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September 01, 2008

Palin Babygate, more questions than answers

March 6th, 2008: Gov. Palin announces that she is 7 months pregnant.

That the pregnancy is so advanced astonished all who heard the news. The governor, a runner who's always been trim, simply doesn't look pregnant.

More to the point...

She's known as a fashion plate, but said she hasn't been dressing differently to cover her barely perceptible bulge.

It's unclear whether that is Gov. Palin describing her own "barely perceptible bulge" or the reporter giving his own color commentary. Either way, the article clearly portrays her pregnancy as having been utterly unsuspected even by those who work closest with her on a daily basis and weekly basis.

Here's a photo reportedly taken exactly 13 days later on March 19th showing what looks to be an obviously pregnant Gov. Palin.

Now, there is some dispute as to when that photo was taken. Firstly because the time stamp on it is March 19th 2005, which would be before she was even Governor. But the photo is titled "Last day wrap up" and characterized as having been taken on the last day of the Alaskan legislative session - which according to the Lege's website was April 13th, 2008. Which would have been just days before she gave birth and just over a month after her public announcement. BUT... the photo was uploaded yesterday and comes amid what appears to be a concerted effort to scrub, move or remove photos connected to baby Trig both on Alaska state government websites and on the site of the hospital where baby Trig was reportedly born.

Reasonable folks may well wonder whether this new photo showing a very pregnant Governor Palin was... doctored.

Then there is the statement by an Air Alaska spokeswoman that on the night before the birth when Governor Palin flew back to Alaska from Texas "(t)he stage of her pregnancy was not apparent by observation". That was either April 18th or 19th, just a few days after the very pregnant Palin photo was allegedly taken.

Additionally, Anchorage Daily News reporter Kyle Hopkins (who covers the politics beat) admitted yesterday that the national rumors that have been breaking all weekend are just variations of existing rumors that swirled around Alaska between Gov. Palin's March 6th pregnancy bombshell and McCain picking her as his Veep late last week.

IOW, many Alaskans had apparently been suspicious about this alleged pregnancy long before any of us heard about it.

Today Kyle Hopkins reports that as recently as Saturday Palin spokesman Bill McAllister didn't know that the Governor's daughter was pregnant. McAllister also indicated that Governor Palin approached him BEFORE her March 6th pregnancy announcement and denied a rumor that her daughter was pregnant THEN.

Now, supposedly the Palin daughter is 5 months pregnant, which means that she would have gotten pregnant AFTER her mom's March 6th announcement. But the official statement from Gov. Palin and her husband doesn't indicate how far along their daughter's pregnancy is.

(Update: Disclosures on Palin Raise Questions on Vetting Process)

Posted by Kevin at September 1, 2008 04:47 PM