Call? There's not going to be any call. She left the game a long time ago, starting with the nomination in Denver and extending to the present. She knows her defenders will stick to her no matter what - probably correct on that one - and after it blows over, people's memories will be short - not likely.

Why do you think you're virtually alone in this position, Jack?

DailyKos doesn't want any part of it (Read the comments to this diary, which has since been deleted, I'm presuming by the administrators):

http://64.233.169.132/search?q=cache:wfk_7vYKTsYJ:www.dailykos.com/story/2008/12/3/9751/79780+Palin+Trig+%22March+26%22&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=9&gl=us

Google (Palin Trig "March 26") and you only get a couple thousand hits. The first twenty results?

2 palindeception.com
2 bojack.org
1 nuked Kos diary with commenters laughing at you
2 nwrepublican laughing at you (which kind of makes me sick considering they're using my words to do it)
3 rando blogs/forums
10 unrelated/old stories

You stated last time that you thought the majority of people agree with your story and not mine: If so, where the hell are they?

Look, Palin's a total joke. I'm a flaming liberal who can't stand her. But I also live in a reality-based world. That photo is conclusive of nothing. You can't come up with a conceivable story that explains your claim. You believe it because you have so much invested in it: You're a loony if you're wrong, so man do you really want to be right. You look for confirming evidence: It's possible she's not pregnant in this picture! You disregard disconfirming evidence: Bristol couldn't have been the mother? Well, then, it was some mystery woman! The molten steel at ground zero! There were thermite bombs! How else did the molten steel get there? Why won't Obama make his birth records public, proving that he was born in Hawaii? He could put the whole controversy to rest...you all are dangerously subservient to your leadership if you believe the government couldn't have been behind this. Don't you see the similarities in the logical forms of these arguments?

All that said, hope you didn't take Oakland. :)

I know a 14 year old girl (we'll call her Anna) who hid her pregnancy for 7 months and no one knew until she revealed it to them. She went on to have a healthy 7 pound baby girl. She was 4'11" and weighed 90 pounds, lived at home with her parents and participated in sports at school. If pregnancy should have shown on anyone, it would have been her. In all respects, people should have noticed that she was pregnant, but they didn't. If a photo was taken of Anna, at 7 months pregnant, I would venture to guess - she didn't look pregnant. Because she wouldn't have looked pregnant, would this have made her any less pregnant?

Just to break it all down for you, at 7 months, or 32 weeks, Anna would have had 56 days left until giving birth. That puts Gov. Palin at just 33 days "more pregnant" than Anna. She could have clearly taken a photo and not been visibly pregnant.

Posting a picture proves nothing. Your constant repetition of "She's not the mother." proves nothing (except that it's your only defense mechanism).

"When they do this, these people reveal themselves to be highly ideological, personally vicious when provoked, and dangerously subservient to their leadership."
It's actually humorous that you could play the victim in a situation where you've clearly dedicated your time and energy into bringing skepticism and conspiracy theory onto someone else. For you to claim that these "attacks" are brought on by one's ideology, it brings me to ask if your conspiracy theory was not borne out of an ideological clash with Gov. Palin? Finding your claim to be illegitimate and absurd does not make one dangerously subservient to their leadership. Not even in the slightest. For some of us, we think quite clearly on our own and even make our own decisions on what we believe and what we do not believe. Because we don't believe you does not make our minds subservient to anyone. It means that we can't be blindly led to believe that you are the almighty revealer of truth. It also means that some of us believe in the goodness of people and don't need to walk through this world with a chip on our shoulder against anyone and everyone we don't agree with. Or maybe it means that no matter the parentage of Trig Palin, he is being taken care of by a wonderful family who loves him unconditionally and will grow up to be a well-adjusted, bright and productive man.

Maybe, just maybe that's all that matters.

I'm both intrigued by and deeply skeptical of the Palin story under investigation, but the business of tying Jack Bogdanski to folks like the 9-11 conspiracy nuts is an absurd distraction and at its root just like the ad hominen attacks.

