Palintology

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If you think I haven't been linking to all of La Palin's shenanigans, you'e right. I think it's a mistake to give her too much attention. -- Constant Weader

John Dickerson seems to be very interested in La Palin. Here, on August 25, he writes about "Palin's Magic Touch": "She backed five candidates in Arizona, Florida, and Alaska — and they all won."

John Dickerson of Slate writes about how rigorously Sarah Palin trolls scrub her Facebook page of even fairly innocuous comments that might displease La Palin. Here's one that got the ax:

Hey all Sarah fans! Come and 'like' Mike Huckabee on Facebook. Like Sarah, he is a common sense conservative. Sarah and Mike have ideas that will save this great nation.

CW: A genuine Sarah Palin tweet, which Little Green Footballs captured:

... Obviously, Palin thinks "refudiate" is a real word. Via Urban Dictionary:

The President and his wife ... they can refudiate what this group [the NAACP] is saying. - Sarah Palin, on Fox "News"

     ... Urban Dictionary: "Refudiate definition: a term used to indicate the underlying racism of the speaker. If you as a racist need another group to give up their culture you ask that group to refudiate their beliefs and culture. Users of this term reject the English language, facts, rationalism and black people." CW: def. should be expanded to include non-Christian religions, e.g., Muslims. ...

     ... Little Green Footballs has the video of Palin on Fox "News." She urges the First Couple to refudiate the NAACP at about 2:35 min. in. ...

     ... AND Geoffrey Dunn elaborates in the Huffington Post. Really, Palin goes from bad to worse as she likens herself to Shakespeare.

 

 

Ari Melber of The Nation, July 14: "Sarah Palin’s new 'Mama Grizzlies' video drew strong reactions from many reporters, politicos and critics. An analysis of viewer data, however, shows that Palin’s video actually failed to reach or excite her base."

AP: "The administrators of a new legal defense fund set up for Sarah Palin have sent out e-mails to supporters and others that downplay the outcome of ethics complaints against the former Alaska governor and accuses her political enemies of waging a 'vicious campaign' to ruin her." ...

... Alan Bisbort of the Hartford Advocate is "awed by ... one of the great con artists of [his] lifetime."

Reuters, June 24: "A legal defense fund for former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin was illegal and must repay nearly $400,000 to donors, according to a settlement with a state-appointed lawyer announced on Thursday."

Upcoming Newsweek cover...OR...One Example of Why Newsweek Is No Longer a Profit-Making Magazine....

     ... Update: here's the Newsweek story... CW:... which I am so not reading.

First, Kill All the Biographers. ... Those who are fond of Joe McGinnis might remind him (if he doesn't already know) that Alaska has a law that allows the use of deadly force in protection of life and property. -- Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman, via Jason Linkins, whose post is worth a read. ...

     ... Alaska Dispatch Update, June 21: publisher Kari Sleight fired Tom Mitchell, the managing editor of the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman, apparently over the editorial above.

CW: sorry about posting another Sarah Palin story, but Dave Weigel, now of the Washington Post, has a good one on writer Joe McGinness' reaction to Palin & Palin's accusing him of being a Peeping Tom. McGinness is working on a biography of Palin, & she hasn't helped turn it in her favor....

Politico, May 7: Palin is losing tea party support over her endorsement of Carly Fiorina in California's U.S. Senate race.

Gabriel Sherman of New York Magazine, April 25: "The Revolution Will Be Commercialized. Sarah Palin is already president of right-wing America—and it’s a position with a very big salary."

Reid Wilson of Hot Line, April 14: "Ex-AK Gov. Sarah Palin (R) spent more money to de-ice her private jets than she did donating money to candidates during the first 3 months of the year, according to new filings made with the FEC."

