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.

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Sarah Palin was done wrong in HBO’s Game Change – by handlers

From SF Gate: Sarah Palin was done wrong in HBO’s Game Change – by handlers
I watched an advance press copy of HBO’s Game Change this week. The book on which it is based is a great read on the 2008 presidential race. I highly recommend it. The HBO film is based on a portion of the book that centers on the John McCain team’s decision to ask Sarah Palin to be McCain’s running mate.

Palin’s people are unhappy with the show, which debuts March 10. One problem may be that the film shows things unequivocally what a reader of the book (aware of the nature of leaks that produce such a work) might not swallow as unquestionable fact. (See page 397, where the book reports, Palin couldn’t explain why North and South Korea were separate nations and did not know what the Fed did.)

There are scenes I absolutely do not believe in the film. To wit: “Game Change” depicts foreign-policy adviser Randy Scheunemann explaining to Palin that Germany was the antagonist in both World Wars. Scheunemann told the Los Angeles Times, “The idea that there was at any point that Gov. Palin expressed any uncertainty as to who were the various sides in World War I or World War II … or any other war is absolutely untrue. She was incredibly intelligent. She asked very informed questions. She was very interested and she wanted to understand John McCain’s view of foreign policy because she wanted to be the best possible vice presidential nominee.”

That said, on a personal level, HBO’s Game Change portrayed Palin in a more sympathetic light than the book. (Tim Goodman does not agree. You can read his review here.) In the movie, you see Steve Schmidt and other McCain handlers choose Palin because she is a maverick. They know she is less experienced than other candidates, but she’s a crack communicator and popular in her home state. Then they treat her like an idiot because she isn’t like all the other people they rejected.

On the road, crowds thrill to Palin, but when she gets behind closed doors, the political pros treat her with disrespect. McCain suggests inviting Palin to prepare for her one debate with Joe Biden at his home in Sedona, where she can be with her family. Her family made her better, after the hired guns, while they made her better, in some ways had made her worse.

(I’ve told the McCainiacs I always thought they should not have set up one-on-one interviews with Charlie Gibson and Katie Couric. After the convention, they should have held daily 10-minute press avails after campaign events.)

By the end of the show, you are sure Palin was not up to the Oval Office — which you already knew — but you see the process that distorted her character. Kudos to Julianne Moore.

Next I’d like to see Game Change II with a focus on another subject of the Heilemann/Halperin book — the Dems’ idea of a swell running mate in 2004, John Edwards, who had his own unique story in 2008.

Sarah Palin Voices Skepticism About Mitt Romney

Huffpost Politics: Sarah Palin Voices Skepticism About Mitt Romney
Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) spoke to the New York Times Tuesday before Mitt Romney won the Michigan and Arizona primaries, voicing skepticism about the former Massachusetts governor's campaign.

She said that she thought he was having a tough time gathering "support" and "energy." "Whether Romney wins or loses in Michigan tonight, just the fact that he's had such a fight in his home state is evidence of that blessing not yet being given to him across the board," she said, but clarified that she would support him if he becomes the nominee.

Palin also told the Times that Santorum "has done a good job in pointing out that Achilles’ heel in Romneycare."

Palin said earlier this month on Fox News that she was skeptical of Romney's conservatism. "I am not convinced [of Romney's conservatism] and I don’t think that the majority of GOP and independent voters are convinced, and that is why you don’t see Romney get over that hump." She continued, "He is still in the thirty-percentile mark when it comes to approval and primary wins and caucus wins. He still hasn't risen above that yet because we are not convinced. ... He has spent millions and millions and millions of dollars and hasn't risen yet."

Romney responded to Palin in a subsequent Fox interview. "I'm not quite sure what she'd be referring to," he said. "I'm pro-life, pro-traditional marriage, I believe in the Second Amendment. As governor, I balanced the budget every year I was in office, put in place a $2 billion rainy day fund, cut taxes 19 times."

In addition to her concerns about Romney, Palin previously has told voters to vote for Newt Gingrich in an effort to keep the GOP primary race going.

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Sarah Palin Emails Show Difficulties In Alaska Governorship

From HuffPost: Sarah Palin Emails Show Difficulties In Alaska Governorship
JUNEAU, Alaska — Just a few months after returning from the presidential campaign trail, a weary Sarah Palin shot off a 1 a.m. email to top colleagues in her office.

Buried in ethics complaints that she deemed frivolous, the Alaska governor was feeling increasingly detached from her family. She faced mounting legal bills that only exacerbated the financial turmoil related to her family's travel.

"I'm just beat down on this one. I am tired. The opponents have succeeded on the drive towards our personal bankruptcy, and have divided my family," she wrote.

She finished the overnight email with a sobering conclusion: "One has to be single, wealthy, or corrupt to function in this political system."

The relentless examination and subsequent exasperation lingered for months after Palin's stint as a vice presidential candidate in 2008, and thousands of documents released by the state this week indicate that it ultimately drove her to leave political office.

Emails show that Palin remained engaged as governor in the issues of her day job, pushing for a natural gas pipeline, preparing speeches for civic groups, coordinating with the state's chief lobbyist in Washington, D.C., and even helping arrange a reception for football players at the governor's mansion. She said it was invigorating to directly speak to protesters holding a derogatory sign.

The treasurer of Palin's political action committee, Tim Crawford, said Thursday: "We encourage everyone to read the emails. They show a governor hard at work for her state."

Linda Young, president of the National Women's Political Caucus, said she believed Palin and other women like Hillary Clinton are more scrutinized than their male counterparts. She said it was clear that people were particularly focused on trying to expose Palin's faults – a process made worse by what Young sees as a climate of combative politics.

"While I don't agree with many of her political beliefs, I do think that it would be a lot more appropriate if male and female candidates were treated alike," she said.

Young, who works to encourage women in politics, said politics can be difficult on families. But she said women can find a balance between maintaining their homes and offices at the same time.

The documents show Palin becoming increasingly distracted by the external issues tied to her newfound celebrity.

One of her political critics, trying to tout his own international experience in early 2009, parroted a "Saturday Night Live" line about Palin being able to see Russia from her house – a phrase that morphed from the governor's initial comment that Russia was visible from part of Alaska.

"Why does he suggest I said i could see russia from my house? I said u can see russia from Alaska, in trying to explain the proximity," she wrote to a staffer.

Palin then added in another email, "It's going to be a long two years..."

It turned out that Palin wouldn't last that long. She resigned six months later.

Alaska released some 24,000 pages of emails last year that focused on Palin's time before she joined the Republican ticket with presidential nominee John McCain. This week the state released some 34,820 pages. The request for records was to cover from October 2008 until Palin's resignation in July 2009, but the release also included emails from earlier in Palin's term, which the current governor's deputy chief of staff said were inadvertently omitted from last year's release.

In the weeks leading to her resignation announcement, Palin didn't tip off anyone about her plans, and she focused mainly on encouraging her communications staff to put news about the state on Twitter, approving tweets before they went out and making speeches.

Commissioners and the governor's staff were notified of a conference call July 3. The email said: "The Governor will be making an announcement at 11:00am. You are encouraged to call in to listen at 1-800-315-6338, code 0703." Palin announced that day that she intended to resign.

In an email at 11:42 a.m., she wrote: "I love you all - I truly do. This will be good. Thank you for your support!"

In her last few months of office, Palin was clearly irked by the ongoing media coverage she faced. She said the national media had set their sights on Alaska because of her position as governor, citing questions by a CBS reporter about an effort by some Prince William Sound fishermen to have the state forgive all or part of the outstanding loans the state had given them using their settlement funds from the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill as collateral.

