Could there be some plastic surgery details that she'd like to keep quiet?

Palin is relatively young for a politician, is an avid outdoorswoman, presumably in good physical shape, and hasn't had any known history of health problems while she's been in the public eye. You'd think there'd be no reason for not releasing medical records, which one would assume indicate a fairly healthy person. At best, one can only assume she thinks she can get in some "attacks on the liberal media" for stonewalling. At worst, she's hiding something.

I think it's baby issues.

i really don't think there is any substantive issue here - no big lurking secret.

i think this was (a) just a big "F*ck You" to the media - Palin drawing a line for this and future endeavors and (b) an easy battle because she knew they were likely to lose.

in otherwords, she decided why open up her private life when they weren't going to win and therefore she didn't "have" to.

Heh. I wonder how many babies her medical records say she has had. Is it four or is it five? Hmm..

I'll take a counter-position to Zeitgeist.

Watch in a couple weeks for a small news item that says how sad the Palin family is to release the news that Bristol's pregnancy sadly terminated early and that there won't be no Bristol Baby after all....

But SARAH's natural-born and real and not-at-all-suspiciously-timed-or-delivered and actual and real and totally SARAH's baby Trig is doin' jes fine....

Easy - she is from another planet and doesn't want that info to go mainstream.

I admit, I didn't think there was anything to the Trig story. Nor did I give a rat's ass about Palin's health.

But now, since they've made it so suspicious, I think there's something going on.

Why would she submit to the invasion of her privacy if its not necessary? The only people who care are people who are not going to vote for her anyway. It makes no difference in terms of getting votes.

No mystery - she is from another planet and doesn't want that info to go mainstream.

Oh, wait....

If we're being generous, she's probably experiencing some post-partum and is on anti-depressants. I doubt many people would fault her for such a thing, but I can also imagine that Team McCain would view it as a sign of weakness and thus nothing they could ever reveal publicly.

Frankly, I think we should make a bigger deal out of the absence of a press conference, no?

I for one will not be satisfied until I see them , althought the delay is probably for the payoffs and redacting to hide some embarrassing episode. Someone somewhere is going to squeal on that nasty woman. I still have not heard a satisfactory explanation why she took two airline flights with broken water, risking the life of the baby. To quote my friend David Letterman "somthing stinks here, somthing stinks.

"People with nothing to hide hide nothing."

The public needs to stay the course (read: stop insisting on transparency).

The way the McCain campaign has been run eerily resembles the secretiveness and deceptiveness of the the current administration. If things go right, which I am becoming increasingly more sure they will, we'll have no need for the records we were never going to get.

I don't think the McCain campaign wants the media talking about such non-issues this close to the election. They'd rather be talking about ...well...polls? late night comedy? prank calls? in-fighting? Corruption convictions? wardrobes? OK, I give up.

She is from the "Meth Capital" of Alaska according to some folks. Drug abuse issues can show up in medical records. I'm thinking if there is something to hide it is along these lines. Would explain a lot....No? :-)

If she wants to run in 2012, she'll have to release them then. 4 years is sufficient time for a good scrubbing.

An abortion or two in her past. College probably.

I haven't mentioned it before, but if I had to bet on any possibility (including the idea that she's got nothing to hide), I'd definitely put my money on a secret abortion that she doesn't want the pro-life crowd to know about. In any case, I seriously doubt she feels compelled to release it now, seeing as how she thinks she's going to lose anyway.

And by 2012, she'll just pretend this is a dead issue that already got addressed in 2008 and wait out the clock. Not that she stands a snowball's chance in hell of winning the nomination, but I betcha she's going to give a lot of hell to Romney before he drags himself like a wounded moose across the finish line...in time to get trounced by Obama in the general.

As for the idea that she's got nothing to hide, I just don't buy it. For as much as Republicans always act secretive and there is always this "Perhaps they're being secretive just to be secretive" stuff, it always turns out that they really did have something to hide. I'm not sure I can recall even ONE time that the Bushies hid something they didn't want hid.

Betcha' it's because that baby isn't Caribou Barbie's baby at all. My bet is it's Bristols'.

I also bet Levi and Bristol don't get married, either.

