With this post our task is done. And the good news is that this blog achieved its purpose. In some small way,perhaps, our voice was joined with that of many others to show what a disaster it would have been to elevate Palin to a position of national authority. The disaster was averted. Halleluia!
So we end with a video I took at the Obama rally downtown Chicago last night. What a night of joy it was!! (the blog will remain just as a reminder of what might have happened if we hadn't been vigilant).
Before people go to the polls tomorrow morning they're going to read that Sarah Palin has been cleared of any ethics violations in the Troopergate scandal by an Alaskan Personnel Board . This runs counter to an earlier finding by a bi-partisan committee of investigation which did find her guilty of ethics violations. So what does this mean?
It means that the board she wanted to investigate her, once she found out there was good evidence to convict her, has sided with her, a board consisting of people over whom she has control. Surprised? Not if you have followed what has been noted all along in this blog - that this is a controling woman who uses threats and favors to keep people in line.
Here's the story as our favorite Alaskan blogger, AKMuckraker, has it. AK is also clear that this is not over as the trooper is going to file suit, in which case Palin is going to have a much harder time controling the outcome.
The Legislature decides to investigate Palin for ethics violations. Palin says she will cooperate, so no subpoena is issued. Palin sends out Attorney General Talis Colberg to interview witnesses in advance of the Legislature’s investigation, so she knows what they’re going to say. Palin discovers a taped phone call made by her administration pressuring Troopers to fire Wooten. Palin says she is surprised by phone call and concedes it looks bad. Palin files ethics complaint against herself so that the Republican governor appointed Personnel Board, made up of people that she can fire, will be the group that investigates. Palin says Legislative investigation has become partisan and refuses to cooperate. Attorney General tells state employees they don’t need to comply with Legislative subpoenas. They don’t show for depositions. At the last minute they provide written testimony, but Palin still does not cooperate because she was not subpoenaed. Legislature releases report that says Palin abused her power and violated the Executive Ethics Act. Then, the day before the election, The Personnel Board releases a report clearing Palin and all state employees of everything.
My contacts at Alaskans for Truth, who were involved in supporting Walt Monegan in his request for a hearing, are not pleased. This isn’t over by a long shot. It’s unlikely that this grass roots group is going to let Palin skip off into the sunset without a fight.
Stay tuned for updates as they become available. I expect we’ll be hearing from members of the Legislature soon.
This is too good to miss. Listen to Sarah Palin get pranked by Canadian comedians thinking she's talking to the French Premier, NicolasSarkozy. Transcript follows.
She really is clueless . . .
Transcript:
Sarah Palin: This is Sarah.
Masked Avengers: Ah, yeah, Gov. Palin.
Palin: Hello.
Avengers: Just hold on for President Sarkozy, one moment.
P: Oh, it's not him yet, they're saying. I always do that.
A: Yes, hello, Gov. Palin.
P: Hello, this is Sarah, how are you?
A: Fine, and you? This is Nicolas Sarkozy speaking, how are you?
P: Oh, it's so good to hear you. Thank you for calling us.
A: Oh, it's a pleasure.
P: Thank you sir, we have such great respect for you, John McCain and I. We love you and thank you for taking a few minutes to talk to me.
A: I follow your campaigns closely with my special American adviser Johnny Hallyday, you know?
P: Yes, good.
A: Excellent. Are you confident?
P: Very confident and we're thankful that polls are showing that the race is tightening and...
A: Well I know very well that the campaign can be exhausting. How do you feel right now, my dear?
P: I feel so good. I feel like we're in a marathon and at the very end of the marathon you get your second wind and you plow to the finish.
A: You see, I got elected in France because I'm real and you seem to be someone who's real, as well.
P: Yes, yeah. Nico, we so appreciate this opportunity.
A: You know I see you as a president one day, too.
P: Maybe in eight years.
A: Well, I hope for you. You know, we have a lot in common because personally one of my favourite activities is to hunt, too.
P: Oh, very good. We should go hunting together.
A: Exactly, we could try go hunting by helicopter like you did. I never did that. Like we say in French, on pourrait tuer des bebe phoque s, aussi.
P: Well, I think we could have a lot of fun together while we're getting work done. We can kill two birds with one stone that way.
