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'Trig Palin Birtherism' Is Back

New academic paper asserts that 'conspiracy theory' is actually true

By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff

Posted Apr 14, 2011 7:07 AM CDT

(Newser) – More than two years after it first emerged, the issue of Trig Palin's birth is back in the headlines, thanks to a Northern Kentucky University journalism professor. Brad Scharlott's 29-page academic paper on the matter concludes that all the conspiracy theorists were right: Sarah Palin is not Trig's real mother, but a "spiral of silence shut down the story" and the media basically ignored it.

Business Insider offers up a slideshow of Scharlott's evidence, which includes the fact that Palin took a 20-hour trip back to Alaska to give birth after she says she went into labor in Texas; the fact that the hospital where Trig was allegedly born has never confirmed he was born there; and photos of Palin just weeks before the birth in which Scharlott notes she doesn't look pregnant. Not everybody's impressed: On Salon, Justin Elliott writes, "The fact that a journalism professor produced this article is frankly embarrassing for Northern Kentucky University." Click for his entire column.

Former GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, talks to her son Trig Palin, at a Tea Party Express rally at the Arizona Capitol Friday, Oct. 22, 2010, in Phoenix.
Former GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, talks to her son Trig Palin, at a Tea Party Express rally at the Arizona Capitol Friday, Oct. 22, 2010, in Phoenix.   (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
Politician and conservative activist Sarah Palin holds her son Trig Palin as she waves to supporters during a rally for the Tea Party Express national tour October 22, 2010 in Phoenix, Arizona.
Politician and conservative activist Sarah Palin holds her son Trig Palin as she waves to supporters during a rally for the Tea Party Express national tour October 22, 2010 in Phoenix, Arizona.   (Getty Images)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 103 comments
NoddaAndYou
Apr 16, 2011 12:03 PM CDT
Good fucking god people let the coverage of this hack die out all ready.
Lioness
Apr 15, 2011 2:41 PM CDT
29 pages? Revoke this guy's funding. I mean, who really cares? She's his mother, period. Not that she even owes any of us an explanation, anyway. This non-story is just as stupid as the birther idiocy.
chas_m
Apr 14, 2011 8:52 PM CDT
Someday, that kid's going to have to give a DNA sample, and then we'll know for sure. But in the meantime, I believe (and have always believed) that he's not Sarah's, but Bristol's. But even though I'd love to be proven right, I really don't care enough about the Palins (who lie all the time, about everything, so why this one would turn out to be a cover-up should surprise nobody) to see it raised up again. It's like Obama birtherism, with only one thing different: Obama is telling the truth.

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