I would imagine Palin would have second and third thoughts about going after Obama's character now. If not, I suppose I won't be surprised, but I'd like to think that being outside the mainstream of GOP talking points is good for SOMETHING at least. She certainly had no problem complimenting him when she wasn't the nominee.

McCain is shameless.  Obama's campaign had nothing to do with this rumor.   It was all independent.   On the other hand, McCain's surrogates were front and center in questioning Obama's Birth certificate, his religion and anything else to 'prove' he is not an American.

McCain is worse than Bush now.  I can't believe that Americans are so gullible that they still think that he has any 'Maverick' left in him.   McCain is a souless shell intent on gaining power and nothing else.

It certainly didn't take long for Palin to go from a supposed "asset" to a very real liability.

I've been impressed at Obama's ability to hit exactly the right tone and exactly the right points again and again in this campaign.  I'm hoping this is a measure of his character and not just a measure of his political discipline.  Way to go, O.

I don't really understand how conservatives think -- if they do.

Will they praise Palin's teenage daughter for not using contraceptives and not getting an abortion, or will they condemn her for having sex before marriage? (We all know they'll hold the boy blameless regardless.)

Will they think this makes Sarah Palin a good parent or a bad one?

And will they think that someone who obviously can't run her own family to their satisfaction could run America to it?

Stay tuned. And never undersetimate the power of hypocrisy and denial.

Putting on my judicious observer hat:

The girl was wearing an engagement ring on Friday. Apparently it was also public knowledge in her hometown. It clearly seems not to have been a secret, not the first thing they thought of announcing to the national media.

And frankly you would have to be borderline insane yourself to have predicted that a rumor invented out of thin air -- on the internet -- about you faking your own pregnancy could gain enough currency within 72 hours to have prominent national reporters asking you questions about it.

That's why they didn't announce it on their own terms. As they say in the military, no plan survives contact with the opposition.

The rumors about Trigg wereactually started by Alaska Republicans on the other side of the state party's civil war.

If Mrs. Palin and the McCain campaign knew that Bristol was in a family way, how do you explain this crack from Maureen Dowd yesterday:

"Sarah is a zealot, but she's a fun zealot. She has a beehive and sexy shoes, and the day she's named she goes shopping with McCain in Ohio for a cheerleader outfit for her daughter."

Maybe MoDo was just being cute. Or maybe the outfit was for daughter Willow (age 14) or Piper (7). But if they knew Bristol was preggers, McCain and Palin should have been shopping for something else.

And why is it now suddenly OK for McBush to attack Obama while Gustav is howling, after all that "country first" bullshit yesterday?

OR she was nominated as a ringer/placeholder.  Due to the media scrutiny & the effect on her family & children she steps out of the race at some point & they put someone else in her place, who in comparison to her looks great.  It makes us have to reshift our campaign again. Don't be surprised if that happens - & if they nominate a Huckabee or someone the Evangelicals won't care; they will be pleased - everyone will be told to treat the Republicans better (it's that damn liberal media @@)  & a candidate like a Huckabee will have less time to receive scrutiny (plus everyone will walk on eggshells at that point with the Republicans so the stories will just focus more on the Democrats)...

I am going to venture a guess here. About 2-3 months ago Bristol told mom and dad she was pregnant. They were shocked and disappointed. There were tears, angry voices, tearful apologies. This was followed by resignation acceptance and quit gut wrenching family conversations. The fathers family was called and more talks more tears more angry voices. Choices should they give the baby up for adoption should the kids marry and raise the baby. Choices were discussed and choices were made. The issue was resolved dates were set and both families continued on with life incorporating the new realty. It was resolved, it was being addressed. Life goes on. The same thing has happened in millions of homes over the decades.

Bowling Green, for those keeping track, the faked pregnancy story was all over the local news last night with little to no mention of "Liberal Blogs."

The person who disrespected Bristol's privacy the most in this was her mother, who sent out a press release about her pregnancy that's literally world news.

I remember in 2000 and 2004, there were glossy, multi-page spreads in fashion, news and culture magazines of all the candidates' families. It's a part of modern presidential politics. She says she's releasing this news in response to a rumor, but it would certainly have broken as a story on its own over the course of the campaign and anyone who'd thought about the matter for five minutes would know it. If Palin really cared about her daughter's privacy, she wouldn't have made a small town open secret into an occasion for national gossip by entering the most glaring media spotlight.

Palin knew she'd have to make this press release from the moment she accepted the VP slot. It obviously wasn't a very important consideration.

about the update -- sure, the ridiculous mccain campaign tried to smear Obama, but I think that the two options you provide are not mutually exclusive. Neither do they fully describe what happened. This rumor appeared not just on dKos, but on several major progressive blogs, conservative blogs, and journalist blogs (like Andrew Sullivan). If we buy into Peter Daou's triangle theory, it's not hard to understand that this thing leaped from the blogs into circulation among the press. Reporters read blogs too. They also have email addresses. I personally believe (believe to have witnessed) that when a group of blogs collectively catches onto a story, they can force the media to pay attention to it, if not publish about it. There was an article in a british paper over the weekend about the proliferation on blogs of provocative fake photoshopped photos of Palin. Blogs and what we blog about, matters.