A: I just love killing those animals. Mmm, mmm, take away life, that is so fun. I'd really love to go, so long as we don't bring along Vice-President Cheney.
P: No, I'll be a careful shot, yes.
A: Yes, you know we have a lot in common also, because except from my house I can see Belgium. That's kind of less interesting than you.
P: Well, see, we're right next door to different countries that we all need to be working with, yes.
A: Some people said in the last days and I thought that was mean that you weren't experienced enough in foreign relations and you know that's completely false. That's the thing that I said to my great friend, the prime minister of Canada Stef Carse.
P: Well, he's doing fine, too, and yeah, when you come into a position underestimated it gives you an opportunity to prove the pundits and the critics wrong. You work that much harder.
A: I was wondering because you are so next to him, one of my good friends, the prime minister of Quebec, Mr. Richard Z. Sirois, have you met him recently? Did he come to one of your rallies?
P: I haven't seen him at one of the rallies but it's been great working with the Canadian officials. I know as governor we have a great co-operative effort there as we work on all of our resource-development projects. You know, I look forward to working with you and getting to meet you personally and your beautiful wife. Oh my goodness, you've added a lot of energy to your country with that beautiful family of yours.
A: Thank you very much. You know my wife Carla would love to meet you, even though you know she was a bit jealous that I was supposed to speak to you today.
P: Well, give her a big hug for me.
A: You know my wife is a popular singer and a former top model and she's so hot in bed. She even wrote a song for you.
P: Oh my goodness, I didn't know that.
A: Yes, in French it's called de rouge a levre sur un cochon, or if you prefer in English, Joe the Plumber...it's his life, Joe the Plumber.
P: Maybe she understands some of the unfair criticism but I bet you she is such a hard worker, too, and she realizes you just plow through that criticism.
A: I just want to be sure. That phenomenon Joe the Plumber. That's not your husband, right?
P: That's not my husband but he's a normal American who just works hard and doesn't want government to take his money.
A: Yes, yes, I understand we have the equivalent of Joe the Plumber in France. It's called Marcel, the guy with bread under his armpit.
P: Right, that's what it's all about, the middle class and government needing to work for them. You're a very good example for us here.
A: I see a bit about NBC, even Fox News wasn't an ally as much as usual.
P: Yeah, that's what we're up against.
A: Gov. Palin, I love the documentary they made on your life. You know Hustler's Nailin' Paylin?
P: Ohh, good, thank you, yes.
A: That was really edgy.
P: Well, good.
A: I really loved you and I must say something also, governor, you've been pranked by the Masked Avengers. We are two comedians from Montreal.
P: Ohhh, have we been pranked? And what radio station is this?
A: CKOI in Montreal.
P: In Montreal? Tell me the radio station call letters.
Reason Number One: She is a Divisive, Vindictive Person
Can you believe it? One more day and all of the distortions, bone-headed accusations, mud-slinging nonsense that have been defining characteristics of the McCain/Palin ticket will be over. One more day and we can say "goodby and good riddance" to the most unqualified vice presidential candidate ever to grace a national campaign. The incredible thing is that there are actually people who are beginning to tout Palin for a presidential run in 2012. From where I sit that may be a good thing. It will mean yet another victory for the Democrats.
In our countdown to tomorrow's history-making vote, here's reason number two why Palin is supremely unqualified to serve as VP (much less president! God forbid!):
She is a vindictive, divisive person
A quick glance back at the letter I have put up on this blog more than once from Anne Kilkenny, shows that Palin's vindictive streak has been a defining characteristic of her governing style from day one. In fact, there is evidence that this is what she's been about since high school. Here are just a few things that give credence to this accusation:
She tried to get a small town librarian fired simply because she wouldn't go along with her ideas about what books to stock in the library.
She had a police chief fired because she found him intimidating.
She used her aides and husband to go after her brother-in-law to make sure he got fired. When a police chief failed to follow through she went after him. A bi-partisan committee found in this case clear evidence of abuse of office. She dismissed it as though it was a matter of little account.
Starting at the Republican National Convention she has gleefully twisted the truth about Obama's record, belittled and berated her opponents and gotten crowds fired up with sound byte distortions: "he palls around with terrorists," "he's a socialist" "he's not one of us" so that her campaign rallies have begun to resemble lynch mobs. And through it all she acts as though she is oblivious to the hate she is whipping up.