Hm, what'd piss off the right?

An abortion in college?

An abortion since?

Confirmation about the timing of that flight from Texas and the recent pregnancy/pregnancies rumors?

Hell, she lies about everything else; why not lie about something in her medical records?

As Peggy Noonan once said, "Is it irresponsible to speculate? It's irresponsible not to."

I want DNA tests on all her little shits. I wonder how many of em came from Brad Hanson baby goo.

Probably because her doctor prescribed her abortion for birth control.

She's a man, baby.

Hopefully in 36 hours I won't give a flying shit.

Good comments from all, but my 2 cents will say one of three things, in the order of likelihood:

Trig wasn't her baby, but Bristol's, and would be backed up as well by the very odd timeline on the plane travel leading up to the birth.

She's a drug fiend and got treatment at some point for it. I don't think post-partum would be all that disqualifying, most moms go through some level of it. It's also very hard to hide and maintain the habit on the road, even with the relatively small amount of travel she's done.

She's gotten treatment related to the "other guy" story that gurgled up from the Enquirer's sewer. The most likely choices are some kind of STD or an abortion [which would just kill 2012 as well with the fundies]. I won't go to the obvious title on this since Flynt beat me to it, and this is after all a class joint.

IIRC, women's medical (okay, gynecological) records are coded to show the number of confirmed pregnancies, live births, spontaneous abortions (aka miscarriages), induced abortions, and so on in their history. Someone with no pregnancies at all would have a series of zeroes, for example.

It shouldn't be too hard to scrub plastic surgeries from the records, since they're outside the insurance loop, but they can show up when a patient discloses his/her history to a doc's office, or if there are some later medical issues related to a cosmetic procedure.

If she thinks she can continue in the public arena without releasing them in the future she's really in a bubble. It'll come up whether she runs for reelection as governor or in a Senate run.

The public has already vetted her. She did not pass the test so why dig any deeper? Most of us would question what they would release anyway -- What did they hide? So much suspicion is wrapped around her that she already suffers from a permanently etched credibility gap. I offer this not as any defense of her not releasing the info but just by way of explaining that her not doing so fits the wacked out narrative she planted herself. It fits.

Bigfoot lives

Given she said this on tape: "The medical records. So be it."
We have yet another biting lie, Sarah the self-declared dog, has to lie down with.
Ultimately, these sores of the soul add up.
Ulltimately, she loses blood.

So I am glad she didn't release. This will flame the "Cryptid kid" line and lead to more speculation and hostility. I suspect a cottage industry will arise trying to prove Trig isn't hers. How? Perhaps by using Touch DNA. In the meanwhile every little bit of secrecy helps erode her possibilities in 2012.

And that makes me very happy indeed...

STDs??

Maybe she doesn't believe in doctors and has no medical records.

The baby is a prop. Just look at how he was taken everywhere, including loud venues, and handled by everyone. It wasn't hers, but not necessarily Bristol's.

It should prevent any future runs, but not a career as Ann Coulter's or Laura Schlesinger's replacement. Thank the gods that the market for that drivel will be shrinking as people get behind the new Admin and moderates desert the far-right GOP.

I offer two possibilities:

1. Alaska sure does get cold and dark for long periods of time. Perhaps she's been on mother's little helpers for many years. That would indeed look "unstable" for someone who could potentially have access to the red button.

2. The only acceptable form of birth control for the wingnuts is abstinence via natural family planning. If she's been on the pill (or if Trig really isn't hers and she's had tubal ligation) that could deflate the hell out of the far right.

Personally, there are two tiers of importance. The first is whether the condition goes to one's fitness to govern. Alcoholism, regular drug use, or some other condition that may make the person susceptable to faint or die while in office. Diabetes, high blood pressure. The public need to know if they are electing someone that might keel over at a moment's notice. McCain failed on this front giving three hours with no notes or copies or experts and only to "select" journalists (read sycophants).

The second tier, which really don't affect the electorate are things which the candidate has campaigned on and might be politically embarrassing. So abortions, STD's, out of wedlock conceptions/births, are things that the Palins have railed on being that they are fervent religious wrongists. Personally, I couldn't care less if Palin had an abortion and it would be hypocrisy for her to be opposed to abortion. I wouldn't have voted for her anyway.

