Gov. Sarah Palin on the cover of Us Weekly? Oh no!

No big surprise that notorious celebrity blogger Perez Hilton has broken the news that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is on the cover of Us Weekly.

But you gotta admit, that was fast! Why, Sarah's already a celebrity and look, she comes with built-in scandals, juicy family intrigue and dirty-dealing gossip.

We can't wait to read about her Jamie Lynn Spears-like teenage daughter's pregnancy, the investigation into the firing of her sister's ex-hubbie and all those promised "embarrassing surprises" emblazoned on Us Weekly's cover.

Over at HuffPo, Bonnie Fuller is already accusing Palin of using her teenage daughter's pregnancy to political ends. And she even likens daughter Bristol's dad to being a worse father than Billy Ray Cyrus! Wow.

Why? Because, she says, they knowingly put their pregnant daughter into the limelight for their own political power grab.

Fuller writes: "They took center stage with the full knowledge that their 17-year-old's five-months-along pregnancy was about to become front page news around the world. Bristol Palin hasn't been the star of a major kids TV show like Jamie Lynn or Miley Cyrus. She has not chosen a life of celebrity. But now, thanks to her mother's decision to accept the Republican Vice Presidential candidacy, her private life — her sex life — is as exposed as if she had long been a cover regular on Star or US Weekly."

She adds that Bristol "has unwittingly and literally become the poster child for her mother's anti-choice and abstinence-only education policies," Fuller writes.

What do you think? Is Sarah Palin exploiting her daughter?

To see Palin on the (regrettably faux) cover of Foreign Affairs Weekly, click here.  Now this is one magazine I would actually buy and read. "Putin: Best Beach Bod!" Love it!

Photo: Getty Images

Comments

[Traveler]

Don't you people read? Gov. Palin said her daughter was pregnant because the "lower" left wing blogs claims her son was actually her daughters! I read some of the blogs ad they were just disgusting. LEAVE THE POOR KID ALONE!! If you had any sense you would refuse to comment about Gov. Palin's daughter's pregnancy!

[BeFree]

In case you have not noticed... Sarah did not brought her daughter into poitical light. But by the virtue of writes like you she had to set records straight. You were the one who went after Bristol and connected Sarah's pregnancy with cover up of Bristol pregnancy. Barack Obama issued a good statement for people like you. Hope you will head his advise.

[Joy]

If McCain wanted the press to focus on him...he is getting this done!!

[Tom Tee]

The Alaska hillbillies might soon be coming to your house through the White House. It is sad that Republicans don't demand that their top leaders be smarter and more worldly that Joe Sixpack. Four more years of Bush rule and the USA will become a poor colony of China or Dubai.

[No More Fake Posts]

I'm getting really frustrated by these lapdog posters that completely parrot political talking points.

Regardless of the rumors behind the babies' parentage, the simple fact of the matter of the matter the Palins did hide her pregnancy. And in a presidential election these secrets are made newsworthy because they are secrets, Sorry,

Also, for candidate and a ticket that touts family values she should expect for their family values to be investigated. Again sorry. Like Sarah Palin said, "stop whinning" whiners.

[Tom]

All press is negative on Palin. That is good as it shows their bias. Looking forward to a lifetime NRA member mother with commons sense and a beautiful spirit as our new VP.

[jack black]

After talking to people, watching the news and reading articles it seems as if we are so shocked to hear someone can be 17 and pregnant. Is this really one of the biggest flaws with Palin's run for VP??? You would think lots of parents and kids can relate with Bristol or Sarah. Kids fall in love and make bad decisions. It happens to the best. I will admit Palin is really not that bad of a candidate if you look at her short history. Not many politicians have done as much as her in such a short period of time. I say take the scandals off the table because we have not heard a guilty verdict. I'm glad Obama defended Palin. That's class. Minor issues like this are ridiculous and definitely should not grace the front page of a magazine. But yes, US Weekly is free to do as they wish. USA USA USA!

[RR]

The HUFFPO blogger is an IDIOT sensationalist... guilty of the very thing she charges the Palins with. The Palins didn't put their daughter in the limelight. They answered a possible media frenzy (which would be about a 'coverup') before it happened. So the HuffPo fool wants to make a media frenzy of avoiding a media frenzy.

[RepubBristolFan]

LEAVE BRISTOL ALONE!!!!!!

[captbilly]

I am not prejudiced against small town America. I don't believe that everyone in America needs to have an advanced Ivy League degree to be respected. I understand that many people have trouble raising their children to behave responsibly. And I surely understand the difficulty of getting ones children to marry an appropriate man or woman. But I don't expect the President of the United States to be just anyone.