A Woman of the People. AP: resourceful students searched a trashcan & found 5 pages of a contract between Sarah Palin & Cal State Stanislaus, prompting California AG Jerry Brown, who is running for governor, to look into the finances of the university's foundation, "as well as allegations that the nonprofit organization violated public disclosure laws by keeping" secret the terms of the contract. Palin's requirements that do appear on the 5 pages:

first-class flights from Anchorage to California — if she flies commercial. If not, the private aircraft MUST BE a Lear 60 or larger...; a suite and two single rooms in a deluxe hotel near the campus.... During her speech, her lectern must be stocked with two water bottles and bendable straws.

     ... Ben Smith thinks it's even more remarkable that Palin's contract requires strict control of the questions she's asked; says one veteran, "prescreening of questions is virtually unheard of."

ABC News, April 13: "Since leaving office at the end of July 2009..., [Palin] has brought in at least 100 times her old salary – a haul now estimated at more than $12 million -- through television and book deals and a heavy schedule of speaking appearances worth five and six figures."

Las Vegas Sun, March 27: an estimated 8,000 showed up in Harry Reid's tiny hometown of Searchlight, Nevada, to hear Sarah Palin say stuff like, "It's time to reload," [this comment via Time] & "Someone needs to tell him [Reid] this is not a crapshoot."...

Justin Elliott of Talking Points Memo, Feb. 12: Sarah Palin promised, in writing, to give her $100K Tea Party convention honorarium "right back to the cause." But she hasn't.

After mocking President Obama for using a teleprompter, it turns out Sarah Palin used crib notes penned on her hand to answer an audience question. 

Sarah Palin speaking at the Tea Party convention. Her marked-up hand is visible in this AP photo.Are you ready for the closeup?

Now watch her look at her hand after she answers the first part of the question on "Energy." A few moments later, she rubs her leg to erase the notes from her hand. Oliver Willis video:

     Update: "...a Palin spokesperson said the former VP candidate had not seen the questions ahead of time." CW: Right. She psychic.

Fifty-three percent of Republicans believe this stupid, stupid woman is more qualified to be President than Barack Obama, who stood up to hostile Republican Congressional questions for an hour, & by everyone's estimation -- including Republicans' -- beat them back.

Media Matters headline: "Palin latest to walk back criticism of GOP leader Limbaugh." CW: Palin Rule: When Rush calls people "retard" in public it's funny. When a Democrat calls people "retard" in private, he should be fired.

Palin on Fox News' Sunday show, Feb. 7, as articulate as ever. As for running for President in 2012, “I think that it would be absurd to not consider what it is that I can potentially do to help our country.”

Mark Leibovich of the New York Times, Feb. 7, writes some stuff about Palin, including the fact that Fox News is giving her her own in-home TV studio....

... AND Kate Zernike of the New York Times: in a paid speech to crazy people, Palin makes fun of the President of the United States. Washington Post story here. The Tennessean story here. C-SPAN has video of the speech here.

CW: the AP has the whole Palin-Emanuel-Limbaugh-Shriver "retarded" story here, which I'll admit I've declined to follow.

Bill Dedman of NBC News: Todd Palin, more than the "First Dude," was enmeshed  in the governance of Alaska, though he held no official position.

AP, Feb. 4: Sarah Palin hasn't paid property taxes on large cabins & other structures that have been built on two backcountry plots which she partially owns.

New York Post: Palin gets $100K for magazine cover photo; daughter Bristol has become a born-again virgin.

As the Handler Turns. Jeanne Cummings of Politico: Steve Schmidt settles some scores with Sarah Palin....

... Nicolle Wallace isn't exactly supportive of Palin, either....

... The Huffington Post has video of former Half-Gov. Sarah Palin's debut as a "news analyst" on Fox. CW: I'm not posting it, but I can tell you her "analysis" involved using the terms "b.s." & "crap." ...

Salon picks the Top Bogus "News" Stories of the Year, starting with Sarah Palin's "death panels."

"Death Panels." Politifact, the nonpartisan, Pulitzer Prize winning fact checker, credits Sarah Palin with the "Lie of the Year." Congratulations, Guv.

