Bored and Disappointed if They Didn't

Usually I wouldn't remotely consider defending Alan Colmes from anything, as he's rather a tool, but here we go. Colmes apparently wrote the following at his blog:

Rogers Cadenhead gives the timeline associated with the birth of her newest child. She had a speech in Dallas and, even after the water broke, continued with her activities, and then boarded a plane for home. She did consult by phone with her doctor.

Still, a Sacramento, Calif., obstetrician who is active in the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, said when a pregnant woman's water breaks, she should go right to the hospital because of the risk of infection. That's true even if the amniotic fluid simply leaks out, said Dr. Laurie Gregg.

And that would appear to be it. Colmes, being, as noted, a tool, seems to have taken the post down (hence the screenshot from WizBang) after it attracted the attention of the conservative flying monkey brigades, who appear to have leapt to the conclusion that Colmes was accusing Palin of causing her son's Down's Syndrome. Or so says the ever reliably shitheaded NewsBusters. To wit:

**Update: TV's Alan Colmes Says Palin's Neglect Caused Down's Syndrome Birth Stress!**....

Pile this on top of the low blow from TV's Alan Colmes who claims that Palin didn't practice proper prenatal care before she had the baby with Down's Syndrome, blaming the Mother for her disabled child.

Of course, Colmes did not say this at all, and neither did Rogers Cadenhead, whom Colmes linked. Instead Cadenhead lays out circumstances of the birth, which in certain key respects are indeed rather odd. Let's quote at lengh:

As the Alaskan media reported, Palin was attending an energy conference in Texas on April 18 when her water broke four weeks before her due date. After this happened, Palin didn't head to a hospital or even leave the conference, even though the premature rupture of fetal membranes is normally a cause for an immediate examination by an obstetrician, who will observe the fetus on a monitor to guard against infection and other life-threatening complications. Two other reasons for heightened concern were Palin's age, 43, and the fact that prenatal testing indicated the child had Down syndrome.

Palin stayed at the conference and delivered a 30-minute speech, then boarded a 12-hour Alaska Airlines flight from Dallas to Anchorage, neglecting to tell the airline her water had broken -- most airlines won't fly a woman in labor. The motivation for all of this appears to be the Palins' desire that the child be born in Alaska. Her husband Todd told the Anchorage Daily News, "You can't have a fish picker from Texas."

When she arrived home, Palin was hospitalized immediately and the baby was born prematurely after labor was induced in the middle of the night.

Maybe Palin's actions can be written off as Alaskan grit, since she's a macho hunting governor who jogs in freezing temperatures and dines on moose burgers. But as a parent myself, I think the Palins were extremely fortunate that their reckless stupidity did not end in tragedy. As middle-aged parents who already had four kids, the Palins had to be completely familiar with all the things that can go wrong in a pregnancy. One commenter on the Washington Times laid out the enormous risk she was taking:

Airlines are unequipped to handle most emergencies at 30,000 feet, particularly the kind Palin put her unborn child at markedly increased risk for. These emergencies include birthing a premature infant or uncontrolled maternal bleeding. This was her FIFTH pregnancy and delivery can happen rapidly and unexpectedly. The baby or Palin could easily have died.

In the ADN article [here] Palin downplays her decision to fly, implying traveling was reasonable as she wasn't in labor. If so, then why was she immediately hospitalized after returning to Alaska? Why was there an induced delivery of a 36-week infant by 6:30 am soon after her return? Again, ask any OB doctor. Induced delivery of a premature infant ALWAYS indicates a problem. The two most likely would be fetal infection, (a likely event given her failure to seek meaningful medical attention for her baby) or fetal distress by monitor.

Ask your OB doctor if the risks Palin took with the life of her unborn child are risks they would have advised for ANY reason.

I'm sure that some people will consider raising this subject a cheap shot, since the child was born healthy and it all worked out for the Palins. But you have to question the judgment of a person who took so many risks with her life and that of her baby.

A few points.