Watch the following videos and make your own decisions:
Palin Attacks Obama with no real understanding of what he is proposing:
Reason Number Two: What You See is Not What you Get
Only two more days. Can you believe it? I'll be there when history is being made. Yes, I've got tickets. (sound of fireworks going off). Unless the Republicans manage to pull off election fraud on a North Korean level, Barak Obama will be our next president. And I'll be there to help him celebrate.
In the meantime Sarah Palin is still out there pretending she's got what it takes to be a legitimate candidate for national office. She doesn't. Here's another reason why: what you see is not what you get.
* * *
People in Alaska who have watched Palin make her moves since high school speak of the disconnect between the person she appears to be and who she actually is. That's true of many politicians, of course, but with Palin it's almost pathalogical. Here are just a few of the anomolies in her biography:
She has been an active member of two fundamentalist churches. To become mayor of Wasila she played the fundamentalist card to the hilt. Made it a part of her campaign rhetoric - she was out to create a "godly" town. Her run in with the local librarian was connected to this. Tried to get her to remove "questionable" books. When she refused Palin tried to fire her. The only reason she didn't succeed is because towns people protested. She was Mrs. Fundamentalist then. But when she ran for governor, suddenly she was fundamentalist no longer. Why? Because she couldn't get elected with a fundamentalist agenda. Now she declares herself to be a generic Christian. In other words, don't ask, don't tell.
So who is she? Fundamentalist? Or not?
She likes to portray herself as a maverick opposed to the "old boy" network. Yet, those who know her best point out that she has played "old boy" politics to the hilt, firing people she doesn't like and replacing them with people she does, whether they're qualified or not. With Sarah Palin it's an extreme form of political patronage.
So who is she? Maverick politician or Boss Tweed in a skirt?
Palin loves also to portray herself as an opponent of ear marks and socialism. In point of fact she loves both. It's what has made her such a popular governor. Whatever the oild companies or tax payers in the lower 48 can do to help her buy her way into Alaskans' good graces she'll do.
So again, who is she? Maverick cost cutter or hands-in-our-pockets socialist? The later is closer to the truth.
I'll say it again: Sarah Palin is a hypocrite of the highest order. With her you never know what you're getting. Hardly the kind of person we need anywhere near the White House.
Reason Number Three: She Speaks without Understanding
Conservative Wall Street Journal columnist, Peggy Noonan, wanted Palin to succeed. She had hoped that she would be a woman of substance, someone who could be an asset to the McCain ticket. What she discovered after seeing her on a national stage was less substance than symbol, a person who "just says things" without the kind of understanding you would hope for in a candidate for high office.
Noonan represents an interesting phenomenon: conservative columnists, often women, who have become Palin's harshest critics. It's a phenomenon driven by a deep sense of disappointment that of all the highly qualified female candidates McCain could have chosen, he chose a woman of such little substance.
We have seen Mrs. Palin on the national stage for seven weeks now, and there is little sign that she has the tools, the equipment, the knowledge or the philosophical grounding one hopes for, and expects, in a holder of high office. She is a person of great ambition, but the question remains: What is the purpose of the ambition? She wants to rise, but what for? For seven weeks I've listened to her, trying to understand if she is Bushian or Reaganite—a spender, to speak briefly, whose political decisions seem untethered to a political philosophy, and whose foreign policy is shaped by a certain emotionalism, or a conservative whose principles are rooted in philosophy, and whose foreign policy leans more toward what might be called romantic realism, and that is speak truth, know America, be America, move diplomatically, respect public opinion, and move within an awareness and appreciation of reality.
But it's unclear whether she is Bushian or Reaganite. She doesn't think aloud. She just . . . says things.
Her supporters accuse her critics of snobbery: Maybe she's not a big "egghead" but she has brilliant instincts and inner toughness. But what instincts? "I'm Joe Six-Pack"? She does not speak seriously but attempts to excite sensation—"palling around with terrorists." If the Ayers case is a serious issue, treat it seriously. She is not as thoughtful or persuasive as Joe the Plumber, who in an extended cable interview Thursday made a better case for the Republican ticket than the Republican ticket has made. In the past two weeks she has spent her time throwing out tinny lines to crowds she doesn't, really, understand. This is not a leader, this is a follower, and she follows what she imagines is the base, which is in fact a vast and broken-hearted thing whose pain she cannot, actually, imagine. She could reinspire and reinspirit; she chooses merely to excite. She doesn't seem to understand the implications of her own thoughts. . . .
