Palin Smears Debunked

So Long Sarah, But Not Goodbye

With yesterday's McCain-Palin loss, plenty of blame will circulate among Republicans, and plenty of "we knew we were right about her" gloating will ooze from Democrats.

For what it's worth, John McCain's concession speech last night was extraordinary.  Not only was it a fitting close for a noble candidate and a political champion; it was also the official beginning of a new era in American politics -- the Era of Sarah Palin.

For it was Sarah Palin who became the true inspiration of the McCain campaign.  It was Palin who drew the crowds of 15,000 and 30,000 and 40,000.  No other figure in the Republican party could have drawn those crowds.  Her power and popular appeal were so stunning that the mainstream media worked desperately to avoid covering her campaign events.  The detractors will try to say that Palin was a liability, yet the proof of her appeal is right before our eyes.

What does Sarah Palin's future hold?  A Republican party leadership role?  A 2012 presidential candidacy?  Television stardom?  For an extraordinary lady who -- as a working mom -- grew tired of the way things were going in her small town, and ended up taking on the entire political establishment of Alaska and winning, and then went on to face the vile hatred of the political left and their lackies in the mainstream press and again came out standing tall, I say THE SKY IS THE LIMIT.

Will Barack Obama and Joe Biden become the next Jimmy Carter and Walter Mondale?  Maybe.  I pray for my country that they won't, but remember -- the failings Carter made the Reagan presidency possible.  With leaders like Sarah Palin, Bobby Jindal, J. C. Watts, and many others at the state and local levels, the Republicans still have a very bright future.

That future can be ours again.  And Sarah Palin just might be the leader who can secure it for us.

God Bless you Sarah Palin.

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ADDED:  Here are the controversial "tell-all" reports from Newsweek and Fox News that detail some of the McCain staff's alleged problems with Sarah Palin.

ANOTHER UPDATE from ABC News:

Meg Stapleton offers an explanation of some of the more stinging criticisms that have come out in recent days since the McCain-Palin defeat.

Regarding the $150,000 worth of clothing the campaign bought Palin, Stapleton says a New York stylist was given a blank check and told to go and make Palin look presidential.

According to Stapleton, Palin saw a price tag of $3,500 on one outfit and said she didn't want to wear it. Stapleton says Palin was simply presented with her wardrobe and staff.  Palin was told "here's your people, here are your clothes.”

... Regarding another stinging criticism, Stapleton claims that the Fox News report Thursday -- that quoted unnamed sources inside the now defunct McCain campaign, saying Palin didn't know Africa is a continent -- was taken out of context.

Stapleton says that during a briefing session, someone asked Palin to explain the McCain-Palin stance on an issue, and as she was responding, "in the middle, she said, ‘country of Africa’ and somebody instantly wrote it down, and said, 'Oh, my God, she thinks it's a country.'"

But Stapleton insists, "She knows it's a continent. It was just a human mistake, just like Obama saying 57 states. I don't think anyone ever doubted that Obama knows there are 50 states."

Your vote today is the only poll that matters. 
God bless America. 
AND GO MCCAIN-PALIN!

THERE IS NO PROBABLE CAUSE TO BELIEVE PALIN OR ANY OTHER STATE OFFICIAL VIOLATED THE ALASKA EXECUTIVE ETHICS ACT - so says a report released Monday Nov. 3 by Timothy Petumenos, an independent counsel for the Alaska Personnel Board.

This makes sense.  If using one's influence (or failing to reign-in one's spouse) in order to call in favors was really a crime, then virtually every elected official in America would be guilty.

More from the Anchorage Daily News:

Petumenos wrote the Legislature’s special counsel, former state prosecutor Steve Branchflower, used the wrong state law as the basis for his conclusions and also misconstrued the evidence.

Michelle Malkin says, don't look for this news to be "flogged above the fold in tomorrow’s national newspaper front pages."

