Classless Alan Colmes: OMG, the Palins Eloped!

Alan Colmes has been on a downward spiral for the ages since John McCain introduced Sarah Palin as his presumptive Vice-Presidential nominee.

Fellow NewsBuster Warner Todd Huston caught Colmes scraping bottom at his Liberaland web site last night, as the lefty talker and Sean Hannity piñata asked "Did Palin Take Proper Pre-Natal Care?" in connection with Palin's pregnancy and childbirth earlier this year. Trig Palin was born with Down's Syndrome on April 18.

A whiff of sanity appears to have prevailed, as the entry is now empty. Also not present: an apology. (Update, 3:30 p.m. -- Here's Colmes's "apology." You can decide whether it's adequate or simply blame-shifting.)

But apparently Colmes has no problem with this entry he put up on Friday afternoon about the circumstances surrounding Todd and Sarah Palin's wedding (full entry follows; links were in original):

Conservative Family Values

In her speech in Dayton today, Gov. Sarah Palin announced that she and her husband are celebrating their 20th wedding anniversary, which means they were married on August 29, 1988.

On April 20, 1989 – less than eight months after they eloped – their first son, Track, was born.

I think I can guess the real reason why they eloped, and it wasn’t to save money on an expensive wedding.

Colmes's snide reference is to this NationalJournal.com Almanac entry, which reads:

After returning home, Palin eloped with her high school boyfriend in 1988 to save money on an expensive wedding.

Alan, do you know who pays for traditional weddings?

Stipulate for the moment that Colmes might be correct, and that Palin was pregnant at the time the couple married. Is it really inconceivable to Colmes that Todd and Sarah, who had known each other for many years, might have decided to spare their parents, none of whom as far as I can tell were wealthy, an extravagant expense?

One commenter at Colmes's post made this telling point:

If it’s true then what matters is that Palin has demonstrated her pro-life bona fides not once but at least twice in her life. Once at marriage, the second time after finding out the baby she was carrying would have Down (sic) Syndrome.

The story of the Palins, and Colmes's reaction, also brings to mind a fairly well-known Republican whose wife was three months pregnant when they married. He was also ridiculed as "somehow" being a values hypocrite by Colmes's philosophical predecessors.

It turns out this Republican and his wife had a decades-long romance for the ages. The publication of a treasure trove of letters this Republican wrote to his wife over many decades caused even hardened liberals to tear up as they were read. Normally curmudgeonly Mike Wallace was moved to say:

I had no idea. I knew that they adored each other: she him and he her. But the stuff that you read here is -- it's extraordinary.

..... Listen, I used to look at them when they were in public situations like this. And come on -- I mean, the adoring look and all of that, and the way that he looked at her. I used to say, come on, it couldn't be that. Turns out it was, and the letters make it so apparent.

If you can get through the September 9, 2000 CNN interview about this man's letters to his wife Nancy without choking up, you may need to check your pulse.

This Republican also served as governor of a Western state. He also was a pretty effective politician.

That Republican was Ronald Reagan.

Be careful what you wish for, Alan.

Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.