Palin Under Fire. As Usual
‘Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s life has changed in a myriad of ways since she became the Republican vice presidential nominee last August, but one aspect of her newfound fame has been more bracing than the others: Since entering the national spotlight, Palin has been inundated by ethics complaints, most of them filed against her after she agreed to become Sen. John McCain’s running mate,’ Politico reports.
It’s difficult to pinpoint exactly how many complaints have been filed because the state doesn’t keep count and the complaints are kept confidential by the attorney general’s office unless the state moves forward with a public accusation of wrongdoing. But in total there have been more than a dozen, and most of those have surfaced in the last seven months.
That much is clear because the complainants have a habit of notifying the media and bloggers each time they lodge a grievance. It’s evidence, say Palin’s defenders, that there is a clear political component to them.
You’d think? Conservatives4Palin has more on that:
“We decided to do a little research. It is clear that the Alaskan leftwing blogs are working together to destroy Sarah Palin and her family. First their work centered on frivolous ethics complaints, and now they are moving on to the Palin family itself.
Apparently there’s some coordination going on among the anklebiting Alaskan blogs. (Surprise!)”
That’s not all, of course. Wev Shea, former US Attorney for Alaska added in a letter to Anchorage Daily News:
“This entire litigation situation is intended to compromise Sarah Palin’s duties as a governor – it is meant to destroy her politically.”
Regular readers will know that I have been quite critical of Governor Palin in recent months. To put a long story short: I believe she was not ready for the spotlight last year, and I wonder whether she will be ready in 2012 (or 2016). I think she is talented, but I am not 100% confident she has what it takes to win a nationwide election.
Having said that, the attacks on Palin – all the litigation, attempts to destroy her and her family by the driveby media, etc. – convince me that liberal activists, journalists and politicians fear her tremendously. They would not go after her – even obsess over her – if they thought she was a wacko who could never win elections for president.
No, the attacks imply that they believe that the governor can make a major comeback four or even eight years from now.
That should encourage Palin and her most passionate supporters.
“Having said that, the attacks on Palin – all the litigation, attempts to destroy her and her family by the driveby media, etc. – convince me that liberal activists, journalists and politicians fear her tremendously.”
She appoints her friends to positions, lie about several issues (including her supposed opposition to the bridge to nowhere) and offered nothing but negativity in her campaigning. She is also a heavy soc-con. She is a common politician who managed to make people believe she cared about John Q.
They attack her for the same perceived reason you attack Obama – they feel she will only spread more problems the more power she obtains, but she is capable of going out of her league and appealing to a broad range of people thanks to the fickleness of the media and her self-imaging.
It’s not the quality of her ideas or any genuine merit of hers they fear, it’s the fact that politics in America aren’t meritocratic enough to keep her properly marginalized.
Just a quick note to Garland: you seldom agree with me, but I’m fond to see you comment so actively. Are you getting paid for it or are you just passionate about politics?
That makes no sense whatsoever: the MSM were and still are Obama’s allies. This is most definitely not the case with Palin: the MSM hate her and everything she represents.
Garland…did the Bridge to Nowhere get built, honey? No. Who stopped it from getting built? Governor Palin. Negative campaigning, you mean the part where Sarah warned us the Obama was a socialist who was friendly with terrorists? Golly gee, 100 days into his admininstration and turns out she was right.
What exactly is your proof that she doesn’t care about John Q? Easy to throw out slander like that…but it ain’t worth a pig’s ear if you don’t back it up with some proof.
Obviously the entire reason you do not like the Governor of Alaska is because you are an Obama supporter. Gee, that was real hard to figure out.
Rest assured, though, if anyone can figure out a way to “properly marginalize” Sarah Palin it will be the Obama Socialists…I have feeling they’ll be marginalizing all of us soon.
CHEYENNE — U.S. Rep. Cynthia Lummis said she scoffed when a colleague suggested that her first vote in Congress — to elect the speaker of the House — would be her most important.
The tip turned out to be prophetic, said Lummis, a Republican.
California Democrat “Nancy Pelosi was elected speaker of the House, and little else has mattered since then,” Lummis said during a telephone interview on her 101st day as Wyoming’s lone member of the U.S. House.
Despite a long career in Wyoming politics, a career that sometimes put her at odds with top state Democrats, Lummis said nothing prepared her for the partisan battlefield of Congress.
With Pelosi at the helm, Lummis said, legislative leaders have crafted key bills behind closed doors, completely bypassing the open air of the committee process.
Even minority-party leaders have no voice on legislation until it’s time to vote, she said.
“The president’s express desires to reach out the hand of bipartisanship notwithstanding, this is easily the most partisan atmosphere I’ve ever been exposed to,” Lummis said.
Lets stop talking about Palin and start talking about things that really matter.
Doomed; be careful not to copy/paste too much. Your last line is clearly not copy/pasted, but still. We’re quite strict on not letting people fill entire comment sections with copy paste stuff. When you do, please use a way to show us that you’re copy/pasting like putting it between blockquotes.
