Saturday, December 5, 2009

Andy and the Amazing Astonishing Tale

In his most recent attack on Sarah Palin, Sully recycles one of his favorite themes:
On the return flight from Dallas to Alaska, which she says she boarded despite having contractions at eight months . . . the flight attendants on the plane at the time, according to a contemporaneous account in the ADN, had no idea she was even pregnant, let alone in labor of some kind. The questions about this astonishing story are not a function of conspiracy theories and never were. They require no elaborate theory of whose child Trig may actually be. They are simply basic questions anyone would ask of a person who had recounted such an amazing tale. And yet not a single journalist has done so.
How many times has Sully made these claims? And how many times have other journalists said they looked into it and found nothing worthy of further investigation?

Sully calls Palin's account of her labor "astonishing" and "amazing." Palin's book has sold hundreds of thousands of copies, and the majority of those buyers were women. Do any of them find anything suspicious about Palin's version of giving birth to her fifth child?

Some of Palin's critics have found fault with her for traveling to Dallas when she was so near her due date, and have criticized her decision to fly back to Alaska when labor began, rather than to seek treatment in Dallas. Yet there are many other women who react to that story differently: For obvious reasons, any woman would prefer to be treated by her own OB-GYN, rather than seek treatment in an emergency room in a distant city. Palin's urge to return to Alaska for her childbirth doesn't seem remotely "astonishing" or "amazing" to them.

That Andrew Sullivan lacks understanding and empathy toward women is old news. And his lack of understanding and empathy toward reporters is also a familiar theme of Sullivan's career. A commenter on a previous post brought up the fact that, in 2003, Sullivan was chief among those demanding that Rick Bragg should be fired. At the time, Craig Henry wrote:
Can someone please explain why Andrew Sullivan is getting a free pass as he rages against Howell Raines and Rick Bragg? He is sitting in judgment and passing harsh sentences. Yet he never mentions that as editor of the New Republic he was conned by both Ruth Shalit (plagiarism) and Stephen Glass (mean spirited fabulist).
Bingo. Why would anyone trust Sullivan's judgement of what constitutes sound reporting? As far as I'm aware, the man has never worked as a news reporter, never so much as covered a school-board meeting or a barn fire.

Now, however, Sully insists that any reporter who isn't demanding access to Sarah Palin's obstetric records is, in effect, part of a conspiracy to suppress The Awful Truth -- whatever that is. Sullivan tends to be a bit nebulous about the shadowy secrets he alleges to be hidden in those files locked away in the offices of Palin's OB-GYN.

While Sully continues playing Javert, let me step into the role of Sherlock Holmes in this mystery, and call attention to the curious incident of the dog that did not bark: Katrina Vanden Heuvel.

The editor of the Nation rushed into print, under the purposefully deceptive title "Going Rouge" a collection of hit-pieces on Palin. Yet despite her obvious political anthipathy to Palin, Katrina Vanden Heuvel has not joined Andrew Sullivan's Trig Truther wild-goose chase, nor do I think she will.

Marxist subversive though she is, Katrina Vanden Heuvel is also a woman and a mother and, as she made clear in her Nov. 24 item "Last Column About Sarah Palin --Ever," she doesn't like the unsubtle misogyny displayed by some of Palin's other enemies.

That column also made oblique reference to "assorted pushers of quackery and psychobabble." C'mon, Katrina: Name names.

No irony could possibly be more delicious than if Katrina Vanden Heuvel were to throw Sully and his Trig Truther posse under the Left's bus.

Sullivan claims to be a conservative, if only as a pretext for denouncing conservatives as deviating from the True Faith practiced by dope-smoking gay Catholics. Why shouldn't the Nation take Sully at his word and denounce him as they would any other conservative?

18 comments:

  1. Palin's book has sold hundreds of thousands of copies, and the majority of those buyers were women.


    I have to take issue with the above. first Palin's book has sold over a million copies so far. further you state as fact that the majority of readers are women. As far as I know this is not a fact yet you state it as such. There is no way to know if the majority of readers of Palin's book are women or men.

    Yes I know nitpicking but still it takes away from your post IMO.

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  2. Stacy, you are obviously missing the point, Andrew Sullivan spelunking of Sarah Palin's uterus is the stuff made of legends! Move over Todd Palin, Inspector Sullivan is on the case!

    Andrew Sullivan is the most knowledgable person on the planet when it comes to issues of Sarah Palin's uterus. He is like Jacques Cousteau when it comes to plunging deep into that silent world! As Dr. Sullivan has said: "Protology, Obstetrics, Gynecology, whatever, a hole is a hole."

    I especially enjoyed how Sullivan unleashed the beagles of war against Dan Riehl yesterday.

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  3. Speaking of selling Books and Stuff. Did Imus cause the early sellout of Barnes And Nobles E Reader the NOOK?

    http://youhavetobethistalltogoonthisride.blogspot.com/2009/12/santa-e-book-readers-imus-book-of-week.html

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  4. Anonymous -- There is a sound basis for Stacy's point that the majority of people who bought Sarah's book are women. First, the majority of book buyers are women. Period. They simply buy books in far greater numbers than men. So the natural inference is that more women than men bought Sarah's book. Second, just anecdotally, four people I know have purchased the book. All were women. I don't know I single man who bought it. (I was going to buy it for my wife for Christmas, but she bought it herself before I could.) Another female friend bought me a copy for Christmas. So, if Stacy's experience is anything like mine, it would substantiate the claim that the majority of buyers of Sarah's book have been women.

