SCIENCE-BASED PARENTING

I’m no fan of conspiracy theories.

Too many times these illogical theories are deceptively cloaked by truther cranks as “just asking questions” even when they are actually answering the questions using the flimsiest of evidence.

A new scandalous theory is emerging on the political landscape today that is destined to be ripped wide open by the media and factually explained by skeptics smarter than myself.  The theory is that McCain’s VP pick Gov. Sarah Palin faked a pregnancy and birth for her son Trig, who was born with Down’s Syndrome four months ago.  To elaborate, she faked her pregnancy to cover for her knocked up teenage daughter Bristol; the child, according to those gossiping, is actually Palin’s grandchild.

As noted in my last post, I’m no fan of Palin’s opinions, so it would personally make me happy to see her go down in flames.  But, it can’t be said enough, that extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.

Admittedly, it’s hard to accept that a sitting governor would fake a pregnancy, so I would say that skepticism should be applied here.  However, this is technically neither a conspiracy, nor is it an entirely unbelievable claim.  Just to put this into perspective, fundamentalist 9/11 “truthers” believe that a sitting president sacrificed thousands of innocent lives in an elaborately staged atrocity.  Those who are conjecturing Sarah Palin faked Trig’s pregnancy are saying that a high-profile conservative politician protected her political reputation by covering up the hypocrisy and embarassment of her underage child’s irresponsible pregnancy.  If this is a conspiracy theory, and I’m not sure that it is, it’s a low stakes conspiracy at best – nobody is accusing Palin of being a megalomaniacal villain.

This sort of thing is not uncommon.  Even my wife’s grandfather was raised thinking that his mother was his sister.  Granted, he was born in rural Kentucky during the 1920s, but we’re talking about a hockey-mom governor from rural Alaska who believes in creationism and has based her political career on conservative values.  I think we have a valid motive in this instance.

Moving on.  There is debate as to whether this sort of accusation is unfair to the teenage child Bristol or to Govenor Palin.  I think that’s a valid argument.  This sort of accusation belongs in the tabloids and on the web sites of paranoid cranks.  I’m covering it here to talk about the conspiracy, and whether the idea is based on crap or facts.  You’ll see that, unlike some web sites, my post’s title includes a question mark.

I’ve made it this far without delving into the details, which may well be debunked by someone with access to all the facts.  Sarah Palin waited until she was seven months pregnant to announce that she was expecting.  The news came as a shock to everyone – several staffers commented that she didn’t seem pregnant.  A month later she was to give a speech on energy policy at the Republican Governor’s Convention in Texas when she started leaking amniotic fluid.  Instead of seeking medical attention, she gave her speech, got on a plane to Alaska, had a layover in Seattle, and arrived home eight hours later.  Instead of giving birth at the nearest hospital to the airport, she drove 45 minutes to Mat-Su Regional Medical Center.  On the face of it, if all that is true (and it seems to be) then she and her doctor put her unborn special needs child in a great amount of danger.

The above paragraph are the facts (as I understand them) in this “conspiracy theory” that I think hold water.  It should be added that during the pregnancy, Palin’s oldest daughter was pulled out of school for 5-8 months because she had mono.  I have yet to see anybody contradict that fact, either.  Now here are the facts that could be false…

First, if you look at the photos of Sarah in the two months prior to the birth, she doesn’t look pregnant.  However, in all of those pictures she is wearing a business jacket that could cover the bump.  That’s a pretty small bump for someone who is five+ months pregnant.

Second, the state of Alaska’s web site has been scrubbing the locations of Sarah’s pictures during the time of pregnancy.  Now this can simply be because they want to avoid an untrue scandal based on insinuation, or for other reasons unknown that aren’t malicious.

Third, there are reports that Bristol’s friends thought she was pregnant during the mono phase.  I haven’t found any confirmation of that yet.

Fourth, there are rumors that there were no pregnancy announcements at the hospital where Trig was born on his birthdate.  Perhaps those investigating have the wrong date or the governor asked that the birth not be announced.

I’m not going to post comparative pictures here because I believe that to do such a thing would be hurtful to Bristol, and I wouldn’t want anyone doing that to Sasha or Malia Obama some day.  If you want the whole conspiracy with pictures, video, and everything (besides actual hard evidence)… go to Daily Kos.  Come back and tell me what you think?

I want to make it crystal clear that I am not supporting this speculation.  I am saying that it’s a believable conspiracy that may or may not be true.  As always, I’m eager to debunk this conspiracy and am waiting for more evidence to do so.

*UPDATE* 9/1/08 – Sarah Palin debunked this luke warm conspiracy theory today by admitting that her underage daughter Bristol is pregnant.  She denies the rumors that her son Trig was Bristol’s because that would be nearly impossible.