"This is bizarre. It's also an indication of nat'l media looking at anything to sensationalize (negatively) about Alaska right now ... unfortunately bc of who's in the Gov's chair," she wrote in a Jan. 26, 2009, email to aides.

A couple months later, she was upset that a magazine had found her during a charity event at a Juneau grocery store.

"Any idea how they knew to find me at Fred Meyer yesterday while I sold Girl scout cookies? The scout leaders wouldn't have told them," she wrote. A lawyer responded that she was probably being followed, but it was later discovered that Palin's planned appearance was included in an article in the Juneau Empire.

Palin was particularly irked by ethics complaints that she considered excessive and frivolous, and many of them were eventually dismissed. More than a dozen came in after she was named McCain's running mate in 2008 – including one accusing her of having a conflict of interest because of the brand of clothing she wore.

Palin has said the ethics complaints proved to be a distraction, and that was a major factor in her decision to resign during her first term. A complaint related to the family's travel and the subsequent internal inquiries were particularly problematic.

In a May 2009 email with then-Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell, Palin showed frustration with scrutiny about her and her family's travel and the financial cost of ethics charges. Parnell invited Palin to a police memorial ceremony, but she was unable to attend because she was in Juneau.

"I'm damned if I do, damned if I don't. I'm condemned and scrutinized for not being here enough," she wrote.

The governor said she paid out of pocket to repay travel by her family, which was "based on bogus accusations that I traveled too much in the past," and said she paid back taxes for not being in the governor's mansion "enough" during renovations.

"This Juneau situation cost Todd and me about $35,000 recently. The double standard applied to me and my spouse keeps me from freely traveling as other govs did," she wrote.

Despite it all, Palin's aides remained fiercely loyal to her. Randy Ruaro sent an email in July 2009 simply entitled "Thank you."

"I have been asked several times in the last few years why I work so hard. It's very, very easy to work hard for someone when you respect and believe in them," he wrote.

There were relatively few emails during the campaign with McCain, in September-November 2008.

Sharon Leighow, a spokeswoman for Parnell, who's now the governor, said Palin's chief of staff communicated with her mainly by phone during that period. Palin's Anchorage office director, Kris Perry, also traveled with the governor during that time, serving as a conduit to the staff, Leighow said.

Monday, February 27, 2012

Julianne Moore: It wasn't Sarah Palin's fault

From the Politico: Julianne Moore: It wasn't Sarah Palin's fault
Julianne Moore says she felt some sympathy for Sarah Palin after studying her role in the 2008 presidential election for HBO’s upcoming movie “Game Change.”

“I do think the situation that she was put in was a completely untenable one,” the actress recently told the New York Post.

When picked as John McCain’s running mate, Palin “was suddenly almost in lockdown, where [she] wasn’t allowed to speak to anybody unless it went through the proper channels. They were telling her what to do and how to dress. And how to behave,” Moore said. “So they take a candidate for what she is and what she represents, and they want to make her into something else.”

Moore’s portrayal of Palin looks pretty harsh based on a trailer for the film, but she still has nice things to say about the former gov.

“I think she’s very canny,” Moore said. “And she’s extremely hardworking and ambitious, and would not have reached the place that she reached without ability. You don’t get to be a vice-presidential candidate by accident.”

Ahead of Oscars, Sarah Palin Snags ‘Worst Actress’ Nomination for Playing Herself

From ABC News (descending to gossip!): Ahead of Oscars, Sarah Palin Snags ‘Worst Actress’ Nomination for Playing Herself
Sarah Palin is many things but a good actress is not one of them, according to the Golden Raspberry Award Foundation.

The RAZZIE award nominations were announced Sunday just before the Oscars, the award ceremony that rewards those in the film industry for their good work. But the RAZZIEs highlight the duds of U.S. cinema with titles such as the worst picture, worst actor and worst prequel, remake, rip-off or sequel.

The former Alaska governor snagged a nomination for worst actress while playing – get this – herself in the documentary, “The Undefeated.” The film follows Palin during her career in Wasilla and paints a generally positive portrait of her. When the movie came out in June, ABC News’ Michael Falcone reported that the film’s director, Stephen Bannon, said he hoped it would “drive a stake in the heart of Caribou Barbie.”

Palin goes up against Sarah Jessica Parker in “I Don’t Know How She Does It” and “New Year’s Eve,” Kristen Stewart in “Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part I,” Martin Lawrence in “Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son” and Adam Sandler in “Jack & Jill.” Sandler garnered the most nominations; he received RAZZIE nods for 11 different titles.

Question for the academy: Is it fair to poke fun at Palin when, unlike her competitors, she’s not an actress by trade?

The RAZZIEs are a parody on the Academy Awards started in the 1980 by writer John Wilson. The results of this year’s awards will be announced April Fool’s Day.

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Sarah Palin: Press 'wee-weed up' over Santorum Satan speech. Is she right?

From the Christian Science Monitor: Sarah Palin: Press 'wee-weed up' over Santorum Satan speech. Is she right?
Sarah Palin says the lame-stream media are getting all “wee-weed up” about Rick Santorum’s Satan speech. By that, we believe she means the mainstream press is making too much of it. Is she right?

Well, we’ll note here that the media get wee-weed up about many subjects, because if they don’t, it can be very hard to stay awake during a slow news day. Mr. Santorum’s remarks were made four years ago, in a different context than a presidential race, and are easy to misinterpret if you have a dissimilar religious background.

But still – let’s examine what Ms. Palin said in detail. On Sean Hannity’s Fox News show Tuesday night, she said that “the lame-stream media is taking things out of context and trying to subscribe to [Santorum] that traditional type normal negative narrative that they want to pin on any conservative.”

Then she added: “This is a speech he gave back in 2008 where he named evil as Satan. For those lame-stream media characters to get all wee-weed up about that, first you have to ask yourself, have they ever, ever attended Sunday school. Have they never heard this terminology before?”

This is similar to the approach Santorum himself took Tuesday. He, too, talks as if the issue is simply the use of the word “Satan.”

“You know, I’m a person of faith,” Santorum said after a rally Tuesday in Phoenix. “I believe in good and evil. If think if somehow or another because you’re a person of faith [and] you believe in good and evil [that] is a disqualifier for president, we’re going to have a very small pool of candidates who can run for president.”

Here’s the problem with that: Lots of members of the mainstream media went (or still go) to Sunday school. So did tens of millions of US voters. We are among them – we’ll stack our Sunday school attendance against any former Alaska governor. The use of Satan as a symbol is something we’ve heard many times before.

But what Santorum said is that academia had been overcome by Satan, as had the culture, politics, and mainstream American Protestant churches. He said those churches were “in shambles.”

That is a statement Santorum will find difficult to elude. Former Bush political director Karl Rove picked up on that right away during an appearance on the "O’Reilly Factor."

“Does he really think every Presbyterian, every Methodist, every Lutheran is really, as a mainstream Protestant, no longer a Christian?” Mr. Rove said to Fox News host Bill O’Reilly.

Meanwhile, Santorum’s campaign staff is getting worked up about reporters investigating aspects of their guy’s religious statements, while giving a pass to Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul.

“Why is [Mr. Romney’s] Mormonism off-limits?” a frustrated Santorum aide says in a good piece on this subject by Washington Examiner political correspondent Byron York.

