Bristol Palin, Welcome To Presidential Politics '08

The crazy rumors can stop. Bristol Palin is pregnant and her Mom isn't hiding it.

Whether she likes it or not, whether you like it or not -- Bristol Palin and her unborn baby are going to be an issue in this campaign. She'll be discussed around water coolers and coffee tables and on blogs and in the mainstream media.

We'll discuss what Bristol means about a woman's right to choose or about baby killing or whatever your ideology dictates you call abortion.

We'll discuss what Bristol means about Sarah's Palin's choices as a working mother. We'll try to puzzle through whether criticizing her choice to work and suggesting she should have been more involved with her children is an anti feminist position.

We'll discuss what Bristol means given that Barack Obama was also conceived out of wedlock. We live in a world now where Bristol's child could grow up to be a Presidential nominee.

We'll discuss whether or not it's right to discuss Bristol at all.

But we'll still discuss her.

My advice to Bristol; it's not about you, really. None of the people talking about you -- including me -- know you at all. We know you're a real person but your name and likeness are now a symbol and a launching off point for strangers to discuss issues they feel passionately about. That's really weird but it's what happens.

Sorry. Best of luck.

Update: Some people are still holding onto the fake pregnancy rumor. Let's just do some math. Trig was on April 18, 2008 - about four months and a week ago. Bristol is said to be five months pregnant. Now, if you want to pretend that the five month date is a total lie then you'd also have to believe that the 17 year old had a Down's Syndrome baby then turned right around and got pregnant again presumably because the first premature birth was so freakin' awesome!

Read more reaction from HuffPost bloggers to John McCain's selection of Sarah Palin as his running mate

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Comments

[Publius 2008]

Trig Palin was born on 4/18/08. That gives Bristol just enough time to be in her fifth month of a new pregnancy. Just because Bristol is pregnant now, doesn't mean she wasn't pregnant before.

[obamadeus]

Exactly! Everyone's acting like the announcement of Bristol's current pregnancy addresses the possibility that Trig is really her son. Firstly, the Republican Party never addressed the rumor directly, never declared it false, and have not expressed any outrage that such an accusation would be made about Bristol and Sarah (the whole lying/coverup thing). They could easily put the rumors to rest and simultaneously make the bloggers look like idiots if they showed a birth certificate or took a dna test or had some witness say they saw Sarah give birth. It would be easy and it would improve their poll numbers...­.so why don't they?

[jacksondrew]

THEY HAVE TO FIND THE FATHER ? Then threatened, force, bribe him to marry her! Problem is he will have to first to disown his other children. For that, he will marry her at a price (tax payers expense). He and Bristol will have secret service protection, maids and servants..­..... Man must i go on. This family (father side included) will be a state within themselves! T.V. Radio, Oprah, Larry King, books, movies. And the american people will once again be made fools of........­.

[lw1899]

While I'm a staunch Obama supporter and would like nothing more than to expose more Republican lies, this whole "Trig Palin is actually Sarah's grandson" issue reminds me of the "Obama is a Muslim" misinformation the right-wing has been promoting. I didn't like it when people rushed to judge Obama and this smacks of the same rush to judgement.

In this era of Rovian manipulation and Swift Boat lies, it's easy to see why people are so skeptical. While it's certainly possible Bristol Palin was Trig's mother, it looks more probable that she wasn't at this point. In this political climate it would be good for cooler heads to prevail. The truth will sort itself out in time.

If this is exposed as another GOP cover-up, even their right-wing god won't be able to help them.

[RobinL]

It's much more that Sarah Palin came wrapped in a flag, spouted her holier-than-thou family values crap. Where has this woman been as a mother?

[mmgpsych]

It certainly is *not* right to discuss Bristol Palin's 'blessed' plight. But one ought ask this: As a hard core fundamentalist, did Sara Palin ever teach her daughter about birth control? Or, did she, denying teenage reality, insist that abstinence is the one and only way to go while decrying birth control as sin? My bet is that it was the latter. So . . .

Q: What do you call daughters of fundamentalist freaks who refuse to face facts?

A: Preggers!

[NotMcCain]

Oh, and Lee? No, you don't have to think Trig was Bristol's and now she's pregnant again.

