Trig Palin

A day before the liberal website Wonkette posted a truly disgraceful piece about Sarah Palin's Down's syndrome son Trig, the Los Angeles Times published an article calling the former Alaska governor a "special-needs case."

Columnist Meghan Daum's "Why Sarah Palin Doesn't Get What She Deserves" was just another in a long line of hit pieces on the woman from Wasilla the elite media love to hate:

As NewsBusters reported Thursday, the liberal website Wonkette has lost a significant number of advertisers following its disgraceful article about former Alaska governor Sarah Palin's handicapped son Trig.

The Daily Beast's Andrew Sullivan, who for years has claimed like so many Trig Truthers that Bristol Palin is the child's real mother, expressed disappointment Saturday that companies pulled their ads as a result of this piece:

As NewsBusters reported Wednesday, the liberal website Wonkette published a truly disgraceful piece earlier in the week about Sarah Palin's Down's syndrome son Trig.

Under intense pressure from readers and advertisers, the site's editor took the post down Thursday:

What has become of today's liberalism that makes it acceptable to attack the mentally handicapped if they or their parents are conservatives?

Consider the following disgraceful posting about Trig Palin published at the left-leaning website Wonkette Monday:

Want to make friends in "elite" political blogosphere? Don't dare be outspoken on behalf of Delaware Republican U.S. Senate nominee Christine O'Donnell.

In a Sept. 15 post on his The Atlantic blog, "The Daily Dish," Sullivan takes a break from gossiping about political figures' genitalia to take on conservative talker Mark Levin's response to those who were seemingly hell-bent on O'Donnell not being the Delaware GOP nominee within the conservative media intelligentsia.

After going through a litany of Levin's alleged indiscretions against O'Donnell detractors, Sullivan argues that his so-called "conservative" counterparts had it coming since Levin had been so critical of the pseudo-intellectuals that have masqueraded as conservatives over the years.

For almost two years, Sarah Palin has been complaining about media members making things up about her.

On Friday, one finally admitted it.

As NewsBusters reported Wednesday, Vanity Fair's October issue has a hit piece on its cover about the former Alaska governor that Palin-hating press members have been predictably fawning and gushing over.

Now, the Associated Press is reporting that the author, Michael Joseph Gross, has admitted making a mistake in his piece:

Nothing is off-limits for Seth MacFarlane, the creator of Fox's "Family Guy" series, well almost anything. That's the message he wanted to convey in an appearance on CNN's April 22 "Larry King Live."  

MacFarlane was asked about an episode, originally aired on Feb. 14, which showed one of the characters, Chris Griffith, out on a date with a female with Down Syndrome, which she said her dad was an accountant, and "my mom is the former governor of Alaska." Some said he stepped over the line, others thought it wasn't a big deal.

However, Palin reacted on the Feb. 16 broadcast of Fox News Channel's "The O'Reilly Factor" by asking why "Family Guy" would stoop to such a level.

"This world is full of cruel, cold-hearted people who would do such a thing," Palin said. "Look. I look at Trigg and he is going to face things as special needs children will be facing much more difficult than we ever will. So why make it tougher on the special needs community? When is enough enough? When are we going to be willing to say some things just aren't really funny?"

One of the actors involved in the hit cartoon series "Family Guy" has come out in support of Sarah Palin by voicing his disapproval of a Down Syndrome joke in a recent episode.

As NewsBusters reported on Valentine's Day, the Fox program made what some have considered a tasteless swipe at the Palins by having a character with Down Syndrome state, "[My] mom is the former governor of Alaska."

Sarah and Bristol Palin later expressed their disgust with the remark while the actress directly involved said they needed to get a sense of humor.

According to the Washington Post's TV Column blog, a member of the "Family Guy" cast has actually come out in support of the Palins:

The media's Palin Derangement Syndrome hit new lows Monday when Keith Olbermann used a remark by a little-known Virginia state Delegate to suggest the former Alaskan governor had an abortion.

In his "Worst Person in the World" segment, the "Countdown" host recognized Bob Marshall (R-Va.) for his comments about abortion increasing the likelihood of handicaps in children born after the procedure was performed on their mother.

Much as the notorious "Family Guy" episode did recently, this reference to handicapped children disgustingly led Olbermann to bring Palin into the equation (video embedded below the fold with transcript, h/t Story Balloon):

Now that actress Andrea Fay Friedman of the Fox television series the Family Guy has spoken out publicly against Sarah Palin’s criticism of the show, ABC News has aired a story on the controversy, which ran on Saturday's World News. The Family Guy episode in question not only treated Down’s Syndrome as something to laugh at (credit to NB reader Birch Barlow for emailing in the link as a tip), but also made a reference to the former Alaska Governor being the mother of a character – voiced by Friedman as both she and the character have Down’s Syndrome – presumably to suggest that Palin has a tendency to give birth to such children and that doing so would be funny.

