Is Trig Palin the son of ...

Sorry, folks, but it’s all a HUGE false alarm from a township-level Democratic political activist who:

1. Does not have any actual knowledge to pass along;
2. Is thinking about writing a very thinly disguised novel about the pregnancy;
3. Has made claims far less substantiated than the Bristol-Trig Palin claims; and
4. Might have a barratry bee in his bonnet.

End of story.

Palin-Eagleton news analysis comparison details

In earlier blog posts here and here, I argue that John McCain’s choice of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his vice-presidential nominee is not just his “Dan Quayle” choice, but that a more apt comparison might be Tom Eagleton.

Who is Tom Eagleton, you might ask?

George McGovern’s original choice as running mate in 1972.

The story of Eagleton’s brief moment in the limelight as vice-presidential candidate is likely not well known to anybody under 45 who’s not a student of American political history, although it’s more than interesting enough in its own right. But, as can be seen even from his Wiki bio page, it’s full of parallels to Sarah Palin’s selection.

(Note: I forgot to qualify myself on my knowledge of this when I first wrote this post. As a 44-year-old former child news junkie, 1972 is the first presidential campaign I remember. That is why the Eagleton parallels came to mind without having to go to Wiki.)

Compared to the 1988 in which Dan Quayle was nominated, 1972 was a far more turbulent year. As this election year is in part about how to deal with the so-called “Global War on Terror” in the future (though how stark of a difference Obama and McCain will present is an open question, given that both want to foolishly put more troops into Afghanistan and both are going Cold Warrior on Georgia), 1972 was a year of referendum about the Vietnam War.

There’s another potential difference.

In 1988, George H.W. Bush surely could have had a more “name” vice president. Many Republicans broached the idea that Bush would choose primary opponent Bob Dole. Certainly, Bush would not have been turned down by an A-list Republican, with the possible exception of a bitter Dole. (For example, if Bush wanted somebody younger, but with star power, Jack Kemp would have easily trumped Quayle.)

That said, McGovern was rejected by a number of top-tier Democrats in 1972. Even Birch Bayh, who in 1972 was still arguably a bit less than USDA Prime, turned him down. And, after Eagleton eventually withdrew himself under pressure, the Kennedy family tried to discourage family in-law Sargent Shriver from accepting McGovern’s nomination.

There, too, we may have a parallel to 2008. No leaks have come out of insider GOP circles, yet. But, I would think that some political analysts are already wondering if McCain got a few “nyets” before tapping Palin. Some may already be trying to get some information on that, such as GOP insider columnist Bob Novak. I’d love to see if he has any scoop on this.

Yet other parallels abound.

Eagleton, like Palin, appears to have been thinly, even very thinly, vetted for the position. (Walt Monegan, the former Alaska public safety commissioner allegedly fired by Palin for personal grudge reasons, says McCain vetters never contacted him.)

The relatively thin vetting of Eagleton failed to reveal his three psychiatric hospitalizations for depression from 1960-1966. It also failed to reveal that he had undergone electroconvulsive therapy, or electroshock as it was commonly known then, twice as part of his treatment. As Ken Kesey’s novel, “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” had been out a decade, public attitudes toward depression in general, and ECT in specific, were highly negative.

It remains to be seen how firmly McCain will stand behind Palin. McGovern famously said he was behind Eagleton “1,000 percent” just a few days before his campaign pressured Eagleton to withdraw his name from consideration. That, in turn, depends on how much blowback he gets both from within the GOP and from right-wing bloviators.
Within the halfway more sensical portion of the conservative bloviosphere, Kathryn Jean Lopez has already said she won’t vote for a McCain-Palin ticket. How much that spreads within the Corner at National Review, let alone beyond, remains to be seen.

But with talk of how Palin trumps Obama on “executive experience” (she trumps McCain, too!) already spreading, it appears much of the conservative blovio-sphere is going to drink the Schmuck Talk Express™ Kool-Aid, sign on the dotted line, etc.

Eagleton’s vice-presidential selection had a shelf life of 17 days. Pundits, political analysts and news writers and editors may want to start marking red “Xs” on their calendars.

Perhaps it should better be said that Palin should be McCain’s Eagleton, rather than McCain’s Quayle. Time — 17 days, or less — will tell.

Palin-Eagleton irony alert

Now we have not one, but two people from Princeton’s Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University's Eagleton Institute discussing John McCain’s selection of Sarah Palin.

