Palin(syn)drom

It's almost like the finals in the Quadrennial Horse Races is starting to sound and smell like some composite of the National Enquirer and day old poop from Peyton Place.

First, Mad Kane names a complete unknown (on the national scene) to be his running (and soul) mate. No sooner is she presented before the sharks begin to circle (and there was a lot of chum in the water). The fact is that the media being the beast that it is, if there is not a print ready surmise of whom a political person is, that is to say prepared food, the beast awakens and says "feed me!"

The first thing that happened is that somebody noticed that Gov. Palin had birthed a baby boy a few months ago. Then it was noticed that at the time Palin announced she was seven months pregnant, people were surprised. At the same time her daughter was out of sight for 5 months because of mononucleosis. Also, it was noticed that in the official pictures, the only one with an obviously large tummy was her daughter. People, being the nasty little critters that they are began to wonder what the real story was.

According to the official story, Gov Palin was in Texas when her water broke, but she waited 8 hours to give a political speech before flying home to Alaska on a commercial airplane. Bypassing a nearby hospital, got to her own hospital where the baby boy was delivered. Anyone with acquaintance with pregnancies and deliveries would wonder how a 46 year old woman who already birthed 4 babies could wait at least ½ a day from when her water broke and labor contractions began to fly back from Texas after a speech to get to her hospital in Alaska. The wonder is how could it could be done without the baby being born along the way as it is well known that deliveries tend to come quicker after the first couple of times. The mother returned to her official duties only three days later, which is not remarkable in itself but should be noted.

It's kind of disgusting that something maybe even below the level of the National Enquirer, sort of Peyton Place sicko is taking so much public attention when there so many other serious stories like the heavy handed proactive harassment and arrests of demonstrators, news people and even lawyers in St. Paul before the Repugnant Convention. But I suppose that is the way it goes in a country where a loose pasty and an exposed nipple trumps other news...