I think this will endear her even more with the Republican base. Her daughter's doing "the right thing," and they will love her for it.

Oh dear.

As a mom, I'd say her place is with her teenage daughter, not uprooting the family and putting the girl in the national spotlight.

Vespa, I was actually thinking that McCain might have considered this an advantage when picking VPs. Obama's camp can't really touch it without being horribly inappropriate, and the base (pro-lifers) might see it as a moral victory.

Steph, liberal bloggers put her in the national spotlight. Palin is just setting them straight.

My oh my!

Well, Mich, I think when she accepted the position of VP nominee, she had to know that her family would be put under a microscope.

Certainly, but that's true of every candidate. Maybe she's not ashamed of her daughter? Imagine that.

Oh my God, I'm honestly horrified by all of you assuming that this horrible event in a 17 year old's life is absolutely nothing more than a political tool.

That poor girl. 17 is far too young to be a mother.

I always thought the "Sarah covered up Bristol's pregnancy by faking her own" was crazy (especially since the family photo used to "prove" Bristol was had a pregnancy belly, the one published March of 2008, had been taken in 2006!) but this just proves how far the lefties will go to try to destroy someone.

He wanted a re-energized campaign and he sure the hell got it.

No one said she should be ashamed of her daughter. I just think when you accept a public life, like being on a presidential ticket, you have to expect that people may invent rumors about you or your family. Especially in the age of blogging.

Yeah, but how ridiculous was the rumor that a pudgy 16 year old girl was secretly pregnant? I'm sorry, but liberal bloggers who published that "story" have lost all respect I had for them.

Chaton, nobody said that. Calm down. I just know that McCain knows that every aspect of his VP pick's life will be scrutinized by the media. If he knew about this pregnancy, he had to evaluate what it would do to his campaign. I just think that maybe he thought it would be an asset.

wow oh wow. This is not good for the abstinence only policies.

Faking a pregnancy and taking your daughter's son as your own is ok for Momma Joe of Nebraska and Aunt Anita of Georgia, but come on she's the governor of a state and potential VP. She shouldn't have lied, she should have came out with it and said "hey my daughter is preggers, and she's dealing with it and taking care of her responsibilities". But no she decides to lie and say she's pregnant. I'm sorry I don't find this admirable at all. I know some of you are going to make this positive but I don't see it that way.

Wade, read the story! She didn't lie. Trig is her baby. Her daughter is pregnant now with her own baby.

Whoops I pushed post too soon.

I am very happy that she is supporting her daughter. I can only imagine which way this will swing.
-"Good that her daughter is making the right decision in having the kid and marrying the father"
-"Bad that her own child doesn't subscribe to the abstinence only belief that Palin has"

Oh dear god. I can't believe she came forward. I have been obsessed with this story since friday. I have examined this women's abdomen more times than I would like to admit.

I am completely worn out from this whole last week and half. November can't come soon enough. I don't know how much more my nerves can take of all these breaking stories.

Wade, she didn't pass of her grandson as her son. Trig is her son. This is a separate pregnancy. This is her coming out and saying that her daughter is pregnant and dealing with it.

Seriously. Commenting on the political ramifications of an event does not mean you think someone is only a political tool.

Also, I wish we could stop saying, "the left" is starting rumors about pregnancy or "the right" is starting rumors about being a muslim.

One, you can be Muslim, pregnant, or any other number of scandalous things and still be a good person and do the job. Two, 99% of "the left" and "the right" didn't start these rumors!

Being pregnant is hard enough, but to have all of this media attention to "do the right thing" must be terrible. I can't imagine someone at 17 having to get married, and you know she has to or a presidential campaign might be lost. What an awful amount of pressure to be put on a young woman like that.

Her mother put her in the national spotlight - the bloggers looked, just as they have with Obama.
A 17-year old who is pregnant is not shameful - but it is an event that is going to take the girl through emotional changes and force her to grow up quickly - it has nothing to do with politics to believe that her mother belongs at her side now to help her, not out campaigning on a national ticket. Running Alaska would keep her busy enough right now.

Omg....this is a crazy campaign!

One thing that bugs me...why in the world is the daughter getting married?! Getting married at 17 because you are pregnant and your mother appeals to the evangelical/conservative members of her political party- that's just crazy! I hope this girl's life isn't going to get ruined just because her mother is running for VP and it means she basically has to get married. Ugh.

And I hope this puts the abstinence-only sex education to rest. I am sure Gov. Palin was NOT handing out condoms to her daughter as she walked out the door.

Ok it's still bad.

Wow accepting a VP when your 16 is preggers, terrible parenting.

colleenb, she didn't come forward to admit that Trig is Bristol's baby. Bristol is pregnant NOW, not 4 months ago.

All the headlines say her daughter IS pregnant but then when you read the story, they say the fifth child, already born, is the daughter's. Unless she's pregnant again . . .

Interesting considering that Palin is for abstinence-only education and against general sex-ed.

Bristol Palin made the decision on her own to keep the baby,

Yay for having a choice! Her daughter is CHOOSING to keep the baby just like her mother got to CHOOSE not to abort her recent baby.

"She should have came out with it and said "hey my daughter is preggers, and she's dealing with it and taking care of her responsibilities."

I wish she had done just that!

