Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Who is Sue Williams?

The easiest answer to that question is that she's a caterer from Wasilla. And a quick gander at her website tells me I'd love to hire her for MY next party, if only she weren't 4000 miles away.

The more complicated answer is that she is one of the few people from Wasilla who has ever been willing to post publicly regarding Sarah Palin, and her family from the perspective of someone who actually lives in Wasilla and knows things first hand. She posted at the Mudflats blog some really eye-opening stuff, right at the height of national attention on Babygate, 8/30 to 9/1.

Here's a link to a compilation of the quotes, which were published by the Seattle Examiner. I am also posting a cached copy of this page on my website, in case it mysteriously disappears.

It's worth reading by anyone who is following this story, not only because there are some very relevant bits of info regarding the main issue of this website (which is, in case anyone has forgotten, discovering the truth about the Sarah Palin pregnancy story) - which I will be discussing further below - but also because she is blunt about how Gov. Palin and her family were regarded in Wasilla. I won't go into most of that here... it's not relevant to the questions I am trying to address on this website, but you can read it for yourselves. And anyone who is bought into the media hype about what a wonderful mother she is - and how she can have it all and do it all and be VP and a good mom at the same time - you should take a good long look.

The first thing that's interesting is that, initially, Ms. Williams is emphatic concerning the fact that Trig Palin is Sarah Palin's child. Although she's perfectly willing to give lots of other info (and a lot of it not very flattering), her main reason for posting initially was to refute the rumors. However, by the third of three posts - and remember - what you're reading on the Examiner article is the compilation of Ms. Williams' posts - if you want to see everything, including what people said back to her, you'll need to go to Mudflats blog and wade through almost 1000 comments - she has conceded that What do I care if Trig is Bristol’s baby? Maybe he was and now she’s pregnant again. I don’t know.

Ms. Williams seems to base her initial insistence that Trig Palin was born to Sarah primarily on the fact that no one in Wasilla seemed to question it. And since she's perfectly willing to report on other gossip that she heard (more on this later) this does bear scrutiny. The problem is that I can't figure out from her posts how anyone in Wasilla really knew anything first hand.

Why?

Because Gov. Palin's schedule demonstrates that between the time she announced her pregnancy (March 6th) and the time she gave birth (April 18th)- 47 days exactly or just slightly under 7 weeks - she could only have been in Wasilla for a few days at the most. And remember, Wasilla is 800 miles from Juneau, so it's not like a lot of folks from Wasilla were dropping down to Juneau for coffee.

Although there have been tons of allegations that "Where's Sarah?" was a common refrain in the state government, the fact is that she WAS in Juneau for the legislative session, which ran from January 15, 2008 to April 13th 2008. Perhaps she came back to Wasilla some weekends, but, then, we know she was in Texas by April 16th. I have not been able to find out if this conference was a one-day, two-day, or three-day event, but she must have traveled there NO LATER than the 16th, and may have gone down a day or two earlier. My point is that after announcing her pregnancy on March 6th, I can't see how she could have spent any significant time in Wasilla. So, therefore, anyone in Wasilla who was commenting on her pregnancy, was almost certainly doing it MORE from a "I heard this." standpoint, rather than, "I saw Gov Palin at the Food Mart, and wow is she ever preggers." standpoint. However, I encourage everyone to read Ms. Williams' comments, and if anyone has a different POV or interpretation of what is said, please feel more than free to disagree with me!

However, the real eye-opener in Ms. Williams' comments is the fact that she informs us that "A" Bristol Palin pregnancy was common knowledge in Wasilla in April 2008. Here's the quote: Look, all I can tell you is Bristol is pregnant. Have you never lived in a small town? When one hears this “rumor” (and okay, I admit, I never heard it straight from Sarah’s mouth) but have heard it from close to 20 people who are all long time friends of the family. Maybe they are all lying - and have been lying since April of this year when Willow’s boyfriend (Willow is the 8th grader) wouldn’t shut up about how Bristol was pregnant.

Now, I want to be very clear here: when Ms. Williams first mentions it, she's claiming that the pregnancy she is talking about is Bristol's current pregnancy, and that she is NOW in her "third trimester."

I've done some deep thinking about these comments, and here is my analysis.

First, for the sake of discussion, I am going to accept as "case fact" that Ms. Williams' is telling us the truth, and that there was talk in Wasilla Alaska in April of 2008 that Bristol Palin was expecting. This does not necessarily mean that she WAS pregnant, but only that Ms Williams is not making up the fact that it was being said. Secondly, for the sake of discussion, we are going to stipulate that she is expecting now. As to the duration of the current pregnancy, again, that is open to discussion, but she IS currently pregnant.

So... given those two "case facts," what are our possibilities?

A. She was not pregnant at all in April; the gossip was false.
B. She was pregnant with her current pregnancy in April.
C. She was pregnant in April, gave birth, and is now expecting again.