Aren't there any pictures of the pregnant governor?

Don't VP candidates also release their medical records.

Shouldn't these two things end the rumors?

Ya know...
the past few days...
There have been no postings by the moderators of major blogs (including MyDD) on this issue.
The GOP is aware of what all of you are doing.
What do they have...Freepers and Sludge...

Even the pretend Politico is having a hard time..

we can be thankful that here at MyDD, all the Obama posters, including the front pagers, were out there front and center denouncing this rumor as being vicious and beyond the pale.

Oh wait, that didn't happen, did it? Kinda funny how I still see diaries ridiculing Palin because her daughter is pregnant at 17.

But let's all feel as if we are wonderful and above it all anyway, OK? Let's make sure everyone knows how it's only the horrible Republicans and their people who push ugly rumors like this.

How dare they! Have they no sense of decency?

The kids are off limits.  End of story.

However, I consider Statements regarding government made by Sarah Palin to be fair game.

For Example, from a Candidate questionnaire from the Governor's Race:

11. Are you offended by the phrase "Under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance? Why or why not?

  ANSWER:

"Not on your life. If it was good enough for the founding fathers, its good enough for me and I'll fight in defense of our Pledge of Allegiance."

Until I read this, I really didn't realize that the Religious Right were this disconnected from the historical record (aka Reality) of My Country.

Has the political discourse in this country truly stooped this low.  This is ELEMENTARY SCHOOL KNOWLEDGE and the candidate for Alaska Governor blew it.

I shudder to imagine the answer to something like 'what do you think of the Torries of the Revolution?'

So-called "reformer" Sarah Palin directed Ted Stevens' 527!

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-tra il/2008/09/01/palin_was_a_director_of_em batt.html

Why is this considered the mature responsible action?   Wouldn't the responsible action be to give the child up for adoption to a couple that has the means to care for it?  Wouldnt the responsible thing be to wait until you are older than 17 to try getting married?

I just can not understand this mentality.  And I do not understand why anyone else with a halfway decent intelligence would think marriage at 17 is smart.

So after 8 years of Bush and the Rove Express of Lies and endless smear attacks I'm pretty damn shameless myself these days.

I just want to point out that there are still a number of questions about what happened in April that really don't make any sense.  The flight from Texas after her water broke, the drive to the hospital in nowheresville, the elder daughter having mono and being out of school for five months, the rumors of seeing her pregnant and of course the lack of a belly on Palin in March.

And all I'm really saying is just because Bristol is 4 months pregnant now does not automatically mean that this is the first child she carried. I mean do the math.

Of course, none of this means all that much, tho' if she wants to be VP, she needs to level with the country.  And perhaps she already has.  Of course, if she is still lying and these lies ended up on the birth certificate, then she done for.

This is going to be most disasterous with the independants and swing votes.  Conservatives scream family values and really get down on parents who have under-age child pregnancies as being the fault of the parent. They hide their own mistakes and trumpet the problems of those "not like them".  Moderates HATE being held up to their standards especially when they cannot keep them themselves.

SO while the conservative base may forgive her, the moderate middle now has even more to be wary of about her.  And if McCain drops her, (even if she jumps ship it will look like he is dumping her), then the conservatives will be pissed.  Palin was brought on board in an astoundingly bad way.  She has so many little secrets that keep popping up she already feels like a drag for him...and shows HIS bad judgement.  When "ordinary" people find out these little things when I tell them, they go from interested in Palin to a sort of sour face.  Admittedly, I live in democrat country, but this is not good for McCain.

Tuesday will be interesting since Gustav is not providing cover for this mess.  Obama has a LOT of work to do, but it is his to loose.  He could win big if he keeps up his message discipline and community outreach or he could squeek through in a tight race based on many gaffes.

McCain reminds me of a saying from my miltary leadership training...order, re-order, dis-order.  The way he is doing things his campaign cannot hold together as is for much longer.  This is NOT optimism, this is the result of too much chaos.  He WILL get his crap together, but much later than he should have (his primary closed when?) and then Obama and the DNC just need to roll clips of how MANY times McCain has tried to change their message, how many times he has said one thing, then gone to another and then ask if ANYONE knows where McCain really stands?  NOT flip-flopping (that looks like Sour grapes) but just that he has BAD judgement and cannot easily get to good judgement without a lot of OTHER bad choices.

Yay for abstinence only education! If it wasn't for mommy's 'values' Bristol probably would not be in the mess she's in right now. I blame the parents for being conservative Christian fundamentalist wingnuts.

Personally, I doubt that Bristol Palin being pregnant will have much effect on progressive/independent voters -- they're more accepting that teens do make mistakes and wind up pregnant, and feel that families should deal with it as best they can, and shouldn't be judged on it by others.  (If there was any significance in the story for liberals, it lay not in the pregnancy, but in the extent to which the Palin family would lie to cover it up, whether -- as initially rumored -- by claiming that Mom was the real one having the baby, or by keeping daughter out of school for months due to a supposed case of "mononucleosis" rather than admit the situation.)

