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September 10, 2008

National Enquirer Strikes with 'Palin Family Shockers'

Topics: Political News and commentaries

National Enquirer has a page up declaring in caps: "PALIN FAMILY SHOCKERS: WHAT SARAH'S REALLY HIDING!" According to the "shocker":

The NATIONAL ENQUIRER'S exclusive ongoing investigation of GOP VP Nom Sarah 'Barracuda' Palin's goes far beyond a mere teen pregnancy crisis this week!

The Enquirer's team of reporters has combed the Alaskan wilderness to discover the hidden truth about Gov. Palin's family, which has become a central part of political identity.

The ENQUIRER has learned exclusively that Sarah's oldest son, Track, was addicted to the power drug OxyContin for nearly the past two years, snorting it, eating it, smoking it and even injecting it. And as Track, 19, heads to Iraq as part of the U.S. armed forces, Sarah and her husband Todd were powerless to stop his wild antics, detailed in the new issue of The ENQUIRER, which goes on sale today.

THE ENQUIRER also has exclusive details about Track's use of other drugs, including cocaine, and his involvement in a notorious local vandalism incident.

The article also shamelessly repeats the fully-debunked-as-a-non-story WaPo piece in which Gov. Palin is accused of having billed the state of Alaska for various expenses related to her children.

No sources were given on the teaser page, which doesn't mean there aren't any in the body of the article.

There's a teaser at the end of the page alluding to claims of Sarah's extramarital affair which the Enquirer says they have discovered shocking new details regarding "the red-hot affair scandal."

I'm not quite sure what to make of this yet, although what is certain is that Track isn't running for VP. And the blog Explorations, which has been keeping up with Palin-related rumors and debunking (or confirming) them as they've come along disputes the idea that Track joined the NG because he was a drug addict. Explorations points to "sources in Wasilla" but also, like the Enquirer web page, doesn't identify the sources:

#9 No, Track (the kid who is leaving for Iraq) didn't join the NG because he was a drug addict. He may have joined the NG because he was tired of people saying his Mom was getting him into the good hockey leagues.

# 71 No, the fact that some 17 year old was arrested for malicious mischief at the right time doens't mean Track Palin was. Goddamn, Josh, have you no shame at all?

Right Celebrity offered a debunking of the rumor on September 3rd, and pointed to Team Obama:

[...] the source of this allegation that Sarah Palin had an affair which turns out was apparently the Obama campaign itself. The National Enquirer, supermarket tabloid extraordinaire, alleges sort of that Palin might have had an affair with her husband's business partner based on a tip. Who says so and why?

Turns out upon examination that the story is based on an anonymous source which the paper itself describes as an "incredible charge" by someone who appears to be a well-connected insider. The story may have come down to someone in the Obama campaign feeding the Enquirer a line. Their disclaimer that the charge was not credible did not pacify Sarah Palin's team who are going to make a political issue out of media bias and dirty tricks from the Obama campaign.

As to pointing to the Obama campaign as the original source, I wouldn't doubt it, but I also wouldn't doubt that it could also be Sarah Palin's Republican opponents back in Alaska. On the one hand I'd love to learn that this came from Team Obama - the election would be game, set, match. On the other hand if it's not Team Obama, the last thing those of us on the center-right should want to do is to be like our opponents and not care about the truth.

As for the "red hot affair scandal," one has to "pick up the new ENQUIRER" as they suggest on their site. Any affair scandal is always "red hot" but not all "red hot" affair scandals are true.

Posted by Richard at September 10, 2008 7:20 AM

Posted by: Althor at September 10, 2008 8:03 AM

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