In the end the Palin candidacy is a symptom and expression of a new vulgarization in American politics. It's no good, not for conservatism and not for the country. And yes, it is a mark against John McCain, against his judgment and idealism.
This one is just for fun, but thoughtful at the same time.
Let's start with the facts. Verifiable, undeniable facts. Sarah Palin spent $150,000 on clothing and accessories for herself and her family. No one forced her to do this. She did it because she could.
The question is, what could you do with that money, money that represents more than an average American family would spend on clothes IN 80 YEARS!
Top Six Reasons Why Sarah Palin is Not Qualified for VP
Reason Number 5:She doesn't Know Squat About the Things a VP is Supposed to Know
All we need here is a replay of the Katie Couric interview.
If you didn't see it the first time around, here it is. I warn you, it's painful to watch. I dare bet, in fact, that you can't watch it all the way through without putting your hands on your head or groaning out loud. Can't be done.
This may be the most disturbing video to come out of this election campaign - McCain supporters whipped into a frenzy of hatred. One can only wonder if we would be seeing anything like this if McCain had made a different choice for VP candidate. I don't think so. Sarah Palin has been McCain's attack dog. She has helped the dark side of the American psyche to rise to the top of a bubbling stew of now overt racism. And she's done nothing to tamp it down. McCain hasn't done much about it either as he is now so desperate to get elected that anything goes.
Call this the highlight reel, a chance to go over what we have learned since Sarah Palin made her astonishing appearance on the public stage as John McCain's running mate. We've got six days. Each day I'll put up something we've learned that underscores what was apparent from day one: this woman is not qualified to be vice president much less (God forbid!) president.
THE TOP SIX REASONS WHY SARAH PALIN IS NOT QUALIFIED TO BE VICE PRESIDENT:
Reason Number Six: She abuses power for her own gain
Evidence: Highlights from a letter from woman who has known her since high school.
From Alaska: The Palin Letter
A note to all by Anne Kilkenny Dear friends,
So many people have asked me about what I know about Sarah Palin in the last 2 days that I decided to write something up . . .
Basically, Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton have only 2 things in common: their gender and their good looks. :)
Thanks, Anne
ABOUT SARAH PALIN
I am a resident of Wasilla, Alaska. I have known Sarah since 1992. Everyone here knows Sarah, so it is nothing special to say we are on a first-name basis. Our children have attended the same schools. Her father was my child's favorite substitute teacher. I also am on a first name basis with her parents and mother-in-law. I attended more City Council meetings during her administration than about 99% of the residents of the city.
----- Her experience is as mayor of a city with a population of about 5,000 (at the time), and less than 2 years as governor of a state with about 670,000 residents.
During her mayoral administration most of the actual work of running this small city was turned over to an administrator. She had been pushed to hire this administrator by party power-brokers after she had gotten herself into some trouble over precipitous firings which had given rise to a recall campaign. ---------
While Mayor, City Hall was extensively remodeled and her office redecorated more than once.
These are small numbers, but Wasilla is a very small city. ------------
She’s not very tolerant of divergent opinions or open to outside ideas or compromise. As Mayor, she fought ideas that weren’t generated by her or her staff. Ideas weren’t evaluated on their merits, but on the basis of who proposed them.
While Sarah was Mayor of Wasilla she tried to fire our highly respectedCity Librarian because the Librarian refused to consider removing from the library some books that Sarah wanted removed. City residents rallied to the defense of the City Librarian and against Palin's attempt at out-and-out censorship, so Palin backed down and withdrew her termination letter. People who fought her attempt to oust the Librarian are on her enemies list to this day.
Sarah complained about the “old boy’s club” when she first ran for Mayor, so what did she bring Wasilla? A new set of "old boys". Palin fired most of the experienced staff she inherited. At the City and as Governor she hired or elevated new, inexperienced, obscure people, creating a staff totally dependent on her for their jobs and eternally grateful and fiercely loyal--loyal to the point of abusing their powerto further her personal agenda, as she has acknowledged happened in the case of pressuring the State’s top cop (see below).
