Sarah Palin's Vanity Fair Profile Writer Admits Mistake

The October issue of Vanity Fair's 10,000-plus word story on Sarah Palin paints a portrait of a high-tempered, power-hungry woman who has become increasingly isolated as her star rises.

The profile also contains a mistake.

Writer Michael Joseph Gross acknowledged to the Associated Press that he confused Palin's infant son, Trig, with another baby, who suffers from Down syndrome, at a rally in Independence, Mo. Politico first reported that Gross mistook a child who was the son of conservative activist Gina Loudon for Trig.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch's blog Political Fix reported that Loudon told Gross during the event that the child in the stroller was her son, Samuel. Loudon explained, "When I grabbed Samuel and walked past the stage, he said, 'Oh, are you the nanny?' And I said, 'No, I'm not the nanny; I'm the mother.' "

Gina Loudon said, "I told him that. And he ignored it. It's not even like he didn't fact check -- he just ignored facts."

In a statement to the AP, Gross admitted that he was mistaken."Trig was with his mother the next day in Wichita, but the child in Independence was someone else, and I regret the error," he said.

Palin had strong words, using sexual metaphors, in discussing the Vanity Fair story last week.

"Those who are impotent and limp and gutless and they go on their anonymous -- sources that are anonymous -- and impotent, limp and gutless reporters take anonymous sources and cite them as being factual references," Palin said on Sean Hannity's radio program. "It just slays me because it's so absolutely clear what the state of yellow journalism is today that they would take these anonymous sources as fact."

Politics Daily last week highlighted the more damning parts of the profile, but did not focus on Gross' colorful beginning.

In the first page of the story, Gross paints a scene of Palin's youngest daughter, Piper, pushing a stroller holding a baby that Gross writes is Trig, behind the stage at the event in Independence, Mo.

Gross writes: "Backstage in the arena, a little girl in Mary Janes pushes her brother in a baby carriage, stopping a few yards shy of a heavy, 100-foot-long black curtain. The curtain splits the arena in two, shielding the children from an audience of 4,000 people clapping their hands in time to 'The Battle Hymn of the Republic.' The music accompanies a video 'Salute to Military Heroes' that plays above the stage where, in a few moments, the children's mother will appear.

"When the girl, Piper Palin, turns around, she sees her parents thronged by admirers, and the crowd rolling toward her and the baby, her brother Trig, born with Down syndrome in 2008. Sarah Palin and her husband, Todd, bend down and give a moment to the children; a woman, perhaps a nanny, whisks the boy away; and Todd hands Sarah her speech and walks her to the stage."

Palin's maternal nature takes a turn for the worse in the article as Gross talks with many anonymous sources from politicians to long-time Alaskan acquaintances. She has an air of entitlement "fueled by persistent feelings that she was under-appreciated." She has become accustomed to the glamorous life. She flies in private jets and drives a "gleaming new Escalade ESV with tinted windows."

Her children aren't even fans of their mother, according to Gross. A former campaign aide recalled the following for the writer,
"You're just putting on a show. You're so fake," one of the children said when Palin made a point of praying in front of other people. "This is not who you are. Why are you pretending to be something you're not?"

Palin did not talk to Gross for the Vanity Fair story.

Gross said last week on MSNBC's "Morning Joe," "The worst stuff isn't even in there."