Pardon Me?

I’m sure by now that you’ve seen the video of Sarah Palin being interviewed after she pardoned the turkey. Meanwhile, a guy slaughters a live one in the background. It’s delightfully ironic, but you have to keep in mind that she’s from deep in hunting country where slaughtering animals is about as natural and everyday an occurrence as you can get. While this looks like a wildly inappropriate venue for an interview to most of us, this was just another day on the town in Wasilla. And of course her answers to the reporter’s questions border on incoherent. I’m only sorry that we won’t get to see Tina Fey reenact the scene. I think she does Sarah better than Palin herself.

But the really interesting part of the video doesn’t happen until about the 2:32 mark. Even if you’ve seen it before, play it again and skip ahead, then listen for 30 seconds. Hear her answer to the reporter’s question about what she’s thankful for this time of year.

That seems a pretty typical response, right? Mostly she’s thankful for family. Track gets a special shout-out about his safety in Iraq, the kids (presumably Piper and Willow) are doing well in school, and little Trig is healthy and happy. But there are five right? What about Bristol? She’s not in school, so she wasn’t lumped in there. Was it just an oversight? Perhaps. On any normal Thanksgiving that might be true. After all, each of the kids weren’t named explicitly, and as any parent with many children will tell you, sometimes one gets overlooked now and again.

That would all make sense, except… wouldn’t you think Bristol would be a little more front and center on the list? After all, the 17-year old is living at home, has dropped out of school, is (by now) 8 months pregnant, and is planning a wedding with Levi. It would seem that now that the election is over, Bristol is likely the person around whom the entire household is revolving.

Unless, of course, she isn’t really pregnant or getting married. I know, I know. I should let this one go. But I can’t. It just doesn’t smell right. It’s not the gossip angle, I couldn’t care less about the tabloid-ish scandal. I want to know if the whole thing was an orchestrated con-job. Were we lied to? That’s all I want to know. It all would have been easier if Palin had ever released her medical records, but she never did.

The reality is, I won’t the score until next month when Bristol, hopefully, delivers her baby. If for some reason there is no baby (or the baby dies at birth or something), then it’s pretty clear we’ve been had. But even if she has the thing, the truth could still be murky, especially if she delivers late. January 18th will be 9 months from Trig’s birthday. Bristol could have gotten pregnant almost immediately after his birth, and serial pregnancies from a fertile 17-year old are way more likely than a full term pregnancy from any 44-year old. So I really do kinda hope Bristol pops a healthy full-term baby out in early December. That would make me feel better. I’d be grateful, even if her mom isn’t.