As he began the piece showing scenes from the episode, and a clip of Palin saying that the jab at her family felt like a "kick in the gut," correspondent Jeremy Hubbard understated the level of obscenity that Seth MacFarlane has a history of employing on the show as he simply described the show's creator and producer as "irreverent," and informed viewers that fans of the "button-pushing" show would find the episode "hardly shocking."

The ABC correspondent went on to give credibility to the view that Palin may be "overreacting" as he cited what he referred to as "half-hearted" praise for the show by "some" advocates for those with Down's Syndrome, and relayed the argument that the show actually delivers a positive portrayal. Hubbard: "Although there has been criticism, some Down's Syndrome advocates have given half-hearted praise to the cartoon for including a well-rounded character dealing with the disability, which leads Palin detractors to ask: Is she overreacting?"

On Friday’s Joy Behar Show on CNN Headline News, the normally anti-Palin Behar and most panel members – all left-leaning – sided with the former Alaska governor in the aftermath of Family Guy producer Seth MacFarlane's controversial depiction of a character with Down's Syndrome on his Fox television show, intended as a swipe at Palin whose son has Down's Syndrome. Behar declared that "I agree with Sarah on this one," and, after showing a clip of Palin on FNC’s The O’Reilly Factor denouncing MacFarlane, Behar concluded the segment: "Okay, that’s one for Sarah."

Panel member Mo Rocca of the Daily Show on Comedy Central was unusually straight as he praised Palin: "I’m with her. I mean, look, if there’s one thing to admire Sarah Palin for, it’s that she’s raising a special needs child, so, yeah, it’s a virtuous, irreproachable thing."

Comedian Jessica Kirson also labeled MacFarlane’s crack at Palin as offensive even as she admitted to also finding it amusing:

The actress that did the voiceover for Ellen, the Down Syndrome Girl on Sunday's "Family Guy," has responded to her critics including Sarah and Bristol Palin.

As NewsBusters previously reported, the hit Fox cartoon series took a swipe at the Palins by making a joke involving Down Syndrome and the former Alaskan governor.

On Tuesday, Sarah and Bristol posted their feelings about this segment at Facebook.

Now, Andrea Fay Friedman, the actress behind Ellen's voice, has responded in a Q&A posted at the New York Times ArtsBeat blog (h/t HotAirPundit):

How does one prepare for an upcoming appearance by Seth MacFarlane of Family Guy fame?  If you're Bill Maher, you follow up the Family Guy/Sarah Palin/Down Syndrome attack by doing an 'exclusive rant' for the Huffington Post which includes - you guessed it - a joke about Sarah Palin's son, Trig.

Maher appeals to his lower-intellect audience by stating:

"...while we were off, Sarah Palin agreed to do commentary at Fox News.  Which is actually very similar to her day job - talking to a baby with Down Syndrome."

Video can be found here:

UPDATE AT END OF POST: Palin discusses this matter with Fox's Bill O'Reilly.

Sarah Palin and her daughter Bristol have responded to Sunday's disgusting episode of "Family Guy."

As NewsBusters reported that night, Fox's cartoon comedy hit disparaged the Palins with a joke involving a girl with Down Syndrome.

Tuesday morning, Sarah and Bristol took to Facebook to share their thoughts. 

Not surprisingly, the folks at Entertainment Weekly aren't taking their side, but before we get there, here's what the ladies had to say (h/t Hot Air):

It's no surprise that elitism and a pretentious point of view have a place on The Washington Post editorial page, but even this is a little much.

Pseudo-conservative columnist Kathleen Parker asserted that Trig Palin, the Down syndrome son of the 2008 Republican vice-presidential nominee and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin might one day find his mother's abortion comments "hurtful." A Feb 14 column published in the Post focused on the delicate art of criticizing Palin's recent political and personal defense of the special-needs community, stemming from White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel's controversial comments involving the word "retarded."

Parker recounted Palin's brief mention that she understands how women entertain the thought of abortion when learning about the special needs of an unborn child.  Instead of praise for Palin's honesty and candor, Parker seized the opportunity to criticize Palin's outspokenness and attempted to speak on behalf of her son. 

