This blog will recount only facts, no opinions. It will provide links to Sarah Palin's activities on a daily basis, and the news reports on those activities. As the Presidential race heats up, the activies of all Presidential candidates will also be detailed here.

Monday, January 31, 2011

31 Jan, 2011, Mon: Michele Bachmann Rises as Sarah Palin Falls

US News and World Report: Michele Bachmann Rises as Sarah Palin Falls

January brought—or wrought—a new narrative for the radical right: let's call it the Rise of Michele Bachmann and the Fall of Sarah Palin. And I'm not sayin' that's a bad or good thing—but a thing I feel in my winter bones.

The two most visible Republican women may have changed power places at the Tea Party table. The transformation started with the Arizona shootings aftermath (for Palin) and completed with an unofficial State of the Union response (for Bachmann.) Momentum shifted over the frozen northern country's skies, the winds blowing across Alaska to Minnesota to Washington. The change in the air may be lost on young Miss Meghan McCain, whose obtuse father shone fame on an unknown governor of Alaska in 2008. In a recent interview, Miss McCain cut into Bachmann as "a poor man's Sarah Palin." [Check out a roundup of political cartoons on Sarah Palin.]

Come now, such shades of class are not called for. I can barely tell these two trippy women apart; they both bemuse me greatly. Palin and Bachmann are breathtaking examples of an undercurrent in American political history. They represent the latest cycle of hostile anti-intellectualism churning in our politics, which goes back to the anti-immigrant "Know-Nothing" party of Abraham Lincoln's day. It's too bad when you consider the Republican party has women of substance serving in office, notably the two senators from Maine and one from Texas: Olympia Snowe, Susan Collins, and Kay Bailey Hutchison. In party politics, however, these three are so yesterday.

But on the other side of the Capitol, you have to admire how lightning-quick Bachmann was to step into the breach Palin left in the wake of her defiant, self-inflicted statements on a so-called "blood libel." This language fell heavily on the nation grieving the attempted assassination of a Democratic congresswoman and other casualties, including the deaths of a federal judge and a girl of nine. Palin, who favors gun imagery, shot herself in the folksy foot. Her concern over slights to herself in the face of tragedy brought the worst in her into plain view. As her sagging approval ratings show, the woman who emerged from the wilderness—with a signature shriek—is wearing thin on our nerves in the Lower 48. [Check out a roundup of political cartoons on the Tea Party.]

Bachmann has the strategic upper hand of actually being in office. So she's constantly in front of the Washington media and American public when she chooses to call a press conference. Better yet, befuddle the Republican party powers by responding to the president's State of the Union speech as head of the Tea Party caucus. The twittering Palin relinquished an official platform when she frivolously resigned her governorship. Now she may regret doing so because a ton of Facebook friends are fine, but not the stuff of presidential gravitas. [Read 10 Things You Didn't Know About Palin.]

If Palin recovers from this fall, the race between the two women rivals for Tea Party hearts is on. The workhorse Bachmann may have eclipsed the showhorse Palin for the first time. On the other hand, Palin received a plum invitation to speak at a 100th birthday celebration for President Ronald Reagan at the Reagan ranch next month. There she may bewitch and restore herself back into the party faithful's good graces. In honoring the jovial, sunny Reagan, threatening not "to sit down and shut up" is probably not the best way back into people's hearts. [Read Michele Bachmann on why the Tea Party is good for the GOP.]

Meanwhile, we can be sure the race won't be won by book-learning. Both Bachmann and Palin display a bewildering command of "history" that never happened and bridle when questioned about sources and facts. Defending herself, Palin suggested dueling pistols were brandished early and often by political figures in the republic's younger days, but failed to mention any. There was in fact only one notable duel, between Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton, which turned on a personal score to settle, in 1804. In a similar vein, Bachmann erroneously suggested the Founding Fathers sought to abolish slavery, citing John Quincy Adams, who was an abolitionist, but not a Founding Father. And he never lived to see the day the slaves were freed. [See who donates the most money to Bachmann.]

Quite by accident, Bachmann opened an intriguing picture of the past. She never said so, but the aging Adams served in the House with a thoughtful younger man from Illinois, Abraham Lincoln, for a brief time in the 1840s. Casting a stark eye on the raging storm of the period's politics, Lincoln wrote in a letter: "As a nation, we began by declaring that 'all men are created equal.' We now practically read it, 'all men are created equal, except negroes.' When the Know-Nothings get control, it will read, 'all men are created equal except negroes, foreigners and Catholics.' When it comes to this, I should prefer emigrating to some country where they make no pretence of loving liberty...."

And so on. The former president and the future president (one Harvard-educated and one self-educated) are two of the most brilliant men ever to be elected president. To imagine a conversation between Adams and Lincoln, about anything at all, dazzles the imagination.

Candlepower sparked in a talk between Bachmann and Palin, leading ladies of the right, might start out as a strong vivid light and fade out into a long winter night of American history. Too dark to read a darn book.

31 Jan, 2011: Sarah Palin: 'I can't wait to not get blamed' for events in Cairo because of threatened news boycott

New York Daily News: Sarah Palin: 'I can't wait to not get blamed' for events in Cairo because of threatened news boycott

Sarah Palin and the "lamestream" media can finally agree on one thing: a boycott of her.

With some media figures calling for a boycott next month of coverage of the controversial former Alaska governor, Palin told an audience in Reno, Nevada that she was thrilled with the idea.

"Because there's a lot of chaos in Cairo, and I can't wait to not get blamed for it--at least for a month,” she told the audience, according the Daily Beast.

The boycott was originally called for by Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank, who pledged not to write anything about Palin for a month.

Media coverage or not, Palin is keeping a busy public speaking schedule.

She addressed the boycott while speaking to the Safari Club International in Reno Saturday night about the dangers of gun control. Palin claims the Obama administration has been itching to pass new laws using the pretext of the deadly shooting in Tucson killed six and wounded 14 others, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.

President Obama, however, hasn't spoken about gun control lately – even in the wake of the Arizona shootings which many pundits thought would provide him an opening.

"Imagine, though—imagine making life even more miserable for the liberals who want that gun control," she told the crowd, according to the Daily Beast. "Here's how I figure it. Remember that weird guy in Wisconsin was so angry, so upset, watching a Palin win slot after slot each week on Dancing with the Stars that he shot Bristol through his TV? He blasted his Panasonic? Well, I'm thinking, 'Imagine more gun control. Then he'd have to attack his Panasonic with a butter knife.'"

She was referring to the November incident in which Steven Cowen, 67, of Vermont, Wis., blasted his television with a shotgun after being enraged by the sight of Bristol Palin's dancing on the hit ABC show.

During the speech Palin also addressed her family’s love of hunting and the outdoors, warning that any attempt to curb the sale of assault rifles like those used in the Tucson shooting was a slippery slope to curbing the rights of hunters.

And that, she said is something only a true hunter could understand.

"For most of these frou-frou, chi-chi types, the extent of their experience is in the Tiki Room at Disneyland,” she said. "We eat organic—we just have to shoot it first. And it comes wrapped in fur, not cellophane."

Sunday, January 23, 2011

24 Jan, 2011, DiamondbackOnline: What papers were they reading???

A fellow named Justin Snow wrote the article below...either forgetting or ignoring the fact that within 2 minutes of the Tucson tragedy, left-wing media were blaming Palin, Beck and Rush Limbaugh for what had happened. And apparently he thinks Palin didn't have the right to defend herself from these allegations?

Sarah Palin: The worst president we'll never have
You've got to hand it to Sarah Palin. Despite all her faults, she really has a knack for making the story all about Sarah.

After all, when news broke a few weeks ago that Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) had been shot in the head at a meet and greet with constituents, who else but the Mama Grizzly herself could have manipulated the tragedy so well as to make herself out to be the victim and not the 14 wounded and six killed?

The former Alaska governor and vice presidential candidate is no stranger to the blame game. During the 2008 presidential election, it was Katie Couric who was out to get her when she asked Palin what publications she reads. And after the election, Palin blamed the McCain campaign for practically everything that went wrong. It wasn't her who made the mistakes — it was the Republican establishment that was trying to bring her down.

