Blog - Laura Novak

Laid To Rest - Again

7/13/2011

H/T to Ottoline for locating this "Live Shot" with Andrea Gusty and Governor Palin. We've examined the photos from this in great detail and a number of theories exist on the news piece Gusty later did about the controversy and her role in it. Here's my take:

Like it or not, I think this video lays to rest any idea of any involvement with Gusty and the alleged hoax. This looks to me like an authentic "Live Shot" and I say that as someone who has done hundreds of them. The anchorman does his lead-in. He tosses it to Gusty. She references the legislative session ending hours before and states that there will be a complete story on the Ten O'clock news. That is when she will "re-package" this. It makes perfect sense to me.

The dark "sky" behind the anchorman is a set. I doubt very much it's a live scene. The shots of an editing console behind the weather "girl" and the idea that Gusty might have edited a hoax video herself leads me to point something out. If this is a union shop, and I don't know if Alaska is a "union state", but my guess is that it is, then I doubt very, very much that a news reporter would touch an editing system. It's a serious union violation. The engineers are usually members of IATSE (eye-AT-see) or NABET (NAY-bet). No one touches the equipment except them. Not even a news director can run into an editing booth and monkey with the equipment. And most people couldn't even begin to know how to edit on a system, much less have the temerity to try it. Likewise, Gusty is probably a member of AFTRA (AFF-truh) and no one outside that union is allowed in front of a camera.

I also want to say, as much as it might pain some to hear this, that both women did a fine job in this piece. Gusty was young here. Live shots can be nerve-wracking. Because what you see is what you get. They are live. There are no re-do's. She was polished and poised. She didn't fumble or stumble and she knew exactly what she wanted to ask in what order. I give her four stars.

Likewise, Palin surprised me. She sounded sane. She appeared knowledgeable and interested in the topic. She knew the size of the "soundbite" to offer and she gave each one with confidence and a gut instinct for when to end the sentence. She also showed this green, awe-struck reporter some respect. And that's an attitude we've not seen since Palin became a household name.

What happened to Palin "there, also, too" on that campaign trail is anyone's guess. It's difficult to imagine that this is the same woman we have seen shriek about basketballs, dead fish, and glass ceilings. In my opinion, she has devolved so much from this segment, it's pathetic. Too much stress? Personality disorder? A combination? You decide.

Now, I don't know if Palin was packing foam here, or if she'd strapped on rubber. I do know that Brad Scharlott has made a solid case for that through some excellent analysis and arguments. What I can comment on here is that this looks to me like a legitimate Live Shot and I'd lay the "Gusty involved in a hoax theory" to rest. I think it's a non-starter. Or continue-er. Feel free to disagree.

67 Comments

The other jk

7/13/2011 11:06:22

La Palin always knew how to give the people what they wanted. It was always skin deep, though. Her problem is that she can't contain the crazy and ignorant that lies just beneath the surface for very long. All her exposure over the past three years has definitely scratched the surface.

Ted Powell

7/13/2011 11:27:11

"Likewise, Palin surprised me. She sounded sane."

Indeed, the difference is startling.

Rationalist

7/13/2011 11:31:17

Laura - as usual, in the midst of all the speculation it's a relief to get your unique perspective both as an experienced reporter and the mother of a child who spent time in a NICU.

I believe you're absolutely right that Gusty had nothing to do with the hoax, and the video she posted about the controversy (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzyZkl4GyrM) confirms that everything in her video and the stills from it is exactly the way she saw it.

But that's the beauty of it.

We have absolute independent confirmation that Palin looked about nine months pregnant on the day that video was shot. And that confirms she was lying, as that belly could NOT have been missed by flight attendants a few days later. Nor could she have gone from the March 26th "nail in the coffin" photo to that belly on the 13th of April.

For this reason, I feel the Gusty videos are a great boon to us.

Alexis

7/13/2011 11:33:05

I don't think that anyone questioned the authenticity of the video. I've read numerous comments from Alaskan residents confirming they saw this video on the news. However the pictures taken after this interview is another story- gusty confirmed she took them.. How did they get on the web at just the moment people were questioning Sarahs preg? Who put them there? Gusty says she didn't.. That's what needs to be figured out. I still don't believe the gusty photo was taken the same day as this interview ...

Rationalist

7/13/2011 11:51:44

Oh, one more thing. Your assessment that Palin "sounded sane" is accurate, but think about it: she was wearing a frickin' empathy belly on live television! In that light, I would argue "sane" is not the right adjective.

comeonpeople

7/13/2011 12:15:04

RE: Her "sanity",
She probably thought she was sittin' pretty right about then...pregnant belly? check! Foolin everyone? check! Knowin this will be over soon and she'll be the prolife poster child? Check!!

7/13/2011 12:43:46

Great jk minds think alike :)
My fascination/revusion with Palin was just about instantaneous, which I've come to attribute to the fact that she could be the separated-at-birth twin of a NPD Queen I've worked in proximity to for (too) many years. This woman can also manage to hold it together, typically when she has the spotlight she craves, also in more low-key, low-stress situations. But there's an underlying fragility to it: raise the stress level and the cracks appear real fast. I believe that use/abuse of medications, prescription and maybe more in Palin's case, has also been a factor for both of these women.
In any case, Dunn's book makes it clear that the cracks in Palin's personality are nothing new. 'snot like she was lovely and sane until she went off the deep end all of a sudden.

lucy

7/13/2011 12:46:59

I think the airline said Palin's stage of pregnancy was hard to determine, not that she wasn't pregnant. Does somebody have that quote?

