Showing posts with label sarah palin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sarah palin. Show all posts

Friday, May 27, 2011

PalinPalooza reloaded: Palin "recycles" bus from "Sarah Palin's Alaska", "crashes" Rolling Thunder (or did she?), Lawrence O'Donnell's bizarre rant

By Patrick

The good old Sarah Palin madness started again, although some people are still in denial. But let me thank our brilliant readers first: The collection of links and stories in our comments is simply invaluable. Poor Kathleen went to bed already several hours again with a bad migraine, and when I came home today after a tiring working week, I was so glad (as usual) to see all the collected links, news and facts in our comments. This makes it so much easier for us to prepare new posts. Thank you, everybody, and keep up the good work!

Sarah Palin's bus tour starts with a propaganda blast and the usual Palinesque chaos which in the end makes her appear a "victim", as usual, as always, as it was to be expected.

SarahPAC today released this propaganda video for the bus tour - fodder for her gullible fans:



Then there is the usual chaos surrounding this tour, but don't expect that it will make Sarah look bad, because it's so totally not her fault, it's just the others who always get their facts wrong, you betcha.

Andrea Mitchell interviewed Ted Shpak, spokesman of "Rolling Thunder", who said that Sarah Palin was "not invited", that the organizers heard "yesterday through a press release" that she was coming, that the event is not political and that he considers Sarah Palin to be a "big distraction":



Even Ben Smith from Politico, who is known to be incredibly careful in his criticism of Sarah Palin, smelled the blunder and felt compelled to declare:

"Palin invited herself to motorcycle rally"


But he should have known that Sarah Palin makes no mistakes. It's always the others who get it wrong. She is the victim. Do you get it, Ben?

Oh yes, he did - just about one hour later:

"Palin had invite to bike rally"


She had an invite from Alaska! She is the victim. How could the lamestream interview a spokesman who clearly had no idea what he was talking about. How mean of Andrea Mitchell! Sarah, they are all picking on you for no reason as usual!

It's not very difficult to predict that similar "confusions" will probably happen a gazillion times in Sarah Palin's "sphere" during the next 12+ months - and that the "lamestream" will dutifully report each other's "mistakes" as far as Sarah Palin is concerned.

But we have a real discovery, and strangely enough, a Palinbot made it: Sarah Palin uses exactly the same tour bus for her upcoming "One Nation" bus tour that she used for her reality show "Sarah Palin's Alaska!"

A right-winger posted this picture on twitter (click to enlarge):


The busses are not only identical - in fact, even the number plates are the same! It's the same bus, without any doubt.

So what the heck does that mean? On the bus, there now is a huge sign with says:

"Paid for by SARAHPAC"

Is everything paid by SarahPAC, including the bus? Who is the owner of the bus? Who paid for it when it was used for her reality show "Sarah Palin's Alaska?" Did SarahPAC secretly finance parts of the reality show as well?

So many questions - so few answers. This would also be a good title for a Sarah Palin biography. ;-)

In the meantime, Lawrence O'Donnell doesn't believe that Sarah Palin will run for President:

Lawrence O'Donnell is certainly entitled to believe that, and he received much praise for his stance for example in the comments at Huffington Post, and I believe that a number of our readers will agree as well. But I don't agree at all, and I find it quite painful to watch how Lawrence O'Donnell mocks the New York Times because they chose to take Sarah Palin seriously.

His comparison to Donald Trump is as flawed as it can get. Sarah Palin has prepared her run for President for years, and everybody who has closely followed her story also should know that she is virtually been eaten up by her desperation to become President. She is much cleverer than Lawrence O'Donnell realizes: She doesn't need to follow the "usual script" for a presidential candidate - because she always got away with doing it "the other way." Giving speeches to enthusiastic fans, hiding behind facebook and twitter, producing a reality show, produce additional propaganda through more staged events like the bus tour, giving interviews to pro-Palin journalists - that's her dream, and she is just about to live it. Because she is allowed to do it, by the people she despises, by the "lamestream." At some point, they might wake up, but until then, Sarah Palin will be able to do a lot of damage.


But Mr. Trump’s was a brief dalliance with presidential politics that almost appeared to have been done on a whim. Ms. Palin, by contrast, has been moving slowly and methodically for several years. Aides have said for months that she wanted to be in a position to run for president if that’s what she decided to do.

Ms. Palin and her aides revealed few clues on Thursday, which leaves a lot of people in Washington and around the country guessing.

Yeah, but I am not guessing. Please don't look for sanity or logic in Sarah Palin's actions. She is a mad cow on the lose. That's really all one needs to know.

Just in: The Washington Post makes fun of Sarah Palin's upcoming movie and publishes an imaginary script:

MORGAN FREEMAN (voice-over)

Ahem. My name is Sarah Palin. I was born and raised in a small town called Wasilla, Alaska. I’ve spent my whole life trying to escape it, and the rest of the world has spent its whole life trying to return me there, like a package with insufficient postage (chuckles). I wanted a reality TV show. They said, “Fine. Go back to Alaska.” I wanted to govern a whole state. They said, “Fine. Go back to Alaska.” I wanted to be Miss Alaska. They said, “Sorry, that’s just not happening.”

EXT. SOMEWHERE ELSE IN ALASKA – DAY

Sarah stands with Todd. We can only see her feet, because the camera is hidden in some bushes.

SARAH

I’m not going to be engaging in too much of that fictitiousness that I’ve been hearing about, in regards to that stuff in the chitchat, that I’m running with regard to hoping for the attention and the fiscal value and not feeling that good belly-fire. But in the unmortal words of Ronald Reagan, “Give me liberty or give me death, and Sarah Palin should be the President in the future, not of the future, or, as some amongst us say in regards to the future, ‘winning,’ but with and amongst, amongst the all-Americans.” Joe here knows what I’m talking about, don’t ya ,Joe?

TODD

I support you, Sarah, but I’m not sure what you just said actually makes any sense.

Bristol salsas past the camera.

BRISTOL

I’m here too! I’m shy and withdrawn, just like my new chin.

Andrew Sullivan received harsh criticism from right-wing websites for his comparison of Sarah Palin's upcoming propaganda piece "The Undefeated" to Leni Riefenstahl's infamous propaganda masterpiece "Triumph of the Will":

Andrew Sullivan's vendetta against Sarah Palin reached a new milestone on Friday after he insinuated that the former Alaska governor was somehow akin to Adolf Hitler. Sullivan referenced Leni Riefenstahl's infamous pro-Nazi movie after quoting a former Palin spokeswoman on what he labeled "the upcoming propaganda movie, 'Triumph Of The Will' 'The Undefeated.'"

Having watched "Triumph of the Will" (click for youtube), I am sure that there couldn't be a better comparison to Sarah's upcoming concoction, but then, Sarah Palin doesn't have a moustache, and therefore it's a proven scientific fact that she cannot be Adolf Hitler.

But there is something which I have been asking myself. We all know that Sarah Palin hates to give interviews to anyone who cannot be considered to be a faithful supporter - but did Adolf Hitler actually give interviews to the press?

