from Reuters:

ST. PAUL (Reuters) - The 17-year-old daughter of Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin is pregnant, Palin said on Monday 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 Alaska Gov. 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.

MCCAIN KNEW

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 4 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.

And the best some can do is "tell the truth" about such "interesting" rumors.

[olger]

Nothing wrong with pregnancy at all.

If you are married.

And stay that way.

[Dr. Shane]

Sadly, young Christian girls have a higher rate of unwed pregnancy than non-Christian girls primarily because they don't get started on birth control not believing they are going to have sex. Then things happen and before they know it they are pregnant. It isn't an easy issue for Christian parents raising children in a sex-crazed society.

[carolaa]

Thanks for sharing that. I was just thinking that the they really need to come out and tell the truth soon, so I'm glad they addressed it. I felt that there were enough questions raised by enough people that it needed to be dealt with. As long as they are telling the truth, the issue should go away fairly quickly.

[there buster]

Quote:

they really need to come out and tell the truth soon

Quote:

So his name is Levi.

That's about the only thing that I didn't know about Bristol Palin's pregnancy. The rest of the details I picked up almost without trying, while talking about other things with townsfolk — some who know the governor and her family well, some who don't. It was, more or less, an open secret. And everyone was saying the same thing: the governor's 17-year-old daughter is pregnant, the father is her boyfriend, and it's really nobody's business beyond that.

[color:#000000][And all the vile speculation about the parentage of Trig was utterly without foundation]

I happen to agree.

This tiny town wedged in between the Chugach and Talkeetna mountain ranges has intrigued the whole country since John McCain's surprise Friday announcement that Wasilla's favorite daughter, Sarah Palin, would be his running mate. Sure, some of the interest was a prelude to attacks on Palin's readiness for national office. But Wasilla also offered a welcome chance to get specific about the geography of a politician. It's one of our most cherished myths, that a leader can come from somewhere and you can guess at their qualities not just by what they say, but where they live.

Well, here's the deal: small towns have their own value systems, and in this situation those values are more a lot more valid than the dispassionate, pushy inquisitiveness that political journalism encourages.

I just got off the phone with a longtime Wasilla resident. She had urged me to find time today to go up to Hatcher Pass—"the most beautiful place in the valley!"—when I mentioned that the story on Bristol's baby is now national news. Her voice slowed. "Oh," she said. "I'm so sorry. That's so unfair."

Read the rest from TIME

The truth about what? Invented scurrilous slander?

Do the math. Trig is 4 months old. Bristol is 5 months pregnant. There was no 'secret.'

The truth is that the leftist blogosphere slandered an innocent woman and her daughter, and some here on CA lapped it up.

[Kountzer]

A few weeks ago the slanderous topic du jour was Obama's poor lost, alchoholic brother, whom someone searched the four corners of the world to find, just so they could use him to smear his famous brother. Some people here kicked it around and got their yuck yucks out of it. I didn't notice anyone decrying the slanderous neocon blogspere. Now that the sock is being tried on the other foot, all of a sudden CA is a dispicable place.

[there buster]

I did not participate in that thread.

And there is no comparison between asking why a relative has been uncared for, and eagerly assuming a mother and teenage girl conspired to lie about a pregnancy.

One concerns neglect, the other an active conspiracy. Failure to distinguish between the two is an occasion for pity.

[Amelia]

Awww phooey. Ichabod beat to the punch. Just getting ready to post this same news bit.

[Kountzer]

Someone's adult brother makes choices; ultimately he has to live with those choices. If obama was an anonymous citizen no one would spend a second on that story. But, because he is a politician and possible president, people try to beat him up with it like a 2x4. Partisan hypocracy.

[there buster]

I did not participate in that thread.

And there is no comparison between asking why a relative has been uncared for, and eagerly assuming a mother and teenage girl conspired to lie about a pregnancy.

One concerns neglect, the other an active conspiracy. Failure to distinguish between the two is an occasion for pity.

[Amelia]

Alright Ed. Bravus has stated his part. No need to keep needling. I don't wish to see this type of post again. Thanks

Amelia

[Kountzer]

A 17/18 yo bride and mommie whose mother is potentially the VP. The media talking heads can't wait for that.

[there buster]

Quote:

I don't wish to see this type of post again.

