Andrew Sullivan thinks it odd that a woman in the middle of labor has the presence of mind to send e-mails to her staff. You know what? I have to agree.

From the Daily Beast:

Despite Palin's own account of desperation for the child's safety overwhelming her, she was cool as a cucumber. We now also know she was busy conducting state business on the trip back home, even as contractions continued.

In one e-mail in the middle of the day on April 17, Palin writes a casual, brief note to her attorney general thanking him for letting her know about a local blogger’s unflattering assertions about the reasons for a state attorney’s departure from the staff. Palin mentions heading home but makes no mention of rushing or her condition.

“What a goof he is . . . truly annoying,” she wrote about the blogger to Attorney General Talis Colberg. “Thanks for the info. I’m on my way home now from Dallas.” ...

In another e-mail the morning of April 17, Palin weighs in from Texas about a proposed communications strategy. She urges her staff not to proceed with a draft letter to the editor expressing the governor’s outrage at some Alaskan disc jockeys’ recent offensive on-air jokes about Alaskan Native women.

“Don’t submit at this time, as there will be more thought put into this as it relates to a more positive message/event,” Palin wrote just after 8 a.m. “Thanks.”

It seems to me we have two options. It's possible that Palin simply made up her drama of labor, or exaggerated it for effect, when in fact it was a routine, if rare, pregnancy, and she had mild warnings that the birth may be premature, and she gussied that up into a tall tale of her pioneer spirit, guided by her doctor, who refused to take the NYT's calls as soon as Palin hit the big time. I think that's the likeliest explanation, given the sheer world-historical weirdness of the alternative.

But it's also possible that she never had that baby at all. I mean, if you read the emails and independent reports above and were asked if this woman were in labor with a special needs child, and that her water had already broken, would you believe it? Just put all the facts in front of you and ask yourself that question.

So she is either a self-serving drama queen who didn't realize her story would imply she put her child - and many others on the planes - at great risk and then winged it to make her story more plausible; or she is a fantastic hoaxer and liar at a world class meshugana level that, at some point, will make Weinergate look like a damp squib.

I was going to post on this topic before the "God Letter "caught my attention, and I am very glad that Sullivan, who has far more resources than I, was able to address it instead, because I believe it is very valuable information which provides even more evidence that Palin was not in labor on that famous plane ride back to Alaska.

I really don't think this e-mail dump did Palin the kind of favors that her supporters keep claiming that it did. I think much of what we are learning makes HER version of her pregnancy and delivery just that much harder to believe, and that people who read these e-mails with an open mind will reach the same conclusion that all of us have already reached.

Simply put, Sarah Palin did NOT give birth to a child on April 18, 2008. And the evidence to support that contention are found in HER VERY OWN E-MAILS!

Right now there are Palin-bots reading this who are desperately reaching for the Kool-aid to help numb their critical thinking back to a level where they can ignore this information and later soothe their troubled minds with a rereading of Going Rogue.