After that, it is just salacious stuff, like a boil on the ass. What would be a hoot is if she contracted an STD from her ex-brother in law, Wooten. But that's not likely since Wooten, having an axe to grind, wouldn't be quiet about such a thing. Now Senator Stevens would have something to hide. Trig is really Stevens' love child. Yeah, that's the ticket.

Ok, enough joking. Now go vote.

Put me down for pre-marital birth control pills

Even Jake Tapper has a note up about the missing medical files. And if Tapper is bothering to post about it, you just KNOW it's news. (Heh.)

Seriously: if she was lying about having that baby herself, it's not going to take long before we find out. Today, both the Palin insurgency and the McCain dictatorship are allied in the cause of keeping embarrassments secret. But if John McCain loses then he's not going to really care what happens to her -- unless he decides he really wants to reward her for having such a positive effect on his campaign. (Heh.)

After reading these comments, if I was a woman running for office, I wouldn't release my fucking medical records, either. Ever.

Who needs her complete medical history? She's a mid-40's woman in apparent good health, I for one would be satisfied with a physician simply affirming that she is in good health. Yeah, it's weird that she said she was going to release them and she hasn't done it yet, but so what. There ain't anything in there that's going to make a goddamned bit of difference in anyone's vote.

Even if it were revealed that she'd had an abortion, the right would make excuses for her. IOKIYAR, remember? IOKIYAR, always.

Forget the damn medical records already.

This is a huge topic of conversation in our household.

Our current thinking, in order of likelihood:

1. Plastic surgery
2. Evidence of birth control
3. Evidence of abortion
4. Evidence of down's syndrome baby not being hers

We think #1 and / or #2 are likely, but we aren't sure about #3, and definitely not #4.

Just our wild-ass speculation, of course.

It is part of the larger issue of her actions not backing up what comes out of her mouth. She said she would release the records, and she hasn't. Troopergate, clothes, bridges, Ted Stevens, the list goes on and on.

Trig is her daughter's baby, and Bristol is not really pregnant now. Palin lied twice - first that the baby is actually hers, but when caught out on the rumors, covered it up ever further by claiming her daughter is pregnant, NOW, and thus, couldn't have been Trig's mother. But I've seen both these women with Trig. Bristol is the mom -- it shows.

The primary risk factor for Down Syndrome advanced maternal age.

Trig is not Bristol's baby, you numbskulls.

The primary risk factor for Down Syndrome advanced maternal age.

Trig is not Bristol's baby, you numbskulls.

Look. I know we don't want to get into salacious details about family life and the children of candidates are off limits...

But come on. The woman faked a pregnancy and is lying about the parentage of a child! There is compelling evidence of this, and right now there is zero proof otherwise (aside from Sarah Palin's good word, of course).

This is the act of someone with really bad judgment, horrible foresight, confused morality, and questionable sanity. Salacious details aside, can a national candidate really lie about something so brazenly and get away with it?

Oh, right. Last eight years. Sorry. Almost forgot.

Any possible abortion records will not show up. Nor would any reference to one in her other records unless she chose to disclose it voluntarily in the patient history section. It's baby Trig, baby.

Any hint of an abortion pre or post marriage would have killed McCain's chances in 2008 and kill her chances in 2012. My guess is that's what she's hiding.

In general, I don't care.

Your right to swing your arm ends where my face begins.

So long as you are not trying to legislate my body or my wife's body, you can keep your medical records to yourself. But if you want me to walk a line, you better be leading the way.

"The primary risk factor for Down Syndrome advanced maternal age."

that comment is a perfect example of selecting facts to support your argument.

"Although the probability increases with maternal age, 80% of children with Down syndrome are born to women under the age of 35,[15] reflecting the overall fertility of that age group."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Down_syndrome#Incidence

Just one more example of Palin attempting to bend reality to her view of the world. First she 'vetoed' the Bridge to Nowhere. Then the investigation into Troopergate 'cleared' her of all wrongdoing.

It seems that in this case, she believes that if she keeps promising to release her medical records, people will eventually stop asking about them and forget she never did.