Or maybe it means that no matter the parentage of Trig Palin, he is being taken care of by a wonderful family who loves him unconditionally and will grow up to be a well-adjusted, bright and productive man. Maybe, just maybe that's all that matters.

And that's another prime example of a distraction. It's logically equivalent to "well, yes, he is being investigated for tax fraud, but all the kids on his soccer team love him."

DailyKos doesn't want any part of it

And why would that have any bearing whatsoever on what the truth is?

Daily Kosx was the first on this story, and they screwed it up badly by focusing on Bristol Palin and basing their case on photos that were from the wrong timeframe. They're afraid to get burned again, and they should be, because they can't handle it.

It also means that some of us believe in the goodness of people

If you believe in the goodness of Sarah Palin, you deserve what you get.

he is being taken care of by a wonderful family

I'm not seeing the "wonderful family" here. The kids appear to have been subjected to some pretty weak parenting.

It really looks to me like she was leaning forward or hunching over slightly in the March 26 photo. I think that is why it appears that her belly is not a rotund as in other photos from the same time period.

Jack - long time reader here, I value your blog but I think you've missed the boat here and are losing credibility.

Jack, you are a moonbat.

You want us to believe one photograph over all the eyewitness testimony that refutes your interpretation of the photo?

So, is it true you're a law professor? God help the legal profession, if that's true.

Have a new baby boy myself. My wife was a slight 114 lbs when she got pregnant. At 30 weeks pregnant she was 140lbs. In the last 6 weeks, just like your Palin photo, she gained 25 additional pounds.

Our baby was born at almost 9 lbs. Thus she had a huge belly. At 4lbs, even for a woman as small as my wife, she was barely showing.

Your March 26th photo is the one MOST likely to prove she was pregnant, no the other way around.

You are sad.

And the poker player with the short stack shouted, "All in."

You just got a link from Andrew Sullivan. I think this means you've hit the big time and it means your hate mail is only going to increase.

I'm still not convinced she faked the pregnancy, but something sketchy is going on there.

I watched some of Barbara Walter's 10 Most Fascinating People of 2008, which worked almost as well if you changed it to the 10 Most Annoying People of 2008. I wanted to see Tina Fey, whom I flat out love, but I watched the Rush Limbaugh interview, and it was all there:
1. George Bush's legacy is the dumbing down of the Republican Party. By defending him, they were forced to commit to a stringent program of being stupid, which they did and then some.
2. Sarah Palin is the natural extension of this movement.
3. Rush loves Sarah Palin. He defined the new GOP party as anti-elitist. See there's this big conspiracy by the smart people against people like Sarah Palin. When Barbara Walters said, "But she was uninformed", Rush took it as a badge of honor, pointing out that he had not gone to college.
Stephen Colbert nailed all this with his word, "truthiness"- going by a feeling in your gut rather than knowledge and that fancy book-learin'.
This was inspired by George W. and during the last 8 years, it became central to the Republican marketing campaign of how decisions should be made. Brains? Not important. Research? Curiosity about the world? A waste of time. It's all about believing in that feeling in your gut that says, "I'm dumb, but I'm right."
So now Rush loves Sarah and sees her as the next great GOP leader. The GOP is committed to truthiness long-term - it won't end when W leaves. This contrasted brilliantly with Tina Fey. Here was a woman just radiating brains. Tina Fey is sexy and adorable and her brains make her even more so. Sarah Palin came out of nowhere and Tina tagged her like a groggy moose that had to be airlifted to the back country.
All these pregnancy sites and discussions had less effect than a few minutes of Tina Fey going viral on the Internet. She came up huge in this.
We have a defining difference between the 2 parties now: smarties versus morons. This is not something that's good for America, but so many, many things George Bush has done have been bad for America.
Rush Limbaugh just loves Sarah. She is now the leader of the once-great Conservative Movement. Watch Sarah Palin as she leads the Republican Party merrily, merrily off to the Land of Stupid.

joel dan walls:
The fact that a baby boy was born (although I'm sure some conspiracy will sprout up about even that fact) and is being taken care of by his family does not cause a distraction. It's the simple truth. I realize that it's difficult to come to terms with the fact that no matter the circumstances of the child's birth, he is now loved beyond belief by his family. The REAL distraction from the truth is a photo which shows nothing, proves nothing; yet has started a wanna-be-Palin-Gate bandwagon.

