Anchorage TV Station: Sarah Palin Was "Definitely Pregnant" With Trig

I spoke to Cherie Shirey, Assignment Manager for TV station KTVA in Anchorage and she made the following statement...

"These internet rumors are very bizarre. We worked with Governer Palin many times in 2008. Our reporters worked her on location and in the studio and I worked with her myself. She was definitely pregnant. You could see it in her belly and her face. The whole idea that Sarah Palin wasn't pregnant with Trig is completely, absolutely absurd. "

It's a KTVA reporter in this picture with Governor Palin. Shirey confirmed the photo was taken in April, 2008.

Update: The picture was taken in 2008. This is confirmed.

However, a commentator points out that according to this link from Flickr, the picture WASN'T taken in 2008 but in fact seems to have been taken in March, 2005.

Here's why the March, 2005 is wrong - that camera wasn't announced until the end of July 2005. So now the conspiracy involves TIME TRAVEL, as well!

The time problem is why I called in the first place. The photo is from when Palin was Governor, end of the 2008 session, multiple witnesses, video tape...all the things sane people need to come to reasonable conclusions.

The incorrect 2005 date is easily explained - they didn't set the date correctly. I've done that. Look at these Piroshkis that Flickr says I took digital photos of in 1972, when I was seven years old! Those things are delish, by the way.

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Comments

[madhilde]

11:46 PM on 09/19/2008

I would like to know when Sarah Palin's Vogue picture was taken. Was she pregnant (or supposed to be) at the time?

[Eurovision]

11:00 PM on 09/05/2008

She does appear to be pregnant in this picture, but the Wall Street Journal quotes her as saying none of the flight attendants knew she was pregnant because she wasn't showing the day before Trig's birth. Which is it? Was she showing or was she not showing before birth? How about releasing the birth certificat­e.
?

[Alaskans know]

09:37 AM on 09/17/2008

Exactly. Since when do hospital birth records disappear! The fact that there are no official records of this baby's birth is alone sufficient to raise questions about his true parentage. This photo is probably altered; if not, where is the video from the same session? Sarah Palin would have been 7-8 months pregnant at the time this picture was allegedly taken. There are photos of Sarah Palin 7 months pregnant in a previous pregnancy and she was HUGE at seven months. With her fifth child, she would have shown more, not less.

Photos of Bristol show her with lots of pregnancy fat and enormous, engorged breasts just after the birth, and with a typical 4-month bump back in December 2007. Bristol still has milk-engor­ged breasts which Sarah does not, and is apparently nursing Trig since he is always with her.

Cherie Shirey probably got a big fat payment from the McCain campaign to vouch for this story.
Shame on Lee Strahanan for reporting it uncritical­ly!

[southguy]

10:01 PM on 09/05/2008

I love America! We think everyone we love is good and does the right thing...an­d if we don't love them they are crooks and liars. Can we just let this work it self out without alot of people repeating false informatio­n? We are so quick to attach ourselves to a cause with out checking the facts.....­why not just let the informatio­n come out from every source...a­nd THEN make your on decision..­....way too many people jumping to conclusion­s with part of a story. I have heard from both sides both repeating informatio­n on their candidates that proves to be totally wrong...bu­t people blog over and over repeating this incorrect informatio­n with out really checking the facts.....­2 weeks from now half of what you are fighting over will either prove to be true or not true.....t­he badgering today will not solve the issues. I will wait and see what happens then make my decision.
Lee seems you at least put the time and effort to get it right...un­like the rest of the media who just passes informatio­n along if it fits their political agenda.

[danthalis]

04:51 PM on 09/05/2008

Personally I am torn apart by this. I was a staunch supporter of McCain and his choice until this story. Now I don't know what to think.
Personally I would hope and pray that the truth turns out to be that she was covering for her daughter, that as a mother, she wanted to protect her daughter and faked a birth.

If that's not the truth..... then any woman, in premature labor, with fliud leaking, taking a 12 hour plane ride and driving to a clinic in alaska to give birth rather than going straight to a hospital then returning to work three days later, leaving a down syndrom baby in the care of a pregnant 17 year old with mono is obviously unable to make competent and sound decisions in times of crisis.

I can not possible find myself voting someone like that into office....

[FaceYourFears]

02:34 PM on 09/03/2008

Who's taking care of the 4 mos. old....I'v­e only seen the girls holding him.

[maribelle1963]

01:32 PM on 09/03/2008

The writing on this is completely confusing; I have no idea what is the final outcome.

WAS THE PICTURE TAKEN in 2005 or 2008?

Enquiring minds want to know.

[JNail]

09:34 PM on 09/03/2008

2008 and there are issues as to whether it is real

[beanchihuahua]

01:18 PM on 09/03/2008

I never believed that rumor because it's very plausible a 44 year old woman can have a Down's baby. Anything after 35 is considered "high risk"..Wha­t bothers me about her is that she does indeed have this special needs infant, went back to work after 3 days and is willing to not be there for him for a few months while she goes through what looks to be a very tough campaign. What bothers me is that she is putting herself first and obviously not her family, but wants to preach family values. I won't "go there" with her other daughter. Her family needs her more than this country.

