Slog

Mr. Obama, in his first remarks on the matter, raised his voiced when asked whether his campaign or other Democratic operatives were working to advance rumors surrounding the Palin family.

“Our people were not involved in any way in this and they will not be,” Mr. Obama snapped. “And if I ever thought there was somebody in my campaign that was involved in something like that, they’d be fired, OK?”

Mr. Obama said the pregnancy “has no relevance to Governor Palin’s performance as a governor or her potential performance as a vice president.” He added that, “my mother had me when she was 18. How family deals with issues and teen-age children – that shouldn’t be the topic of our politics.”

“So,” he added, “I would strongly urge people to back off these kinds of stories.”

Obama actually has a statement out:

At a press avail in Monroe, Mich., Barack Obama on Palin: "Back off these kinds of stories."

"I have said before and I will repeat again: People's families are off limits," Obama said. "And people's children are especially off-limits. This shouldn't be part of our politics. It has no relevance to Gov. Palin's performance as a governor or her potential performance as a vice president. So I would strongly urge people to back off these kinds of stories. You know my mother had me when she was 18 and how a family deals with issues and teenage children, that shouldn’t be a topic of our politics."

On charges that his campaign has stoked the story via liberal blogs:

"I am offended by that statement. There is no evidence at all that any of this involved us," he said. "Our people were not involved in any way in this, and they will not be. And if I thought there was somebody in my campaign who was involved in something like that, they would be fired."

Wait, is Demolator saying Obama is the father of Bristol Palin's child?

All that campaigning in Alaska during the primary...makes sense!

Stop the presses (word processors, document formatters...Adobe Printstreamers...whatever)!

Barjaya reveals all -- love child is his:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/47446064@N00/2818004181/

@4: You fucking spastic. Trig Palin could pull off a better job. Are you using MS Paint?

Dear John Bailo: Obama has never been to Alaska. You're a shithead.

That is indeed the worst photoshopping I've ever seen. I think he's using PLASTIC SCISSORS.

If Travis Bickle had had a computer, his flikr photostream would look just like that...

Forty pics of crosswalks. That's a hell of a hobby. "I will document this! YES!" he said to the middle-aged woman standing next to him at the light.

Fnarf sux...

Yeah, it would be. But not for the reasons you're implying.

In order to win the White House, a presidential candidate has to acquire a crucial margin outside his or her base. The disputed margin between Democrats and Republicans -- the swing voters -- are socially conservative, rural, blue collar voters who generally fall short of their own moral agenda: they have a lot of illegitimate kids, they commit a lot of violent crimes and they have a rampant substance abuse problem. That's the population. Most Republican candidates have managed to paint themselves as coming from that population, so when they deviate from the moral code -- when they cheat on their spouses or use drugs -- the swing voters react with sympathy. Democrats, on the other hand, are regarded as urban and white collar. As outsiders who have been morally judging the rural demographic since the Civil War they get no slack on moral issues -- precisely because Democrats are viewed as morally condemnatory, and their moral lapses are therefore hypocritical in a way that the moral lapses of Republicans (good old boys) aren't.

That may be the case, Judah. But for someone who grew up blue-collar Dem, the Republicans were the rich white men preaching about how virtue and hard work makes you rich, and anyone who isn't rich deserves to be poor because they must be unvirtuous.

So I have no sympathy with Republican hypocrisy. What, NOW it's okay to be less than perfectly virtuous?

If I was a Republican voter looking at Palin, I'd be fucking worried as hell right now. In this country, our perception of a woman in charge is either a women who has children that are at least in their teen years about to leave for college, if not adults who already lead productive lives, or a careeer-driven woman who is married and childless by decision. In other words, their role as a mother to their children is done and now they need to be a "mom" to the organization they're in charge of now.