For the record, I could respect her decision to keep her medical records private if she had simply been forthright and stated that she refused to release them. But promising to release them and then failing to follow through is classic Palin, and is yet one more reason I don't want her anywhere near the White House.

i think it is going to turn out that palin had her tubes at the time of delivery of her fourth child.

now she conveniently will not have to reveal that until and if she is the republican nominee in 2012. i can already predict -- "everyone was being mean to me in 2008! i was just protecting my daughter!" and the media will roll right over and celebrate her "sacrifice."

I don't want to see her medical records - or anybody else's. If everyone is so concerned, have the candidates' doctors sign a statement under oath, with a penalty of losing their licenses for perjury, that the candidates are/are not in good health, are/are not suffering from chronic diseases that are/are not being managed and are/are not expected to live for the next four years. That's all we need to know, the rest is nothing more than the sort of panty-sniffing the Clintons had to endure during Bill's last term in office. I don't know or care if Trig is her baby, as long as there's no evidence of criminality involved. Even evidence of an abortion or contraceptive use in her past would be overlooked because she is "born again" - not perfect, just forgiven as they say. I hate to say it, but on this, I have to side with Palin.

i think it's going to come out that palin had her tubes tied after the birth of her fourth child.

if and when that info ever comes out, the media will roll over and applaud her "sacrifice," pointing out that "she was only protecting her daughter from the vicious media coverage in 2008."

A bunch of noted scientists have just released their DNA profiles for the general good (not of course in the interests of staying noted). Steven Pinker admits he has a gene that puts him at high risk for premenstrual cramps. Palin may be concealing a gene for prostate cancer.

this is a messy comment thread -- no thanks to me. i thought i hit "cancel" fast enough when i noticed i had left out the important word "tied."

my apologies for the duplication of sentiments.

Trig may not be Bristol's, but that hockey boy might not be the father of the new baby either. This upstanding gentleman is claiming he is the new baby-daddy.
http://www.blackbottom.com/watch.php?v=WdBJd9b9i8A

I'm thinking something as simple as birth control pills, considered by many uber-evangelists as a little abortion every day.
As for KC comment, actually most down's babies are born to young mothers. The risk per pregnancy goes up a bit with advanced maternal age but most down's kids I see belong to under 20's.
I will be curious to see what happens to Bristol's pregnancy, not because of any of my business what happens to her but only in how it may apply to Palin lying. Either a way-post dates baby (month or two after due date to allow for rapid re-pregnancy after bearing Trig) or we will just never hear about Bristol having a baby once Palin drops out of the spot light.

Well, any woman who has had a baby KNOWS that you won't be able to make it through more than 1/2 day after your water breaks to get to a doctor...

SARAH PALIN IS COMMITTING INSURANCE FRAUD by claiming to be his mother.
If Bristol really is Trigs mother, he would have lost insurance coverage when she left school, because usually insurance only covers kids until they are independent/out of school, which she is. At the latest, he would lose coverage when Bristol gets married to her shotgun-wedding-to-be-groom, Levi.

So... SARAH PALIN IS COMMITTING INSURANCE FRAUD AND IS HIDING THAT TRIG IS NOT HER OFFSPRING

kc wrote:

if I was a woman running for office, I wouldn't release my fucking medical records, either. Ever.

So you're saying that a woman running for office shouldn't have to go through the same process as a man? Why is that? What makes a woman's health off-limits but a man's public record? Seriously. Why?

Now, if you just mean in this situation, I understand. Quite frankly, I don't give a damn about her health, who fathered what kid, or any of that other crap. It doesn't affect me, nor does it make her any more fit for office. Hell, she shouldn't be running a Motel 6, let alone be ready to run an entire country, but her health has nothing to do with it.

But if the process demands that medical records to be released, I see no good reason why a woman should be exempt.

Sarah Palin got an abortion years ago when she was competing in Alaskan beauty pageants.

I remember thinking when I saw a beauty pageant photo of Palin in a swimsuit that she looked somewhat "chunky" and wondered if "beauty" standards up in Alaska were somehow different than elsewhere.