Not long after the shooting, Palin's fiery rhetoric soon garnered attention as perhaps having influenced the shooter. When some began to reference a controversial map from the 2010 midterm election, on which Palin's political action committee had pasted crosshairs of a gun sight on Giffords' district to signify a Democrat who conservatives should "target," Palin was silent, and the map was soon scrubbed from the website (although a Palin aide did laughably try to argue the crosshairs could have been perceived as "surveyor's symbols"). When commentators singled out her obsessive use of gun rhetoric ("don't retreat, reload!"), Palin was silent. In fact, it wasn't until almost a week after the shooting that Palin actually opened her mouth in a video statement from her Alaskan mock-Oval Office.

For eight minutes, with an American flag perched over her shoulder, she decried the shooting and expressed her sympathies for the victims' families. She proclaimed America's greatness. And she played the victim. Journalists and pundits, it seemed, were to blame for the negative attention of her incendiary rhetoric. Their attention to those details was distracting and encouraged hate — unlike her rhetoric, of course. Indeed, she was the victim of "blood libel" — a term whose meaning Palin seemed oblivious to and that sparked outrage from the Jewish community because of its roots in alleging Jews kill Christian children for their blood on Passover.

But Palin's woe-is-me response demonstrated exactly why she will never be president.

She can no doubt connect with a large portion of the country that has been vocal about its support for her. When she speaks, both sides listen. But her statement on the shooting demonstrates just how limited her range is. The role of president is to speak to and for all Americans. And when our country is reeling from shock and grief, the last thing anyone wants to hear is how their leaders have been slighted in the political game. Palin seems all but incapable of talking about anything but herself.

In contrast, President Barack Obama did the opposite during his speech at the memorial service in Tucson, Ariz. Whereas Palin had seemed defensive, whiny and distracting, Obama appeared somber, hopeful and unifying. He urged Americans to talk in "a way that heals, not wounds" and, in reference to the 9-year-old girl who was killed, proclaimed that he wants "America to be as good as she imagined it."

It was perhaps the best speech of his presidency. And in a recent ABC News/Washington Post poll, 78 percent of Americans (including 71 percent of Republicans) expressed approval of Obama's response. Only 30 percent approved of Palin's.

For whatever legitimate criticisms there are of Obama's presidency, he showed what it means to lead and to hold that office. Palin did not. And that, it seems, will be her downfall — her sheer inability to speak to all Americans and her pathological insistence to make it all about me, me, me.

23 Jan 2011: The Rumor Mill

There are lots of websites out there that spread gossip, and of course there are a lot of dumb people out there that believe that if something appears in print (even electronic print) it must be true.

So we have someone at Associated Content who has written an article:
Todd Palin Affair Rumors Could Damage Sarah Palin's Political Career
Why, one wonders? It never hurt Bill Clinton. Of course it's a double standard...a man can have an affair, and unless he has 23 of them simultaneously like TIger Woods, no one cares, but if a woman has an affair...she's a slut. But...here we are talking about her husband! Will it lessen women's respect for her if they learn she can't "hold on to her man"? Didn't hurt Hillary Clinton.

Suite 101 follows this up with "Sarah Palin Marriage Woes."

Thursday, January 20, 2011

20 Jan, 2010, Thu, BLTWY: Sarah Palin's Enforcer

Palin Watch, Daily Beast: Sarah Palin's Enforcer
By Howard Kurtz

The right's favorite lightning rod doesn't bother defending herself against critics. That job falls to Rebecca Mansour, an ex-Hollywood screenwriter with sharp teeth.

When Sarah Palin was being panned in the press for her combative speech after the Tucson shootings, there was a striking silence.

No journalist quoted a spokesman as defending the former governor, or a "source close to Palin" explaining the strategy. No unnamed insiders were cited as responding to the critics. As is so often the case with Palin's small and tight-knit circle, its members simply didn't engage with what she derides as the "lamestream" media.

But there was one exception, if you knew where to look. "Politicizing this is repulsive," Rebecca Mansour wrote on her Twitter page. Mansour, a staffer for SarahPAC, Palin's political organization, also said on Tammy Bruce's radio show that the group's much-criticized map targeting Democratic candidates-including Gabrielle Giffords-was never intended to be marked with "gun sights."

A Lebanese American who grew up in Michigan, Mansour, who is in her mid-thirties, is a former Hollywood screenwriter who felt so strongly about Palin-whom she'd never met-that she founded the website Conservatives4Palin. Originally hired to help with Palin's famous Facebook page, Mansour says on her Twitter feed that she is speaking only for herself. But she whacks Palin's detractors with such thumb-in-the-eye passion as to make her boss seem downright diplomatic.

There are the "puppy-kickers" and "porn producers" at Politico. The "liar" at the Associated Press who said Palin provided no press access on her visit to Haiti except for Fox News. The "semi-literate buffoons at MSNBC." The "mouth-breathing loon" Aaron Sorkin. The Maureen Dowd column that chided Palin for shooting a caribou on her TLC show that was "so stupid I thought it came from The Onion."

There is more, plenty more: The "ridiculous HuffPo piece" on Palin's Alaska record. The "false assumptions" by a Mediaite blogger "in your latest Palin rant." The "goofy" Alaska blogger who suffers from "Palin derangement." A mildly positive Time cover story, which included an email interview with Palin, drew this retort: "Every other line in this Time piece gibberish."

Mansour accused The Daily Beast's Shushanna Walshe, co-author of a book about Palin, of "complete and utter nonsense" and "taking passages totally out of context" after excerpts of Palin's latest book were leaked-charges that Walshe disputed in a Twitter dialogue with Mansour.

"Their team doesn't reach out to us unless they're completely and absolutely angry about something," says NBC's Chuck Todd. "It's like dealing with a billionaire CEO or controlled access to a celebrity."

Local television operations have also come under Mansour's withering gaze. The ABC station in Phoenix that covered the flap over Bristol Palin on Dancing With the Stars: "Totally false & unprofessional. Apologize & retract." The CBS station in Anchorage, where reporters were caught on tape denigrating Republican Senate candidate Joe Miller: "KTVA is an utter joke. I always felt their news shows looked like they were run by a high school a/v class. Pathetic."

Not that Mansour is always negative: "Brit Hume's documentary on the American conservative movement is excellent." And she likes the Republican congresswoman from Minnesota, writing after an appearance on Chris Matthews' Hardball: "BTW, it was flat out awesome to see @MicheleBachmann do a proverbial victory lap on MSNBC on Tues night. How's that tingle, Chris?"

In fairness, Mansour is sometimes responding to strong, harsh, or inaccurate criticism of Palin. On the phone, for journalists who manage to reach her, Mansour can be friendly, personable, and funny. Even her online barbs are sometimes laced with humorous overstatement. But her us-against-them mentality seems to provide a window on the worldview of a politician, both loved and loathed, who often acts like she is under siege.

Mansour did not respond to requests for comment. Some of those familiar with Palin's operation say she doesn't want others speaking for her, at least for now, and feels she gets hammered whether she attempts to explain herself or not. But for a potential presidential candidate to have no apparatus for massaging the media is remarkable. Journalists have difficulty getting answers to even the most basic questions. It's no secret that Palin prefers her communication unfiltered-and to chat with such friendly Fox questioners as Sean Hannity-but her aides' lack of engagement with the Fourth Estate is harder to grasp.

"We have a couple of people around her who are in regular touch with her, but it's not the easiest thing in the world," says Chuck Todd, the NBC correspondent and political director. "Their team doesn't reach out to us unless they're completely and absolutely angry about something... It's like dealing with a billionaire CEO or controlled access to a celebrity."

Todd sees this detached approached as "doomed to failure. You can ‘lamestream media' all you want. I've come across plenty of politicians who believe they can go around the mainstream media, but they all realize it's much more difficult than it looks."