As Mayor, Sarah fired Wasilla’s Police Chief because he “intimidated”her, she told the press. As Governor, her recent firing of Alaska's topcop has the ring of familiarity about it. He served at her pleasure and she had every legal right to fire him, but it's pretty clear that an important factor in her decision to fire him was because he wouldn't fire her sister's ex-husband, a State Trooper. --------
She has bitten the hand of every person who extended theirs to her inhelp. The City Council person who personally escorted her around town introducing her to voters when she first ran for Wasilla City Council became one of her first targets when she was later elected Mayor. Sheabruptly fired her loyal City Administrator; even people who didn’tlike the guy were stunned by this ruthlessness.
Fear of retribution has kept all of these people from saying anything publicly about her.
As Mayor, she had her hand stuck out as far as anyone for pork fromSenator Ted Stevens. Lately, she has castigated his pork-barrel politics and publicly humiliated him. She only opposed the “bridge to nowhere” after it became clear that it would be unwise not to.
---------------------
Around Wasilla there are people who went to high school with Sarah. They call her “Sarah Barracuda” because of her unbridled ambition andpredatory ruthlessness. Before she became so powerful, very ugly stories circulated around town about shenanigans she pulled to be made point guard on the high school basketball team. When Sarah'smother-in-law, a highly respected member of the community andexperienced manager, ran for Mayor, Sarah refused to endorse her. -----------------------------
McCain is the oldest person to ever run for President; Sarah will be a heartbeat away from being President.
There has to be literally millions of Americans who are more knowledgeable and experienced than she.
However, there’s a lot of people who have underestimated her and are regretting it.
Of the many endearing traits of Sarah Palin that have been revealed to us in the two months she's been in the public eye, none is less attractive than her penchant for lying. And I'm not just talking about little white lies. I'm talking about the kind of whoppers that deserve a whole bar of soap.
What's most unnerving is how good she is at it; the kind of good that says "red" is "yellow"so convincingly that people actually believe it. She's sure got a lot of Republicans fooled. They not only listen to her lies. They repeat them as though they came straight from the mouth of God.
Her biggest whopper was when she was confronted with this:
For the reasons explained in section IV of this report, I find that Governor Sarah Palin abused her power by violating Alaska Statute 2952.110(a) of the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act. Alaska Statute 2952.110(a) provides
“The legislature reaffirms that each public officer holds office as a public trust, and any effort to benefit a personal or financial interest through official action is a violation of that trust.”
to which she responded with this:
"Well, I'm very very pleased to be cleared of any legal wrongdoing, any hint of any kind of unethical activity there. Very pleased to be cleared of any of that."
Then, confronted with the evidence of her excessive expenditures on clothing and accessories to the tune of 150,000 which broke down like this:
According to financial disclosure records, the accessorizing began in early September and included bills from Saks Fifth Avenue in St. Louis and New York for a combined $49,425.74.
The records also document a couple of big-time shopping trips to Neiman Marcus in Minneapolis, including one $75,062.63 spree in early September.
The RNC also spent $4,716.49 on hair and makeup through September after reporting no such costs in August."
she responds with this:
"It's kind of painful to be criticized for something when all the facts are not out there and are not reported," said Palin, saying the clothes are not worth $150,000 and were bought for the Republican National Convention.
She's also been telling some whoppers about Obama. True, they come mostly from her Republican handlers. But she says them with such relish that you know she's speaking from her heart.
There's the one about Obama being a Marxist (which was convincing enough that a dim-witted local TV reporter fed it back to Biden who was so astonished that he could only say: "Are you kidding?"). And, of course, the one she's been repeating over and over and over again: "He's paling around with terrorists!" (notice the plural). Even McCain found that whopper to be over the top. "Well, you know. Sometimes things get exaggerated in a campaign."
Politicians, we're told, do this kind of thing. They lie. But this is the big leagues; humongous, hit em out of the ballpark lies; all told with such a straight face that some commentators have wondered if she isn't pathological.
The richest part of all this is to hear lying Sarah Palin say that Obama can't be trusted. Not her. Obama. Hecan't be trusted.
Which for some reason brings to mind that old lawyer joke:
It is now clear that Sarah Palin has become radioactive to the McCain ticket. McCain himself continues to defend her, blaming the press for her troubles (as though the New York Times forced her to spend $150,000 on clothes or use her governor's office to fire a police chief). But the evidence is mounting that she has become a huge liability to McCain.
