Come on Sarah, what are you afraid of?
Now that President Obama has produced his birth certificate
It's time for Sarah to produce Trig's
Come on Sarah, what are you afraid of?
Come on Sarah, what are you afraid of?
To the recent victims of the Southern State Tornadoes
Here at Sarah Palin Has A Serpent's Heart our prayers and thoughts go out to the people who were affected by the tornadoes in Alabama, Georgia, Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Mississippi. Don't be afraid to ask for assistance from the government. That is why you pay taxes.
President Barack Obama will be in Alabama on Friday to assess the damage. I have to admit he got there a lot faster than George Dumbya Bush did in Katrina back in 1995.
President Barack Obama will be in Alabama on Friday to assess the damage. I have to admit he got there a lot faster than George Dumbya Bush did in Katrina back in 1995.
Reason #56 not to vote for Sarah Palin for anything
Sarah quit as chairwoman of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission
From the Juneau Empire
Sarah Palin, the outspoken chairwoman of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, is stepping down from her job, she said Friday.
Her decision was fueled partly by the flap over another commissioner accused of performing Republican Party work on state time and a state law that requires her to be silent about it, Palin said. The resignation is effective Tuesday.
It comes two months after former commissioner Randy Ruedrich, who is also the state Republican Party chairman, abruptly resigned from his $118,000-per-year job amid allegations he was performing GOP work on state time.
As ethics supervisor, Palin was outspoken in calling for Ruedrich to leave and had threatened to resign over the matter herself.
But since then, the state's executive branch ethics law has created a frustrating dilemma for her, she said.
She's refused to comment about the issue because of the confidentiality portion of the law and has declined media requests for AOGCC documents that would be open for inspection if there were no investigation.
Still, no one in state government has confirmed that the allegations are being investigated by the state attorney general's office.
"Going against what I believe in as a public servant is withholding information that I think Alaskans deserve to know," Palin told The Associated Press.
Even after she leaves office, Palin said she is barred from talking about the allegations against her former co-worker.
Ruedrich has not commented on the allegations since leaving office and has not returned several phone calls from The Associated Press.
Palin said she talked to administration officials as early as Monday about resigning, but she would not disclose details of the conversation. The administration did not ask for her resignation, she said.
She praised AOGCC staff for their roles as independent oil and gas regulators in a resignation letter and said she wants to contribute to the state in a positive manner.
"We let her letter speak for itself," said John Manly, spokesman for Gov. Frank Murkowski. "We're not going to comment any further."
In a press statement, Murkowski said he regretfully accepts the resignation.
"She has done a fine job and made a good contribution to the operations of the AOGCC," he said.
The Republican governor faced intense criticism in picking Palin and Ruedrich for the jobs last year from Democrats who called them patronage appointments.
Palin narrowly lost a Republican primary bid for lieutenant governor in 2002 and has been named as a possible challenger to U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who herself was appointed by her father the governor.
The controversy since taking office 11 months ago "was more than I bargained for in terms of what this job is," Palin said.
"My integrity and this agency's integrity has been questioned by some in the media and some in the public," Palin said. "The public needs to be assured politics don't influence a commission like this."
Palin said she will make several parting recommendations to the Murkowski administration. They include ways to ensure that future appointments appear "apolitical," and a curb on commission salaries, which she has said are too high.
As a public member of the three-person commission, Palin earned $122,400 annually.
Palin said she has no immediate plans to run in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate this year.
And this wouldn't be the last time she quit on something. Kinda hypocritical she calls out Randy for politicking on state time yet endorsed Joe Miller who did the same thing. Ethics and Sarah Palin do not go hand in hand either.
From the Juneau Empire
Sarah Palin, the outspoken chairwoman of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, is stepping down from her job, she said Friday.
Her decision was fueled partly by the flap over another commissioner accused of performing Republican Party work on state time and a state law that requires her to be silent about it, Palin said. The resignation is effective Tuesday.
It comes two months after former commissioner Randy Ruedrich, who is also the state Republican Party chairman, abruptly resigned from his $118,000-per-year job amid allegations he was performing GOP work on state time.
As ethics supervisor, Palin was outspoken in calling for Ruedrich to leave and had threatened to resign over the matter herself.
But since then, the state's executive branch ethics law has created a frustrating dilemma for her, she said.
She's refused to comment about the issue because of the confidentiality portion of the law and has declined media requests for AOGCC documents that would be open for inspection if there were no investigation.
Still, no one in state government has confirmed that the allegations are being investigated by the state attorney general's office.
"Going against what I believe in as a public servant is withholding information that I think Alaskans deserve to know," Palin told The Associated Press.
Even after she leaves office, Palin said she is barred from talking about the allegations against her former co-worker.
Ruedrich has not commented on the allegations since leaving office and has not returned several phone calls from The Associated Press.
Palin said she talked to administration officials as early as Monday about resigning, but she would not disclose details of the conversation. The administration did not ask for her resignation, she said.
She praised AOGCC staff for their roles as independent oil and gas regulators in a resignation letter and said she wants to contribute to the state in a positive manner.
"We let her letter speak for itself," said John Manly, spokesman for Gov. Frank Murkowski. "We're not going to comment any further."
In a press statement, Murkowski said he regretfully accepts the resignation.
"She has done a fine job and made a good contribution to the operations of the AOGCC," he said.
The Republican governor faced intense criticism in picking Palin and Ruedrich for the jobs last year from Democrats who called them patronage appointments.
Palin narrowly lost a Republican primary bid for lieutenant governor in 2002 and has been named as a possible challenger to U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who herself was appointed by her father the governor.
The controversy since taking office 11 months ago "was more than I bargained for in terms of what this job is," Palin said.
"My integrity and this agency's integrity has been questioned by some in the media and some in the public," Palin said. "The public needs to be assured politics don't influence a commission like this."
Palin said she will make several parting recommendations to the Murkowski administration. They include ways to ensure that future appointments appear "apolitical," and a curb on commission salaries, which she has said are too high.
As a public member of the three-person commission, Palin earned $122,400 annually.
Palin said she has no immediate plans to run in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate this year.
And this wouldn't be the last time she quit on something. Kinda hypocritical she calls out Randy for politicking on state time yet endorsed Joe Miller who did the same thing. Ethics and Sarah Palin do not go hand in hand either.
Bristol Palin bans Sarah from her home for being too conservative
From The Daily Mail
Perhaps moving all the way to Arizona from Alaska was a hint.
Bristol Palin has reportedly banned her mother Sarah from her new house in Maricopa because she is too controlling - and too conservative.
The 20-year-old has become increasingly liberal since her appearance on Dancing with the Stars, and is said to have had a huge row with Mrs Palin when she announced she was considering supporting gay marriage.
According to the National Enquirer, she has told her mother to stay out of her house until she accepts her new views - which Mrs Palin is worried could harm her own political ambitions
Bristol is hoping her mother will back down if she refuses to let her see her grandson, Tripp.
An insider told the newspaper: 'Bristol is completely rebelling against her mother - now that she's experiencing life outside of Alaska and away from Sarah.
She has opened her eyes and realised how sheltered and programmed she was.'
Bristol is believed to have developed a more liberal stance when she moved to Los Angeles to work on Dancing with the Stars last year.
One of her co-performers was Dutch dancer Louis Van Amstel, who revealed he was gay in a 2009 interview.
Bristol bought a $172,000 house in Maricopa, Arizona, last year, and moved there with her two-year-old son in December.
The long trek from Alaska hasn't deterred her mother from visiting, and last time she stayed the couple are said to have come to political blows.
An insider told the Enquirer: 'When Bristol told Sarah that she is thinking of supporting gay marriage and doesn't believe religion should have anything to do with equal rights for all, Sarah began fuming.
'[She] told her she better never go public with that thought, fearing it would hurt her political career.'
Perhaps moving all the way to Arizona from Alaska was a hint.
Bristol Palin has reportedly banned her mother Sarah from her new house in Maricopa because she is too controlling - and too conservative.
The 20-year-old has become increasingly liberal since her appearance on Dancing with the Stars, and is said to have had a huge row with Mrs Palin when she announced she was considering supporting gay marriage.
According to the National Enquirer, she has told her mother to stay out of her house until she accepts her new views - which Mrs Palin is worried could harm her own political ambitions
Bristol is hoping her mother will back down if she refuses to let her see her grandson, Tripp.
An insider told the newspaper: 'Bristol is completely rebelling against her mother - now that she's experiencing life outside of Alaska and away from Sarah.
She has opened her eyes and realised how sheltered and programmed she was.'
Bristol is believed to have developed a more liberal stance when she moved to Los Angeles to work on Dancing with the Stars last year.
One of her co-performers was Dutch dancer Louis Van Amstel, who revealed he was gay in a 2009 interview.
Bristol bought a $172,000 house in Maricopa, Arizona, last year, and moved there with her two-year-old son in December.
The long trek from Alaska hasn't deterred her mother from visiting, and last time she stayed the couple are said to have come to political blows.
An insider told the Enquirer: 'When Bristol told Sarah that she is thinking of supporting gay marriage and doesn't believe religion should have anything to do with equal rights for all, Sarah began fuming.
'[She] told her she better never go public with that thought, fearing it would hurt her political career.'
Levi Johnston grows a pair and is writing a tell all about the Palins
From US Magazine
Levi Johnston is ready to share his story with the world.
The 20-year-old Alaskan native -- famous for fathering a son with Sarah Palin's teenage daughter Bristol, now 20 -- is writing a tell-all book, a source confirms exclusively to Us Weekly.
Titled Deer in the Headlights: My Life in Sarah Palin's Crosshairs, the memoir is slated for a fall release under Touchstone Publishing.
"He's ready to give an inside glimpse to his relationship with the Palins, share his trials and tribulations of being thrust into the spotlight and becoming a father at such a young age," the source tells Us.
In the meantime, Johnston -- who broke off his second engagement to Bristol last July -- is planning to celebrate his 21st birthday at Chateau Nightclub & Gardens in Las Vegas on May 6.
Levi why didn't you do this last year? Sarah would be officially a laughing stock now. And you would be a millionaire. I don't think this book will be as successful as McGinness, Bailey, and Dunn's. Levi has some credibility issues. I do wish him well however.
Levi Johnston is ready to share his story with the world.
The 20-year-old Alaskan native -- famous for fathering a son with Sarah Palin's teenage daughter Bristol, now 20 -- is writing a tell-all book, a source confirms exclusively to Us Weekly.
Titled Deer in the Headlights: My Life in Sarah Palin's Crosshairs, the memoir is slated for a fall release under Touchstone Publishing.
"He's ready to give an inside glimpse to his relationship with the Palins, share his trials and tribulations of being thrust into the spotlight and becoming a father at such a young age," the source tells Us.
In the meantime, Johnston -- who broke off his second engagement to Bristol last July -- is planning to celebrate his 21st birthday at Chateau Nightclub & Gardens in Las Vegas on May 6.
Levi why didn't you do this last year? Sarah would be officially a laughing stock now. And you would be a millionaire. I don't think this book will be as successful as McGinness, Bailey, and Dunn's. Levi has some credibility issues. I do wish him well however.
Reason #55 not to vote for Sarah Palin for anything
She pardoned a turkey, then stood by and gave an interview while other turkeys were being slaughtered. Very thoughtless.
Happy Easter!
Wishing you and yours a very happy Easter. Remember the reason for the holiday (no not getting Easter eggs!)
Reason #54 not to vote for Sarah Paln for anything
She was disloyal and went rogue on John McCain
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Where is Trig Palin?
This week Trig had his 3rd birthday. Apparently Trig celebrated his 2nd birthday twice, according to Malia Litman's blog
The real point is that from the moment Palin was introduced at the RNC she has repeatedly used Trig as a symbol for her right-to-life position. However the lack of involvement in his life is evident from the number of speaking events Sarah Palin has attended without Trig or her other children. We didn’t see Trig with Sarah when she appeared to give speeches to the conferences for special needs children. That would have been the appropriate place for him to appear. His absence conveyed Palin’s real attitude which is that giving birth to the child (if she did) was the extent of her responsibility for the child. Afterwards he appeared only when she needed a reminder of her political position on abortion. Newsmax even credited Trig for saving McCain’s pro-life candidacy. Throughout the campaign when it was cold Trig made appearances. On the book signing tour, Sarah dragged Trig out of the bus for a photo op before the signing began. The amazing thing is that Sarah few on a private plane to most of the book signing events and simply met Trig in the bus on the way to the event.
On Google Images over 200,000 images appear when searching for “Trig Palin”. Yet virtually none of the images are pictures of Trig wearing his much needed glasses. On the TLC show Trig was left with a babysitter for virtually every adventure. In the eight episodes we saw a particular focus on each of the Palin children,…all except Trig. There was an episode when Tripp, Bristol’s child was included, but Trig was not. If there is a nanny who provides consistent care for Trig, we didn’t meet her.
On the occasion of Trig’s third birthday, we are reminded of his abandonment. Various web sites supporting Palin remembered Trig’s birthday. See for example: (1) and (2) .
However the most revealing is this one that mentions Sarah’s own tweet that included this picture:
“Today is Trig Palin’s third birthday! Governor Palin shared this tweet and picture this morning:
Awww…growing up to be a fisherman! Happy Birthday! http://yfrog.com/hs9azfoj
This is the picture featured when Trig was celebrating his second birthday.
This is not a mistake in my post. The mistake was in failing to take a picture on Trig’s third birthday. Did they even have a family party? Did they even make him a cake? I guess he had Down’s syndrome when he was two years old, and he still does, so Sarah would have no reason to need a more current picture.
Reading Malia's post got me thinking. It seems odd that they would use the same picture twice. Is Trig in an institution? Is he still a Palin? Did he go back to his real family, whoever they may be. Or, GULP, is he even still alive?
Considering the quality of care he has gotten from Sarah, he may have passed away. Don't get me wrong, I don't want Trig dead. I'm concerned about his well being. It does not appear he uses the hearing aids and eye glasses Down Syndrome Toddlers need, like Malia mentioned over 200,000 google images of him and not one of him wearing glasses and hearing aids.
Take a look at this picture of him here during the book tour:
According to people at the book signing, it was 40 some degrees that night and Trig has no pants or socks on. That is child abuse folks. Sarah and Piper are dressed warmly but Trig isn't.
