Just sayin

6/10/2011

A reader writes me the following: This shot of Palin holding a baby is from the end of the 2008 legislative session, immediately before she left for Dallas on April 15th. The woman is legislator Mary Sattler-Nelson with new baby, born on March 19th. Mary planned to take two weeks away from work after the baby was born and essentially never really was back at work at the end of the session. She went in for several things, including showing the baby. At one time there were many news items and references on the Internet - legislative newsletters (where this photo came from) that were dated. This file name had the date 4.18.2008. That was the date of Mary Nelson's final legislative session newsletter from whence it came.

Those things have since disappeared.

If you'll examine the photo carefully in context, you'll see that she's NOT holding that baby around or over an awkward pregnant abdomen. Certainly not anything like that April 13th photo that may be staged, which would have been taken the same week. The jacket and scarf are hanging straight down. There's no fullness there.

Thank you kind reader for sending me this. Personally, I do think Palin looks thick through the waist here. But since this photo is new to me, I'm happy to have others see it as well, especially in contrast to the Gusty photo.

48 Comments

Anon55

6/10/2011 11:16:41 am

I think she definitely has some kind of pregnancy belly going on in the photo - probably the square pillow. If she knew she was giving birth on the 18th after she came back from Dallas in the middle of the night, she knew she couldn't appear totally flat in the days before, so probably grudgingly slapped on her square pillow.

She saved the full Monty -- the 33 pound Emphathy Belly or the Gusty Belly -- for her tête-à-tête with Ms. Gusty.

bws58

6/10/2011 11:29:36 am

Look at the shoulders, nice and sloping where are the football pads?

sqrt-1

6/10/2011 11:46:16 am

She looks thick because she is wearing a coat and thick scarf. If you look close the line of the lapel is straight. You can see it better if you lighten the picture. No baby bump there.

6/10/2011 12:13:10 pm

Was that baby also a month and a half premature? It looks like it's even smaller than Trig was when he was "presented."

Olivia

6/10/2011 12:15:42 pm

In April 1969 my first child was due on the 25th. I was 19 and I gained exactly 25 pounds during the pregnancy making my weight about 145. We were visiting friends who had 1 month old twins. Someone handed me one of the twins and said, "here you go, see what it is like to hold a baby, it won't be long for you." I tried to hold the baby sitting down and I couldn't unless I put him to the side held him in my elbow. So I stood and tried to hold him and it was the same, I couldn't hold him in the front of me and I couldn't hold him at the side because I couldn't get my other arm around to steady the arm I was holding him in. There is no way I could hold a baby like Sarah is holding that baby. She would have to be squashing her belly down to hold him like that. She is a fraud

viola

6/10/2011 01:14:03 pm

OT but curious what you'll make of this email posted by a commenter on IM.

". . .the Governor's office is flooded with calls about rumors [regarding Trig's birth]" 4/22/08

http://www.crivellawest.net/palinAll/pdf/13247.pdf

6/10/2011 01:16:47 pm

I think she's got some padding of some sort in there. But I also think she's less tanned than she was in the Gusty photo.

Bree Palin

6/10/2011 01:26:47 pm

While you are considering some of the lesser known photos here is one that I think deserves more attention. I found it in the newsletter of the woman in the photo with Palin who was a State Senator. In the photo Governor Palin was signing a bill on March 31, 2008, which was clearly spelled out in the newsletter and I double checked the date with the press release and news articles about the bill signing. I don't know if her newsletter is still up, but the JPG file I have has the exif data with that date. It is a rather good quality photo compared to many from that time, and when one looks at the full-sized photo it is quite clear that there is nothing near a Gusty-sized belly there.

This is the original copy:
http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x402/breepalinomg/GovenorSigningBill.jpg

This one I lightened in Picasa:

http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x402/breepalinomg/GovernorSigningBillLight.jpg

mumimor

6/10/2011 08:25:13 pm

Laura, will you make a post about the emails.
This one is relevant:
http://motherjones.com/mojo/2011/06/sarah-palin-emails-revealed-live-updates#trig

grammy97

6/10/2011 09:54:34 pm

Laura, the glasses $arah is wearing on April 14/15 are different from the ones she wears in the "Three Amigos" photo. If the Gusty photos were truly taken on April 13, why would she change to different ones just one day later?