Why Sarah Palin Will Never Be President Anything of Consequence. Justin Elliott of Talking Points Memo: she & the Dude ban reporter-bloggers from public events.

"Death Panels." Politifact, the nonpartisan, Pulitzer Prize-winning fact checker, credits Sarah Palin with the "Lie of the Year." Congratulations, Guv.

Paul Rolly of the Salt Lake Tribune: when Sarah Palin showed up for a book signing, Costco prudently removed all the tomatoes from the shelves. Also, she stiffed her hairdresser.

CW: I've been trying to ignore Sarah Palin, but this really is too much. DailyKos has the transcript:

... Dave Weigel of the Washington Independent: on her Facebook page, Palin tries to put the toothpaste back in the tube, but her fans are disappointed.

Slate posts the results of its "Write Like Sarah Palin" contest. CW:...which probably should have been called "Write Like Lynn Vincent," the right-wing scribbler who actually penned all that crap.

In The Nation, Katha Pollitt writes her "Last Column about Sarah Palin -- Ever"; CW: and it's a good one.

 A funny from Canada's This Hour Has 22 Minutes news-comedy show, via the Huff Post:

Charlotte Observer, Nov. 23: Palin visits Billy Graham.

Thanks to Ben Smith of Politico for finding this riveting story & the snapshot that follows, also taken at the Noblesville event:

From Palin's Facebook page (really). CLICK TO SEE LARGER IMAGE.RumpRoast has a funny take on the doppelgänger snap.

Steve Rubenstein in the San Francisco Chronicle: they ain't Going Rogue here.

Sorry, one more Going Rogue review, & this is the best ever: Thomas Frank of the Wall Street Journal captures the tone of a book that ought to be called The Persecution of Sarah Palin.

Steve Holland of Reuters, Nov. 18: Sen. John McCain defends 2008 campaign staffers Steve Schmidt & Nicolle Wallace against Palin's attacks.

Thomas Rogers in Salon: Going Rogue -- the short version. CW: really, as much as you need to know.

Click to read cover story.

CW: okay, this really is too much. What was it Palin said about Levi's selling his body?: "...those who would sell their body... reflect a desperate need for attention." (Palin said this was a shot for Runner's World & she criticized Newsweek for using it; maybe she should have thought of that before doing the photoshoot.) For Evan Thomas' vacuous GirlieWeek Newsweek cover story, click the cover.

     Update: here's editor Jon Meacham's almost hilarious excuse for the cover.

     ... AND Joan Walsh lambastes Jon Meacham....

     ... AND Julie Millican of Media Matters documents Newsweek's history of sexist treatment of Palin. CW: in fairness, I have to say that Newsweek editors have been sexists for decades, long before Sarah Palin became an object of their editorial "thrusts." It's what they do. If I remember correctly, Susan Faludi called them out in 1991 in her award-winning book Backlash.

CBS News: Miss Sarah can't keep her lies straight.

Uh, Obama made me quit my day job:

No Schmidt, Red Ryder. CNN: Steve Schmidt, John McCain's 2008 campaign manager, calls Palin claims "total fiction."...

... Christopher Hitchens reads Sarah Palin.

... The AP, Nov. 13, fact-checks Going Rogue. Gosh, it's full of lies & half-truths! ...

... Andy Barr of Politico: McCain staffer calls Going Rogue "petty & pathetic."...

... Greg Sargent: a McCain advisor says Palin's claims about the Couric interview are LOL untruthful.

Media Matters reports a few of the inflammatory, stupid opinions of Palin's co-author (a/k/a the actual writer) Lynn Vincent. Pretty disgusting.

Lying Rogue. CNN, Nov. 13: a former senior McCain campaign adviser says Palin’s claim that she was billed for the costs of vetting her before she was selected as the veep nominee "is one hundred percent untrue."

Richard Pienciak of the AP summarizes Going Rogue.