Jack Bog:
I do believe in the goodness of people. I can't imagine walking through life being skeptical of every person I meet. I'd like to think we're all good people at heart. Sure, some people make very, very bad decisions and hurt alot of people along the way. Bad deeds don't always paint the picture of a person's character. I'm sure that you have done things in your life that hurt someone or done things that you are ashamed of. Does that mean that deep down you're not a good person? Absolutely not. I have always lived my life to see the good in people and would never change that. With pessimism like yours, clearly, the world needs more people with my mindset.

I do believe he's being taken care of by a wonderful family. Do the Palins display weak parenting skills because Bristol got pregnant? That's the only argument I see that you have.. and I think that's a pretty weak argument. It's an extremely lofty goal for teens to stay abstinent and a goal that I hope my children will strive to attain. As a member of Generation Y, I'm right in the mix of what I think is a highly sexualized generation. Of course, it's the parent's job to instill values and set boundaries for their children; especially when it comes to sex. But, ultimately teenagers will make their own decisions and Bristol clearly made a bad one. And once again, it comes back to my notion of finding the silver lining in people. I hate that her decisions will make her grow up faster than what should be expected of her. I hate that her decisions may inhibit her from reaching goals she'd set for herself. But I do commend her for taking responsibility for her actions and affording her child the chance at life.

For someone who disagrees with Gov. Palin or does not like her for whatever reason they have, it's easy to find everything wrong with everything she does. It would be like a dagger to the heart to find something positive about her. I don't expect you to, but I'd dare you to give it a try.

You do not meet the decency standards of human dignity.
I guess typical for lawyers.
I imagine you do not understand either of those sentences?

Ray Stahl

"The shrill tone of their attacks also betrays the fact that they are aware of the exceedingly weak nature of their case. Like Palin, they are determined to play their losing hand all the way to the call."

My god your arrogant, your being attacked because YOUR case is exceedingly weak. The X-files are over...time to move on.

Believing in the Palin pregnancy has some interesting parallels to fundamentalist belief in other suspect pregnancies. Is Trig the second coming. Interesting thought as Christmas beckons.

Relentlessly questioning Sarah Palin's Trig pregnancy is right up (or down) there with demanding proof of natural born citizenship from Obama. Is Palin's doctor a liar? Please, Obama won. Maybe just basking in that glory at least til inauguration is too much to assume. Give. It. A. Rest.

So does "Your not smart." (sic) not know the difference between a contraction and a possessive pronoun?

Did it ever occur to those who think Jack is off his rocker, that this is exactly the reaction Palin was betting on when trying to hide the truth behind Trig's birth? That the story would sound so crazy that no "reasonable" person would ever believe it?

After years of lies from the GOP, I'm inclined to want more evidence than the Palin's have produced before I'd believe their story.

When they do this, these people reveal themselves to be highly ideological, personally vicious when provoked, and dangerously subservient to their leadership.

That just isnt Palin fans, Jack. That is pretty much any political discussion from either side.
As for "attacks"....isnt that what is being done to Palin as well? Particularly since nobody making any accusation of her has any friggin idea whether she was or wasnt without her medical records. People can say they know best because they had a kid, or their wife had a kid, whatever. But the facts are that everyone holds a baby differently. And no pregnacy is the same. My wife was different than her sister, her friends, etc.

This whole issue is just an ideological rant of the highest order. Period.

