Tuesday 7 September 2010

Palingates Weekly Roundup, August 30 - September 5


Guest post by Blueberry Tart

Hi, ‘Gaters; I’m back after a great break from all things Palin. Many thanks to Regina for covering the Roundup last week. How did I manage to be away on a week with almost 10,000 comments? ;-)


VF Palin Cartoon

This post focuses on Michael Joseph Gross’ excellent article on “Sarah Palin: The Sound and the Fury” in Vanity Fair. Gross spent months in Alaska and on the road attending Palin’s speeches and interviewing those who know her. Despite planning to write a complimentary piece, his research led him to conclude that she is a constant liar and fraud, and extremely vindictive to those who dare question or cross her. The article highlights several stories that Palingates broke, and acknowledges Palingates and other blogs that have done the heavy lifting by investigating Sarah’s many “gates.” Many readers especially liked this small sample of the article: “…anywhere you peel back the skin of Sarah Palin’s life, a sad and moldering strangeness lies beneath.” So true.


McCarthy - Palin 2
"Tail Gunner Joe" and "Mama Grizzly": Liars united

Richard Trumka of the AFL-CIO (“union thug” per Sarah) likened Palinism to McCarthyism and admonished Sarah’s incitement of anger, hatred and violence. His speech to the Alaska AFL-CIO biennial meeting in Anchorage last week was a blunt critique of her hypocrisy, lack of accountability and poisonous rhetoric. Patrick expanded on this theme in an excellent piece on how investigative journalists exposed Joe McCarthy, leading to his downfall. The post highlights how Jack Anderson and Drew Pearson painstakingly investigated and debunked McCarthy’s claim to be a war hero and exposed his shady dealings and corrupt practices. Their work seemed at times to be hopeless, but in the end the truth about McCarthy reached a tipping point and the public turned against McCarthy. Such a point will also be reached for Sarah Palin.


Piper with Sue Loudon's son 2
Piper Palin with Samuel Loudon, the son of Gina Loudon who was mistaken by Michael Gross for Trig

This post reminds us that Sarah and Glenn Beck are going to degrade another important American memory by exploiting the September 11th anniversary. Patrick highlights Glenn Beck’s outrageous comments disparaging the families of 911 victims and those who were trapped in the Superdome during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. He baldly states that he grew to hate some of the 911 families, and that he came to hate the New Orleans victims of Katrina even faster. Wow, that man sure is full of hate (and sh*t)! Picking up on that theme, Dan Fagan’s piece on Sarah Palin, from November 2009, paints an even more unflattering portrait of Sarah than the VF article, commenting from an Alaskan insider point of view about how nasty and vindictive she is, and that she can never let go of any perceived slight.

The post also mentions the Michael Joseph Gross’ confusion about the identity of a boy who was backstage with Piper Palin at an event. The child certainly looks similar to Trig, and it is understandable how Gross could have mistaken his identity, especially as he was with Piper. This does not seem to be such a big mistake to have garnered such a hostile response, unless of course it is a diversionary tactic to distract attention from all the truths in the VF article. In any case, it also begs the question, asked by several readers, whether this case of mistaken identity may be a clue to the different appearing “Trigs” that have been presented to the public at various events.

Comments of the Week:

Molly_WI: In the words of a daughter of hers: "You are SO fake."

Jk (re VF article): This is epic! It validates what we've said about her craziness, nastiness, and hypocrisy and her choppy, mainly poor mothering skills. I'm actually tingling a little bit. Once the cat starts to escape from the bag, other cats will see it's ok and soon follow.

Cacklingrad: The part of this article I found most intriguing is the information about the shadowy organizations that appear, put on one of Sarah's appearances, and then disappear in a puff of smoke. I hope someone is following that trail.

Patrick: Babygate WILL be revealed in the end. Mark my words.

JTme: Oh I think it matters a lot. It helps to strip away that false image she has been doggedly trying to exude from day 1. This is the real $arah Palin. She is nothing like what she pretends to be. If she's lying about all of this, what else is she lying about?

Lisabeth: …I wish people in Wasilla would really start coming forward. The more of them that do it, the safer they all will be. There is strength in numbers.

NJfan: There's a hidden message behind her "impotent and limp" comment, what is she implying? People who speak the "truth" are "impotent and limp" while she has the "balls" to lie compulsively? I tell you she uses "sex" to sell her brand...what a disgusting trashy slut!

Laprofesora: If this is how she talks on the air, can you imagine what she says in private??? Makes the VF story that much more believable.

Nin1963: See what she still doesn't get is that SHE HERSELF is proving the article to be factual when she gets her mean girl on in the interview with Hannity. She can't help it. Its her default programming. And later (re Glenn Beck lie): Nothing say's "restoring honor" like a strategically-placed lie!