I do expect the President to have been an outstanding student with an outstanding intellect. Someone who is able to raise their children to become all they are capible of becomming. I want a President who is a roll model not because we can point to them and say "see, in America even a woman with nothing but a BA from a second rate college and virtually no political experience, and extreme right wing politics, who lives in a tiny town in the middle of nowhere can become President", but because they have done something exception in their lives before becomming VP. I want a VP who has shown by every possible measure that they are extraordinary in every way, not just because they took on the system.

Palin shouldn't even have been seriously considered, but once McCain looked over her resume he should have realized that there was no way she could do the job.

[Steven Wilson]

The word is....Palin asked for her brother in law to be fired because he used a Taser on her nephew at a picnic outing for the family.

You can bet, if the guy had tasered my child, or yours....we would have demanded his termination also.

Kudos to Sarah Palin......Sticking up for a childs rights.

Police Officers and Troopers, are held to a higher standard.

[Matt]

Here's some hypocrisy for you:

"On the pinhead front, 16-year-old Jamie Lynn Spears is pregnant. The sister of Britney says she is shocked. I bet.

Now most teens are pinheads in some ways. But here the blame falls primarily on the parents of the girl, who obviously have little control over her or even over Britney Spears. Look at the way she behaves."

Bill O'Reilly on Fox News

[Humor Me]

When the "liberal" media questioned Obama's birth status, he posted his Hawaiian birth certificate as proof. Simple enough.

Gov Palin could have responded to the rumors in kind by posting the child's birth certificate. Instead, she chose to rebut the rumor by revealing her daughter's alleged pregnancy (we still don't have proof any of this is true).

It's the ugly truth of the matter. When you give yourself the right to dictate people's private lives, you lose the right to your own privacy. Simple enough.

[ebmo]

I think at the very least this is a perfect example of the failure of "no education, abstinence only" programs.

They have never worked and they do not work now.

[Julie in VA]

Angry left loons:This is invasion of family is indecent, the attacks - especially from women - reak of insane jealousy. This is NOT how Americans should treat one another. Coming together??? You leftist loons tout liberal propaganda, but don't actually expect/want a woman to actually live that dream. Every one of you (primarily the Obama camp and his mainstream media) should be ashamed of your behavior and your comments. In the off chance just one of you has any common decency left, here are a few things you and your media surrogates should take heed:
* Judge not, that ye be not judged.
* For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what
measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.
* And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but
considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?
* Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of
thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?
* Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then
shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.
* Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls
before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again
and rend you.
God speed strengthy and redemption to Sarah Palin by way of victory in November.

[Carl Goodrum]

I work as a recruiter and before that was a manager. It was (and still is)) absolutely prohibitive for us to ask anything about the candidates family. If they volunteer the info we cannot ask if they are married; have children or how they will be taken care. Where is the EEOC in this. Doesn't she deserve the same considerations as anyone else applying for a job??

[Janie]

This article is obviously a smear by US magazine and it's owners who openly support Barack Obama. Just look at the comparison of this article and the extremely favorable and biased US cover of Barack and Mechelle Obama and his reasons for loving her. Governor Palin has not even had an opportunity to speak to the American public before the news media and gossip magazines such as US attempt to destroy her. That's the prejudice against strong, attractive, competent women in America today. They did it to Hillary Clinton and they're now coming out even stronger against Governor Palin. Shame on you US Magazine.

[chris]

I am blown away by the incredible hipocracy of the democrats and the blatent unbiased views of the press. Do they really think they are fooling anyone that they are reporting the "news" vs an ongoing campaign ad for Obabma in the NYT? Admittedely, I used to buy US weekly for light reading/picture looking. I will never purchase this magazine again. I am also extremely offened as a working mother of 4- shame on the women of the democratic party for questioning Gov. Palin's ability to still take care fo her family!!!!

[FLavius]

You folks are doing a great job boosting Palin's appeal. I have a relative who became "pregnant out of wedlock" (which seems to suddenly have become a big deal again) and didn't murder the child. Thank you for your support, you idiots.

[Boycott US Weekly]

Cancel your US Weekly subscriptions and boycott their advertisers...speak with your wallet against one-sided journalism.

[nwkerr2005]

The Democrats and their talking heads which is basically the entire mainstream media is sexist and bias. Leave this lady and her family alone. No one ever asked any male candidate how they can lead and take care of kids at the same time. Absoloutely insane. Hillary was treated almost as bad becaseu the media is in love with Obama. This will backfire.

