Hard News: Awesome
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family feud
it is alaska after all...
and what's wrong with a girl being pregnant at 17?
you can bet like hell palin has a shotgun.
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you can bet like hell palin has a shotgun
Oh, he does. Go and read Bridget's entry in the blog linked to by Danielle.
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Groups that oppose abortion rights had been thrilled with Mr. McCain’s selection of Ms. Palin, the governor of Alaska, as his running mate, partly because of her opposition to abortion. It is not clear how social conservatives will respond to the latest news [of the unmarried daughter’s pregnancy], but the initial reaction of several delegates to the convention here was supportive of the family
Has anyone asked the PUMA's what they think? Or does contrary opinion only count when they are bagging a Democrat Convention?
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And a (perhaps) pertinent tune from Sly and The Family Stone to move the feet, mind and heart:
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Craig, bless your funky soul.
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Otherwise, tell you what: let's start a rumour right here that Jolisa Gracewood and Giovanni Tiso beat their respective children. It's just as substantiated. Would it be newsworthy, in their circles at least? Well, yes, I believe so, they pride themselves on being good parents. But where's your evidence? I don't have any evidence as such, but it could be true. Shit, anything could be true. And it's out there now, so let's discuss it.
Yeah but no but. I could buy that analogy if: we had just been nominated out of nowhere to be Helen Clark or John Key's second hand person, and if, say, hypothetically speaking, our children had been seen covered in bruises, which it turned out they'd sustained a long way from home, but we flew home anyway, despite the fact that they were bleeding and in need of medical attention (but luckily the airplane staff didn't notice and we didn't tell them), then we changed planes en route, drove past a major hospital, and eventually had the injuries dealt with by our favourite small town hospital ... and then we acted all shocked and surprised when a few earnest bloggers and then the press got a whiff of it and started asking questions, and answered those questions with "Well lookie! They broke their leg yesterday falling out of bed so, uh, yup, no story here!"
I do understand your repulsion -- but in this case the web is not an echo chamber, it's an incomplete library. There was smoke, a fire has been found, and it's still not clear that it's the only one. People aren't making this up out of whole cloth; they're trying to make sense of the evidence already in hand.
That said, I think Rebecca Traister walks the line beautifully in this piece. On the one hand, yes, it's vile and icky that we're suddenly zooming in on reproduction, rather than all the other concrete things that make this person a non-viable candidate; reducing the only woman in the race to the sum of her (and her daughter's) private parts. On the other hand:
(Study questions: Why, in refuting those original rumors, did Palin present as evidence the news that her daughter was pregnant, rather than simply handing over hospital documents and a birth certificate for Trig? Answer: It's a mystery! Why did she get on a long plane ride to Alaska after her water broke a month early in Texas? Answer: It's a mystery! Why was her staff surprised to learn that the governor was pregnant one month before she gave birth? Answer: It's a mystery!)
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I'd also love to hear Gov Palin say something like "OK, fine, here's Trig's birth certificate, and you know what? When I got on that plane knowing that I was in pre-labour, I thought I knew better than all the doctors and midwives in the world. Fortunately, it all worked out just fine in my case, but nonetheless I risked my unborn child's life and welfare (not to mention the chance of the plane's crew having to make an unscheduled stop on my behalf), and I sincerely wish that I hadn't. Women of America: when it comes to your pregnant ladybits, do as I say and not as I do."
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Without delving into the woman's past very much at all (one or two links fromthese threads) what really scares me about her is that she named her kids Bristol & Trig!
What are the others called?
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Oh geez, hold the front page and be careful what you wish for, Giovanni. My long-suffering partner just walked into a door (upstairs, in a darkened room, after beating, er, putting the children to bed, while I was downstairs and nowhere near him). Honest. I'm icing his bruised brow for him right now!
(BTW, he will confirm that when he first told me of the Palin-baby-coverup rumour, I shut him down immediately and forcibly - I believe I used the words "hateful and scurrilous and entirely predictable sexist demonizing bullshit and I don't want to know about it" or something along those lines. And then, I read the links and became thoroughly agnostic on the subject.)