The group it will effect, OTOH, is the religious-right G.O.P. "base" that the Palin pick was meant to assuage.  For all the words about Christians being forgiven sinners, the fundie base is very Calvinist, both in the sense of having Puritanical morals regarding sex, and in expecting "righteous" believers to openly demonstrate that righteousness in their lives...and that of their families.  From their point of view, the fact that Sarah Palin obviously failed to impress the "Christian values" of virginity-until-marriage upon her oldest daughter testifies to her failure both as a Christian and as a mother -- and will make them less likely to trust her or believe that she is fit to hold high office from now on.

No wonder the McCainiac campaign is going for the only defense they can in this situation -- an attempt to smokescreen the actual pregnancy by turning it into a claim that those nasty Obama supporters are victimizing the Palin family.  For, if the faithful flock (i.e. the sheep) can be convinced that the real issue here is that those mean nasty secularist liberals led by that Madrassa-educated black non-citizen Muslim terraist drug dealer are beating up on a nice rural white conservative Christian family, they'll be more likely to rally around the ticket and less prone to the Palin family's inability to follow "traditional moral values."

Personally, I doubt that Bristol Palin being pregnant will have much effect on progressive/independent voters -- they're more accepting that teens do make mistakes and wind up pregnant, and feel that families should deal with it as best they can, and shouldn't be judged on it by others.  (If there was any significance in the story for liberals, it lay not in the pregnancy, but in the extent to which the Palin family would lie to cover it up, whether -- as initially rumored -- by claiming that Mom was the real one having the baby, or by keeping daughter out of school for months due to a supposed case of "mononucleosis" rather than admit the situation.)

The group it will effect, OTOH, is the religious-right G.O.P. "base" that the Palin pick was meant to assuage.  For all the words about Christians being forgiven sinners, the fundie base is very Calvinist, both in the sense of having Puritanical morals regarding sex, and in expecting "righteous" believers to openly demonstrate that righteousness in their lives...and that of their families.  From their point of view, the fact that Sarah Palin obviously failed to impress the "Christian values" of virginity-until-marriage upon her oldest daughter testifies to her failure both as a Christian and as a mother -- and will make them less likely to trust her or believe that she is fit to hold high office from now on.

No wonder the McCainiac campaign is going for the only defense they can in this situation -- an attempt to smokescreen the actual pregnancy by turning it into a claim that those nasty Obama supporters are victimizing the Palin family.  For, if the faithful flock (i.e. the sheep) can be convinced that the real issue here is that those mean nasty secularist liberals led by that Madrassa-educated black non-citizen Muslim terraist drug dealer are beating up on a nice rural white conservative Christian family, they'll be more likely to rally around the ticket and less prone to the Palin family's inability to follow "traditional moral values."

Third possibility

The media is on the liberal blogs.

Surely the MSNBC folk visit kos

Kos is really a classly blog.  I guess markos was too busy calling everyone a racist to notice another smear on his blog.

what ever.  

david

I didn't need 30 minutes of research to realize it was garbage. Not even 30 seconds. I didn't research at all. Once I saw it on DU two days ago I realized it was the typical internet desperation, where cynicism has no burden other than imagination, the more idiotic the better.

BTW, now you've got threads asserting the daughter is not really pregnant, that it's a distractive ploy and a sudden miscarriage will be announced within a few weeks.

Whatever fits.

As always, I'll bet on normalcy. I wish the conspiracy clowns made the betting lines.

Well looks like Jerome was right when he said Palin is a game changer... fortunately he was completely wrong in WHAT WAY she was a game changer.     Can we initiate a slaughter rule on this election and give it to Obama?  Or should we just laugh as McCain and the GOP crumble and are slaughtered.  Remember... you can't spell slaughter without laughter!

Actually Sullivan was pretty restrained about it. I'd save my fire for the DKos diaries and I guess Markos (though of course he'd just say "I'm not responsible for diaries, Daily Kos is users not me.")

Well, DKos certainly is influential and powerful, and if the idiots on that site keep up their antics, they could help us lose the election.

One thing I've noticed first hand, since I began posting there this primary season (yes, as a Clinton supporter), is the utter lunacy of what qualifies as "acceptable" point of views and reasonable discourse.

Out of touch?  Out of touch is an understatement.  Not only is the Palin-bashing--the locus of which DID originate on DailyKos-- clearly beginning to backfire (and does our prospects no net good whatsoever), but time and time again the site's most recommended diaries have also been the most wrong.

This is a site whose users almost universally sang the praises of Reverend Wright when the Wright story first broke, with its recommended diaries at the time proclaiming that Wright would be an Obama asset in the fall.  I take pride in knowing that I got it right while dKos got it very, very wrong.  

For a humorous take on Palin's pregnancy pickle check out this video.