Sarah Palin aides call HBO's 'Game Change' movie 'sick' and innacurate

From Fox News: Sarah Palin aides call HBO's 'Game Change' movie 'sick' and innacurate
JUNEAU, Alaska – Current and former aides to Sarah Palin lashed out Wednesday at HBO's "Game Change," describing the upcoming film's depictions of her on the 2008 campaign trail as "sick" and inaccurate.

None of the aides said they have yet seen the movie, which debuts March 10, and some said they had asked for an opportunity to screen the film but had been denied.

Trailers for the film, which is based on the best selling book chronicling the 2008 presidential race, have been released, however, and some snippets appear to cast Palin in an unfavorable light. As portrayed by Julianne Moore, Palin is seen complaining about how she's being handled by political advisers and mumbling about missing her baby, who was born in April 2008. In one snippet, campaign strategist Steve Schmidt, portrayed by Woody Harrelson, describes her as being on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

Aides said none of that jibes with their own experiences with the former Alaska governor, and they defended her vigorously Wednesday.

Jason Recher, who handled vice presidential road operations for the McCain-Palin campaign, called Palin "one of the most engaged public servants I'd ever observed." Tom Van Flein, her former personal attorney, called her diligent, sharp and enthusiastic about the campaign.

Meg Stapleton, a former spokeswoman, said that she, unlike some of the others who worked with Palin during the campaign, had not been contacted by anyone associated with either the book or movie.

"They don't want to hear anything good," she said, her voice full of passion. "We all know Palin sells and the dramatization of Palin sells even more. This is sick."

"They mock Gov. Palin, you mock Gov. Palin, as weak and unable to cope and press forward," she told reporters on the conference call. "And the movie and the trailer ... say that. And yet look with your own eyes at what she and her family have endured and inspired over the last few years. Any lesser man would have hanged himself by now. So who's weak?"

Recher noted that Palin wasn't the primary focus of the book, and he said he told screenwriter and co-executive producer Danny Strong that the book "absolutely, unequivocally" did not accurately reflect his time with the McCain campaign.

Filmmakers have said that they sought historical accuracy.

Director Jay Roach last month said he wrote a long letter to Palin seeking an interview with her to help the film, "but I got a very quick email back from her attorney saying, `I checked, she declined."'

Strong, in an email, acknowledged that members of Palin's camp asked to screen the film but said filmmakers responded that they would privately screen the movie for Palin and her husband. He said Sarah Palin declined the offer.

The film portrays Palin "in a balanced light," he said, "showing her strengths and weaknesses as the vice presidential candidate."

In addition to the book, Strong said the movie is also based on 25 interviews conducted with members of the campaign by himself and Roach. He said secondary sources include Sarah Palin's book "Going Rogue," other books written on the campaign and "innumerable" newspaper and magazine articles.

Palin did not participate in Wednesday's call. Tim Crawford, the treasurer of the political action committee SarahPAC, who facilitated the call, said Palin is on the record as considering the movie a false narrative, and wrote about her experiences in one of her books.

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Sarah Palin to be topic of two films

From Tulsa World: Sarah Palin to be topic of two films
Former vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin makes two appearances - so to speak - in March. One is a film from HBO and the other a documentary airing on the Reelz Channel.

Reelz Channel has picked up the documentary "The Undefeated" about the Palin's rise to the national stage and will air it one night after HBO debuts its fictionalized film "Game Change."

The documentary begins with former Alaska Governor Palin and her husband working on their commercial fishing boat during the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster. It details her struggles, successes and setbacks in her controversial political career.

"The Undefeated" will air on Reelz at 7 p.m. March 11 on DirecTV 238, Dish HD 299 and AT&T 799.

The documentary includes interviews with political commentators Mark Levin, Tammy Bruce and Andrew Breitbart, conservative activists Kate Obenshain, Sonnie Johnson and Jamie Radtke plus interviews with civil servants, elected officials and advisers involved in Alaskan politics during Palin's term in office.

Julianne Moore stars as the politician in HBO's "Game Change," which looks behind the scenes of John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign, from the selection of Palin as his running mate through their defeat in the general election. The film is told from the perspective of McCain strategist Steve Schmidt, played by Woody Harrelson. Ed Harris portrays McCain. "Game Change" debuts at 8 p.m. March 10 on cable 300.

On a recent "Fox News Sunday" telecast, Palin told viewers the HBO film "is based on a false narrative" but was proof that her public "persona" had improved the economy.

"I think we're going to call that the 'Sarah Palin Employment Act,'" she said. "You need to thank me for employing more people in their imitations of Sarah Palin than the president has put Americans to work. It is a stimulus act, goodness gracious."

Sarah Palin's 8 best pokes at Mitt Romney

From the Politico: Sarah Palin's 8 best pokes at Mitt Romney
Sarah Palin, increasingly vocal in recent weeks about the 2012 Republican race while insistent that her support for Newt Gingrich isn’t an endorsement, is making it plenty clear which candidate she is not so thrilled about: Mitt Romney. She may have told Fox News host Chris Wallace that she thinks Romney’s a “great candidate,” but POLITICO found numerous other times when the ex-vice presidential candidate didn’t have the nicest things to say about the former Massachusetts governor:

1. Conservatism is ‘subjective’
When asked whether Romney is “conservative enough”: “You know, that’s subjective. … A lot of this has to do with somebody’s past … Were they pro-abortion before? And now perhaps they’re pro-life? And what allowed that switch? Kind of that flip flop?”(Feb. 15, “Fox & Friends”)

2. ‘Evolving’ conservatism

“I trust that his idea of conservatism is evolving … I base this on a pretty moderate past that he has had, even in some cases a liberal past. (Feb. 12, “Fox News Sunday”)

3. ‘Conservative quotient’

“It’s subjective when you try to measure someone’s conservative quotient.” (Feb. 15, “Fox & Friends”)

4. Bain claims

“Gov. Romney has claimed to have created a 100,000 jobs at Bain, and people are wanting to know, is there proof of that claim and was it U.S. jobs created for United States citizens? … Nobody should be surprised that things about Bain Capital and maybe tax returns not being released yet and maybe some record not being as transparently provided to the public as voters deserve to see right now — don’t be surprised that that’s’ all coming out today.” (Jan. 11, Fox News)

5. ‘False narrative’

“I think that with again $17 million purchasing ads and in respects some false narrative it was very, very difficult for Newt Gingrich and the other candidates to counter just that bombardment of advertisements.” (Jan. 31, Fox News)

6. Why don’t they pick on Mitt?

Responding to Peggy Noonan labeling Gingrich a “little attack muffin”: “They maybe subscribe such characterization of Newt via words like that, but they don’t subscribe those to say Mitt Romney when he or his surrogates do the same thing.” (Jan. 26, Fox Business Network)

7. Christie’s got his ‘panties in a wad’

“Sometimes, if your candidate loses in just one step along this path, as was the case when Romney lost to Newt the other night — and, of course, Romney is Chris Christie’s guy — well, you kind of get your panties in a wad, and you may say things that you regret later.” (Jan. 24, Fox Business Network)

8. ‘Not convinced’

“I am not convinced and I don’t think the majority of GOP and independent voters are convinced. He’s still in the 30th percentile… He hasn’t risen above that yet because we are not convinced.” (Feb. 12, “Fox News Sunday”)

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Sarah Palin Comes to Dershowitz’s Defense

From ArutzShiva: Sarah Palin Comes to Dershowitz’s Defense
Professor Alan Dershowitz exchanged blows with Max Blumenthal of Media Matters in his recent address at a University of Pennsylvania event intended to counter the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement on campus.