You just know that Palin wouldn't let a little inconvenience like a pregnancy get in the way of anything she has set her sight on. She's not nicknamed "The Barracuda" for nothing.

So, I figure she got an abortion and doesn't want her base, the hardcore religious fundamentalist types, finding out because it would sink her and McCain's chances of winning tomorrow...and probably would adversely affect not only her political future as a "leader" of the Republican Party, but also cause some problems for her up in Alaska.

Sarah Palin got an abortion and her medical records would indicate this.

kc: while I would normally agree with you about the records, there are two factors which undermine the leave her alone argument:

1. She herself [and her campaign] without coercion offered to provide the information and the now jello-like timeline. Until the announcement two weeks ago it really appeared there would be no releases necessary for the reasons noted several times above. While clearly a wingnut, no one really questioned her emotional stability or overall health, just the penchant for overspending taxpayer money, cronyism and abuse of power. That alone was all that was needed to disqualify her even before we found out she's not intellectually up to speed. I've never known Alaskans to be welshers before this.

2. She is the one heartbeat away if elected Veep, to a guy with serious health issues. Even that doesn't argue for release on its own (see item 1), but her intention to run in 2012 regardless of the expected thrashing means it could become an issue at some point.

She said she'd do it, so do it.

Think an "abortion" will be unearthed from those medical records or worse(?) use of birth control. If so, too bad the God of Onan isn't kicking.

"The primary risk factor for Down Syndrome advanced maternal age.
Trig is not Bristol's baby, you numbskulls.
Posted by: kc on November 3, 2008 at 3:07 PM "

SORRY, kc: YOU are the numbskull!
"PRIMARY" risk. YES. However, as someone already posted, 80% of all DS kids are born to mothers younger than 35y/o!
Also, getting drunk like a skunk, and getting high on Meth is a VERY HIGH risk of getting pregnant with a DS baby! Bristol, it seems acording to records, has been doing both (including DUI while 'out of school because of Mono' - yeah, right, MY A$$!)

I'd chalk it up to incompetence on the part of her staff...they don't seem that well organized.

I believe her records would show that Sarah Palin developed a persistent and costly socialist streak for which she's refused treatment.

As a consequence billions of our tax dollars have gone to the freeloaders in Alaska while she has attempted to cover up her illness.

Posted by: kc
The primary risk factor for Down Syndrome advanced maternal age.Trig is not Bristol's baby, you numbskulls.

Actually kc, researchers have established that the likelihood that a reproductive cell will contain an extra copy of chromosome 21 increases dramatically as a woman ages. Therefore, an older mother is more likely than a younger mother to have a baby with Down syndrome. However, of the total population, older mothers have fewer babies; about 75% of babies with Down syndrome are born to younger women because more younger women than older women have babies. Only about nine percent of total pregnancies occur in women 35 years or older each year, but about 25% of babies with Down syndrome are born to women in this age group.

I'm starting to feel sorry for Sarah Palin; if she had an abortion or an STD, so what? If she uses birth control or no birth control, so what? If she has decided to raise her daughter's child, so what? If she has had some plastic surgery, so what? I think she is entitled to her privacy

Having said that, if she is addicted to Meth or if addiction is in her history, that's important. If she has a serious illness, that's important. Beyond those couple of things, I think there are better things to worry about, such as the problem of her terminal stupidity which unlike her medical records, she can not hide.

Show us the Trig Palin birth certificate!

Per the "defenders," the rate of teen pregancy is so much higher than over-40 pregnancy, the Down's syndrome excuse doesn't fly, either.

And, I agree with others, KC. You're the numbskull.

As for the politics, until more people challenge the Religious Right on its making antiprivacy a campaign issue, people like KC will continue to shrug about this Alaskan Addams Family.

And where’s Bristol been recently, anyway?

Christ all-fucking-mighty, did I wander into a mirror-universe Redstate site or something?

You guys have spent a little too long staring into the abyss. Think about the Republican behavior you sneer at, then look at the posts here.

So, we've got assertions:

1. Trig is Sarah's baby. Proof, please.
2. Sarah had an abortion. Proof, please.

Amidst all the frothing idiocy here (not to mention the oh-so-authoritative bold text), there's not one scrap of evidence other than your desperate desire for another scandal.