First, "conservatives" screeching about how "sick" Colmes is don't themselves come across as particularly high-minded when they are transparently lying about what he actually said or linked to. They look like liars, as usual, and the overwraught hysteria of their response as usual makes them come across as demented.

Second, Cadenhead is right. As per Palin's own statement to the Anchorage Daily News, she did indeed "leak amniotic fluid" at the Texas conference, which was held in Grapevine, which does indeed have hospitals and doctors qualified to deal with high-risk pregnancies. And yes, I'm afraid it is remarkably inadvisable for any woman to embark on a 12 hour flight [note: I'm now told it's 8 hours, whatever] after the appearance of amniotic fluid. Labor can begin at any time, and there is a real risk of infection. I'm glad it worked out for the Palins and their child, but yes, this was extremely bad judgment. I don't see how any other conclusion might be reasonably drawn.

Third, the WizBang crack that about Colmes that "A man who has no problem with a woman killing her unborn baby through an abortion actually has the nerve to ask if Governor Palin took too great a risk with her pregnancy" is nonsensical. A pro-choice position does not mean that you think a woman who has chosen to carry a child to term can be as irresponsible and reckless as they please when it comes to her health or her baby's. Planned Parenthood does not hand out whiskey and cigarettes. WizBang is being stupid, either deliberately or because they can't help themselves. Whichever.

Fourth, does this matter? If we were to go by the absurd standards of "conservatives," sure, because these standards solely include "saying whatever the hell we want." I don't adhere to such standards myself. But I would say that Palin's behavior is indeed troubling, because this "fronteir grit" stuff is a large part of why she's billed as such a "maverick" choice -- and the reason I'm leery of this whole sort of doxalogical construction is that "maverick" in practice as opposed to posturing means "acting like a damn fool and doing all sorts of crazy, dangerous, and entirely unnecessary shit." It's precisely this attitude that's caused so much damage for the last eight years.

Fifth, what Cadenhead said about the rumors about Palin's daughter. That's stupid (not only because it's unethical, but it would involve far too much careful long-term plotting to pull it off, and the GOP does not do careful long term planning).

Sixth, for our friends at NewsBusters, fuck fuck motherfucker! I'm being kind here, see; because I cursed, they can now rest assured that it's perfectly all right for them to be liars. All part of the service.

UPDATE! BREAKING! One of the internetty detective geniuses in the WizBang comments saved the comments from the original Colmes thread. Because NewsBusters makes so much out of the crazy, mean, out of bounds comments made by leftists, they might enjoy this one from their "side":

You chickenshit piece of filth kike, you are the reason Hitler was able to convince so many people to do what they did to an entire race of people. Assholes like you. I want to feel sorry for you on some level, but then realize that would be like trying to love a jellyfish. I’m waiting for you to make your Imus statement, you hate this woman so much inevitably you will fuck up and get fired, even if those hypocritical bastards at Media Matters won’t call any attention to your hate....

And thanks for ensuring the election goes the right way by being such a douchebag Nazi, Vice President Palin will take care of the media outlets leeching off of congress that protect the wretched parasites like you. Its about time someone investigated Soros’ tax records and shut down moveon.org, if she is willing to put up with this shit I bet she has more balls than any president since Nixon. You could be target practice out on the white house range.

Delightful! We can play this game all day, too.

Comments

[Jonquil]

A woman's gynecological history is no part of her fitness for political office. Please drop this; it's as disgusting as the comments about her daughter.

[Thers]

A woman's gynecological history is no part of her fitness for political office. Please drop this; it's as disgusting as the comments about her daughter.

Who's looking at her "gynecological history"? It's an odd and disturbing episode.

[aw]

I agree. It's best to keep the spotlight on her support for the Bridge to Nowhere and her lies on that subject and also her attempt to get her sister's ex-husband fired.

[DrDick]

"A man who has no problem with a woman killing her unborn baby through an abortion actually has the nerve to ask if Governor Palin took too great a risk with her pregnancy" is nonsensical.
Seems to me that someone vehemently opposed to injuring a zygote might be even more concerned with possibly injuring an actual baby. But then consistency has no part in wingnut discourse or thought.