Yes, but is it art -- A West Hollywood home now features a Halloween display that includes an effigy of Sarah Palin hanging from a noose.  But relax everybody, they're just enjoying "the spirit of Halloween."  Riiiiiiight.

UPDATE: The effigy has since been removed.

Out with the new, in with the old -- Sarah Palin has stopped wearing her expensive wardrobe in favor of items from her own suitcase.  It's ok, it's ok.  She's still smokin'.

On a related note, Michelle Obama claims that she shops J. Crew and gets "good stuff online."  Fine.  Now, if the press cared as much about Michelle Obama as they do Sarah Palin, they would recall some reporters from Alaska and have them go through every archive photo of Michelle Obama and verify that everything she wears comes from J. Crew, Land's End, Eddie Bauer, or other shopping mall-variety mail order outfitters.

ADDED:  A sense of humor, too -- check out Sarah in blue jeans rockin' to Gretchen Wilson's Redneck Woman:

h/t Malkin

Is it really more important to look marvelous than to be marvelous? -- The Republican National Committee must think that looks really are that important, since they have spent around $150,000 on clothing and accessories for Sarah Palin and her family.

Since the money comes from the RNC, which is funded solely by private donations, and not from the McCain Campaign, which receives federal money, such an expenditure is legal.

Even so, such an expenditure might seem extreme.  But you should recall that in 2000, Al Gore paid Naomi Wolf up to $15,000 a month so she could teach him how to be an "alpha male." Her sage advice included, among other things, convincing Gore to wear "earth tones."

No word as of yet how much Michelle Obama's designer outfits are worth, or who paid for them.

Here is Sarah Palin's hilarious appearance on Saturday Night Live this past weekend --

Sarah Palin Appears on SNL Live - Click here for another funny movie.

Both Palin and Alec Baldwin were good sports during this sketch, but sources say that Tina Fey actually refused to speak to Palin during the show.

More here.

Peggy Noonan doesn't "get" Sarah Palin -- Noonan is upset and confounded, because after carefully examining Sarah Palin's words, she can't get a clear picture of Palin's core philosophy, or understand what her basic motivation is.  Sounds like a cross between an Ivy League college lecture and a method acting lesson, doesn't it?  Lori Byrd is upset by Noonan's column:

Sarah Palin has done things Peggy Noonan could not dream of doing in her lifetime and I am not talking about shooting guns and looking hot in a bikini. I am talking about taking on her state's corrupt GOP machine and getting things done in the good 'ole boys' world, whether it be negotiating an oil pipeline or returning tax money to the people of her state. Noonan doesn't even have the stuff it takes to stand up to her MSNBC buddies particularly convincingly. Noonan is a person of words. Big, fancy, impressive words. She just doesn't understand that actions speak louder than words and Sarah Palin is all about action.

Sarah Palin interviewed by Rush Limbaugh -- Read the transcript here.

"OUT OF CONTROL!!" -- that's the new mainstream media narrative describing McCain-Palin supporters.  Jim Treacher notes, "They've taken barely substantiated (if not outright unsubstantiated) reports about a few yahoos at a few rallies and whipped them up into Kristallnacht '08. All while ignoring pesky little details like, I dunno, firebombings and death threats and such from the other side. Is that really a sign of strength? Of confidence in a big, big win this Nov. 4?"

Profane, hate-laced, vitriolic, out-of-control rhetoric against the Bush Administration and Republicans in general has been a staple of the loony Left for the last eight years: 

Only a complete idiot could look at the egregious double standard of reporting employed by the press and fail to immediately see the truth:

Funny that when the President of the United States is burned in effigy.  Or when his [advisers] are depicted as evil in any number of ways. Or conservatives in general are mocked, demonized, routinely referred to as fascists or authoritarian lovers, or mindless robots - or it is even suggested that Bush, Cheney, and conservatives be rounded up and shot - none of this seems to make quite the same impression on our Guardians of Civility in Politics in the press.

