Sarah Palin's "wild ride", her flight back from Texas to Alaska on April 17, 2008, was a crucial event, which had consequences that surely nobody could have foreseen at the time.
Four days after the "wild ride", on April 21, 2008, Sarah Palin gave a press conference to reporters in Alaska (those were the days...) and presented a story to them which simply was very hard to believe. According to Sarah, her water had broken in Texas in the early morning of the 17th April. Her reaction was to call her family doctor in Alaska, Cathy Baldwin-Johnson, ask her for advice over the telephone, then give a speech at the RGA conference in Dallas later during the day, and go on a 12-hour to fly home. She then officially gave birth to Trig on the early morning of 18th April, 2008 - about 24 hours after her water had broken.
No hospital or doctor in Dallas was graced with Sarah's presence. The fact that Sarah Palin officially was in her seventh pregnancy (including of two miscarriages), did not prompt her to see a medical professional in Dallas, after her water had broken, at 35 weeks pregnant.
As one of the most importance consequences of Sarah's "wild ride" story, people in- and outside of Alaska started to doubt that Sarah Palin was telling the truth about her pregnancy story - including later several journalists immediately after Sarah Palin's nomination, as was revealed in the "JournoList" emails.
At Palingates, we have extensively written about the details of the "wild ride" - for example HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE.
See also our summary document about the faked pregnancy HERE.
Today, we have news. Our reader lidia17, who already created two amazing videos about Sarah Palin's faked pregnancy, got active for us again and made another video which we have all been waiting for: Sarah Palin's "wild ride" - in her own words!
In the clip, Sarah's taped press conference from April 21, 2008 is contrasted with the story told in "Going Rogue" in 2009, which is also "on tape", because it was published also via audio book.
However, additional material has been included in this video. For example, emails of Sarah Palin's administration which were written at the time shortly before and "during" the "wild ride" in April 2008 give further insights into the highly suspicious circumstances of this trip to Texas. These emails were only published much later, mostly in 2010.
Please download the PDF-booklet of this documentary with the full content HERE.
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This was by far not the only activity by Sondra Tompkins. She explains in her own words what else happened, and more background:
In addition to the clip, we also would like to publish some additional information which has never been presented to the public before.
It was not only after Sarah Palin's nomination as the vice presidential candidate that people starting to examine her pregnancy story. Immediately after the details of Sarah Palin's birth became known to the public in Alaska in April 2008, there were people who had SERIOUS doubts about Sarah's story.
One of these Alaskans was Sondra Tompkins, a nurse, Air-Force veteran and mother of an autistic son, who wrote the following letter to Alaska Airlines on April 24, 2008, together with another medical professional:
"To: Bill Ayer
CEO, Alaska Airlines
From: XXX, Sondra Tompkins
MVP/MVP Gold members
Date: April 24, 2008
Re: Clarification of Policy for Expectant Travelers
Dear Mr. Ayer,
As noted from your Ask Jen virtual assistant, Alaska Airlines has no restrictions or specifications regarding pregnant women traveling. It is merely a suggestion for the woman to contact her physician before traveling. Unfortunately, we believe this is bad policy for Alaska Airlines that needs updating. Other carriers have more specific requirements as noted per their websites.
A recent high-profile situation is what we believe warrants this request. The Governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin, was featured in several media stories after giving birth this past Friday as having boarded an Alaska Airlines flight from Dallas returning to Anchorage after her water broke at a Governor’s conference in Dallas. In our opinion this is a serious safety issue for the mother and her baby, an inconvenience issue for the other travelers, and a business and legal concern for Alaska Airlines.
