This is no rumor.
The 17-year-old daughter of Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin is pregnant
[…]
Bristol Palin, one of Alaska Gov. Palin’s five children with her husband, Todd, is about five months pregnant and is going to keep the child and marry the father, the Palins said in a statement released by the campaign of Republican presidential candidate John McCain.
Wow.
UPDATE: A couple of things. First, this really should put to bed the rumors of Bristol being the mother of Palin’s youngest child, Trig, as there is no way she could be 5 months pregnant now after having given birth four months ago.
Second, I’ve been hearing over and over that Sarah Palin does not believe in birth control, even between a husband and a wife. As I backtracked through trying to find the source of that, it appears that the it was simply the echo chamber of the blogosphere and not reality. According to TIME:
She is Christian and pro-life, but also a supporter of birth control: she’s a member of Feminists For Life (FFL), an anti-abortion, pro-contraception organization.
I trust that TIME has a source for this.
VIVIAN J. PAIGE | All Politics is Local 
Well, this is going to be helpful. Regardless of the status of the rumor of the Palin’s youngest daughter, the pregnancy of their eldest, which is confirmed, will likely give many conservatives pause. I imagine that McCain must’ve known beforehand, and I can only wonder how he plans to deal with this in terms of his campaign.
Doug @ 4:08: Your post got caught in my spam filter. Sorry.
C’mon, folks, if Cheney’s daughter’s being gay was not an impediment to his being VP, why should Palin’s daughter’s pregnancy be such an impediment?
Doug, do you say that with *me* in mind? I know I’m not widely read, but I have to admit that I thought you’d know me better than that. I don’t take marching orders from anyone. And I hope that my fellow travelers don’t, either.
if you say that with a general audience in mind, I think you’ve got a pretty warped conception of public politics. Sure, taking the wishes of a particular or candidate into mind is a part of any actively engaged citizen’s calculus, but it’s pretty sad to see it characterized as an “end of this discussion.” There’s all sorts of things that I’m sure Obama would prefer me not to say (perhaps, for example, my continuing disgust with McCain hating the “gooks”), but I certainly don’t see any good reason to not talk about it.
So . . . where’s the apology for slandering Gov. Palin and her husband about the parentage of their youngest child?
Crickets . . . .
You know, Spotter, you raise a good point. I’ve avoided that issue. I have thought that criticism of Sarah Palin for attempting to juggle the care of her Down’s Syndrome child, Trig, with running for the VP was unfair. But unlike having a Down’s Syndrome child, which other career women have done while maintaining high demand careers, this is very different. I think criticism for that is unfair. But Sarah Palin had to know her daughter was pregnant before she accepted the VP spot.
She was already governor of Alaska so she couldn’t control her daughter being somewhat in the public spotlight during this pregnancy. But Palin chose to run for the VP’s office with the full knowledge that this would bring an unwanted glare of public attention on her child. What kind of mother does that? And is it fair to cry foul? After all, she knew the situation she was facing going in.
And, at least temporarily, perhaps her time could best be spent being there for her daughter in a time of crisis. Not forever, but temporarily just to get through the difficult few months. Even dedicated career women I know do take leaves of absence in family emergencies. They certainly don’t undertake new and public challenges at such a time. Isn’t that putting personal ambition above family?
The word “palin” is actually Greek and means “before” or “backwards.”
http://www.drbilllong.com/GrLaRoots/lysis.html
So . . . where’s the apology for slandering Gov. Palin and her husband about the parentage of their youngest child?
It’s with the apology for slandering Sen. Obama and his wife by calling them Muslim terrorists/racist black militants who hate America and want to blow it up.
The bad news: Bristol Palin is pregnant.
The GOOD NEWS: It was an immaculate conception!
Should play right into the hands of the Evangelicals, aye?!
The baby’s name will be Gustav.
They weren’t sure if the “young man” was going to marry her, but Bush sent Dick Cheney over with a shotgun, just for a little “talk.”
See my blog for photo.
MB,
You still haven’t provided a logical explanation for why the 17 year-old daughter of a political candidate is something we should be even talking about
It was never about the 17 year old daughter, Doug. It was about her politician mother possibly covering up a (minor, in my mind) family embarrassment for the sake of her own career, and doing so with a seemingly cockamamie story that, if true, shows shocking disregard for the life and health of the baby she was carrying inside her.
More to the point, it’s a story about John McCain’s complete carelessness and recklessness in picking a running mate, and what those traits show about his fitness to be president.
Xerox, you confuse me for someone else. I VOTED FOR OBAMA IN THE PRIMARY (and it’s not my first time voting for a Democrat although I have also voted for Republicans). And to be clear, it was my intent to vote for Obama several months before the primary and before anything “gelled” in either party. You see, I believe his historic candidacy is a good thing for America.
So, I am one of the votes the Dems need. And my point is, and has been throughout this thread over the past day or so, that this kind of claptrap — the mindless character destruction — is beneath this party (and the oither one too). I have called bullshit on both sides in the past.
I happen to think Gov. Palin’s candidacy is a good thing for America too. But I don’t think this kind of crap is good for the country because THERE IS MUCH MORE IMPORTANT STUFF TO TALK ABOUT and for me, I want us to focus on those issues because I don’t care if the woman wears real fur. Actually, the fact that she returned to work a few days after giving birth tells me how seriously she takes public office.
I have read every comment left on this. I have to say that it is truly interesting, but 1) caring for a child with downs is hard. I do it every single day and have been for 13 years now. If she can do it she is one bad woman, and only time will tell. Her 17 teen year old is going to have a child. Who care. It sets a bad example but it shows she is like a lot of other mothers… out of touch with there kids. This only shows that McCain is smart enough to release this when the whole nation is worring and praying that New Orleans did not have to deal with a replay of Katrina. It also showed me he is no Marrick and he is only snow balling the nation.
Randy,
No, it was about of self-important bloggers involving themselves in a personal story that is none of their f**king business.
And, in case you weren’t aware of it,the McCain campaign has said that they were aware of the daughter’s pregnancy before McCain made the decision.
Now, I can think of many reasons why Sarah Palin is not the right choice for Vice-President, but the fact that her daughter is pregnant is not one of them, nor is it even relevant in answering the question.
Here is the link you asked for:
http://cvxn.tumblr.com/