Here's a surprise -- Fox News fact-checks Sarah Palin who, as usual, has no idea what she's talking about (thanks to TPM for producing the video):

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Nov. 7: Palin begins her book tour at an anti-abortion fundraiser. CW: where else?

AP: another out-of-work Palin: Todd quits his oil-field job.

More Proof of the Palin Is Nuts Premise: her speech in China, excerpted here and here.

     Update 1: Krugman compares Palin's speech to Qaddafi's.

     Update 2: Evan Osnos of the New Yorker: "China reacts to Palin," & it isn't very pretty.

     Update 3: Brit Robert Fisk of the Independent reviews Palin's speech & performance. Downright ugly.

Jonathan Cheng & Alex Frangos of the Wall Street Journal, Sept. 23: "former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, in what was billed as her first public-speaking engagement outside North America, blamed the world financial crisis on government excesses...."

AP: initial estimates put the cost to Alaska taxpayers for Gov. Sarah Palin's resignation at a minimum of $40,000, not including the costs of calling a special legislative session partly linked to her departure.

Vanity Fair: Levi Johnston on the Plan to Hide Bristol's Pregnancy:

Sarah told me she had a great idea: we would keep it a secret—nobody would know that Bristol was pregnant. She told me that once Bristol had the baby she and Todd would adopt him.... Sarah kept mentioning this plan. She was nagging—she wouldn’t give up....

Anchorage Daily News, Aug. 13: an Alaska Superior Court judge ruled that "the Alaska governor's office can use private e-mail accounts to conduct state business, as former Gov. Sarah Palin did."

Apparently without intended irony, Sarah Palin seems to call for restraint in the healthcare debate: "Let’s not give the proponents of nationalized health care any reason to criticize us." Here's a CBS News story titled, "After Health Care Distortion, Palin Calls for Restraint."

CW: I tend to feel sorry for Sarah Palin because I think she's mentally unbalanced & should be getting help rather than scorn. Then she pulls crap like writing this:

The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama's "death panel" so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their "level of productivity in society," whether they are worthy of health care. Such a system is downright evil.

...and robs me of all sympathy.

Anchorage Daily News, Aug. 5: Palin is gone but some of her ethical issues live on, unresolved.

Dan Balz of the Washington Post on the "almost unprecedented" rapid rise & fall of Sarah Palin.

Here's Gov. Sarah Palin's last hurrah:

New York Times: in "a fiery campaign-style speech," Gov. Sarah Palin resigned her position as Governor of Alaska today to write a book and build a political coalition, but she was not specific about her plans beyond that.

     Related: Anchorage Daily News: Palin resigns, Parnell is sworn in.

AP: Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin "leaves office today with her political future clouded by ethics probes, mounting legal bills and dwindling popularity.... [She] faces queries about why she is quitting more than a year before her term ends and what she plans to do after she steps down."

...BUT Anchorage Daily News: "Thousands of people turned out for Gov. Sarah Palin's Anchorage farewell picnic on Saturday, many to seek autographs and to show their love for her, others just because it was a chance for free food."

Anchorage Daily News: an independent investigator found probable cause that Sarah Palin had violated state ethics laws by asking people to donate to her legal defense fund, but was sympathetic to her having to defend herself with personal funds for charges arising out of her public duties....

...AND Politico reports that, oddly enough,

Palin immediately called the AP report [of the investigator's findings] an 'inaccurate story' on her Twitter feed, and several of the governor’s top confidants sharply criticized it, pointing out that under Alaska law the contents of the document should have remained confidential because the matter is still under review.

... Damsel in Distress. CW: what's bizarre about Palin's Twitter push-back is that the AP story was entirely accurate. Here's the pdf of the inspector's report. So this is yet another case (among many) in which Palin seems to think that denying facts will make them go away. Sadly, Palin defines the term "pathological liar."

Anchorage Daily News: Alaska Senator Mark Begich is trying to get state and federal officials, including Gov. Palin & her successor, to cooperate in providing health services to Alaska's needy after the federal HHS cut off new applicants for the mismanaged state Medicaid program.