[DrDick]

A woman's gynecological history is no part of her fitness for political office.
Completely true, but her judgment in times of stress is and that is what this story is about. It is not about how many times she has been pregnant, or her choice to give birth to a
special needs child, or any other gynecological detail. It is about the judgment she exercised at a time when her child's life was potentially in danger. That is relevant.

[Bonnie Mclellan]

I agree- it's not about her gynecological history. It's about her judgement. This is a judgment error equivalent to drunken driving or carelessly shooting a friend in the face . Oh, well.....

[Me]

Perhaps her judgment was questionable on the flying thing, but I'm going to play shoe-on-the-other-foot with you here for a moment. What if the ratfuckers on the right started raising their pious little eyebrows about how Michelle Obama had given birth (assuming there were similarly unusual circumstances)? And what if these questions coincided with a rapidly spreading rumor that the baby wasn't hers, but her eldest daughter's? And what if the baby in question was special needs?

I don't think I need to spell out the reaction from the left for you. Remember how disgusting it was when Malkin spied on a family to see if they were poor enough to qualify for SCHIP? Just picture her tearing into Mrs. Obama on her qualifications for motherhood (and maybe adding a "wink wink if she really IS the mother" for good measure).

I dunno, just a thought. I'm thinking we should stay away from this.

[Thers]

Me, if it had been Michelle Obama, or Hillary, or anyone, who got on a plane and flew across country a month before her due date after leaking amniotic fluid during a high-risk pregnancy, I'd find it shocking. And say so.

Because it's shocking behavior. It really is very strange, and very irresponsible.

And I'm not prying into her life -- this is all based on what she herself said to the media.

That there are rumors that I'm rather clearly not touching is beside the point. What she said she did is by any standard dangerous and irresponsible. From a strictly medical point of view it needs to be made very clear that what she did is by no means OK (and if her doctor told her it was, her doctor is nuts).

That this might be passed off as a "cute" story is, uh, very, very bad, and it's not wrong, partisan, or anti-feminist or anti-choice to say so. What she did is bizarre and dangerous, and yes, shows bad judgment.

[theperilouspea]

When does it become an absence of judgement ? If it were judgement she gets attention , any other decision at that point is about something else . An abortion by any other name shows more christian feeling for a fellow human .

[DrDick]

ratfuckers on the right started raising their pious little eyebrows about how Michelle Obama
Michelle Obama is not running for office, while Palin is. Michelle Obama's judgment is not a topic of discussion, but Palin's is, as is Barack Obama's.

[Fledermaus]

be that as it may, alan combs deserves all theshit coming his way. Just on priniciple

[va]

Salacious rumors or no, can we place bets as to how long Sarah Palin will remain a candidate for the Vice Presidency? Maybe keep track of the length of her candidacy with one of those GOP clocks? I'm gonna be bold here and say, three weeks.

[low-tech cyclist]

Seems to me that someone vehemently opposed to injuring a zygote might be even more concerned with possibly injuring an actual baby. But then consistency has no part in wingnut discourse or thought.

Exactly. And I'd like to add that when her plane touched down in Anchorage, Palin didn't have herself rushed to the nearest hospital, but instead drove (or was driven, whatever) for a good ways to the dinky hospital in that tiny burg where she had been mayor.

"Pro-life" doesn't mean taking chances like that with the life of your about-to-be-born baby. And while I'm firmly pro-choice, that's one hell of a bad set of choices, and if I knew a woman in such a position who wanted to make a choice like Palin did, I'd do my damnedest to keep her from getting on that plane.

[DrDick]

low-tech cyclist -
I am also very pro-choice. Choosing to have a baby also means choosing to behave responsibly and doing everything you can to ensure that baby is healthy and happy. I say this as a father and grandfather.

[The Oracle]

The key bit of information, I believe, is that prenatal testing indicated that Palin's fetus had Down Syndrome.

This, no doubt, was a blow to Palin, and probably her husband.

Four healthy children born already, and now one with Down syndrome on the way.

