By Andrew Sullivan
Trig's political salience is obvious, and critical to Palin's brand - in fact, the only thing, apart from her good looks, that keeps her in the game. For generations, pro-lifers have voted Republicans into office on a strong anti-abortion platform. For forty years, they have been largely let down.
They understandably feel as if the leadership condescends to them, exploits them and does not really believe in the cause. This was true of Reagan, Bush, and the second Bush. So how does a Republican politician truly convince the base that he or she is a true believer on the life issue? Nothing does that like walking the walk of carrying a special needs child to term. (And indeed, if that is the case, it speaks enormously highly of Palin, in my view, as I have said from the very very beginning.) The way in which Palin has not let this speak for itself but has relentlessly exploited her story and children makes this an even more salient political issue - and one which deserves appropriate press scrutiny, as with any other core campaign platform.
But there has been no press scrutiny. In fact, there has been enormous pressure from the press not to investigate the story and to mock anyone who does so. No MSM interviewer of Palin has ever asked a single question about the bizarre stories that Palin has told about her political prop - not Oprah, not Couric, not Gibson, not anyone. Newsweek has reprinted minute details of Palin's story as fact with no independent confirmation but Palin's own words. No MSM newspaper has asked for or demanded easily available proof of the pregnancy and birth - except the Anchorage Daily News, after the election, which prompted Palin not to quietly offer proof to an editor keen to put the entire controversy to rest, but to explode in rage.
It may be a loony conspiracy theory, like the 9/11 Truthers and the Obama birthers. But we have all seen mounds of evidence that prove the Truthers are out of their minds and we have seen the birth certificate that refutes the Birthers. What have we seen to back up the maternity of Trig? Nada.
I have never claimed I know the truth. I don't. I only know that none of us does. We all have to rely on the word of Sarah Palin - something about as reliable as a credit default swap. I want to know the truth. Because if I am loony, I deserve the pushback and criticism for suspecting a story that turned out to be true. And because if Palin has lied about this, it's the most staggering, appalling deception in the history of American politics. Not knowing which is true for real - and allowing this person to continue to dominate one half of the political divide - is something I think is intolerable. In the end, this story is not about Palin. It's about the collapse of the press and the corrupt cynicism of a political system that foisted this farce upon us without performing any minimal due diligence.
And only Joe McGinniss seems to give a damn.
(Photo: Sarah Palin in a photograph confirmed as taken on March 26, 2008, less than a month before giving birth to a six pound baby. In a photograph only four days earlier, she looked more pregnant.)
What I find interesting from a sociological and psychological point of view is the number of people who feel compelled to hold Sarah up as an icon of Christian values when she clearly has no integrity, no humility, and no love of her fellow man. This is indisputable. What is it that drives people to adopt someone who is so damaged and to follow that person blindly, completely disregarding evidence of a character swathed in hate and vengence? In fact, " 'Vengence is mine,' sayeth the Lord," is one of the best-known quotes of the Holy Bible, so do her minions believe that Sarah is the embodiment of Christ and therefore, she is right and just in her pursuit of hate and vengence?
Posted by: sjohnson | 06/30/2010 at 05:35 AM