Palin's Daughter Pregnant, Campaign Announces

Sarah Palin's 17-year-old , unmarried daughter is five months pregnant, the campaign has announced. Hoping to quell internet rumors about about her youngest son, Palin released the news about her daughter Bristol earlier today.

A statement released by the campaign said that Bristol Palin will keep her baby and marry the child's father. Bristol Palin is five months pregnant, and the baby is due in late December.

"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. We're proud of Bristol's decision to have her baby and even prouder to become grandparents," Sarah and Todd Palin said in the brief statement.

"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," they added.

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Fighting rumors, Palin mislead the press about the pregnancy as late as Saturday. Editor and Publisher has the story.

When news broke, it had not yet been reported by her home state papers, which have often been the source for outside media for other background on Palin.

When the Anchorage Daily News did report the news today, it pointed out: "The Daily News had asked Palin's press secretary, Bill McAllister, over the weekend to address rumors that Bristol was pregnant. 'I don't know. I have no evidence that Bristol's pregnant,' he said on Saturday."

The McCain team asserted that he knew about the pregnancy when he selected Palin. She has five children and now a grandchild coming as she hits the campaign trail.

Comments

[mayhem4masses]

Who cares? This is America, girls younger then 17 get pregnant all the time. I'm voting for... I'm not telling you, but it's not McCain. The point is, we have turned this whole campaign in to one big tabloid debauchery, jab after jab, after jab. When does it end? When can we get back to talking about what matters? Foreign affairs, the oil crises, rising taxes, home foreclosures, the terrible economy, the unemployment rate, immigration, and so on, and so on.

http://www.barackobamasworld.com

[genseric13]

Feminists used to always say, "women can have it all". Palin is the personification of this theory, but Sally Quinn and liberals say she should stay home with kids. WTF.

[maddie0001]

Women can have it all, just not at the same time. Even conservative women get that.

[ccpostman]

I'm guessing that the Republican Party is getting Levi a nice job in exchange for marrying Bristol.

Now if they can just get the rest of us good paying jobs and good healthcare for us and our babies, I'll vote for them!

[citizenmike]

I am so tired of this Alaskian Hillbilly Soap Opera. Banjo music is resonating everywhere. Can we get back the issues, And can I kick Bush in the butt for wanting to give Georgia 1 Billion dollars. How can we stop that. We need that money at home.

[KAOS13AL]

SINCE THE GUY WHO GOT HER PREGNANT IS AN ADULT & SHE'S A MINOR WHY ISN'T HE IN JAIL FOR HAVING SEX WITH A MINOR??? ISN'T THAT ILLEGAL IN ALASKA LIKE IT IS IN THE REST OF THE US of A OR DID SOMEONE PAY OFF THE WASILLA COPS?????

[Ibackobama]

Saw this post on BBC... interesting take.. As sad as I am for this girl put out there in the limelight.. I agree with what this blogger had to say...

"Why is it that when all is rosy, the family is wheeled out. When the hypocrisy and stupidity which holds the US back from being a great nation as it is being run by narrow-minded bigots like becomes evident, then the family is private entity..you can't have it both ways

The problem is not just that someone with all their opportunities and possibilities has an underage pregnancy. The tragedy is that it shows the facade that these family values really are. If Americans are ready to swallow this..they�ll get the leaders they deserve..The child (which is what she is) didn't need to be dragged into politics to create an image, but now that it�s been done, you can�t suddenly ask for privacy when you were the one who asked for the limelight. V poor judgement all round!!"

[orangepetal]

Bristol is blessed to have a mom like Sarah Pailin. Should all young girls be so lucky.

[RedDonnaAnn]

I have heard NO ONE ask Bristol Palin what she wants. If she wanted an abortion, would her parents let her, support her?

As to can Palin govern as a mother. For pete's sake, it's not just about FIVE kids, she's BREAST FEEDING AN INFANT. It's not like the Obama's whose children are school age and normal.

The lack of insight is astounding.

[neveralone]

i am so frustrated by the conversations surrounding 17 yr prego.
why does everyone only connect abortion to young moms? or rape?
what about the mother of five, who is poor as hell, working and saving to be able to leave her abusive husband...only to find herself, pregnant!
abortion rights are for all women, not just for girls like palin's daughter.
palin is pathetic.
how come it is even acceptable to think her daughter CAN (should) marry?!? at 17!!!
what kind of america do we want here, people?
these are LEADERS?
oh yeah - if i hear one more person call palin a "go getter", or a woman with "drive"...didn't they just hillary for the same thing?