To boot, they’re both women, and beyond that, they disagree with each other on analysis of the pick!

Palin as Eagleton part 2

Yesterday, I said Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was this year’s Tom Eagleton as John McCain’s Veep choice.

Well, it looks like we’re just getting started on how bad Schmuck Talk Express’s™ Schmuckette really is.

AND ... near the bottom of this page, how she may have an Eagleton-like skeleton in her closet.

Over at Washington Monthly, Steve Benen has an excellent roundup of the takes on Palin by both the conservative blovio-sphere and Alaskan politicos and media.

On the first link, when The Corner’s Kathryn Jean Lopez says she won’t vote for McCain-Palin (we’ll see), you know this is a clusterfuck. On the second, here’s your pull quote:

State Senate President Lyda Green, a Republican from Palin's hometown of Wasilla: “She’s not prepared to be governor. How can she be prepared to be vice president or president?”

Sidebar to Ms. Green — Uhh, Palin ran for Lite Gov 2002, and lost the GOP primary. She then ran for Gov in 2006 and won, because, like Martin Niemoller’s famous line, people like you didn’t speak out enough within your own party. As a result, you get this …

Bonus link from TPM: Palin giggled after a talk-radio host called Green a bitch earlier this year.

And Politico reports she is literally the least politically experienced major-party Veep in a century. Maybe, she’s this year’s Adm. James Stockdale, Ross Perot’s infamous 1992 running mate.

For good measure, throw in that she’s an ardent creationist.

AND, AND ...

Her youngest child, the 4-month-old, may not be hers.

There’s even MORE Palin weirdness — some people are speculating her 4-month-old Down’s syndrome child is actually her daughter’s child.

Why the deception? Covering up for her daughter, Bristol, having a child out of wedlock to keep her own Religious Right credentials pure.

But, no, really, she’s Eagleton. Both with Quayle, as a major-party Veep in 1998, and Stockdale in 1992, the country was relatively quiescent compared to today. In 1972, McGovern, for his credibility’s sake, had to get his choice right. Bigotry against depression in 1972 aside, he got neither the choice nor the post-choice handling of the choice right.

That all noted above, I’m VERY curious as to how this is playing on the GOP House organ of Fox News, with the Sunday talking heads. I don’t do the Sunday talkies in general, and wouldn’t watch Fox for its blurred news/analysis if you put a gun to my head, but I’m curious …

And everything said and linked, I will have an in-depth news analysis up later on the Eagleton-Palin comparisons, especially for those of you too young to be familiar with the Eagleton saga.

Here is my in-depth news analysis of the parallels.

Palin — think Tom Eagleton, not Dan Quayle

As it now appears that Alaska Gov. Susan Palin, John McCain’s vice-presidential nominee, could soon be facing a public deposition over her ham-handed attempts to get her ex-brother-in-law fired as an Alaska state trooper, the Dan Quayle comparison is too mild.

Of course, Democrats won’t like comparing Palin to one of their own, and the situation to one of their own presidential candidates’ doings long ago, but with this level of incompetence, what else can you say? (Especially since McGovern is still alive and might be prickly about it.)

If that’s not enough, former Alaska Public Safety Commissioner Walter Monegan, fired by Palin in July for refusing to can ex-b-i-l Michael Wooten, sang like a canary to the Washington Post.

That’s not enough? McCain only met with her three times, for just five minutes or so each time, before making his pick.

So, if Dems won’t do it, I will. This is clearly worse than Quayle, it’s Tom Eagleton. But, will AP writers stand up to Ron Fournier? Will other papers get at the bottom of the seriousness of this?

AND, within the GOP, or the halfway more serious elements of the right-wing attack/media machine, how many operatives will recognize this is an Eagleton moment and try to get Schmuck Talk Express™ to reverse course before the train wreck becomes Category 5, to mix metaphors?

A couple of the bloviators are pulling back the corners of the sheets, but won’t go further.

Part 2 of the Palin-Eagleton comparison is here.

in-depth news analysis

Hopefully, our society’s view of depression keeps advancing from 1972

Missouri’s former Sen. Thomas Eagleton, George McGovern’s original vice-presidential candidate, who resigned the nomination after stories about his hospitalization for depression emerged, has died. Hopefully, especially for men, depression shame continues to “come out of the closet.”