This is absolutely shameless. ALL Americans are mad at the moment. But to characterize crowds that attend McCain/Palin rallies as "mobs" by taking something that one or two fools shout out totally out of context is a deliberate attempt to scare undecided and swing voters into rejecting the GOP candidate. It is a despicable tactic and they should be called out on it.

Jim Treacher of course is right.  If the press really thought that Obama had this election in the bag, and that he would win by 7 to 10 percentage points and a 100 electoral vote blowout, then they would not be working so hard to create a completely false and potentially damaging narrative for the sole purpose of derailing the McCain campaign.

So far in this election, the press at large has been totally disinterested in objective reporting, and has chosen instead to shape the national dialog by creating an Obama-friendly narrative that completely omits critical details and over-emphasizes purely trivial ones.

And they wonder why confidence in their work is at an all-time low.

"TROOPERGATE" -- The official state investigation into "Troopergate" has ended.  Here is how the AP summarized the conclusion:

A legislative investigator found that Palin violated state ethics laws and abused her power by trying to have her former brother-in-law fired as a state trooper.

... The inquiry looked into Palin's dismissal of Public Safety Commissioner Walter Monegan, who said he lost his job because he resisted pressure to fire a state trooper involved in a bitter divorce and custody battle with the governor's sister. Palin says Monegan was fired as part of a legitimate budget dispute.

Stephen Branchflower, a retired prosecutor hired to conduct the investigation, said Monegan's firing was lawful. But the pressure Palin and her husband put on him, he said, was not.

The original ethics complaint at the heart of "Troopergate" involved the dismissal of Walt Monegan, a state employee.  Alaska Democrats began circulating the rumor that Governor Palin fired Monegan because she had pressured him to fire Alaska State Trooper Mike Wooten, the ex-husband of Palin's sister Molly, and Monegan refused.

However, the ethics commission hearing was called by Gov. Palin herself, not Walt Monegan or the state Democratic party, because Gov. Palin wished to defend herself publicly against the allegations.  The political end of the investigation was helmed by Alaska State Sen. Hollis French, a long-time friend and political ally of Walt Monegan.  French famously stuck his foot in his mouth a few weeks ago, declaring that the commission's findings could become the "October surprise" for the McCain campaign.  So much for impartiality.

The Commission's report stated that Sarah and Todd Palin's continued pleas to have officer Mike Wooten disciplined or fired constituted a misuse of power by the office of the Governor.  But the commission recommended no criminal investigation (in other words, they found no criminal wrongdoing) and referred the matter to the Alaska Senate, which actually has the power to sanction Palin if it so chooses.

The Wall Street Journal has more, including this statement from the governor's office:

“The so-called ‘Troopergate’ incident began with Governor Palin’s removal of Walt Monegan as commissioner of public safety. Today, investigator Steve Branchflower vindicated the governor by finding that she acted within her constitutional authority to remove ‘at-will’ employees.

“However, along with several members of the Legislative Council, we question how Mr. Branchflower reached the conclusion that Governor Palin abused her power with respect to Trooper Mike Wooten. That finding required speculation and assumptions on Mr. Branchflower’s part and could not be supported solely on the basis of the evidence that he collected. We agree with the comments made that Alaskans should consider the report in total rather than relying solely on the findings.”

Considering that we may be just weeks away from electing the Democratic party's Chicago Political Machine into the White House, this whole affair reeks of triviality to me.

What happened to Charles Gibson? -- Because the cordial, affable, almost likable Gibson-bot that interviewed Barack Obama can IN NO WAY be the cold, adversarial, hostile, condescending preener with his smart glasses perched patronizingly on the end of his nose, who interviewed Sarah Palin just a month ago.  No 'gotcha' questions.  No quotes taken out of context.  Just a nice friendly chat. 

What, you don't believe me?

Brutally Honest wondered when they were going to consummate the relationship.  Heh.

Of all the photos of Sarah Palin out there, Newsweek chose this one -- yet photos like this connect big-time with red state America.