Texasgal2009: I think it's telling that there are no threats to sue over this article, just nasty ad hominem attacks on the reporter. Someone commented here recently that it would be interesting to compile a list of subjects that Sarah has threatened to sue over and those that she hasn't. The list could be revealing starting with babygate.

Aview999 and others liked this quote (perhaps to join the Gandhi quote on PG): "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.”
Aview also found this comment, verifying (again) the basic truth of the VF article: "My cousin is the event manager at a very high profile hotel…Sarah Palin…was HORRIBLE to the entire staff, did not tip anyone and had a very big spat of some sort with the hairdresser. Sarah wears a hair piece, obviously, and it caused some sort of commotion. The likes of which my cousin and many staff members have never seen from much more successful celebrities….

Sir Guestalot: Some comments below ask why Palin uses highly sexualized rhetoric, and why she is phallus-obsessed…Palin's followers...depend on her, symbolically, to make them "generative" and "vital." She actively employs sexual energy because she's not an intellectual leader, yet she must renew them. She is political Viagra.

Daisydem: …It has been pointed out before that she uses sexual imagery as well as violent imagery ... this woman is so sick. I really do wonder what her childhood was like.

Mxm: Palin's "impotent, limp, gutless" refrain was intentional… she is sending a dog whistle message. (mxm also had a brilliant, long comment on S. Moore, late Thursday; many ‘Gaters opined as well.)

Smoke & Mirrors: …Anyone arrogant enough to believe they can control and use evil for their own purposes is a fool. Look at the Republicans, they're learning the hard way because Palin is completely wrecking their party. Now liberals want to try and use her too? No, she's a cancer that needs to be cut out now, and anyone standing in the way of that happening, liberal or conservative, is working against the interests of the American people. Later: President Eisenhower, free of McCarthy's political intimidation, quipped to his Cabinet that McCarthyism was now "McCarthywasm."

Marieke02: What a pathetically insecure, mentally-challenged, angry woman whose only real skills are sexuality and vindictiveness.

Aview999 picked this comment, worth repeating from 2008 (from usvegan.wordpress.com)
"Palin fails the required leadership criteria of
1. Favorable temperament (including mood, adaptability, distractibility, and intensity);
2. Experience (in both domestic and foreign policy), ability and willingness to produce rational, ethical, and equitable purpose, policies, and positions;
3. Integrity;
4. Intellect (specifically, deep knowledge and wisdom to perform their required functions), and
5. Physical and mental health.

Silver_desert: Palin is so predictable, ALWAYS playing the victim and lashing out inappropriately whenever she's criticized. The Vanity Fair article discloses some of her personality disorders and while the world reads it, Palin acts on cue showing temperament that makes the article even more believable.

Eye on You: Now if someone called S.P. that in discussion (the female version of her insult) people would be like wah wah that's so horrible. And therein lies the crux of the issue. She can and does say whatever she wants, but when someone does the same to her, she and her bots (as well as the media) allow her to go into full on victim mode and defend her.

Nancydrewed: "Flinterview". We have another award winner. Earlier today I encountered "mooseperanto", describing Palin's native tongue-- coined by "Cocktail Hag" on his always insightful blog. I must say, she does inspire the wordsmiths amongst us.

Cheeriogirl: So if this WASN'T Trig, WHY was he in a baby carriage with Piper attending to him? To give the ILLUSION of something that was NOT true. This does nothing but VALIDATE the Palin's deception in the tale of two, three or more Trigs on parade. And later: While Ms. Loudon states that many people have mistaken her son for Trig Palin, she claims to be horribly offended when Mr. Gross mistook Samuel for Trig, WHILE HE WAS BEING PUSHED IN A BABY CARRIAGE BY PIPER, just off stage at a political event in Independence Missouri where Sarah Palin was the headliner.

Drpatois: @SarahPalinUSA U must b thinking of Todd. Have U seen Michael? I have & U could not B more wrong!!! O maybe U meant Ur Fox friends. Got it.

Forgotmyname: How ironic, yet fitting that a German citizen (Patrick) could play a large part in helping America (and the WORLD) avoid having to bear another fascist psycho.

Silver_desert: Thank you, Patrick. Excellent comparison and another step forward to disclosing the real Sarah Palin. It's scary to know how many attain power by painting a false image of themselves that so many others are eager to believe, never questioning it but always so anxious to help them build that image even greater.

ProChoiceGrandma: Sarah will have a paragraph in history books: 2008 Republican VP Candidate faked pregnancy to gain "family values" credentials, finally exposed by investigative blog "Palingates". Palin's pregnancy hoax was considered far too bizarre that people dismissed it as a "crazy conspiracy theory".