Chris Cillizza, who writes The Fix column for The Washington Post, has no direct pipeline. "Most political reporters monitor Sarah Palin's Facebook site and Twitter page for news," he says. "I don't know any other avenue by which to communicate with her that she responds to, or with her team. There aren't the sorts of people around her who are around Mitt Romney or Tim Pawlenty." The result, says Cillizza, is that "she can dictate the terms of the conversation, but she can be misinterpreted."

A couple of Palin advisers are sympathetic to the complaints and try to help, even as they are overwhelmed by the volume of requests. But they also dismiss some of the journalists as whiners who seem to think they have a constitutional right to have Palin cooperate with their hit piece.

On Hannity's show Monday, Palin defended her use of an old phrase, with anti-Semitic overtones, in her video denouncing journalists and pundits for attempting to tie her to the Tucson shootings. "I don't know how the heck they would know if whether I did or didn't know the term ‘blood libel,' nobody has ever asked me," she said. But that's the point: How could any journalist ask her when there's no one to respond to their questions?

By default, the sort-of-spokesman role falls to Mansour. "Rebecca Mansour is kind of the gatekeeper here," says Amanda Coyne, co-founder of the site Alaska Dispatch. "Every official question I ask her, she tends not to answer. It's such a strange way to communicate. It's so bizarre." But Coyne, who has both bantered with Mansour and felt her sting online, adds: "She challenges me a little bit. She keeps me a little more honest."

Matthew Continetti, a Weekly Standard reporter and the author of The Persecution of Sarah Palin, calls Mansour "a new model of spokesperson-very new-media-oriented and much more combative than any typical spokesperson. That world has become something of a black box-every so often it releases a particle of information."

When Mansour launched Conservatives4Palin, says Continetti, "it became the go-to place for Palin sympathizers and fans on the Internet."

Indeed, Mansour is as devoted to Palin as a family member. That may help explain why she sometimes picks apart even neutral or fair stories about the former governor.

In a rare interview, Mansour told Robert Draper of The New York Times Magazine last year that she first got involved when another aide invited her to do volunteer work on Palin's memoir Going Rogue. She was later hired as a paid staffer, with the article describing her as "Palin's primary speechwriter, researcher, online communications coordinator, and all-purpose adviser."

"I love it when they underestimate her," Mansour told Draper.

Every politician carps about coverage, but Mansour views some journalists as not even attempting to get it right. After a false report that the former vice-presidential nominee had a hairdresser accompany her to Haiti, Mansour wrote: "This is why Palin calls them ‘lame': They're dishonest, unprofessional, biased, manipulative ideologues who make stuff up." When Palin drew flak even from some conservatives for noting that Ronald Reagan had appeared in Bedtime for Bonzo-as a way of countering complaints that her role in the Alaska reality series as unpresidential-Mansour tweeted: "I'm astonished at the brazen intellectual dishonesty of anyone who claims that Sarah Palin in any way ever ‘mocked' Ronald Reagan."

Mansour does all this from behind the curtain. She tweets as RAMansour and doesn't share a photo; her profile picture is of an ancient coin.

A word of warning, though: Don't get too familiar with the SarahPAC staffer. Mansour insists on Twitter etiquette: "If you're a batsnot crazy Trig Truther loon, don't call me by my 1st name as if we're on a 1st name basis."


Howard Kurtz is The Daily Beast's Washington bureau chief. He also hosts CNN's weekly media program Reliable Sources on Sundays at 11 a.m. ET. The longtime media reporter and columnist for The Washington Post, Kurtz is the author of five books.

20 Jan, 2011, Thu, ET: Joan Rivers vs. Sarah Palin: The New War of Words

ET: Joan Rivers vs. Sarah Palin: The New War of Words

There's a new war of words this week between Joan Rivers, Sarah Palin and FOX News after FOX called Joan's outrage over a canceled appearance a "publicity stunt."

The drama started Friday, after Joan proclaimed that Palin "is just stupid and a threat" and "they're right to blame Sarah for the shooting" in response to the recent Tucson tragedy, apparently referring to Palin's controversial target list map of Democrats in gun crosshairs from her Facebook page.

"She's so out of my radar, except as a joke," says Joan of Palin.

The comment may have bumped Joan and daughter Melissa from a scheduled appearance to promote their new WE TV show "Joan & Melissa: Joan Knows Best?" on "FOX and Friends" -- which happens to be Palin's network as a paid contributor. FOX claims that due to the volume of news topics their booker mistakenly canceled Joan's appearance, but they are in the process of booking her on an upcoming show. Today, a spokesperson told the Daily News if "Joan doesn't want to come on the morning program where she was invited to push her next project that's no problem. We have plenty of people begging for a spot."

"This is called damage control and they are out-and-out liars," says Joan. "I would like to take a lie detector test. I think it would make great reality television. I wish our show, which is coming on the air now, I wish this was one of the episodes. Let's get them in and on FOX let's take a lie detector test."

"I'm not a huge fan, but it's not something I really spend most of my day thinking about," says Melissa of Palin. As for whether or not she believes the crosshairs on Palin's site can be linked to the Tucson shooting, she says, "You just have to be careful. Words do incite emotions. It's like yelling 'Fire!' in a crowded theater. You're not supposed to do it."

Joan adds, "As Howard Stern said today so brilliantly, 'If they took Bristol Palin's face and put it on the Internet with crosshairs and gave her address, I think Sarah Palin would have had something to say about that.' The hypocrisy gets me crazy on every level."

"Joan & Melissa: Joan Knows Best?" premieres Tuesday, January 25 on WE TV at 9 p.m. ET/PT.

Sunday, January 16, 2011

16 Jan 2011, Sun, McCain Defends Obama: A Split With Sarah Palin?

There's been no real news about Sarah Palin recently, just a lot of personal opinion pieces blaming her for the psycho's attempted murder of Giffords. This despite the fact that research shows the psycho had a grudge against her for 3 years. (And of course, no mention of Hollywood's incessant glorification of violence that just may have had something to do with it too.)

The Moderate Voice: McCain Defends Obama: A Split With Sarah Palin?
So is it another about face that means a shift (or re-shift) or is it a perfunctory, lip service bow to the “old John McCain?”

Arizona Senator John McCain, a politician who seemed to be working hard to shed his old persona, reverted to his old persona in an Op-Ed piece in the Washington Post where he praised Barack Obama’s Tucson shooting speech, defended Obama’s patriotism and even suggested some regret for some of his own past statements. Does this signal a split with his former running mate Sarah Palin, who is now the embodiment of the country’s polarizing talk radio political culture (she is also literally a favorite of Glenn Beck’s and Rush Limbaugh)?

The jury is still out on that but McCain’s op-ed is getting a lot of attention. Here are some chunks of it:

President Obama gave a terrific speech Wednesday night. He movingly mourned and honored the victims of Saturday’s senseless atrocity outside Tucson, comforted and inspired the country, and encouraged those of us who have the privilege of serving America. He encouraged every American who participates in our political debates – whether we are on the left or right or in the media – to aspire to a more generous appreciation of one another and a more modest one of ourselves.

The president appropriately disputed the injurious suggestion that some participants in our political debates were responsible for a depraved man’s inhumanity. He asked us all to conduct ourselves in those debates in a manner that would not disillusion an innocent child’s hopeful patriotism. I agree wholeheartedly with these sentiments. We should respect the sincerity of the convictions that enliven our debates but also the mutual purpose that we and all preceding generations of Americans serve: a better country; stronger, more prosperous and just than the one we inherited.
Further down is where he defends Obama and also GOPers who oppose him on policy grounds:

I disagree with many of the president’s policies, but I believe he is a patriot sincerely intent on using his time in office to advance our country’s cause. I reject accusations that his policies and beliefs make him unworthy to lead America or opposed to its founding ideals. And I reject accusations that Americans who vigorously oppose his policies are less intelligent, compassionate or just than those who support them.
And here is where he suggests some — including himself — might consider lowing the tone on political discussion:

Our political discourse should be more civil than it currently is, and we all, myself included, bear some responsibility for it not being so. It probably asks too much of human nature to expect any of us to be restrained at all times by persistent modesty and empathy from committing rhetorical excesses that exaggerate our differences and ignore our similarities. But I do not think it is beyond our ability and virtue to refrain from substituting character assassination for spirited and respectful debate.
And here — without naming her — he defends Palin who was not only blasted by many due to her cross-hairs web fiasco, but also for her speech that boomeranged, creating a controversy due to what some said was her self-absorbed content and use of the controversial phrase “blood libel.”