The IRON RULE of Behavior: What get's rewarded gets repeated.

Having rewarded evil surmising and slander, you will get more of it.

[Kountzer]

If there was any neglect it was on the part of Obmaa's Dad. Obama & his brother didn't even grow up in the same household. Just because someone is your biological sibling doesn't mean very much. it's been that way since Cain and Abel. If someone shares the same parents the same type dna, and grew up in the same household, that person is your brother, or sister.

I grew up an only child. I had friends that had brothers and sisters, and I wished I had what they had. I grew up to find out I had some half siblings. i went around looking them up. I found out those people were strangers. I had more in common with my friends than I did with them.

But this is not about neglect, or about siblings, this is about smearing someone in the name of politics.

[Amelia]

I agree with you Kountzer.

I have a brother that is 14 yrs older than me. He left home before I even got to the age of comprehending a family unit. Over the years I had very very little contact with him and none of it was in a brother to sister way. So in my mind I grew up with a sister but no brother. I have to remember to tell people I have two siblings when asked about it. We are strangers but share blood ties. What he has done in life has been his own thing and never played any part in my life. It's sad really. I would have liked to know what it was like to have a brother.

[there buster]

I agree with everyone. Why talk about the character assassination of Sarah Palin and her teenaged daughter in a thread about-- oh, wait, that's what this thread is about!

[lazarus]

Just imagine if Obama's daughter was 17 years old. Imagine if she became pregnant.

I wonder what wild, unfounded and ridiculous things would be on Fox, right wing talk and posted on this forum.

[there buster]

Quote:

I wonder what wild, unfounded and ridiculous things would be on Fox, right wing talk and posted on this forum.

Yes, there you go. Compound wild, unfounded speculation against Sarah Palin with even more evil surmising about those you disagree with.

It's certainly audacious.

[lazarus]

For some its audacious, to others its a simply an observation based on what we've seen before.

[there buster]

Quote:

Compound wild, unfounded speculation against Sarah Palin with even more evil surmising about those you disagree with.

Quote:

its a simply an observation

Sorry, wrong. An observation concerns the past. Speculation concerns the future. Evil surmising is speculating about evil in the future. As a justification for the promulgating scurrilous rumors about an innocent party, it is pathetic.

As an excuse to compound the offence, it is vile.

[lazarus]

Quote:

Compound wild, unfounded speculation against Sarah Palin with even more evil surmising about those you disagree with.

Quote:

its a simply an observation

Sorry, wrong. An observation concerns the past. Speculation concerns the future. Evil surmising is speculating about evil in the future. As a justification for the promulgating scurrilous rumors about an innocent party, it is pathetic.

As an excuse to compound the offence, it is vile.

You are absolutely right!!!

[jasd]

>>A 17/18 yo bride and mommie whose mother is potentially the VP. The media talking heads can't wait for that.<<

Texans too, yes?

>>If someone shares the same parents the same type dna, and grew up in the same household, that person is your brother, or sister.

I grew up an only child. I had friends that had brothers and sisters, and I wished I had what they had. I grew up to find out I had some half siblings. i went around looking them up. I found out those people were strangers. I had more in common with my friends than I did with them.

But this is not about neglect, or about siblings, this is about smearing someone in the name of politics.<<

I suppose one might argue that a pass on this issue vis-à-vis the Presidential hopeful is called for; except, however, he’s made poverty a raison d’être. I recall him saying at me through my television set – that

we oughta bring our troops home from Iraq and spend the monie$ instead – on alleviating poverty – worldwide. Last I recall,

Kenya Africa comes under the rubric – worldwide, yes? and,

that would include little bro’, by my reckoning.

[Pockey]

Just imagine if Obama's daughter was 17 years old. Imagine if she became pregnant.

I wonder what wild, unfounded and ridiculous things would be on Fox, right wing talk ...

I totally agree with you. Fox wouldn't stop talking about it if this was Obama's daughter.

[lazarus]

They would be saying "this speaks to character, judgement and leadership". How can he be commander in chief if he can't "command" his household etc. etc......

[lazarus]

Of course, they would be saying "this speaks to character, judgment and leadership". How can he be commander in chief if he can't "command" his household? etc...etc...etc...etc