Vilca: Thank you for this excellent article and giving us the opportunity to always learn something new… [tells of how vilca’s parents had to leave the U.S. during McCarthy purges]…what I took from my parents teachings was that we sadly never seem to learn from history, and that this type of witch hunt will repeat itself. And I see this now happening in America, and it is very scary. Even if Palin never runs for 2012, she set a trend for disgarding accountability. A last word : Never forget to VOTE

ThanksABunchJohn: I find it heartening that dogged investigation brought him down, and I know that Palin will go down eventually. But just like McCarthy, how many will suffer before she topples?

Sunnyjane noted how applicable this is to SP: McCarthy was by nature erratic, unruly and contumacious, traits that did not seem to reduce his effectiveness while he kept in constant motion as accuser at large, but which showed him off poorly when pinned down on defense.

Maelewis: …attacking the writer instead of the facts of the article is an ad hominem attack… none of the facts [in VF article] have been contradicted… Think back to the Homer Banner incident. Sarah and her followers attacked the teacher, not what the teacher wrote… Hawk was attacked as a stalker, while Sarah…loves posing for pictures; why react with such hostility and name calling? She used him in order to play the role of victim, while Todd rode to the rescue as the Enforcer… They are abusers.

Jk and others noted: Michael Gross wrote that Sarah Palin doesn't hunt so Bristol has been instructed to mention that her mother is out hunting. Pitiful.

Several readers noted that Bristol’s statement that she missed her prom because she was pregnant does not fit with the Tripp pregnancy, since the proms took place in early-mid April, when she would have just barely have conceived Tripp. It could make perfect sense for the Trig pregnancy, however.

Aha said what others suggested: That's no coincidence people were confused about Trig and Samuel.

I couldn’t resist this from Grasshopper: I heard her first dance will be the one that mommie taught her. The Can-Can. (sorry)

Links of the Week:

Anonymous1253: Beck's addiction therapy on full display at rally

Kellygrrrl: Christian Conservatives As Avatars Of Hate
And Mercede’s interesting post on teen pregnancy in Wasilla.
Another excellent post by Malia Litman.

AKRNC linked to conservative critique of Going Rogue and highlighted an excellent insider comment on Sarah’s true character: Sarah is the single most self absorbed, self-centered, divisive individual I have ever known. I could write page after page after page of the incredible tale that is Sarah Palin; frankly it could be a book. But what unnerves me the most is that evangelical Americans, by and large, don’t get it. They don’t understand that she is a compulsive liar. They don’t get that she demands…worship… She is not to be questioned – not her message or her motives. She is to be worshipped.

Patrick: Who really said “When fascism comes to America, it will come wrapped in the flag and waving a cross”? to which jcinco added: "and be wearing designer glasses."

Patrick found more chilling parallels between Palin/Beck’s rhetoric and Nazism in this article by Joseph Goebbels about Winston Churchill’s “impotent rage,” 1941 and later this article.

He also had a great post early Sat, with many links about Gina Loudon (mother of Trig double)
And linked to GottaLaff on The Political Carnival.

Guest: Palin is everywhere, and going nowhere

Older_Wiser, on Bristol’s brewing DWTS fiasco - and this: Edward R. Murrow was a great journalist McCarthy tried to smear. Here's the Murrow response. Silver Salmon recommended watching the George Clooney film, “Good Night and Good Luck” (which BBT also highly recommends).

Honestyingov had this from Newshounds on Sarah, the media coward.

D lusia: on connections of Karl Rove and Bush family with Nazis.

Mxm: a very thoughtful discussion of the bot mentality

Sleuth: why has the media not mentioned Biden's excellent Iraq speech & "Operation New Dawn"?

Crystalwolfakacaligrl linked to Sarah Jones in politicususa.

Sunnyjane linked to this excellent piece from BlueVirginia which includes a call to boycott Fox News sponsors and later to this on Beck & Palin providing good news for the Taliban.

Palinized noticed a possible dent in the photo of the Palin refrigerator (scroll down): (tough call, but I bet we’ll all be checking photos)

Sparsam linked to an article about Joe McGinniss: "It's just a peculiar thing, but she does, as I found out in May, she presses a button and what comes back is hate," he said. "The people who respond when she complains about something are just so filled with hate. I got some of the ugliest, most vile e-mails directed at me, my grandchildren, my children, my wife — just ugly, ugly stuff."

kathleenpalingates: Tony Blair says that stretching the truth is the commonsense thing for a politician to do if it is for the greater good.

sallyingarland,tx from the Frontiersman: Christian Fundamentalists have lost their war against the gay population. They have lost on every front. Theologically, biblically, psychologically, sociologically AND in the opinion polls.

Guest linked to a poll in NY Daily News on whether Gross’ mistake about the mistaken identification of the Loudon child as Trig is a big deal and to a nice photo of the real Sarah.

Aview999 on Glenn Beck, The Charlatan -and on the Koch Bros. war on President Obama.
.

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