Then you take into consideration Sarah's "Wild Ride". If it is true, she woke up in the middle of the night in labor while in Dallas, called Dr. Cathy Baldwin-Johnson in Anchorage, stayed to give the speech, Baylor Medical Center was 5 minutes away but she refused Rick Perry's offer of an ambulance, hopped on a plane to Seattle, another city with a hospital that has a neo-natal unit but she stayed at the airport for a 3-4 hour layover, flew to Anchorage, passed the only hospital in AK with a neo-natal unit and gave birth to Trig in Wasilla. If the Wild Ride is true, she is very neglectful not only for her health but Trig's as well. When your pregnant and your water breaks you get your ass to the hospital ASAP.
I just can't help but wonder if Sarah killed Trig. I know it is a horrible thing to say but considering there have been no Trig sightings in months and little of him was seen during Sarah Palin's Alaska it is possible. God Bless You Trig.
The real point is that from the moment Palin was introduced at the RNC she has repeatedly used Trig as a symbol for her right-to-life position. However the lack of involvement in his life is evident from the number of speaking events Sarah Palin has attended without Trig or her other children. We didn’t see Trig with Sarah when she appeared to give speeches to the conferences for special needs children. That would have been the appropriate place for him to appear. His absence conveyed Palin’s real attitude which is that giving birth to the child (if she did) was the extent of her responsibility for the child. Afterwards he appeared only when she needed a reminder of her political position on abortion. Newsmax even credited Trig for saving McCain’s pro-life candidacy. Throughout the campaign when it was cold Trig made appearances. On the book signing tour, Sarah dragged Trig out of the bus for a photo op before the signing began. The amazing thing is that Sarah few on a private plane to most of the book signing events and simply met Trig in the bus on the way to the event.
On Google Images over 200,000 images appear when searching for “Trig Palin”. Yet virtually none of the images are pictures of Trig wearing his much needed glasses. On the TLC show Trig was left with a babysitter for virtually every adventure. In the eight episodes we saw a particular focus on each of the Palin children,…all except Trig. There was an episode when Tripp, Bristol’s child was included, but Trig was not. If there is a nanny who provides consistent care for Trig, we didn’t meet her.
On the occasion of Trig’s third birthday, we are reminded of his abandonment. Various web sites supporting Palin remembered Trig’s birthday. See for example: (1) and (2) .
However the most revealing is this one that mentions Sarah’s own tweet that included this picture:
“Today is Trig Palin’s third birthday! Governor Palin shared this tweet and picture this morning:
Awww…growing up to be a fisherman! Happy Birthday! http://yfrog.com/hs9azfoj
This is the picture featured when Trig was celebrating his second birthday.
Reading Malia's post got me thinking. It seems odd that they would use the same picture twice. Is Trig in an institution? Is he still a Palin? Did he go back to his real family, whoever they may be. Or, GULP, is he even still alive?
Considering the quality of care he has gotten from Sarah, he may have passed away. Don't get me wrong, I don't want Trig dead. I'm concerned about his well being. It does not appear he uses the hearing aids and eye glasses Down Syndrome Toddlers need, like Malia mentioned over 200,000 google images of him and not one of him wearing glasses and hearing aids.
Take a look at this picture of him here during the book tour:
According to people at the book signing, it was 40 some degrees that night and Trig has no pants or socks on. That is child abuse folks. Sarah and Piper are dressed warmly but Trig isn't.
Then you take into consideration Sarah's "Wild Ride". If it is true, she woke up in the middle of the night in labor while in Dallas, called Dr. Cathy Baldwin-Johnson in Anchorage, stayed to give the speech, Baylor Medical Center was 5 minutes away but she refused Rick Perry's offer of an ambulance, hopped on a plane to Seattle, another city with a hospital that has a neo-natal unit but she stayed at the airport for a 3-4 hour layover, flew to Anchorage, passed the only hospital in AK with a neo-natal unit and gave birth to Trig in Wasilla. If the Wild Ride is true, she is very neglectful not only for her health but Trig's as well. When your pregnant and your water breaks you get your ass to the hospital ASAP.
I just can't help but wonder if Sarah killed Trig. I know it is a horrible thing to say but considering there have been no Trig sightings in months and little of him was seen during Sarah Palin's Alaska it is possible. God Bless You Trig.
Maundy Thursday
Today is Maundy Thursday which is Jesus's last supper. It is also known as Holy Thursday, Covenant Thursday, Great & Holy Thursday, and Thursday of Mysteries, is the Christian feast or holy day falling on the Thursday before Easter that commemorates the Last Supper of Jesus Christ with the Apostles as described in the Canonical gospels. It is the fifth day of Holy Week, and is preceded by Holy Wednesday and followed by Good Friday.
Bristol Palin will be a guest at the White House Correspondence Dinner
From Politico
Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin may or may not attend the upcoming White House Correspondents’ Dinner on April 30, but her daughter will be there.
Bristol Palin will be a guest of People, The Washington Post’s Reliable Source reported. After Bristol’s turn on last season’s “Dancing With the Stars,” she has graced the pages of People plenty of times.
People will also bring Steven Tyler, Mindy Kaling and Chris Colfer from “Glee.”
The Post also reported that Fox's Greta Van Susteren will bring actress Kate Hudson.
OK now I have seen everything!
Why in the fuck is this piece of trash attending a prestigious event? Oh that's right, she became famous just by lying on her back and getting knocked up.
Maybe she got a job at the hotel the dinner is being held at bussing tables. Yep that would be a perfect job for a high school drop out/teen mom, so she is qualified.
What a cunt!
Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin may or may not attend the upcoming White House Correspondents’ Dinner on April 30, but her daughter will be there.
Bristol Palin will be a guest of People, The Washington Post’s Reliable Source reported. After Bristol’s turn on last season’s “Dancing With the Stars,” she has graced the pages of People plenty of times.
People will also bring Steven Tyler, Mindy Kaling and Chris Colfer from “Glee.”
The Post also reported that Fox's Greta Van Susteren will bring actress Kate Hudson.
OK now I have seen everything!
Why in the fuck is this piece of trash attending a prestigious event? Oh that's right, she became famous just by lying on her back and getting knocked up.
Maybe she got a job at the hotel the dinner is being held at bussing tables. Yep that would be a perfect job for a high school drop out/teen mom, so she is qualified.
What a cunt!
Sarah insults the President again
You can check it out here
She is really obsessed with him, and she didn't even run against him in 2008, she ran against Joe Biden. Sarah you need a shrink. And get rid of the Star of David, it is a religious symbol (not even your religion) not a fashion accessory.
She is really obsessed with him, and she didn't even run against him in 2008, she ran against Joe Biden. Sarah you need a shrink. And get rid of the Star of David, it is a religious symbol (not even your religion) not a fashion accessory.
Sarah Palin's Version Of Trig's Birth May Be More Troubling than the Hoax
From Business Insider
This past week, the draft of an academic paper that focuses on the 2008 birth of Sarah Palin's son, Trig Paxson Van Palin, and the various theories that surround his birth, was made public prior to publication through a university newspaper and then exploded, quite predictably, on the Palin-centric blogosphere, where Trig's birth remains a cause célèbre and the source of considerable controversy. It has now spilled over into the mainstream media as well.
"Palin, the Press, and the Fake Pregnancy Rumor: Did a Spiral of Silence Shut Down the Story?" written by Bradford W. Scharlott, Ph.D., an associate professor at Northern Kentucky University, comes to two primary conclusions: 1) that Palin "likely" staged "a hoax" concerning the birth of her son Trig; and 2) that "a spiral of silence" prevented the mainstream U.S. media from adequately investigating the circumstances of Trig's birth.
As both a life-long journalist and an academic--and perhaps most importantly, as the author of the forthcoming book, The Lies of Sarah Palin: The Untold Story Behind Her Relentless Quest for Power--I read Scharlott's draft thesis with considerable interest and anticipation.
Scharlott's initial contention that Palin orchestrated an elaborate "hoax" around the birth of Trig does not hold up to close scrutiny. It remains a premise, not a fact. That said, his second assertion about "the spiral of silence" raises several issues about Palin, her birth story and the mainstream media that must be scrutinized fully as Palin continues to position herself for a run in the 2012 Republican primaries.
In the end--as is the case with virtually all things Palin--the most troubling scenario regarding Trig's birth is the one proffered by Palin herself--a scenario that has been largely muted, or disregarded, by the focus on Trig's birth as being a "hoax."
Let me acknowledge that while researching my book I spent a considerable amount of time and resources trying to sort out the facts of Trig's birth. As with many elements of Palin's life story, there are disquieting discrepancies between what actually happened and Palin's version of events. Her capacity for deceit simply knows no bounds, and this duplicity has contributed significantly to the atmosphere of doubt regarding the details of Trig's birth. Contrary to Palin's contention otherwise, the rumors that Trig was not her son originated long before she was named as John McCain's running mate, commencing immediately upon her public acknowledgment, in March of 2008, that she was pregnant.
Palin, by her own account in Going Rogue, did not tell anyone but her husband Todd that she was pregnant with what would be the couple's fifth child. She kept the news from her parents, siblings, children and her closest staff--odd behavior under any circumstances. Moreover, she did not tell members of her family that the child she was carrying had been diagnosed with Down syndrome. So when Palin announced being seven months pregnant--to a handful of reporters in Juneau on March 5, 2008--the rumor mill went into overtime.
Hoping to disprove the conspiracy theory when I initiated work on my book--and to put the story to bed once and for all--I interviewed several close associates of Palin's, including her friends and political allies. I was anticipating, perhaps even hoping, that they would tell me conclusively that Trig was her child.
I was shocked by the response. One close friend of Palin's--a widely respected woman who had given birth to several children as well and who had close contact with Palin in Juneau up until the time of Trig's birth--told me that "Palin did not look like she was pregnant. Ever. Even when she had the bulging belly, I never felt that the rest of her body, her face especially, looked like she was pregnant." When I asked her point-blank if she was certain the baby was Palin's, she said, "No. I don't know what to believe."
The news of Palin's pregnancy came as a complete surprise to Palin's State Trooper security detail Gary
Wheeler, a well-liked, 26-year veteran of the Alaska State Troopers who worked under several administrations in Alaska state government, both Republicans and Democrats. Only two weeks earlier, in late February of 2008, Wheeler had accompanied Palin back to Washington, D.C. for a Republican Governors Association Conference, where she had just met John McCain and his campaign manager Rick Davis, who was to be in charge of the vice-presidential nomination selection process. Wheeler remembers that Palin had changed into jeans upon her arrival in Washington, with no apparent revelation of pregnancy.
Wheeler also said that his wife, Corky, actually made fun of him when the news came out because he was supposed to be a "trained observer." Wheeler simply shakes his head: "I had nary an idea she was packin'."
As Wesley Loy of the Anchorage Daily News reported it at the time, Governor Palin "shocked and awed just about everybody around the Capitol" with her announcement.
This is at seven months.
More significantly--and thus begins the troubling nature of even Palin's own account--according to Wheeler, Palin did not tell the Alaska State Troopers who were assigned to protect her that she was pregnant, even though her age and the fact that she was carrying a child with Down syndrome presented potential health complications. All of this both foreshadows and serves as an important prelude to Palin's troubling journey from Texas to Alaska, during which she was experiencing--again by her own account--early signs of childbirth, including the so-called breaking of her waters.
Palin was scheduled to make a speech at an RGA energy conference in Dallas on April 17, slightly less than eight months into her pregnancy. At the last moment before her trip to Texas--which involved a stopover in Seattle--Wheeler says that Palin made an "out-of-the-ordinary" announcement that she wouldn't be needing a Trooper to accompany her on her junket, and that her husband Todd would be traveling with her instead. An email written by Palin--obtained through a Alaska Public Records Act request--confirms Wheeler's recollection. At 9:26 on the morning of April 14, 2008, only a day before her scheduled departure, Palin sent the following email to her administrative assistant, Janice Mason:
I cover the ensuing details of Palin's so-called "wild ride" from Texas back to Alaska in considerable detail in my book, but in short--according to information she gave at a news conference immediately following her return--Palin claimed that she called her physician in the middle of the night from her hotel room in Texas to discuss what Palin referred to as "amniotic fluid leaking." Despite the presence of this fluid--a strong indicator of impending birth and which potentially exposed Palin and her child to infection--Palin stayed in Dallas and delivered her speech later that day.
Rather than getting checked at a nearby hospital in Dallas before her departure (Baylor Medical Center was less than ten minutes away), Palin and her husband commenced on their return flight home to Anchorage via Seattle. They did not tell flight attendants of Palin's medical situation. The failure of the Palins to inform airline personnel of her impending medical situation not only put her infant and herself at risk, it also potentially put all passengers and staff on the two flights at risk as well. As The Atlantic's Andrew Sullivan (who deserves a commendation for keeping this story from being buried completely) dubbed it, Palin's decisions were "reckless beyond measure."
Once returning to Anchorage late in the evening of April 17, Palin claims to have bypassed the Providence Hospital in Anchorage (which has a neonatal intensive-care unit and is located only a few minutes from the Ted Stevens International Airport) for the roughly hour-long drive to the Mat-Su Regional Medical Center, located just off the Parks Highway, roughly seven miles outside of Wasilla (and which has no neonatal intensive-care unit).
Three days after Trig's birth, Palin and her husband held a news conference in Anchorage, with Trig joining them. The audio recording of the news conference provides a fascinating glimpse into the Palins' mindset at the time of Trig's birth and their chafing at criticism of their decision to fly back to Alaska. Again, I cite several passages from the press conference in my book, but what follows are some highlights:
The answer was classic Palin--evasive, circuitous, garbled and indirect. In fact, The Anchorage Daily News story the following day, by Kyle Hopkins, reported that Palin had not asked her physician "for a medical OK to fly."
Hopkins also contacted an obstetrician in California, Dr. Laurie Gregg, active in the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, who said that "when a pregnant woman's water breaks, she should go right to the hospital because of the risk of infection. That's true even if the amniotic fluid simply leaks out.
As for the distinction that Palin was trying to make between "breaking" and "leaking," Gregg was not buying into it. "To us, leaking and broken, we are talking the same thing," Gregg asserted. "We are talking doctor-speak."
The Palins were clearly irritated by the direction of the questioning. "There's a lot of new doctors out there on the streets in the last couple of days," Todd Palin asserted irritably.
An aide to the Palins decided it was time to wrap things up. One final question was allowed.
