By now most readers have heard or seen the Wonkette article that has caused companies to pull advertisement from the site. JackSteuf has issued the following apology:

“ UPDATE: I regret this post and using the word “retarded” in a reference to Sarah Palin’s child. It’s not nice, and is not necessary, but I take responsibility for writing it. For those who came and are offended by this post: I’m sorry, of course. But I stand by my criticism of Sarah Palin using her child as a political prop.

–Jack Stuef

Wonkette has reportedly put the author on probation because of the article.  Without doubt the article was disgraceful, unnecessary and obscene. However the commentary misses the point.

Clearly the author intended the attack to be focused on Sarah, and Trig’s birthday was simply the mechanism for the attack. The photoshopped picture at the end of the article that displays Trig saying “I’m with stupid” is a vivid indication of the author’s intent. h However the radio show linked to the picture uses disgusting and unnecessarily foul language regarding Palin. It does damage to everyone who attacks Palin with facts and documented information to disparage her with such a vile attack.

The real point is that from the moment Palin was introduced at the RNC she has repeatedly used Trig as a symbol for her right-to-life position. However the lack of involvement in his life is evident from the number of speaking events Sarah Palin has attended without Trig or her other children. We didn’t see Trig with Sarah when she appeared to give speeches to the conferences for special needs children. That would have been the appropriate place for him to appear. His absence conveyed Palin’s real attitude which is that giving birth to the child (if she did) was the extent of her responsibility for the child. Afterwards he appeared only when she needed a reminder of her political position on abortion. Newsmax even credited Trig for saving McCain’s pro-life candidacy.  Throughout the campaign when it was cold Trig made appearances. On the book signing tour, Sarah dragged Trig out of the bus for a photo op before the signing began. The amazing thing is that Sarah few on a private plane to most of the book signing events and simply met Trig in the bus on the way to the event.

On Google Images over 200,000 images appear when searching for “Trig Palin”. Yet virtually none of the images are pictures of Trig wearing his much needed glasses.  On the TLC show Trig was left with a babysitter for virtually every adventure. In the eight episodes we saw a particular focus on each of the Palin children,…all except Trig. There was an episode when Tripp, Bristol’s child was included, but Trig was not. If there is a nanny who provides consistent care for Trig, we didn’t meet her.

On the occasion of Trig’s third birthday, we are reminded of his abandonment. Various web sites supporting Palin remembered Trig’s birthday. See for example: (1) and (2) .

However the most revealing is this one that mentions Sarah’s own tweet that included this picture:

“Today is Trig Palin’s third birthday! Governor Palin shared this tweet and picture this morning:

Awww…growing up to be a fisherman! Happy Birthday! http://yfrog.com/hs9azfoj

This is the picture featured when Trig was celebrating his second birthday.

This is not a mistake in my post. The mistake was in failing to take a picture on Trig’s third birthday. Did they even have a family party? Did they even make him a cake? I guess he had Down’s syndrome when he was two years old, and he still does, so Sarah would have no reason to need a more current picture.

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