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  5. Sullivan claims to be a conservative, if only as a pretext for denouncing conservatives as deviating from the True Faith practiced by dope-smoking gay Catholics. Why shouldn't the Nation take Sully at his word and denounce him as they would any other conservative?

    It is a part of the standard Leftist Playbook to make full use of fellow travellers, dupes, and useful idiots. Dr. Sullivan is obviously a very useful idiot to the Left, so, for at least now, they'll let him survive. Eventually, of course, they'll have to gulag his [sore] ass.

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  6. Sullivan's point re: Trig's birth is that one of two things occurred:

    1) Palin displayed a shocking lack of judgment if she traveled by plane after her water broke, and a potential presidential or vice-presidential candidate's judgment (or lack thereof) is extremely relevant and newsworthy.

    2) Palin made the whole story up about traveling while her water broke while pregnant with Trig, in which case she has created an elaborate lie, which is ALSO relevant for a political candidate.

    One of those two things is true. Which is it?

    (And followup question: Why would wanting to find out the answer: Whether she has poor judgment or creates elaborate lies, be inappropriate?)

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  7. There is no sound basis whatsoever for McCain's conclusion that the majority of those buying Palin's book were women. The fact is -- and all individuals outside of Mark Steyn and anecdotal-tellers like the earlier commenter concede this - that Palin is incredibly, incredibly, incredibly unpopular amongst female Americans. Every poll -- every poll -- that has been commission on this point has demonstrated this. You simply cannot conclude from "the majority of book-buyers are women" and "four women I know purchased the book" that most of the purchasers of her book are women. This is basic logic, and it reveals an embarrassing reticence on our part to accept empirical reality.

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  8. Capt. Aclow,

    Palin should have just aborted the fetus.

    Her body, her choice, right?

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  9. (1) Mr. Sullivan is a political writer, not a
    obstetrician/gynecologist, and is therefore not equipped to judge that matter.

    (2) The governor's travels at that time are almost certainly a matter of public and private record. If he's too bloody lazy to do his own research, neither Mrs. Palin nor anybody else is obligated to do it for him.

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  10. OK guys. Time for a mom to weigh in.

    First - this was her 5th child. She would know how her labors/deliveries went better than anyone on any blog could ever guess.

    Second - her amniotic fluid was leaking, which is a bit different than having her water break. You can leak fluid for a long time before active labor, you need some closer medical supervision. But even if your water fully breaks, you have about 24 hours before you have any additional concerns regarding infection - which is the concern. If you read/remember the account, she was in contact with her OB during her trip back.

    Third - you seriously cannot fully understand the desire to have YOUR doctor during your delivery. I drove an hour past countless other docs and about 10 hospitals to see MY doctor while pregnant with my 2nd and then deliver after we had moved.

    I see nothing odd with her actions or decisions during the labor/delivery of Trig.

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  11. Where's the birth certificate Sarah ?

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  12. It is unfortunate that Sullivan, who has NEVER been pregnant nor given birth to a child, and those who travel the Trig Truther route with him somehow feel qualified to decide what some woman SHOULD do regarding her pregnancy.

    One has to imagine that it is Sullivan's complete lack of knowledge regarding the whole childbirth and pregnancy issue that has caused him to think that all women get huge as elephants, run screaming from the first labor pain and pop out the baby 30 minutes later.

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  13. Sister Sarah -

    It's really quite simple - and from your own people, no less:

    Show us the Long Form Birth Certificate!

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  14. Andrew Beaglegeusse is on the scent! Tracking the trutherism from Sarah Palin.

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  15. 'Anonymous' said in response to my post:
    "Palin should have just aborted the fetus, her body, her choice, right?" in response to my argument that the situation showed either 1) poor judgment or 2) propensity to lie

    'Anonymous' might as well have said, "Palin should just stand on her head for Christmas, because 8-track players aren't common anymore."

    -That's how relevant the response was. That's how people with no cognitive skills try to argue. Sad, sad.

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  16. Thanks for the link.

    I think it is also worth remembering that Sully played military analyst before he tried his hand as an OB/GYN. He wrote this back in 2003:

    "Now I can see the army is pissed off that they haven't really been needed yet for the climactic battle against the Republican Guard (if it hasn't already happened). But remind me why the rest of us should be concerned? From my particular, reclining armchair, it looks as if this war will be won primarily by the amazing work of the special forces, and the airforce (with critical backup, of course, on the ground). "

    Later, of course, he would rip into Bush/Rumsfeld for sending too few men into Iraq, etc. etc. But when it mattered, he rode the bandwagon.

    "Often wrong, but never uncertain". That's the motto of the excitable boy.

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  17. Yet to see anything on this page which addresses Sullivan's actual point - to whit - why did Palin say she had produced a birth certificate, when she hadn't and still hasn't?

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  18. Yep, previous anonymous, there certainly is a lot of avoidance of the actual question going on here.

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