Anon55

7/13/2011 13:47:46

@ comeonpeople

That's right. Did you catch Sarah's Cheshire grin at the end of the piece. Wow, she's saying to herself, "Got away with it. Now I can go take off this damn belly for a few days. And the baby's almost here."

Phyllis

7/13/2011 13:54:47

Laura
Wouldn't you think it would be a no no for Gusty to have downloaded her personal photos onto her work computer?

If she put them on her home computer and she didn't put them on Flickr herself then she knows who did.

V ictoria link

7/13/2011 14:03:45

If Sarah was faking a pregnancy - and I believe she was - I think she would tell as few people as she could, and only those she had some sort of power over. Although I know very little about Gusty, I think that it's unlikely that Sarah would confide in her. A young reporter, even a conservative one, would be an enormous risk.

And thanks for all the professional insights, Laura.

Ottoline

7/13/2011 14:16:46

Does anyone have a problem with the little blips/gaps in the short version video?

short version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WATOg07FnZU

1. At 0:08 for the weather person? screen shot: http://i54.tinypic.com/5wjwx1.jpg

At 0:18 when a tiny snip seems to be taken out of the anchor's spiel?

3. And on this long version, right before the short version starts, tongue-shot at 2:45:

long version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzyZkl4GyrM&feature=related
tongue-shot: http://i53.tinypic.com/29zqxjb.jpg

4. Both versions: anyone find the fuzziness of the anchor vs the Gusty/Palin footage odd?

5. We hear this was shot at 5 pm per the statement at 2:50 in the long version. Do the dark office windows bother you, when sunset was at 8:08 pm?

The tongue shot was found by Ferry Few, and it was her find that got me looking more carefully, thus finding the weather woman frame. Do you think it was televised live like that? Do none of these anomalies bother anyone but me?

Every job I've ever had, I played around with all the equipment, trying to learn all I could, secretly of course. I was thinking of the video being edited on a mac or some at-home equipment, though, which is why I said I could prob do it myself. (Why the weather woman is there I have no explanation for. Except sloppy editing. As in an amateur's edit!)

You have to watch v carefully, pause/start lots of times: the first 10 times I watched both videos I saw none of this. I'm not accusing Gusty, I'm just wondering why these two videos and the accompanying photos have all these oddities?

I would be very eager to see some video-of-record to see if this exact footage is what was really broadcast that afternoon.

Ottoline

7/13/2011 14:34:01

Anna nother thing: this video was not uploaded by the TV station. Just anybody could have uploaded it. I'm not sure the version I linked to is the original uploaded version.

Just as a straw man: I could have recorded the actual video from April 13 that shows different footage of Palin discussing the end of the session, presumably wearing a scarf and her usual not-too-big fake-preg get-up. Then in August I could do the Gusty photo shoot and video, go home and splice in the watermelon-belly interview into the footage from the actual day. Then I could upload it onto YouTube and get a few associates to copy/upload it again, deleting earlier versions, so the trail of who uploaded it first grows cold. That would be well within even my pathetic abilities.

And here's why I even keep beating this horse. Look at these two shots of Palin from this very video (long version): Does one Palin look thinner than the other? I say YES. We know the Palin+baby shot's date without doubt. Could Palin have been thinner (like she was near the start of the RNC) only a few days before the Trig photo?

http://i52.tinypic.com/25jcsa9.jpg

Ottoline

7/13/2011 14:51:21

Also, I did not comment on the background of the anchor. The dark windows I mentioned are on the doors that lead to offices all around. Presumably those offices have windows? At 3 hrs before sunset they would not ALL be dark.

I know people clear out fast after something like the end of a session -- but NO ONE there? wandering in the hall at 5pm, tying up loose ends? with a door open? packing those boxes??? It looks more like v v late at night.

To assess whether Palin looks heavier in the Gusty pix vs the Palin+baby pix, look at the video. On the two screen grabs I posted above, it's really only under the chin that looks fatter, but in the video there's a whole different gestalt that reminds me of the difference between Palin's look in March vs her look at the RNC (thinner and groomed by stylists).

I've been thinking about this all day, and I can't believe everyone else can just give a pass to these anomalies.

Ottoline

7/13/2011 16:29:12

I see her wearing that flag pin a lot during the campaign. I have not yet found a photo of her wearing it before then. It could have been just sitting at home. Or it may be somewhere there's record of earliest wearing of it.

V ictoria link

7/13/2011 17:12:19

I have long thought it was improbable that any responsible airline would permit such a pregnant-looking person to fly. And so I'd love to conclude that this is the nail in the coffin proving that Palin did not look pregnant when she flew back from Texas.

It certainly should be, because from my understanding, there were at least four flights. Even if the crew did not catch her condition on one, they should have caught it on another.

And yet... we all know that airline staff is not always as attentive as they should or could be. I know I've sometimes traveled with an oh-so-dangerous lipstick in my purse instead of a plastic see-through bag - and I was never stopped. It must be very awkward to pull aside a paying customer and tell her she can't fly. Especially if you assume that she looks smart enough to know whether she should fly or not.