The media attacks on Sarah Palin continued Sunday as Fox's hit cartoon comedy "Family Guy" made a joke about Down Syndrome involving the former governor of Alaska.

In the most recent episode, Chris Griffin, the overweight and largely unintelligent son of the family, took a very rude girl with Down Syndrome out on a date.

With a little prompting, Chris asked her, "So what do your parents do?"

She responded, "My dad's an accountant, and my mom is the former governor of Alaska" (video embedded below the fold, h/t The Immoral Minority via Twitter's @Cubachi):

During a report on Thursday’s Today show, NBC News correspondent Norah O’Donnell replayed Barbara Walters’ characterization of Sarah Palin’s recent interview as “disturbing” from Tuesday’s The View. O’Donnell highlighted how the Alaska governor’s comments about how the media treated her versus how it treated Caroline Kennedy “drew a reaction” from the ABC host, and that it was “one more sign that as Palin tries to quiet her critics, she is sparking another loud debate.”

Co-host Matt Lauer introduced O’Donnell’s report: “During the campaign, handlers tried to keep a tight lid on Sarah Palin, but as Barack Obama’s inauguration approaches, she’s speaking out more and more. But how much is too much?” The correspondent then began by highlighting “Sarah Palin’s latest target -- her online critics,” focusing on the governor’s counterattacks against those spreading “smears” about her family. The NBC on-screen graphic hyped how Palin had become “unleashed.”

There really are no words, though I suppose we'll manage to find some.  Wonkette, which bills itself as "the DC Gossip," and is the creation of Ana Marie Cox, now gone on to bigger things at Time, has this photograph up of Trig Palin, dressed for Halloween as an elephant and being held in the loving embrace of one of his sisters. [H/t Damian at Conservathink.]

Wonkette appends its comment, suggesting—and there really is no way to sugar coat it—that given the choice Trig would rather have been aborted:

Just when you think mainstream media people can't stoop much lower in their final stages of Palin Derangement Syndrome, they plunge to new depths.  Suzy Shuster works as a sideline reporter for ABC Sports.  She also blogs at the Huffington Post.  Her most recent contribution is,"Say It Ain't So: Trig Palin's Post-Debate Photo Op."  She describes what irritated her most at last night's vice presidential debate:

It actually came after the debate, when for seemingly the millionth time, Sarah Palin trotted out her piece de resistance, her favorite prop of this campaign season: her five and a half month old son Trig.

Why is this child up so late every time there is a camera op? Why isn't this baby sleeping in a crib or bassinet somewhere with a sleep sheep or some other sound apparatus lulling him into night-night? Is it just me or does it seem like she carts this poor child around like a living breathing example of how wonderful a mom she is? After all, she's more than adopted the "I'm just a mom, just like you moms out there, America" attitude.

In stunningly self-centered, cruel fashion, Nicholas Provenzo, writer for the Center for the Advancement of Capitalism suggests that Sarah Palin’s decision to give birth to a child with Down Syndrome, is a financial burden that others are forced to suffer with.  

Provenzo, who has written opinion pieces for the Washington Times, Capitalism Magazine, and the Atlanta Journal Constitution, as well as being a guest on Bill Maher’s former show, Politically Incorrect, makes his case for “the morality of aborting a fetus diagnosed with Down syndrome.”

The full first paragraph of the piece which is circulating amidst the blogosphere reads (emphasis mine):

On Tuesday's "Special Report," Fox News's Brit Hume credited NewsBusters for exposing a fake eBay listing auctioning off Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin's baby Trig.

As my colleague Warner Todd Huston wrote earlier that morning:

Apparently, a poster at the radical nutroot site, DemocraticUnderground, created a fake listing for someone pretending to sell baby Trig on ebay. The faux listing read "Baby used prop newborn boy 3-6 months special needs," and included a description that called Governor Palin a "pushy social climber, unwilling to let pregnancy and children stand in the way of ambition."

Later that evening, Hume reported (h/t American Thinker's Marc Sheppard):

When NewsBusters posted the screencap shown here as its Weekend Captionfest on Friday, the result was an outpouring of affectionate reader responses. Typical was this one, from "iveseenitall":

The ladies in my house instantly fell for this kid.  "Oh" and "Oooh" and "Ah". The giggles, the pointing at the t.v. Love all around that night.

The MSM lives in a different house.  Check out this candid observation by New York Times media reporter David Carr in his article in today's NYT [emphasis added]:

In the press galleries at the convention, journalists wrinkled their noses in disgust when Piper, Ms. Palin’s youngest daughter, was filmed kitty-licking her baby brother’s hair into place.