     Anchorage Daily News: Alaska's home healthcare program is so poorly-run the federal government has forbidden the state to sign up new clients. Alaska, where 227 patients have died waiting for a health professional to assess them, is the only state the feds have so sanctioned.

The Washington Post (July 14) carries this op-ed piece on cap-&-trade purportedly written by Sarah Palin.

Ezra Klein says the Palin (or whoever) opinion is "a bit like an op-ed that attacks firefighters for pointing pressurized water cannons at everything but never mentions fires."

Ben Armbruster of Think Progress flashes back to the days way last fall in the vice presidential debate when Palin was an enthusiastic supporter of cap-&-trade (assuming she knew what it was).

Jim Rutenberg & Serge Kovelaski of the New York Times, July 13, write an interesting, in-depth piece on the events that led to Palin's resignation. CW: the Times' writers' reporting is a lot more credible than all of the pundificating on the "real" reason Palin quit.

Conservative Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan on Sarah Palin: "out of her depth in a shallow pool." A very good, comprehensive list of "what it is about Sarah."

Levi Johnston, who lived in the Palin household for a while, states the obvious: a desire to take advantage of lucrative financial offers is what really motivated Palin to resign.

Greg Sargent, July 8: But Palin's multi-million-dollar excuse for quitting doesn't pan out.

Update: the Alaska Daily News looks into Palin's claim that the state government has had to pay out millions in defense of "frivolous lawsuits" & ethics complaints against Palin doesn't pan out.

Palin on a Salmon Reporter Run:

"It's all for Alaska." Time's Jay Newton-Small interviews Gov. Sarah Palin.

Sean Cockerham of the Alaska Daily News: Gov. Palin says she's resigning because frivolous ethics inquiries paralyzed her administration....

...BUT Palin critics say they have followed the letter of the state ethics & freedom of information laws.

Jonathan Alter of Newsweek does an intratextual reading of the ramblin'-on speech & sees it as the opening salvo in Palin's campaign for the presidency -- and she had professional help!

It's Wrong unless I Do It. Gee, less than a year ago (August 2008) Gov. Palin said "women in politics" have "gotta plow through" public criticism, "fair or unfair"; Palin said "it bothers me a little" to hear Hillary Clinton "with any kinda perceived whine about that excess criticism":

July 5. In Her Own Words. Maureen Dowd demonstrates Gov. Palin is "one nutty puppy" by doing little more than quoting her.

July 4. Uh, on her Facebook page, Gov. Palin says she's "sacrificing" her title as governor to go on to "a higher calling." CW: Nun? Pope?? Saint??? And the media are picking on her.

The Editorial Board of the Alaska Daily News says Gov. Sarah Palin's explanation for resigning the governorship "simply doesn't make sense."

New: Ezra Klein of the Washington Post: one thing is clear; Palin wrote that incoherent speech herself. Some of Klein's commenters are quite sharp, too.

Here's the whole, 18-minute I-Quit, in two parts, including a really long preamble, from Talking Points Memo:

Transcript of full remarks from Alaska Daily News. Also from ADN, a list of know ethics complaints, & the status of each, against Gov. Palin.

Stephen Stromberg of the Washington Post on the Palin resignation: "the picture of a politician who is...arrogant, unstable & unwise."

Not the Governor We Thought Might Resign This Week. Sarah Palin says she will step down from Governor's position at the end of the month, won't seek re-election, gives no explanation. Alaska Daily News story here. The pdf of the governor's press release is here. AP story here. The pdf of Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell's prepared remarks. New York Times story here. Washington Post story here.

***************************************************************************

The Todd Purdum Vanity Fair article that got insiders talking about Palin is a good read.

AND THIS... “Hey Sarah … the job’s in Juneau.” Yereth Rosen in the Christian Science Monitor: Alaskans are dissatisfied with Gov. Sarah Palin's job perforamance. CW: this article was published the day before Palin quit her gig.

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