That became the family mantra.
There have also been a number of discrepancies in Palin's story. In Going Rogue, for instance, she makes no mention of her waters breaking. At a speech delivered in Waco, Texas, last year, Palin claimed that she delivered Trig in Anchorage. (Note the passage at 16:55 into her speech.)
The response to Scharlott's paper has been both troubling and predictable. On the one hand, those who continue to subscribe to the "hoax" theory have championed it as a work of academic brilliance. On the other hand, Palin's former flack Bill McAllister threatened to "slap" Scharlott and said that in "a different era," he'd have challenged Scharlott to "a duel." Salon's Justin Elliot used the occasion to take a cheap shot at Andrew
Sullivan by describing him as a practitioner of "Trug Trutherism" -- the belief "that Sarah Palin faked her 2008 pregnancy because Trig is actually the son of Bristol Palin"--when, in fact, all Sullivan has ever asserted is the absence of "easily available and definitive" evidence that Palin is the mother of Trig.
And in what can be described only as pathetic response to Scharlott's paper, Anchorage Daily News columnist Julia O'Malley contradicted her own newspaper's body of work on this matter by invoking a "spiral of silence" perspective and demanding that "someone" should "Make. It. Stop." She doesn't say who and she doesn't say how. What she means is that she doesn't want the issue even discussed.
Perhaps O'Malley was too high on her horse to recall that in December of 2008, in the aftermath of the national election, the Anchorage Daily News tried to confirm once and for all--as did I--that Sarah Palin was the mother of Trig, only to be rebuffed by Palin herself. The ADN's executive editor Pat Dougherty assigned his fine reporter Lisa Demer to the task of investigating the rumor. But a story was never published.
On December 31, Palin sent Dougherty an email attacking him for the line of questioning:
Dougherty's response should be of particular interest given O'Malley's commentary. He said that his goal was "to let a reporter try to do a story about the 'conspiracy theory that would not die' and, possibly, report the facts of Trig's birth thoroughly enough to kill the nonsense once and for all." Dougherty said that Demer received "very little cooperation" from Palin or her family. He killed the story. But he made a telling observation to Palin:
And there's the rub. O'Malley's own editor did not Make It Stop because Sarah Palin has never provided sufficient concrete evidence to put the conspiracy theories to bed. She hadn't in 2009, and she hasn't now.
The problem is rooted not in the wild imaginations of bloggers, as O'Malley would have us believe, but in the calculated obfuscation of the issue by Sarah Palin herself.
A week after her email to Dougherty, Palin issued a formal State of Alaska press release from the Governor's office. "As a public official, I expect criticism and I expect to be held accountable for how I govern," Gov. Palin said. "But the personal, salacious nature of recent reporting, and often the refusal of the media to correct obvious mistakes, unfortunately discredits too many in journalism today, making it difficult for many Americans to believe what they see in the media."
Held accountable? Throughout her political career, Sarah Palin has been the master of the dodge. She has never held herself accountable. At one point she claimed that she had made Trig's birth certificate public; she did not. The hospital has never issued a formal birth notice. She said that she would make her health records public. She did not. It was another lie.
This past week Palin had the gall to giggle and smirk her way through an interview on Fox News in which she supported Donald Trump's investigation of President Obama's birth certificate in Hawaii: "Well, uh, I appreciate that 'The Donald' wants to spend his resources in getting to the bottom of something that so interests him and many Americansm," Palin opined. "You know, more power to him."
The hypocrisy is staggering. There is one person who can put an end to the Trig matter immediately and instantly, and that is Sarah Palin. Before she takes another step in what has been a hapless bid to position herself for a run for the presidency, the American media should demand that Palin produce full and conclusive evidence of Trig's birth and parentage. It's that simple.
Once that step is taken, then the American media needs to break its "spiral of silence" about Palin's "wild ride" from Texas to Alaska and to demand direct answers from her about the decisions she made, the actions she took and what motivated her to do so. Anyone who examines Palin's own story closely will come to no other conclusion that she was "reckless beyond measure"--as Andrew Sullivan so succinctly put it--and entirely unqualified to hold higher office in these challenging and demanding times.
The things that convinced me she was lying was "the Wild Ride" and the fact she took him to the office three days after birth. No way in hell would a Dr. risk his or her license by letting a Down Syndrome baby born one month premature out of the hospital after three days. And allow the mother to take him to work with her.
I gotta feeling by Memorial Day Sarah will either 'fess up or produce a birth certificate.
This past week, the draft of an academic paper that focuses on the 2008 birth of Sarah Palin's son, Trig Paxson Van Palin, and the various theories that surround his birth, was made public prior to publication through a university newspaper and then exploded, quite predictably, on the Palin-centric blogosphere, where Trig's birth remains a cause célèbre and the source of considerable controversy. It has now spilled over into the mainstream media as well.
"Palin, the Press, and the Fake Pregnancy Rumor: Did a Spiral of Silence Shut Down the Story?" written by Bradford W. Scharlott, Ph.D., an associate professor at Northern Kentucky University, comes to two primary conclusions: 1) that Palin "likely" staged "a hoax" concerning the birth of her son Trig; and 2) that "a spiral of silence" prevented the mainstream U.S. media from adequately investigating the circumstances of Trig's birth.
As both a life-long journalist and an academic--and perhaps most importantly, as the author of the forthcoming book, The Lies of Sarah Palin: The Untold Story Behind Her Relentless Quest for Power--I read Scharlott's draft thesis with considerable interest and anticipation.
Scharlott's initial contention that Palin orchestrated an elaborate "hoax" around the birth of Trig does not hold up to close scrutiny. It remains a premise, not a fact. That said, his second assertion about "the spiral of silence" raises several issues about Palin, her birth story and the mainstream media that must be scrutinized fully as Palin continues to position herself for a run in the 2012 Republican primaries.
In the end--as is the case with virtually all things Palin--the most troubling scenario regarding Trig's birth is the one proffered by Palin herself--a scenario that has been largely muted, or disregarded, by the focus on Trig's birth as being a "hoax."
Let me acknowledge that while researching my book I spent a considerable amount of time and resources trying to sort out the facts of Trig's birth. As with many elements of Palin's life story, there are disquieting discrepancies between what actually happened and Palin's version of events. Her capacity for deceit simply knows no bounds, and this duplicity has contributed significantly to the atmosphere of doubt regarding the details of Trig's birth. Contrary to Palin's contention otherwise, the rumors that Trig was not her son originated long before she was named as John McCain's running mate, commencing immediately upon her public acknowledgment, in March of 2008, that she was pregnant.
Palin, by her own account in Going Rogue, did not tell anyone but her husband Todd that she was pregnant with what would be the couple's fifth child. She kept the news from her parents, siblings, children and her closest staff--odd behavior under any circumstances. Moreover, she did not tell members of her family that the child she was carrying had been diagnosed with Down syndrome. So when Palin announced being seven months pregnant--to a handful of reporters in Juneau on March 5, 2008--the rumor mill went into overtime.
Hoping to disprove the conspiracy theory when I initiated work on my book--and to put the story to bed once and for all--I interviewed several close associates of Palin's, including her friends and political allies. I was anticipating, perhaps even hoping, that they would tell me conclusively that Trig was her child.
I was shocked by the response. One close friend of Palin's--a widely respected woman who had given birth to several children as well and who had close contact with Palin in Juneau up until the time of Trig's birth--told me that "Palin did not look like she was pregnant. Ever. Even when she had the bulging belly, I never felt that the rest of her body, her face especially, looked like she was pregnant." When I asked her point-blank if she was certain the baby was Palin's, she said, "No. I don't know what to believe."
The news of Palin's pregnancy came as a complete surprise to Palin's State Trooper security detail Gary
Wheeler, a well-liked, 26-year veteran of the Alaska State Troopers who worked under several administrations in Alaska state government, both Republicans and Democrats. Only two weeks earlier, in late February of 2008, Wheeler had accompanied Palin back to Washington, D.C. for a Republican Governors Association Conference, where she had just met John McCain and his campaign manager Rick Davis, who was to be in charge of the vice-presidential nomination selection process. Wheeler remembers that Palin had changed into jeans upon her arrival in Washington, with no apparent revelation of pregnancy.
Wheeler also said that his wife, Corky, actually made fun of him when the news came out because he was supposed to be a "trained observer." Wheeler simply shakes his head: "I had nary an idea she was packin'."
As Wesley Loy of the Anchorage Daily News reported it at the time, Governor Palin "shocked and awed just about everybody around the Capitol" with her announcement.
This is at seven months.
More significantly--and thus begins the troubling nature of even Palin's own account--according to Wheeler, Palin did not tell the Alaska State Troopers who were assigned to protect her that she was pregnant, even though her age and the fact that she was carrying a child with Down syndrome presented potential health complications. All of this both foreshadows and serves as an important prelude to Palin's troubling journey from Texas to Alaska, during which she was experiencing--again by her own account--early signs of childbirth, including the so-called breaking of her waters.
Palin was scheduled to make a speech at an RGA energy conference in Dallas on April 17, slightly less than eight months into her pregnancy. At the last moment before her trip to Texas--which involved a stopover in Seattle--Wheeler says that Palin made an "out-of-the-ordinary" announcement that she wouldn't be needing a Trooper to accompany her on her junket, and that her husband Todd would be traveling with her instead. An email written by Palin--obtained through a Alaska Public Records Act request--confirms Wheeler's recollection. At 9:26 on the morning of April 14, 2008, only a day before her scheduled departure, Palin sent the following email to her administrative assistant, Janice Mason:
J- instead of rga paying for staff, and/or rga (or state) paying for Security on this Texas trip, pis let them know First Spouse is available to travel instead - they can pay for Todd. Pls chk on flt availability for him (on my flts). [sic] Thanks
I cover the ensuing details of Palin's so-called "wild ride" from Texas back to Alaska in considerable detail in my book, but in short--according to information she gave at a news conference immediately following her return--Palin claimed that she called her physician in the middle of the night from her hotel room in Texas to discuss what Palin referred to as "amniotic fluid leaking." Despite the presence of this fluid--a strong indicator of impending birth and which potentially exposed Palin and her child to infection--Palin stayed in Dallas and delivered her speech later that day.
Rather than getting checked at a nearby hospital in Dallas before her departure (Baylor Medical Center was less than ten minutes away), Palin and her husband commenced on their return flight home to Anchorage via Seattle. They did not tell flight attendants of Palin's medical situation. The failure of the Palins to inform airline personnel of her impending medical situation not only put her infant and herself at risk, it also potentially put all passengers and staff on the two flights at risk as well. As The Atlantic's Andrew Sullivan (who deserves a commendation for keeping this story from being buried completely) dubbed it, Palin's decisions were "reckless beyond measure."
Once returning to Anchorage late in the evening of April 17, Palin claims to have bypassed the Providence Hospital in Anchorage (which has a neonatal intensive-care unit and is located only a few minutes from the Ted Stevens International Airport) for the roughly hour-long drive to the Mat-Su Regional Medical Center, located just off the Parks Highway, roughly seven miles outside of Wasilla (and which has no neonatal intensive-care unit).
Three days after Trig's birth, Palin and her husband held a news conference in Anchorage, with Trig joining them. The audio recording of the news conference provides a fascinating glimpse into the Palins' mindset at the time of Trig's birth and their chafing at criticism of their decision to fly back to Alaska. Again, I cite several passages from the press conference in my book, but what follows are some highlights:
Sarah Palin: Well that was again if, if I must get personal, technical about this at the same time, um, it was one, it was a sign that I knew, um, could lead to uh, labor being uh kind of kicked in there was any kind of, um, amniotic leaking, amniotic fluid leaking, so when, when that happened we decided OK let's call her [her physician, Cathy Baldwin-Johnson].
The answer was classic Palin--evasive, circuitous, garbled and indirect. In fact, The Anchorage Daily News story the following day, by Kyle Hopkins, reported that Palin had not asked her physician "for a medical OK to fly."
Hopkins also contacted an obstetrician in California, Dr. Laurie Gregg, active in the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, who said that "when a pregnant woman's water breaks, she should go right to the hospital because of the risk of infection. That's true even if the amniotic fluid simply leaks out.
As for the distinction that Palin was trying to make between "breaking" and "leaking," Gregg was not buying into it. "To us, leaking and broken, we are talking the same thing," Gregg asserted. "We are talking doctor-speak."
The Palins were clearly irritated by the direction of the questioning. "There's a lot of new doctors out there on the streets in the last couple of days," Todd Palin asserted irritably.
An aide to the Palins decided it was time to wrap things up. One final question was allowed.
Reporter: Was it important to you to have the baby in Alaska?
Sarah Palin: It was very important that we have...it was more important that, that Trig arrive safely and healthy and um, and that is exactly what happened. The extra blessing was that Trig was able to be born into this great state, you know, kind of like, I feel like this extended Alaskan family, that he was here, for that.
Todd Palin: Can't have a fish-picker from Texas.
That became the family mantra.
There have also been a number of discrepancies in Palin's story. In Going Rogue, for instance, she makes no mention of her waters breaking. At a speech delivered in Waco, Texas, last year, Palin claimed that she delivered Trig in Anchorage. (Note the passage at 16:55 into her speech.)
The response to Scharlott's paper has been both troubling and predictable. On the one hand, those who continue to subscribe to the "hoax" theory have championed it as a work of academic brilliance. On the other hand, Palin's former flack Bill McAllister threatened to "slap" Scharlott and said that in "a different era," he'd have challenged Scharlott to "a duel." Salon's Justin Elliot used the occasion to take a cheap shot at Andrew
Sullivan by describing him as a practitioner of "Trug Trutherism" -- the belief "that Sarah Palin faked her 2008 pregnancy because Trig is actually the son of Bristol Palin"--when, in fact, all Sullivan has ever asserted is the absence of "easily available and definitive" evidence that Palin is the mother of Trig.
And in what can be described only as pathetic response to Scharlott's paper, Anchorage Daily News columnist Julia O'Malley contradicted her own newspaper's body of work on this matter by invoking a "spiral of silence" perspective and demanding that "someone" should "Make. It. Stop." She doesn't say who and she doesn't say how. What she means is that she doesn't want the issue even discussed.
Perhaps O'Malley was too high on her horse to recall that in December of 2008, in the aftermath of the national election, the Anchorage Daily News tried to confirm once and for all--as did I--that Sarah Palin was the mother of Trig, only to be rebuffed by Palin herself. The ADN's executive editor Pat Dougherty assigned his fine reporter Lisa Demer to the task of investigating the rumor. But a story was never published.