Political leaders are not and cannot reasonably be expected to be indifferent to the cruelest calumnies aimed at their character. Imagine how it must feel to have watched one week ago the incomprehensible massacre of innocents committed by someone who had lost some essential part of his humanity, to have shared in the heartache for its victims and in the admiration for those who acted heroically to save the lives of others – and to have heard in the coverage of that tragedy voices accusing you of complicity in it.

It does not ask too much of human nature to have the empathy to understand how wrong an injury that is or appreciate how strong a need someone would feel to defend him or herself against such a slur. Even to perceive it in the context of its supposed political effect and not as the claim of the human heart to the dignity we are enjoined by God and our founding ideals to respect in one another is unworthy of us, and our understanding of America’s meaning.
AND:

But it is not beyond us to do better; to behave more modestly and courteously and respectfully toward one another; to make progress toward the ideal that beckons all humanity: to treat one another as we would wish to be treated.

We are Americans and fellow human beings, and that shared distinction is so much more important than the disputes that invigorate our noisy, rough-and-tumble political culture. That is what I heard the president say on Wednesday evening. I commend and thank him for it.
This is closer to the John McCain of 2000 than the emerging image of the 2010- 2011 McCain who often seems to still be stung from losing the election to Obama, a politician with a lot less experience than McCain.

ABC’s John Berman sees the differences between McCain and Palin on Obama as indicative of how the GOP is now at a crossroads and needs to decide which path it’ll pursue:

Much has been written about turmoil and infighting during that campaign. But the conflict now has nothing to do with politics in 2008, and everything to do with the direction of the Republican Party in 2011. One says the president actively wants to help America, the other, actively hurt it.

In Sunday’s Washington Post, Sen. McCain wrote an Op-Ed lavishing praise on President Obama for his speech Wednesday night in Tucson. “President Obama gave a terrific speech Wednesday night,” the senator wrote, “[he] “comforted and inspired the country.”

And in notably gracious language, McCain added, “”I disagree with many of the president’s policies, but I believe he is a patriot sincerely intent on using his time in office to advance our country’s cause.”

Read that carefully. He called President Obama a “patriot” who wants to “advance our country’s cause.

Now contrast those words to language used by former Gov. Palin a little more than a week ago, when she said the President was, “Hell-bent on weakening America.”

That statement came during an interview on Laura Ingraham’s radio show that has drifted into that background a bit because of the discussion about the Arizona shootings, not to mention “cross-hairs’ and “blood libel.”

Palin used that notably strong language the day before the Arizona shootings in a discussion with Ingraham on raising the national debt ceiling, which she opposes, and the White House currently supports.

Palin told Ingraham that by supporting raising the debt ceiling, “what Obama is doing–purposefully weakening America.”
It could be that both the 2000 McCain and the 2010 will vanish in 2011 — with a new version somewhere in the middle.

AND:

Again, what is striking is the stark difference between what is being said by McCain and Palin. The senator says, whatever his disagreements with the president, he believes Obama is “intent on using his time in office to advance our country’s cause.” While Sarah Palin is clearly saying that she believes that the president is using his time in office to purposefully weaken America.

The striking difference in this language makes one wonder if McCain was directing his comments in the Washington Post Op-Ed at Palin’s rhetoric?

His Op-Ed does seem to defend Palin from the criticism that her rhetoric is any way to blame for the Arizona shootings. “Imagine,” he asks, what it must have been like, “to have heard in the coverage of that tragedy voices accusing you of complicity in it.”

While he is clearly admonishing those who criticized Palin on that front, he is hardly embracing the type of language she has been using recently in public. The question is, does their split on this issue represent what will be a schism in the Republican party going forward. And which argument is more compelling to voters…Republicans and otherwise.
I would bet that come 2012 most independent voters will be sick of the over the top demonizing rhetoric and that the Republican party will nominate someone who can offer more than just snark, Facebook postings, Twitters and carefully planned speeches because polls will show that person has a better chance of taking on incumbent Obama.

Saturday, January 15, 2011

15 Jan, 2011, Sat, Ellison: Palin’s political ride may be over

Ellison: Palin’s political ride may be over
Rep. Keith Ellison says Sarah Palin “may be looking at the end of her political ride” over remarks in which she used the term “blood libel,” a historical anti-Semitic canard that Jews sacrifice Christian children. Palin used the language in her video response to critics who have attempted to tie her rhetoric to the shootings in Arizona, drawing further criticism from Democrats and some Jewish groups. Ellison, on the Bill Press Show Thursday, said the continued controversy could hamper her political prospects.

“I think that the president’s message is going to prevail,” Ellison said. “In fact I think Sarah Palin may be looking at the end of her political ride. I think she may be at the end of her ride right now. If Sarah Palin would have said, ‘You know what, I probably have been responsible for overblown rhetoric and I’m going to watch myself,’ that would be different. But she is completely unrepentant. And the enormity of this tragedy, I think, put a very, very clear damper on her prospects. And her reaction even dampers her political ride more.”

The controversy began when campaign maps by Palin surfaced that showed crosshairs over Rep. Gabrielle Giffords’ district and those of a dozen other Democratic candidates. Giffords was the target of Jared Loughner’s shooting spree in Arizona last weekend that critically injured Giffords, killed six people and injured a dozen more.

Loughner’s motives remain unknown, but there’s been no indication thus far that political ideology had a direct connection to the shooting.

15 Jan 2011, Sat, Public Policy Polling: Palin's biggest problem

Palin's biggest problem
Sarah Palin's biggest obstacle to the White House may not be her remarkable level of unpopularity with Democrats and independents. Her more immediate problem is that she simply doesn't have much support in the vital early Republican states of Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and Florida.

Palin does well in national polls on the GOP nomination contest, including a first place finish on our most recent one. But if those sorts of polls determined the nominee Hillary Clinton would most likely be in the White House now. The momentum or lack thereof that candidates get out of the early contests is often what causes their bids to succeed or fail and right now she looks quite weak in those places.

In Iowa two different polls this week found that Palin is a distant third in Iowa. We found her 15 points behind Mike Huckabee with 15% support and Neighborhood Research found her 13 points behind Huckabee with only 11% support. In New Hampshire our most recent poll found her in a tie for third place at 10% with Newt Gingrich, 30 points behind Mitt Romney. A Magellan Strategies poll last week found her with a similarly larger deficit, in second place at 16%, 23 points behind Romney. In Nevada she's been in second place in one of our recent surveys and in third place in another, but at any rate she's running double digits behind Romney. And in Florida our most recent poll found her in a distant fourth place at only 13%, 10 points behind Huckabee, 8 behind Romney, and 5 behind Gingrich.

Now certainly the history of Presidential campaigns is full of people who started well back in the polling gaining momentum and rising to the top in the end. But those tend to be folks who start out with very low name recognition and gain more and more ground as they become better known. Palin's already maxed out on name recognition and it's kind of hard to imagine her winning over very many folks who don't already support her.

If Mike Huckabee doesn't run that will definitely help Palin in these early states but regardless of that she has a lot of work to do in them if she really ends up making a bid for the White House.

15 Jan, 2011, Sat, Various news places

Sarah Palin continues to be a target of those who are blaming her for the Tucson, Arizona shooting, despite the fact that it has been well-proven by now that the murderer was simply a loon who attempted to kill the Congresswoman because 3 years ago, she didn't answer a question he had asked her!

I do not reproduce any of those news articles here. Just be aware they are happening.

15 Jan 2010, National Examiner: Sarah Palin hired to give speech at gun convention

The Examiner is a group of website for various cities in the US, to which average people, not professional reporters (for the most part) post. Hence the ungrammaticalness of the brief report below.