And now that the emails have finally been partially produced, has anyone begun to extract her appointments for medical and ophthalmic visits?

LTA

6/10/2011 11:35:16 pm

I think the most important question to ask here...is WHY this photo and so many references TO it simply vanished.

Someone saw something in this photo, something they didn't want others to see.

lilly lily

6/11/2011 12:16:34 am

Sarah Palin never took Maternity Leave. For a woman who grabs every possible buck that is very odd.

She wanted to be paid for the day Trig arrived, a Friday, claiming she signed a bill. She went to work with a preemie with a hole in his heart on Monday.

If she had taken Maternity leave it would be fraud. So knowing that she skipped on her rights.

She also doesn't seem to recall his exact birth date.

Molly

6/11/2011 12:30:15 am

Re: Meeting with Gusty on April 13th.

http://www.crivellawest.net/palin2011/pdf/13649.pdf

viola

6/11/2011 12:44:18 am

Seeing a photo like this one and then reading the email I posted a link to above means that by April 22 rumors were rampant that the Gov had not given birth. So rampant that a progressive blogger actually defended her, and her office was struggling with how to make the rumors go away. (Ostensibly to protect Bristol. yeah, right.)

So is it that farfetched that Bill McAllister steps in to save the day? HE proposes a very pregnant photo that can be linked to an earlier date? So the Gusty interview was real, but the still photo is staged a few weeks later to counteract rumor but more importantly to protect SP's chances with the REpubs, who have sniffing around her since early in 2008. McAllister, not Palin, is smart enough to link it to a prior event and to stage it to show Palin looking very pregnant. Hence her strange, far away look in the photo. She's being "directed" to show pregnant by her new protector, McAllister, who directs from off-camera.

(A strange angle is used often in filming, when continuity must be achieved but weeks have passed in filming and hair may be different.)

Gusty and Carpenter help out, as a kindness, to help dispel rumor, not realizing until later they've been used when McAllister calls for the photo to be uploaded. Or for that matter, McAllister himself uploads it, setting up a fickr acct to reference Carpenter.

The photo is posted online-- and could have been discovered by anyone. At the time it was found, even I was googling random tags to find pregnant photos of Palin.

There is no evidence of the prosthetic belly in any photo but the Gusty one. That clearly points to a setup. Even Gusty admits that the video does not show the Palin's pregnant belly, because that was not relevant to the news she reported.

Brad Scharlott

6/11/2011 01:16:46 am

Bree! That's a fantastic photo! Laura, let's look chat about this one (from above):

http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x402/breepalinomg/GovernorSigningBillLight.jpg

Brad Scharlott

6/11/2011 01:33:50 am

Viola - There would have been no reason at all to do the interview in the hallway strewn with boxes unless it was to get the side pic in the first place. McAllister was smart enough to see in advance what photos they needed to bank for the future - give him his due, it was remarkably prescient. And that's exactly what she hired him for - to make the press swallow the hoax. He just got a little too clever - getting himself in one pic. So, could HE be Erik99559 - of course. Using that zip made Andrea or Carpenter, both from Bristol, seem like the likely culprits. Come to think of it, he's probably the most likely "Erik" - just his sort of devious.

6/11/2011 02:04:26 am

Bree, Yep, agree, good call on the photo. Of course ya can't have the Gusty belly without the linebacker shoulders - they come as a unit.

Lidia17

6/11/2011 02:17:49 am

Hi Bree! Thanks for popping back in to help!

Good photo: Palin doesn't look any more pregnant there than the woman she's sitting next to.

Viola

6/11/2011 02:57:15 am

Thanks, Brad, for responding and making it clear to me that the still and video had to be from same date. I'd forgotten your theory about the t-shaped hall. You're right, McAllister was smart, and let's hope, a little too smart. He sure tipped his hand going off on you the way he did.