On December 31, Palin sent Dougherty an email attacking him for the line of questioning:
And is your paper really still pursuing the sensational lie that I am not Trig's mother? Is it true you have a reporter still bothering my state office, my very busy doctor (who's already set the record straight for you), and the school district, in pursuit of your ridiculous conspiracy?
Dougherty's response should be of particular interest given O'Malley's commentary. He said that his goal was "to let a reporter try to do a story about the 'conspiracy theory that would not die' and, possibly, report the facts of Trig's birth thoroughly enough to kill the nonsense once and for all." Dougherty said that Demer received "very little cooperation" from Palin or her family. He killed the story. But he made a telling observation to Palin:
It strikes me that if there is never a clear, contemporaneous public record of what transpired with Trig's birth, that may actually ensure that the conspiracy theory never dies.
And there's the rub. O'Malley's own editor did not Make It Stop because Sarah Palin has never provided sufficient concrete evidence to put the conspiracy theories to bed. She hadn't in 2009, and she hasn't now.
The problem is rooted not in the wild imaginations of bloggers, as O'Malley would have us believe, but in the calculated obfuscation of the issue by Sarah Palin herself.
A week after her email to Dougherty, Palin issued a formal State of Alaska press release from the Governor's office. "As a public official, I expect criticism and I expect to be held accountable for how I govern," Gov. Palin said. "But the personal, salacious nature of recent reporting, and often the refusal of the media to correct obvious mistakes, unfortunately discredits too many in journalism today, making it difficult for many Americans to believe what they see in the media."
Held accountable? Throughout her political career, Sarah Palin has been the master of the dodge. She has never held herself accountable. At one point she claimed that she had made Trig's birth certificate public; she did not. The hospital has never issued a formal birth notice. She said that she would make her health records public. She did not. It was another lie.
This past week Palin had the gall to giggle and smirk her way through an interview on Fox News in which she supported Donald Trump's investigation of President Obama's birth certificate in Hawaii: "Well, uh, I appreciate that 'The Donald' wants to spend his resources in getting to the bottom of something that so interests him and many Americansm," Palin opined. "You know, more power to him."
The hypocrisy is staggering. There is one person who can put an end to the Trig matter immediately and instantly, and that is Sarah Palin. Before she takes another step in what has been a hapless bid to position herself for a run for the presidency, the American media should demand that Palin produce full and conclusive evidence of Trig's birth and parentage. It's that simple.
Once that step is taken, then the American media needs to break its "spiral of silence" about Palin's "wild ride" from Texas to Alaska and to demand direct answers from her about the decisions she made, the actions she took and what motivated her to do so. Anyone who examines Palin's own story closely will come to no other conclusion that she was "reckless beyond measure"--as Andrew Sullivan so succinctly put it--and entirely unqualified to hold higher office in these challenging and demanding times.
The things that convinced me she was lying was "the Wild Ride" and the fact she took him to the office three days after birth. No way in hell would a Dr. risk his or her license by letting a Down Syndrome baby born one month premature out of the hospital after three days. And allow the mother to take him to work with her.
I gotta feeling by Memorial Day Sarah will either 'fess up or produce a birth certificate.
Could Sherry Johnston be the mother of Trig Palin?
Yesterday was Trig's alleged birthday. The reason I say alleged is because it's obvious Sarah did not give birth to him. It's possible he was born before April 18 because its been suspected Bristol gave birth to him. She went into hiding in the fall 2007-Winter 2008 timeline because she had "mono".
However I'm starting to wonder if it is Sherry Johnston. Sherry is the mother of Levi Johnston Bristol's ex-fiancee and the grandma of Trip Johnston. Syrin from Syrin's Blog made this interesting comment regarding Babygate:
Appreciate that the msm has taken this story one step further. I’ve stayed clear of this subject. My opinion on this subject has been based on a few important circumstances and totally independent. People… Bristol did not have the child name Trig, born in Arpril 08 ?! There is NO WAY it could have happened, because Bristol was pregnant with Levi Johnston’s child Tripp Johnston, born in Dec. 08 who Levi is presently payng child support for, so he does belong to Levi.. So lets not add that impossiblity to this mix! The thought that a 16 year old Sadie Johnston would NOT know the correct family labels of relationships is laughable to me. I’ve raised 3 children. They know the relationships between themselves and of those around them.
Kids always write appropriate captions to their pictures when sharing with their friends, as did Mercedes on her MySpace Page… Another thing.. No boyfriend or girlfriend would be a part of the birth if it where me having a baby..I’ve done some asking around and that would be the case for most women. The Sherry Johnston story is an interesting one. Remember, I live in Wasilla!! I continue to maintain my opinion that it is very possible that it was Sherry Johnston who gave birth, (unplanned pregnancy- it happens) perhaps after Keith left her she got into a relationship that went bad.
Moving forward….Shortly after Sherry’s drug bust.. it was almost forced on the public as a major part of the story that she had a hysterectomy. At the time it seemd the media was making the connection that she was doing drugs because of a medical condition. But, I’m sorry, I just can’t get over it……What the hell is the sister of the boyfriend doing holding the infant of the girlfriends mother and calling it her (little baby brother)? Also note: Bristol looks like she’s at the beginning of her pregnancy with Tripp in this picture and Sarah Palin does not look or is positioned as if she just gave birth. Finally, it is Sherry Johnston who is taking these photos!!! One big happy family!?! The Johnstons are involved in this in some way! Quite possible and very convenient for the Palins at the time. All IMHO.
When I think about it, yes it is a strong possibility. Sadie refers to Trig as her baby brother. Also Sadie has been very vague about Trig when writing about him on her blog. Did the Palins pay her off? So if Sherry is the mother, who is Trig's father? Todd Palin perhaps. Remember he is very affectionate with Trig while Sarah carries him like a sack of potatoes. And I wonder if Sherry threatened to spill the beans or wanted Trig back after the election so she was set up on those drug charges as a way to keep her quiet.
Since I live in the Lower 48, I am not in the know, I rely on the Anti-Sarah and Alaska Blogs to get my info.
However I'm starting to wonder if it is Sherry Johnston. Sherry is the mother of Levi Johnston Bristol's ex-fiancee and the grandma of Trip Johnston. Syrin from Syrin's Blog made this interesting comment regarding Babygate:
Appreciate that the msm has taken this story one step further. I’ve stayed clear of this subject. My opinion on this subject has been based on a few important circumstances and totally independent. People… Bristol did not have the child name Trig, born in Arpril 08 ?! There is NO WAY it could have happened, because Bristol was pregnant with Levi Johnston’s child Tripp Johnston, born in Dec. 08 who Levi is presently payng child support for, so he does belong to Levi.. So lets not add that impossiblity to this mix! The thought that a 16 year old Sadie Johnston would NOT know the correct family labels of relationships is laughable to me. I’ve raised 3 children. They know the relationships between themselves and of those around them.
Kids always write appropriate captions to their pictures when sharing with their friends, as did Mercedes on her MySpace Page… Another thing.. No boyfriend or girlfriend would be a part of the birth if it where me having a baby..I’ve done some asking around and that would be the case for most women. The Sherry Johnston story is an interesting one. Remember, I live in Wasilla!! I continue to maintain my opinion that it is very possible that it was Sherry Johnston who gave birth, (unplanned pregnancy- it happens) perhaps after Keith left her she got into a relationship that went bad.
Moving forward….Shortly after Sherry’s drug bust.. it was almost forced on the public as a major part of the story that she had a hysterectomy. At the time it seemd the media was making the connection that she was doing drugs because of a medical condition. But, I’m sorry, I just can’t get over it……What the hell is the sister of the boyfriend doing holding the infant of the girlfriends mother and calling it her (little baby brother)? Also note: Bristol looks like she’s at the beginning of her pregnancy with Tripp in this picture and Sarah Palin does not look or is positioned as if she just gave birth. Finally, it is Sherry Johnston who is taking these photos!!! One big happy family!?! The Johnstons are involved in this in some way! Quite possible and very convenient for the Palins at the time. All IMHO.
When I think about it, yes it is a strong possibility. Sadie refers to Trig as her baby brother. Also Sadie has been very vague about Trig when writing about him on her blog. Did the Palins pay her off? So if Sherry is the mother, who is Trig's father? Todd Palin perhaps. Remember he is very affectionate with Trig while Sarah carries him like a sack of potatoes. And I wonder if Sherry threatened to spill the beans or wanted Trig back after the election so she was set up on those drug charges as a way to keep her quiet.
Since I live in the Lower 48, I am not in the know, I rely on the Anti-Sarah and Alaska Blogs to get my info.
Reason #53 not to vote for Sarah Palin for anything
Her reality show Sarah Palin's Alaska was politically motivated
From Palingates:
Sarah Palin's Alaska received a 1.2 million dollar tax credit from the State of Alaska, however since it was politically motivated they were ineligible to receive the credit but did so anyway. Several examples of Palin injecting politics into the show were her comment about Michelle Obama and eating sweets, Joe McGinness, asking Todd about taxes, how the Grizzly Bears do not depend on others for food, the price of gold.
You can read the bill regarding tax credits here
Sarah thinks she is above the law. Time to give that $1.2 million back to the AK taxpayers.
From Palingates:
Sarah Palin's Alaska received a 1.2 million dollar tax credit from the State of Alaska, however since it was politically motivated they were ineligible to receive the credit but did so anyway. Several examples of Palin injecting politics into the show were her comment about Michelle Obama and eating sweets, Joe McGinness, asking Todd about taxes, how the Grizzly Bears do not depend on others for food, the price of gold.
You can read the bill regarding tax credits here
Sarah thinks she is above the law. Time to give that $1.2 million back to the AK taxpayers.
Frank Baileys book
From Today Book News
When a book is called "Blind Allegiance to Sarah Palin," you can guess it's not a happy story.
When a book is called "Blind Allegiance to Sarah Palin," you can guess it's not a happy story.
An imprint of Simon & Schuster announced Monday that it had signed up "Blind Allegiance," a long-rumored tell-all by former Palin aide Frank Bailey.
The imprint, Howard Books, will release Bailey's book May 24. Excerpts from an early draft were leaked to reporters earlier this year.
Bailey worked with Palin while she was governor of Alaska and when she was John McCain's running mate on the Republican presidential ticket in 2008.
Howard Books is calling "Blind Allegiance" a "chilling expose." Author Ken Morris and Alaska political blogger Jeanne Devon helped write the book.
If the excerpts were bad, I can't wait to see what the rest of the book says. Can't wait to read it!
Happy Birthday Trig Palin!
Today is the alleged day that Trig Paxson Van Palin was born to Sarah and Todd Palin in Wasilla. Sarah has claimed that Trig is her son. I do not doubt he is her son, legally. What I doubt is that she gave birth to him.
It is possible he was born before April 18, which still makes Sarah a liar.
Anyway, Happy Birthday Trig buddy. Hopefully it is a good one spent away from that harpy that is your mother.
It is possible he was born before April 18, which still makes Sarah a liar.
Anyway, Happy Birthday Trig buddy. Hopefully it is a good one spent away from that harpy that is your mother.
Reason #52 not to vote for Sarah Palin for anything
She hates unions and union workers
Sarah was in Madison WI yesterday at a Teabagger Rally. This has to be the worst speech she has ever done. Either she is off her meds, or on meth. I can't tell.
If you watch behind her that is RAM
Sarah was in Madison WI yesterday at a Teabagger Rally. This has to be the worst speech she has ever done. Either she is off her meds, or on meth. I can't tell.
If you watch behind her that is RAM
Palm Sunday
Today is Palm Sunday when Jesus arrived in Jersusalem and was greeted by people waving Palms
Update-The Professor's paper is being picked up by other media outlets
Business Insider
Gawker
Update-Anchorage Daily News has now picked it up as well, even if it is an op-ed piece.
Yes they are not major outlets but its a start
Gawker
Update-Anchorage Daily News has now picked it up as well, even if it is an op-ed piece.
Yes they are not major outlets but its a start
Today is Tax Day
No one likes Tax, I'm a Democrat and I don't like it either. But taxes are like death, everyone has to deal with it. Taxes though can be a benefit to society, who do you think pays for our military, police departments, schools etc, the tooth fairy? Santa Claus? Nope, we do!
If we want a good quality of life we have to pay taxes, deal with it. I am willing to pay for nice roads than crappy ones.
Then there are people like the Republican Sarah Palin who make millions of dollars yet will not pay their fair share. People like Schaeffer Cox, who thinks he is a sovereign nation and does not have to pay federal or state taxes and tries to kill a judge who enforces the law.
Bristol Palin if you are reading this I did send the article about you making $262,000 in 2009 from Candies to the IRS.
If we want a good quality of life we have to pay taxes, deal with it. I am willing to pay for nice roads than crappy ones.
Then there are people like the Republican Sarah Palin who make millions of dollars yet will not pay their fair share. People like Schaeffer Cox, who thinks he is a sovereign nation and does not have to pay federal or state taxes and tries to kill a judge who enforces the law.
Bristol Palin if you are reading this I did send the article about you making $262,000 in 2009 from Candies to the IRS.
From The Immoral Minority: Shawn Christy responds to charges that he threaten...
Thank you to Gryphen at Immoral Minority for posting this. Shawn Christy is a young man who has been accused of stalking Sarah Palin
The Immoral Minority: Shawn Christy responds to charges that he threaten...: "Photo taken of Shawn Christy during February trip to Alaska I may not have mentioned this before but I am Facebook friends with Shawn. We..."
The Immoral Minority: Shawn Christy responds to charges that he threaten...: "Photo taken of Shawn Christy during February trip to Alaska I may not have mentioned this before but I am Facebook friends with Shawn. We..."
Salon.com's Justin Elliot explains on Young Turks Babygate
I'm so disappointed that Salon.com even has Justin on their payroll. Babygate needs to be out in the MSM now. If Sarah will lie about her son's birth, she will lie about other things.
April 12-a sad day in American History
Two very significant events happened on April 12.
April 12, 1861-the first shots of the American Civil War fired at Fort Sumter in South Carolina. The war lasted from April 12, 1861-April 9, 1865. President Abraham Lincoln was shot five days after the war ended in Ford Theatre and died the next day What led to the Civil War was the argument of slavery. Lincoln campaigned in the 1860 Presidential Election against expanding slavery beyond the states that already existed. Lincoln won the election against Stephen A. Douglas who felt should be left up to the states.