Vespa, we could get away from that if liberal (or, to use a colloquialism common in my circle, the left) blogs weren't the only people who took this and ran! Don't get me wrong, the crazy righties are just as nuts, but they aren't who I'm commenting on at the moment.

This is so crazy. And yes, the social conservatives will be glad that she is "doing the right thing," but having a pregnant unmarried teen daughter doesn't sit well with the abstinence only crowd. I talked to my parents (and my sister who had a more in depth "discussion" with them) and they love her! (I knew they would). They are not fans of sex before marriage and would have killed my sister and me if we got pregnant--I'm wondering what they think of this. Especially since my dad said that she's experienced for the presidency because she has 5 children (I'm not getting into another argument on experience, but her relevant experience comes from being the governor of Alaska/mayor of a town, NOT from being the mother of 5 children).

I just feel bad for the daughter. I cannot even imagine--first the rumors & now a publicized pregnancy.

wow, I'm so confused by all of this... so she's a grandmother, of TWO?? that Bristol was in a hurry to start a fam.

Organicsugar, she's doing that very thing right now! Her daughter became pregnant recently and is taking responsibility.

Why is a new pregnancy so hard for everyone to tell from a pregnancy which started 13 months ago and ended 4 months ago?

okay, okay. i take back everything i said. don't kill me. i was so excited to see this headline after reading so much about it. so now she's pregnant? this is weird. i need to go to pilates.

Vespa- "One, you can be Muslim, pregnant, or any other number of scandalous things and still be a good person and do the job. Two, 99% of "the left" and "the right" didn't start these rumors!"

Amen!! While I understand why Obama denies the Muslim thing (because he isn't) it disturbs me that many people are like "omg he'd never be a Muslim." Hello, there are many American Muslims who obvs. have denounced the attacks and are just living here, doing their jobs and being good citizens. Also, I must think that teen pregnancy rates are high in Alaska. Not that it makes it any easier for the girl, but small towns always seems to have this going on. Maybe Palin should have been dropping condoms from airplanes instead of bullets at wolves....hehe...

OK. Really. Is no one reading this story? Sarah Palin is not a grandmother of two. Her daughter, Bristol, is pregnant. Sarah's grandchild is going to have an UNCLE, not BROTHER, UNCLE, named Trig, who is about 13 months older than him/her. Wow.

No, no, no, people. this is Bristol's first and only child. Her mother gave birth four months ago and Bristol is five months pregnant. Read the official statement.

Five months along isn't all that recently.

She has a "son" with down syndrome and a pregnant teenager, she needs to sit down in Alaska. So much her for abstinence only education. I'm sorry but this lady is a joke.

Woop- yes, VERY interesting language. "We're proud Bristol made the decision to keep her baby." It really seems like she gave her 17 year old daughter authority over her own body, or at least that it wasn't an automatic that she can't get an abortion. I mean, I am sure the abortion issue wasn't even a true option, but still, the language is interesting.

Yes wadewifey, what a horrible woman, not staying at home.

I was under the impression that her daughter was five months pregnant right now? Meaning she got pregnant the month her Mom gave birth to Trig. Which would mean that Trig would be 9 months older than his niece/nephew. Or did I read that wrong and did she JUST find out she is pregnant?

Hell I was told there would be no math in politics.

But seriously I thought that was why they came out that she was already 5 months pregnant to disprove she could have given birth to Trig.

indeed.

This is making me nuts! What a clown show.

Yes, the little woman is obviously a joke because she can't do her godly duty and raise her family correctly. Let's all jeer at her because her son is mentally retarded and her daughter got into a situation that thousands of American teenagers get into every year. As a woman, her place is in the home. She really needs to get pack to baking pies and vacuuming because her family needs her. Maybe if she'd been more of a woman, these things never would have happened to her...

wadewifey- yes, let's through Palin, barefoot with her brood back to Alaska to bake some pies and take care of her daughter's child. Because we all know the matriarch of the family can't in any way have a career if anything goes wrong. Jesus she has a HUSBAND, will be able to afford a NANNY and her daughter is 17! What is it with you people who insist that when everything isn't perfect, it's the woman's responsibility to give up her life? I thought an anti-choice line was, "we need to improve women's working conditions so that abortion doesn't have to become the solution, and so that women can have their careers and families." And while I am super pro-choice, I LOVE that sentiment. Unplanned pregnancies wouldn't be an issue so much if there was support for women who have babies. Womens' lives shouldn't end if they or their children get knocked up. The status of your uterus should not determine whether or not you can be VP. Unreal.

1. So if your teenage daughter becomes pregnant it automatically makes the parents bad parents?

2. Anyone who believes that Trig is her grandson falls right in with people who think Obama is a radical Muslim terrorist. Facts, who needs facts?

3. I find it absolutely hypocritical that people I have been watching on this site agree straight down the lines of the liberal party about compassion and political correctness and let's all just hug a tree and get along, are the ones baring their teeth and saying some of the most hurtful, outrageous and downright conspiratorial things about this women who most of them hadn't heard of a week ago.

I just hope that you will all see how absolutely foolish and childish this appears. Even other people on the left can't believe the viciousness of the attack of this woman.

*throw, not "through"

wadewifey isn't the only one saying that. The most shocking to me is Steph. Steph, do you stay home with your daughter?

This lady has NO IDEA what she's dealing with. She is running for the VP of the U.S.A. There is no privacy, Bristol is going to get it hard and I don't think she will be able to handle it.