Should Palin release her medical records? Sure. All the other candidate have done it, and so should she. But all the bullshit about abortions and secret parentage are--until proven--right up there with Barack Obama being a secret Kenyan, and the imaginary Michelle Obama "whitey" tape.

I'd definitely put my money on a secret abortion

this is silly.

How does "a secret abortion" show up in medical files?

A person's doctor only has the files of their history with a patient, or the past files the patient has agreed to release to the doctor.

If a healthy woman went to a clinic in her 20's and had a procedure, there's absolutely no reason it would show up in her current medical records at 47 years of age, unless 1)her Dr. performed the procedure, and 2)she had some complication resulting from it that required her Dr.'s treatment.

Highly unlikely, given the scenario flogged by rumor, that she had a secret abortion as a young woman.

I'm thinking the reason she hasn't released the records is that she's already resigned to the fact that she's going to lose, so why bother? If there's anything to hide, it's more likely to be the Trigg birth, or an anti-depresssent treatment, like someone upthread suggests.

Since she's not pregnant now it means she's on birth control or is abstaining. If on BC is it BC she's used before and stopped in order to get pregnant with Trig?

Or is it just possible that she had tubes tied (tubal ligation) after having several children(she does have a career now and would want to make sure she doesn't accidentally get pregnant again as Governor) and this is what is hiding in her medical records. I think so. With nothing to hide, why make an issue of it? This would expose Palin for the liar and manipulator she is and for the loving mother who didn't want to be embarrassed by her daughter's pregnancy or wanted to keep her daughter's reputation in tact?? Was it all just a bad decision on her part that she just doesn't want to admit to because it would now complicate her political future?? Not the brightest bulb in the pack.

The press has no business in someone medical records. There is stuff you tell your doctor you might never tell your spouse and it's no one's fricken business, even a potential presidential candidate. We need to know she is healthy, she isn't crazy, and that she isn't addicted to medication or taking some questionable medication. We don't need to know if she lied about a pregnancy, if she had an abortion, or anything else that personal. Sorry but that is and never will be the reason these records are disclosed.

That being said, Palin knew the deal and if Clinton was on the ticket, there is no way her records would not have been released.

In the future, we should have a several doctors, males and females, who examine the entire medical history. They can only release information that fits certain criteria, stuff that might effect their ability to lead the country. If there is other damaging/embarrassing history, it's off limits. If Palin has an abortion at 12 because her dad raped her we don't find out from her medical history. I rarely go to the doctor, but I don't BillO having access to my private information and reporting something stupid I said 20 years ago when I was having a heart attack.

That being said, Palin knew the deal and she should have thought about it before accepting the task.

I'm with those who would excuse her if she had said from the beginning that she wasn't going to release anything on principle--but she said she would do it and now she's not. Just another reason why I don't trust her and don't want her anywhere near the White House, except maybe the next governor's conference with President Obama, if she's not impeached.
I'm also with those who are saying that if male candidates are expected to open themselves up to this kind of scrutiny, then females should be expected to as well. You think men enjoy publicizing their prostate problems? If you're applying to be president or vice president, then I actually believe the public is entitled to know your history--not just "she looks healthy, or her doctor says she's okay so that's good enough". These people will have their fingers on or a heartbeat away from the nuclear button.

Vaginal rejuvenation?

I'll cast my lot that she's continuing to play to the Base by refusing the demands for transparency although she might be killing a 2nd secret bird with this stone as well. We may never know.

Barring that, it would give her and her Base much joy once the records are made public, to say "see, I had nothing to hide" and that it just proves that anyone left of the radical right are always wrong about everything.

OTOH, Christians will forgive their *own* for just about anything as we've all seen (drug use, divorce, sex with gay prostitutes)... but whether they'd forgive one of their own for "murder" still remains to be seen (the tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians aside).

I vote abortion if it does turn out there's something there. ;o)

"...Amidst all the frothing idiocy here (not to mention the oh-so-authoritative bold text), there's not one scrap of evidence other than your desperate desire for another scandal...."