The fact that a baby boy was born (although I'm sure some conspiracy will sprout up about even that fact) and is being taken care of by his family does not cause a distraction. It's the simple truth. I realize that it's difficult to come to terms with the fact that no matter the circumstances of the child's birth, he is now loved beyond belief by his family.

Nice try at changing the subject again, Alley.

As I've already noted, I am intrigued by, but deeply skeptical of, Mr.Bogdanski's photo-interprertation. But the correctness, or not, of Bogdnaski's photo-interpretation most definitely has nothing to do with how Trig Palin's family cares for him. What you're doing is implicitly arguing that "he's loved beyond belief" constitutes a reason to suspend judgment of Sarah Palin's credibility.

And Alley, if you want to criticize cynical manipulators, perhaps you would like to consider the parents who were never discouraged from exhibiting their special-needs kids at Palin's campaign rallies, as though Palin were some sort of faith healer.

There you have it, out of the mouths of LIARS massmedia: All the speechless Sorry Failin panters take a number and line up behind Rash Lamebrain.

I told you so; all the haters, familiarize yourself with the nearest exits ... and blogs of truth, such as here at bojack, ain't one where LIARS escape self-ruin.

---
There's an old (ancient?) Bill Cosby bit which parodies the GOPukes precisely. The set-up is a high school shop teacher is addressing his class:

Teacher: "Awright, someone put a bullet in the furnace. I want to know who put a bullet in the furnace ...."

(silent pause)

Teacher: "... ya' know, it reflects bad on your mother if you put a bullet in the furnace."

Student voice: "Hey, I didn't put no bullet in no furnace but you watch what you say about my momma!"

---
It's an old Shakespeare 'bit' too: Who doth protest too much (has no basis).

C'mon Jack. Your guilty of the exact same things you say about the right. You don't know Palin, yet you toss 'ad hominem' attacks on her parenting skills as well as snipe at her kids, while at the same time taking issue with people attacking YOUR family.

I like your blog; it's one of the more sensible out of myriad left-leaning blogs on the 'net, which is why I feel this is out of character for you, at least in my opinion.

I'm an Independent after a lifetime of voting Republican. I made the huge mistake of voting for a second Bush term. While I don't think he lied per se about the war, I do believe that he had an opportunity to tell those around him that the intel they had was highly flawed and he wasn't going to use it. But he didn't and that's just as bad. And I've tried to explain that to my conservative friends and they go ballistic, which is why at times I see the conservatives pulling some of the same stunts that I dislike the liberals for and that's why I finally became an Independent. I want the best CANDIDATE for the office in question, and I refuse to be a bucket carrier for anyone.

As for President-Elect Obama, I didn't vote for him. As a matter of fact, this was the first election of my life where I was really torn as to whom to vote for - I wasn't thrilled with either one of them, but the lesser of two evils (I really hate that term) happened to be McCain. I see him as being a RINO in my opinion.

That being said, I care for this country far more than I do political ideology, so I'm going to get behind President-Elect Obama and and if he can get done even a third of what he's promised, then all the better. I personally believe that it will take at least two years to untangle what the Bush administration left behind and at that time, the mid-term elections will be upon us and we'll have to see how that goes. It could turn out that the conservatives will get back "control" of the congress and then it's back to gridlock, so it's entirely possible that his first term will be his last and nothing of any consequence will be accomplished.

The bottom line is that I'm going to support him because he is the President now. I refuse to engage in stupid and childish angry name calling and general unfounded diatribes against him that the left engaged in for the past six years. It just makes one look unintelligent, bitter and akin to a very spoiled child who can't get his way. And yes, I know I engaged in that very thing a few times, even here on your blog, but I've grown up and realized my mistakes and have worked on changing my attitudes.

I humbly request that you leave the sordid, unfounded personal attacks for the more virulent leftists and stick to doing what you do best - holding those in political power, including the City of Portland, accountable for their BS, ridiculous taxes, general financial shenanigans and other assorted and sundry garbage they try and foist on the citizenry. Most, if not all of what you post, I usually can't find anywhere else which is why I read your blog pretty much on a daily basis.