The latest proof of this may be the most damning. According to the Michigan Messenger , former Reagan Justice Department official, Charles Fried, who served on McCain campaign committees, has voted for Obama by absentee ballot. When asked why, he made it clear that Palin was the reason. He couldn't vote for McCain because of Palin.
In perhaps the most significant Republican defection yet, former Reagan Justice Department official Charles Fried, who had previously endorsed McCain and served on committees for the McCain campaign, has announced that he voted absentee ballot for Obama.
Fried also asked that his name be removed from McCain campaign literature. One of the primary reasons: Sarah Palin. From an article in the New Republic:
This week, Fried announced that he has voted for Obama-Biden by absentee ballot. In his letter to Trevor Potter, the General Counsel to the McCain-Palin campaign, he asked that his name be removed from the several campaign-related committees on which he serves. In that letter, he said that chief among the reasons for his decision “is the choice of Sarah Palin at a time of deep national crisis.”
Do you wonder what Europeans think of Palin? Here's one perspective from the UK where the attempt of some to compare her to Margaret Thatcher is dismissed out of hand. So is the idea that there is anything about her that qualifies her for VP. Sarah Palin is, according to this commentator, "the last kind of potential leader America or the rest of the world needs."
Sarah Palin: the Character Question Should Rule Her Out
by Iain Martin
In Christine Toomey's profile of Sarah Palin there is a short passage which gets to the heart of the doubts so many have about the Republican Vice-Presidential candidate.
"There is a high body count of people who have dared to disagree with Sarah Palin, shown a reluctance to do her biddingn her eyes, failed to support her wholeheartedly – among them some who say they too have been hunted, carved up and cast aside along her path to power. These people warn, as do even her closest friends and family, that in Palin’s eyes there are no grey areas, no room for doubt. There is only right or wrong, black or white, “good or evil”. Her father Chuck’s word for it is “stubborn”. One of her friends calls her “dogged”. If Palin believes something to be true, it is – no amount of evidence to the contrary will sway her, and everybody else had better believe it too."
If you like Palin the description makes her sound like Margaret Thatcher, only a little tougher and armed. But that section - "If Palin believes something to be true, it is – no amount of evidence to the contrary will sway her, and everybody else had better believe it too" - is damning.
All the evidence suggests she lacks any curiosity about ideas, others and the outside world. In these dislocated times, of economic crisis and multiple threats on the foreign policy front, that is the last kind of potential leader America or the West needs.
Thatcher, to whom some Republicans want to compare Palin, was intellectually curious, otherwise she would not have made the journey from the fairly bland small c conservatism which she advocated in the 1950s, 1960s and first half of the 1970s. She was open to new thinking. She became stubborn, or too dogged, only after she had turned around her country's economy and altered its standing in the world - not before.
By JUSTIN PRITCHARD and GARANCE BURKE – 7 hours ago
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Gov. Sarah Palin's signature accomplishment — a contract to build a 1,715-mile pipeline to bring natural gas from Alaska to the Lower 48 — emerged from a flawed bidding process that narrowed the field to a company with ties to her administration, an Associated Press investigation shows.
WASHINGTON -- Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, touted by GOP presidential candidate John McCain as his expert on energy, seemed to have problems Thursday explaining whether the government bans oil exports - especially from her state's North Slope fields.
ALBUQUERQUE - If it were up to the nation’s newspapers to decide, Barack Obama and Joe Biden would win in a landslide. According to Editor & Publisher - a journal covering the newspaper industry - the Democrats are favored over their GOP rivals by editorial boards 147 - 57 with just nine days until E-Day.
So it was really no surprise when papers like The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The LA Times came out for Obama for president — but the Anchorage Daily News? Governor Sarah Palin lost the endorsement of her hometown paper - Alaska’s biggest newspaper
Sarah Palin has had a lot of nicknames. Already in high school she earned the name, Barracuda. With what we have learned about her petty vindictiveness in the troopergate affair, we now know why.
Palin herself claims the title "hockey mom" even though what it suggests has more or less been blown out of the water by the revelation of her "polo mom" taste in clothing. ("But she did it for charity," whines the McCain campaign. Which sounds a lot like the Republican platform - it's a trickle down wardrobe!) This suggests a new name: Champagne Sarah Palin.