6/11/2011 03:00:20 am

FWIW - in the picture from above where Palin is holding the baby, she seems to have on an outdoor coat or jacket, which makes sense given the type of scarf she is wearing. I have tried lightening the photo and it looks the outer jacket has a zipper and possibly a hood, and that it might been worn over her suit jacket. All of this - the outerwear jacket worn over an inner layer of clothing and the heavy scarf - would make her seem even bulkier than she normally would appear.

6/11/2011 03:07:34 am

@lilly x 2: yes, it is amazing that she took no maternity leave at all. In fact, one reason the "birth" was "scheduled" for the weekend so as not to interfere with her work schedule.

*

Given how early the rumors were swirling that Bristol was the mother - April 22, 2008 according to Palin's emails - it is simply amazing that she did not take the simple expedient of releasing Trig's birth certiicate. I could understand her not wanting to do it *now* - there's no need to, as she's not running for office and she loves the fact that we still haven't pinned her down on this - but why not back then, to save Bristol some face? Or to shore up her credentials with Team McCain?

Of course, it's hard to release what doesn't exist.

K.M.R

6/11/2011 03:10:15 am

Brad's assessment regarding McAllister. " just his sort of devious."
After the way he responded to Brad after his paper on the press and it's Spiral of Silence, I thought Brad might like to see another example of Bill McAllister deviousness.

There's no doubt about McAllister's mean side in this email exchange with the President of PETA about a video game (involving pelting SP with snowballs) that he wanted stopped.
It was his job, yes, but it's an understatement to say, he could have handled it like a gentleman.

Title: PETA v. Palin: Drop the video game or we'll sue!
http://tinyurl.com/3aquwbe

Bree Palin

6/11/2011 04:15:42 am

The photo of the bill signing was Representative Peggy Wilson - Governor Palin was signing House Bill 176 - creating the Fort Rousseau Causeway Park. I haven't found the original newsletter in archives yet, but I did find another photo from the same event including another legislator and clearly identified with the date and event:

http://www.housemajority.org/gallery/v/wilson/Cliff_+Peggy_+and+Palin.JPG.html

Bree Palin

6/11/2011 04:26:28 am

And here is the original one I posted in Peggy Wilson's online photo gallery:

http://www.housemajority.org/gallery/v/wilson/Govenor+Signing+Bill.JPG.html

Molly

6/11/2011 04:32:08 am

@V, I think rumors were swirling earlier than April 22nd. From the emails:

From: gov.sarah@yahoo.com
Sent: Wednesday, April 02, 2008 4:26 PM
To: PARNELL; S (GOV sponsored)
Subject: Re: Bristol
I know. Sick.
Are you watching Therriault? Awesome effort he's making! Ineffective, but awesome effort!
------Original Message------
From: Sean Personal
To: Governor Sarah Palin
Sent: Apr 2, 2008 12:28 PM
Subject: Bristol
That's just sick and vicious. We bargain for some of that, but our kids??

http://www.crivellawest.net/palin2011/pdf/13983.pdf

comeonpeople

6/11/2011 04:59:15 am

I've often wondered also Why Palin didn't temporarily yield power during her "labor". She could easily have become incapacitated as she had a high risk "pregnancy" and all. Alaska does not have a defined statute for transfer of power re incapacitation, according to some quick research I have done. Still , why didn't anyone in her cabinet ask about this? Why as a responsible governor (lol) when her water broke, didn't she set anything up? Yeppers, she had the best interest of Alaskans first and foremost on her mind. It is simply mindboggling when you think about this aspect of it as well.
Unless, as we all believe, she knew damn right well it would be impossible to be temporarily incapacitated because there was no Tri-G issuing forth from her loins that weekend.
I think, this inaction alone should preclude her from public office ever again.

