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VAN SUSTEREN: I mean, isn't it -- I mean, like, you know -- you know, I mean, this is obviously a wonderful child and -- you know, and bring great joy to your family, but the bigger thing is, like, the whole family's sort of pitched in.
SARAH PALIN: Yes.
VAN SUSTEREN: That's -- you know, because if you didn't pitch in, this would be a different story.
SARAH PALIN: It would be a different story. It would be some sad and some dire circumstances, I think, if the family doesn't all really kind of circle the wagons and help one another at a time like this. This is what family is for, also, to pitch in. And I'm proud of Bristol for accepting the help, too, that's being offered her by her grandmother, her great- grandma, her great-great-grandma, and aunts and cousins and -- we're very thankful to be in the situation that we are with so much help.
[link to transcript here]
Troopergate was a family matter that got Sarah into a whole lot of trouble, not only with the divorce court judge who told the Heaths and Palins to chill, but with the Alaska legislature who decided it was important enough to spend a hundred thousand dollars to investigate it. Neither Sarah's sister Molly, nor Molly's ex-husband Mike, came out of it looking nice. Needless to say, neither Sarah nor her husband did, either.
Travelgate was a family matter that got Sarah into trouble too. Being a governor meant that Sarah ought to be able to take her family with her during her official travel, and the State ought to pay for it. However, Sarah finally agreed to a settlement with the State wherein she has to re-imburse the coffers to the tune of at least $9,000.
PerDiem-gate was also a family matter. Why move to Juneau when you can commute to Anchorage, live at home and be with family while the State pays a daily allowance for meals and incidentals on top of your salary? Sarah didn't realize she had to pay taxes on this allowance. It remains to be seen whether she'll continue the practice.
The entire McCain-Palin campaign was a family matter that included the RNC buying clothes for the whole family, feeding the family and carting the family around in buses and planes and putting them up in hotels. I like to call it Hockey-mom-gate. The family signed autographs and sat on stage and even the elder son was there in word, if not in deed, because his enlistment in the military was a frequent Sarah talking point. Younger "son" was a prop and a talking point. Hockey-momness was a talking point. That the campaign failed, though, was the fault of the media. It had nothing to do with Sarah or the family, of course.
Babygate is an ongoing family matter, whether you subscribe to the whole story or just the part about Sarah's elder daughter's most recent teenage pregnancy. Babygate morphed into Abstinence-gate with elder daughter's declaration on national TV that abstinence isn't realistic. And Babygate is threatening to morph further into Wardrobe-Malfunction-gate with elder daughter's baby-daddy going on TV with his family and saying he's "pretty sure" Sarah knew about the sexual intimacy that was going on. Unwed-teen-mothergate is another related family matter, now that there will be no marriage to sanctify the pre-marital sex.
Then there's Oxycontin-gate, where baby-daddy's mother got busted for running an unauthorized prescription drugstore.
And Schoolbus-gate, strongly rumored and not denied by Sarah, where allegedly, the Oxycontin-using elder son participated in vandalism of a school bus fleet causing school to be closed for a day. The truants involved were expelled from school and not permitted to set one foot on school grounds for a year. Curiously, this coincided with elder son being sent to school in Michigan for a year... and upon his return, he joined the military.
Then we have Felony-burglar-gate thanks to Sarah's husband's sister who just got caught stealing a couple grand in cash from a residence near Sarah's infamous hockey rink. I guess when Sarah was doin' her wagon-circlin', hubby's sister's wagon got left out.
Yes, this is a real picture
This is not a normal, upstanding, family values family. But it is where Sarah comes from and what surrounds her even today. They say you can't make a silk purse from a sow's ear. I say, Sarah Palin shouldn't have retired this T-shirt after she wore it during her run for Governor. I bet it still fits.