Eaminer.com National: Sarah Palin hired to give speech at gun convention
The Safari Club International, an organization that promotes hunting and gun ownership, has hired Sarah Palin to give the keynote address at their upcoming meeting on January 29, 2011, in Reno, Nevada.

Sarah Palin has been in the spotlight since the Arizona shootings on January 8, 2011, which left six dead and 14 other wounded, including Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords,

Palin had a map on her website that featured Rep. Giffords named as a target. Giffords state of Arizona was depicted under the crosshairs of a gun sight.

Palin was also recently criticized for killing a moose with a rifle on her television show, Sarah Palin’s Alaska.

Thursday, January 13, 2011

13 Jan, 2010, Thur, Los Angeles Times: White House on Sarah Palin's comments: No comment

Los Angeles Times: Nation: White House on Sarah Palin's comments: No comment
Video at the article linked above, which I do not reproduce here.

The administration aims to stay above the fray when asked about President Obama stressing the need for political civility after the Arizona shootings and Sarah Palin's 'blood libel' charge.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs pointedly avoided attempts Thursday to engage the Obama administration in a debate on civil political discourse with potential presidential rival Sarah Palin.

Speaking at his morning briefing, Gibbs ducked several questions about the president's response to Palin's comments in the wake of the Arizona shooting spree that left six dead and 19 wounded. Palin on Wednesday branded attempts by some to use the attack as a way of criticizing conservatives as "blood libel."

Wednesday night, Obama traveled to Tucson, where he spoke at length at a memorial on the need for healing and political civility. Several commentators noted the contrast between Obama's call for healing and Palin's defense of what she said was an attack on conservatives without evidence.

Gibbs on Thursday backed away from questions that would have engaged the White House in a debate with a possible rival.

"I am happy to speak to what the president said and how he came about saying it, but I'll let others opine on that," Gibbs said in response to questions about Palin.

Saturday's shooting has opened a window into an ongoing debate on political civility at a time when power is shifting in Washington. With Republicans taking over control of the House and increasing their influence in the Senate and in statehouses across the country, that debate has grown even sharper since the November election.

Much of the early criticism after the shooting has centered on campaign materials from Palin, a conservative icon. She targeted 20 congressional districts, including the district where Saturday's shootings took place. U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who was meeting with constituents when the attack took place in Tucson, was critically injured when she was shot in the head.

Investigators believe that Jared Lee Loughner, being held on five counts of murder and attempted murder of federal employees in connection with the attack, acted alone in the shooting. Although some, including Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik, said vitriolic political discourse played a role in the shootings, others said Loughner was just a disturbed individual acting out of personal animosity.

In an extended video statement posted on her Facebook page, Palin sought to defend conservatives.

"Like many, I've spent the past few days reflecting on what happened and praying for guidance," she said. "After this shocking tragedy, I listened at first puzzled, then with concern, and now with sadness, to the irresponsible statements from people attempting to apportion blame for this terrible event.

"As I said while campaigning for others last March in Arizona during a very heated primary race, we know violence isn't the answer. When we take up our arms, we're talking about our vote."

Palin also gave a scathing assessment of the media: "But, especially within hours of a tragedy unfolding, journalists and pundits should not manufacture a blood libel that serves only to incite the very hatred and violence they purport to condemn. That is reprehensible," she said.

13 Jan, 2011, Thur, Washington Post: As Obama urged unity, Palin brought division

Post Politics, The Take: As Obama urged unity, Palin brought division
[Rather an unfair headline, in my view, as Palin was simply defending herself from 2 days of vitrolic and unfounded attacks. What was she supposed to say???? Over-arcingly, the Democrats want a socialist country, the Republicans want a republic, and the two do not mix]

President Obama did not miss the moment. From the generally positive overnight reaction, Obama's speech in Tucson on Wednesday night struck just the right notes. Amid grief over a senseless tragedy and against a raging debate that threatened to further divide the country, the president urged healing and reconciliation rather than recrimination and hatred.

The role of mourner-in-chief is relatively new in the history of the presidency, but it is now an important part of the job description for anyone who seeks the nation's highest office. In times of tragedy, people turn to presidents to help soothe the pain and bind the wounds, to give hope at times where there is little or resolve when it is needed.

Ronald Reagan did it with a short and eloquent Oval Office address the night that the shuttle Challenger exploded shortly after takeoff in 1986. Bill Clinton did it with a pointed and yet uplifting speech at a memorial after the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995. George Bush did it after Sept. 11, 2001, first at Washington National Cathedral with sobering words at a somber ceremony and later that day from the rubble of Ground Zero with belligerence offered through a bullhorn.

Obama had been there before - after the massacre at Fort Hood in the first year of his presidency and after the coal mine disaster in West Virginia last spring. But Tucson presented a unique challenge, with a congresswoman the target of the attack in a state that has been roiled politically by violence, hot rhetoric and strong actions that had drawn national attention and condemnation.

Wednesday's event in Tucson was billed as a memorial service to the six dead and the many wounded, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), who remains in critical condition after being shot in the head. It became something else, unsettling to some - a moment of release for a community still in shock, a pep rally of sorts complete with cheers and applause and whistling at every line from every speaker that was meant to convey hope and optimism. It was anything but the somber service that many people may have expected.

Before the speech, White House officials told reporters the president's remarks would mostly focus on the victims. While partly true, their description mischaracterized the totality of what Obama decided to try to do with his time on the stage. Without assigning blame and in words shorn of partisanship, he delivered a political message. He asked all Americans to use the tragedy to make themselves and the country better - as a way of paying tribute to those who had been killed or wounded.

"The loss of these wonderful people should make every one of us strive to be better in our private lives - to be better friends and neighbors, co-workers and parents," he said. "And if, as has been discussed in recent days, their deaths help usher in more civility in our public discourse, let's remember that it is not because a simple lack of civility caused this tragedy, but rather because only a more civil and honest public discourse can help us face up to our challenges as a nation, in a way that would make them proud."

The president's speech was unique, given the circumstances. It was lengthy - more than 30 minutes - when most presidents have chosen to be brief. It was not partisan but it was political, causing some negative reaction. Most important, it offered Obama an opportunity to reprise the message of unity and hope that first made him a national figure. If he offered implicit criticism of what has transpired since the shootings, it was aimed as much at those on the left who have sought to link the shootings to right-wing rhetoric.

He said: "At a time when our discourse has become so sharply polarized - at a time when we are far too eager to lay the blame for all that ails the world at the feet of those who think differently than we do - it's important for us to pause for a moment and make sure that we are talking with each other in a way that heals, not a way that wounds."

Whether Obama's speech changes the trajectory of his presidency will be a subtopic of the post-Tucson political discussion. For all the reasons that people now point to Clinton's Oklahoma City speech as a turning point in his fortunes after the Democrats' debacle of 1994, many now will look to see whether Tucson proves that kind of moment for Obama.

Perhaps. The circumstances of the two events do not provide a neat comparison, given that the bombings were the acts of anti-government terrorists and the Tucson shootings appear to be the work of a deranged man with no clear political identity. More than public reaction to Obama's speech will determine its effect on his presidential fortunes. As important is how Obama internalizes this episode in the context of how he governs.

The political debate that erupted within hours of Saturday's shootings was a reminder of the depth of the divisions in the country today. Obama sought to elevate himself out of that climate of apportioning blame, as presidents can do in such circumstances. It is where he appears most comfortable as a politician but, as his presidency has shown, not an easily maintained position. In his first two years, he was unable to change the tone in Washington, as he had promised.

Policy debates await him that will soon thrust him back into the political and partisan realms, where he has sometimes proved thin-skinned and defensive. His calls for civility and unity will bump against the real differences that divide the two parties. Those times will test whether he can continue to unify the country or change the tone, or at least command a real majority.

The contrast between Obama and Sarah Palin was especially striking. Wednesday was a textbook example of how two politicians chose to handle a moment of national tragedy. Perhaps by an accident of timing, Palin put herself into the same news cycle as the president. After several days of silence, she offered her first extended commentary on the shootings.