I originally thought that he didn't. However, I was only half-right. Interestingly, there is a very fascinating story on the record about an attempt to interview Adolf Hitler - in 1931, by an American journalist. The story was published in 1936 in Harper's Magazine and can be read here.

The encounter was Hitler wasn't a success - but it surely was expensive:

Hitler’s secretary, a nervous little man who clattered like a teletype, introduced me. Herr Hitler paced back and forth in an almost unfurnished room. He wore black, which set off rosy cheeks against a dead white face. A lock of hair over his forehead frequently got in his way and he pushed it carefully aside. In civilian clothes he appeared far slimmer than in pictures in uniform.

The secretary read to him from my list of questions. None of them was particularly provocative. Hitler answered like a man who has lost all conversational tones. Everything was double or triple forte except the greeting and the farewell. Er brillt, as the Germans say.

“A Fascist government in France and a Nazi government in Germany – then the two nations would understand each other. . . .

“The Jews? Can you shoot flies with machine guns? By the way, you aren’t Jewish, are you? Your name is the same as that of the Jew police commissioner here. . . .

“Put the unemployed on the marginal land. . . .

“Between Germany and the United States there should be nothing but increasingly good relations. . . .”

The secretary said softly, “That was your last question.”

“Thank you.”

“Auf wiedersehen!”

I added. “I shall write this and send it over for your signature.”

“Certainly. With pleasure.”

I sent a copy of the interview and felt satisfied. Hitler had said nothing startling but it was the first interview he had given for many months.

Four hours later a messenger brought me an envelope. In it were the pages of the interview. Every line and every paragraph was crossed out, not neatly but savagely, with many blurs and blots. One line remained: “Between Germany and the United States there should be nothing but increasingly good relations.” Signed, Adolf Hitler. For that astounding fact I had paid two hundred marks. Possibly some of the things said did look brusque on paper but I had written them as they were spoken.

So here we have another politician who didn't like to have his words twisted by repeating them verbatim. Certainly "Triumph of the Will" (1934) was much more enjoyable from his point of view.

How to end on a more humorous note? After all, we can have so much fun with Sarah as well.

Twitter came to the rescue, where I just spotted the following clips from 2008 - have a relaxing Friday evening, everybody!




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at
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Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Yes, Sarah Palin truly wants to be a "modern Queen Esther" - Newly discovered video from 2008 reveals her inner thoughts & Preview of "The Undefeated"

By Patrick

It's Sarah Palin 24/7 again, the very foreseeable development breaks way: Sarah Palin wants to run for President, she has been "plotting" it for years (just wait for her fancy new websites which have been in development already since 2009), she is following a playbook that many people don't like to hear about: After her recent book "Mein Kampf 2" now follows the epic movie "Triumph of the Will 2", and just wait for her rousing speeches at little "Nuremberg Rallies" all over the country. Also, no interviews with evil lamestream journalists, please, as Sarah Palin recently announced in an interview with Sean Hannity.

But as this may seem quite simplistic, predictable, easy to see through for some, a "second layer" is on offer: Religion. It's so useful, isn't it? Who doesn't want to belong to the good and righteous, God-fearing folks? Well, atheists, apparently, but I don't believe that they belong to Sarah's preferred "target audience." But seriously, isn't it even better to be likened to a biblical figure, like "Queen Esther", which could give you "half-God-like" status?

Well, several articles have already been written about Sarah Palin and the comparisons to "Queen Esther", but not much "hard proof" has surfaced so far that could confirm that Sarah Palin really, really loves this comparison. But yesterday my dear Kathleen roamed the internets and made a "chance discovery" which needs to be highlighted: A very religious and very enthusiastic supporter of Sarah Palin posted a clip at youtube on October 17, 2008 which has found little attention so far. However we here at Politicalgates believe that this clip deserves to be seen, as it reveals who Sarah Palin REALLY loves to be compared with, as modest as she is - with Queen Esther.

The footage was shot on October 9, 2008, at a rally in Wilmington, Ohio:





The person who originally posted the video included the following description to it:

I was so blessed to have a few moments with the future VP, Sarah Palin at a Road to Victory Rally in Wilmington, Ohio!

This is what was said....

I TELL SARAH​ "​YOUR OUR MODER​N DAY ESTHE​R!​"​

SARAH​ SAYS "HEY THANK​ YOU! SAY YOUR PRAYE​RS MAN!​"​

THAN I TELL HER "IM CHURC​H OF GOD PENTE​COSTA​L"​

THEN SARAH​ SAYS "IT WILL BE THE INTER​CESSI​ON THAT GETS US THERE​!​ TELL YOUR PRAYE​R CHAIN​S OK?"

THEN I TELL HER "WE HAD PRAYE​R FOR YOU LAST NIGHT​!​"​

SARAH​ "​RIGHT​ ON THANK​ YOU SO MUCH!​ OH MAN THATS​ WHATS​ GONNA​ GET US THERE​!​!​"​

THEN THE LAST THING​ SHE SAYS IS "GOD BLESS​ YOU GUYS!​ THANK​ YOU FOR BEING​ BELIE​VERS!​"

Well, what this guy doesn't mention is that at the end he also said "You are anointed" - as if this would be the most natural thing to say.

What this remarkable footage reveals is for example that Sarah Palin doesn't only enjoy the comparison between herself and Queen Esther, but she even seems to encourage her followers in the beliefs that she is somewhat "biblical."

Journalist Michael Gross reported in Vanity Fair in September 2010 about an email that right-wing pastor and gay-hater Lou Engle wrote to Sarah Palin "as a last-minute exhortation just before she took the stage for her vice-presidential debate against Joseph Biden on October 2, 2008." In this email, Lou Engle compared Sarah Palin to Queen Esther, and I get the impression that she really, really like that email as well. It reads:

Dear Sarah,

Many thousands are fasting and praying for you. I know you’ve heard it, but I believe this is an Esther moment in your life. Esther hid her identity until Mordecai challenged her to risk everything for such a time as this. Your identity is “Sarah Barracuda”. Esther removed corruption from the Persian government and Haman fell. She didn’t have experience, she had grace and favor. Sarah, don’t hide your identity tonight. There will be questions given to you that you don’t know, and I have been weeping over you. I believe the Lord would have you be real. If they ask you a question that you don’t know, don’t be ashamed to say: “I don’t have the experience of 30 years of politics like Senator Biden, but what I have is character, truth, and integrity, and I haven’t been seduced by 30 years of political and moral compromise like these men in DC. I believe America is not looking for more knowledge, they are looking for more character and more truth, and that is who I am. I refuse the politics of neutrality. I will stand for the family, I will stand on foundations of truth and this nation will be better for it.

Sarah I’m sure you’re doing this, but take a moment to still yourself before the Lord. The Lord is a shield about you. To those who have no strength, the Lord will show Himself powerful.