With this information, one can surmise more about Palin's actions after her water broke, and ask: "Did she consciously or unconsciously delay her arrival at a hospital, potentially endangering the life of her fetus, possibly consciously or unconsciously in hopes that her "Down syndrome" fetus wouldn't make it?"

Therefore, by delaying going to a hospital until her return to Alaska, did she (consciously or unconsciously) try to self-induce a miscarriage (basically self-induced abortion) because she (consciously or unconsciously) didn't want to have to deal with a disabled, handicapped Down syndrome baby?

Did Palin contact her husband after her water broke? What did they discuss? Was he the one her told her not to go to a local Texas hospital, but to return to Alaska instead? Was he the one who either consciously or unconsciously didn't want a Down syndrome baby born, essentially figuring (either consciously or unconsciously) that the longer the delay in getting his wife into a hospital would increase chances of birth complications arising, complications that might cause a miscarriage of the Down syndrome fetus?

I believe this is the real reason Palin took so long to get to a hospital after her water broke.

But I am willing to concede the possibility that Palin and her husband didn't consciously express their desire that the fetus, which prenatally tested positive for Down syndrome, would self-abort if denied immediate hospital care after her water broke, because the Down syndrome baby was not as healthy as their previous four children.

But what I have just surmised would definitely explain the long delay in Palin seeking medical attention for her and her Down syndrome fetus.

[flory]

"maverick" in practice as opposed to posturing means "acting like a damn fool and doing all sorts of crazy, dangerous, and entirely unnecessary shit."

You mean like putting a woman you've met exactly twice and you never even bothered to vet a heartbeat away from the most powerful job on earth?

That kind of crazy, dangerous shit?

[TigerHawk]

Is Palin's snap decision worse "judgment" than the decision to smoke cigarettes? Seems to me that it is far more understandable under all the circumstances (including her own experience as a mother).

[Thers]

"Her own experience as a mother"? What?

I have a stepkid and 3, uh, nonstepkids. All my kids, but not all my DNA. Of the 3 that are, the births varied very widely in how they played out. This is the norm. (All three births were by the way high-risk, according to the very specific definitions of the term.) For most women, it is different every time. You're just making stuff up if you want to invoke some romantic notion of how "mothers just know" about childbirth. Yes, women can know their bodies very well, and mothers can have valid intuitions -- but what the hell? Has there ever been a woman who has given birth and afterwards said "well, THAT was wasn't at all a surprise!"

"Women just know" is a stereotype: a positive one, maybe, but there is no such thing as a "good" stereotype.

If you really want to argue that it is not irresponsible to board a plane after breaking water, go ahead. Or that doing so is equivalent to smoking cigarettes (this is I'm sure about Obama; if you can find evidence that he habitually smokes in front of his kids in enclosed spaces, forward it. If not, sorry, farewell analogy).

Because if you are in any way implying that it's no big deal to do what Palin did, what the HELL is wrong with you?

[actor212]

Just picture her tearing into Mrs. Obama on her qualifications for motherhood (and maybe adding a "wink wink if she really IS the mother" for good measure).

Malkin and her pond scum ilk are going to do that anyway! Remember Rush and Chelsea Clinton?

I applaud this first strike.

[actor212]

Is Palin's snap decision worse "judgment" than the decision to smoke cigarettes?

LOL!

Getting on a plane is a "snap decision"?

Listen, even if she flew on some corporate sponsored jet with its own terminal and security check in, like I do, it still requires you be at the airport at least thirty minutes ahead of the flight.

Further, it seems as tho she risked her life, her baby's life and the life of the passengers and crew, first by making such a boneheaded decision and finally BY NOT INFORMING THE CREW!

Idjit.

[Molly Ivors]

Thers does not note that when my water broke with number 4, it was precisely 2 hours between the pop and the, uh, other pop. He almost missed the whole thing.

No, you do not get on a plane after your water breaks. Especially not if you've been through it before and know better. Labors get faster. Shit, had we chosen to have a number 5, I'd just expect the doctor to stand there with a catcher's mitt.