Much of what she said was proper, but not all. Michael Gerson, who was Bush's chief speechwriter and has been no fan of Palin, observed on CNN Wednesday night that her speech was "seven minutes Reagan and 30 seconds Spiro Agnew." Her careless use of the charged words "blood libel" to criticize those who she believed had unfairly attacked her and other conservatives created more controversy, not less.

Obama has proven to be a polarizing figure in office, but on Wednesday he sought to unify. Palin ended up dividing. On a day of scripted messages, presumably carefully considered, Obama made the most of his. Palin did not.

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

12 Jan, 2010, Wed, Washington Post: Analysis: Sarah Palin's use of 'blood libel' sparks new controversy

Analysis: Sarah Palin's use of 'blood libel' sparks new controversy
By Karen Tumulty
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, January 12, 2011; 11:23 AM

Sarah Palin's Facebook page essay and video in response to the Tucson shootings - a tragedy in which she found herself the centerpiece of a debate over civility in political discourse - was crafted as both a defense of her own actions as part of the grand tradition of "our exceptional nation," and a strike against her critics.

That she waited four days and then issued such a delicately calibrated and polished statement also displayed a trait not normally associated with the former Alaska governor: discipline.

In Palin's version of events, her controversial actions represented common cause with Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), who a few days before being critically wounded in the mass shooting had read the First Amendment on the House floor.

"Acts of monstrous criminality stand on their own," Palin said in the statement. "They begin and end with the criminals who commit them, not collectively with all the citizens of a state, not with those who listen to talk radio, not with maps of swing districts used by both sides of the aisle, not with law-abiding citizens who respectfully exercise their First Amendment rights at campaign rallies, not with those who proudly voted in the last election."

Palin's statement contained an instance of provocative religious imagery that might be missed by more secular voters who read her statement, but which likely will be recognized by the religious conservatives who constitute such an important part of her following.

"Within hours of a tragedy unfolding, journalists and pundits should not manufacture a blood libel that serves only to incite the very hatred and violence they purport to condemn," she wrote. "That is reprehensible."

"Blood libel" is a phrase that refers to a centuries-old anti-Semitic slander - the false charge that Jews use the blood of Christian children for rituals - that has been used as an excuse for persecution. The phrase was first used in connection with response to the Arizona shootings in an opinion piece in Monday's Wall Street Journal and has been picked up by others on the right.

Palin's defensiveness was apparent in the indirect reference to criticism of a map on Palin's Web site during the midterm elections that showed districts of congressional Democrats she had targeted for defeat marked with crosshairs.

Giffords, whose district was one of those 20, had publicly complained that this was an invitation to violence.

"She's her own best spokesperson and she wanted to talk about this," said Tim Crawford, the treasurer for Palin's political action committee. "The reason we did the video was we wanted the statement in total out there. We wanted the video to be seen in its entirety."

Palin's statement comes as President Obama is headed to Tucson to speak at a service for the victims, and guarantees that her perspective will be part of the storyline of the day.

In its careful timing and deliberate language, it also represents a departure from her previous attention-getting Facebook posts and tweets, many of which were reflexive spasms to even small criticisms.

On Thanksgiving, for instance, as most of the nation was still sleepily digesting turkey dinners, she issued an angry blast at Obama and the media, recalling a gaffe the president made during the 2008 campaign. It was an apparent reaction to the fact that she herself had been ridiculed for a slip of the tongue in which she referred to North Korea as South Korea.

"The one-word slip occurred yesterday during one of my seven back-to-back interviews wherein I was privileged to speak to the American public about the important, world-changing issues before us," Palin wrote. "If the media had bothered to actually listen to all of my remarks on Glenn Beck's radio show, they would have noticed that I refer to South Korea as our ally throughout, that I corrected myself seconds after my slip-of-the-tongue, and that I made it abundantly clear that pressure should be put on China to restrict energy exports to the North Korean regime."

Those kinds of outbursts could be fatal in a presidential campaign, and stand as a stark contrast to the statement that Palin released Wednesday.

The new level of political professionalism to her approach - if that indeed is what this represents - also might not be merely a coincidence in its timing.

Republican operatives report that Palin has been calling around in recent weeks to seek advice not only on whether but how she should run for president in 2012. This statement might suggest she is not only seeking that counsel, but taking it as well.

Monday, January 10, 2011

10 Jan 2011, Yahoo Newws: Giffords tragedy could be a defining moment for Palin


Giffords tragedy could be a defining moment for Palin
Within an hour of Saturday's tragic shooting in Arizona, the Twittersphere had quickly seized on a map put out by Sarah Palin's political action committee last year that had gun-sight images over the congressional districts of House Democrats she wanted to win for the GOP in 2010.

Among her targets: Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona, who was critically wounded by a gunman Saturday. His motives, authorities say, are not fully known. But friends of the suspect, Jared Loughner, have suggested that he had held a grudge for at least three years against Giffords dating back to when he met her in 2007.

Still, some believe that incendiary rhetoric like Palin's bears some responsibility in the tragedy. Giffords herself had previously raised concerns about Palin's map: "The way that she has it depicted has the cross hairs of a gun sight over our district. When people do that, they have got to realize there are consequences to that action."

[Photos: Nation mourns the tragedy in Arizona]

On Sunday,the Senate's No. 2 Democrat, Dick Durbin, cited the Palin map as a sign of the "toxic rhetoric" that has come to define national politics in recent years. He said he was not making a direct connection between Palin and the shootings.

Palin offered her condolences after the massacre Saturday in a brief message on Facebook and has said little else of it. But she did email conservative radio host Glenn Beck, who read part of their exchange on the air Monday morning, per Politico's Keach Hagey. "I hate violence," Palin wrote Beck. "I hate war. Our children will not have peace if politicos just capitalize on this to succeed in portraying anyone as inciting terror and violence."

[Related: The intern who helped save Giffords' life]

Still, Palin has become a focal point in the debate over heated rhetoric, and her response is likely to be a defining moment in her political career. One informal but telling sign of the potential stakes for Palin: According to Facebook, the top question dominating debate on the site over the weekend was "Is Sarah Palin to blame?"



Click image to see more photos of scenes after the Arizona shooting




AP


So far, Palin's team, angry that the former governor is being linked to the shooting, has struggled to contain the controversy. On Saturday, the map citing Giffords was abruptly pulled from the SarahPAC site — even though it remained on Facebook. Rebecca Mansour, a Palin aide, said on Twitter that the map was pulled because it "was no longer relevant" since the 2010 campaign was over.

In a subsequent interview with GOP radio host Tammy Bruce, Mansour defended the map. They weren't gun sights but "surveyor's symbols," Bruce suggested, according to Alaska Dispatch, and Mansour agreed. But that contradicted Palin's own prior characterization of the map's symbol as a "'bullseye' icon."

According to Alaska Dispatch, Mansour said attempts to link Palin to the shooting were "obscene" and "appalling." She said there was "nothing irresponsible about our graphic."

Palin is hardly the first politician to use gun or military imagery in campaigning. As the Palin's supporters on the right noted, even President Obama has used similar metaphors, telling Democratic donors in 2008, "If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun." And Palin's former running mate, Arizona GOP Sen. John McCain, had defended Palin's call for followers to "reload" as they rallied to capture Congress. "I've heard all of the language throughout my political career," he said.

[Photos: Images of the suspect, Jared Lee Loughner]

But the bigger question is whether Palin will seek to passionately defend her comments and political ground — as she has been known to do during past controversies — or whether she, like other political figures in recent days, will urge her supporters to cool the rhetoric.

As Politico's Jonathan Martin says: "Whether she defends, explains or even responds at all to the intense criticism of her brand of confrontational politics could well determine her trajectory on the national scene — and it's likely to reveal the scope of her ambitions as well."

Saturday, January 8, 2011

8 Jan, The Improper: Sarah Palin Reality Show Snuffed by TLC; Is She Running?

Sarah Palin Reality Show Snuffed by TLC; Is She Running?

Sarah Palin appears to have stalked her last caribou and bludgeoned her last halibut, at least on camera. Her reality show “Sarah Palin’s Alaska” appears to have been slaughtered and gutted by the folks at TLC.