Liberals of course are outraged by such photos.  Snooty LA Times blogger Elizabeth Snead quipped: “Hey, is that even the right way to hold a rifle? Can’t you shoot your foot off like that?”

Knowledgable readers quickly zoomed in for the kill:

Is that a right way to hold a rifle? No. But it is an appropriate way to hold a breech loading shotgun. Which that is. Reporters often wonder how those rural hicks always can spot them. It’s comments like that. It’s ok to wikipedia things. That doesn’t make you a stupid rural hick. In fact, having your facts right might make you seem less of an arrogant, erudite reporter who doesn’t even know what she doesn’t know.

Posted by: ASB | October 08, 2008 at 05:29 PM

...

The longarm appears to be a shotgun and side by side which breaks open. It is not possible to shoot the gun with the action open. Many hunters do carry a shotgun broken open like that over their shoulder.

I suggest before you ask a question if that is the correct way to hold a gun talk to people at a gun shop or range or hunter shop.

Posted by: Tasha | October 08, 2008 at 05:42 PM

Heh.  (h/t Michelle Malkin)

PALIN EMAIL HACKER INDICTED -- he's 20 year old David Kernell, a student at the University of Tennessee and the son of Tennessee state representative Mike Kernell, a Democrat. 

Stupid, stupid, stupid.  Not only have you gotten yourself into a heap of trouble, David, but there is a good chance that you might have sunk your father's political career as well.  And don't look for a lot of sympathy from fellow Tennesseans, many of whom stubbornly cling to their guns and Bibles, or so I hear.

The loonies at Democratic Underground have uncovered proof that Sarah Palin is a racist -- she wears white!  Michelle Malkin says, "You can't parody these people.  You just can't."

Heckler slam-dunked by Palin in Florida:

Palin's comeback could be this year's "Aw, shut up!" (h/t Gateway Pundit)

Camille Paglia on Sarah Palin -- "Palin has made the biggest step forward in reshaping the persona of female authority since Madonna danced her dominatrix way through the shattered puritan barricades of the feminist establishment."  She writes at great length about Palin in her latest Salon piece, and you should read it all.

MSNBC dug up a 20 year old broadcast of Sarah Palin from Anchorage TV -- click here to watch it.

Did someone say "International Experience?" -- Over at the Palin Lipstick Brigade, Amy Proctor has assembled an impressive exposition of Sarah Palin's experience in dealing with international issues:

In the meantime, Sarah Palin in her 2 short years as Governor of Alaska produced hands on results from international relationships with neighboring countries. Her partnerships include Japan, China, Russia, Korea, Canada and dozens of other foreign countries. She has fostered a particularly important relationship with her Pacific neighbors such as Guam, the Philippines and in particular South Korea ... The importance of  Gov. Palin’s emphasis on good relations with South Korea cannot be overstated, particularly with the current instability of North Korea, it’s human rights abuses and ailing leader Kim Jung Il.

Meanwhile, North Korea has openly endorsed Barack Obama.

"Have things really reached the point where ANY criticism of Obama is racist?" -- If you're the Associated Press, the answer apparently is YES. 

By claiming that Democrat Barack Obama is "palling around with terrorists" and doesn't see the U.S. like other Americans, vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin targeted key goals for a faltering campaign.

And though she may have scored a political hit each time, her attack was unsubstantiated and carried a racially tinged subtext that John McCain himself may come to regret. (emphasis added)

For some time now, I've been concerned that Obama worshipers in the mainstream press and the entertainment industry will interpret an electoral victory as a mandate to ham-fistedly bludgeon all critics of Obama as "racists."  This could be very dangerous if it morphs into public law; otherwise, it will wear thin on the American public very quickly, and it could backfire on Obama big-time. 

But accusing Palin of unsubstantiated attacks?  These guys are really grasping at straws.  When the press attempts to direct the nation's dialog with outright lies, we are definitely in trouble.

WizBang's Kim Priestap has a good reaction roundup.