After Lincoln was elected in November, South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina, and Tennessee seceded from the Union forming the Confederate States of America. These states loved slavery and hated anyone who was not like them.
By April the war was started. For a few years the South was winning the war, but the Battle of Gettsyburg in 1863 which was won by the Union changed the tide of the War. Following the battle Lincoln made his famous Gettysburg Address. The North started pushing back and the following year led by William Tecumseh Sherman burned Atlanta and marched to the Sea Also in 1863 Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation which freed all the slaves.
In 1864 Lincoln was re-elected president defeating one of his Generals George B McClellan. On April 9, 1865 Confederate General Robert E Lee surrendered to Union General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse ending the war.
Fast forward to 80 years later. April 12, 1945 while at his summer home in Warm Springs GA, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt succumbed to a cerebral hemhorrage. He was only 63.
Roosevelt was one of the greatest presidents in US history along with Lincoln. He was also elected to four terms, more than any other president. He was born in Hyde Park NY on Jan 30, 1882. He was born into wealth and privilege, graduated from the Groton School and Harvard University. He married his 5th cousin Eleanor Roosevelt who was the niece of President Theodore Roosevelt.
Roosevelt was elected to the NY State Senate in 1910 and re-elected in 1912. In 1913 he was appointed by President Woodrow Wilson to be Assistant Secretary of the Navy. He held this position until 1920 when he resigned to run for Vice President of the United States He was defeated.
In 1921 while vacationing with his family at Campobello Island in Canada, he was stricken with polio and spent several years recovering in Warm Springs and Hyde Park. He never fully recovered and had to use a wheelchair for the rest of his life. In public he would use crutches and a cane.
In 1928 and 1930 Roosevelt was elected Governor of New York. By 1932 he was considered a contender for the Democrat nominee for President. He won in a landslide over one of the worst presidents in history Herbert Hoover who would not do anything to stop the bleeding of the Great Depression.
Roosevelt's New Deal helped bring the Depression down some and gave people hope. Labor legislation such as overtime pay and better working conditions improved lives. Social Security helped old people retire and enjoy their twilight years. The FDIC made bank deposits secure. The SEC cracked down on unethical stock market manipulation which led to the Great Depression.
Roosevelt was elected three more times-1936, 1940, and 1944. On December 7, 1941 Japan forces bombed Pearl Harbor, dragging the US into World War II. Roosevelt showed his competence during the war, picking the right commanders, boosting morale at home and on the front lines, and working with Winston Churchill and Josef Stalin. Unfortunately he did not see the end of World War II as he passed away on April 12, 1945. V-E Day was May 1 and V-J Day was Sept 2, 1945.
It is ironic that April 12 is linked to the two greatest presidents in US History, Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt. They both handled three of the greatest crises this country has had to endure (Civil War, Great Depression, World War II) very well and as a result the United State of America is a much better country.
April 12, 1861-the first shots of the American Civil War fired at Fort Sumter in South Carolina. The war lasted from April 12, 1861-April 9, 1865. President Abraham Lincoln was shot five days after the war ended in Ford Theatre and died the next day What led to the Civil War was the argument of slavery. Lincoln campaigned in the 1860 Presidential Election against expanding slavery beyond the states that already existed. Lincoln won the election against Stephen A. Douglas who felt should be left up to the states.
After Lincoln was elected in November, South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina, and Tennessee seceded from the Union forming the Confederate States of America. These states loved slavery and hated anyone who was not like them.
By April the war was started. For a few years the South was winning the war, but the Battle of Gettsyburg in 1863 which was won by the Union changed the tide of the War. Following the battle Lincoln made his famous Gettysburg Address. The North started pushing back and the following year led by William Tecumseh Sherman burned Atlanta and marched to the Sea Also in 1863 Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation which freed all the slaves.
In 1864 Lincoln was re-elected president defeating one of his Generals George B McClellan. On April 9, 1865 Confederate General Robert E Lee surrendered to Union General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse ending the war.
Fast forward to 80 years later. April 12, 1945 while at his summer home in Warm Springs GA, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt succumbed to a cerebral hemhorrage. He was only 63.
Roosevelt was one of the greatest presidents in US history along with Lincoln. He was also elected to four terms, more than any other president. He was born in Hyde Park NY on Jan 30, 1882. He was born into wealth and privilege, graduated from the Groton School and Harvard University. He married his 5th cousin Eleanor Roosevelt who was the niece of President Theodore Roosevelt.
Roosevelt was elected to the NY State Senate in 1910 and re-elected in 1912. In 1913 he was appointed by President Woodrow Wilson to be Assistant Secretary of the Navy. He held this position until 1920 when he resigned to run for Vice President of the United States He was defeated.
In 1921 while vacationing with his family at Campobello Island in Canada, he was stricken with polio and spent several years recovering in Warm Springs and Hyde Park. He never fully recovered and had to use a wheelchair for the rest of his life. In public he would use crutches and a cane.
In 1928 and 1930 Roosevelt was elected Governor of New York. By 1932 he was considered a contender for the Democrat nominee for President. He won in a landslide over one of the worst presidents in history Herbert Hoover who would not do anything to stop the bleeding of the Great Depression.
Roosevelt's New Deal helped bring the Depression down some and gave people hope. Labor legislation such as overtime pay and better working conditions improved lives. Social Security helped old people retire and enjoy their twilight years. The FDIC made bank deposits secure. The SEC cracked down on unethical stock market manipulation which led to the Great Depression.
Roosevelt was elected three more times-1936, 1940, and 1944. On December 7, 1941 Japan forces bombed Pearl Harbor, dragging the US into World War II. Roosevelt showed his competence during the war, picking the right commanders, boosting morale at home and on the front lines, and working with Winston Churchill and Josef Stalin. Unfortunately he did not see the end of World War II as he passed away on April 12, 1945. V-E Day was May 1 and V-J Day was Sept 2, 1945.
It is ironic that April 12 is linked to the two greatest presidents in US History, Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt. They both handled three of the greatest crises this country has had to endure (Civil War, Great Depression, World War II) very well and as a result the United State of America is a much better country.
Reason #51 not vote for Sarah Palin for anything
She endorsed fellow Republican Governor and idiot Jan Brewer
Jan signed into law SB 1070 which encourages racial profiling. If you are in Arizona and look brown, the cops will ask you for your documentation, even if you are a 5th generation American.
Jan is also very pro-gun and anti-abortion, just like Sarah. She signed into law a bill that would allow gun owners to carry guns into bars providing there is no signs saying you can't.
Here are the two BFF's together, scary shit!
Jan signed into law SB 1070 which encourages racial profiling. If you are in Arizona and look brown, the cops will ask you for your documentation, even if you are a 5th generation American.
Jan is also very pro-gun and anti-abortion, just like Sarah. She signed into law a bill that would allow gun owners to carry guns into bars providing there is no signs saying you can't.
Here are the two BFF's together, scary shit!
Journalism Professor questions how the MSM handled the babygate rumors
University of Northern Kentucky Associate Professor Bradford wrote a paper on how the MSM handled the Trig rumors. You can read it here.
Updated April 8, 2011 to include a copy of Professor Scharlott’s paper)
A Northern Kentucky University professor’s research about how the news media handled rumors of a pregnancy hoax by former vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin has gotten a spirited response from her former spokesman.
In his paper “Palin, the Press, and the Fake Pregnancy Rumor,” associate journalism professor Brad Scharlott explores how the press handled the rumor that Trig Palin may not actually be the son of Sarah Palin, asserting that there was enough evidence of a pregnancy hoax to warrant asking more questions.
“[There’s] a theory out of mass communications that ideas not in the mainstream can be squeezed out of the public sphere entirely,” Scharlott said. “I think that’s what happened with the idea that Palin may have faked the pregnancy and now, while some people may privately speak about it, no one in America wants to be quoted about it.”
Once Scharlott completed his research, he said he submitted a copy to Bill McAllister, who is currently the communications director for the Alaska Department of Law and had previously served as the communications director for Sarah Palin during her vice-presidential bid in 2008.
“[In the paper,] I suggest that he was in fact, possibly, involved in a hoax,” Scharlott said.
“In the spirit of fairness, I thought he should get a copy. That’s what journalists normally do.”
But McAllister, who was a reporter before becoming Palin’s spokesman, said Scharlott is trying to connect two things that have nothing to do with each other.
In his research, Scharlott indicates that Palin may have hired McAllister because he caught on to the pregnancy hoax rumor, but McAllister maintains he never knew anything of the rumor until she announced her vice-presidential bid.
After sending his research to McAllister, Scharlott said he was not expecting what came next.
“If we ever meet, I’ll slap you,” McAllister wrote in an email to Scharlott on April 5. “In a different era, I’d challenge you to a duel.”
McAlliser’s email continued, calling Scharlott a “scoundrel” and “despicable.” He then forwarded his response to Scharlott to five other members of the Communications Department, with the subject line “Brad Scharlott disgraces your university.”
“He should be fired, frankly,” McAllister said. “I can’t believe [the] university is going to let some idiot present a paper [like this.]”
McAllister is quick to point out, both in his emails and over the phone, that he is, in no way, speaking on behalf of the Alaska Department of Law, but as “someone who is demeaned and lied about in this paper.” Emails obtained by The Northerner were sent to and from his personal email account, and he said he spoke to reporters on his lunch break.
“I had never even heard a rumor [about this] until she was chosen by McCain, then that weekend all kinds of shit came out that no one had heard before,” McAllister said. “[Scharlott’s research] defames me and I’m just not having it.”
McAllister said that after he sent the emails to other members of NKU’s communication department, Scharlott responded to him again, this time telling McAllister that he “made a deal with the devil.”
“That blows any pretense that he’s objective or fair,” McAllister said. “It proves it is not academic rigor but vitriol.”
McAllister said he found many factual errors in the paper when he read it, such as incorrect call letters to TV stations, and facts taken out of context.
“He doesn’t come out and say it, but he is implying there is some link between the story about Trig [Paxton Van Palin] and my being hired by her,” McAllister said. “The two things have nothing to do with her. She hired me because I was the best known politics reporter in the state of Alaska.”
McAllister said he denied the charges on behalf of Palin because he was her spokesman, not because he had any role in a pregnancy hoax. He said the only part he played during Palin’s pregnancy was that of a reporter.
“Aside from interviewing her in her office when she came back to work, I had nothing to do with it,” McAllister said. “I had nothing to do with her personal life.”
Scharlott said McAllister should have responded to the research in a different way.
“If I were him, I would have tried to have been cool and calm and try to explain away in a cool and calm way what ever seemed to indicate that he was part of the hoax,” Scharlott said. “He was wildly swinging out trying to make me look bad any way he could, but he didn’t really think through what he was doing really well, or he doesn’t really understand what universities are about.”
McAllister said he normally would not have bothered responding to Scharlott, saying there are “nuts all over.”
“But he implicated me in it, and i’m just not going to stand for that,” McAllister said. “I worked in journalism for 30 years, and I have a reputation for honesty, and I’m not going to have it besmirched.”
Scharlott said he first became interested in the pregnancy hoax rumor after Palin was nominated as a vice-presidential candidate, and said he was fascinated that no one from McCain’s camp chose to rebut the rumor.
In his paper, Scharlott says that the “oddness of the McCain’s campaign response to the fake birth rumors should have caused reporters, ostensibly skeptical by training and nature, to wonder if something was amiss.”
Scharlott asserts that this topic is relevant because Palin is still saying she may decide to run in the upcoming presidential election, “because if Palin has lied about the pregnancy, it says a lot about her character, her fitness for the presidency, and maybe even her mental health.”
But McAllister continues defend himself from allegations of a hoax.
“The burden of proof ought to be on him,” McAllister said. “He said I attempted to pull a hoax on the American Public. He should have to prove that.”
Scharlott defended his research, saying he did not explicitly accuse anyone of being involved in a hoax.
“I’m saying its possible, maybe even likely, there has been a hoax, but I am not saying its proved.” Scharlott said. “The ball is in their court to provide some proof.”
McAllister is leaving his position after this week to go back into journalism, and he said his departure from the Attorney General’s office has nothing to do with Scharlott’s research. McAllister said he was not aware of Scharlott’s research until Monday, the day after the Anchorage Daily News leaked that he is leaving the Attorney General’s office.
Scharlott has submitted his research for publication and to present it at an academic event, but it has not yet been accepted.
Former Palin spokesman Bill McAllister's response in the Alaska Dispatch to the Professor's paper:
Associate professor Scharlott -- whose name aptly combines “charlatan” and “harlot,” both phonetically and symbolically -- compares himself to an investigative reporter but demonstrates none of the tenets of responsible journalism.
For example, he “buried the lead.” You have to read several paragraphs into his diatribe before you discover that the reason for my response to him was not the seemingly ludicrous premise of his “paper” -- that Trig Palin is not really his mother’s child -- but his cavalier attempt to draw me into a controversy that doesn’t concern me except in the most tangential way.
On Saturday morning, Sept. 12, 2009, I narrowly escaped death due to complications from a cancer that had been diagnosed 11 months previously. I have an incurable condition that, thankfully, is at the moment under control. But I do not know if I will get to live a normal lifespan for an American man of my generation.
It is in this context that I have adopted a “zero tolerance” policy for lies about my character. The charlatan associate professor suggests that I should have responded to his completely unsubstantiated innuendo with some helpful comment or diplomatic riposte.
No chance. At this stage of life, I’m not going to sit still when anyone alleges that I was part of an unprecedented hoax perpetrated on the American people. That’s calling me a liar. That’s calling me a conspirator. That basically says that a record of 30 years of quality journalism should be chucked into the trash because of a fleeting association with Sarah Palin.
The harlot takes at face value and very seriously my comments about slapping and a duel. That’s fine. I just think it would be incumbent upon him, then, to take every other part of my email just as seriously: That he has no reason and no proof to cast aspersions on me in regard to the Trig controversy. That to treat me as collateral damage for his ideologically inspired slash-and-burn campaign against Sarah Palin is immoral.
Let’s review the facts. On the 6 p.m. broadcast of Channel 2 News on March 5, 2008, I announced to Alaskans that the governor revealed she was in the seventh month of pregnancy. The governor shared this information with me and two other reporters just under 30 minutes before the newscast.