Lidia17

6/11/2011 05:14:45 am

Entering in a due date of December 29, 2008 in an online pregnancy calculator yields the following:

First Day of Last Menstrual Period: March 24, 2008

Probable Date of Ovulation: April 7, 2008

Possible Dates of Conception: April 3 to April 11, 2008

Due Date: December 29, 2008 (40 weeks)

------
Why would the Palins be responding manically to rumors that Bristol was pregnant on April 2, when not even Bristol herself could have been aware of being pregnant (with Tripp)??

What would the basis for the rumors have been?

Just as she did with the "rumors" about Todd's AIP membership, "rumors" that she wanted Schmidt to "get in front of", Palin calls attention to what she should be shutting up about, if she were sane. It's that Tell-Tale Heart.

Laura Novak link

6/11/2011 07:42:20 am

Interesting article in the WaPo sent me courtesy of a kind reader:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/e-mails-sarah-palin-was-working-joking-with-staff-on-day-she-went-into-labor/2011/06/11/AGpVMUQH_story.html

Worth checking out. Things that go Hmmmm in the night.

silver

6/11/2011 08:05:52 am

Laura, there was an e-mail from Todd that day also, saying "her speech kicked ass" and no mention of anything else happening.

I don't know if this has been mentioned yet but Bill McAllister took a secret trip to Sweden after being hired by Sarah and there was an ethics complaint filed.

http://www.themudflats.net/2010/06/08/ethics-complaint-filed-against-palins-former-communications-director-and-others/

Anon55

6/11/2011 08:27:35 am

Re McAllister's "mean side," let's not forget Alaska case No. 3AN-10-09838CI Holmgren, Christina Anna vs. McAllister, William D.

The docket is available online, although the underlying pleadings are not. That's a divorce case between McAllister and his wife, which involved, according to the docket, "Alleged D.V. Issues." D.V. stands for domestic violence.

There's a companion case 3AN-11-01214CI Holmgren, Christina A vs. McAllister, William D, which was initiated by Ms. Holmgren on April 16 with a request for a protective order.

Then there is yet a third case, 3AN-10-02513CI Holmgren, Christina A vs. McAllister, William D, which was initiated on August 10, 2010 by Ms. Holmgren seeking a protective order. That case file has closed to the public.

Now allegations are only allegation. People make stuff up all the time. Like for instance, Mr. McAllister's former boss Sarah Palin and perhaps his former wife as well, also, too.

ginny

6/11/2011 08:41:26 am

Good grief, when is the gigantic pile of evidence going to finally be enough for people to admit SHE LIED and FAKED a pregnancy!!!

Ottoline

6/11/2011 09:02:50 am

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/e-mails-sarah-palin-was-working-joking-with-staff-on-day-she-went-into-labor/2011/06/11/AGpVMUQH_story.html

Re the link you give above, Laura:
6:30 AM -- give birth
8:30 AM -- email staff re strategy

What a woman! Just another example of the non-proof circumstantial data points that seem inconclusive to many. But Bravo to the WaPo for finding/publishing it.

Bobcat Logic

6/11/2011 09:26:45 am

If the current chain of evidence holds up (pics and email, just appearing on IM, suggesting that Bristol could NOT have been pregnant in 2007 or 2008), then. the Palin Hoax "Plan B" (Heroic Mom Covering for Daughter) seems to be evaporating.

This is beginning to feel like the "j'accuse" moment in a really good game of Clue.

Anon55

6/11/2011 09:33:14 am

Re: http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/x402/breepalinomg/GovernorSigningBillLight.jpg

Well, I see unflippenbelievable.

Maybe we should send the picture, with date, to Gusty and ask whether it changes her opinion, expressed on air, that Palin gave birth to Trig on April 18? Guess Gusty is not responding to anything because she is smart enough not to doubledown on her lies.