In response to Dershowitz’s visit to campus, Blumenthal wrote an article entitled, "Torture, Violence Advocate to Keynote anti-BDS Event," with the sub-heading, "Alan Dershowitz, supporter of bulldozing Palestinian towns and torturing criminal suspects, is coming to campus." Blumenthal attacked Dershowitz for being “an open advocate of torture who has urged Israel to destroy entire Palestinian villages, attack civilians and bulldoze their homes.”

Blumenthal’s Media Matters, the Democratic-aligned media watchdog organization, has been widely accused of engaging in anti-Semitic discourse, namely the repeated use of the term “Israel firster” by senior foreign policy fellow M.J. Rosenberg, to describe American Jews whose main concern in American politics is its effect on the State of Israel.

In response to what Blumenthal’s article that he saw as slanderous, Dershowitz said, “Let me tell you, Max Blumenthal and Media Matters will be singlehandedly responsible for (Obama) losing this election. They (the Democrats) cannot win the election and keep this affiliation with them.”

Sarah Palin endorsed Dershowitz comments and said, “I agree with Prof. Dershowitz, though obviously I think there are many, many more reasons why President Obama should lose this election (trillions, if you consider his latest budget proposal),” IsraelMatzav reported.

She said that it is right to draw attention to the Media Matters organization in particular, as Big Journalism points out, "Media Matters has been condemned by the Simon Wiesenthal Center for their continued use of an anti-Semitic slur" and even "their own allies have even thrown them under the bus for anti-Semitism.

“This just shows that Americans of all political stripes are awakened to the dangers of unethical journalists and media organizations that deceive their audiences and use bullying tactics to unfairly target political opponents,” Palin continued.

Sarah Palin rails against 'permanent bureaucratic class'

Alaska Dispatch: Sarah Palin rails against 'permanent bureaucratic class'
Sarah Palin delivered the high school pep rally speech of the year to the Conservative Political Action Committee over the weekend. All that was missing was a "na na na na.''

You can watch that full speech here, though it's really not necessary to watch much. Here is what she said, summed up in one sentence:

"We are red, white and blue, and President Obama, we are through with you!"

Or as everyone used to say in high school (or was it grade school?), "I don't shut up, I grow up; and when I look at you I throw up.''

What the hell has happened to the Republican party? This used to be the party of ideas. This is the party that traces its conservative roots back to John Adams, Alexander Hamilton, Theodore Roosevelt and William F. Buckley. What would John Adams think of Sarah Palin parading around her silliness and clichés as if they amounted to some sort of political philosophy?

"Well America, it is time we drain the jacuzzi and throw the bums out with the bath water,'' she said.

Yes, that sounds like a coherent policy. Let's attack everyone who owns a jacuzzi. That'll get us somewhere. Notice she didn't say "it's time we disable the tanning beds and throw out the bums with the permanent sun tans.'' Maybe it's because she's big on tanning beds. In her short stint as Alaska's governor, she had one installed in the Governor's Mansion in Juneau.

Some contend she spent more time soaking up its rays than studying up on policy. The CPAC speech tends to buttress that accusation. It is a speech with no real there there.

Some apparently loved it. That's part of this country's problem. There are too many with too little between their ears more interested in imagery -- preferably of the bad-guy others -- than substance, which stirs the dung heap of a public policy in which we all tend to share responsibility as a little part of the problem. As the New York Times reported Saturday, almost everyone in this country today is getting a government handout of some sort.

Now, let's pause here for just a second because by now there are those grabbing for one of the various bumper stickers of dismissiveness that seem to float around the conservative camp waiting to be grabbed and deployed should anyone speak unkindly of the former, half-term governor of Alaska. You know the slogans: "Palin hater!" "Conservative in Name Only!'' Or, God forbid, "Liberal!''

The accusations in this case may or may not be true, and I don't care. They aren't the issue. The issue is solving the problems facing this country today, and that isn't about deciding in what boxes which Americans belong. America doesn't need packaging. It needs ideas.

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal rolled out a fair number of ideas over the weekend. He delivered what should have been the keynote speech at CPAC instead of the Sarah babble. Go listen to what he had to say. Jindal didn't need to quote himself, as Palin did at one point her speech, because apparently there isn't anyone smarter out there worth quoting.

"I said in a speech this summer," she said, "this isn't the capitalism of free men and free markets, of risk and sacrifice, of innovation and hard work. No, it's the capitalism of connections, and of government bailouts and handouts and waste, and corporate welfare and corruption. This is the capitalism of Barack Obama and the Permanent Political Class."

Actually, nearly all of that is just plain wrong. America today, thankfully, remains the capitalism of free men and free markets, of risk and sacrifice, and of innovation and hard work. If Palin left her hideaway in Wasilla more often, she might notice the small business people all over America risking and sacrificing every day to start new businesses. Many of the businesses happen to be full of innovative people who work their asses off.

I'm proud to say I'm in cahoots with one of those companies. Not only are the people who started Alaska Dispatch taking a risk, all of those associated with it are taking a risk. I know other journalists in this state who shied away because the risk is too great. The idea of a profit-making, online newspaper/magazine is very new and might very well fail. That, dear God, could leave a journalist looking for something else to do.

I understand the fear. A lot of people look at nothing but the connections because they have bought into Palin's assertion about America being the "capitalism of connections, and of government bailouts and handouts and waste, and corporate welfare and corruption." It isn't. At least not totally. At least not yet.

But it is moving too fast in that direction, and has been since President Lyndon Johnson's "Great Society" entered the scene. Johnson took predecessor President John F. Kennedy's admonition to "ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country" and flipped it on its head.
The 'Permanent Bureaucratic Class'

America has spent almost 40 years now engaged in the process of creating a system of what government can do for you, or to you. In that process, Americans have invited government into every corner of their lives. Americans apparently need government to tell them to buckle the seatbelts in their cars, and police to enforce that kind of nonsense, because without it the emergency medical technicians who respond to accidents might be traumatized.

Let them be traumatized. If people choose to drive without a seatbelt, so be it. We're all going to die anyway, and the quicker people die the more we save on spending on what has become an out-of-control, government-run program to treat the aged. The supposedly conservative Palin, crazy as it sounds, has in the past defended this.

"The America I know and love is not one in which my parents...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," she posted on her Facebook page back in 2009 and set off the whole "death panel" firestorm.

Yeah, that's right. The government should pay to keep Palin's parents alive forever. Let's hook them up to life support and keep their bodies functioning until scientists finally come up with the technology to create the infinite lifespan. We can call this new program Palincare in honor of conservative values sacrificed in a heartbeat at the shrine of political pandering.

The reality here is simple. Government in this country cannot afford to provide every old person the most expensive medical care that old person -- or more especially that old person's family -- might want. Somebody, somewhere is going to have to make a decision on what gets funded and what doesn't. Maybe we should give the health care system for the aged back to the private sector. Private insurance companies are brutally efficient. They decide who they will or will not insure based on the risks of those people getting sick, and then they issue policies with substantial premiums which you better damn well pay, because if you don't you're getting no sympathy from the insurance company.

"Too bad," they'll say. "We don't care if you die tomorrow. You didn't pay your premium this month."

Palin, who loves to rail against Obamacare, apparently thinks the huge and expensive public health-care system for the old folks is just fine. As one near eligibility, the self-serving side of me tends to agree with with her. My brain, however, notes the system needs to be fixed before the country drowns in debt. I'm not a big fan of a broader public health care system to spread the costs, either. I've spent too much time in Canada. Canada's government-funded system is as flawed as our privately funded system on its way to becoming a publicly funded system which is sure to be worse. Why?