When the birth of Trig was announced on Friday, April 18, 2008, I was in Anchorage -- not at the valley hospital -- sitting in at an Alaska Press Club panel discussion on the presidential race, with, among others, syndicated columnist Leonard Pitts Jr. There was no conversation -- at least that I was a part of that weekend -- that included any speculation that the child was not really the governor’s.
The following Monday, when Gov. Palin returned to work, I interviewed her in her Anchorage office about, among other things, the fact that she was only the second sitting governor in U.S. history to give birth.
And that is the extent to which, as a news reporter, I had any significant involvement with the story of Gov. Palin’s pregnancy and delivery.
Mr. Charlatan, for no reason other than the fact that I was later hired by Gov. Palin, insinuates that I ignored evidence of a pregnancy hoax. But he provides no names, dates or means of communication demonstrating that I was told about such a hoax. He does not cite other reporters who were told of the alleged hoax. He does not provide any trail of evidence that a reporter should have followed up on.
The truth is I never heard of this rumor until the governor was picked by McCain for the ticket. Try to find one person who says otherwise, that they told me about it. You can’t.
And then, yes, she denied it, and as I was by then working for her, I denied it on her behalf. I certainly had no reason to believe it was true, so there was no crisis of conscience involved.
Ah, but the harlot asks, what about the photos taken on the second floor of the Capitol on April 13, the final day of the regular legislative session. Well, what about them? The KTUU and KTVA news crews interviewed Gov. Palin about her thoughts on the close of the session. What’s unusual about that? The camera was not mine, but I agreed to pose in one of the shots, which shows a seemingly very pregnant governor. How did they get on the web later? I have no idea. I was never in possession of the photos or the camera they were taken on. KTVA reporter Andrea Gusty later did a news story on the conspiracy theory involving the photos.
She is a better person to address this than me.
What does the associate professor think I should have done? Asked for permission to feel the governor’s stomach? Question her aggressively about the progression of her pregnancy and the timing? Why? What reason existed on April 13, 2008, to do anything of the sort? I was reporting on politics, not gynecology.
Unfortunately, Palin’s polarizing national persona has created an incredibly toxic environment in which it is not considered enough to attack her. It is also necessary, at any cost, to destroy anyone who ever said a nice word about her.
After going on three years of this horrendous behavior by supposedly reputable people, it is fair to say my patience has long past worn out. I am not paid to speak for Sarah Palin anymore, and I don’t feel I have to be the one to defend her against the dozens of bogus allegations that have been leveled. But at the same time, I am not going to let it be said in my obituary -- however soon that might be written -- that I allowed unsavory, unethical political opponents of hers to shred a reputation I have built up over decades, winning numerous state, regional and national journalism awards in the process.
Believe whatever you want. But keep me out of your fantasy. Or there will be a response.
And Professor Scharlott's response to Bill McAllister in the Alaska Dispatch here:
Sarah Palin’s former press secretary Bill McAllister wrote this to me last Tuesday night. “If we ever meet, I'll slap you. In a different era, I'd challenge you to a duel.”
And Mr. McAllister, not satisfied with sharing those thoughts with me alone, put them in emails under the heading "Brad Scharlott disgraces your university" that went to many of my colleagues at NKU.
Here’s the background.
I’ve written a research paper with the title “Palin, the Press, and the Fake Pregnancy Rumor: Did a Spiral of Silence Shut Down the Story?” I have submitted that paper to the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, with the hope of presenting it at the group’s fall meeting. (Papers go through a judging process.)
And, because he appears in that paper, I sent a copy of it to Mr. McAllister, asking if he had any reaction.
(McAllister served as Palin’s director of communications from mid-2008 to mid-2009.)
Ever since August of 2008, I have been fascinated by how the U.S. press reacted to the rumor that Palin did not truly give birth to Trig, reportedly born in April 2008, just as I have been fascinated by the claim that Obama was not born in the United States. Both rumors arose around the same time in 2008 (the Palin rumor started in Alaska), but they have had different histories.
The Obama fake-birth-certificate idea (and variants of that) have had no problem getting into the press -- hundreds of stories about whether he is truly qualified to be president have appeared in the nation’s newspapers since the start of 2008, based on a search in the Newspaper Index database.
By contrast, the idea that Palin may have staged a hoax concerning the birth of Trig has essentially become taboo in mainstream media, with only a few stories in the Anchorage Daily News treating the question in a serious way.
Eric Boehlert summarized the situation nicely last July when he wrote in Media Matters for America that “back in 2008, 99 percent of people in ‘the media’ did the right thing and ignored the Trig nonsense.” And Newspaper Index shows the same has been true since then.
Why the enormous difference in rumor coverage? In my paper, I suggest that the “spiral of silence” phenomenon came into play with the hoax rumor about Palin but not the one about Obama.
In a nutshell, a spiral of silence takes place when people perceive an idea they hold is outside of what most people seem to think and therefore censor themselves, to avoid disapproval or ridicule. And the more such people censor themselves, the more outside the mainstream the minority idea becomes, until the idea is virtually extinguished from the mainstream, at least as represented in the mass media.
A spiral of silence would seem to explain the virtual taboo in mainstream U.S. media relating to the Trig hoax rumor -- even though many Americans privately question Palin's birth story. Prominent British author Christopher Hitchens, writing from Washington, D.C, last year, observed in the Spectator, a British publication: “An astonishing number of well-informed people tell me that Sarah Palin is not in fact the mother of baby Trig, but that she is ‘covering up’ for another family member whose child he really is.”
By contrast, various factors -- such as the aggressiveness of “truthers” and the helpfulness of conservative politicians in, say, proposing legislation relating to birth certificates -- have kept the Obama rumor front and center in the nation’s media.
To make the case in my paper that the media should have paid more attention to the Trig hoax rumor, I pointed out that when the rumor first appeared in nationally prominent blog sites Palin offered no documentary evidence, such as a birth certificate, to prove her maternity.
Instead, she revealed to the world that Bristol was then pregnant, which was supposed to prove that Sarah must be Trig’s mother, given when Trig was reportedly born. But of course, if there had been a hoax, then Trig’s actual birth date is unknown.
One thing that greatly helped the McCain campaign squelch the hoax rumor was the mysterious appearance on the internet, right after the hoax rumor broke nationally, of two photos showing Palin looking very pregnant, much more so than in any other publicly available photos. (The poster of the photos was never identified.)
I
ndeed, during the previous spring, reporters for the Anchorage Daily News variously wrote that Palin “simply does not look pregnant” (at seven months) and that she “did not get big with this pregnancy” (after she reportedly gave birth). Published pictures from the spring support the reporters' observations.
One of those two mystery photos, taken on April 13, shows Palin being interviewed by a TV reporter. The other picture shows her standing next to TV newsman Bill McAllister, who, I wrote in my paper, “coincidentally would become her director of communications three months later.” (In early April, a Daily News columnist wrote that McAllister was preparing to leave KTUU, and bloggers later wondered if he had been negotiating a job with the Palin administration while still covering it.)
The fact that I italicized “coincidentally” is what sparked McAllister’s seeming outrage.
He wrote: “The italicized word ‘coincidentally’ … makes you a scoundrel …”
And he continued: “I can tell you that I never even heard of the fake pregnancy rumor until the VP selection.
Let me repeat that: As the most connected politics reporter in the state for years, I NEVER EVEN HEARD OF IT!!!!”
However, on August 31, the day McCain selected Palin, Anchorage Daily News reporter Kyle Hopkins wrote that the fake pregnancy rumor was “long simmering in Alaska.”
The day before that, a Daily News reporter had asked McAllister if Bristol was pregnant. He replied: “I don't know. I have no evidence that Bristol's pregnant.” Two days later, the McCain campaign said Bristol was five months pregnant.
What McAllister is trying to do now to me is what I write about in my paper -- a clear attempt to kill any discussion of what happened in April 2008. He could have responded to my paper by explaining the circumstances surrounding the mysterious picture he appears in next to Palin, such as who took the picture and why. Instead, he practically threatens violence against me. Let me implore him here to explain what he knows about those two mysterious pictures and how they got on the internet.
McAllister is covering Palin's ass. Why would he have such an angry response?
Updated April 8, 2011 to include a copy of Professor Scharlott’s paper)
A Northern Kentucky University professor’s research about how the news media handled rumors of a pregnancy hoax by former vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin has gotten a spirited response from her former spokesman.
In his paper “Palin, the Press, and the Fake Pregnancy Rumor,” associate journalism professor Brad Scharlott explores how the press handled the rumor that Trig Palin may not actually be the son of Sarah Palin, asserting that there was enough evidence of a pregnancy hoax to warrant asking more questions.
“[There’s] a theory out of mass communications that ideas not in the mainstream can be squeezed out of the public sphere entirely,” Scharlott said. “I think that’s what happened with the idea that Palin may have faked the pregnancy and now, while some people may privately speak about it, no one in America wants to be quoted about it.”
Once Scharlott completed his research, he said he submitted a copy to Bill McAllister, who is currently the communications director for the Alaska Department of Law and had previously served as the communications director for Sarah Palin during her vice-presidential bid in 2008.
“[In the paper,] I suggest that he was in fact, possibly, involved in a hoax,” Scharlott said.
“In the spirit of fairness, I thought he should get a copy. That’s what journalists normally do.”
But McAllister, who was a reporter before becoming Palin’s spokesman, said Scharlott is trying to connect two things that have nothing to do with each other.
In his research, Scharlott indicates that Palin may have hired McAllister because he caught on to the pregnancy hoax rumor, but McAllister maintains he never knew anything of the rumor until she announced her vice-presidential bid.
After sending his research to McAllister, Scharlott said he was not expecting what came next.
“If we ever meet, I’ll slap you,” McAllister wrote in an email to Scharlott on April 5. “In a different era, I’d challenge you to a duel.”
McAlliser’s email continued, calling Scharlott a “scoundrel” and “despicable.” He then forwarded his response to Scharlott to five other members of the Communications Department, with the subject line “Brad Scharlott disgraces your university.”
“He should be fired, frankly,” McAllister said. “I can’t believe [the] university is going to let some idiot present a paper [like this.]”
McAllister is quick to point out, both in his emails and over the phone, that he is, in no way, speaking on behalf of the Alaska Department of Law, but as “someone who is demeaned and lied about in this paper.” Emails obtained by The Northerner were sent to and from his personal email account, and he said he spoke to reporters on his lunch break.
“I had never even heard a rumor [about this] until she was chosen by McCain, then that weekend all kinds of shit came out that no one had heard before,” McAllister said. “[Scharlott’s research] defames me and I’m just not having it.”
McAllister said that after he sent the emails to other members of NKU’s communication department, Scharlott responded to him again, this time telling McAllister that he “made a deal with the devil.”
“That blows any pretense that he’s objective or fair,” McAllister said. “It proves it is not academic rigor but vitriol.”
McAllister said he found many factual errors in the paper when he read it, such as incorrect call letters to TV stations, and facts taken out of context.
“He doesn’t come out and say it, but he is implying there is some link between the story about Trig [Paxton Van Palin] and my being hired by her,” McAllister said. “The two things have nothing to do with her. She hired me because I was the best known politics reporter in the state of Alaska.”
McAllister said he denied the charges on behalf of Palin because he was her spokesman, not because he had any role in a pregnancy hoax. He said the only part he played during Palin’s pregnancy was that of a reporter.
“Aside from interviewing her in her office when she came back to work, I had nothing to do with it,” McAllister said. “I had nothing to do with her personal life.”
Scharlott said McAllister should have responded to the research in a different way.
“If I were him, I would have tried to have been cool and calm and try to explain away in a cool and calm way what ever seemed to indicate that he was part of the hoax,” Scharlott said. “He was wildly swinging out trying to make me look bad any way he could, but he didn’t really think through what he was doing really well, or he doesn’t really understand what universities are about.”
McAllister said he normally would not have bothered responding to Scharlott, saying there are “nuts all over.”
“But he implicated me in it, and i’m just not going to stand for that,” McAllister said. “I worked in journalism for 30 years, and I have a reputation for honesty, and I’m not going to have it besmirched.”
Scharlott said he first became interested in the pregnancy hoax rumor after Palin was nominated as a vice-presidential candidate, and said he was fascinated that no one from McCain’s camp chose to rebut the rumor.
In his paper, Scharlott says that the “oddness of the McCain’s campaign response to the fake birth rumors should have caused reporters, ostensibly skeptical by training and nature, to wonder if something was amiss.”
Scharlott asserts that this topic is relevant because Palin is still saying she may decide to run in the upcoming presidential election, “because if Palin has lied about the pregnancy, it says a lot about her character, her fitness for the presidency, and maybe even her mental health.”
But McAllister continues defend himself from allegations of a hoax.
“The burden of proof ought to be on him,” McAllister said. “He said I attempted to pull a hoax on the American Public. He should have to prove that.”
Scharlott defended his research, saying he did not explicitly accuse anyone of being involved in a hoax.
“I’m saying its possible, maybe even likely, there has been a hoax, but I am not saying its proved.” Scharlott said. “The ball is in their court to provide some proof.”
McAllister is leaving his position after this week to go back into journalism, and he said his departure from the Attorney General’s office has nothing to do with Scharlott’s research. McAllister said he was not aware of Scharlott’s research until Monday, the day after the Anchorage Daily News leaked that he is leaving the Attorney General’s office.
Scharlott has submitted his research for publication and to present it at an academic event, but it has not yet been accepted.
Former Palin spokesman Bill McAllister's response in the Alaska Dispatch to the Professor's paper:
Associate professor Scharlott -- whose name aptly combines “charlatan” and “harlot,” both phonetically and symbolically -- compares himself to an investigative reporter but demonstrates none of the tenets of responsible journalism.
For example, he “buried the lead.” You have to read several paragraphs into his diatribe before you discover that the reason for my response to him was not the seemingly ludicrous premise of his “paper” -- that Trig Palin is not really his mother’s child -- but his cavalier attempt to draw me into a controversy that doesn’t concern me except in the most tangential way.
On Saturday morning, Sept. 12, 2009, I narrowly escaped death due to complications from a cancer that had been diagnosed 11 months previously. I have an incurable condition that, thankfully, is at the moment under control. But I do not know if I will get to live a normal lifespan for an American man of my generation.