Lidia17

6/11/2011 09:48:02 am

Holmgren is a Swedish name, it would appear. (re. trip to Sweden)

Flattering profile of McAllister, 6/10/09:
http://www.anchoragepress.com/news/article_04a5cfa5-8e41-5dca-bd73-2e85890166c6.html

“I’m a Christian, and I believe, and I’m not being arrogant, you’ll see what I mean in a second—I believe that it was the Lord’s will that I got this job [as Palin's communications director]. You know why? Because a couple of months after I got this job, I found out that I had lymphoma, and I would be either bankrupt or dead now, if I had not had this job.”

?? What does he think of "God" now? I'm really sick of these people who look to fantastical supernatural entities to GIVE them things.

Holmgren's quotes in the piece don't reveal the slightest discord.

Anon55

6/11/2011 11:50:17 am

Re profile of McAllister, 6/10/09:
http://www.anchoragepress.com/news/article_04a5cfa5-8e41-5dca-bd73-2e85890166c6.html

I had forgotten that McAllister's next job after leaving Palin was McAllister’s special assistant to the Alaska attorney general.

Was it the attorney general's office that was tasked with redacting Palin's emails? Perhaps McAllister was hired as Special Assistant in Charge of Redacting?

Love the quote from McAllister's then wife Christina in the article that McAllister is incapable of lying. She filed for a protective order against McAllister on August 10, 2010. The Alaska Press article where Christina said McAllister was incapable of lying was over a year earlier, June 10, 2009.

Maybe someone should contact the ex-wife and see if she still believes McAllister is incapable of lying.

P.S. Wonder if when Christina went in for her protective order against McAllister, McAllister's lawyer tried to impeach her credibility by pointing to her statement to the Alaska Press that McAllister was incapable of lying.?Or maybe McAllister just copped to Christina's allegations since he is incapable of lying.

6/11/2011 12:22:01 pm

If Palin had her fake birth planned for the cover of the night when the media thought she was still in Dallas, she wouldn't mention her fake labor in emails on the morning of the 17th for fear of blowing her cover and ending up with staff, media, and fans at the hospital.

6/11/2011 12:32:19 pm

Hi Bree! So good to see you here. You are sorely missed. Thanks for reminding us of that photo.

6/11/2011 01:03:01 pm

Sarah couldn't have gotten much work done on April 18.

Look at her schedule on 4/17: wake up early due to leaking amniotic fluid, call to CBJ, e-mail staff at 8:30, go to conference & make speech, 1:00 rush out to airport, fly until 8-9 pm, read in the Seattle airport lounge, fly to Anchorage, drive 40 minutes to Mat-Su, labor all night, give birth at 6:30 am on 4;18. I'm tired just reading that.

Even if she slept on the plane, it probably wasn't great sleep. With the one labor I did have, I needed a good long nap when I went back to my room despite sleeping well the night before.

I'm beginning to despair that she'll every be found out for any of her sins.

Allie

6/11/2011 01:41:37 pm

It is THIS email that sheds light on the Gusty photo. It is from April 6, 2008 and it mentions McAllister, who at the time was a reporter and his job change had not yet been announced, I don't believe. So why does Palin ask this:

"Bristol does want it squashed - we just don ' t know how to do so without making it a bigger issue . Can you feel out Wesley and McAllister to see if that ' s where they got the rumor, as others are saying it's Lyda ' s office . I figured it was them or Bitney."

THIS is 7 days b4 the Gusty Photo and Sarah asks to have McAllister check it out. Is it a stretch to think he would check it out and then offer a plan?

That is enough time to get a fake belly.

Also, Sarah okayed the request for Gusty interview the afternoon before it occurred, according to her email records. That allowed 24 hours to set things up.

I watched the Gusty video last night and there IS a panning shot that clearly shows the big belly; there's just no evidence it was shown on TV that day, although the anchor breaks away to her. Pretty hard to fake that.

Brad and Laura, are those things compatible with your analyses of the Gusty photo/video?

Allie

6/11/2011 01:46:03 pm

@Lydia 17 - to shift your focus away a little bit from your pregnancy calculation. The early April rumors were about Bristol being pregnant with Trig, not Tripp. As of that time, no Trig had yet been publicly presented, so the rumor mill was still about his gestation and WHO was really pregnant. See?

