LN: But let’s be honest: Couldn’t Palin’s appearance easily be explained by the way the black shirt folded under her bust and under her belly?
BS: Well, Laura, perhaps you should watch the video here: Elan Frank Interviews Sarah Palin-April 2008 part 1. (Go to about 0:27 for the belly thump.) As you can see, the camera pans up and down from her face to her midsection, and you can see the black shirt is hugging her body – there are no odd folds creating an illusion.
LN: The shadows on the sides. They can be shadows, right? Not necessarily the contours of a SQUARE PILLOW! I’m sorry. I’m shouting again.
BS: Well, actually, Frank was using professional lighting equipment to ensure there would be no distracting shadows.
Sadly for me, I’ve never experienced a pregnancy up close and personal. My wife and I have adopted two children, but we have not had children biologically. So I have no good sense of what shape an eight-month pregnant lady’s belly may take. But I sense you are not comfortable with the square pillow shape. Why is that?
LN: Because I simply do not want to believe that this woman – any woman – shoved a square pillow under her shirt. I do not want to believe anyone could so smugly mug for the camera and thump a pillow. It’s abnormal beyond reason. It would be insane.
Insane? You said it Laura! And welcome to my world.
You can read the rest of the interview by clicking here.
I do have one quibble with Professor Scharlott over this interview. At one point he makes this statement:
I have no idea who deserves credit for first brightening this segment of the video, but for at least a few years folks have known that if you lighten a screen grab from this part, what you see looks remarkably like a square pillow where Sarah’s stomach should be.
That would be my dear friend, and the person who will also deserve the lion's share of the credit when this story breaks nationally, Audrey from Palin's Deceptions. Who first lightened the photo here.
An important thing to keep in mind as this babygate story starts getting more and more mainstream media attention is that some of the best researchers and bloggers on this topic have now gone silent, like Audrey and Bree Palin. And believe me not a day goes by that I don't miss visiting their blogs, or talking to them on the phone, or sharing gossip and tips back and forth through e-mail.
However mark my words, when this story finally gets the national attention that it deserves I will make damn sure that the credit is spread around to ALL of the people who worked so hard to bring this story to light.