You do that as follows (we’ll have to reinstall the ‘quick buttons’ thingy): < blockquote >. You close it with < / blockquote > (take out the spaces, of course.
@Susan: good for you. Show him who’s boss
“the MSM were and still are Obama’s allies.”
The Metylsulphonylmethane is above all an opportunistic herd that would make Nietzsche nod his head in self-satisfaction. They like attention and they like themselves. The NYT once supported the invasion of Iraq unquestioningly, and today they are an equivalent of Fox News, albeit very boring.
“This is most definitely not the case with Palin: the MSM hate her and everything she represents.”
The herd usually starts with a very quick rush to adoration that gains momentum and forces the rest of the herd to play along. Then, when the latest fad is worn out they often use their past center of attention as a laughing stock. The really admirable people either have to become genuine heroes (but this involves violence and can only happen in less sedate and stagnant times) or will only be noticed by a select few when they are alive, only to become missed by many some decades after their death. Palin was a fad. When some on the left aren’t bringing her up to be demonized, she’s brought up for some other reason either on her own accord or that of her party, and then she is shot down.
Another reason she is still messed with is because she was on the ticket. I look at some of her rallies, interviews or past quotes (or her plethora of lies) and then I try to reconcile that with the vice presidency. After that exercise I start looking for a bunker.
“Garland…did the Bridge to Nowhere get built, honey?”
No need to patronize me (I assume you are being patronizing). Palin was for that bridge for a while before she canned it. That’s OK. The problem is she tells her constituents she was all “No bridge!” from the start, which is a lie.
“Negative campaigning, you mean the part where Sarah warned us the Obama was a socialist who was friendly with terrorists? Golly gee, 100 days into his admininstration and turns out she was right.”
Golly gee, I laughed so hard people in the vicinity were rendered stone deaf.
“What exactly is your proof that she doesn’t care about John Q?”
Well, I dunno, the fact that she continuously lies to him? Her latest lie was her pledge to only take half the stimulus money. Then she changed her mind about that, and then she said that she hadn’t changed her mind – she said she never pledged to take only half the money. Which is an impressive double-lie.
“Obviously the entire reason you do not like the Governor of Alaska is because you are an Obama supporter.”
I wouldn’t have liked her if she was on Obama’s ticket simply based on her history of lying and what a stark liability she would be for Obama.
“Rest assured, though, if anyone can figure out a way to “properly marginalize” Sarah Palin it will be the Obama Socialists…”
The OS Squad. Has a nice ring to it. I think Palin can marginalize herself quite easily.
Palin spokeswoman Sharon Leighow said the governor changed her mind after the public weighed in during legislative hearings prior to lawmakers passing bills to seek almost all of the funding. End of quote.
Does anyone remember the furor over Obama changing his mind and that it was perfectly acceptable to change ones mind if circumstances dictate. At least if your the Democratic candidate??
Garland said: Well, I dunno, the fact that she continuously lies to him? Her latest lie was her pledge to only take half the stimulus money. Then she changed her mind about that, and then she said that she hadn’t changed her mind – she said she never pledged to take only half the money. Which is an impressive double-lie.
Its the perpetual half truths that people spout and there is no one to call them on it that is destroying the GOP. It seems for every one GOP’er out there commenting there is a dozen left wingers hacking and slashing until fiction becomes truth.
Liberals don’t hate Palin because they’re afraid she’ll win national office.
It’s more than abundantly clear that she’s a joke with no chance in h*ll.
Liberals hate Palin because she’s a nasty, loudmouthed, malignant narcissist who keeps plowing through every media opening she can find. The same reason they hate Paris Hilton, OJ and Octomom. She makes it so easy.
@pandora
I do not hate Sarah, I just do not support her anymore. How many times does someone have to lie to you before you call it?
Hello – I agree with you that the coverage of Governor Palin has been inappropriately focused. She has been ridiculed for a number of things that are irrelevant to her ability to govern. However, that said, there are also lots of inaccuracies floating around that are favorable to her and that are inaccurate. Just one example, Susan states that the Bridge to Nowhere didn’t get built and it was because of Sarah Palin. Actually, she failed to help out a community that would have benefited from the bridge after she told them she would support it. Just because it has been branded the ‘Bridge to Nowhere’ doesn’t mean that it actually was. And, the money still came to Alaska so she did not save the federal government any money. It just was not used for that particular project. I think much of what has been said about her is meanspirited and unfair, but that does not necessarily mean that she is undeserving of any criticism. It is unfortunate that some people see only the unfair attacks, and then seem to rally around her without any investigation of her true abilities. I think your assessment that she will not be ready is correct. I don’t know if people fear her or if they are just genuinely appalled at her behavior and lack of credible qualifications. It is scary that someone like Sarah Palin could have come as close to national leadership as she did.
exGOP, why do you persist with the clothes thing? Sarah Palin returned the clothes immediately after the election. Lets see…..that was 6 months ago. My understanding (from reading newspaper articles) is that they have been donated to charity. Sarah Palin was not responsible for going out and buying all those clothes. She just wore them (beautifully, I might add) and then returned them. I think it is time to let that one go – along with nearly all the other hateful, negative, hurtful things being said about the Governor of the great state of Alaska. Why do you not mention some of the hideous things Michelle Obama wears or the extremely pricey things she wears, or the borrowing of clothes and jewels which is, in effect, advertising for the designers? Oh forgive me, I know he answer to that one. Because you are an Obama supporter and blind to the truth.