You just have to think Trig was Bristol's and Palin et al are still LYING about it. In other words, maybe she still hasn't lost the "baby weight" and isn't pregnant now AT ALL.

It's odd to me that she and the father didn't get married already, if that was the plan. Or did he opt out, when he saw the baby had Down Syndrome?

There's a lot of lying going on here. It's just hard to tell who and what.

[NotMcCain]

Palin revealed this to diffuse rumors that Trig is really Bristol's baby.

How does this diffuse them? A "5 month pregnant" woman would look about like someone who just gave birth.

No one in the governor's office knew Sarah Palin was pregnant until she announced it at "7 months". I strongly doubt that Trig is hers.

Beyond that, whether Bristol was pregnant out of wedlock with Trig, or with some other baby now, how could Palin subject her teenage daughter to this kind of media scrutiny? Girls usually leave high school to quietly have their baby when this kind of thing happens. It's embarrassing.

Because of PALIN (and McCain's) poor choices, her minor daughter now has ABSOLUTELY NO privacy about this. (And the lack of I.D.. for the father won't last long. I'm surprised they haven't been forced to get married already. Maybe he's married.)

[TrueIndy08]

I am a female who has a 16 year old sister... and I would hate for the media to be all up in her personal life.... with that said, Bristol, I am happy you are keeping your baby bc abortion is gross!!!

BUT.... Gov Palin... now maybe you should wake up and realize that kids are kids and no matter what you preach to them, at the end of the day, they make their own choices!!! Bristol was taught to save herself until marriage, yet chose a different path... and luckily got pregnant instead of contracting chlymydia, or HPV (leading to cervial cancer)... or worse, HIV!!!!

Gov Palin... you have two younger daughters.­.. and if this should happen to them... hopefully it is just a pregnancy and not something worse!

PROTECT YOUR KIDS PEOPLE....­. CONDOMS are not 100%... but I would have my child use them and protect themselves than gamble with contracting a deadly disease!

[Cybelline]

I believe abstinence only education, dominionist christian political values, and anti environment policies are all examples of political positions that deserve to be examined and confronted within a political season. I believe these are necessary and vital targets for progressive blogosphere. I completely reject the notion of a teenager's sexuality or breeding behaviors are somehow politically viable targets for progressive speculation. This teenager is not Sarah Palin. In fact she is not Sarah Palin's property either. This teenager's life does not have an impact on amercian politics and her experience does not create a province for bloggers to define their theories all over her body.

[TrueIndy08]

it speaks volumes when the daughter of a woman who is against ALL contraception even for married couples wants to be VPOTUS... and someday shortly after being sworn in, will be POTUS bc McCain will kick the bucket...

sorry, I don't want her appointing ultra right wing facists to the Supreme Court to make sure I can't have birth control pills when my husband and I decide we do not want anymore kids for the time being!!!

So yes, while I feel sorry that Bristol is having to go through this, its points the spotlight on her mother....

Sarah Palin needs to wake up and face reality!

[tel8034]

What does Bristol Palin's condition have to do with Obama's conception?

I never heard that Obama was conceived out of wedlock ..........­......... But even if he was, there was no EVANGELICAL HYPOCRISY attached.

With Palin it's all about TALKING THE TALK, BUT NOT WALKING THE WALK......­........ The so-called Republican family values and spiritual direction seemed to have missed the Palin household.

[Blimpius]

It means that Obama can't use this agains Palin, that's what. Unless Obama's church encourages out of wedlock children.

[CanadianforObama]

He's got too much class to even try.

[jingles32]

It's not about her daughter at all. It's not even about the Gov. really. It's about Mc C's total and utter lack of judgment in choosing her in the first place, on qualifications alone, and in failing to vet her properly! HE is responsible for any subsequent "water cooler" chatter regarding this innocent child, and she and her mother can thank the "Maverick," Mr. Roll the Dice for that! In the case the Go*v. failed to disclose the info. then she is too to blame, as it was only a matter of time before it became news. Either way, neither of them "ready on day one." And I for one do not need a person with so many family issues to deal with, second in line to leader of the free world. This decent woman needs to go back to Alaska and care for her family. This election is becoming farsical.