Option A is what the McCain campaign and the Palin family are claiming. (To be perfectly accurate, they are claiming that she BECAME pregnant in April with her current pregnancy, so strictly speaking she WAS pregnant, but there is no way it could have been of long enough duration that it would be common knowledge.)

Option B is what Sue Williams is telling us, and she's very dogmatic in her post: It was well known Bristol was pregnant in April, and Bristol is into her third trimester as of September 1, 2008. Let's do some granny finger counting here. If her pregnancy was common knowledge among eighth graders in April, we HAVE to assume that she became pregnant no later than February, which would give us a due date around the middle of November. Could it be true? Looking at photos of this young woman at the RNC, in my professional opinion, she does not look as if she's into her third trimester, but some young women do NOT show much at all until late in pregnancy so I don't think that's conclusive.

But more importantly, why would the McCain campaign lie? The MORE pregnant Bristol is, the better it is for them, because with every additional week, the MORE impossible it becomes that Bristol could have given birth in April. The campaign had to know that, when they said she was five months pregnant, there would be people (like yours truly) who would say, "Well hold it. Maybe she's only three and a half or four..." But if it had been announced that she was, say, seven months, and due in November, that would be absolutely irrefutable unequivocal proof (once she actually gave birth, that is) that she could not have given birth in April: I can see no reason why the McCain campaign would not have used it. The fact that they did NOT suggests to me very strongly that she's NOT in her third trimester.

So where does that leave us? Ironically with Option C, and now, in my opinion, with additional proof. There was chatter - apparently considered quite credible - in Wasilla in April of 2008 that Bristol Palin was pregnant. And if she was not pregnant with her current pregnancy (and the clock is rapidly winding down on that possibility), it had to be... a different pregnancy.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow..thanks for looking into that issue so quickly! It will be fascinating to see how this all plays out in the next few months...

Unknown said...

I just came across your blog/website tonight. Excellent job!! Please keep collecting and posting all the reliable information and evidence on this issue!

Anonymous said...

Good research. You have a calling as an investigative journalist. Now if the media would just start peeking under rocks like it's supposed to then maybe the hunt for the truth would get the attention it deserves.

Anonymous said...

Well, well, well...the noose tightens further. Let's just hope it tightens all the way before November. The prospect of this goober being one metastasis from the presidency makes my blood run cold.

Anonymous said...

well, i hate to add fuel to the fire, and in the grand scheme of things it probably does not matter, however - have you seen recent pictures of Willow (the 14-year-old)? She looks about as pregnant as her sister...
But perhaps it's just poor choice of outfits.

Anonymous said...

Keep up the good work. The questions are valid as Americans need to know WHO is running this mess of a country we live in. I for one do not want someone who would fake a pregnancy, lie to the voters, and then accept sympathy for having a disabled child. Oh, did I forget throwing her daughter under the bus? I'd like to see solid proof. If I am wrong in my suspicions I'll be happy to accept responsibility and apologize.

Anonymous said...

Interesting post, and I wondered the same thing -- why was Sue Williams so initially certain this was impossible? It's a traditional ruse for covering up unmarried daughters' pregnancies, and Gov. Palin's own quickie wedding when pregnant (first son delivered 7 months later) suggests she thinks unwed pregnancies must be denied.

But in any case -- a teenage girl's pregnancy might become common knowledge quickly, but if Bristol was "about" five months pregnant at the end of August, she could have conceived no sooner than March 1.

So, she herself wouldn't have known for sure that she was pregnant until mid to late March at the earliest. I don't see how this rumor could have gained such credibility and reached even Sue Williams at a point at which it would have been impossible that Bristol was actually pregnant with Trig. It seems much likelier that she was four months or more into a pregnancy at the point at which "everybody" had heard.

Jay Raskin said...

You made an excellent deduction here.

If the rumors were spreading in April, it is much more likely to have been rumors spreading about Bristol being pregnant with Trig than her current pregnancy.

Audrine said...

There are still things that make no sense to me about this, I will admit. Sue Williams, while clearly excited about the success of a her hometown girl, has no illusions about Gov. Palin and is pretty blunt in places. Frankly, I can't understand how, when there was buzz about Bristol being pregnant, and then out of the blue, SARAH announced she's seven months along with a pregnancy that not a soul suspected, that at least a few people didn't say... hold it. What's wrong with this picture? But, Ms. Williams never even mentions it. It's as if the possibility never occurred to people in Wasilla, or at least the ones that she knew.

Anonymous said...

Regarding : "Because Gov. Palin's schedule demonstrates that between the time she announced her pregnancy (March 6th) and the time she gave birth (April 18th)- 47 days exactly or just slightly under 7 weeks - she could only have been in Wasilla for a few days at the most. And remember, Wasilla is 800 miles from Juneau, so it's not like a lot of folks from Wasilla were dropping down to Juneau for coffee."
So where was she getting prenatal care during that time if she was pregnant. high risk pregnancy, 3rd trimester - - one would expect app'ts at least every other week. Any evidence her FP doctor who is reported to have delivered her baby came to Juneau? What about appointments with a Juneau doctor?