The reasons are complicated and largely speculative, but the cancellation could be an indication that Palin, indeed, will be running for president in 2012. Yikes!

Palin’s show was a hot button issue from the get-go. It exploded in the ratings; the first episode drew a record breaking (for TLC) five million viewers. But curiosity killed the cat, just as quickly as Palin gunned down her big buck.



The ratings fell 40 percent for the second episode. The only person interested in the series was probably Kate Gosselin, who reportedly fretted that Palin was replacing her as the cable channel’s sweetheart.

But it was not to be, according to Entertainment Weekly.




It reported that the show would not be renewed, making Sunday’s (Jan. 9) first-season finale likely the final airing.

If Palin were choosing to sit out the 2012 election, the show would be in the clear. But as a candidate, TLC would have to give equal time to her presidential opponents.

Palin was made to look cold-blooded after a video of her and daughter Bristol in a bloody orgy of halibut clubbing.

Then, she was shown on the show stalking and killing a caribou. Then, her crew swept in to gut the helpless animal. Palin made some suggestions that it was all about eating. But few bought it.

“I don’t watch snuff films and you make them. You weren’t killing that animal for food or shelter or even fashion, you were killing it for fun. You enjoy killing animals,” wrote screenwriter Aaron Sorkin in the Huffington Post.

8 Jan 2011, Saturday: CBS News; Sarah Palin Criticized Over Gabrielle Giffords Presence on "Target List"

Sarah Palin Criticized Over Gabrielle Giffords Presence on "Target List"
We do not yet know what prompted 22-year-old accused gunman Jared Loughner to allegedly shoot Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) and others, including a child and federal judge who died from their wounds.

But critics of Sarah Palin have already drawn a link between the shooting and the fact that the former Alaska governor put Giffords on a "target list" of lawmakers Palin wanted to see unseated in the midterm elections.

In March, Palin released a map featuring 20 House Democrats that used crosshairs images to show their districts. (You can see it here.) Critics suggested at the time that she was inciting violence by using the crosshairs imagery and for later writing on Twitter to her supporters, "'Don't Retreat, Instead - RELOAD!'"

"We're paying particular attention to those House members who voted in favor of Obamacare and represent districts that Senator John McCain and I carried during the 2008 election," Palin wrote when she released the target list.

She specifically cited Giffords and then went to say: "We'll aim for these races and many others."

In response to the news that Giffords had been shot, Palin posted the following on Facebook: "My sincere condolences are offered to the family of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and the other victims of today's tragic shooting in Arizona. On behalf of Todd and my family, we all pray for the victims and their families, and for peace and justice."

In the comments section below, her critics did not hold back.

"What a hypocrite you are," wrote Kathy Henn. "You targeted this woman - literally with a target on her district - one of your freaky Fox followers hunted her down - and now you try to distance yourself from blame." (There is no evidence at this point that Loughner was a "Fox follower," that he held views in line with Palin, or that he had ever seen the target list.)

"More than condolences, I hope you will think carefully in the future when you call on supporters to 'take aim' at opponents, and refer to elections as 'salvos,'" wrote Kirsten Sherk. "A child was killed today by someone who can't tell the difference between 'inspiring' speech and a call to arms. I was appalled by your violent speech before, I'm horrified now."

Arizona Democrat Rep. Raul Grijalva, meanwhile, told The Nation in the wake of the shooting that "we're feeding anger, hatred, and division for quite a while. Maybe it is time for elected officials and leaders in this country that have been feeding that disease to realize that there are consequences to it."

Asked if the Tea Party right was to blame, he added: "[When] you stoke these flames, and you go to public meetings and you scream at the elected officials, you threaten them--you make us expendable you make us part of the cannon fodder. For a while, you've been feeding this hatred, this division...you feed it, you encourage it....Something's going to happen. People are feeding this monster....Some of the extreme right wing has made demonization of elected officials their priority."

Giffords is in the beginning of her third term in office after recently winning a very close election. She is a conservative Democrat in a conservative state, but was the target of heated rhetoric.

Around the time of the Palin post, Giffords's district office was vandalized with a window being shot out. CBS News's Jill Jackson reported at the time that staffers were "kind of shaken up" after receiving numerous threats including "nasty language, foul language."

In August of 2009, someone dropped a handgun at a Giffords town hall meeting, prompting calls to police from Giffords' staff. A spokesman said then that "We have never felt the need before to notify law enforcement when we hold these events."

Asked by the New York Post in the wake of the shooting if Giffords had any enemies, her father responded, "Yeah. The whole Tea Party."

In reacting to today's shooting, Jane Fonda, a well-known liberal, pointed the finger at Palin on Twitter. "Progressive Arizona Rep Gabrielle Giffords is shot. In her ads, Sarah Palin had her targeted in a gun site. Inciting to violence," she said.

The Tea Part Express, meanwhile, said in part: "These heinous crimes have no place in America, and they are especially grievous when committed against our elected officials. Spirited debate is desirable in our country, but it only should be the clash of ideas. An attack on anyone for political purposes, if that was a factor in this shooting, is an attack on the democratic process."

John McCain, the man who brought Palin to national attention by tapping her to be his running mate, didn't mention Palin in his response to the shooting in his home state. "Whoever did this; whatever their reason, they are a disgrace to Arizona, this country and the human race, and they deserve and will receive the contempt of all decent people and the strongest punishment of the law," he wrote.


When Palin was being criticized for the target list, McCain came to her defense, saying, "I have seen the rhetoric of targeted districts as long as I've been in politics."

"This is -- any threat of violence is terrible, but to say that there is a targeted district or that we 'reload' or go back in to the fight again, please...Those are fine. They're used all the time," he said, adding: "Those words have been used throughout of my political career. There are targeted districts, and there are areas that we call battleground states, and so please, that rhetoric and kind of language is just part of the political lexicon. There is no place for threats of violence or anything else, but to say that someone is in a battleground state is not originated today."

Responding to Palin's rhetoric last year, Giffords herself told MSNBC's The Daily Rundown, that "the rhetoric is incredibly heated."

Giffords - who is a gun owner and supporter of gun rights - went on to say: "The way that she has it depicted has the crosshairs of a gun sight over our district, when people do that, they have got to realize there are consequences to that," she added.

Palin is not the only politician taking heat in the immediate aftermath of the tragedy - critics are also pointing the finger at Giffords' general election opponent, Jesse Kelly. The liberal website firedoglake noted that Kelly held an event on June 12th urging supporters to "Get on Target for Victory in November/Help remove Gabrielle Giffords from office/Shoot a fully automatic M15 with Jesse Kelly."

Here's how the Arizona Daily Star described the event at the time:
Jesse Kelly, meanwhile, doesn't seem to be bothered in the least by the Sarah Palin controversy earlier this year, when she released a list of targeted races in crosshairs, urging followers to "reload" and "aim" for Democrats. Critics said she was inciting violence.

He seems to be embracing his fellow tea partier's idea. Kelly's campaign event website has a stern-looking photo of the former Marine in military garb holding his weapon. It includes the headline: "Get on Target for Victory in November. Help remove Gabrielle Giffords from office. Shoot a fully automatic M16 with Jesse Kelly."

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

5 Jan 2011, Wed, Palin's retweet of gay radio host's DADT comment sparks speculation over stance

Washington Post: Palin's retweet of gay radio host's DADT comment sparks speculation over stance


Sometimes a rose is just a rose - but that doesn't tell us anything about what Sarah Palin's tweets mean.

The former Alaska governor is famous for using Twitter to muse and zing and occasionally make news in 140 characters or less. This week, she did it by sending out a post from an openly gay talk radio host criticizing opponents of the repeal of "don't ask, don't tell."

But what does it mean? Does Palin, who has spent the better part of two years cultivating her popularity with conservative Republicans, support allowing openly gay men and women to serve in the armed forces? And if so, what is she playing at?

At issue is a tweet posted early Tuesday by Tammy Bruce, a conservative talk radio host who is openly gay: "But this hypocrisy is just truly too much. Enuf already - the more someone complains about the homos the more we should look under their bed."