Keep up the great work you do and here's wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas.

Cheers!!

I've yet to be pregnant but from what I understand you get bigger with each pregnancy don't you? Just look at other pictures of Palin pregnant in the past and she has quite a tummy. Wouldn't she at least be that way with Trig too? And as I mentioned in my other post in the other thread Palin is VERY pro-life so wouldn't she go around and tell everyone? Apparently not even people who were around her all the time at work knew she was pregnant. I would think she'd tell everyone being an older lady having a baby. Plus her trip back to Alaska is quite odd too for a special needs birth and with her age too. A lot of hospitals have those announcement pages and stuff. I wonder if this hospital did?

Comment by Alley: no matter the parentage of Trig Palin, he is being taken care of by a wonderful family who loves him unconditionally and will grow up to be a well-adjusted, bright and productive man.

No matter what the truth is about his parentage, I see no cause for optimism that Trig Palin will be "bright". I don't see any evidence that anyone else in that "wonderful family" (as you call them) is particularly bright, and they don't have the disadvantage of Down's Syndrome.

Trig Palin may well grow up to be more intelligent than his (presumed) mother, despite his intellectual disability, but that's not saying much.

ditto, to what Michael said very well.

Ditto to the other two Michaels. Jack, you know as a lawyer that you get the client who overreaches on one issue, pisses off the jury, and suddenly they start to question his otherwise solid and legitimate arguments on the other issues. I enjoy your commentary on the City and other political issues, which is usually on the spot, but I think you're overreaching on this one.

Is it ture because of this story that Rob Kremer will no longer have you one a guest host? No worries there jack you can do much w/your company then that bonehead!

Jack, people are saying some harsh things about you, but accusing a woman and her teenage daughter of creeping around and hiding a baby isn't all that generous either.

I don't like Palin. I was intrigued by this pregnancy story at first. But after a lot of digging, there isn't much there there.

Palin could easily be quite pregnant in that last photo. She's obviously bending down/forward a bit to put her arm around the child and get into the photo. Combined with her long coat, I don't see how you can get anything definitive out of that.

If I were you, I'd just quietly believe it and see what happens, but I wouldn't put my credibility much further out on that limb.

You did the same namecalling and joined the moonbats when you started referring to the president as 'TheChimp' all the time....

You reap what you sow.....

I agree with Jon. Political debate, from both sides, has degenerated into childish name calling. We have problems we need to solve. This is a time for thoughtful compromise.

I agree with Michael (and thaddeus)

I think Jack is right to go after Palin. She's a classic demagogue, which makes her dangerous if not downright sinister. Hitler also wasn't taken seriously in the early days of his rise to power (and no, I'm not necessarily comparing Palin to Hitler; he was a well-known demagogue so everyone who reads this blog will recognize his name and know what demagogy is). So I think there's some danger in saying she's just a joke or dismissing her with nicknames like "Caribou Barbie." She has a very strong following for someone who has only been on the national stage for a short time. And Jack is right that it's primarily ideology, and it's a fringe ideology, that drives her ardent (fanatical?) supporters. But I still doubt that her supporters will become disillusioned with her even if all the allegations about faking her pregnancy, lying etc. are proven to be true.

Does this guy have tenure? Does he have malpractice insurance?

"She has a very strong following ... ardent (fanatical?) supporters."

Both of them.

"But I still doubt that her supporters will become disillusioned with her even if ... faking her pregnancy, lying etc. are proven to be true."

As the massmedia flatlines (beneath the amassed internet's pressing gravity as a worldwide compendium of information, data, reports, and accredited truths), and then in desperation (and reversal) tries to acquit itself by starting again to distribute facts it finds upon investigation -- such as that Sorry Failin was not pregnant in 2008 -- her disciple "supporters" are NOT going to shed their illusions, and ARE going to assail the massmedia.