It is in this context that I have adopted a “zero tolerance” policy for lies about my character. The charlatan associate professor suggests that I should have responded to his completely unsubstantiated innuendo with some helpful comment or diplomatic riposte.
No chance. At this stage of life, I’m not going to sit still when anyone alleges that I was part of an unprecedented hoax perpetrated on the American people. That’s calling me a liar. That’s calling me a conspirator. That basically says that a record of 30 years of quality journalism should be chucked into the trash because of a fleeting association with Sarah Palin.
The harlot takes at face value and very seriously my comments about slapping and a duel. That’s fine. I just think it would be incumbent upon him, then, to take every other part of my email just as seriously: That he has no reason and no proof to cast aspersions on me in regard to the Trig controversy. That to treat me as collateral damage for his ideologically inspired slash-and-burn campaign against Sarah Palin is immoral.
Let’s review the facts. On the 6 p.m. broadcast of Channel 2 News on March 5, 2008, I announced to Alaskans that the governor revealed she was in the seventh month of pregnancy. The governor shared this information with me and two other reporters just under 30 minutes before the newscast.
When the birth of Trig was announced on Friday, April 18, 2008, I was in Anchorage -- not at the valley hospital -- sitting in at an Alaska Press Club panel discussion on the presidential race, with, among others, syndicated columnist Leonard Pitts Jr. There was no conversation -- at least that I was a part of that weekend -- that included any speculation that the child was not really the governor’s.
The following Monday, when Gov. Palin returned to work, I interviewed her in her Anchorage office about, among other things, the fact that she was only the second sitting governor in U.S. history to give birth.
And that is the extent to which, as a news reporter, I had any significant involvement with the story of Gov. Palin’s pregnancy and delivery.
Mr. Charlatan, for no reason other than the fact that I was later hired by Gov. Palin, insinuates that I ignored evidence of a pregnancy hoax. But he provides no names, dates or means of communication demonstrating that I was told about such a hoax. He does not cite other reporters who were told of the alleged hoax. He does not provide any trail of evidence that a reporter should have followed up on.
The truth is I never heard of this rumor until the governor was picked by McCain for the ticket. Try to find one person who says otherwise, that they told me about it. You can’t.
And then, yes, she denied it, and as I was by then working for her, I denied it on her behalf. I certainly had no reason to believe it was true, so there was no crisis of conscience involved.
Ah, but the harlot asks, what about the photos taken on the second floor of the Capitol on April 13, the final day of the regular legislative session. Well, what about them? The KTUU and KTVA news crews interviewed Gov. Palin about her thoughts on the close of the session. What’s unusual about that? The camera was not mine, but I agreed to pose in one of the shots, which shows a seemingly very pregnant governor. How did they get on the web later? I have no idea. I was never in possession of the photos or the camera they were taken on. KTVA reporter Andrea Gusty later did a news story on the conspiracy theory involving the photos.
She is a better person to address this than me.
What does the associate professor think I should have done? Asked for permission to feel the governor’s stomach? Question her aggressively about the progression of her pregnancy and the timing? Why? What reason existed on April 13, 2008, to do anything of the sort? I was reporting on politics, not gynecology.
Unfortunately, Palin’s polarizing national persona has created an incredibly toxic environment in which it is not considered enough to attack her. It is also necessary, at any cost, to destroy anyone who ever said a nice word about her.
After going on three years of this horrendous behavior by supposedly reputable people, it is fair to say my patience has long past worn out. I am not paid to speak for Sarah Palin anymore, and I don’t feel I have to be the one to defend her against the dozens of bogus allegations that have been leveled. But at the same time, I am not going to let it be said in my obituary -- however soon that might be written -- that I allowed unsavory, unethical political opponents of hers to shred a reputation I have built up over decades, winning numerous state, regional and national journalism awards in the process.
Believe whatever you want. But keep me out of your fantasy. Or there will be a response.
And Professor Scharlott's response to Bill McAllister in the Alaska Dispatch here:
Sarah Palin’s former press secretary Bill McAllister wrote this to me last Tuesday night. “If we ever meet, I'll slap you. In a different era, I'd challenge you to a duel.”
And Mr. McAllister, not satisfied with sharing those thoughts with me alone, put them in emails under the heading "Brad Scharlott disgraces your university" that went to many of my colleagues at NKU.
Here’s the background.
I’ve written a research paper with the title “Palin, the Press, and the Fake Pregnancy Rumor: Did a Spiral of Silence Shut Down the Story?” I have submitted that paper to the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, with the hope of presenting it at the group’s fall meeting. (Papers go through a judging process.)
And, because he appears in that paper, I sent a copy of it to Mr. McAllister, asking if he had any reaction.
(McAllister served as Palin’s director of communications from mid-2008 to mid-2009.)
Ever since August of 2008, I have been fascinated by how the U.S. press reacted to the rumor that Palin did not truly give birth to Trig, reportedly born in April 2008, just as I have been fascinated by the claim that Obama was not born in the United States. Both rumors arose around the same time in 2008 (the Palin rumor started in Alaska), but they have had different histories.
The Obama fake-birth-certificate idea (and variants of that) have had no problem getting into the press -- hundreds of stories about whether he is truly qualified to be president have appeared in the nation’s newspapers since the start of 2008, based on a search in the Newspaper Index database.
By contrast, the idea that Palin may have staged a hoax concerning the birth of Trig has essentially become taboo in mainstream media, with only a few stories in the Anchorage Daily News treating the question in a serious way.
Eric Boehlert summarized the situation nicely last July when he wrote in Media Matters for America that “back in 2008, 99 percent of people in ‘the media’ did the right thing and ignored the Trig nonsense.” And Newspaper Index shows the same has been true since then.
Why the enormous difference in rumor coverage? In my paper, I suggest that the “spiral of silence” phenomenon came into play with the hoax rumor about Palin but not the one about Obama.
In a nutshell, a spiral of silence takes place when people perceive an idea they hold is outside of what most people seem to think and therefore censor themselves, to avoid disapproval or ridicule. And the more such people censor themselves, the more outside the mainstream the minority idea becomes, until the idea is virtually extinguished from the mainstream, at least as represented in the mass media.
A spiral of silence would seem to explain the virtual taboo in mainstream U.S. media relating to the Trig hoax rumor -- even though many Americans privately question Palin's birth story. Prominent British author Christopher Hitchens, writing from Washington, D.C, last year, observed in the Spectator, a British publication: “An astonishing number of well-informed people tell me that Sarah Palin is not in fact the mother of baby Trig, but that she is ‘covering up’ for another family member whose child he really is.”
By contrast, various factors -- such as the aggressiveness of “truthers” and the helpfulness of conservative politicians in, say, proposing legislation relating to birth certificates -- have kept the Obama rumor front and center in the nation’s media.
To make the case in my paper that the media should have paid more attention to the Trig hoax rumor, I pointed out that when the rumor first appeared in nationally prominent blog sites Palin offered no documentary evidence, such as a birth certificate, to prove her maternity.
Instead, she revealed to the world that Bristol was then pregnant, which was supposed to prove that Sarah must be Trig’s mother, given when Trig was reportedly born. But of course, if there had been a hoax, then Trig’s actual birth date is unknown.
One thing that greatly helped the McCain campaign squelch the hoax rumor was the mysterious appearance on the internet, right after the hoax rumor broke nationally, of two photos showing Palin looking very pregnant, much more so than in any other publicly available photos. (The poster of the photos was never identified.)
I
ndeed, during the previous spring, reporters for the Anchorage Daily News variously wrote that Palin “simply does not look pregnant” (at seven months) and that she “did not get big with this pregnancy” (after she reportedly gave birth). Published pictures from the spring support the reporters' observations.
One of those two mystery photos, taken on April 13, shows Palin being interviewed by a TV reporter. The other picture shows her standing next to TV newsman Bill McAllister, who, I wrote in my paper, “coincidentally would become her director of communications three months later.” (In early April, a Daily News columnist wrote that McAllister was preparing to leave KTUU, and bloggers later wondered if he had been negotiating a job with the Palin administration while still covering it.)
The fact that I italicized “coincidentally” is what sparked McAllister’s seeming outrage.
He wrote: “The italicized word ‘coincidentally’ … makes you a scoundrel …”
And he continued: “I can tell you that I never even heard of the fake pregnancy rumor until the VP selection.
Let me repeat that: As the most connected politics reporter in the state for years, I NEVER EVEN HEARD OF IT!!!!”
However, on August 31, the day McCain selected Palin, Anchorage Daily News reporter Kyle Hopkins wrote that the fake pregnancy rumor was “long simmering in Alaska.”
The day before that, a Daily News reporter had asked McAllister if Bristol was pregnant. He replied: “I don't know. I have no evidence that Bristol's pregnant.” Two days later, the McCain campaign said Bristol was five months pregnant.
What McAllister is trying to do now to me is what I write about in my paper -- a clear attempt to kill any discussion of what happened in April 2008. He could have responded to my paper by explaining the circumstances surrounding the mysterious picture he appears in next to Palin, such as who took the picture and why. Instead, he practically threatens violence against me. Let me implore him here to explain what he knows about those two mysterious pictures and how they got on the internet.
McAllister is covering Palin's ass. Why would he have such an angry response?
Reason #50 not to vote for Sarah Palin for anything
She endorsed Saxby Chambliss, Senator from Georgia
Like Sarah, he is anti-choice, he got a 100% approval rating from the National Right to Life Committe. He is anti-education, the NEA gave him an F. The League of Conservation Voters gave him a 0. AFL-CIO he got an 11% He did return campaign contributions he recieved from disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramhoff.
On November 19, 2001 he made the following comment:homeland security would be improved by turning the sheriff loose to "arrest every Muslim that crosses the state line."
What a guy!
On November 19, 2001 he made the following comment:homeland security would be improved by turning the sheriff loose to "arrest every Muslim that crosses the state line."
What a guy!
Sarah Facebooks and Twitters her ignorance again
Her Facebook message
Yesterday the House passed H.R. 1363, which funds our Department of Defense and our military for the rest of the year at their current levels. It allows for the continuation of current military operations, which is pretty important when you’re fighting three wars. It also funds the government for another week and cuts $12 billion in wasteful spending. So why would the Commander in Chief declare that he will veto this? Why would he play politics at the expense of our troops who are putting everything on the line to protect us? Memo to the President: I doubt the insurgents will stop and wait for a government shutdown to end before resuming actions. You need to fund our troops, sir.
Like me, you might be asking yourself: Why on earth would he threaten to veto funding for the troops? What is his game plan? Basically, he’ll veto military funding because he wants the rest of the government funded too. And by the rest of the government, he means things like Harry Reid’s “Cowboy Poetry.” Essentially, he’s holding military funding hostage to NPR funding. This is a perfect analogy for what is wrong with this entire budget showdown. Our federal government has strayed so far from what is constitutionally mandated that they are blind to the fact that NPR funding is not a constitutional duty. Funding our military at a time of war is!
The House GOP does not want a shut down. They just want legitimate cuts (and I would argue not even enough!). If we can’t agree to cut a billion here and a billion there, we’ll never close this $1.5 trillion deficit.
Let’s look at the numbers. We have a $1.5 trillion deficit this year. We’re paying $200 billion a year on our interest alone. That’s half a billion dollars per day on interest. And our $1.5 trillion deficit means that we’re borrowing $4 billion per day just to keep afloat. So, we pat ourselves on the back if we cut a billion dollars here or a billion there in discretionary spending, as we borrow $4 billion a day and pay half a billion a day in interest. The deficit for the month of February alone was the highest in our history at $223 billion. That’s more than the entire deficit for the year 2007. And there’s no end in sight. We’re not heading towards the iceberg. We’ve already hit it. Now we’re taking on water. We must find a way to get back to harbor to repair our ship of state before it’s too late.
Where is President Obama in all of this? He just doesn’t get it. His 2012 budget was a signal of that. The President’s proposed budget offered higher taxes and higher spending. A budget is supposed to be more than just numbers crunched on a spreadsheet. It’s supposed to be a credible blueprint of a nation’s priorities and direction. The President’s budget was a political document. It was designed not to ruffle any feathers or take any decisive moves to deal with the deficit problem. Instead of cutting spending, he’s moving us in the opposite direction. The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office reported that the White House was not telling the truth when they claimed that their 2012 budget reduces the deficit. It actually increases it. Instead of dealing with the hard realities we face, he just kicked the can down the road. That’s not leadership. That’s politics.
Real leadership means leading by example. It means showing an “all-in” commitment to tackling complex issues and putting in the time and effort to educate the American public. Right now the American people have not been educated about this major challenge we face. Keep in mind that perception often becomes reality, and the perception President Obama has repeatedly given off is that he can’t be bothered to deal with our debt crisis.
This is profoundly unfair to the American people. Throughout our history, we have proven again and again that we are strong enough and wise enough to do the right thing when we are properly informed. We can judge and make the tough choices when we are not spun by the media or the financial class or the political class. We the People can decide – if our leaders level with us honestly.
It’s about time the President step up to the plate and lead responsibly. Our troops who are putting themselves in harm’s way deserve a Commander in Chief who is not AWOL from the debt debate. The American people deserve a president who will take on the tough challenges and understand that funding “Car Talk” is not as crucial as funding our troops at a time of three wars.
2008 seems like such a long time ago, but 2012 is just around the corner. There is a leadership vacuum in the White House right now, but that’s nothing that another good old-fashioned election can’t fix.
And from Twitter (note that she say don't retreat, but nothing about reloading, Gee I wonder why?)
Sarah it is the GOP that is playing politics with this and you know it. They wanted to defund Planned Parenthood which would result in poor women dying and you know it. And no PP does not use federal funding for abortions. That is illegal except in cases of rape, incest, and to save the mothers life. And according to you that is still not acceptable, but having an abortion just because fucking Curtis Menard Jr. got you pregnant is.
Yesterday the House passed H.R. 1363, which funds our Department of Defense and our military for the rest of the year at their current levels. It allows for the continuation of current military operations, which is pretty important when you’re fighting three wars. It also funds the government for another week and cuts $12 billion in wasteful spending. So why would the Commander in Chief declare that he will veto this? Why would he play politics at the expense of our troops who are putting everything on the line to protect us? Memo to the President: I doubt the insurgents will stop and wait for a government shutdown to end before resuming actions. You need to fund our troops, sir.