Sarah, I could be wrong, but I’ve been praying for five years for an Esther, with dreams of being a Mordecai to that Esther. I believe you’re the one and I think you’re even wearing a life band. Tonight don’t be ashamed to plead for the life of the unborn and all the wounded woman who have gone through this holocaust. You can throw this email away, but I have 50 young people fasting and praying day and night who are shouting tonight: “Grace, grace to you!”

We love you,
Lou Engle


Palin seems first to have gotten the idea that she might be a new Esther shortly after being elected governor in 2006, when she asked one of her former pastors for an example of biblical leadership that she could emulate. Quoting scripture, the pastor told Palin that she, like Esther, had “come to the Kingdom for such a time as this.”

The reference requires some unpacking. Due to her extraordinary beauty, Esther, a Jew, was taken as a wife by the Persian king Ahasuerus. When an adviser named Haman persuaded Ahasuerus to proclaim that all Jews in his kingdom should be killed, Esther’s Jewish cousin Mordecai (who raised her after she was orphaned) told her that she had to persuade the King to spare her people: “For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14)


Sarah Palin as Queen Esther? Alaska's soon-to-be-gone-governor as a Hebrew heroine from 2,500 years ago?

But over at the Daily Dish Andrew Sullivan made the connection -- with some help from the New Wineskins blogger ­­-- after musing on Palin's seemingly fatalistic pronouncement in early June, a full month before her surprise resignation.
"If I die, I die," Palin said during a rambling (what else?) introduction for Ronald Reagan's son, Michael, who was headlining an event at the Alaska Center for the Performing Arts. Was Palin subtly signaling her political fate to those with ears to hear?

Perhaps. More likely she was just channeling one of the favorite biblical role models for conservative Christian women, especially the beauty queens, which Palin once was (and still is, if that Runner's World spread is anything to go by).

(...)

Contemporary Christians, especially conservatives, love that story. As Nancy Ammerman, a sociologist of religion at Boston University, told me, Esther represents "a willingness to risk everything on behalf of something greater than yourself, something you believe in." Hence the popularity of Esther's other well-known declaration, "I was born for such a time as this." Esther's words convey a powerful sense of vocation, Ammerman says, "the notion that there is a hand in history that brings a person to a particular place in which their particular gifts have meaning and have an opportunity to make a difference." The Esther story is also ideal for a Christian Right that sees itself as a besieged minority, as the Jews of Esther's day were. The vindication of the Jews, who then vanquished their foes, is also a gratifying scenario for today's believers.

Little wonder that when Palin exploded onto the political scene last year -- accompanied by catcalls from the media elites -- she was fitted for Esther's crown. "She's our Queen Esther," Martha Mota told a Texas newspaper at a debate party as Palin prepared to square off against Joe Biden. "She's going to save our whole country." A full two years earlier, in 2006, when Palin became governor, she called her pastor and asked for a biblical example of a great leader. The Rev. Paul E. Riley told her to read up on Esther.

There are more many hints that Sarah Palin is deeply in love with the Esther story, and the comparison of herself to Queen Esther. Just recently, she visited Jerusalem on Purim, the Jewish holiday which has its foundation in Queen Esther's story - hardly a coincidence.

One of the worst examples of Sarah Palin's "pandering to her religious fans" was the speech at the "Women of Joy" conference in Kentucky on April 16, 2010. The full transcript and video of the speech (six clips) can be found HERE and HERE.

In this speech, Sarah Palin said:

Now I was trying to make a point about preparation with Piper the other night and I’m reading her the book of Esther out of the Old Testament. And I’m telling her all about Esther. See honey, I’m telling her, she’s the underdog, and she’s the orphan, she’s working hard preparing to be judged by others. Essentially Esther, she was out there on the stage wondering if she’d be chosen to have opportunity to really help change her world and Piper’s listening and she’s kinda dozing off and finally she rolls over and she says “Wow, that’s just like ‘American Idol’”.

Video:

Any leader declaring that America isn’t a Christian nation, and poking an ally like Israel in the eye, it is mind boggling for, to see some our nation’s actions recently.

However, Sarah Palin's particular brand of Christianity means only one thing for her: "WORSHIP ME, PLEASE."

We will see much more of this in the following months, that's fore sure! Just wait until "Triumph of the Will 2" hits the cinemas! It should be nothing short of a "worship orgy" of biblical proportions.

Joe McGinniss expressed similar thoughts in a sobering post he published today on his blog:

Her people are out there, they are numerous, they are angry: and there is not another credible Republican candidate in the race.

Up to this point, Sarah has laughed all the way to the bank.

Now she hopes to laugh all the way to the White House–swept there by a tidal wave of “real” Americans who don’t like elitist liberals (i.e. for a start, anyone with a college education) portraying them as racist, pitchfork-carrying buffoons.
Neither Romney nor Pawlenty can active them, but Sarah can.
And she plans to. Because God is telling her to do so.

Oh, man, this makes what I’ve written in THE ROGUE about how steeped she is in Christian Dominionism all the more relevant. She truly believes her “prayer shield” will keep her invulnerable to attacks between now and election day 2012.
After that, she’ll lay down the shield and pick up the sword of fire with which she’s waiting to smite all of us who do not see her as Queen Esther.

We laugh at her and call her a joke, but she’s serious. And she has big bucks behind her, and nothing to lose.

We’d better stop laughing now, or she’ll have us all crying out for mercy on Inauguration Day, 2013.
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(We are eternally grateful to our reader "Tildama" who transcribed Sarah Palin's "Women of Joy" speech in 2010!)

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Please re-tweet:





UPDATE:

Here is a sneek peek of the "spewing piece". Keep in mind while viewing that previews are supposed to be the most riveting part of the film........


Like I said it will be like watching paint dry on a damp and humid afternoon.

at
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Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Sarah Palin's Modus Operandi in Action

By Ennealogic

Love thy neighbor? Turn the other cheek? Forgiveness? These New Testament concepts were not part of Sarah's Old Testament temperament. Both eyes for an eye was the rule, and vanquishing enemies became a goal. Nothing was more important, to any of us working alongside Sarah, than preserving her image or achieving retribution. Not our families, not our friends, not our financial well-being, not the state's business. Nothing.
[-- from Blind Allegiance to Sarah Palin, Kindle edition]
It's happened plenty of times before: someone writes about his personal journey toward a more enlightened state, or at least, a state where shades of gray begin to separate black from white. Along the way they disappoint or even anger those whose commitment has not wavered yet. One example is Frank Shaeffer, founding member of the religious right who penned Crazy for God: How I Grew Up As One Of The Elect, Help Found The Religious Right, And Lived To Take All (Or Almost All) Of It Back, a memoir about his misgivings after having furthered Christian evangelicalism.

Another example is Paul Haggis, former high level Scientologist, who ultimately repudiated the "church" and resigned when the hierarchy would not disavow California's Proposition 8, a piece of anti-gay legislation. Haggis wrote, in his resignation letter, "Our public association with that hate-filled legislation shames us."