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Answer: It's a mystery!
So why splash it as appalling innuendo over the web? When it's SUCH a personal smear that extends beyond the candidate to her teenage daughter and handicapped son, you should be treading a hell of a lot more carefully.
Distasteful sums it up. -
What are the others called?
Willow, Piper, and Track. I feel bad now, given Bristol's moment in the spotlight, that I joked about how her name wouldn't translate very well in the UK (they might as well have called her Hooter).
I still think they're pretty groovy names, actually. There are so many great nouns that should be names. Hedge. Siphon. Lamp. Scoop. Collar. Lovely, euphonious monikers, all of them.
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Andrew: Track, Bristol, Willow, Piper and Trig.
My mother-in-law named two of her children Bristol and, erm, Summit. That's a total WTF too.
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Fuck. Could we lay off this crap, pretty please? Questioning Palin's choice of flying during labour is one thing, latching on to this revolting 'story' quite another.
However outlandish it might seem, the "Bristol is the real mother" story had legs for two reasons -- firstly, Palin had a daughter whose pregnancy (at least for the first couple of days -- gotta love that blogoshere news cycle) while not technically "hushed up", was certainly not mentioned. A whiff of that helped animate the story, since it sounds as if it was an open secret in their home town that Bristol was in the family way. Secondly, the "oh my waters broke so I began the long plane ride home" story just smells fishy -- even our extra-crunchy homebirth midwife would have been alarmed at that one.
So while the "Bristol is Trig's mother story" is most likely untrue in detail, it was not entirely wrong -- so we can hardly be blamed for wondering if we have heard the full story, given that we have already seen one major lie of omission. And yes, dammit, we have a right to know -- Palin has a laughably thin cv for someone who wants to be one 72 year old heart beat away from the presidency, and many of her public statements make her sound like an idiot, so anything we learn about her is relevant.
The confusion among the two I believe is what might have led to Russell being called a scumbag in the other thread.
Nobody is going to care about us here, of course. But already McCain has tried to tie Obama to the Kos story, and I wonder to what extent it is actually unfair, seeing how ready we are to ascribe anti-Obama slurs to "the Republicans".It is one thing to perpetuate a smear (John McCain was brainwashed by the Vietnamese, Bill Clinton had people whacked when they got in the way of his cocaine smuggling enterprise, Obama took the oath of office on a Koran) that you know is false, it is a different thing again to speculate whether or not there is more to a story involving a politician who has already been proved to have been economical with the truth.
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There are so many great nouns that should be names.
I think she totally wimped out not going with a theme for them all. Herbs are an obvious one, Parsley, Sage, Rosemary etc. Maybe a few of the (alleged) myraid Inuit names for snow?
A guy I know named all his kids after his favourite Arsenal team - even the girls!
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My mother-in-law named two of her children Bristol and, erm, Summit.
It wasn't Summat, was it? As in "So what'll I put on the birth certificate then, chook?" "Oof, just write summat and we'll fix it later..."
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A guy I know named all his kids after his favourite Arsenal team - even the girls!
Oh dear, that reminds me of the old joke that ends "And the Arsenal fan said "I'm not hungry.""
But seriously, he named them after the team or after the players? I mean, there are only so many variations. Arsenella. Arsenio. Arsette. Arsole...
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I think she totally wimped out not going with a theme for them all. Herbs are an obvious one, Parsley, Sage, Rosemary etc.
Pennyroyal anyone? (Ok, this probably is in questionable taste, but extra points if you don't need to look it up).
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But seriously, he named them after the team or after the players?
The players from one particularly great season in his youth (probably in the mid 50s). Maybe it worked, at least one of his sons played for the All Whites.
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It wasn't Summat, was it? As in "So what'll I put on the birth certificate then, chook?" "Oof, just write summat and we'll fix it later..."