So I've always discounted the Alaska Airlines statement, that they did not notice her pregnancy, because that's very safe, corporate-thingy to say. On the other hand, most airlines are pretty safety conscious and so it's hard to imagine them allowing someone in Palin's alleged condition on board.

I'd love it, Laura, if you could find someone from the industry or with actual experience to opine on how seriously the pregnancy ban is taken.

And if anyone out there knows if the empathy belly contained enough metal to set off alarms - in which case it would have to be packed in luggage anyway - I'd love to read it.

Jeanette

7/13/2011 23:57:48

I was also struck with the tone of her voice, lack of hate and the ability to put a reasonable sentence together although it might not look all that great written out.

I do think the picture was taken the same day as the interview, but like another commenter wonder why it was released when it was in a low resolution picture that couldn't be analyzed.

It has been mentioned that someone fairly high powered had recently joined her staff and that he would have thought ahead enough to have this interview with the belly after the session when no one was there to remark about the difference in her appearance. I don't remember who it was but I think he took the picture and was responsible for its release. It would be nice if Gutsy would say if anyone else where there and if they took a picture.

I could see the scenario where someone might say "Gutsy would you just stand with Sarah and the cameraman so we can get a picture of you."

rubbernecking

7/14/2011 00:54:07

The original news video can be ordered.

There must also be much more video and pictures from the close of the AK legislative session. In addition to CBS, ABC and NBC must have had some coverage. Juneau Empire and Capital City likely photographed some of the sessions. It should be possible to order video from the three broadcasters for the April weeks when Palin was in Juneau.

Would Blodget provide some funding to purchase tapes? Or could he organize the funds collection (e.g., those who can afford a few bucks send a check or money order to the mailing address Blodget provided for anonymous sources?)

lilly lily

7/14/2011 01:07:23

I never thought that Gusty was in on it. Sarah wore the suit, which doesn't jive with the way she looked days and weeks and months before the big pickle barrell shots.

Palin did it in Washington. Slim jeans in front of her security chief, and then wore the belly for her speach.

There is a bizarre eliment, a crazyness to the whole farce.

Now you see it, now you don't. Catch me if you can, I'm smarter than you, ha, ha, ha..

Mhurka

7/14/2011 01:19:46

They say that the eyes are the window to the soul. Well, in that video, especially the opening shots, her eyes look crazy and wild -eyed. Just sayin'.

Lidia17

7/14/2011 01:37:52

@Alexis, I have not watched it recently so I cannot give you a timestamp, but I believe you can see the moment in the video when the flash goes off from the left for the still shot.

------
@lucy:
“Governor Palin was extremely pleasant to flight attendants and her stage of pregnancy was not apparent by observation as she didn’t show any signs of distress,” Boren said.
--
It seems to have come from the Fairbanks News-Miner, but the links I found are broken and a search of that site today comes up with nothing.

It's on a huge number of secondary sites, though. Just search for some of the text.

Rationalist

7/14/2011 01:41:00

alaska airlines: Palin's "stage of pregnancy was not apparent by observation."

She flew commercial, which means security. No empathy belly - back to the black coat & scarves.

I've seen people speculate she got some kind of governor's waiver from TSA, but I doubt it. I was just on a flight with newt Gingrich and he had to go through. He went in the first class line, but still.

Lidia17

7/14/2011 01:50:58

Ok, I did not see the flash in this short, edited version. But I do recall seeing it in another version. As for the blips and hiccups Ottoline points out, remember that anyone can throw any old crap up on YT. There is no way that this hitchy pastiche actually went on the air as seen above, unless they were all drunk in direction/editing.

There IS supposedly a longer version of this interview… a longer BROADCAST version, however, according to Audrey:

http://palindeception.blogspot.com/2009/01/ktva-video-report.html

Melly

7/14/2011 02:28:48

She coulda been a contendah. But her fear and loathing got the better of her.

All I really take from this is that I'm not looking at a pregnant woman. Face, neck, shoulders, bust, stance. She's simply not in late-stage pregnancy.

curiouser

7/14/2011 02:59:08

Thanks for the post, Laura. I agree that Andrea wasn't in on the hoax and that both the news report and still shots were taken on April 13. Sarah's calendar shows press availability earlier in the day in addition to the Gusty shoot and it's not surprising that Bill McAllister would be in the building to interview her and/or legislators. I can't see why Palin would go to the trouble of staging photos when there were other photos of her looking pregnant. She was photographed in the same belly on April 17 in Texas and was also padded for the Elan Frank shoot on April 8-9.

Alaskan bloggers have written about the legislators wearing 'Where's Sarah' buttons during the short 90-day legislative session because she was missing so much of the time. It's funny to hear her talk about the success and 'hard work'. She does sound more reasonable without the vitriol but she was still spouting talking points.

Otto - Here's a photo of Sarah wearing the flag pin on April 3 '08:

http://www.youralaskalink.com/explorepolitics/17303114.html

The offices would have been dark if the exterior windows had curtains or blinds that were closed.

V ictoria link

7/14/2011 02:59:24

Is it possible to lighten the shots where we see more of Palin? Well, I know it's not possible for *me* to do it - does anyone else have that capability?