[Greenhalge]

I find it very ironic that John McCain has gone off the deep end over any mention of Palin's daughter in reference to her pregnancy. I agree that children should be off limits if you're making insulting or demeaning comments. I don"t think confab regarding her pregnancy in reference to her familys highly touted "family values" is anything like the what's below. Here would be a primary example of what should be off limits;

While giving a speech at a Republican dinner in 1998, John McCain made this joke about Chelsea Clinton, (go ahead and google it)

"Why is Chelsea Clinton so ugly? Because her father is Janet Reno.”

Hmmmm.....go figure.....

[handclappin]

WOW, I might be reading into this, but Sarah Palin could be part of McCain's ultimate strategy to wedge the tired debate over reproductive rights front and center in 2008.

Forget about the war, or the economy, McCain's camp know he's losing ground on both of those pivotal issues -- but with an inexperienced female Veep, who supports her teenage daughter's pregnancy, they have effectively underscored two of Obama's potential weaknesses for all those coveted swing state conservatives: Obama's pro-life record and his own inexperience.

[NyiNya]

I don't care that this poor child got herself pregnant (despite all those good family values that were no doubt crammed down her throat). It's not my business. But I wonder at Ms. Palin's kicking this kid to the curb in her eagerness for the VEEP spot. She has to be smart enough to know that the media spotlight is going to broil her daughter...and the girl will be remembered her entire life for being an teenage unwed mother. I would not subject my child to that kind of awful scrutiny. Seventeen is a tough age anyway. Why make it a horror show. I guess some ambition is so all-consuming, it eats its own young. And, by the way, who is taking care of the kids while mom is on her Washington Merry Go Round? Dad, the new House Husband. Yeah...but what about when he has to train for the Iron Dog races, or decides to take off fishing for a couple of weeks, or hunting? Want to be the real care giver is the same unmentioned nanny who has been doing it all along. Family values. Mmmmm. Mmmmm.

[BitchKitty]

As a woman, who is voting for Obama, I am quite offended by the "how will she have time?" comments. She's married, what is wrong with her husband quitting his fisherman job to support the family at home? The person I was most offended by was John Edwards when he threw his hat into the ring. How insensitive and uncaring can he be to have a dying wife, small children at home and decide he wants to be President NOW? Those kids would have been virtual orphans with no mother or father at home. I could care less about his affair. His love affair with himself was obvious.

Sorry, I am getting quite offended by all of this talk about how Palin is an uncaring mother. She might be, but all of this just reeks of 1960. I'm so disappointed in the women who tout this in the Democratic party.

[rkaa]

When was Sarah's first child born? How long after the wedding?

[Chemwiz]

Huffington Post has no shame. The fact that they publicize this trash about children is a real shame. That sh%t wasn't allowed to happen to Al Gore's son (DUI) but a GOP candidate's child is fair game...disgusting pigs...

[mabinog]

Daughter is pregnant.
Mother knows daughter is pregnant.
Mother worked in media.
Mother knows about reporters and sensationalistic stories.
Mother is a politician.
Mother knows politicians and their families will be in the spotlight.
Mother takes job offer to run for the vp of the United States.
Mother knows this is yet another reason she and her family will be in the spotlight and more scrutiny.
Mother tells Pres candidate about daughter's pregnancy.
Mother's campaign does not disclose this fact immediately upon choosing her.
Mother's boss has had his adopted daughter used to attack him by his own party.
Mother and campaign announce pregnancy after reporters break a story about it.
Mother asks for privacy.
Mother's political ideology is one that ignores the privacy of women.
Mother and campaign then decide to parade pregnant daughter and soon to be husband in front of millions at the RNC.

is this good judgment?

[claudia2455]

I am pro-choice, pro-science, and will vote for Senator Obama.

I would like though to point out a few strands that seem to have been lost in this discussion: first, is not being pro-choice about being in favor of all women's right to choose? I disagree with Governor Palin's wanting to deny this fundamental right to all women; I support her right to give birth to her youngest child--and think her eldest daughter fortunate to have her mother's unconditional love and support (good parenting right?). Although I agree with Senator Obama that the Governor's life is private, we need to discuss the ways in which anti-choice policies have blighted and prematurely ended the lives of too many women (and men). I agree that "every life is sacred." And that's why I decry politicians and policies that deny women (and men) the basic knowledge and practical means of protecting themselves.

Does Governor Palin have *any* foreign policy experience? the closest to said experience being that Wasilla is close to Anchorage which, before I left Alaska, 2-plus years ago, was the sexual and domestic violence capital of the U.S.--by 122% ... as one line in a Ferlinghetti poem went, "the wounded wilderness of Morris Graves is not the same wild west the white man found"). Bush had no foreign policy experience either (unless you count knowing enough to not want to fight a war in Vietnam).