Well, I'd suggest you go listen to or read Jindal's speech to CPAC. He got to the heart of the problem. He ran up against it when a BP oil rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico and began spewing what would eventually come to be more than 200 million gallons of oil into the water off his coast.

Jindal found state efforts to battle oil headed for Louisana beaches stifled at many a turn by federal rules. Louisiana found itself tangled in the redtape that is the lifeblood of what has become this country's "Permanent Bureaucratic Class.''

Palin, of course, likes to rail against a "Permanent Political Class'' in America, which is pretty funny given that she is part of that class. From the time she failed as a local sportscaster in Anchorage until Fox News paid her to be a talking head, she never had a real job. She was either an elected official, a candidate for office, a political appointee, or an elected official. Sarah has met her enemy, and it is her.

This is not, however, America's problem. America's problem is the aforementioned "Permanent Bureaucratic Class'' that now runs the country. You know the class. They hide behind the metal detectors and security at a federal building near you. They stick shotguns in the faces of old men who refuse to immediately follow their orders.

They even, surprisingly at times, pursue the "Permanent Political Class'' -- and the laws be damned -- if they think the pursuit will move them a few rungs up the career ladder.

The Permanent Bureaucratic Class, not the Permanent Political Class, rules this country. President Barack Obama, love him or hate him, wasn't born to the throne. He maneuvered his way up through the middle class to get there and after four years, maybe eight, he will be gone. Not so the Permanent Bureaucratic Class. They will do 20 years or more to get their retirement, and there will be always more of them, or so it seems.
Part of the problem

Despite much talk about limiting government, it continues to grow. It grew in Alaska under Palin. Why wouldn't it? America circa 2000 is full of risk-averse people seeking job security. Government is secure. The pay is reasonable, or better than in the private sector; the benefits are good. There's none of the angst associated with those "free markets, of risk and sacrifice, and of innovation and hard work" about which Palin spoke. Why do you think Palin has spent so much time in the employ of government or government-associated entities?

You'll notice she didn't resign as Alaska governor to start a business. No, she resigned to join the Permanent Chattering Class which just happens to be bound at the hip to the Permanent Political Class which empowers the Permanent Bureaucratic Class. Palin can from this new position get paid, handsomely so, to yammer on and on and on about nothing. Listen to her at CPAC:

"Nothing says America louder or prouder than chopped Harley hogs!''

Really? The Hells Angels say America louder and prouder than all the men and women struggling every day to build small businesses all across this country? The Hells Angels say America louder and prouder than Bill Gates, who started a business out of almost nothing and built one of the economy dynasties of the modern age? The Hells Angels say America louder and prouder than Obama, a black man who rose from meager means to become President?

Look, you might not like the way Obama has done the job, but the guy has one hell of a backstory, a story that could only be written in America. The same can be said for Palin. The big difference is Obama's story is built around ideas. Granted, many of them might be bad ideas. He seems to be of that generation that truly believes "we are the government, and we are here to help you." But at least he has ideas.

Palin's story is built around the opposition to ideas. Her story is built around some bizarre notion that all anyone needs to succeed in life is a little "common sense." Her "common sense'' now tells her that the path to political success is not to build things up, but to tear things down and play to fear. Nobody notices the kid who studies hard in school. Everyone notices the cute and perky mean girl who talks tough.

"We are going to put our confidence in the strength of our Armed Forces, not in the hollow promises of our adversaries, and not the cleverness of our diplomats, and bureaucrats,'' Palin told CPAC. "As generations before us, they, like we now, will gladly, proudly fight to defend this land of the free. We must be home of the brave."

President Dwight D. Eisenhower -- leader of Allied troops in Europe as Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower during World War II -- was one of the brave, and here's what he said about those same Armed Forces just before leaving office:

"This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence -- economic, political, even spiritual -- is felt in every city, every state house, every office of the federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society. In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist."

We do, in fact, need clever diplomats. We need them because we can't afford -- economical or socially -- a military big enough to fight wars everywhere all the time. Meanwhile, the country could use some clever, budget-minded politicians, too, because one of the big things that have changed in government since Eisenhower's day is that the military-industrial complex has been joined to other complexes built around milking money out of government: the AARP-health care complex, the NEA-education complex, the EPA-environmental complex. Big parts of the economy have in this way allied themselves with the Permanent Bureaucratic Classic, and the political class, which is not all that permanent, has proven itself powerless to do anything about it.
Too big to succeed?

Palin, one of the new faces in the political class, could have tried to change things. She could have stayed on as Alaska's governor and began a radical restructuring of the Alaska bureaucracy as a model for the other 49 states. She didn't. Why? Because it would be a nasty fight. The "Permanent Bureaucratic Class'' is incredibly good at building constituencies and rallying them to its many causes.

Palin does appear to at least understand this. Nowhere in her speech to CPAC, which was heavy on the doom of American debt, did she suggest any actual government programs that should be axed.

"This government is not too big to fail, it's too big to succeed,'' she said.

"We know to deal with our debt. You cut it, gut it, get rid of it,'' she said.

Great! But How? Where? Palin's political instinct warned her not to go there. Going there helped kill Texas Gov. Rick Perry's bid for president. It's safer to sit back far from the battle zone and lob bombs. There are risks involved in moving in close, getting out the sniper rifle, nestling into the stock, and starting to pick off the programs that need to die. But then again Palin doesn't seem to be into fixing the problems so much as making money off the problems. It's her own little form of crony capitalism.

It made her speech a sad thing to watch for an Alaskan. This state was once known for the late Gov. Wally Hickel, who lost his cushy Washington, D.C. job as Secretary of the Interior after he told his boss, President Richard M. Nixon, it would be a good idea to listen to the legion of Americans saying it was time to put an end to the war in Vietnam. And now Alaska is known as the home of queen of the mean-girl cheerleading squad.

About the only thing worse than witnessing this strange turn of events was watching some of those in the crowd at CPAC eat up Palin's speech as if it actually held real meat. This was a little scary. She made conservatives look to have become the party of God, slobber and nonsense. Let's hope that's only the fringe. The party still has thinkers out there in the likes of Newt Gingrich, love him or hate him but recognizes he feasts on ideas; Charles Krauthammer, David Brooks, Kathleen Parker, Ann Coulter, even Bill O'Reilly and Rush Limbaugh. These and others are people who traffic in ideas.

Palin has never met an idea for which she had time. She traffics in jingles. She's the Muhammad Ali of the Republican Party. She can float like a butterfly and sting like a bee. This makes her every bit as entertaining to watch as Ali in his prime. She's a heavyweight in that sense. But nobody watched Ali with the idea he might solve the nation's problems. We watched Ali as a distraction from the nation's problems. Lord help us now that there are people who actually think Palin has a clue as how to fix this country.

The views expressed here are the writer's own and are not necessarily endorsed by Alaska Dispatch. Alaska Dispatch welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. Contact Craig Medred at craig(at)alaskadispatch.com.

Palin Reprises Her Role as the Great Imposter

From HuffPost Politics: Palin Reprises Her Role as the Great Imposter
When Sarah Palin was spotted near the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C., on Saturday, supporters, journalists, and photographers ran to her side. When it was discovered that the woman was really Patti Lyons, a Palin imposter, the crowd stayed.