K.M.R

7/14/2011 03:16:43

I doubt there was only one empathy belly. Someone could have gotten her one in TX. then ditch it before her flight. This makes the question of how much metal they contain, irrelevant since it wouldn't have been on the plane either coming or going.

Re: the Gusty video.
I noticed the ever so slight hesitation/break in the filming early on. Part of me thought it may have been my wishful thinking seeing what I wanted to be there.
I'll need to be watch it again at the specific places mentioned by Ottoline because I still think something stinks with this video.
I do though appreciate Laura's professional take and I'm more than glad that we're talking about it again.

mistah charley, ph.d.

7/14/2011 03:29:28

I thought it had already been established by the preponderance of the evidence that it was Bill McAllister who posted the Gusty photos on the internet - wasn't he the one who took them, after all? I'm just relying on what I recall reading here, and I could be wrong.

Stryker

7/14/2011 03:54:35

Agree that Gusty had nothing to do with the Palin fakery. The flights from Anc/Sea/DFW/Sea/Anc are long - with stopovers in Seattle both ways. She would have had to go through security. It's hard to believe that someone wouldn't have noticed her, even in the Club. If she was 9 months pregnant, she would have been hard to miss.
None of the Wild Ride ever made any sense. Then again nothing she says makes sense so this is nothing new.

rubbernecking

7/14/2011 04:20:05

Does anyone know how if/how news organizations store the raw video vs the final edited version?

I found plenty of video footage from April 2008 showing Palin behind a podium or sitting at a table. I'm assuming the raw footage shows her walking to the podium or standing up at a conference table.

I strongly believe there must be very useful pictures and news video available from Juneau sources for the 2-wks before the magic birth. The Elan video is so very carefully edited, frames so very carefully cropped, it's seems pretty obvious she didn't bother to wear her pregnancy suit even when a film crew followed her home. Whether it was vanity or carelessness, I bet there were other days in Juneau she did the same thing.

The more methodical we are, the more carefully we authenticate the sources we use, the more convincing we will be to a wider audience.

Brad Scharlott

7/14/2011 04:27:55

Well, *maybe* Gusty was somewhat blindsided when the photos hit the Internet in late August – but not totally.

Her involvement would be in the coverup, by not being totally honest when FactCheck.com came calling. I now doubt that it was her camera that was used to take the pictures, even though she gave that impression by saying she thought she had the only copies.

But she must have sense something fishy was afoot. What did she think McAllister and Carpenter were doing there? Why the careful setup for the still shot? Why was she asked right after the interview to take a picture of "big Sarah" next to the two men, one of whom was seriously overdressed?

She clearly is a bright lass. I imagine she guessed what the still shots were for – and, hence, after the fact, why she had been offered the exclusive. She probably knew then she had been used.

ProChoiceGrandma

7/14/2011 05:58:22

I have never questioned that the Gusty video itself is authentic, it’s the BELLY that was fake.

Consider the date and time of day the Gusty video was taken: it was filmed on Sunday, April 13, 2008 in an empty hall of the Alaska State Capitol building in the late afternoon (5:00pm according to Sarah's calendar).
Sarah would not be seen publicly again because she flew from Juneau to Anchorage the next day, April 14th at 12:44pm.

Likewise, Sarah would not be seen publicly until she left for Texas the following day, April 14, 2008. Her security detail was dismissed and Todd would be her “security” to accompany her to Texas. .

http://palinemail.msnbc.msn.com/palin2011/pdf/13672.pdf
Todd emails Sarah on 4-14-08 at 9:10 am asking: “Can I go to Texas with you”

Five minutes later Sarah responds: “Janice said rga was willing to pay for staff to travel - ask her if they'll pay for first spouse instead of staff”

At 9:27 am Todd replies: “I spoke with Kris, yes RGA will pay for my trip.”

This almost last-minute email seems like Todd wasn’t originally supposed to go to Texas. Was Todd jealous that Sarah would be alone with Rick Perry? Who would be in charge of the surprise “presentation” of Trig for Friday morning when they returned from Texas? Did CBJ actually “deliver” Trig to the hospital for the big reveal?

Even though the Gusty video and pictures have worked out well for her to "prove" that she "looked" pregnant, the success thus far of her faked pregnancy is due to the most incurious incompetent Press in history, or they were afraid to question Rupert Murdoch’s prize puppet princess.

Lidia17

7/14/2011 06:46:56

@Brad, Ms. Gusty has come up in the world in the last couple of years. She's now the co-anchor for the 5:00 news and the sole anchor for the 10:00 news (which I assume are, in Alaska, analogs to the news at 6:00 and 11:00 in other parts of the country—correct me if I am wrong):
http://www.ktva.com/inside/bios/114174654.html

They are really pushing her native heritage. Too bad she never put Palin's feet to the fire on that score, but instead played the fan-girl…

--
@KMR, an unedited version had been posted long ago by Patrick. It has the whole news segment, not just the Palin material, so you can see that some of the weird glitches in the abbreviated sampling featured by Laura were introduced after the fact:

http://youtu.be/ACIGuxJ-LRE

lilly lily

7/14/2011 07:07:43

Palin looked like hell on Hannity last nite.

She looks mannish, almost like a tranni in her Newsweek fluff piece.

Considering Carl Bernsteins article on Murdoch in the same issue, this fluff article is ludicrous.

