Sarah Palin at 7 months and 6 1/2 months with Trig, 8 months with Track, 7 1/2 months with Trig
Babygate is gaining momentum once more. It was one of the first of Sarah Palin's "gates", together with Troopergate.
Due to the Desperate Housewives element of it, Babygate drew the attention of people not necessarily concerned with Sarah Palin's politics. Troopergate fell into the political category, even though family issues played an important part in it.
In both cases the RNC became heavily involved in providing Sarah Palin with acceptable outcomes. Their people migrated to Alaska and started taking care of things.
Troopergate was being investigated by Steve Branchflower on behalf of a bi-partisan committee - eight Republicans and four Democrats. The RNC turned the investigation upside down in a three pronged attack: the committee was accused of acting against Sarah Palin for political reasons, Walt Monegan became the target of a very ugly smear campaign and an outside law firm from Texas was brought in as reinforcement. Subpoenas became optional, people who had been cooperating with the investigation, including Sarah Palin, became hostile and the results of the investigation were discredited. The Governor then turned the investigation over to her Personnel Board and was absolved of any wrongdoing.
Babygate didn't involve a formal investigation but had the potential to cause untold damage to Sarah Palin's reputation. In the absence of proper evidence to prove Sarah was Trig's birth mother, the only way to counter the rumours was to present Bristol to the world as a five month pregnant unwed teenager. Taking into account Trig's presumed birthdate of April 18, Bristol being five months pregnant made it impossible for her to be the mother of both babies. But it still didn't prove that Sarah Palin was Trig's birth mother...
While in Alaska, the RNC also took the opportunity to control all communications between the families involved in the Trig question and the media. Computers were hacked into, pages scrubbed, photographs of Sarah Palin during her "pregnancy" disappeared from her official website, a campaign operative became a friend of the Johnston family...
This is a snippet from an article on ADN, dated September 2, 2008:
A family friend answered the door Monday at the Johnston home, outside Wasilla. When a reporter mentioned Bristol Palin, the friend, Anna Arodzero, said, "You can contact the McCain-Palin headquarters."
Anna Arodzero's name appears on McCain's campaign expenditures list:
Arodzero, Anna, TIGARD, OR $ 183 October 23, 2008 TRAVEL
Arodzero, Anna, TIGARD, OR $ 627 September 30, 2008 TRAVEL
Arodzero, Anna, TIGARD, OR $1,667 September 30, 2008 TRAVEL
Arodzero, Anna, TIGARD, OR $1,028 November 14, 2008 TRAVEL
After they lost the election, Sarah Palin returned to Alaska without the support of the RNC and has since done her best to alienate RNC staff.
Babygate continues...
The Johnston's recent interviews revived public interest in this saga and Sarah Palin's family values are being questioned once again.
Another thing being questioned is the Governor's inconsistent behaviour regarding press statements. Articles on People magazine stated the Levi was living with the Palins and the details went unchallenged. Considering that Sarah Palin was very quick to put the record straight when People indicated that Bristol and Levi were high school drop-outs, it's very strange that she let details about Levi's living arrangements stand for months. Her dead body must be at an advanced stage of decomposition by now!
Two excellent recaps appeared on a couple of blogs: Palin's Deceptions and Hypocrites and Heffalump Traps.
Sarah Palin appears to have more control over the political "gates" because Alaska's Constitution gives her too much power and she can abuse it more or less unchecked.
Babygate, as innocent as it seems, may be the one that will eventually bring Sarah Palin crashing down because it falls outside her political influence.
Sarah will be left with the ghosts of the political ambitions for which she sacrificed the only people who could offer her some support: her own family.
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