Professor Scharlott brings the Palin birth hoax discussion to the Alaska media.

Bill McAllister

Here is a portion of what Professor Scharlott submitted to the Alaska Dispatch. I of course urge you to read his entire commentary.

To make the case in my paper that the media should have paid more attention to the Trig hoax rumor, I pointed out that when the rumor first appeared in nationally prominent blog sites Palin offered no documentary evidence, such as a birth certificate, to prove her maternity.

Instead, she revealed to the world that Bristol was then pregnant, which was supposed to prove that Sarah must be Trig’s mother, given when Trig was reportedly born. But of course, if there had been a hoax, then Trig’s actual birth date is unknown.

One thing that greatly helped the McCain campaign squelch the hoax rumor was the mysterious appearance on the internet, right after the hoax rumor broke nationally, of two photos showing Palin looking very pregnant, much more so than in any other publicly available photos. (The poster of the photos was never identified.)

Indeed, during the previous spring, reporters for the Anchorage Daily News variously wrote that Palin “simply does not look pregnant” (at seven months) and that she “did not get big with this pregnancy” (after she reportedly gave birth). Published pictures from the spring support the reporters' observations.

One of those two mystery photos, taken on April 13, shows Palin being interviewed by a TV reporter. The other picture shows her standing next to TV newsman Bill McAllister, who, I wrote in my paper, “coincidentally would become her director of communications three months later.” (In early April, a Daily News columnist wrote that McAllister was preparing to leave KTUU, and bloggers later wondered if he had been negotiating a job with the Palin administration while still covering it.)

The fact that I italicized “coincidentally” is what sparked McAllister’s seeming outrage.

He wrote: “The italicized word ‘coincidentally’ … makes you a scoundrel …”

And he continued: “I can tell you that I never even heard of the fake pregnancy rumor until the VP selection. Let me repeat that: As the most connected politics reporter in the state for years, I NEVER EVEN HEARD OF IT!!!!”

The Dispatch was also able to get a response from Bill McAllister. (Apparently he was not satisfied with it, and will add more later.)

Associate professor Scharlott -- whose name aptly combines “charlatan” and “harlot,” both phonetically and symbolically -- compares himself to an investigative reporter but demonstrates none of the tenets of responsible journalism.

For example, he “buried the lead.” You have to read several paragraphs into his diatribe before you discover that the reason for my response to him was not the seemingly ludicrous premise of his “paper” -- that Trig Palin is not really his mother’s child -- but his cavalier attempt to draw me into a controversy that doesn’t concern me except in the most tangential way.

On Saturday morning, Sept. 12, 2009, I narrowly escaped death due to complications from a cancer that had been diagnosed 11 months previously. I have an incurable condition that, thankfully, is at the moment under control. But I do not know if I will get to live a normal lifespan for an American man of my generation.

It is in this context that I have adopted a “zero tolerance” policy for lies about my character. The charlatan associate professor suggests that I should have responded to his completely unsubstantiated innuendo with some helpful comment or diplomatic riposte.

While I am truly sympathetic concerning Mr. McAllister's health issues, I have to ask, does everybody associated with Sarah Palin take a class in "how to play the victim?"

Personally I am thrilled that this issue is back in the Alaska media, and again being examined by Alaskans.  After all, in my opinion, there is a very small group of us who know exactly what happened on April 18, 2008, and if just one of them feels emboldened enough to weigh in, we might finally learn exactly how, and why, Sarah Palin perpetrated this hoax on the American people.

P.S. I spoke with Professor Scharlott by phone on Friday, the day his story hit the national media.  We had a very interesting conversation, and he revealed himself to be VERY cognizant of all of the various theories and explanations for Palin's fifth "pregnancy", and how much work the bloggers had put into digging up the facts and keeping the story alive.  Brad is absolutely going to pursue this in the hopes that the national media will pick it up and openly discuss the points he brought up in his  research paper.

Toward that end the professor would very much like your help. You can contact him by sending an e-mail to this address, brad.scharlott@gmail.com.  What Brad is looking for is more information that might help him to revamp his paper or write more on this topic. If you can help, please do not hesitate to contact him.

I don't know about all of you, but I am finding all of these developments to be very exciting.