Palin didn't look all that good in the Gusti thing so she has always been changeable when under pressure.

Her looks are her only true asset, and those seem to be changing into the mid life menopausal way.

Something radical is happening to her, and as her looks deteriorate so will she.

When her heavy salmon jaw look is predominant, she is unravelling.

ProChoiceGrandma

7/14/2011 07:08:43

@Victoria The fake pregnancy belly is all cloth, no metal. Ask me how I know. :-)

@Mhurka Her eyes and nervous smile have the look of a little kid who did something naughty and is lying about it.

@Rationalist No one has ever talked directly to the flight attendants, only the Alaska Airlines spokesperson. Alaska Airlines is a fundie institution which used to hand out prostelyzing prayer cards, etc. Gryphen had evidence that Sarah did NOT have to go through security, but I can’t remember where to find it. It seemed very credible.

rubbernecking

7/14/2011 07:18:21

In an ideal world, someone would have approached Gusty differently when these photos were found. Maybe: "We're intrigued by these photos of you found online. What can you tell us about them?"

I think the accusation that she was a participant in a cover-up changed the conversation. It changed what FactCheck thought was important. And it very likely affected Gusty's reaction to people asking the questions.

It is uncomfortable to be falsely accused. It changes how most people will interact in an interview. And when the accusation is potentially career-damaging, as it was in Gusty's case, well...I'm not surprised she wasn't super eager to help her accusers.

@ProChoiceGrandma, that's an interesting find on how Todd went to TX. I'm not sure which made me more uncomfortable: that he asked his wife's permission by email or that his wife forwarded his email to her staff.

ProChoiceGrandma

7/14/2011 07:56:17

@Rubbernecking Ha! That's why Todd carries her purse. (lol, snort)

I do think that Andrea Gusty figured out, after the fact, that she had seen the "Immaculate Deception" in progress. But what poor little Alaskan reporter could dare even hint of foul play, unless she thought she was doing so by releasing the Erik99599 Flickr photo when McCain announced Palin as his VP pick and everyone was suddenly asking questions about Trig.

Leona

7/14/2011 07:59:05

Is there anyone on here who lives in the Wasilla-Anchorage area, and who knows if Palin generally made herself very visible in public from the time she was campaigning to be governor until some point in late 2007 or early 2008?
I wonder if she began to be seen less and less in public in the late winter and early spring of 2008.

curiouser

7/14/2011 08:08:33

Just noticed - from 2:26 to the end of the video, enough of her 'pregnant' belly shows to preclude the need for a still shot. I wonder if the still photos were taken (pathetically) as keepsakes for the journalists/fans and McAllister decided it would be helpful to post the photos online when the rumor went national. By that time, he had become her spokesman. It's questionable that he and Palin's staff didn't suspect the hoax since she complained about the rumors while refusing to do anything substantive to put them to rest. However, I doubt she shared her secrets with them.

Laura Novak link

7/14/2011 09:01:20

In my day, shooting cassettes were "shot over" or reused. Show masters were larger tapes stored in huge sliding file walls. Video tape editors and cameramen reused tapes all the time. I seriously doubt the original footage exists, though with digital, who knows.

As with most things with this story, even the airline statement is ambiguous. I agree that it's "legal speak" and CYA material more than anything else.

I always took it to mean she didn't appear to be in distress, rather than she didn't appear to be pregnant. Stage, meaning stage of labor, rather than pregnancy, though they qualify that too. But duh, if she were in distress, would they let her on a plane? No, so therefore, what was the point of the statement?

Every single thing about the story adds up to minus 10. Not one thing takes the hoax theory out of play. That's what makes this a fascinating mystery.

Working on a post with PhD that should offer some good food for thought.

Who Knows?

7/14/2011 10:22:02

@ ProChoiceGrandma

http://theimmoralminority.blogspot.com/2010/01/sarah-palins-perpetual-problem-with.html

There was a lot of concern expressed by the Governor's staff concerning her flying to Texas for that energy conference so late in her “pregnancy”, but the governor ignored them. (No surprise there.)

Before departure from the Anchorage airport she, and Todd, were met by her security detail who cleared her so she did not have to go through the regular airport screenings and escorted her right onto the airplane. No one from her security detail flew to Texas, which was highly unusual, but they did arrange for her to be met by somebody at the airport. When she was ready to return from Texas she was again allowed to bypass security and simply board the plane. (Remember how everybody wondered over at Palin's Deceptions how Sarah could have managed to get through airport security if she was wearing an Empathy Belly? And why she would have risked discovery? Well now we learn that she did NOT have to go through the security checkpoints like everybody else. And of course she knew that, now didn't she?)

When she arrived back in town there is no record of any security detail meeting her, as is common, and she and Todd drove from the airport all the way to the Mat-Su hospital without escort. Now WHY would anybody, who had felt “a strange sensation” low in their belly and told the Anchorage Daily News they were leaking amniotic fluid, NOT have asked for a security detail to meet them at the airport and help them to get to a hospital all the way in the Valley in a timely manner?

litbrit link

7/14/2011 11:43:34

(I posted this comment and then realized there was a new thread, so I'm re-posting it. I'd also like to add, re: Blue sweater Trig, I do think that wee bairn is a baby with Down Syndrome, it's just that he's really young, and the marked physical features of that syndrome don't always present themselves in a super-obvious way early on, depending on the child, of course. My cousin's baby has Down.) Anyway, my comment addressed the two photos in the previous post:

Hi again. A couple of thoughts on blue sweater baby.