Journalists interviewed her and photographers photographed her. Supporters of the real Palin asked the imposter for her autograph and told her how much they adored her. It didn't matter that Lyons was not really Palin.

Even by the standards of this year's presidential campaign, this was a bit odd.

But actually, it revealed a lot about Palin, her supporters, and the state of the far right. A lot of Palin's supporters don't know the difference between what is real and what is false -- and they don't appear to care that they don't.

Palin was back in all her vainglory Saturday night in her speech at the CPAC. The adoring crowd cheered as Palin delivered a speech that was full of sound and fury. It was just like old times.

Palin, as we remember, ran for the vice presidency without knowing the duties of the vice president. She questioned the patriotism of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama but openly supported an organization, the Alaska Independence Party, which wanted to secede from the United States because it had "no use for America or her damned institutions."

Palin, who was then governor of Alaska, called her opponents socialists while running the U.S.'s most socialistic state. She campaigned to end earmarks, but as mayor and governor enthusiastically sought and secured million of dollars in earmarks. She called herself a hockey mom of and for the people while spending more than $150,000 on the clothes she wore while campaigning.

Palin regularly compared herself with conservative icon Ronald Reagan but appeared to know little about his life and career. After hearing Palin compare herself to Reagan, Peggy Noonan, Reagan's speechwriter and confidant responded, "Excuse me, but this was even ignorant for Ms. Palin The point is not, 'He was a great man and you are a nincompoop,' though this is true."

Palin talked frequently often about her Christianity but appeared to know little about The Bible nor seemed to care that she didn't, according to Frank Bailey, who served as a close aide to Palin. Bailey said he lost faith in Palin when he realized that what she said was God's word was really her own. "I was convinced that her priorities and personality are not only ill suited to head a political party or occupy national office," Bailey said, "but would lead to a disaster of, well, biblical proportions."

After nearly four years of Palin, much of the country, including a lot of Republicans, believes that Palin is herself an imposter. "If B.S. were currency," Pulitzer Prize-winning conservative columnist Kathleen Parker once said, "Palin could bail out Wall Street herself."

Other conservatives are more critical. Columnist David Brooks said that Palin "represents a fatal cancer to the Republican Party." Commentator David Frum agreed. Palin's "divisiveness is not just within the country, it's divisive within the party, and many fear, as I do, that while she's very popular with some Republicans," Frum said, "she represents a future that leads the party both to political defeat and then to ineffectiveness in government."

Palin's popularity left columnist Steve Chapman deflated. "I silently weep that the right has been reduced to this absurd fantasist know-it-all who believes her ignorance is her selling point." And former First Lady Barbara Bush expressed her desire that Palin disappear from politics. "I think she's very happy in Alaska," Bush said, "and I hope she stays there."

Finally, something that Democrats and a lot of Republicans can agree on.

Friday, February 10, 2012

Sarah Palin Set to Re-emerge at CPAC

From Real Clear Politics: Sarah Palin Set to Re-emerge at CPAC
At last year's CPAC gathering, the mere sight of a Sarah Palin impersonator was enough to throw some attendees into a star-struck frenzy.

Such was Palin's clout among conservative activists in February 2011, just a few months after she played a critical role in the 2010 midterms and when she was stoking speculation about her own presidential ambitions.

This year, CPAC attendees won’t have to settle on a doppelganger, as the former Alaska governor is slated to deliver the event’s keynote address on Saturday.

But, with the Michigan and Arizona primaries looming at the end of the month and Super Tuesday following them in early March, how much impact will her words have on race?

With Palin having receded from the headlines -- and her influence having waned within the Republican Party -- the reception her speech receives will be a test of how much sway she retains in the grass-roots movement she personified not so long ago.

Though the “rogue” politician is always liable to spring a surprise, a source inside Palin’s orbit said she would not endorse a presidential candidate in her speech but would instead aim to unify the conservative movement.

Despite her lower profile in recent months, Palin has left a mark on this presidential cycle through her frequent TV appearances on the Fox News Channel, which she conducts from a home studio in Alaska.

But Palin’s CPAC address will be her first public foray outside her home state since she delivered an early November speech in Orlando to the Republican Party of Florida.

Though she has stopped short of endorsing him outright, Palin has been acting as a quasi-surrogate for Newt Gingrich of late and urged Republican voters before the South Carolina and Florida primaries to cast their votes for the former House speaker.

But she has also said positive things about Rick Santorum, and the former Pennsylvania senator’s three victories on Tuesday could complicate her advocacy of Gingrich.

Palin’s husband, Todd, who endorsed Gingrich last month, is not expected to travel with her to Washington, since he is training for the annual Iron Dog snowmobile race in Alaska, which begins in nine days.

Though she has gone out of her way to praise Gingrich and Santorum, Palin has increasingly raised doubts about Mitt Romney and pushed back against perceptions that the national GOP front-runner is the party’s inevitable nominee.

“That glowing enthusiasm isn't there yet,” Palin told Greta Van Susteren earlier this week. “I believe a lot of that is in part the idea that it's a forgone conclusion that Mitt Romney will be the GOP pick. He certainly has the establishment support and much of the media support. I also believe that he is the one that President Obama would love to debate and to run against in November."

If Palin criticizes Romney even more overtly in her CPAC speech, it could heighten the difficulties the former Massachusetts governor already faces in winning over enough grass-roots conservatives to seal the nomination soon.

No matter how much her influence may have waned, Palin’s presence figures to be the talk of the conference on Saturday.

And though there was little pronounced enthusiasm for her impending speech as CPAC opened Thursday, many of the former vice presidential nominee’s most ardent supporters plan to descend on the event this weekend -- a presence that surely will bolster the energy level.

Michelle McCormick -- who temporarily moved to Iowa from her native Texas to help organize for a Palin presidential campaign that never occurred -- will be among those arriving in Washington on Friday.

McCormick said that she would love to see Palin become more active in the presidential race but understood if the former governor wanted to spend time with her family instead and stay outside the ring.

“I know a lot of people out there think her star has completely faded, and realistically it’s probably been knocked down a little bit, but I think everyone’s going to be interested to hear what she has to say,” McCormick said. “To be honest with you, there’s no one out there who’s saying anything that fits the mood of the Republican electorate right now, and even though she’s not running, she might be able to at least drive the conversation like she was able to do with crony capitalism.”

Indeed, the anti-crony capitalism screed that Palin unveiled in a Labor Day weekend speech in Iowa became a frequently repeated mantra among almost all of the GOP presidential candidates.

Though she is sure to unleash some of her famously fiery rhetoric on the CPAC crowd, those eager for her to get behind a particular candidate could come away disappointed.

Palin’s speech is more likely to be an indicator of whether she intends to increase her presence in the race going forward.

“Gov. Palin’s been very adamant: The process should continue, we need more vetting, and it only helps the further we go into the process,” said Steve Bannon, the filmmaker behind the pro-Palin documentary, “The Undefeated.” “If you go back and look at what she said and when she said it and how she said it, she’s been once again very good at foretelling how this thing has developed.”

Thursday, February 9, 2012

Sarah Palin: Raising a special needs child

From Mother Nature Network: Sarah Palin: Raising a special needs child
I feel the need to state from the get-go that I am not the parent of a special needs child. But I have been so touched by two posts I've read recently on the topic that I felt I absolutely had to share them here.