Now we have Palin, who's one heart-beat away from the presidency. We really never gave much thought to the vice presidency until both Obama and McCain became the leaders of their political parties. Given all the information we NOW know, Palin would worry many people if she were to POTUS. President Palin would have to juggle the stress of being soccer mom, grandmother, and world leader. Let us not forget about being a wife, who takes care of her husband. She has an infant son, or supposed grand-son, with down syndrome. We all know that demands A LOT of attention, especially as he gets older. On top of this, she's going to have to take care of her grandson as well, in addition to the other responsibilities mentioned before. So that leaves us to wonder, do we want our tax payer dollars going to "professional" nannies to take on the task of raising her children and grandchild? Do we want a person, who won't have a clear mind, to be 2nd or 1st in command of the US?

Also, is it me or does having a pregnant teen, who's still under 18, make the parents appear to have failed as being a parent? With that said, would the voter think if Palin failed as a parent, she'd also fail at being a VP/POTUS?

Bristol is white and Republican which means she's a source of inspiration, hope and strength in the face of adversity.

Now, if she was black and a Democrat, she'd be a slut who couldn't keep her legs closed. She'd probably be already waiting outside the welfare office for her check, chillin' in her Cadillac, custom plate: QUEEN17.

Hope this clarified things for everyone.

Incongruous analogy. This would have to be Obama's VP' kid pregnant. but whatever.

I think that Selecting Miss Congeniality from Alaska as Rethug veep, is as much about sending a deceptive message to all the disappointed Ron Paul fans, as it is about attracting diehard, disaffected Hillcrats.

If all the Rethugs wanted was a woman hor the ticket, they could have picked from many women senators, representatives or governors with far more knowlege, experience and skill. I say "they' because I doubt that McInsane had any choice in picking his own running mate. What the Thug deciders really wanted was a hard line, right of right consevative that they could package as a libertarian type and they got one.

Ms. Congeniality, has already demonstrated that she is womb deep in political scandal and corruption, a total pawn of oil interests, someone who shrugs off the need to do anything to protect the planet against global warming, totally backs the NRA and denies a woman's right to choose under any circumstances.

Somewhere Karl Rove is smiling.

The Palin choice has already proven to be another McCain mistake. Everybody say "President Obama!"

With President Elect Obama's classy statement the debate will switch to John McCain's judgement. The story won't die, but it will take some time to morph.

With the hail mary pass McCain was trying to shore up the base so he could make the election about Obama, which would have given him a chance. Now the focus will be on McCain, what he knew and when.

If Biden had a pregnant 17 year old daughter...

Well, McCain is on the job now folks, so look out. He's dispatched his lawyers to Alaska to vet Sarah Palin for VP. Um, after he picked her. But, so what? He will simply hop in Cindy McCain's time machine and go back and alter the events of the past week! So Obama loses!!! HAHAHAHA! Fools!

Hey, kiddies, call up your Wikipedia or The Google and look up "Thomas Eagleton."

This ain't over yet. Stop picking out the White House drapes and china. We still need to work our asses off against the Rove Slime Machine to elect Obama/Biden.

#14 Exactly.

#15- You're right, technically. I thought about that after I posted. At the same time, though, the media narrative of the race has shifted from Obama vs. McCain (Inexperienced Idealist vs. Mr. 7 Houses) to Palin vs. Obama (plucky PTA insurgent vs. egghead elitist).

So...

The Republicans are now running Palin against Obama, with McCain and Biden in the background. Why? Because McCain was getting his ass handed to him on a platter, and Biden was set to take apart whichever white male millionaire set foot in the ring.

With Palin's selection, the race has been recast. She's not an attack dog, she's a kitten to be nurtured and protected by the press, in the same way that McCain's POW experience is flashed to deflect criticism. To help the fence sitters, the talking heads are pumping up her "Executive" experience, her "Commander in Chief" credentials (ostensibly earned while "commanding" the Alaska National Guard, close proximity to Russia, etc.), and her, uh, compelling personal story (which gets more compelling by the minute).

So I think that by saying that the race would be over if Obama's family faced the same predicament, then the analogy holds- though technically you're correct.

@21: Right on!

...and if Joe Lieberman appeared at a rally shaking hands with Jimmy Carter, no one would question his commitment to the state of Israel. So what? Politics are a bitch.