That's definitely in the McCain plane. Not only do those seats look exactly like seats in the plane identified as McCain's campaign jet, the interior of which there are photos of all over the web (here's one: http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2008/10/trick-or-treat-aboard-mccains.html ) BUT it is also clearly a private jet, not the empty first-class cabin of some random commercial jet (because when are planes ever anything but overbooked and jam-packed?)

That said, it occurred to me that the Palin children, or some of them, may well have flown on McCain's private jet weeks or even months before their mother was officially announced as VP. Think about it--we are all pretty convinced Palin knew she was on his very short list, if not his actual pick, when she suddenly announced she was 7 months pregnant in early March, the day after McCain secured the Republican nomination. So by that logic, if she knew then--and for the sake of argument, let's say she did know that she was The One--it's conceivable that her family might have flown on his plane between then (March) and when McCain made the official announcement in late August.

I truly believe that baby is the same one who was at the Republican convention, but he appears older at the convention--a couple of months older to this mother's eyes.

Again: the subject line of that e-mail said: Look at Trig!!!!

And this kind of strikes me as funny, because if memory serves, the email was *to* Sarah Palin, not from, and she then forwarded it to Ivy. I need to see if I can find that pic of the In box again--I remembered that when I wrote that post last summer, Gawker had linked to Wikileaks, which is where it was all posted. I'm not sure if it's still available.

Anyway, here's a wild thought, just tossing this out there: perhaps Willow and Bristol (who took the photo) flew on McCain's jet to pick Trig up from his birth mother and/or adoption agency and bring him back to Sarah and Todd in April. She had the big speech in Dallas, and would meet them back in Alaska that night.

In which case, that would be something the girls might write to accompany a photo they were sending to Sarah: Look at Trig!!! (As in, "This is the baby who corresponds with the name you picked out!")

It also explains the hand-knitted blue wool baby jacket that little sweetheart is wearing, something we'd never see Trig or any other Palin wear again: something from a hand-knitted baby layette. My babies wore them, because my Mum knits. So do the ladies who often volunteer at hospitals, social service agencies, and so on: they knit little hats for the newborns, and they knit hats and jackets and blankies for babies from underprivileged families.

In addition to Paxson's possible connection to all this, remember, Cindy McCain adopted a child (Bridget) and may well have been dialed-in to an agency or church who had a baby with Down Syndrome they needed to place.

The group shot in the park (or similar) may not have been taken in Alaska. What if the whole family was elsewhere, say Arizona, hence the shorts? The whole family minus Sarah, of course--she was back in Alaska pretending to be pregnant. McCain flew them down to pick up the baby, who still needed the nasal cannula and wasn't quite ready to fly home? Are they sitting on the lawn at a hospital, perhaps?

Who knows for sure (rabbit holes are simpler to navigate!) but the more I think about this, the more certain I am that Look at Trig!!! photo was taken in April 2008, not August.

Phyllis

7/14/2011 15:41:10

I've been trying to find,since Jan.2009, exactly where the live interview was shot and how close it was to the area where the picture of Dan,Sarah and Bill was taken.
Well I finally found it, the cameraman Scott Favorite is standing right in front of the Speakers Chamber.
In the picture of the three,Dan Carpenter is standing beside the door of the Speakers Chamber.

In the live interview you can see the House of Representatives behind Sarah,so if you were walking toward where Sarah and Gusty stood and you didn't turn the corner you'd run right into the Speakers Chamber door.

Odd how some things can just bug the heck out of you until you find the answer.

Ivyfree

7/14/2011 16:16:01

"I think the airline said Palin's stage of pregnancy was hard to determine, not that she wasn't pregnant."

I wasn't paying a whole lot of attention when this hit the news in 2008. I recall that the newscaster announced that Sarah wasn't pregnant. Later, this was changed to "her stage of pregnancy was not apparent." It made me think of somebody weaseling on a statement- I can easily see a flight attendant saying, "She wasn't pregnant! I looked at her seatbelt!" and an Alaska PR person saying, "Just because you didn't see a belly doesn't mean she wasn't pregnant, does it? Women don't show at first" and coaxing a reluctant admission that a one or two month pregnancy wouldn't have been seen... and then the public statement was changed. The thing is, changing the statement like that really caught my attention. And I've never again heard that statement about how Sarah wasn't pregnant, just a repetition of "her stage of pregnancy.."

"I have never questioned that the Gusty video itself is authentic, it’s the BELLY that was fake."

Exactly. Even somebody has shortsighted as Sarah would realize that the fewer people involved, the better.

"Five minutes later Sarah responds: “Janice said rga was willing to pay for staff to travel - ask her if they'll pay for first spouse instead of staff”"

The First Spouse? How many does she have? She's really not very articulate, is she? Not very bright. In that sentence, she could have used the term "First Dude." Or "my husband." Or "Todd." "First Spouse" indicates, to me, that whatever her damage is- and I swear there is something- she was beginning to decompensate.