Some preview or inkling of the scenario is seen today, and in latter days, where totally over-the-top and out-to-lunch rightwing supremeracist wacko's -- a hermetic sect sealed in a mayonnaise jar under Funk & Wagnall's porch since Nixon's exile -- vow they must supplant the 'liberal-bias media.' Whereas, media is totally dumb-going normal-shunning rightwing.

I rather like Jack thoughtful, cogent, logical and rational analysis of the pregnancy issue.

Let me put this controversy in some perspective for you: Most right wing Bush fans supported the war in Iraq. They had no problem with preemptively striking another country based on the idea that someday it could threaten us. Not only was this argument morally reprehensible, the people in charge now admit their intelligence was wrong, although the truth is they lied us into the war.
As a result of that war thousands of tons of depleted uranium with a half-life of 4.5 billion years were dumped on Iraq, where it has led to thousands of badly deformed babies.
That is of no concern to the right wing. But if somebody talks about Sarah Palin's pregnancy, that is where they draw the line.
Suddenly they are morally outraged. Well, it's not working. You sold your souls a long time ago when you supported this president.
Now you ask how Jack can look at pictures and videos and come to conclusions about Sarah Palin. My question is how did the right wing look at pictures and videos of George Bush and come to the conclusion that he was a godly man who deserved their support?
And spare me the moral outrage about this baby's privacy, when your illegal war led to the horrible suffering and deaths of thousands and thousands of innocent babies who didn't even make it from the womb before encountering the poisons of your evil war.

"Is it ture because of this story that Rob Kremer will no longer have you one a guest host?"

Or is it true because of this story, Kremer will no longer BE on? Nevermind having 'guests' to insult.

Despite falsehood after falsehood, O'Reilly reportedly claimed canceled Radio Factor "was fact-based," MediaMatters.ORG, Dec 5, 2008.

Summary: In confirming that he would no longer host his nationally syndicated radio show, The Radio Factor, Bill O'Reilly reportedly said, "I knew my show couldn't be ideological. ... So I was doing a show that was fact-based." However, far from being "fact-based," The Radio Factor frequently featured "fact-free" claims and falsehoods by O'Reilly. See list.

Well, there goes the franchise. And Limbaugh's fled the country ... to Honduras ... banging 12-yr-old sex slaves -- true report, quite ugly.

A list of Democratic politicians who voted for the resolution? That's not my world. I'm talking about the People. The Peace Movement that accurately predicted Iraq would be a fiasco. And don't start with the "support the troops" argument. I think the Iraq War was a crime AGAINST our troops. We didn't keep faith with them because we told them this was for national security and it wasn't. By the way, did you see the article yesterday that said 300,000 of our soldiers have various forms of head trauma that could play out in a variety of ways affecting them the rest of their lives? See, that's the kind of thing the Peace Movement was hoping to avoid. President Bush said no timetables. We now have a timetable. We have scheduled victory for 3 years from now, though I still haven't heard what victory will look like. Meanwhile, our own national security has been greatly damaged by an economic crisis brought on in part by blowing major bucks in Iraq. For the record, Karl Rove now says we wouldn't have gone in if we had known the intelligence was wrong, but that's just more lying. George says that even knowing what we know now about the WMDs he would still have gone in. Of course, he stood in line twice when they were handing out the stupid.
My position on the pregnancy thing is I don't really think it would matter either way. I don't think Sarah Palin's going to fade out, and I'm not sure I want her to. She's been comedy gold and is helping to destroy the worst elements of the GOP. It's like a big migration of caribou heading nowhere.
I'm not Jack's cohort. What happened was the very first comment I made on a blog, I used my real name, and then I decided that was the way to go.
I think it's funny how you demand things for the record and then don't say who you are. That's your choice and I respect it, but it sounds ridiculous.

Wow. I guess I shouldn't be so surprised that the tenor of posts related to Palin would become so shrill, but jeesh.