As medical professionals we have been called upon on several occasions to attend to in-flight emergencies, most of which could not have been predicted. However, Governor Palin chose to fly full well knowing that she was at risk for labor with her amniotic sac ruptured. Though we are not privy to specifics of her medical condition it is well-known that she was considered a “high-risk” pregnancy, and the rupture of membranes occurred one-month prior to her due date. That constitutes a “preterm” label. A preterm pregnancy, accompanied by premature rupture of membranes, calls for an immediate hands-on evaluation by a qualified physician regardless of the patient’s location at the time of occurrence. A phone call to a physician is woefully inadequate. No physician is ever able to accurately diagnose over the phone. With a preterm pregnancy and labor numerous potential complications can ensue, including cord prolapse, infection, and of course, the delivery of a preterm infant at 30,000 feet. Governor Palin risked her life and the life of her fetus to avoid delivery in Texas. It is also noted, per the media outlets, that Governor Palin was in fact not evaluated before boarding the flight, nor did she notify airline staff of her situation.
As you well know Dallas-Anchorage is approximately 9 to 11 hours in duration. That is more than enough time for a multiparous pregnant woman to enter into a potentially very rapid labor. Had labor begun during flight a diversion would have been necessary largely because of the premature infant potentially requiring life support. This would have been a tremendous inconvenience to the other passengers on the flight, those passengers awaiting that particular jet, and would have resulted in hundreds of re-bookings. From a business perspective this would have been costly to the airlines. Of course Alaska Airlines is concerned about all of its travelers’ safety and well-being; however, this was not an unexpected situation, like a passenger experiencing a heart attack. Governor Palin again boarded the flight with the knowledge she could go into labor at any time with a preterm infant.
Thankfully the outcome in this situation was positive, her son was delivered safely. But as we all know others less informed tend to follow suit with what celebrities and public figures do. Leaders should set positive examples for others and exercise proper judgment when making impactful decisions.
We would be remiss if we did not bring this potentially dangerous situation to your attention. Many in Alaska are celebrating the fact that Governor Palin made it back to Alaska as if it were some sort of achievement to avoid a “Texas delivery.” This isn’t a game of football. Nothing is more important than the safety and well-being of our loved ones, including those unborn. We fear another individual will attempt to do as Governor Palin did, considering her favorable public opinion at the moment, and not be so lucky.
Providing a statement of caution to expectant travelers, including more specific restrictions we believe is prudent for Alaska Airlines in this increasingly litigious society.
As always we are most appreciative of the excellent service we receive consistently from Alaska Airlines. Thank you for considering our request.
Sincerely,
XXX
Sondra L. Tompkins, BSN"
This was by far not the only activity by Sondra Tompkins. She explains in her own words what else happened, and more background:
"I not only filed an ethics complaint against Sarah but I'm a nurse and wrote as Lee Tompkins for Celtic Diva (a friend). Of course I was attempting to refute conspiracy theories about Trig's birth as a way to get the news media to listen and investigate. I began contacting the media the DAY after Sarah's dad was on the evening news talking about how her water broke in Texas. As an L&D nurse I thought "What???" Unfortuately no one would listen. I contacted the AP, the National AP (their medical reporters), NOW, ACOG, and other news organizations. At the time Sarah wasn't on the national scene and so no one really cared. I even contacted Alaska Airlines to get them to change their pregnancy policy, but to no avail. Most of the folks we were in contact with were from the ADN. I can't tell you how many conversations I had with Lisa Demer as well as Pat Dougherty, the editor. The last conversation one of my relatives had with him, when he told him he was sick of hearing about "conspiracy theories", resulted in the post I wrote for Celtic Diva. I WANTED people to talk about the issue, agree with me or not. I wanted to use the issue to highlight Sarah's hypocrisy of being "pro-life". What pro-life person would endanger the life of an unborn child?
I have to say garnering support in April '08 for questioning Trig's birth here in Alaska was almost impossible!!! At the time Sarah had an 80+% approval rating, even Dems loved her. It wasn't until McCain picked her that people began paying attention. In addition, early on there wasn't much photographic evidence to consider, we had only her crazy words to go by. Today I am convinced that the "wild ride" didn't happen and that she was not pregnant at the time, but early on the information we had was very limited."
