My mother was a nobody..and she had a baby when I was 16

[SoCalDem]

and she made DAMNED sure that I went EVERYWHERE with her, and made sure that I did not dress in ambiguous clothing..

Her reason:.."People might talk"..

Of course 1966 was the mini-skirt, hip-hugger era, so she didn't have to try that hard to convince me (I was kinda cute back then), and enjoyed the attention..

I suspect that even if I did have mono, she would have dragged me to the grocery store with her, and made me mow the front lawn when all the nosy neighbors were outside..

I had planned to go to Miami for the whole summer ( to visit my Aunt & cousin), but she made me wait until August (at the height of the Muggy/Buggy season), because she did not want people thinking "odd thoughts"..

Secrecy only makes people dig deeper and question more..

Why were Bristol's friends not allowed to visit her..Mono is not THAT contagious.. Why did she not stay with the family in Juneau? No one else had caught Mono from her ..

Mothers usually try to avoid scandal when it comes to their kids....not court it..

[aquart]

1. That's an insightful perspective.

Since she actually went to the trouble of telling a reporter it wasn't true about Bristol....why didn't she do what your mother did?

[SoCalDem]

2. and her family was never "camera-shy" before

and what better time to talk about the dangers of mono and meningitis in teens and all the other things they could catch in that cold climate..

She could have used her own daughter as an excuse to talk about the problem with infectious diseases..

Could have involved the daughter and her school..

An Alaska teacher's site I stumbled on had some not very nice things to say about Mrs Moose..about how she "pawned" off her kids all the time on her parents, and how she was gone gallivanting all the time, and only used them when she needed their pictures in the papers..

Maybe she was not all that close to her kids:shrug:

[roguevalley]

13. your mom sounds like she rocks. but then, they are supposed to

mine is my always and forever hero, my champion. Mothers rule. Or they should.

[gaspee]

3. Common sense would seem to say...

The odds are, that since the baby has Down Syndrome, his mother is the 44 Palin and not her 16 year old daughter.

I know that young people do have children with Down's, but it is much more statistically probably for the baby's mother to be the 44 year old, not the 16 year old.

These threads are vile. Not because I give a shit about Sarah Palin - but what about that child who didn't ask for any of this.

Chelsea Clinton should have been off limits to the right, and we were all outraged by the way they treated *a child* -- but this crap is just as bad.

[SoCalDem]

4. Politics is a bad fit for the "children of", and that's probably why so many

really good people never bother to enter politics..

Having said that....

Mrs Moose KNEW there was gossip galore ALREADY swirling all over Alaska, and she KNEW she had some "investigations" going on , or about to break, and she still said "yes"..

She also knew this was WAAAAY over her head, but she still said "yes", and dragged her kids right into the maelstrom with her..

Whatever comes of this, will probably play out over the next few weeks, and unless someone from Alaska steps up with some more definitive information, it may just retreat to the background, but nothing "done" at DU or any other website is to "blame".

We may have collected the information and combined it, but NONE of us even knew who Mrs Moose was until Mc Blunder picked her out of the chorus line..

I'm pretty sure this is not the first time she has dragged her kids through some mud with her, and used them as little more than pawns and props..but it's NOT our "fault"..

I keep thinking that this whole episode might be the way for the beleaguered brother-in-law to finally get his pound of her flesh..

as a family member , even though he's on the outs, he has to know more than he's said so far.. She and her sis are close, so the cousins all know the scoop, and sooner or later someone's gonna tell the true tale..

[gaspee]

5. The true tale?

I think you've invested too much into this.

As I said - it is more statistically probable that the 44 year old is the baby's mother.

But don't let reality stand in your way or anything.

Like I said, vile.

It's beneath Democrats to act like this.

I'm sickened by the behavior on this board.

[ildemo]

9. Thank God to hear that.

I thought I was the only one.

[1monster]

11. Sarah Palin pregnant with her first child on the right...

Sarah Palin at seven and a half months pregnant with Trig:



Not absolute proof, but, all things considered, pretty compelling evidence that Sarah is not the biological mother.

I GREATLY admire parents who supported their daughters through their pregnancies and helped them keep and raise their babies. I've known parents and their daughters who have done just that and have gained the absolute love, respect, and grattitude of their daughters.

I would find Sarah Palin and her husband admirable if it is true that daughter Bristol is the mother and they acknowledged that and adopted or helped her keep Baby Trig.

What I don't find admirable or understandable is lying about it.

Or if Sarah Palin IS the biological mother, I don't understand why she doesn't simply put all of these rumors to rest by proving that SHE is the mother. It shouldn't be all that difficult to do. After all, these rumors have been circulating for quite some time now, since long before she was selected as McCain's running mate.

[arikara]

12. There was a soap actress who was hired

to work on a prime time series then was fired when they found out she was preggers. She took them to court and won something like 3 million when she walked in to the courtroom 8 mos pregnant and not showing a bit. Hunter Tylo is her name. Just saying that it can and does happen that women don't show. You often hear of women that don't even know they are pregnant until the baby comes. Now as for the water breaking and getting on a plane and flying to Alaska, that shows some serious misjudgement...

[gaspee]

6. So it was OK

for Rush to call Chelsea Clinton the white house dog? Her parents knew what they were getting into and she was an ugly kid. Beautiful now, but an ugly kid (the exact opposite of most people.)

It was OK for John McCain to say that Chelsea was so ugly because Janet Reno was her mother?

If you stick to your own theory then what he said was fine because kids of politicians are fair game.

[SoCalDem]

7. I stand by what I said..

the PARENTS bring the kids along, knowing full-well that their children will become a focus of interest, and they often USE those kids to make their own "stories" compelling..

I don;t approve of anything Rush does, but I do not control him...nor do I have a radio show or tv show.. I am one person who, in THIS one particular case, noticed a pile of inconsistencies higher than Mt Everest, and I commented on reports and pictures in the public domain..so sue me :)

[Minimus]

8. I had mono when I was fifteen and I was out of school for 4 weeks -

I was only considered contagious the first week but even then someone would have to drink after me or kiss me and "swap spit" to get infected. My doctor said I could go back to school after I was no longer contagious but that I probably would not feel like it. He was right because I was very tired.

My friends came to visit and to bring my schoolwork - none of them caught it.

Still not sure where I caught it. No one close to me - friends or family had it.

[Gormy Cuss]

10. Same time, different experience.

At about the same time my mother had a baby when her oldest girl was 17. There was no obsession with what people might think about my sister and this was in a community where there were at least two mothers raising grandchildren as siblings to the child's biological mother.

There was concern about what they would think of my mother still having babies at her age.

So there you have it. My anecdote is completely different from yours and it's just as relevant to Palin.

[amuse bouche]

14. To each his own.