Thomas Lauria claims that Obamas car czar threatens Chrysler bondholders that the white house press would humiliate them if they didn’t play ball, in spite of their legal rights.
Got a familiar ring to it?
A lot of people, here on this thread, that I don’t recognize, nagging on Palin with the same old tired talking points. Garland and Doomed excluded, of course.
A post about Palin brings out the haters. Any post about Palin thats not negative on other blogs get the same treament. As if we’re to dumb to see!
Its the left hate patrol I call it.
Post about Palin. Post about Bush/Cheney. Post about torture. Post anything negative about Obama and they show up out of the woodwork spewing vileness about anything GOP.
If the story is about Obama they immediately begin spewing vileness about Bush/Cheney and dereail the post onto a Bush hating diatribe.
Its become common place and I noticed it the minute that Obama became a truly viable candidate and its picked up steam.
It is why I advocate taking the high road for the GOP and letting the left expose itself for what it is………
An angry lynch mob.
@Garland
Clearly, Garland only gets his news from the driveby media. Palin offered THE TRUTH about Obama in about 5 minutes of her 30-minute stump speeches, which were the ONLY 5 minutes the drivebys EVER highlighted from her speeches, because ALL they cared about was Obama.
In the other 25 minutes she was the epitome of hope and optimism about the exceptionalism of this country and its people, that the best of America was not all gathered in DC, but was in the hardworking small business owners who really power this country. She spent more time talking about energy independence than she did about Obama, but you wouldn’t know that from the drivebys.
Anyhoo, the media are the liars in this case, when they said that people at her rallies yelled “kill him.” The FBI investigated and found no evidence of this ever occurring.
Palin gave four policy speeches, on energy, women’s rights, special needs families, and national security. The media not only didn’t cover these speeches, they PURPOSELY drummed up the clothing stories, the stylist stories, etc., on the very days of those speeches to totally dominate the news cycles so no one would pay attention to them.
I hope a distinguished, nonbiased historian writes about the final two months of the 2008 elections. They were historic all right – in a pretty hideous way for the media.
Pandora, please stop projecting. What you just wrote is more hateful than ANYTHING Palin has ever said. Quote me something nasty, loudmouthed, malignant, or narcissistic that Palin has ever said?
I’ll quote you Tina Fey: “Palin was very polite, kind, and professional. Her daughter volunteered to babysit my kid while we were filming!”
Lorne Michaels: “She was very professional and everyone enjoyed working with her. Her politics aren’t my politics but I think people should not underestimate her.”
Alec Baldwin: “She was more professional and polite than many of the stars we get in here (on SNL).”
Paul Teutel Sr: “She’s very down to earth and easy to talk to.”
Sarah Palin is emblematic of those who use the force of personality sans skills of logic, reason or fact. She is, in fact, a common opportunistic liar.
Sarah Palin will lose any national election she attempts, badly.
On this as on many other issues, I wish the critics of the conservative Palin were equally vigorous and passionate about applying their standards of judgment and condemnation with regards to non-conservatives.
Unfortunately, the number of liberals willing and able to do so appears to be very, very small. As a result, the liberal criticisms of Palin appear to be merely partisan and they lack credibility.
Nebulous claims in the equality of vigor lack credibility.
Obama is a winner.
Palin is a loser.
Zero sum games end like that.
Palin is still radioactive. Amazing!! And I thought the Republican Party was dead!?
Palin is radioactive because the “Angry Mob” needs someone to hate. Bush is gone. Cheney is gone. Ashcroft is gone. Gonzalez is gone. There is no one left.
So that leaves Palin. The face of the GOP. She must be smeared and metaphorically speaking “lynched”.
It is why the GOP needs the high ground. They need to step up on their soapbox and speak above the “screeches of the Angry Mob”. It is the only way out of the wilderness for them. Trying to shout down the “Angry Mob” will not work and it will only further give them ammunition to keep the real debate from front and center.
Obama’s Policies dictated by Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid and the far left of the Democratic party.
Isn’t it amazing how Gov. Palin becomes to so many people whatever it is that they fear? Is she the hypocritical religious conservative who preaches abstinence or is she the Vice-Presidential candidate who was to the left of her running mate by supporting condoms/sex education in schools? Is she Libertarian of the year or a book burner? Not to mention, if you’re Andrew Sullivan is she Tripp’s mother or grandmother?
Probably a good rule of thumb for supporters and opponents alike – take everything you think you know with absolute certitude about Gov. Palin and then assume that 85% of it is false.
@Garland
More liberal hate mongering against Sarah. Surprise…!