Really? There's the exceptional fable of Palin's childbirth adventure. There's the numerous ethics violations coming from the Alaskan congress...there's the interview with Couric and Palin's constantly repeating lies even when pointed out as lies ("No thanks to the bridge to nowhere etc.) and her willingness to drudge the bottom of the barrel to fearmonger and promote fear and hatred of Obama...which are proof and constant evidence that if she "acts" suspiciously that there has always been reason for her to because she's always been hiding something in the past when she acts this way.

I'd say we have good reason and motivation to suggest she's not releasing her med records because she is hiding something embarrassing to her and her future presidential hopes.

Red state makes accusations out of whole cloth and hardly compares to the worst of what is seen here....Just saying.

Okay so, to a degree, this was an issue a week ago, today not so much. I am sure at this point I just do not want to know anything more about Palin. I want her to fade from view.

Just a side note re: the amount of time this would take.

My family is trying to move an elderly relative to a facility in another state. We've been able to get his medical records sent to the new doctors within a weeks' time, and his records are extremely complicated, given his age and infirmity.

It shouldnt take much for a young healthy woman's files to be sent.

That said, I doubt there's any smoking gun there in Palin's files - certainly not about "secret abortions."

I think she just doesn't want to bother, because she knows they're going to lose.

Don't you all get it? If Palin had an abortion, that would not disqualify her with the fundie wingnuts.

Because when you're a fundie wingnut, EVERYTHING can be forgiven.

You just say that you regret that horrible thing you did, and JAY-SUS your personal savior has forgiven you, and you ask the forgiveness of the public for this heinous thing, and you've learned, and changed, and blah blah blah.

So even if she'd used drugs in the past, or had an abortion, or whatever, she'd get over it.

Of course, she's just running out the clock until after tomorrow...

I suspect she's used birth control at some point during her life. FOR SHAME!

"The primary risk factor for Down Syndrome advanced maternal age." OK, but that doesn't mean Trig is NOT Bristol's baby.

There are many, many Down syndrome babies born to young women.

Still, I don't think Trig is Bristol's because unlike most people, I DO think Palin looked pregnant in some of those "pre-birth" photos. She just looked to be hiding it really, really well, which some women with great abs can do.

If a healthy woman went to a clinic in her 20's and had a procedure, there's absolutely no reason it would show up in her current medical records at 47 years of age, unless 1)her Dr. performed the procedure, and 2)she had some complication resulting from it that required her Dr.'s treatment.

...or, as happens far more frequently, 3) a woman's doctor(s) have asked her how many pregnancies she's had and how many she carried to term, and she was honest with them.

Honesty...but it's Sarah Palin we're talking about, so never mind.

So what ARE my guesses?

1) Drug treatment. She admits she and Todd smoked marijuana, and given her solid "cultural values" personna, it MUST have been a gateway drug, and I'm thinking meth.

2) Abortion and/or STDs. When she was a "beauty queen."

3) One no one else has posited: Todd's been a wife beater.

I've looked at all the Babygate evidence. My guess is she lied about the water breaking before the speech to make herself look tough. That's probably not in her medical records.

I'm still not convinced that she looked pregnant and given her predilection for lying and covering things up, I'm inclined to believe that she is capable of lying about the Trig pregnancy. Until those records are out though, its all speculation and no documentation. She's well aware of that.

We need to know she is healthy, she isn't crazy, and that she isn't addicted to medication or taking some questionable medication. We don't need to know if she lied about a pregnancy...

If it's true, I'd say someone who fakes a pregnancy and pretends to be her grandchild's mother to protect her own political career to be mentally/emotionally unstable enough that I don't want her anywhere near high office.

Not that anyone in this thread particularly cares, but the fact that Trig has Down syndrome is a good argument for her being Sarah's child, not Bristol's. The risk of having a child affected by Down syndrome is about 1/40 for Sarah Palin (age 44) and about 1/1600 for Bristol (teenager). In other words, Sarah Palin is about 40x as likely to have a Down syndrome child as Bristol.

