Sarah Palin and the fifth child

So, the rumors are rife that Sarah Palin is not actually the mother of her fifth child, and that she’s covering up for her oldest daughter’s pregnancy. The mainstream news outlets don’t seem to have taken this up yet, but various blogs detail the “revelations.”

Of course everything is conjecture at present, although some of the facts (if they are indeed facts — they simply get repeated over and over without any source being given) are most peculiar. One of the most balanced accounts is here.

There’s nothing conclusive about Palin not “looking pregnant” at seven or eight months, or that she didn’t announce her pregnancy publicly until her eighth month, although in a photograph dated six weeks before the birth (Superbowl, Feb 3) she looks utterly non-gravid. Some say that a slim woman would not be able to hide a pregnancy, while others say that she’s so fit a pregnancy wouldn’t show. In any event, if she was faking a pregnancy wouldn’t she fake a bulge? Nor is there anything conclusive about her daughter having vanished from sight for five months with mono. Maybe she just doesn’t like school.

And it’s much less likely (although not impossible) that a young woman would give birth to a child with Down’s syndrome.

But what is very peculiar — and potentially very damaging damaging — is the behavior attributed to Palin on the day she gave birth. This is an account that so far has gone unchallenged.

According to the story doing the rounds, she was in Texas when she claimed her water broke. Instead of heading straight to a hospital to give birth, she took an eight hour flight back to Alaska, without informing the flight crew that she was in labor, and without them noticing that she was in labor. Once she reached Alaska, instead of going to a hospital in Anchorage, she went to a clinic in her home town. Generally births get quicker and easier with repeated deliveries, and it’s extraordinary that she managed to make this journey while in labor, without giving birth in some awkward location such as the aisle of a plane.

It’s also peculiar that she would even be flying in her third trimester, although she’s a very fit woman and who knows what her doctor advised. But to be on a flight, in labor, without alerting the flight crew to her condition, would be grossly irresponsible — if that’s indeed what happened.

In the account I linked to, which was a good one because it resisted jumping to conclusions, I don’t recall there being any concern expressed for Palin’s daughter. This news, if it has reached her, must be painfully distressing whether it is true or not.

Part of me suspects that this is all a plot by Carl Rove along the following lines.

1. Choose a grossly underqualified candidate for VP who is going to be instantly attacked for her gossamer-thin resume.
2. Put a highly damaging but untrue allegation into circulation.
3. Watch critics take the bait and run with it.
4. Pull out the absolute proof that the allegations are untrue.
5. Watch popular support surge for the tortured heroine.
6. Never allow any criticism to pass thereafter without saying “Hasn’t she been through enough already!”

I will accept Amazon gift vouchers or cold, hard cash as a reward if I turn out to be correct.

Sarah and Bristol, I wish you well.

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