WASHINGTON: Politics in free-spirited America is always pregnant with possibilities, but this one is quite a twister. Just when Republicans were breathing easy on Monday that Hurricane Gustav was petering out, an unexpected new storm rocked the party after it was disclosed that vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin's teenage, unmarried daughter is five-months pregnant. The unwed pregnancy itself is no big deal; after all, US has the highest teen pregnancy rate in the industrialized world with one in three American girls getting pregnant before 20. But it was the lead-up and timing of the disclosure, and the tawdry rumors accompanying it, that threatens to make the issue more than a national referendum on family values. Within hours of Republican candidate John McCain's choice of Sarah Palin as his vice-presidential running mate last week, political operatives, news hounds, and bloggers were off and running, sniffing into the Alaska governer past. Her minted-for-office story was compelling enough for the conservative base of the Republican Party — a pro-life, pro-gun, mother of five, including an eldest son deployed to Iraq and a youngest son, born with Down's Syndrome, only four months ago. But born to whom? It wasn't long before muck-raking bloggers began casting aspersions on the birth of the youngest Palin child, claiming he was actually the vice-presidential nominee's grandson, and the son of her teenage daughter Bristol, who is now 17. Within hours, the internet was aflame with photos showing the young woman with a bulging paunch and the 44-year old Palin looking rather "unpregnant". Political operatives also unearthed local reports in Alaska expressing surprise before the child was born, including a comment in the local Anchorage Daily News , which noted at the time that the governor "simply doesn't look pregnant". Apparently, Governor Palin did not announce the news of her pregnancy till her seventh month. Palin and her husband Todd issued a statement on Monday seeking to put an end to the speculation and harness the story to reflect the family values espoused by Conservatives. "Our beautiful daughter Bristol came to us with news that as parents we knew would make her grow up faster than we had ever planned," their statement read. If the McCain-Palin camp expected the story to end there, it was not going to happen – despite a helping hand from rival Obama. In a distinctly measured and classy reaction, Obama advised reporters that his political adversaries families, especially children, were off limits, pointing out that his own mother had given birth to him when she was only 18. But that did not prevent pundits and talking heads from weighing in on the fall-out of the episode, including whether McCain had been hasty in choosing a running mate. The McCain camp insisted that they had known of Palin's teenage daughter's pregnancy, but all indications were they were caught by surprise by the fast-moving developments. In fact, within hours, it became evident that the McCain camp may have goofed badly, or at least been shoddy in the vetting process. By nightfall, there were reports that Palin was once a member of the Alaska Independence Party, which has at times sought a vote on whether the state should secede; and that her husband was charged with drunken-driving (22 years ago), among other dodgy issues from her past. Nothing destructive, but enough to keep an army of political operatives and snoopy reporters from digging away in distant Alaska.
sorce: TOI
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