Sarah Palin waves as she comes on stage before McCain's concession speech

And now we have Frank Bailey's tell-all, Blind Allegiance to Sarah Palin: A Memoir of Our Tumultuous Years, in which he renounces the former Governor and cements the conviction that Sarah Palin is truly and undeniably a woman with deep psychoses and the personality traits that go along with them. In Bailey's book, assuming it remains much the same as the leaked manuscript, we'll get a glimpse of the real Sarah Palin in her own words, the persona she lets out only in front of her closest aides and advisors (and probably her spouse and children). We'll see how she drives her inner circle to cheat and lie in order to keep her from imploding. We'll learn the lengths to which she'll go to destroy the lives of those she perceives as "the enemy." No one wants to be the object of her wrath and so her team did what had to be done in the name of the greater good, that is, massaging Sarah's mood so that she was happy.

Bailey essentially predicted the kind of pushback his book is now receiving. He made it plain, in the pages of his mea culpa memoir, what happens to those who cross Sarah. We are witnessing the sort of excuses, prevarications, distractions, slanders and deceptions that he chronicled—and he should know the methods well since he participated in them himself, many times, during his years as a close Palin aide. Sarah Palin's modus operandi is in full view, evident in the statements and attitudes of her aides and followers, and this goes to prove Bailey's book is not a lie.

For example, instead of addressing any of the content (which is well-supported by thousands of e-mails), current chief aide and SarahPac spokesman Tim Crawford misleads us with, “Gov. Palin suspended Bailey and refused to hire Bailey when he sought a position on her vice presidential campaign staff … (he)has an axe to grind and abandoned truth in his book.” Of course, the suspension was a critical CYA maneuver for Palin. When it was revealed that Bailey had been caught on tape trying to get Mike Wooten fired (see Troopergate), Sarah had no choice but to send Bailey away temporarily (albeit on a paid leave of absence).

In a Politico article titled "Sarah Palin's team pushes back against new book," Tim Crawford elevates his rhetoric to smear Bailey,
Frank Bailey was the only member of the Palin administration to be found to have acted unethically – twice. He is currently under investigation again by the state attorney general. Then, as the administrator of certain email accounts, he acted unethically by appropriating account information he was entrusted to protect.
What Crawford neglects to mention here is that Bailey was dinged for ethics when he was acting on Sarah's behalf, and he conveniently forgets the occasions when Sarah was, indeed, found to have acted unethically or illegally—more than two times, in fact. (Troopergate, Travelgate, AFT-gate...)

Stacy Drake at C4P opined, as she descended into the depths of ad hominem-ness,
After reading this manuscript, my only conclusion is that Frank Bailey is a horrible person... Frank Bailey’s motives, in my view, were greed and vengeance. This man of little skill decided to try to cash-in on the job he no longer had, and at which he was incompetent when he did have it."
Palinbots are out in force elsewhere too. A commenter at TheBlaze.com (Glenn Beck's site) wrote that the book was "Ghost-written by Bill Ayers LOL," inferring, I suppose, that Bailey is a terrorist with a connection to President Obama. Another commenter there, Missionarydad, attempts to discredit Bailey and prevent others from reading his book:
Who would ever want to read any trash like this. Anyone who will betray their relationship and trust with someone they are being paid for their time spent with them is of such low integrity that anything they have to say isn’t worth reading. It would be one thing if they were the one who was betrayed and they are just sharing their side of the story but this is sounds more like one who was treated well but because of the opportunity to cash in big they are willing to sell their soul and burn their bridges just for some filthy lucre.
If Missionarydad would take the time to read Blind Allegiance, he'd discover that Bailey was not paid for most of his time and effort, nor was he treated very well by his boss, throughout his service to her ambitions. This commenter may not realize he is following right in Sarah Palin's footsteps by speaking ill about the author without having read the book. He also doesn't realize that there is overwhelming evidence in Blind Allegiance that it is Sarah Palin, herself, who seeks 'filthy lucre' with every step she takes.

Bailey bemoans, after asking himself how spending hundreds of hours trying to destroy Mike Wooten's life and reputation had anything at all to do with governing Alaska,
This tale, unfortunately, includes the worst of Sarah's dysfunctional psyche and administration, including the compulsion to attack enemies, deny truth, play victim, and employ outright deception.
There seems to be no dearth of revelatory books about Sarah Palin this year. Geoffrey Dunn's The Lies of Sarah Palin has been out for a little more than a week, and it is a thorough, comprehensive, well-researched biography of Sarah Palin's political life that details her penchant and ability to manipulate others. Bailey's Blind Allegiance is out today, May 24, and I hope it does not vary much from the damning content in the leaked manuscript. Joe McGinniss' The Rogue - Searching for the Real Sarah Palin is being completed now and will be released in September. Add to that, we've heard a fairly strong rumor that yet another reporter is penning an expose about 'Babygate' this year.

Covers of Dunn's, Bailey's and McGinniss' latest books about Sarah Palin
There will also be no dearth of trashing, defaming and discounting the authors of these books. It's the Sarah Palin way - pay no attention to the substance, just destroy the messenger and rain retribution upon their heads in any way you can and seriously consider mailing them all a dead fish, while you're at it.
at
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Politico Reveals That Well Known C4P Commenter "Toki De La Vega" Is The Source For Palin Aide Rebecca Mansour's Twitter Leaks - UPDATE!

By Kathleen

Ben Smith at Politico has revealed that the source for the leaks of Rebecca Mansour's twitter messages revealing what she really thinks about right wing writers, politicians and members of the "Big Boss" family is Toki de la Vega.

If Toki's name seems familiar that is because he was at one time a regular contributer at Conservatives4Palin. He also put up websites in conjunction with C4P contributer Joseph Russo viciously attacking anti palin critics such as Andree McLeod (see below).

Toki asked Ben Smith for payment for the release of 122 private messages between himself and Palin aide Rebecca Mansour, otherwise known as RAM or RAM the hammer because of her no prisoners held attack style of commenting and banning anyone who dared to criticise Queen Sarah. The two appear to have much in common with one another.

In his article Smith writes:

I've been waiting for this one to break for a few months, as somebody tried to sell me the same emails last fall.

"Does Politico pay for exclusives? Cause I'm looking to sell. I have 122 direct messages from Sarah Palin staffer Rebecca Mansour," the person emailed, eventually sending along sample direct messages identical to a couple the Caller posted. They were forwarded from the account of one improbably named Toki de la Vega, a contributor to some pro-Palin sites, though there was a man's name attached to one of the tweets as well.

Read Ben Smith's entertaining article in full in which Toki today tries to walk back his original dirt for cash offer to Smith. That alone should keep you in a good mood for the rest of the day.

Sing it Everly Brothers:




h/t to Mrs TBB

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UPDATE: Link to Toki's blog:

http://fotns-vf.blogspot.com/2011/05/my-goodness.html

h/t to Molly_WI

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UPDATE 2:

In honour of Toki and his preoccupation with "Square Bob Square Pants"







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UPDATE 3 (by Patrick):

I am back from work, and what a day it has been again!