After the presidential election, even liberal journalists dismissed the story about the faked pregnancy for example as a rumor created by "some over-eager diarists (i.e. blog readers who are free to write pretty much whatever they want online) who helped hatch and amplify the story."
However, nothing could be further from the truth. Not only was Sarah Palin's faked pregnancy widely discussed in newsrooms in Alaska after Trig's "birth", as ADN-journalist Michael Carey confirmed in September 2008, but also other citizens in Alaska were very well aware that something was seriously wrong with Sarah Palin's story - even without having received any "inside information."
Today we also know that the rumors about a pregnancy of Bristol Palin existed in the AK legislature already in December 2007, as was confirmed to us by former State Senate President Lyda Green. Another high-ranking Republican politican confirmed the existence of Bristol's pregnancy in a private conversation in Alaska in January 2008.
These are just some of the other facts (for more, see HERE). It's the implausible story of the "wild ride", which has been told in two different versions by Sarah Palin, as shown in our video, which is a legitimate starting point for the media to investigate.
How long do we have to wait until the media does their journalistic duty and reports about the case? Forever?
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UPDATE:
In a speech at a fundraiser in Waco, Texas on September 14, 2010, Sarah Palin told the audience that she flew to Alaska on April 17, 2008 and then "had the baby in Anchorage!"
The video was only published today - you can see her remark at 16:50 in THIS VIDEO from the speech.
EDIT: A shorter video with the relevant part of the speech has now been uploaded HERE.
This is another blatant attempt to re-write the story of her pregnancy, just two days before she made more changes to her pregnancy story in a speech in Kentucky on September 16, 2010, as Palingates reported.
If there is ONE THING which is on the record than it's the fact that Trig was "officially" delivered at Mat-Su hospital in Palmer on the early morning of April 18, 2008.
This is getting beyond ridiculous now.
See the email from KTUU-journalist Lori Tipton, who was at the Mat-Su hospital in the morning of April 18, 2008:
Here is Lori Tipton's story at KTUU:
I think that Sarah Palin should go on her favorite show, the "Bob and Mark radio show" in Alaska and clear up these contradictions. This would be especially interesting because Bob Lester from the "Bob and Mark show" is the partner of KTUU-journalist Lori Tipton, who reported about the birth from Wasilla on April 18, 2008. It's a small world in Alaska!
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UPDATE 2:
I made a clip about her "I had the baby in Anchorage" remark, showing the part of her speech in Waco, Texas, when she talks about the pregnancy, together with additional info:
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UPDATE 3:
Several readers asked for the video files of the three documentaries which were made by lidia17 about the faked pregnancy in order to burn them on DVD and give them to others.
I have therefore made the three clips available for download in Windows Media Video (WMV) format:
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UPDATE 4:
Bob Cesca reports on his blog about Sarah Palin's latest "Barack Hussein Obama" comment on Greta, noting that she now "goes full birther."
See this clip from Media Matters:
However, Bob Cesca has another good observation:
"How about this? Let's hear about Sarah Palin's background. Let's hear about these ethics violations and apparent anger management -- perhaps bipolar -- issues. How the crap did she get from Texas to Alaska after her water broke? Sarah Palin is the last person to beg for full disclosure about someone else's background."
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UPDATE 5:
Another Alaskan speaks out: Kim Chatman, who already earned her place in history through the filing of the successful ethics complaint against Sarah Palin because of Sarah's unethical first legal defense fund, the "Alaska Fund Trust", commented on her facebook:
Kim Chatman has been living in Germany now for several weeks. She will be working here as a civilian with Army for the next years. We plan to meet her and her family very soon. Although she is in Germany now, she has not lost her fighting spirit at all, but the opposite is the case:
In addition, Kim Chatman just tweeted:
Let's hope that more Alaskans will feel free to speak out about Sarah Palin's "pregnancy" in the near future!
In addition, every person from in- and outside Alaska can anonymously and securely send messages to Palingates through our very own "Palingates-Wikileaks."
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