7/14/2011 16:24:06

Ottoline - It's hard for me to believe that the video could have been staged, yet I had the same reaction to Palin's appearance as you did - she looks significantly thinner in the video than in other pictures from that time period. I have posted three other pictures, along with a copy of your comparison, at http://s1084.photobucket.com/albums/j406/tdmf012/ . The three pictures I found were from April 2, April 10, and April 17, 2008. In each, Palin's face is much fuller and in two of the downright jowly. She is a true shape-shifter.

comeonpeople

7/14/2011 20:49:13

Laura,
In my letter to AA, I focused on the need post 9/11 for flight attendants to be hypervigilant about noticing things about passengers. If they did not notice a huge belly, what else were they not noticing?. I focused on safety. The response was the stage of pregnancy was not apparent, which in the context of my concerns implies she did not have a big belly which the attendants missed.
I should have followed up with AA with a Gusty photo and ask again how this was missed. Again, with a safety concern that this belly is really hard to miss.

DebinOH

7/14/2011 23:36:26

Personally, I doubt (IF this is a hoax) that very many people knew. I would even hazard a guess to say no one in her family knew or knows. If she kept it a secret from them until 7 months (& it seems that she really did) then why would she include them in a hoax?

I know she doesn't come across as being too bright; however, what she excels at is manipulation and an uncanny sense of which people she can "use" (along with making people feel special when she meets them). This is why she thinks everyone hates her - it is because she can't use them so to her that means they don't like her.

This is one time I believe she knew she had to tell no one.

Could she have received a baby without having to formally adopt him because how would people who filed real adoption papers or changed the birth certificate not have spilled their guts by now?

rubbernecking

7/15/2011 00:26:12

@litbrit, have you had a chance to review the trial quotes and link that @alexis posted in her "Tue, 12 Jul 2011 21:01:11" comment on the last thread?

Palin testified she took the Blue Sweater photo of Willow and Trig on a plane. The "LOOK AT TRIG!" picture is a different image and was sent by Bristol TO Palin just before the account was hacked.

Palin's trial testimony about the pictures/email is very weird but I don't want to hijack this thread about the Gusty pix/vid.

If you want to discuss Blue Sweater baby and related testimony, I'm happy to join you on the earlier thread.

lilly lily

7/15/2011 00:27:16

The baby in the handknit blue sweater is adorable.

Willow mimicks the tongue thrust and strabismus, but the baby seems lacking any extreme cross eyes or tongue thrust.

viola-alex

7/15/2011 00:38:46

@litbrit: I like how you think. (The sweet blue sweater being an anomoly.) 3 questions. Could that be someone else's private jet, someone else behind the adoption, not McCain?

And two, could that have been a flight to AZ for the family on McCain's jet prior to the Aug announcement?

Does the email say who it was sent from to Sarah?

V ictoria link

7/15/2011 00:52:03

@DebintheBuckeyeState

I doubt she kept it "a secret" from her family for seven months. If Sarah wasn't pregnant, the only secret to keep was Bristol's pregnancy, with homeschooling and a stay in Anchorage.

But I agree that she would tell as few people as possible about the hoax.

Rationalist

7/15/2011 01:09:18

Deb in OH - that adoption scenario is exactly what I'm thinking. I feel certain the birth mom does not know about Palin adopting the baby. And therefore - what a convenient fire at the church's office.

V ictoria - if most families, I'd agree but in this case I can easily see Sarah keeping this information from everyone until she announced publicly she was pregnant (except, possibly, Bristol).

Roger

7/15/2011 03:05:17

@Litbrit

I think the planes are different. The Willow picture has leatherette seat covers, dark brown vs. lighter brown cloth covers in McCain photo. The seat vertical side bars do not match; McCain plane is lower half of seat back, while Willow photo has tray attachment bracket.

V ictora link

7/15/2011 03:09:07

@Rationalist - what is she keeping secret, exactly? If she was not pregnant then there was nothing to tell.

I really think, from comparing Trig's ears to Sarah's, that they must be related. However, the church fire could have taken out the records of some baby that was borrowed - perhaps Ruffles.

litbrit link

7/15/2011 03:15:05

@Rubbernecking and @Viola-Alex: You're right, so I will head back to the other thread. I wasn't sure if the general thing here--as with many blogs--is to gather at the latest thread, or discuss things in a more specific way on each of a couple of different recent threads, which makes sense.

Going there now for more thoughts on the pics....

ProChoiceGrandma

7/15/2011 04:29:11

@WhoKnows Thank you for finding Gryphen's post about Palin not needing to go through security! You saved me a LOT of time! I didn't realize it was so long ago. Sigh.

@LitBrit re: the picture of the baby in blue on the plane - I don't know what to make of it. To me, that baby does not look like RNC Trig at all. The baby's tongue is not protruding, the eyes are not crossed, and it seems to have a very alert gaze. However, if that is indeed Willow, HER eyes are crossed and HER tongue is sticking out. The caption "Look at Trig!!!" to me seems like a cruel mocking of the real RNC Trig. Just my opinion. Remember, the Palins have mean streaks. Sarah called Trig "the retarded baby" on several occasions according to Levi.

lilly lily

7/15/2011 04:56:33

Bristol was on Jay Leno last nite when the audienced laughed and cheered Don Rickles interjection that she (Sarah) could lose, when Jay asked Bristol about her mother running vis e vie the Newsweek cover and article..

See Gawker.