The infamous right-wing blogger "Ace of Spades" linked to us, which is a very surprising "honor." Hasn't he looked at our other posts - or has he...? Maybe he discovered something which he found interesting. ;-)

The Peebots are now all upset over "Toki De La Vega", but what they forget is that Toki De La Vega was a very popular commenter at Conservatives4Palin for a very long time. But not only that - Toki De La Vega also once had a blog together with C4P co-founder Joseph Russo, who was on the payroll of SarahPAC for several months! The blog was called "Fist of the North Star."

I dived deeped into my archives and uncovered a few things which I had saved about Toki De La Vega. First, here are three screenshots of the forementioned blog "Fist of the North Star", which he ran together with Joseph Russo. In this post, Toki De La Vega published very disgusting remarks about Andree McLeod (click to enlarge):




There is more! I was very happy when I discovered that I had saved some examples of Toki's comments on C4P. I made screenshots in 2009 after Toki had used the picture of one of our commenters at Palingates as his profile picture:



Note the "advertisment" in the above screenshot of the C4P website for Sarah Palin's first unethical legal defense fund, the "Alaska Fund Trust" - with which Palin had nothing, oh absolutely nothing at all to do, I swear!

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What is Sarah Palin doing in the meantime, while her online guardian Rebecca Mansour embarrasses herself and her foe Frank Bailey makes the rounds in the media?

She dodges the camera-equipped helicopters in Arizona which have been charted by the lamestream media!

Watch how the wannabe-President hides in the shadows, together with companion Todd.

Sarah, we already know it's you! It's Game over! ;-)



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UPDATE 4 (by Patrick):

Just to let you all know, we received the final confirmation from a highly reliable source in Alaska today that the Palins indeed bought the house in Arizona. But to be honest, we already had no doubts any more yesterday after we clearly recognized Sarah and Todd in the news clip we posted.

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Saturday, May 21, 2011

PHOTOS & VIDEOS! Is this Sarah Palin's new home in the desert in Scottsdale, Arizona? According to "azcentral", Palin is the new owner! CONFIRMED!

By Patrick

Bye-bye "Sarah Palin's Alaska" - hello "Sarah Palin's Arizona!"

Arizonians should brace themselves: The Queen of Mean is coming to town, following the footsteps of daughter Bristol! To Scottsdale, Arizona, to be precise - according to a report of news outlet "azcentral":

Has Sarah Palin bought a house in north Scottsdale?

For months, rumors have circulated in Arizona political circles that the former Alaska governor and possible 2012 presidential contender either was shopping for homes in Scottsdale or had already bought one.

A just-closed deal on a secluded luxury home in far north Scottsdale might fit the bill, and talk has begun that this may be the one. It's an 8,000-square-foot, dark-brown stucco home with a guard gate that can keep unwanted visitors away. It has six bedrooms, five bathrooms, a six-car garage, a swimming pool and spa, and a full basement with a home theater, billiards room and wine cellar.

Safari Investments LLC paid $1.695 million cash for the home in a deal that appears designed to cloak the identity of a high-profile buyer.

Safari Investments is a Delaware limited liability firm formed May 12, the day before the deal for the Scottsdale home closed. No officers are listed on the Delaware filing, and that state doesn't require the names of individual associated with limited liability companies to be disclosed. High-profile people often buy homes through LLCs to maintain their privacy.

Alan Kierman, an attorney with the Phoenix law firm of Mack Drucker & Watson, is listed on property records as the contact for Safari Investments. Asked point blank by The Arizona Republic if Palin and her husband Todd Palin bought the north Scottsdale house through the company, Kierman said he had no comment.

In north Scottsdale's scenic desert, the former foreclosure house was purchased by real estate agent and investor Ian Whitmore in March 2010 for $805,000. He sold it May 13 to Safari Investments, but said he doesn't know who is behind the limited liability company. The home was half-renovated when it was taken back by the lender JP Mortgage Chase Bank in 2009.

I am sure that "azcentral" has been tipped off, because there is another strong connection to Sarah Palin: She owns property at "Safari Lake" in Alaska - and the Palins are famous for their play with words (especially regarding the names of their children). So it's very, very believable that they would name a company which was set up especially for this property transaction "Safari Investments." Another example for their wordplays is Todd's old email address: "fek9wnr@yahoo.com" (fe - iron / k9 - dog / wnr - winner).

So of course we want to see what property the Palins have bought - and thanks to one of our brilliant readers, who promptly found the property listings, we are lucky!

The property that Sarah Palin apparently bought is still available in the public listings - including numerous pictures. Listings are available for example here, here and here. After we did our research, we saw that the "Tucson Sentinel" also found the property.

There is no doubt that this is the property in question, as all the data matches up perfectly with "azcentral" article. For example, it is mentioned that the property was sold in mid-May 2011 for $ 1,695,000 - the listing was removed on May 15, 2011:


We also know that Ian Whitmore orginally bought it in March 2010 for $ 803, 650.



So what does Sarah's new home have to offer?


Scottsdale Stunner With Acreage From The Moment You Pull Thru The Private Gates Of This Stunning North Scottsdale Home You Will Be In Awe Of The Luxurious Finishes And Features. From The Grand Entry Ceilings, The Expansive Living Areas Complete With A Gourmet Kitchen, Private Home Theater Room, Billiard / Game Room, Large Walk-In Wine Room, Resort Style Backyard With Large Gazebo, And So Much More.

Funny - even the writing style of this description sounds somewhat "Palinesque!"


Bedrooms: 5
Bathrooms: 6.5
Sqft: 7,972
Lot size: 87,120 sq ft / 2.00 acres
Property type: Single Family
Year built: 2001
Parking type: --
Cooling system: Refrigerator
Heating system: Forced air
Fireplace: --
Last sold: March 25 2010

This is an older description from 2010 - published on facebook:

North Scottsdale Luxury property. This home is ready for your finishing touches. Nearly 8000 SF, 6 Car Garage, Basement with Theater, Great Room, Wine Cellar and completely wired for technology. Home is finished in high end stone, granite & rich hand carved wood. Main level has 4 bedrooms all with private bathrooms, Large living room with bar for entertaining, Custom Gas Fireplace. Kithen has an impressive island and huge pantry. Home has an unfinished elevator shaft [ USE Caution ]. Master bedroom has a private deck, Huge walk-in closet, Fireplace, beautiful master bath with jet tub, water feature and large walk in shower.

When Ian Whitmore bought the house, the property didn't look very impressive - here is an older aerial shot (click on pictures to enlarge):


But this has changed - Ian Whitmore, who bought this house half-renovated on March 25, 2010 for $ 803,605 after it had been foreclosed, seems to have been busy and turned it into a luxury house. This is what the aerial shot looks today:






















So what do you think about Sarah's taste? Just the right monstrosity for her campaign headquarters, including a wine cellar and home cinema, isn't it?

And Sarah Palin doesn't need to throw people under the bus any more, she just needs to throw them down her shiny new elevator shaft. ;-)

The fountain across the pool is also perfect for her famous pissing matches!