[Cindy]

I was starting to feel sorry for Palin, but...after she already offended 50% of the population by trying to exploit gender and Clinton's historic campaign for her own political gain (although she didn't support Clinton and calls women advocates whiners), she goes and offends 50% of the voters (who are currently in favor of Obama) by belittling Obama's candidacy. Obama has been nothing but gracious about her ridiculous candidacy. Sarah says she has had actual responsibilities and she is more fit to serve than Obama? Hmmm... I guess national affairs and being voted for by the American people doesn't mean anything to her. I don't think she should be too confused as to the source of the public's disgust at her endless series of bad policies (e.g. abstinence only, library censorship, pork projects for Alaska...), backward ideas (creationism is a science, people do not affect global warming, Iraq was God's plan...), and ignorant statements (what does the vice presidency do, what will it do for Alaskans). These are not false rumors, unfounded assumptions, or make-believe "smears" like we have seen in this campaign but all things done or said directly by Sarah, all documented and on tape. RNC is trying to create the "liberal" bogey man to scare people, but Republicans are the ones that have been running this country into the ground, putting innocent lives and the American dream at stake. I don’t think there is anything more scary than the thought of those two running the most powerful nation in the world at one of the most critical times of our history. In fact McCain/Palin seem worse than Bush/Cheney. People are angry at being fooled for the last eight years. NOT four more: no way, no how!

[FernFlower]

It was not Sarah Palin that threw her young daughter under the bus, I'm sure she and the Republican National Convention would have been pleased to let that problem stay under the radar. There's not doubt - the Palin family has accomplished things few others have but they also know the pains and joys of "real" people.

[Solyd_Truth]

I bought my wife a 2 yr subscription to U.S.Weekly magazine last Christmas as a stocking stuffer. I thought she would get a kick out of the deprecating articles about the Hollywood celebrities.

NO LONGER! Cancel our subscription!

After seeing the slanderous, malicious, attack-driven “cover story” entitled, “Babies, Lies & Scandal” meant to publicly embarrass Governor and Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin of the great State of Alaska, U.S. Weekly can take its communist drivel and peddle it to some unsuspecting victim elsewhere. To be honest, we all know that U.S. Weekly is far from the caliber of legitimate journalism.

However, since it has a readership in the millions, U.S.Weekly, is clearly trying to flex its Beverly Hills political muscle. U.S.Weekly should stick to what it knows best, like what Madonna has to say about saving the world and how noble she is by adopting children from third world countries. We all know how much better the USA would be with Madonna at the helm; after all she is best friends with another Hollywood liberal political force, Oprah Winfrey. To add to this phenomenal development, Madonna and Oprah, clearly are grounded and certainly connect with minimum wagers in this country, after all we all know that they don’t make much money and live in modest housing to remain relatable to the public. Madonna loves America so much that she spends most of her time in England. Oprah loves America so much that she launched her own magazine called, “O” and graces its covers every month so that all of us unfortunate working folks can be inspired by her grace and ability give away merchandise on her self-aggrandizing show.

The Republican Party has never been popular with the Hollywood set, and I don’t think that will change anytime soon. However, the public knows that you, Ms. Min and Ms. Wenner, are just employees of the New York Times which publishes U.S.Weekly. We aren’t fooled and we aren’t stupid. Both of you are openly and unequivocally Pro-Obama. You have doted and fawned over he and his wife with a child like naiveté. Your Pro-Obama coverage is a shining example of your liberal and leftist leanings. You are the sycophants that are repeating the pattern of Thomas Feyer, the NYT editor that raves about Obama and refused to print future President John McCain’s Op-Ed because our next President, John McCain did not agree with Feyer’s liberal rants.

Attacking Governor/Vice Presidential Candidate Sarah Palin was the wrong thing to do. Not only have you energized the conservative political base in this country because of it, but you have galvanized those that truly love America and defend it for a living as I do. For your feeble attempts at a political insurgency against McCain/Palin, you will most definitely be rewarded!

With a decisive McCain/Palin win!

[Marshy]

I think Palin is exploiting her kids. I am not going to criticize the family because there is an unwed pregnant teenager. That happens to even the most conservative of families. But Palin has always been abstinence-only for everyone. But once her daughter gets pregnant, she parades her around like the poster child for morals and values. "Oh, at least she didn't get an abortion!". You know, lots of pregnant teenagers keep the kid. Not all of them are as well off as Bristol, but they manage. Not having an abortion doesn't make you a great person who is above everyone else. Lots of women don't have abortions. She needs to keep her kids out of this. Bristol is a 17 year old girl. Being pregnant and still in high school is one of the worst things that can happen to a teen. But it's even worse when that news is plastered all over the country. Let's take Obama's advice and leave the kids out of the platform.