Bri*stol, we support you!

[Geoheymont]

Some points to consider:

1. The legal age of consent in Alaska is 18.

2. If Bristol Palin is now 17 and five months pregnant, that means it is possible that she conceived when she was only 16.

3. The age of the father is unknown at this point. If he is three years older than her, there is a possibility that this pregnancy could fall into the classification of "statutory rape."

[shystar]

So true and in fact regardless of the age of the father there have been instances where the father as a minor can still be charged.

[Ninety-nine degrees]

The age of consent is 16 in Alaska, provided the older partner is not in a position of authority (parent/guardian).

[speedingpullet]

Personally, my jury is out on the whole 'Sarah Palin a grandmother' stuff. I've seen photos of her looking pregnant and others where she doesn't. I'm not a big one for 'scandal' about anyone, so until its proved/disproved defiinitively I'll hold my water.

However - its still a lose-lose situation for the Palins - as a woman who stands for 'family values' what kind of message does it give to have an underage, unmarried daughter? Where were her parents when she concieved?

I can't imagine it will go down well with the fundamentalist christians.

And why announce this now - in the middle of a hurricane that's effectively axed the GOP convention, and amid swirling rumours of her own mother?

[Heavenhelpusall]

I have seen her wearing baggy clothes. The people working with her daily were stunned to find out she was 6-7 months along. Subsequent pregnancies are visible early on and this was her fifth. If Bristol is pregnant now (which I doubt), it is her second. She would have conceived right after recovering from mono????

[moda31]

this was going to come out regardless of the stupid rumors, she is 5 months a long for goodness sakes how much longer can you hide that? the mccain campaign is trying to hide behind these internet rumors to minimize the damage of not having vetted their veep candidate. they even tried to tie this to obama in their original comments, gov. palin should have been up front if she kne w, and perhaps should have valued her daughter's privacy and last sense of normalcy over a spot she obviously isn't qualified for.

[Heavenhelpusall]

That is what this is about. McNixon isn't fooling anyone with this cover-up of the cover-up. If Bristol is 5 months pregnant then her mother gave up her right to privacy and if McNixon knew, he risked a child's(2) well being for his own political gain.

So how will America's mothers and grandmothers feel about a VP who will be an absent mother and grandmother?

[ESerafina42]

Did she MENTION this to the McCain people?

And how can she DO this to that poor kid? How can she put a 17-year-old girl on the national stage like this? As Lee says, even those who are sympthetic will know who she is and be talking about her. If this is family values I want nothing to do with them. If I'd been in that situation (which I wouldn't have been because my mother believed in abstinence PLUS sex education AND contraception), and either of my parents had done something like this to me, I would have been ready to strangle them, or at least not speak to them for a long LONG time.

[Liberoservative]

Bristol,
We are with you and support you all the way in your choice.... stay healthy!!!!!!!

[TrueIndy08]

I totally support her... but I doubt she ever had much of a choice....

I'm just glad after all of her mother's abstinence only... no protection talks... she is preggers and not fighuring out what she will do to treat some nasty STD

[BADEN]

I believe we need a long, long talk about hypocrisy and the Religious Right.

"Do as we say, not as we do"...ain'­t cuttin' it.

Karma will run over dogma every time.

[JDviewer]

I completely agree with you Lee. The last thing Sarah Palin wants is her daughter to be used in this campaign by the democrats, and she will be definitely brought up as a topic on the MSM. However it will attract people questioning Sarah's belief in abstinence -only programs when her own 17 year old girl is pregnant. Regardless Dems will definitely be accused of using Bristol as a political tool and of being sexist.

[TrueIndy08]

its not about being sexist.... stop WHINING (as your beloved Sarah said)

She comes spewing her holier than thou views on everyone..­. trying to shove her beliefs into our lives... and while I do not condone abortion, I also believe in protection­.... and Gov Palin does not!!!!

I also believe in marrying for LOVE... not bc you have been forced to bc you got knocked up!!!! I am happy Bristol will keep the baby.... its the right thing to do... but come one... we must thankful Bristol is pregnant and not dealing with HIV!!!! Its alive and well.... protect your kids!

oh by the way, I am not a LIBERAL... thank you!