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UPDATE:

Thanks to our commenter "guest" who posted a video of the house, which shows it before it was finished! Uploaded on September 11, 2009.


The video has a funny description:

MONSTER HOUSE. Needs some finish work. BIG, BIG, BIIIIG house. Kitchen, theater, game room, bar, study room, bedrooms, multiple guest suites, and an elevator....shaft. This home probably cannot be financed in today's lending world, so the list price of $1,386,000....is pretty darned hopeful.

Our reader AzureGhost commented:


"That's hideous. How appropriate that it has a "Large Walk-In Wine Room"
for the biggest whiner in the US."

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UPDATE 2:

Even more proof - "aczentral" reports that a black SUV with an Alaska license plate was spotted at the mansion, the driver wouldn't say who he was or whether Palin bought the house:



(h/t to PalinLies!)

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UPDATE 3:

IT'S FINALLY CONFIRMED - Sarah Palin is outside the building. Thanks to our reader for the screenshot (click to enlarge):


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Sarah Palin will be running for President, despite a trail of explosive personal and political scandals - PLUS: A flashback to 2008

By Patrick

Sarah Palin is going to run for President, and at this point, the possibility that there might be very inconvenient revelations about Sarah Palin's numerous political and personal scandals won't stop her. That is because she is delusional to the highest degree - she revels in her grandiose delusions and not only believes that she is qualified to be the President, but in my view believes that she is destined to go that route, and that nothing will be able to stop her. This might be surprising for anyone who grew up in a sane and rational environment, but we are dealing with a personality who was groomed in Alaska by religious extremists like Mary Glazier and who has no connection to reality whatsoever.

However, even I was surprised with what Sarah Palin recently said about the Schwarzenegger affair, as reported by Popeater:

"I feel so bad for his children," she said. "It must be quite embarrassing for them....You know, it's an irresponsible and, really, a pretty disgusting thing that he did, pretty much denying that he had a child for ten years."

She added, "That's how I look at it. It speaks to his character. It's sad."

I was surprised because a person who for example is reported to have had a sexual extramarital affair with Brad Hanson in the early 1990's, whose son Track has a biological father who officially was his Godfather and who had no hesitation to fake a pregnancy should refrain from commenting disparagingly about other people's private scandals. That is, of course unless you are someone who has virtually no connection to reality whatsoever. That someone is Sarah Palin, the person who now seems to have in theory a very good chance to win the Republican nomination for President.

Is it even remotely imaginable that Sarah Palin will politically survive such a precarious situation?

In my opinion, NO WAY. There are still some people left who are not entirely fooled by Sarah Palin. Tic toc, tic toc, tic toc, they are waiting for you, and they are not afraid, because they have the facts and are not hesitant to publish them. Because why should they be afraid? They have a riveting true story to tell, a story which is very well documented and full of inconvenient truths.

Yesterday, Greta van Susteren conducted a very interesting interview with Sarah Palin, one of the most revealing appearances Palin had for a long time. It again is a display of pure insanity, a textbook exercise in distorting facts and another display of her delusions.

It's the twilight zone, again, and we better get used to it, even though we are all sick of it by now.

For example, Sarah Palin, who sold numerous stories about her home life to magazines like "People" and "In Touch" and earned millions with her reality show, complained that her children will appear "in the tabloids."

In the interview with Greta, she also claims that it's a "necessary evil" for her to ask other people to donate money to her - says Sarah Palin, the multi-millionaire who shamelessly asked her fans to pay her legal debts, which she incurred through the troopergate investigation after she had refused state funding for her legal expenses, as the final Petumenos-report for the "Alaska Fund Trust" ethics complaint revealed.





It is apparent from this interview that Sarah Palin is very afraid of further revelations about her private life, and she mentions explicitly several times that the media should stick to the political record of the candidates - instead of focusing on more private revelations. Well, I have great doubts whether her wish will be granted, and her above comment about Arnold Schwarzenegger proves that she herself has no hesitation to comment about other people's private scandals herself. Equal rights for everyone has never been Sarah Palin's strength.

After just having mentioned the Petumenos-report about the Alaska Fund Trust ethics complaint, which was originally filed by our friend Kim Chatman, it's a good opportunity to take a closer look at this scandal again, which never received the attention it deserved. According to Sarah Palin, it's fair game, because it's a matter of political record, isn't it?

It was the most successful ethic complaint against Sarah Palin, and it revealed not only that Sarah Palin was a grifter par excellence, but also that she was lying through her teeth - which has never really been acknowledged in the media, as far as I can see. This is surprising, as the complete documentation is still available online.

It's so easy to prove her lies, it's almost ridiculous. On Sarah Palin's facebook-page, a press release by Kristan Cole was published on July 23, 2009. Kristan Cole was the trustee of the "Alaska Fund Trust", Sarah Palin's first legal defense fund, and she said the following in this press release:

This Trust was created by a team of expert lawyers from around the country. It was thoroughly vetted for compliance with federal and state law and trust law. So far Mr. Daniel is the only lawyer in the country who has questioned a legal defense fund despite the fact that his firm has set up legal defense funds for other office holders. Because his initial review was unprecedented and contained factual errors it was my understanding that Gov. Palin's legal team, including Mr. Van Flein, were in on-going discussions with Mr. Daniel. The matter was not final.

I want to be clear on a point that has been misrepresented: The Governor is not and was not involved with the Trust. The Governor has never worked on or with the Trust. The Governor has not even accepted or requested one penny from the Trust or quite frankly anything of me. And I have never expected anything from her. Really it’s quite the contrary; as I, and many other caring folks across the country have only sought to help with this legal burden.

The first and only time I have spoken with the Governor about the Trust was yesterday to alert her that I was responding to this violation of the law and leak of preliminary and confidential materials from the complainant.

There is a loophole in Alaska law. Alaskans can file frivolous complaints against the Governor - violate the law and alert the media they are doing so, all the complaints can be dismissed and yet the Governor has to personally pay for representation. Legislators covered themselves with a law that warrants automatic dismissal of a complaint if it is leaked to the public.

It has been quite obvious to me, and to other every day citizens like me, that over the last several months that something needed to be done to help the Palins with the overwhelming crush of frivolous ethics complaints.

In their own humble way, the Palins never asked for help. The Governor never even asked anyone to contribute to this legal expense fund. This trust, and the thousands and thousands of dollars raised, were the results of hard working Americans and their outpouring of support. It is disgraceful that anyone would assume that the thousands of people who sent in $5, $10 or $50 intended to "influence" the governor's official actions in Alaska! And this in a state where a half dozen legislators have been convicted of corruption as well as the previous governor's chief of staff. Not one ethics complaint was filed against these individuals who were convicted, but this governor is harassed for having her picture taken with a fish, wearing a jacket, answering press questions and giving a speech.

A few select people have abused our ethics act. The public release of a preliminary document in violation of state law follows that pattern. The people of this state are losing hope that the ethics act has any real purpose anymore and that’s incredibly sad as ethics are so important. Mr. Daniel's preliminary assessment, unprecedented in history and harshly criticized by legal scholars, does nothing to restore credibility to this process.