I think this is a relevant story, even if it is tawdry. First, I don't think the photo depicts a woman who is on the verge of giving birth, but I don't see it as a smoking gun either. It's one photo. But it's hardly the only piece of evidence that something really strange was going on.

The bottom line is that this story percolated for awhile during the campaign and if it wasn't true it is harder to imagine an easier story to disprove. Where were any photos of her holding her new baby in the hospital room? Where were birth/medical records? Much more importantly, this woman came close to becoming a heart-beat away from the presidency with little or no release of medical records. The press had almost no access to this woman. To me, the lack of disclosure was disturbing in and of itself, but it also added fuel to speculation about this subject.

Either she faked the pregnancy or she is the mother. If she's the mother, by her own account she flew back to Alaska on the verge of giving birth in a high-risk situation. It's one or the other. In either case, she displayed questionable/down-right-strange/reckless judgment. Combined with how little we know about this person, this was a legitimate story.

And it continues to be relevant because she has not gone away. She has become - and remains - one of the most important figures in the GOP. She was the largest draw in the run-off campaign in Georgia.

The person who has best refuted your theory (besides all the pregnant women who have previously posted their testimonies) is Michelle Malkin. Not only does she vaporize your argument into microscopic bits, but she deservedly lumps you into the same category of people who are foaming at the mouth over the equally ludicrous Obama's-birth-certificate theory.

To the moon, Alice! (Yes, we really did land there).

"She has become ... the most important ... in the GOP. She was the largest draw ... in Georgia."

That's just what everyone now realizes, and it's the 'comedy gold' Bill is talking about: Stupid sticks to itself. And that's become the party today: Goofy On Palin.

Republicans salute stupid. And LIARS.

So, the majority of the jury of folks figures on executing those oxygen thieves.

It's a war crime, and though stupid can't remember, we did this before for Hitler's goons who were "just following orders," and it's time to do it again for stupidity just reciting 'talking points.'

The Evidence Establishes, without Question, that Republican Rule Is Dangerous: Why It Is High Time to Fix This Situation, For the Good of the Nation, By JOHN W. DEAN, Oct. 31, 2008.

Yes, THAT John Dean. Stupid: Stay Out, until you hear your case number called.

bojack: "i think Sarah Palin's lying about her pregnancy. here's one guy who thinks so too."

commenters: "you're an idiot! a moonbat! how can you be a professor, you moron? what a whack job! you nutbag! you're stupid, stupid, stupid! you're foaming at the mouth! shrill! and, and...you're stupid!"

so far, it looks like the entire 7th grade class of a local middle school invaded the comments section.

Perhaps a quote from the John Dean article
Tenskwatawa linked to would back up my position that the Sarah Palin pregnancy won't matter. However, the authoritarian rule she represents is very dangerous, and that is what I think is worrying Jack. God knows it worries me:

The leading authority on right-wing authoritarianism, a man who devoted his career to developing hard empirical data about these people and their beliefs, is Robert Altemeyer. Altemeyer, a social scientist based in Canada, flushed out these typical character traits in decades of testing.

Altemeyer believes about 25 percent of the adult population in the United States is solidly authoritarian (with that group mostly composed of followers, and a small percentage of potential leaders). It is in these ranks of some 70 million that we find the core of the McCain/Palin supporters. They are people who are, in Altemeyer's words, are "so self-righteous, so ill-informed, and so dogmatic that nothing you can say or do will change their minds."

The Problem with Electing Authoritarian Conservatives

What is wrong with being an authoritarian conservative? Well, if you want to take the country where they do, nothing. "They would march America into a dictatorship and probably feel that things had improved as a result," Altemeyer told me. "The problem is that these authoritarian followers are much more active than the rest of the country. They have the mentality of 'old-time religion' on a crusade, and they generously give money, time and effort to the cause. They proselytize; they lick stamps; they put pressure on loved ones; and they revel in being loyal to a cohesive group of like thinkers. And they are so submissive to their leaders that they will believe and do virtually anything they are told. They are not going to let up and they are not going to go away."

