Soon We’ll Have To Require Certified Birth Certificates For Everyone Associated With a Presidential Run

So, first we had the conspiracy theorists questioning Barack’s citizenship, fueled by fuss over Obama’s birth certificate and itinerant youth (and, perhaps, by futile hopes of vaulting Hillary into the Dems nomination).

Now, there’s this:

…the oldest girl is rumored to have actually been the one who had the last baby, the one with Down’s Syndrome. She was taken out of school the last 4 or 5 months of her mother’s pregnancy.

On March 5th, 2008 Alaska’s Republican Governor, Sarah Palin, announced to the media that she was 7 months pregnant with her 5th child. She is currently 44.

Palin’s daughter Bristol is 16 and attends an Anchorage high school. Students who have attended class with her report that she has been out of school for months, claiming a prolonged case of mono.

Palin does not appear pregnant in any recent photographs. The announcement came as quite a shock to people who had worked closely with her, and have been quoted as saying that she did not appear pregnant whatsoever during the prior 7 months. While this is debatable, you can judge for yourself

That’s an excerpt of an email sent to and posted at The Moderate Voice, which references this picture originally posted at the Alaska Governor’s Office website, allegedly taken on Super Tuesday when Palin would have been about 6 months pregnant:

Folks have been suggesting that Governor Palin’s seeming lack of a baby bump in the picture supports the allegation, as does this picture, taken from the Alaska Daily News, and reportedly shot around a few weeks later:

Bristol, Governor Palin’s eldest daughter is at right.  At least one online tabloid argues that the daughter looks a little more pregnant than her mom.

This would make for a titillating scandal if it weren’t for a couple of other considerations.

First, I have had the good fortune of working in an office where something really must be in the water, judging by how many mothers-to-be we have had around the place.  I can comfortably say that baby bumps can be rather variable in size.  Throw in the occasional news story we’ve seen about ladies who have gone to the doctor with stomach discomfort and have been shocked to learn they were actually about to become mothers, as well as the tendency for down’s syndrome children to be born underweight…. well, I can believe that a woman who is six months along might not necessarily show in a random photograph, especially one shot so as not to reveal much about the woman’s profile.

Regarding that second photo as evidence of challenging exactly who was pregnant, I note that the following picture, taken a year earlier, is available at the Governor’s website:

You know, given that the eldest daughter has, shall we say, a non-Barbie-like physique, and given that she was reported to be out of school for mono (and therefore would presumably have been fairly inactive during convalescence)… I’m not sure that photo number 2 really works as evidence of scandal.

So, for the folks looking for scandal – it’s time to get a life, and pay attention to more substantive questions.  There are plenty of good and bad things about Governor Palin’s credentials, views, and experience to pick upon, without overreaching to find titillating scandal.

I suppose a birth certificate could be produced to help document who’s the mom…but given Barack’s luck with using a copied birth certificate to quell rumors, I doubt that it would do any good.

Remember Occam folks — the simplest explanation is the one most likely to be true.