It is apparent that the uncommented publication of this press-release on Sarah Palin's facebook page was meant to confirm that Sarah Palin agreed with the content of the press release - and her fans were eating it up, as usual, as evidenced through the comments of this post on facebook.

But were the claims by Kristan Cole, one of Sarah Palin's closest friends, really true?

They were not, as it turned out through the publication of the final report by investigator Timothy Petumenos, because he revealed that the facts were radically different - proving that Kristan Cole's description regarding the "history" of the Alaska Fund Trust was nothing but another great lie.

Investigator Petumenos wrote in his report:

22. There is no question that the advice of counsel was sought and that no less than three law firms were consulted. The consultations began before either the Trust donor solicitations began and attorneys were consulted both to draft the trust document and the accompanying website which made representations about the Trust. The law firms consulted credibly represented that they were experienced and competent in the area. The first three elements of the defense are clearly met.

23. The idea for creating a defense fund trust came initially from Governor Palin's advisors. Most to nearly all of the meetings with counsel were conducted by Ms . Stapleton on Governor Palin's behalf and with Governor Palin's authority. Governor Palin was not active in the discussions with the retained attorneys for the Trust as to the complex issues that had to be confronted to comply with the various laws that governed the Trust, including the Ethics Act . The Ethics Act provides that it is the individual responsibility of every public official or employee to comply with the Ethics Act and it is one of the most important functions of a public official. A S 39.52.010(a)(7). The Ethics Act provides that the public official may seek advance guidance for any endeavor that may implicate the Ethics Act and each public official is assigned an ethics officer to advise them. In the case of a governor, the person assigned under the Ethics Act is the Attorney General. A S 39.52.960(8)(c). While, the degree of delegation to Ms . Stapleton in this instance was troubling, the facts and circumstances surrounding the legal problem presented were fairly and competently presented by Ms . Stapleton on Governor Palin's behalf, and the attorneys involved were fairly apprised of the facts supporting the legal problem they were to address. The advice and the result would not likely have been different had the Governor been more fully involved.

Therefore it turned out that Kristan Cole's claim that

"The Governor is not and was not involved with the Trust. The Governor has never worked on or with the Trust."

turned out to be a bold-face lie, as it was established through the Petumenos-report that

"The idea for creating a defense fund trust came initially from Governor Palin's advisors. Most to nearly all of the meetings with counsel were conducted by Ms . Stapleton on Governor Palin's behalf and with Governor Palin's authority."

So Sarah Palin was involved, right from the start. What a surprise.

The press release by Kristan Cole was just another lie that the Palin-camp thought they would get away with. As it turned out, they did not. However, the troubling thing is that these facts which are available to everybody online did not receive the attention they deserve. Hopefully this will change, as Sarah Palin herself agrees that the media should examine the political records of the candidates. There is still a lot to discover, as far as Sarah Palin is concerned - more than enough to destroy the glorified fairy-tale picture of Sarah Palin which many of her supporters still seem to have in mind.

To conclude:

As we are rapidly approaching campaign-time now, if we like it or not, it's time for a flashback to 2008. Several excellent articles have been written about Sarah Palin during the 2008 campaign. A good number of journalists were not fooled. One of the most powerful pieces was published by Matt Taibbi in Rolling Stone on October 2, 2008, titled "Mad Dog Palin." The article deserves to be revisited again, as it is simply brilliant and feels like a punch in the face.

The article is still available in the archives of Rolling Stone. It's probably the hardest punch that Palin and her supporters ever received from the press. The Katie Couric interview seems like a softball dinner conversation against it. I love this style of raw, uncompromising journalism. We want the truth, and nothing but the truth, and we are willing to make sacrifices for it. The serial liars can get lost.


The defining moment for me came shortly after Palin and her family stepped down from the stage to uproarious applause, looking happy enough to throw a whole library full of books into the sewer. In the crush to exit the stadium, a middle-aged woman wearing a cowboy hat, a red-white-and-blue shirt and an obvious eye job gushed to a male colleague – They were both wearing badges identifying them as members of the Colorado delegation – At the Xcel gates.

“She totally reminds me of my cousin!” the delegate screeched. “She’s a real woman! The real thing!”

I stared at her open-mouthed. In that moment, the rank cynicism of the whole sorry deal was laid bare. Here’s the thing about Americans. You can send their kids off by the thousands to get their balls blown off in foreign lands for no reason at all, saddle them with billions in debt year after congressional year while they spend their winters cheerfully watching game shows and football, pull the rug out from under their mortgages, and leave them living off their credit cards and their Wal-Mart salaries while you move their jobs to China and Bangalore.

And none of it matters, so long as you remember a few months before Election Day to offer them a two-bit caricature culled from some cutting-room-floor episode of Roseanne as part of your presidential ticket. And if she’s good enough likeness of a loudmouthed Middle American archetype, as Sarah Palin is, John Q. Public will drop his giant sized bag of Doritos in gratitude, wipe the sizzlin’ picante dust from his lips and rush to the booth to vote for her. Not because it makes sense, or because it has a chance of improving his life or anyone else’s, but simply because it appeals to the low-humming narcissism that substitutes for his personality, because that image on TV reminds him of the mean brainless slob he sees in the mirror every morning.

Sarah Palin is a symbol of everything that is wrong with the modern United States. As a representative of our political system, she’s a new low in reptilian villainy, the ultimate cynical masterwork of puppeteers like Karl Rove. But more than that, she is a horrifying symbol of how little we ask for in return for the total surrender of our political power. Not only is Sarah Palin a fraud, she’s the tawdriest, most half-assed fraud imaginable, 20 floors below the lowest common denominator, a character too dumb even for daytime TV – And this country is going to eat her up, cheering every step of the way. All because most Americans no longer have the energy to do anything but lie back and allow ourselves to be jacked off by the calculating thieves who run this grasping consumer paradise we call a nation.

(...)

But watching Palin’s speech I had no doubt that I was witnessing a historic, iconic performance. The candidate sauntered to the lectern with the assurance of a sleepwalker – And immediately launched into a symphony of snorting and sneering remarks, taking time out in between the superior invective to present herself as just a humble gal with a beefcake husband and a brood of healthy, combat-ready spawn who just happened to be innocent targets of a communist and probably also homosexual media conspiracy. She appeared to be completely without shame and utterly full of shit, awing a room full of hardened reporters with her sickly sweet line about the high-school-flame-turned-hubby who “Five children later” is “Still my guy.” It was like watching Gidget address the Reichstag.

Within minutes, Palin had given TV audiences a character infinitely recognizable to virtually every American; the small-town girl with just enough looks and a defiantly incurious mind who thinks the PTA minutes are Holy Writ, and to whom injustice means the woman next door owning a slightly nicer set or drapes or flatware. Or the governorship, as it were.

Right-wingers of the Bush-Rove ilk have had a tough time finding a human face to put on their failed, inhuman, mean-as-hell policies. But it was hard not to recognize the genius of wedding that faltering brand of institutionalized greed to the image of the suburban American supermom. It’s the perfect cover, for there is almost nothing in the world meaner than this species of provincial tyrant.