Now key McCain aides are calling her a "diva" who is raining on their parade. Even worse, she's a "rogue" diva, completely out of control. (Don't say we didn't warn you!)
That's what a piece that just appeared on CNN claims. Palin is "going rogue." And it's causing some bitter in-fighting in the Republican party.
ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico (CNN) -- With 10 days until Election Day, long-brewing tensions between GOP vice presidential candidate Gov. Sarah Palin and key aides to Sen. John McCain have become so intense, they are spilling out in public, sources say.
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin speaks at a rally in Sioux City, Iowa, on Saturday.
Several McCain advisers have suggested to CNN that they have become increasingly frustrated with what one aide described as Palin "going rogue."
A Palin associate, however, said the candidate is simply trying to "bust free" of what she believes was a damaging and mismanaged roll-out.
McCain sources say Palin has gone off-message several times, and they privately wonder whether the incidents were deliberate. They cited an instance in which she labeled robocalls -- recorded messages often used to attack a candidate's opponent -- "irritating" even as the campaign defended their use. Also, they pointed to her telling reporters she disagreed with the campaign's decision to pull out of Michigan.
A second McCain source says she appears to be looking out for herself more than the McCain campaign.
"She is a diva. She takes no advice from anyone," said this McCain adviser. "She does not have any relationships of trust with any of us, her family or anyone else.
In recent interviews Sarah Palin has decried the abuse she has taken from the press over such things as her $150,000 wardrobe and the troopergate scandal. It's because she's a woman, she says, that she gets such negative press. She's "hurt" that they would treat her that way.
But then she turns around yesterday and says this about Obama's associations with Bill Ayers and Dr. Jeremiah Wright in an interview with the scurrilous Sean Hannity:
"What did those characters see in Barack Obama? Why would they have wanted to be associated with him?"
Note what she's insinuating here, that there must be something wrong not with Obama's policies, but with his character. It is character assassination of the most vile form. A man she labels a "terrorist" another "anti-American" are attracted to Obama because they see something of themselves in him. And then she repeats the canard that is patently untrue - that Obama launched his campaign in Ayer's living room as though Ayers himself was behind it.
So what are we to assume here? That it's OK for Sarah Palin to traffic in character assassination and National Enquirer-type slander, but not for the press to take a critical look at her own behaivor? Are we to do as she does - simply dismiss the finding of the investigative body that shows without a doubt that she was guilty of abusing her governor's office, or ask no questions about why it was necessary for her to use Republican campaign funds to buy an extravagant wardrobe for herself and her family while claiming middle-class angst?
The Obama campaign has studiously avoided engaging in the kind of spurious, slanderous attacks Palin and McCain have used to try to discredit their opponents. They have not questioned her character, even though there is good reason to do so. In fact, the one time Obama was asked to speak directly to the question of whether or not he felt Palin was qualified to be president, he did what he could to praise her. Her response has been to find more ways to slime Obama.
There is no reason whatsoever for anyone to feel sorry for what the press has done to Sarah Palin. If anything they've been far too lenient. It's time they took off the kid gloves to expose what she is really about -- pure, unbridled self aggrandizing power.
This is not necessarily put up to be critical of Palin, but to give another perspective on who she is. It's an interview she recently did with James Dobson on his radio program that came under the radar screen of the main stream press.
It's in two parts below. Check it out and draw your own conclusions.
This is great TV. Chris Matthews, one of the few talking heads who doesn't represent the Darth Vader side of Republican politics, takes on sorority queen, McCain spokesperson, Nancy Pfotenhauer (have you ever noticed how many of these sorority queens the McCain camp has working for it? The party of Joe Six Pack is packed with privileged rich kids with perfect skin and teeth making their appeal to the "middle class" one of the greatest scams ever unleashed on this country) over Champagne Sarah's taste in clothes and apparent inability to grasp exactly what it is she might be doing in January.
I will say it again: Sarah Palin is a joke. Makes me almost feel sorry for people like Pfotenhauer who have to defend her. Almost.
fact she loves both. It's what has made her such a popular governor. Whatever the oild companies or tax payers in the lower 48 can do to help her buy her way into Alaskans' good graces she'll do. 
Posts