In the first post, Sarah Palin shared what it's like to raise a special needs child in a recent first person piece for Newsweek. It's a rare side of Palin that we the public don't often get to see. In this post, she's not the plucky GOP sweetheart. She's a mother whose pride in her son beams through every sentence. She is tough. But she is also vulnerable, sharing the challenges that make life with her son Trig different than that of other moms. Yet she is also quick to point out how lucky and unique her situation is in that she has access to the financial, emotional, and social resources provided by her status and supportive family.

She comments, "[m]y family understands that up ahead, some days will be better than others. We will adapt and juggle things and work through it. But Trig applauds the day. And that’s what he teaches us. That’s our priority, and we’re blessed by it."

Just when I thought that Sarah Palin and I couldn't possibly have less in common, this article made it clear to me that we are actually bonded in a way I never realized. Sarah Palin is a mother who loves her child as fiercely as I love mine. And maybe that is all the common ground that we might ever need.

Here's the second item I wanted to show you. In "Dear School Personnel, Community Members, Teachers, Parents and Neighbors," author Marianne Russo of the blog The Life Unexpected pens an open letter to everyone and anyone who has crossed paths with her and her special needs child — from the parents and teachers at her child's school to the strangers she has come across at the supermarket. She asks us all to be role models by mirroring respect for special needs kids and discouraging gossip, "[t]he next time you see a special needs child know they are not just special in their needs but in their brilliance as well. Take the time to meet our children. Take the time to know us."

Thank you Sarah Palin and Marianne Russo, for the poignant reminders about what it means to raise a special needs child, and how we as a community can support you and your children.

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

The evolution of Sarah Palin

From The Hill: The evolution of Sarah Palin
2012 could have looked much different for Sarah Palin. Had the former Alaska governor entered the GOP presidential race, she likely would have been winding her “One Nation” bus tour through the primary states, antagonizing her opponents with quips about being the only candidate not afraid to “go rogue” or rely on her Mama Grizzly instincts.

Instead, she has the heavily marketed HBO movie “Game Change” — which appears to scrutinize her role in the 2008 presidential contest — to look forward to.

Palin still lands big gigs: She’s billed as the closing speaker at this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference, which starts Thursday. And she continues to create media dust-ups in a few simple words, as evidenced by her “Vote for Newt; annoy a liberal” comment on Fox News last month.

But ever since she ended her flirtation with a presidential bid last October, signs have pointed to a long, slow descent into the political has-beens basement for Palin. Perhaps the most telling detail is her political action committee’s most recent fundraising numbers.

SarahPAC raised roughly $756,000 in the second half of 2011, down from the consistent seven-figure reporting periods it had before then.

It looks as though Palin might be morphing into less a political powerhouse and more a reality-television star.

“ ‘Game Change’ will further [her] celebrity,” says Marie Wilson, founder and president emeritus of The White House Project, an organization that works to advance women in politics and business. The movie is scheduled for release next month.

The more celebrity-like she becomes, the less likely it is that she will be able to reemerge as a serious candidate for public office, Wilson and other experts say. The result is a word just a year ago few people would have associated with her: irrelevance.

“I actually don’t hear anybody talking about her,” Tea Party Patriots co-founder Mark Meckler says.

Meckler says Palin never spoke for the Tea Party to begin with but that her message often resonates with Tea Partiers because she isn’t afraid of speaking out against the political establishment.

“She’s just not as central because she stepped out of the political ring and into the media-slash-entertainment ring,” he says.

When Palin resigned the Alaska governorship in 2009, she said she wanted to unshackle herself from an official title. But in so doing, she also relinquished an establishment platform that lent credence to any political aspirations she might have harbored. Meckler and others say Palin would either have to “throw her hat back in the ring” by running for office or develop an expertise for voters to see her once again as a true politician with potential to lead.

“The reason the McCain campaign selected her was her energy credential,” says University of Pennsylvania political communication Professor Kathleen Hall Jamieson.

Palin would need to hone “an issue portfolio that is grounded in expertise” for her to return to politics, Jamieson says.

But meanwhile, Jamieson and other observers note other rising stars — like Republicans Rep. Paul Ryan (Wis.), Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.) and Gov. Chris Christie (N.J.) — are taking up roles she might have filled.

“Now that there are actual politicians … who are also addressing the Tea Party angst and representing that ethos, I think it’s fair to say her influence has diminished some,” conservative commentator S.E. Cupp wrote in an email to The Hill.

One Republican strategist, speaking anonymously, says Palin lost “an amazing amount of influence and coverage” once she decided not to run for president.

It’s a far cry from the Palin-mania that struck the country in 2008.

“I think people even forget that she was governor,” says Democratic strategist Celinda Lake. “I think it’s sad that she’s kind of become a caricature, because she’s obviously smart. But now she’s perceived as smart in a Paris Hilton kind of way.”

Then again, there hasn’t been any public persona quite like Palin. She occupied a space halfway between politics and entertainment from the start of her national debut in 2008, many say.

“I think the way she emerged on the scene — her beauty, her sexuality, to be candid, the way she winked at the audience, her flirtatiousness — all of that made … her early on a combination [of politician and celebrity],” The White House Project’s Wilson says.

Others say it’s not so much celebrity as it is her true self — Palin being Palin — that attracted people to her four years ago and that can still excite large swaths of the American people.

“Palin was never popular because she was viewed as a celebrity,” conservative commentator Jedediah Bila says. “She was [and] is popular because, in a sea of pre-programmed politicians, she has never been afraid to sound like a regular person and to just be herself.”

The result is that people see themselves in her, Bila says, and believe she means what she says.

“In politics, that is extremely rare,” she says. “And I think that no matter what she pursues in the future … that trait will go with her.”

What her future holds remains an open question. Though she has trumpeted Newt Gingrich in the GOP presidential primary, she hasn’t backed him formally, and she has yet to indicate whether she’ll make any endorsements in the 2012 congressional races after playing an outsize role in 2010. A request for a comment from SarahPAC on Palin’s plans went unreturned.

“I think that her role moving forward is going to depend on what she does,” Bila says. “Is she going to be an insider and shape what’s happening? Or is she going to be an outsider? And I’m not sure she’s made her decision for the long term.”

Monday, February 6, 2012

Sarah Palin Assigned Newsweek Trig Essay Just Weeks After Blasting Mag

Huffington Post: Sarah Palin Assigned Newsweek Trig Essay Just Weeks After Blasting Mag
NEW YORK -- When Newsweek published Andrew Sullivan's cover story three weeks ago with the provocative headline "Why Are Obama's Critics So Dumb?," former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin quickly took the magazine to task on Twitter.

"Newsweek: know what's truly 'dumb'?" Palin tweeted. "Giving a cover story to the TrigTruther conspiracy kook writer who thinks I didn't give birth to my son."

Sullivan, a veteran journalist who brought his popular Daily Dish blog to the Daily Beast and Newsweek a year ago, has long questioned Palin's account of how she gave birth to Trig, her fifth child, in April 2008. Salon, among other news outlets, has looked into the matter and last year debunked the theory that Palin didn't give birth to Trig.

Tina Brown, editor-in-chief of Newsweek and the Daily Beast and oft-described "Queen of Buzz," is renowned for running attention-grabbing stories and covers in hopes of sparking conversation and controversy. So it's not surprising Brown would commission a piece from Palin on Trig just weeks after Palin took a shot at one of the magazine's top writers over his history of raising doubts about Trig's birth.

But a Daily Beast spokesperson says the Palin piece was assigned last week following the news that Rick Santorum's daughter, Bella, had been hospitalized and he was briefly leaving the campaign trail.