Anon55

6/11/2011 04:21:35 pm

Wouldn't you love to see the redacted names on this gem of a September 2007 email from the recent email dump:
http://s1199.photobucket.com/albums/aa478/RHAlaska/?action=view¤t=sep2707-1.jpg

Meg Stapleton, former KTUU Alaska anchorwoman who was then working for Palin, was thinking of leaving or working fewer hours in order to spend more time with her baby. And Palin suggests two replacements to Meg, both names redacted.

The first suggestion from Sarah:

"Privileged's a fireball. I like her. Is she ready to do something else with her career?"

Could that be our friend Gusty, perhaps ready to follow in Meg's footsteps and leave her anchoring career behind in order to come and lie for Palin?

The second suggestion is perhaps our friend McAllister, who we know shortly afterwards was negotiating to come to work for Palin:

"I respect Privileged or P's work and he's been fair to us - would he want to shift gears with his career?"

Bet you dollars to donuts that the second reference is to McAllister. Not sure if Gusty is the fireball.

Bob

6/11/2011 10:24:11 pm

One thing i want to clarify--and i'm not sure where the best place to comment. In response to Brad referring to the pregnancy prothesis as a "fat suit" people started referring to as an "empathy suit". It's not likely that the prothesis is an "empathy suit"--search for term, they're all over--which are specially weighted to help non pregnant people feel empathy. But the prothesis that Brad originally posted about is probably just padding.
Otherwise Palin might be standing more like a pregnant woman.

Many years ago, i worked in professional theaters in the costume shop where i had to make pregnant bellies, in various stages, for characters. But padding alone does not make for a convincing pregnancy in the character--the costumer provides the silhouette but the actress makes the pregnancy convincing thru her walk, posture, movement. I've never been able to look at these pictures of Palin in what i believe to be a prothesis and see a pregnant woman--the posture just isn't there. my two cents.

Bob

6/12/2011 02:31:04 am

The mother of the baby, on the right, looks to me like a woman who has had a baby a few weeks prior. She has the same thickness thru the middle as Palin does---who will have a baby in four days.

Lidia17

6/12/2011 08:32:37 am

@Allie, yes I understand. I was trying to show how the sleight-of-hand trying to conflate the Trig and Tripp pregnancies falls short.

@Bob… yep, with “Tri-G” Palin never moved like a woman who was pregnant. She’s not the type to sacrifice herself with the *real* empathy belly and all that discomfort. Sociopaths don't do "empathy".

In my first video presentation I contrasted Palin with Jenna Elfman:

http://www.youtube.com/user/Lidia17up#p/a/u/0/I9ZtzPI2OMw

http://www.youtube.com/user/Lidia17up#p/a/u/1/6_l8ARWykB4

Leona

6/13/2011 09:24:04 am

I have been reading the emails that were released on Friday. Here's an interesting one:

From: gov.sarah@yahoo.com
Sent: Wednesday, March 05, 2008 9:15 PM
To: Irwin; Tom E (DNR)
Subject: Re: GREAT NEWS!
Thank you! It's still pretty surreal... and we know we'll only be given what we can handle
by our good Lord. Thanks!

I find it strange that she says "It's still pretty surreal...," as if she just found out that she is pregnant. If she actually were pregnant at the time, she would have been in her third trimester, by which time the "surreality" of being pregnant would have been long gone.

Lidia17

6/13/2011 11:04:37 am

Leona, so true, but it could be explained away as the DS diagnosis (which she wants to maintain fresh).

Leona

6/22/2011 12:07:00 am

The following link contains a photo of Palin that was taken in December 2007 as part of a photo shoot for Vogue Magazine. Palin would have been about 4 to 5 months pregnant at the time, but as you can see, she looks very slim, even with the green parka on. There is no baby bump whatsoever. This is a woman who is posing for Vogue, a glam, trim, thin woman. http://www.portfolio.com/executives/features/2009/03/17/Governor-Palins-Big-Energy-Battles

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Just sayin

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