A little later in the day, Palin "retweeted" Bruce's post, meaning she sent it out to the more than 350,000 people who follow her on Twitter. Palin didn't add her own comment to the post. Nor has she said anything publicly since to explain what she meant.

"It's hard to know what the meaning is," said Mathew Staver, the founder of Liberty Counsel and dean of the Liberty University School of Law in Lynchburg, Va. "I doubt if she has changed her position, but if she has, she will have lost a large base of her support."

But will Palin also have gained support? And really, let's just cut to the chase: How does the tweet affect Palin's presidential ambitions? Does it change the conversation? Or was it simply meant to keep her in the conversation without the damage of an explicit position?

Bruce explained in a subsequent blog post that her own tweet referred to the Navy captain who was relieved of his command Tuesday for making a series of lewd videos that were shown to 6,000 sailors and Marines serving under him on the USS Enterprise.

Bruce also wrote that she believes that Palin, in retweeting the post, meant to support Bruce's point of view on "don't ask, don't tell."

"When it comes to Sarah Palin's position on DADT, I have never asked her about it and she has never spoken to me about it - but I assess her as a conservative with libertarian influence," Bruce wrote. "Both her husband and son are independents, with Mr. Palin serving as his wife's primary adviser. I will remind people of things already in the public realm about the governor - she refused to veto partner benefits legislation as governor of Alaska and is a firm believer in fairness and "live and let live." She is not a culture warrior, however. She is, which should be apparent by her Facebook postings and opinion pieces, a policy wonk. She is also, which is clearly evident, a charismatic leader who remains grounded by her character, faith and family."

Bruce also said that she took Palin's retweet as a "condemnation" of efforts by a number of conservative groups to protest this year's upcoming Conservative Political Action Conference because the pro-gay rights Republican group GOProud is a sponsor.

Staver, of Liberty Counsel, is among those protesting the CPAC conference. He is certain that Palin, in the past, has opposed lifting the "don't ask, don't tell" ban - and that, more generally, she opposes what he calls the "homosexual agenda." He also thinks that Palin chose not to to attend CPAC last year because GOProud was a sponsor then, too.

Palin's record is a bit murkier than that. At the time, published reports indicated that Palin declined the invitation because of controversies surrounding CPAC's organizer, the American Conservative Union. The group's leader, David Keene, had been accused of demanding a large payment from FedEx in exchange for support of its legislative agenda - which Palin confidants said cast a "pay-for-play" pall over the conference.

Palin also has been unclear about "don't ask, don't tell." In an interview with Fox News in February, she said she was surprised that President Obama was pushing to repeal the ban - but she never condemned his position on the substance. "There are other things to be worried about right now with the military," Palin said. "I think that kind of on the back burner, is sufficient for now. To put so much time, and effort, and politics into it, [is] unnecessary."

Such statements have placated social conservatives, some of whom were reluctant this week to interpret her tweet.

"I'm not going to comment on what constitutes a position put forth by Governor Palin, particularly when it involves a retweet of a tweet," said Tom Minnery of Focus on the Family, a group that generally supports Palin but that is also protesting CPAC this year.

Palin undoubtedly will be asked about the issue the next time the opportunity arises.

"Only Sarah Palin can answer that question," Staver said. "That will be an interesting answer."

Saturday, January 1, 2011

1 Jan 2011, Knox News: Guess what Albert Gore Jr., Sarah Palin and an albino raccoon have in common

Knox News: Guess what Albert Gore Jr., Sarah Palin and an albino raccoon have in common
Albert Gore. Jr., Sarah Palin and an albino raccoon all the made the knoxnews most read article list.

For a few weeks in December, we asked readers to tell us the top stories of 2010 based on a list editors developed.

And those may have very well been the top regional stories of last year, but they certainly weren't the most read on knoxnews.com.

Only three of those 10 made the list of the 10 most read stories on knoxnews based on page views.

February and April were particularly "big story" months.

Here are the top 10 stories of 2010 on knoxnews based on page views, or how many times the page was called up on a computer screen.


1) UT to give Gore honorary degree

Feb 27, 2010

Former vice president and Nobel Peace Prize winner Al Gore will receive an honorary doctoral degree from the University of Tennessee.

The degree - an Honorary Doctor of Laws and Humane Letters in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology - will be given to Gore at the spring commencement exercises of the College of Arts and Sciences on May 14, where he will be the featured speaker.

2) Jury convicts Palin e-mail intruder on two counts; mistrial declared on ID theft

April 30, 2010

A federal jury convicted Sarah Palin e-mail intruder David C. Kernell of felony destruction of records to hamper a federal investigation and misdemeanor unlawfully obtaining information from a protected computer.

The jury acquitted Kernell, 22, of felony wire fraud.

U.S. District Judge Thomas W. Phillips declared a mistrial on another charge, felony identity theft, after the jurors said they were hopelessly deadlocked.


3) Inskip teacher charged; principal, assistant principal in hospital after shooting

Feb. 10, 2010

An Inskip Elementary School fourth-grade teacher faces prosecution tonight on two counts of attempted first-degree murder in the shootings of the school's principal and assistant principal.

Mark Stephen Foster, 48, of Clinton was taken into custody minutes after the shootings at the school, 4701 High School Road in North Knoxville.

4) Powell man charged with vehicular homicide, left passenger to die

Sept. 15, 2010

A Powell man has been charged with vehicular homicide after crashing his car and then leaving his passenger to die.

Harry Duggan, 46, was driving east on Kodak Road on Tuesday when he ran off the right side of the road and struck a tree. His passenger, 35-year-old Melissa Cameron, was partially ejected from the car, and died at the scene, according to a Knox County Sheriff's Office accident report.

5) TBI, police investigating suspended Clinton High teacher

Feb. 5, 2010

A Clinton High School teacher suspended without pay and charged with "improper conduct" by school officials is the focus of a criminal investigation, officials confirmed today.

Officials declined to comment about specific allegations against Megan Baumann, who was placed on unpaid leave shortly after noon Thursday by Anderson County Schools Director Larry Foster. Her suspension is until further notice.

6) Mom who threw pricey 'Super Sweet 15' party indicted in fraud

Oct. 10, 2010

Leslie Anne Janous was arraigned Friday on a 13-count wire fraud indictment accusing her of bilking Scancarbon, a brokerage firm for precious metals, high purity coal and silicon products that are exported to countries across the world, of nearly $2.4 million this year alone. FBI Agent Christopher S. Lucado alleges in a criminal complaint, however, that Janous has been stealing from the firm since 2006 and puts her thievery haul at $4.5 million.

7) Rare albino raccoon captured in West Knox

July 30, 2010

Randy Wolfe, owner of Varmint Busters Wildlife Management Services, trapped a male albino raccoon Thursday near Nubbin Ridge in West Knox County.

Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency wildlife biologist David Brandenburg said finding an albino raccoon is very uncommon.

"You don't see more of them because natural selection usually takes care of that," he said. "White is not a good color for a wildlife creature."

8) Judge: No testimony from Utah student who accessed Palin account

April 23, 2010

With the government wrapping up its case, the defense attorney for a former University of Tennessee student accused of illegally accessing one-time Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's private e-mail account tried and failed to put another college student in the hot seat.

Attorney Wade Davies this afternoon sought to convince U.S. District Judge Thomas Phillips to allow him to force a reluctant Justin Hill to testify as a defense witness.


9) Woman killed man who shot husband during S. Knox home invasion

Nov, 22, 2010

A woman shot and killed a man during a South Knoxville home invasion robbery after the intruder had struggled with and shot her husband, authorities said this morning.

A second interloper escaped, apparently uninjured, and was being sought by police.

10) Police: Parkwest victims 'in the wrong place at the wrong time'

April 20, 2010

The man police said shot and killed a woman, wounded two others and then killed himself believed a doctor had implanted a tracking chip in his body during an appendectomy, Knoxville Police Chief Sterling P. Owen IV said this afternoon.

Abdo Ibssa, who would have turned 39 today, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Ethiopia, used a stolen .357-caliber magnum pistol to shoot the women and then himself about 4:34 p.m. Monday outside Parkwest Medical Center.