(...)

The great insight of the Palin VP choice is that huge chunks of American voters no longer even demand that their candidates actually have policy positions; they simply consume them as media entertainment, rooting for or against them according to the reflective prejudices of their demographic, as they would for a reality-show contestants or sitcom characters. Hicks root for hicks, moms for moms, born-agains for born-agains. Sure, there was politics in the Palin speech but it was all either silly lies or merely incidental fluffery buttressing the theatrical performance. A classic example of what was at work here came when Palin proudly introduced her Down-Syndrome baby, Trig, then stared into the camera and somberly promised parents of special-needs kids that they would “Have a friend and advocate in the White House.” This was about a half-hour before she raised her hands in triumph with McCain, a man who voted against increasing funding for special-needs education.

Palin’s charge that “government is too big” and that Obama “Wants to grow it” was similarly preposterous. Not only did her party just preside over the largest government expansion since LBJ, but Palin herself has been a typical bush-era republican, borrowing and spending beyond her means. Her great legacy as mayor of Wasilla was the construction of a $15 million hockey arena in a city with an annual budget of $20 million; Palin OK’d a bond issue for the project before the land had been secured, leading to a protracted legal mess that ultimately forced taxpayers to pay more than six times the original market price for property the city ended up having to seize from a private citizen using eminent domain. Better yet, Palin ended up paying for the fucking thing with a 25 percent increase in the city sales tax. But in her speech, of course, Palin presented herself as the enemy of tax increases, righteously bemoaning that “Taxes are too high” and Obama “Wants to raise them.”

Palin hasn’t been too worried about federal taxes as governor of a state that ranks number one in the nation in federal spending per resident ($13,950), even as it sits just 18th in federal taxes paid per resident ($5,434). That means all us taxpaying non-Alaskans spend $8,500 a year on each and every resident of Palin’s paradise of rugged self-sufficiency. Not that this sworn enemy of taxes doesn’t collect from her own; Alaska currently collects the most taxes per resident of any state in the nation. The rest of Palin’s speech was the same dog-whistle crap Republicans have been railing about for decades. Palin’s crack about a mayor being “like a community organizer, except that you have actual responsibilities” testified to the Republican’s apparent belief that they can win elections till the end of time running against the Sixties. (They’re probably right.) The incessant pausing about the media was likewise par for the course, red meat for those tens of millions of patriotic flag-waving Americans whose first instinct when things get rough is to whine like bitches and blame other people – Reporters, the French, those ungrateful blacks soaking up tax money eating big prison meals, whomever – For their failures.

(...)

Then there’s the God stuff: Palin belongs to a church whose pastor, Ed Kalnins, believes that all criticisms of George Bush “Come from Hell” and wondered aloud if people who voted for John Kerry could be saved. Kalnins, looming as the answer to Obama’s Jeremiah Wright, claims that Alaska is going to be a “refuge state” for Christians in the last days, last days which he sometimes speaks of in the present tense. Palin herself has been captured on video mouthing the inevitable born again idiocies, such as the idea that a recent oil-pipeline deal was “God’s Will.” She also described the Iraq War as a “task that is from God” and part of a heavenly “Plan.” She supports teaching creationism and “Abstinence only” in public schools, opposes abortion even for victims of rape, has denied the science behind global warming and attends a church that seeks to convert Jews and cure homosexuals.

All of which tells you about what you’d expect from a raise-the-base choice like Palin: She’s a puffed-up dimwit with primitive religious beliefs who had to be educated as to the fact that the constitution did not exactly envision government executives firing librarians. Judging from the importance progressive critics seem to attach to these revelations, you’d think that these were actually negatives in modern American politics. But Americans like politicians who hate books and see the face of Jesus in every tree stump. They like them stupid and mean and ignorant of the rules. Which is why Palin has only seemed to grow in popularity as more and more of these revelations have come out.

The same goes for the most damning aspect of her biography, her total lack of big-game experience. As governor of Alaska, Palin presides over a state whose entire population is barely the size of Memphis. This kind of thing might matter in a country that actually worried about whether its leader was prepared for his job – But not in America. In America, it takes about 2 weeks in the limelight for the whole country to think you’ve been around for years. To a certain extent, this is why Obama is getting a pass on the same issue. He’s been on TV every day for two years and according to the standards of our instant-ramen culture, that’s a lifetime of hands-on experience.

It is worth noting that the same criticisms of Palin also hold true for two other candidates in this race, John McCain and Barack Obama. As politicians, both men are more narrative than substance, with McCain rising to prominence on the back of his bio as a suffering war hero and Obama mostly playing the part of long-lost, future-embracing liberal dreamboat not seen on the national stage since Bobby Kennedy died. If your stomach turns to read how Palin’s Kawasaki 704 glasses are flying off the shelves in Middle America, you have to accept that Middle America probably feels the same way when it hears Donatella Versace dedicated her collection to Obama during Milan Fashion Week. Or sees the throwing-panties-onstage-“I love you, Obama!” ritual at the Democratic nominee’s town-hall appearances.

So, sure, Barack Obama might be every bit as much as a slick piece of imageering as Sarah Palin. The difference is in what the image represents. The Obama image represents tolerance, intelligence, education, patience with the notion of compromise and negotiation, and a willingness to stare ugly facts right in the face, all qualities we’re actually going to need in government if we’re going to get out of this huge mess we’re in.

Here’s what Sarah Palin represents: being a fat fucking pig who pins “Country First” buttons on his man titties and chants “U-S-A! U-S-A!” at the top of his lungs while his kids live off credit cards and Saudis buy up all the mortgages in Kansas

The truly disgusting thing about Sarah Palin isn’t that she’s totally unqualified, or a religious zealot, or married to a secessionist, or unable to educate her own daughter about sex, or a fake conservative who raised taxes and porked up earmark millions every chance she got. No, the most disgusting thing about her is what she says about us: That you can ram us in the ass for eight solid years, and we’ll not only thank you for your trouble, we’ll sign you up for eight more years, if only you promise to stroke us in the right spot for few hours around election time.

Democracy doesn’t require a whole lot of work of its citizens, but it requires some: It requires taking a good look outside once in awhile, and considering the bad news and what it might mean, and making the occasional tough choice, and soberly taking stock of what your real interests are.

This is a very different thing from shopping, which involves passively letting sitcoms melt your brain all day long and then jumping straight into the TV screen to buy a southern Style Chicken Sandwich because the slob singing “I’m Lovin’ It!” during the commercial break looks just like you. The joy of being a consumer is that it doesn’t require thought, responsibility, self-awareness or shame: All you have to do is obey the first urge that gurgles up from your stomach. And then obey the next. And the next. And the next.

And when it comes time to vote all you have to do is put your Country First – Just like that lady on TV who reminds you of your cousin. U-S-A, Baby. U-S-A! U-S-A!

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BONUS:

Happy Rapture Day!



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