Bristol didn't turn a hair, but kept on smiling broadly. She is extremely poised and comfortable in the spotlight now.

I doubt that Bristol truly cares about her mothers aspirations. Bristol cares about Bristol and perhaps how much green stuff goes into all of their pockets. And she wouldn't mind the perks from the Presidency. She has become accustomed to the high life. She has sold all of 8,000 books, a piddling amount for all the publicity and the bots giving it 5 stars at Amazon, and gets the royal treatment of best selling authors.

Bristol may turn out to be as much of a narcissistic personality as her mother. Apparently she always has been, but I initially put their contentious relationship down to teen aged self absorption.

Sarah Palin deserves Bristol. A daughter from Hell for a Mother from Hell.

What talents does Bristol display, except getting pregnant easily?

DebinOH

7/15/2011 05:02:02

Wow, so that baby IS Trig in the blue sweater with Willow? I could swear that it was another baby (when it was discussed which now seems years ago).

If that picture was taken on McCain's plane during the campaign I just can't believe it. The baby looks nothing like the Trig presented at the national convention. Perhaps Sarah THOUGHT it was Trig?

One other thing that really seems odd to me is his neck & his weight. If you look at that picture of him laying on Sarah in Hawaii his neck is very thick. I noticed this on a couple other pictures too. But then I have seen pictures of him where his neck seems "normal" (I hate that word but don't know how else to describe it). His weight seems to fluctuate a lot too.

I don't know I am beginning to think I am nuts! ;(

Laura Novak link

7/15/2011 05:06:33

I know, Deb, I think the same thing and I've thought the same thing!! People see similarities but I just don't see it, try as I might. As others have pointed out, the features change so drastically sometimes, it's difficult to sort it out. Great dialogue continues with LitBrit on last post on this. I post with PhD later and I hope everyone will ask her questions as she checks in over the weekend.

everspring

7/15/2011 05:20:44

I recall a photo of Palin with a PREGNANT Andrea Gusty, in late 2007 or early 2008. I think it was Gusty wearing a long beige trench style coat. Does anyone have that picture? I've searched and can't find it.

K.M.R

7/15/2011 05:50:48

Gryphen has the Leno clips up right now. His comments on both Leno and Bristol are spot on.

http://tinyurl.com/5r6s6lc

Lidia17

7/15/2011 07:29:41

@Deb, Victoria, Rationalist… I think the baby in the blue sweater is *one* of the Trigs, the one presented in the black&blue striped outfit. I don't think he/she is the current Trig. The chunkier, broader-faced baby that the Heaths presented kinda jives with the blocky, chunky, inert Trig handed around like a parcel, who resembles more of the older Trigs we have seen.

The airplane Trig may or may not have DS, but doesn't look entirely "normal" to me.

I doubt this Trig would have been adopted by the Palins, even through a church, because it would make them legally responsible for the child for the next 18 years or more. Since the blue-sweatered Trig seems to have disappeared, "borrowing" of some sort might be more likely.

Rationalist

7/15/2011 08:46:30

V ictoria - sorry - I misread your comment. Yes, I agree - nothing to conceal from the family if there was no pregnancy. But what a strange family to take it in stride that mom has been pregnant for seven months and didn't tell anyone. Nor did dad.

Laura and Lidia17 - it's just the one picture from the RNC that I linked to in the last post where the blue sweatered baby kinda looked like RNC Trig. Eyebrows similar, same round cheeks, same color eyes. But that's the only picture where RNC Trig looks like Blue Sweater Trig.

I guess my point is that we need to careful about photographs of babies, especially when they're sleeping or swaddled. They look so different from photo to photo. Ears, though - far more easy to be scientific about those.

Ferry Fey

7/15/2011 09:09:35

What was Sarah Palin's customary security detail? Would several of them travel with her on flights? Just one? How could they clear her for a flight rather than TSA doing it?

Cracklin' Charlie

7/15/2011 09:59:58

K.M.R.

There is a comment on IM for that post about Leno interviewing Bristol that links to an article in Huffington Post. She is quoted in the HuffPo as saying that during the campaign she was worried about buying diapers for Tripp, and about paying his hospital bills.

Tripp should not have needed diapers or had hospital bills, as he supposedly had not yet been born.

The comment that links the article is at 12:12.

Laura Novak link

7/15/2011 10:25:50

I know, Rationalist. Some people can see the resemblance. I can, and yet I can't see the Ds in that photo. And I've never known a person with Ds to have features fluctuate like that. So, once can't be sure.

West Coast Grrlie Blather link

7/16/2011 04:59:34

If I were as pregnant as Sarah purports to have been during the interview, I'd have been sitting down. Dealing with that random kick in the ribs would have been on my mind---I would have wanted to be seated so I could focus on my answers. But this was a key interview for Sarah's pregnancy charade. She keeps her hands folded under the belly-of-questionable content.

When I first became interested in SP, I leaned away from delving into photographic evidence because the Wild Ride story alone was enough to convince me she was bat-shit crazy, a liar, or both. But photos/videos are key. My favs are the photos from Sadie's long gone MySpace page and that video Sarah marching around Juneau in heels in March 2008 with a reporter (I hope this one is still around somewhere). I've been an ostrich with regard to all things SP for the past couple of years, but have had a helluva time catching up in the last couple of weeks. Huzzah to the tenacious!

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