"We asked Sarah Palin if she would like to share her personal story about life with a child with special needs upon learning about Senator Santorum's decision last week to place his campaign on hold to be with his daughter," the spokesperson emailed.

Palin's article, "My Life With Trig," is now online and in the iPad edition of Newsweek that's on sale Sunday. The print issue hits newsstands Monday.

While Palin doesn't address those who've questioned her account of Trig's birth, it's hard not to view the first-person essay as something of a response to Sullivan, especially given her recent criticism of him and Newsweek. She writes:

When I discovered early in my pregnancy that my baby would be born with an extra chromosome, the diagnosis of Down syndrome frightened me so much that I dared not discuss my pregnancy for many months. All I could seem to muster was a calling out to God to prepare my heart for what was ahead. My prayers were answered beyond my shallow understanding of what true joy could be. Yes, raising a child with special needs is a unique challenge, and there's still fear about my son Trig's future because of health and social challenges; and certainly some days are much more difficult than if I had a "normal" child.

Since the end of the 2008 presidential campaign -- when Palin came to prominence on the national stage -- she's had a complicated, co-dependent relationship with the news media. She's famous for attacking media elites while also profiting off their attention by securing lucrative book deals and a multimillion-dollar contract with top-rated cable network Fox News.

In July, Palin landed on Newsweek's cover and helped drum up more media speculation that she'd run for president by declaring, "I can win." MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell blasted Newsweek's "desperate attempt to boost newsstand sales," while stating that Palin "is never going to run for president or any other elective office." Months later, Palin finally ended the media guessing game by announcing she would not run.

While Palin seems to have a good relationship with Newsweek under Brown's stewardship, she clashed with the previous regime. In May 2010, she called the magazine "sexist" for using a Runner's World photo of her for its cover.

"We chose the most interesting image available to us to illustrate the theme of the cover, which is what we always try to do," then-editor Jon Meacham told The Huffington Post at the time. "We apply the same test to photographs of any public figure, male or female: Does the image convey what we are saying? That is a gender-neutral standard."

Friday, February 3, 2012

John Terry: How Sarah Palin got it right

This article is about a soccer player, but I thought it was interesting that the British author references Sarah Palin in his article.

From the Independent (UK): John Terry: How Sarah Palin got it right
It’s been a notable week for the loss of titles: first Fred Goodwin, formerly a knight of the realm, and now John Terry, formerly captain of England. The news has only just broken, but it seems as though the attention around his July 9 trial – for the alleged racial abuse of QPR defender Anton Ferdinand – proved too much of a distraction for the FA leading into this summer’s European Championships.

Terry will most likely feel deeply aggrieved. He may well see this move by the FA as a betrayal, and may question why he was given the responsibility of leading his team in the first place. This is the second time that he has lost the England captaincy: the first time was two years ago, almost to the day, when allegations about his private life saw Fabio Capello hand the armband to Rio Ferdinand. Should he return to the role in autumn, he might rightly fear that his authority has been terminally undermined.

Ironically enough, Terry’s success in securing a trial date after the tournament may have forced the FA’s hand. His removal as captain does not remotely signify his guilt of the charges brought against him, but I think it signals a concession to the cacophony whipped up by Twitter, radio and countless media commentators. For the FA to have made such a difficult decision, they would have done so in the perceived best interests of the England team as a whole. In doing so, however, the FA have gone against the publicly-stated wishes of Fabio Capello to retain him in the role. This looks like a terrible mess.

But maybe the FA’s decision is not such a mess after all. The July 9 trial date ensured that the remaining few months of the season, as well as the entire Euro 2012 tournament, effectively became “the trial of John Terry”. I don’t doubt for one moment that he would have emerged with his playing reputation intact, perhaps even enhanced. Indeed, John Terry and his supporters can point to the fact that, whenever Terry is subjected to intense media scrutiny, he raises his level of performance, not only producing masterful displays in defence but also contributing the odd crucial goal here and there.

Sarah Palin, of all people, put her finger on a similar issue a few years ago, during a September 2008 speech in which she was critical of Barack Obama’s run for the White House. “The American presidency”, she somewhat harshly told her adoring audience, “is not a journey in personal discovery.” Unfortunately for John Terry, the FA seem to have agreed with Palin: and concluded that the England captaincy is not a personal test of strength, in which Terry can prove himself yet again impervious in the face of public anger. It is a job whose holder should not overshadow his team’s campaign: and that’s probably why, quite wearily, they have wielded the axe.

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Sarah Palin Weighs in on Florida, Leans Toward Backing Newt

From Sunshine State News: Sarah Palin Weighs in on Florida, Leans Toward Backing Newt
While former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has generally had warmer words for Newt Gingrich, appearing on Fox News on Tuesday night, she said that Mitt Romney scored a “big win” in the Florida Republican presidential primary -- but added that the GOP infighting was not productive.

“Relative to the other primaries these are pretty large numbers for Governor Romney, that’s a pretty big win for him,” Palin said. “$17 million spent in one state, that purchased a lot of darts and arrows that were flown in one direction and then a lot of darts and arrows were flown back, and you know, a lot of that negativity sure didn’t paint the party and the cause in very attractive colors. I think that hurts the electorate ultimately; it diminishes the energy that’s needed to head into a general [election] so hopefully, from henceforth, everybody will really start focusing on what’s important to debate as we go forward.”

Palin added that constant attacks against Gingrich hurt him in the Sunshine State.

“When a bell is rung it’s really tough to unring that bell, no matter how many surrogates that you have out there speaking for you,” Palin said. “So yes, I think that added to a process that thus far hasn’t been, again, very attractive to the electorate. It unfortunately is what keeps good people from wanting to run for office and maybe be engaged in their own government process of electing our leaders.”

Saying if she were a Nevada resident, which holds its caucus on Saturday, Palin said she was leaning toward backing Gingrich.

“Whomever it is to allow the process to continue, I still say competition breeds success for the U.S. and that’s what we need in this debate,” Palin said. “As it stands, obviously it's Romney and Newt who are closest to being the front-running candidate so I would continue to vote for whomever it is to allow the process and at this point it looks like it still is Newt.”

Critics: HBO Movie Trailer Puts Sarah Palin in Bad Light

From ABC News: Critics: HBO Movie Trailer Puts Sarah Palin in Bad Light
HBO’s critics on the Right were apparently right about the network’s upcoming movie “Game Change,” about Sen. John McCain’s run for the presidency in 2008.

While the network claimed the movie would be even-handed politically, it seems Sarah Palin doesn’t come off too well in the trailer.

Critics decried the HBO film from the get-go as a hit piece on the former Alaska governor who became the target of a merciless media and political barrage after McCain chose her as his running mate.

Starring Ed Harris and Julianne Moore — who in the past has been critical of Palin — the movie, which premieres on March 10, depicts how McCain’s team picked the former Alaska governor and then subsequently, had second thoughts about it when Palin seemed to fold under pressure.

The book of the same name on which the movie is based is about the entire 2008 election, but the filmmakers — who also produced the Left-leaning HBO movie “Recount” — chose to focus on the Palin/McCain part of the book.

Included in the trailer is Palin claiming that Russia can be seen from Alaska as Woody Harrelson, who plays McCain adviser Steven Schmidt, quips, “Oh my God, what have we done?”

At one point, Moore as Palin tells the adviser, “I’m single-handedly carrying this campaign. I’m going to do what I want.” Moore also remarks in whisper, “I have to win this thing. I so don’t want to go back to Alaska.”

There’s been no comment yet from Palin about the trailer for “Game Change.”