That 80% of children with Down syndrome are born to young women is an interesting fact but not relevant to the present discussion of Trig's maternity. I also should point out that the the 80% figure is due to both the higher fertility of young vs. old women and that fact that young women abort few of their affected fetuses, while older women (who are routinely offered prenatal diagnosis for Down syndrome) terminate roughly 90% of pregnancies when the fetus is affected by Down syndrome.

Saw a comment about this yesterday that struck me as very likely. It wondered if maybe she's had an abortion that she doesn't want her base to know about.

My understanding is that OBGYNs list total gestations, live births, and number of times didn't come to term. Most doctors don't give a shit if you've had an abortion, so the third number could be miscarriages or abortions.

And can we please cut the "Trig is Bristol's baby" crap? This is so last season's Desperate Housewives.

Wow. Do blog commenters here really aspire to be the left wing equivalent of right wing talk radio? Was it so much fun during the primaries that it's got to continue?

Am I really reading that people think it's their right to know whether or not a woman candidate has had an abortion? Or that they get to decide which women candidate needs to disclose this kind of information?

Ugh.

My understanding is that OBGYNs list total gestations, live births, and number of times didn't come to term. Most doctors don't give a shit if you've had an abortion, so the third number could be miscarriages or abortions.

Your understanding is wrong. Think about it. Why might an OB/GYN think that the number of miscarriages vs. abortions for a woman intending to bear children might be relevant information? Hmmm. Can you guess?

I'd just like to say that not all women "show" when they're pregnant. My mom just looked a bit chubby with both me and my brother. She didn't ever have a giant belly that required a wardrobe of maternity clothes. Of course, we were both really small babies too.

I can't stand Sarah Palin and I generally think hypocrisy about anti-abortion/extra-marital sex issues should be exposed.

However, as a woman, I know that I've gone to the doctor once a year since about the age of 16 for a pap smear. This pap smear is my routine checkup. Sexual history and birth control obviously feature prominently in these exams. I have had to discuss the number of sexual partners I've had each time. I doubt that men go to the doctor to discuss sexual issues as often, or get asked about sexual issues as often during their routine checkups.

There is still a huge double standard in this country when it comes to number of pre-marital sexual partners. I can see "medical records" being a huge issue for *any* female candidate.

Therefore, we should respect the privacy of all female candidates when it comes to medical records. The only *legitimate* concern the public has here is whether or not candidates are healthy enough to finish out their term. We can get this information through a doctor's statement without seeing the full medical records.

My understanding is that OBGYNs list total gestations, live births, and number of times didn't come to term. Most doctors don't give a shit if you've had an abortion, so the third number could be miscarriages or abortions.

And it all depends on what the patient chooses to volunteer.

I'm pretty mixed up about babygate intrigue. There was the theory, she pretended to be pregnant to cover for Bristol, but then Bristol turned out to be pregnant for real too soon to be pregnant again, right? So WTF is up with all that?

And it all depends on what the patient chooses to volunteer.

Right, as noted above. However, if the patient answers questions about past pregnancies by saying that she's had a pregnancy or pregnancies that didn't go to term, the OB/GYN is going to ask her how it or they ended, and that info will be noted.

a crack whore, trig is sara's, but Levi is the father not First Dud. she has the mark 666 on her backside, a nazi mark tatooed onto her labia that got infected. her clitorius has a piercing with a cross, she has the clap, gonorea and herpes, yeast infection, hallatosis and vernial warts. her chromosons are those of a man-- how does that jive with her her pregnancies? Exactly-- she is not from alaska but from france.

"No mystery - she is from another planet and doesn't want that info to go mainstream."
--Joe Vegas

That weird-ass beehive hairdo of hers is perfect for covering a conehead. When I first saw her, I thought it made her look like a circus pinhead.

Amusingly--probably looking to 2012--she has released her "records"--actually a doctor's note declaring her super great. The same doctor that was accused of conspiring to cover up the last prenancy. The same doctor who, if Palin's last prenancy is recounted correctly, basically took all kinds of chances with her patient. I'll let Andrew Sullivan attack this piece of theater. This, coupled with her 11th hour self-appointed "cleared of ethics abuse" fiction, make Palin the most dangerous sociopath ever to take her place on the political stage. God help us--I pray she is done politically. Gadfreakingzooks.