Heh. I wish it was as Coronation-Street-esque as that! No, Summit, as in 'mountaintop'. It beats me. Coincidentally, said mother-in-law's progeny were also born in Alaska. Perhaps Bristol is a fairly common name up there?
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It's a mystery!
This is insane. If Bristol is five months pregnant, she can't have been Trig's mother, period. Contrary to what you wrote earlier today, five months doesn't equal 16 weeks, more like 21-22 from the beginning of the (hypothetical) menstruation before the conception, which means she would somehow have needed to ovulate as soon as Trig was born, if not before.
A governor who is pregnant is newsworthy by definition - it only happened once before, and in these wonderfully enlightened times it was never going to be taken well by her electorate. So she kept it hidden from the public and from her staff for a while. No surprise there, and well wihin her rights. She was also 44, so her chances of a miscarriage were pretty high.
Now the article you linked to was interesting and all, but for the left to be accusing McCain and Palin to be responsible for the dragging of Palin's daughter through the mud when WE ARE THE ONES who are still discussing the child switcheroo is absolutely crazy.
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That said, I think Rebecca Traister walks the line beautifully in this piece. On the one hand, yes, it's vile and icky that we're suddenly zooming in on reproduction, rather than all the other concrete things that make this person a non-viable candidate; reducing the only woman in the race to the sum of her (and her daughter's) private parts.
Thanks for the link Jolisa. It's exceptionally well written and I agree, it gets the balance right. I don't pretend any great insight into US politics, and particularly not the right/theo-cons, but I can't help but think McCain's serious misjudged this one. By any metric, she just doesn't stack up as a credible candidate and in a straight comparison with Bidden, it's no contest...
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So why splash it as appalling innuendo over the web? When it's SUCH a personal smear that extends beyond the candidate to her teenage daughter and handicapped son, you should be treading a hell of a lot more carefully.
But what is the smear here? That Gov Palin covered up her teen daughter's pregnancy until oblige to discuss it? That's not a smear, it's true, and by some lights entirely understandable. Or is the smear that Gov Palin (and this is the conspiracy version) went through an elaborate charade to cover up an earlier pregnancy of the same daughter earlier this year? Nobody knows -- it's wild speculation -- but it's not a smear on Bristol or Trig, rather, on Palin herself.
Of course, given that Palin's medical records will be released in due course as part of the disclosure that goes along with running for high office, sooner or later all will become clear. And she could choose to hurry up this process if she wanted to clear things up and make life easier for Bristol, who was dragged into her current conspicuous position by her mother and no other.
I understand your feeling of distaste. But I honestly don't think it's a (thought)crime to observe the passing parade and wonder whether this particular empress might not be wearing clothes, and may also have neglected to dress her children, who should thus be removed from the float forthwith for their own sake.
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Pennyroyal anyone? (Ok, this probably is in questionable taste, but extra points if you don't need to look it up).
SCORE! Now I shall run round the field with my shirt over my head.
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If Bristol is five months pregnant,
Well, yes, "if." It might be the truth, but we only have their word for it, which is worth the paper it's written on at this point. And the 16 weeks thing was in reference to the incredbly muddy dating of pregnancies, whereby the "fifth month" can be said to start at 16 weeks of pregnancy.
Look, I don't want the conspiracy version to be true - if for no other reason than it would be a miserable thing for Bristol to live through. But I wouldn't mind some straight -- and quick -- answers on the oddities of Palin's own birth story, her approaches to the Alaskan media to deny rumours about her daughter's pregnancy, and the current mad scramble to disappear all official pictures of Bristol and her mother from last winter. If this woman is going to be in charge of the Ministry of Truth, it would be nice to see her qualifications.
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Well, yes, "if." It might be the truth, but we only have their word for it, which is worth the paper it's written on at this point.
Yes, of course, they're lying. It's a cunning plan, because then if she's really four months pregnant and she goes full term, she'll deliver at ten, or even ten and a half months, and nobody will find that odd.
I give up.
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