PROFESSOR: Sarah Palin Probably Staged A Gigantic Hoax About Being Trig's Mother

[babsbunny]

http://www.businessinsider.com/sarah-palin-baby-hoax-2011-4?op=1#ixzz1JdsJdQSx

PROFESSOR: Sarah Palin Probably Staged A Gigantic Hoax About Being Trig's Mother
Henry Blodget

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/sarah-palin-baby-hoax-2011-4?op=1#ixzz1Jvbw0jIF


An interesting footnote has emerged to a theory that raged around the Internet during Sarah Palin's candidacy for Vice President:

The theory is that Sarah Palin is actually the grandmother of her purported son Trig, not the mother, and that she staged a gigantic hoax during the campaign to cover up this fact.

Professor Bradford Scharlott of Northern Kentucky University has looked into this story in detail and written a long academic article about it. He concludes two things:

First, that the "conspiracy theory" is likely true--Sarah Palin staged a huge hoax, and, second,

The American media is pathetic for not pursuing the story more aggressively

[cali]

1. this garbage has been posted. over and over and over and fucking over

pathetic.

[sudopod]

2. Great, just what we need, our own birthers. nt

[elocs]

That's exactly right. The same kind of mentality.

Besides, the odds of Palin having a Down syndrome baby was maybe 1 in 35, while for her daughter it would have been around 1 in 1600.

I'd be ashamed of any Democrat dealing in that kind of nonsense.

[FSogol]

3. 1. Why? 2. What is the motivation? 3. Who cares. 4. An older woman is more likely to have a

baby like Trig than a teenager.
5. What difference does it make?
6. It is the Palin's private business and could one day be harmful to Trig.
7. You are making DU look bad with stupid conspiracy theories.

[virgogal]

4. Nicely stated. I agree.

[Buzz Clik]

7. 8. I'm still hungry because I forgot dessert and

10. I skipped 9 so I could go get dessert.

Back in a jiffy!

[spanone]

5. this professor???

[Buzz Clik]

6. I haven't seen him since Car Wash!

[dalaigh lllama]

8. Whether ot not it's a hoax, there's still too many bizarre happenstances

in the whole situation that were never clarified. And it IS odd that the media lets the birthers run rampant with their Obama-was-born-in-Kenya crap, but this story is off-limits. And I fail to see why anyone who wonders about this is a lefty version of a birther -- Obama's shown his birth certificate, but Palin won't show Trig's. I don't care who Trig's folks are, I just find it odd Palin won't produce the evidence to put it to rest and wonder why.

[LynneSin]

10. I think you summed it up about as good as it gets

Seriously, there are too many photos of her right before the delivery where she is slim and trim.

I still don't think she's the grandmother though - I think she's the stepmom.

As for the concept that only older women have downs syndrome babies, young folks get them too. I've know 4 families who have had down syndrome babies and all 4 moms were under the age of 30.

[Texasgal]

9. WHO CARES?

Seriously? Who fucking cares? Why oh WHY is this an issue?

[RegieRocker]

12. More of a issue than anything she says.

[Bluebear]

24. BECAUSE:

"It is beyond the scope of this article to try to resolve the question of Trig’s parentage. The purpose here is to show that a diligent reporter could not conclude with certainty that Palin was telling the truth and thus should not have treated her incredible story as beyond scrutiny. With very few exceptions, members of the press in the United States have failed to show appropriate skepticism about Palin’s unproven claim that she is the birth mother of Trig, a claim she has used to turbo-charge her career."

That's why people fucking care.

[mike_c]

11. those several DUers condemning this paper would do well to read it first....

It does a good job of laying out the elements of controversy involved in this story, but it's main intent is to explore the lack of press coverage as a phenomenon worth investigating in it's own right. The author says:

"It is beyond the scope of this article to try to resolve the question of Trig’s parentage. The purpose here is to show that a diligent reporter could not conclude with certainty that Palin was telling the truth and thus should not have treated her incredible story as beyond scrutiny. With very few exceptions, members of the press in the United States have failed to show appropriate skepticism about Palin’s unproven claim that she is the birth mother of Trig, a claim she has used to turbo-charge her career."

edit-- oh, here's a link to the original paper: http://www.scribd.com/doc/52841266/Prof-Brad-Scharlott-Palin-the-Press-and-the-Fake-Pregnancy-Rumor

[CelticThunder]

13. +1 After reading this I definitely believe it was a hoax. And the press is too chickenshit to touch

the story because Palin is a conservative Republican even though the ramifications of this are serious.

But go ahead, pooh-poohers, BE too good to inform yourself about the real likelihood that Palin faked a pregnancy. Sarah Palin would certainly do the same for you!

NOT.

[niyad]

14. welcome to DU

is your name a reference to that wonderful group?

[Blasphemer]

18. That's the real story.... the failure of the press

A politician who was potentially a heartbeat away from the Presidency being involved in such a hoax IS a big deal (certainly as big of a deal as misappropriating campaign funds to hide an affair) but we have seen many instances of democrats investigated by the press based on accusations of improper behavior. Meanwhile we've seen GOP'ers in the highest positions of elective office getting away with murder (literally). There is NO WAY a female democratic candidate whose daughter was expecting an out of wedlock child would have been given a pass over something like this. The "Sarah Palin in an idiot" (which, of course, she is) meme always had a lightheartedness to it. Fraud is another matter altogether and a female Democrat would have been crucified.

[applegrove]

17. I wonder if it is astroturfing to make the moderates think the left is as loonie as the right?

[Beacool]

15. Again with this nonsense??????

Even if it were to be true, who gives a crap?

Please.........

:crazy:

[LisaL]

23. I don't think it's any more nonsense than claiming Obama

wasn't born in US. Do you?

[Beacool]

25. That's nonsense too.

But one crazy theory doesn't justify another crazy theory.

:shrug:

[Zax2me]

16. Maybe it is because I don't watch fox news but -

I have probably heard stories about Sarah Palin once or twice the past six months.
As is, I have to dodge scores of threads per day here, and, of all that includes her I am BORED.
There is nothing she does or says that warrants coverage outside of little fox news.
Not to mention grocery checkout tabloid type faking baby birth BREAKING NEWS!
I know, I know, the report is from a PROFESSOR.
Oh, well - a PROFESSOR.
Why didn't you say so - then by all means, shower me!

[sneakythomas]

19. The Professor

Hi, I don't post much here, but I couldn't let this one go by. Dr. Scharlott is a professor of Journalism, I looked him up on the NKU website. I scanned the article, if he turned that in to me as an English paper I'd give him a "C" He quotes anonymous website posters (no, you shouldn't cite "sneaky thomas" as an authority either), and uses a photoshop "enhanced" picture to illustrate a point.

I think the point about birthers is apt, the country has enough things to worry about without a shit throwing contest between rival gangs of nutjobs.

[Thegonagle]

20. Who cares! Leave her kids alone. They didn't pick their mother.

And WHY does it matter? It's almost time for Sarah Palin to go home to Alaska and retire.

[Obamanaut]

21. Several hundred responses in these three earler threads, so many

that one wonders how anything at all was missed that would justify yet another, even using the same subject line as two of the earlier ones:

PROFESSOR: Sarah Palin Probably Staged A Gigantic Hoax About Being Trig's Mother

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=439&topic_id=893463

PROFESSOR: Sarah Palin Probably Staged A Gigantic Hoax About Being Trig's Mother

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=439&topic_id=899352

Prof authors an academic paper concluding Sarah Palin is probably Trig's grandmother, not mother

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=439&topic_id=889394

UNREC

[inna]

22. please, not again. this is just garbage.