"What is wrong with being an authoritarian conservative?"

About as much as teh authoritarian liberals.

Why is it that after reading this blog for more than a year on a daily basis, the vast majority of the names of commentors on this post are foreign to me?

commenters: "you're an idiot! a moonbat! how can you be a professor, you moron? what a whack job! you nutbag! you're stupid, stupid, stupid! you're foaming at the mouth! shrill! and, and...you're stupid!"

Ecohuman: I think you meant to say, "Your an idiot" etc, etc.

;)

"so far, it looks like the entire 7th grade class of a local middle school invaded the comments section".

I doubt it. 7th graders in schools today are taught that Christ is a fantasy, Obama is the savior, Palin is evil, abortion is cool, and the earth will cook by 2010. Unlikely chance today's 7th graders would criticize the comments made here.

For the sake of completeness, among the other vicious name-callers is a Portland guy named Jay Haight (a.k.a. Max Redline), a former hippo trainer at the Oregon Zoo; and a fellow somewhere in the Seattle area named Jim Walker (a.k.a. Orbusmax), who is reportedly employed in the software industry.

Bill,

You do realize that I could make few changes and make the identical claims about the "authoritarian rule" your party represents.
And since it is your regime on the move and taking over they represent more danger.
How you cough up worry over Palin is beyond my imagination.
I'm somewhat of a self proclaimed leading authority on our local left-wing authoritarianism.
I can also say that there are typical character traits ya'll exhibit.
I believe your left, especially locally, are far more solidly authoritarian.
And with the repeated re-electing of the same incompetent lame brains I see our local left as "so self-righteous, so ill-informed, and so dogmatic that nothing you can say or do will change their minds."
Hmmm?? I think I just said same to you but more of it???

Hey Gibby this fits.

bailing out automakers = "supporting the free market."

providing basic health care for all = "left-wing Socialist authoritarian ideology."

you know, the older i get, the more i get tired of the inherent hatefulness and narrow mindedness of reducing everyone to an ideology.

Ben,
Authoritarian as opposed to what on the right? Monarchy, dictatorship?

I think what a lot of people are shaking their heads at is that we have such fluff in leadership positions and how does it happen?

It happens when you have a person who should never have found the doorknob, slips through the back door enroute to a position a heartbeat away from the presidency, all while conducting a campaign shrouded with secrecy and deceit.

It happens when you have a trustafarian inheriting the white house, who does not understand 'there are consequences for your actions', then you get a cadre of puppeteers behind him that get to drag this country into illegal wars with grave consequences and collateral damage.

Bill McDonald is right about the people supporting the wars and their wrongly placed indignation here. We seriously, don't want it to ever happen again.

Here in the Pacific Northwest, we live in the shadows of Hanford. A monumental threat to genetics everywhere. An expense beyond humanity. Just a war legacy that is one of the unintended consequences of the geniuses behind war.

If you don't think it is important to ferret out the ones with the biggest lies and capable of the most deceit, then you probably weren't around when the Department of Defense intentionally released radiation back in the 1940's from Hanford. Of course, they passed this one off by stating in the FOI'ed (freedom of information) released documents that my people the Yakama's would be affected, but that we were 'dispensable'. Genocide is easier to pass off when it is indigenous groups. But, the truth was it was anything with DNA downwind that could have been affected.

Depleted uranium babies,(google it), sadly, will not be the only collateral damage to the illegal wars. Here in the PNW, we are the designated repository of depleted uranium contaminated war stuff. Last spring, there was an offload of DU contaminated sand from Kuwait in Longview,WA which was then railed to Idaho to be buried in the desert. Now what would have happened if the train jumped its track? The wind is indiscriminate in what it picks up and where it blows.

All the lies, deceit and secrecy are killing us. This is one of many reasons why we don't need more liars in our leadership positions.