A word please?

Enough with all of this.

Just ask a simple question: “Did John McCain know that Bristol was pregnant?”

There are two possible answers. Yes, he did. Or, no, he did not.

Is it really possible that the answer is yes?

Could John McCain, having realized that he could not pick his friend Joe Lieberman due to the ruthless blowback from the right wing and evangelical community, picked a woman he barely knew—that everyone barely knew—fully aware that her 17 year-old, unmarried daughter was pregnant?

That is nearly inconceivable. He would announce his selection, the attractive, strong and valiantly conservative Governor of Alaska to be his running mate right in the wake of Barack Obama’s speech. This would counter the Democrat bounce and energize the Party in the time leading up to the convention.

And what? This secret would not get out? The news would not undermine the energy he sought to build as he changed the conversation from Barack to the Republican ticket?

No. Sorry. That simply is not possible.

Therefore, the answer must be no, John McCain did not know at the time he named Sarah Palin to be his running mate.

But how could this information have slipped through the cracks? Clearly, it was not the fault of those responsible for vetting the candidate. Should they have known that she supported the Bridge to Nowhere before she opposed it? Sure. Should they have known that she supported a windfall profits tax on oil companies in Alaska? Absolutely. But no Washington lawyer would have written on the standard list of questions, “Which of your children are pregnant?” I don’t even think it would be legal.

So the answer really can only be that for reasons only known to Sarah Palin, she declined to mention it. For reasons that we may never not, either (a) it slipped her mind, or (b) she believed that it was a private matter and none of John McCain’s business, or (c) she thought it would hurt her chances, or perhaps, (d) she never really thought she was under serious consideration, so why bother?

Perhaps we will never know. I tend to go with (d). After all, even her mother-in-law thought she was kidding—and plans to vote for Obama in any event.

But just imagine how awkward it must have been. Some moments after he made his decision, and the word was going out. She thought, ‘Oh, my.’ And she turned to the presumptive Republican nominee, and in a soft voice said, “Senator, a word please…”