Like me, you might be asking yourself: Why on earth would he threaten to veto funding for the troops? What is his game plan? Basically, he’ll veto military funding because he wants the rest of the government funded too. And by the rest of the government, he means things like Harry Reid’s “Cowboy Poetry.” Essentially, he’s holding military funding hostage to NPR funding. This is a perfect analogy for what is wrong with this entire budget showdown. Our federal government has strayed so far from what is constitutionally mandated that they are blind to the fact that NPR funding is not a constitutional duty. Funding our military at a time of war is!
The House GOP does not want a shut down. They just want legitimate cuts (and I would argue not even enough!). If we can’t agree to cut a billion here and a billion there, we’ll never close this $1.5 trillion deficit.
Let’s look at the numbers. We have a $1.5 trillion deficit this year. We’re paying $200 billion a year on our interest alone. That’s half a billion dollars per day on interest. And our $1.5 trillion deficit means that we’re borrowing $4 billion per day just to keep afloat. So, we pat ourselves on the back if we cut a billion dollars here or a billion there in discretionary spending, as we borrow $4 billion a day and pay half a billion a day in interest. The deficit for the month of February alone was the highest in our history at $223 billion. That’s more than the entire deficit for the year 2007. And there’s no end in sight. We’re not heading towards the iceberg. We’ve already hit it. Now we’re taking on water. We must find a way to get back to harbor to repair our ship of state before it’s too late.
Where is President Obama in all of this? He just doesn’t get it. His 2012 budget was a signal of that. The President’s proposed budget offered higher taxes and higher spending. A budget is supposed to be more than just numbers crunched on a spreadsheet. It’s supposed to be a credible blueprint of a nation’s priorities and direction. The President’s budget was a political document. It was designed not to ruffle any feathers or take any decisive moves to deal with the deficit problem. Instead of cutting spending, he’s moving us in the opposite direction. The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office reported that the White House was not telling the truth when they claimed that their 2012 budget reduces the deficit. It actually increases it. Instead of dealing with the hard realities we face, he just kicked the can down the road. That’s not leadership. That’s politics.
Real leadership means leading by example. It means showing an “all-in” commitment to tackling complex issues and putting in the time and effort to educate the American public. Right now the American people have not been educated about this major challenge we face. Keep in mind that perception often becomes reality, and the perception President Obama has repeatedly given off is that he can’t be bothered to deal with our debt crisis.
This is profoundly unfair to the American people. Throughout our history, we have proven again and again that we are strong enough and wise enough to do the right thing when we are properly informed. We can judge and make the tough choices when we are not spun by the media or the financial class or the political class. We the People can decide – if our leaders level with us honestly.
It’s about time the President step up to the plate and lead responsibly. Our troops who are putting themselves in harm’s way deserve a Commander in Chief who is not AWOL from the debt debate. The American people deserve a president who will take on the tough challenges and understand that funding “Car Talk” is not as crucial as funding our troops at a time of three wars.
2008 seems like such a long time ago, but 2012 is just around the corner. There is a leadership vacuum in the White House right now, but that’s nothing that another good old-fashioned election can’t fix.
And from Twitter (note that she say don't retreat, but nothing about reloading, Gee I wonder why?)
Sarah it is the GOP that is playing politics with this and you know it. They wanted to defund Planned Parenthood which would result in poor women dying and you know it. And no PP does not use federal funding for abortions. That is illegal except in cases of rape, incest, and to save the mothers life. And according to you that is still not acceptable, but having an abortion just because fucking Curtis Menard Jr. got you pregnant is.
Update-An open letter to John Boehner, the GOP, and the Teabaggers
Update-
I wrote this letter yesterday before the deal went through, but I am leaving it up anyway,
Dear Mr. Speaker,
I am appalled that you would put the American people at jeopardy just because you do not agree with abortion. It is a constitutional right whether you like it or not. Shutting down the government over Planned Parenthood funding is selfish, immoral, unethical, hurftul, and stupid. The economy is still fragile, people are finally starting to find jobs and a government shutdown will hurt it.
Millions of people will be affected by this shutdown. A high school classmate of mine's husband is a federal employee and in the Army Reserve, and she only works part time. No full time paycheck will hurt them considerably. Our military men and women depend on their paychecks to support their families.
I plan on visiting some National Parks this summer for my vacation. Are you still going to shut the government down that long? Private concessioniers like Xanterra make a lot of money in the parks and provide jobs. Shutting the parks down will lead to layoffs.
You Mr. Boehner are selfish. You are willing to jeopardize the economy just to say fuck you to the President and the Democrats. This is the worst Congress I have ever seen. Remember what Newt did in 1996. He shut down the government and as a result Bill Clinton got re-elected.
Why are you listening to a minority group like the Tea Party? They may be vocal but they are also small. The majority of American people DO NOT WANT A GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN. Start listening to them or you will be gone!
I wrote this letter yesterday before the deal went through, but I am leaving it up anyway,
Dear Mr. Speaker,
I am appalled that you would put the American people at jeopardy just because you do not agree with abortion. It is a constitutional right whether you like it or not. Shutting down the government over Planned Parenthood funding is selfish, immoral, unethical, hurftul, and stupid. The economy is still fragile, people are finally starting to find jobs and a government shutdown will hurt it.
Millions of people will be affected by this shutdown. A high school classmate of mine's husband is a federal employee and in the Army Reserve, and she only works part time. No full time paycheck will hurt them considerably. Our military men and women depend on their paychecks to support their families.
I plan on visiting some National Parks this summer for my vacation. Are you still going to shut the government down that long? Private concessioniers like Xanterra make a lot of money in the parks and provide jobs. Shutting the parks down will lead to layoffs.
You Mr. Boehner are selfish. You are willing to jeopardize the economy just to say fuck you to the President and the Democrats. This is the worst Congress I have ever seen. Remember what Newt did in 1996. He shut down the government and as a result Bill Clinton got re-elected.
Why are you listening to a minority group like the Tea Party? They may be vocal but they are also small. The majority of American people DO NOT WANT A GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN. Start listening to them or you will be gone!
Reason #49 not to vote for Sarah Palin for anything
She is completely obsessed with President Barack Obama
In a Runner's World article, she brags about how she could beat him in a race
In a Time magazine article her spokesperson Meg Stapleton claimed there was a White House conspiracy aimed at her led by former Obama Chief of Staff Rahm Emmanuel.
She attacks his manhood by saying he doesn't have the cajones to fight illegal immigration.
She went to Facebook to start a rumor that Obama was setting up "Death Panels"
Palin criticizes him on everything, the Egypt situation, Libya, Gulf Oil Spill cleanup, going on "The View" nuclear weapons, the Underwear bomber, gas prices, Wikileaks, and too many other things here to mention.
She has even attacked First Lady Michelle Obama for encouraging breastfeeding and healthy eating.
Sarah acts like President Obama stole the presidency away from her when it is not true. In fact she was running against Joe Biden for Vice President. She acts like a Jr. High kid who didn't get asked to the dance by the most popular boy in school. Grow up Sarah!
In a Runner's World article, she brags about how she could beat him in a race
In a Time magazine article her spokesperson Meg Stapleton claimed there was a White House conspiracy aimed at her led by former Obama Chief of Staff Rahm Emmanuel.
She attacks his manhood by saying he doesn't have the cajones to fight illegal immigration.
She went to Facebook to start a rumor that Obama was setting up "Death Panels"
Palin criticizes him on everything, the Egypt situation, Libya, Gulf Oil Spill cleanup, going on "The View" nuclear weapons, the Underwear bomber, gas prices, Wikileaks, and too many other things here to mention.
She has even attacked First Lady Michelle Obama for encouraging breastfeeding and healthy eating.
Sarah acts like President Obama stole the presidency away from her when it is not true. In fact she was running against Joe Biden for Vice President. She acts like a Jr. High kid who didn't get asked to the dance by the most popular boy in school. Grow up Sarah!
The Immoral Minority: Todd Palin's love child. Does the National Enquire...
The Immoral Minority: Todd Palin's love child. Does the National Enquire...: "Does the Enquirer have it right? In a word, yes. Which means that, yes there are stories about Todd having fathered a child during his mar..."
According to joe McGinniss-the child in question is in his late teens and the mother is an old girlfriend of Todd's in Dillingham.
According to joe McGinniss-the child in question is in his late teens and the mother is an old girlfriend of Todd's in Dillingham.
Update-Bristol Palin made at least a quarter of a million dollars just for lying on her back and spreading her legs to every Tom, Dick, and Harry (or in her case, every Levi, Johnny, and Ben)
From Think Progress
In 2009, Sarah Palin’s daughter Bristol joined a teen pregnancy prevention nonprofit called the Candie’s Foundation. Today, the Associated Press reported that the Candie’s Foundation released its 2009 tax information, revealing that Bristol was paid a salary of $262,500. But a closer examination of the tax form by ThinkProgress shows that the group disbursed only $35,000 in grants to actual teen pregnancy health and counseling clinics: $25,000 to the Mt. Sinai Adolescent Health Center and $10,000 to the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy. View a screenshot of Bristol’s exorbitant salary below:
View a screenshot of the Candie’s Foundation charitable disbursements below:
Thus, the nonprofit paid Bristol over seven times what it paid to teen pregnancy prevention groups. In addition, the Candie’s Foundation spent $165,000 on advertising, including this spot with Bristol and “The Situation” of MTV’s Jersey Shore:
Notably, Bristol’s Candie’s Foundation group is run by Neil Cole, an executive at the teenage clothing company Iconix Brand Group. Many critics have pointed out that the Candie’s Foundation appears to be geared towards improving the public image of Cole’s company rather than reducing teen pregnancy.
I'LL SAY IT AGAIN, BRISTOL PALIN IS NO ROLE MODEL. EVEN THE SITUATION IS A BETTER ROLE MODEL THAN HER. IF SHE REALLY WANTED TO BE A ROLE MODEL SHE WOULD GO BACK TO SCHOOL, GET A JOB, RAISE TRIPP RIGHT AND WORK HER ASS OFF, BUT SINCE SHE IS A PALIN SHE KNOWS NOTHING ABOUT HARD WORK. I HAVE AN ASSOCIATES DEGREE AND SHE MAKES ALMOST 10 TIMES WHAT I DO, AND SHE DIDN'T EVEN GRADUATE HIGH SCHOOL, SURE THERE ARE PICS OF HER IN A GRADUATION GOWN, BUT THEY COULD BE PHOTOSHOPPED. AND LEVI DESERVES A CUT OF HER EARNING, AFTER ALL HE WAS THE SPERM DONOR, ALLEGEDLY.
I AM ALSO TIPPING THE INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE SO THEY KNOW SHE MADE AT LEAST $262,000 IN 2009.
Update-the Candies Foundation released a statement regarding Bristol.
For ten years, The Candie's Foundation has been working to prevent teen pregnancy by producing and funding celebrity-driven print, television, radio and online public service announcements. Ms. Palin was compensated for her work with the foundation, which included appearing in video and print PSAs, two town hall meetings, and numerous media interviews.
The message of the foundation about teen pregnancy prevention has generated more than ONE BILLION media impressions – tremendous reach for any teen pregnancy prevention campaign. We know that Ms. Palin's work has had a positive effect on teens. In a recent independent national survey of 1,000 teens that compared a Bristol Palin PSA with those of nother national teen pregnancy organization that use non-famous teens, more than twice as many teens (57% vs. 27%) said Bristol's PSA "got my attention", three times as many (41% vs. 11%) said it was "powerful", and more than twice as many (38% vs. 16%) said it was "memorable".
Bristol Palin is one of dozens of celebrities who has worked with the foundation. She has been a courageous and powerful partner to the foundation as we attempt to discourage teen pregnancy.
Research backs up Bristol Palin efforts: PSA has positive effects on teens pregnancy prevention behavior.
More information from the Associated Press:
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Bristol Palin was well worth the $332,500 she was paid to be an ambassador for a foundation aiming to prevent teen pregnancy, the organization's founder said Wednesday.
In her 2009 debut with The Candies Foundation, the unwed mother and daughter of former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was paid $262,500 for 15 to 20 days of work, and another $70,000 for a less amount of work last year.
The money spent has been "an amazing investment," according to foundation founder Neil Cole.
The fact that the 20-year-old Bristol Palin was a teen mother herself shows the problem is a national epidemic, not one limited to inner cities or minorities, Cole said.
Her work advocating abstinence through public service announcements, media interviews and TV and radio spots amounts to more than a billion impressions on people, he said, citing a study conducted by the foundation.
"Someone said in our organization today, Bristol's the gift that keeps on giving," he said.
Palin family attorney John Tiemessen did not immediately return requests for comment Wednesday.
Bristol Palin was 18 when she took the job with the New York-based foundation in 2009, months after giving birth to son, Tripp. She and the boy's father, Levi Johnston, are no longer together.
Her pregnancy was announced days after Sen. John McCain picked her mother to be his Republican vice presidential running mate in 2008.
Bristol Palin told The Associated Press last year she "wasn't prepared at all" for the dramatic changes in her life since giving birth in December 2008.
"It changes literally every aspect of your life, and if girls realized how hard it was to be a teen mom, they would think twice about having sex without the proper education and proper knowledge," she said.
Palin is no longer on the payroll, but she remains a friend of the organization, Cole said.
"She has done incredible work," he said. "She's been bold enough — yes she's been paid for her work — but she's bold enough to get in and talk about it."
Public service announcements by Palin and another celebrity, Jenny McCarthy, are far more effective than those featuring non-celebrities, according to a survey of 1,000 teens commissioned in January by the foundation.
A third of respondents said Palin's message made them consider the consequences of teen pregnancy, compared with 16 percent for non-celebrities. Among those surveyed, 57 percent said Palin got their attention and 41 percent called her message powerful, compared with no more than 28 percent and 11 percent, respectively, for non-celebrities.
The Candie's Foundation is a division of the apparel brand Candie's. Cole said there were 1 million teen pregnancies a year when the foundation first started in 2001, compared with the current rate of 750,000 annually.
Bloggers have criticized the organization for paying Palin more than seven times the $35,000 in grants it issued in 2009 to two organizations that tax documents called "public charities providing services to teenagers at risk." Cole said there is no basis for that criticism.
"That's not what we do for a living," he said. "What we do for a living is create awareness."
So Bristol is no longer on the payroll? Does that mean she really was pregnant and having sex in 2010? She is nothing more than a grifting whore.
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