[JiminNC]

02:40 PM on 09/03/2008

The state is picking up the bill for her childcare. Why the hell does she care, she has welfare.

[RealHRCFansVoteObama]

01:00 PM on 09/03/2008

I think faking the pregnancy would be more forgivable in the eyes of American mothers.

We can excuse her daughter getting pregnant - it could happen to ours (although hopefully we'd give them a little informatio­n on preventing it),

We might be able to sympathize with a financiall­y secure woman returning to work days after giving birth to a special needs child (a child she knew would have special needs), but when it comes down to it, we can also be pretty judgementa­l.

I've heard mothers clucking to each other when they see another mother leave a child in a turned-off car to run into a store. What do you think they'll say to each other when they learn more about how Sarah Palin gave a lecture and then embarked on an 8-hour-pla­ne ride AFTER she learned that her water broke? What do you think they'll say when they start thinking about how she endangered this supposedly 'precious' life just so he could be born in Alaska?

[maribelle1963]

01:36 PM on 09/03/2008

Faking a pregnancy-­-forgivabl­e? It's not a matter of whether she should be "forgiven" (it's none of our business!) it goes to the question of her honesty and integrity.

What else would she cover up? And her abuses of power in firing people in Alaska who did not do her bidding are extremely disturbing and reminicent of Bush.

PS--Who would try to pull such an elaborate ruse, and for what--to "save face"? ( It would only need saving if one is into shaming and blaming unwed mothers--l­ike the Repubs do.)

Please, McCain--gi­ve this candidate the hook and start over!

[UnknownSoldier]

04:59 PM on 09/03/2008

She's never been a political fight with a Real Democrat, Alaska has 2 Republican parties, Conservati­ve and Extremist. I'll let you decide which wing she belongs too. The Democrats in Alaska are a defacto 3rd Party. She has no real political campaignin­g EXPERIENCE and McBush thought she would help him on the campaign. This man's judgment is highly questionab­le. I think the Democrats will win Iowa now, and that should just about end this Election Cycle.

[neenj]

12:47 PM on 09/03/2008

at this point, KTVA 11 should just release the video of the segment and let us see us all see the correct date. only that would convince me that this is her. other pictures of her around that time DO NOT show her with a belly. so this story still does not pass the smell test.

[veganphoto]

02:27 AM on 09/03/2008

(i am a pro photograph­er)

this image looks possibly photoshopp­ed, the light falls funny if not just wrong. other factors indicate it is possibly a composite photo.

also checking the image's tags, it was processed using photoshop

[NotGuilty]

11:48 AM on 09/03/2008

Palin doesn't seem to be standing right. She seems to be facing differentl­y than she would in an interview and she's smaller than in real life.

[Lee Stranahan]

06:59 PM on 09/03/2008

I processed it in Photoshop before posting it here on huffPo

It's not altered - she was pregant, according to multiple interviews I've done with people in Alaska. They think the speculatio­n is crazy.

[uclafan]

12:27 AM on 09/03/2008

That is pretty conclusive

[Congeniality]

11:03 PM on 09/02/2008

I do not know why Cherie Shirey is confirming anything about that photo. She did not take it. The photo showed up on flickr and no one knows where it came from.

About video, KTVA 11 has a YouTube account and puts up video regularly. There is no video of this interview.

It seems strange a video of an interview of the governor on the last day of Alaska's legislativ­e session would not be posted.

Also, the governor does not appear to be looking at the camera or the reporter. Instead she is staring blankly forward. You can see it really well if you look at a close up on flickr.

Andrea Gusty is the reporter in the picture. She and her cameraman should have the video of this interview.

I think we would like to see it.

[eden4barack08]

07:08 PM on 09/02/2008

Lee, I believe Sarah has done a good job at debunking those rumors on her own and doesn't need your help. Sadly, she did it by throwing her daughter to the wolves, but now the question remains her secrecy, her judgement to fly at risk, and just an all around fishy character of a woman.

[egal]

11:29 PM on 09/02/2008

Oh, silly, it's only black girls who have babies out of wedlock who are eaten by the wolves. Little girls who are being protected by the falsificat­ion and redirectio­n of the grandly corrupt GOP become "stunning examples of walking the talk" when it comes to no abortions.

[tenilla]

05:05 PM on 09/02/2008

I think this story smells even worse since Bristol's probably imaginary pregnancy has been thrown
in the mix to quell all rumors that Bristol is the mother of 4-1/2-mont­h old Trig.

If Bristol is truly 5 months pregnant, she became pregnant when she was out of school suffering
the worst case of mono in recorded history. If the new story is true or if it is untrue, it puts
Sarah Palin's mothering skills in a bad light.

[Steve-L]

04:52 PM on 09/02/2008

So now the consprisoc­y involves TIME TRAVEL, as well!

Not only that, but when you look at the actual picture, the caption reads "Myself, Governor Palin, Press Secretary McAllister­." Sadly, she wasn't governor in 2005. She was not sworn in until December 2006.