Monday 12 July 2010

Palingates Weekly Roundup, July 6-10


By Blueberry Tart




We Palingaters were in for a shock, with Regina’s news that she is retiring from the blog. The comments were, without exception, heartfelt expressions of our appreciation for Regina’s efforts in creating a community and bringing Sarah Palin’s many scandals to light. Thankfully, the blog will be in the good hands of Patrick and Kathleen. We all send our wistful but sincere best wishes, Regina! ♥♥♥


This card is not a joke - this is REAL !!!

Kilob offered us a guest post focusing on how Sarah’s birth hoax was crucial to her selection as the VP candidate in 2008. Without these credentials, she really had little to offer, but by claiming motherhood of a DS infant, she had instantaneous appeal to the right-wing base of the Republican party. Among other things, Kilob reminds us that Franklin Graham and Samaritan’s Purse have Alaska connections and met with McCain in summer 2008; that Palin arranged to have Todd accompany her to Texas, rather than any state employees or her security detail; that Todd emailed on 4/17 that Sarah’s speech “kicked ass,” but made no mention that she was in labor, or that they decided that it was more important to travel back to AK than to find out whether the baby was in distress. Unnecessary, of course, because Sarah was not pregnant and the whole pregnancy tale was a “ruse born out of a political need…” Guest had some more info on Graham’s AK ties at the end of the comment thread.


Sarah Palin and Jon Corbett - "No Pebble Mine" Photo

On Thursday, I stopped on my way home to see what kind of fish the market had, and got a beautiful wild Alaskan sockeye salmon filet for supper. Got home, decided to check the site here before firing up the grill, and lo and behold, there was the most fantastic photo of these gorgeous fish! Kathleen wrote an outstanding post on the dangers posed by the Pebble Mine. Making it even better were the comments by Jon Corbett of the Windmill Grille in Dillingham, who took the opportunity afforded by the filming of Sarah’s TV series to promote his cause – protecting the fish of Bristol Bay. Sarah’s people tried to silence him, but he refused to sit down and shut up (and to take the photo down from his blog) -- Palingaters gave thanks and a special salute to Jon! We also thank him for taking part in the comment thread – that was great! He later predicted on his blog that he expected some retaliation. Stay safe, Jon – and keep in touch so we know how you are.


National Enquirer - Sarah Palin - Other man revealed - Brad Hanson affair

This post looks into the recent reports in the National Enquirer and elsewhere, about a masseuse who now alleges that Al Gore sexually assaulted her several years ago, although a police investigation did not find evidence of a crime. The post highlights the double standard that the right-wing applies in accepting this reporting as fact, while ignoring stories of the many scandals around Sarah Palin. Palingates revisited NE reports of: Sarah’s affair with Brad Hanson, Track’s Oxycontin addiction, his vandalism of school buses, Bristol’s drug use and promiscuous behavior, her time banished to Aunt Heathers, etc., all reported by NE. The MSM hasn’t touched them with a ten-foot pole. We point out again that the reports of Bristol’s pregnancy and the attempted coverup MUST refer to a pregnancy PRIOR to Tripp. She did not become pregnant with Tripp until the end of the 2007-08 school year, yet she was banished to Aunt Heather’s in the MIDDLE of the school year; Aunt Heather herself acknowledged that Bristol was pregnant at the time she lived with her. Reports about this banishment were published during the first week of the 08-09 school year, so that could not be the school year in question. C’mon, already, MSM, how hard is this to figure out? H/T to Kevin at the Midnight Review blog.

The update picks up a link first posted by GinaM to an interesting interview at palinbabygate with “Bree Palin”. The interview has lots on babygate, and more: Bree: “I think you may be on to something there. There are definitely a lot of Americans who are not presently concerned about the growing dementia of the GOP propaganda machine and its followers, including an awful lot of influential journalists and politicians who should be. They write them off as too nonsensical to be taken seriously…”


screenshot 2

Patrick put together the two recent Bill O’Reilly interviews with Sarah into a new post. BOR actually did us all a favor by revealing her idiotic ideas about stopping the oil leak and her clueless generalities about addressing illegal immigration. Make it simple! Too complicated! Even Dana Perino had to agree that Sarah doesn’t have a clue how to solve these problems. The footage of Sarah’s angry schoolmarm expressions during these interviews is priceless! The post wraps up with screenshots of some hilarious comments by Sarah’s devotees on C4P…they are delusional cultists, pure and simple.

Comments of the Week:

This week we had comments from many, many old and new friends, some of whom we haven’t heard from in a while, and others who don’t usually post – it was really great to hear from you all!

Aha suggested a new Palingates motto: 'To boldly go where no blog has gone before...'

Consciousatlast!: “SP demonstrated her ‘special kind of crazy’ by appearing in public without any obvious baby bump yet telling folks that she was 7 months along. Just that alone speaks volumes about her. She expected that she could tell this whopper of a lie, that was OBVIOUSLY not true and get away with it.”

Kellygrrrl: “O M G ! ! ! ! The Secret Life episode with Barstool is starting ... the whole opening scene is about teen moms getting pregnant AGAIN within 2 years of first preg.”

sickntiredofPalin has a great new avatar, and posted this from US Magazine’s article on Bristol’s acting debut: “Asked if she wants to pursue an entertainment career, she tells UsMagazine.com, ‘Not acting. I like doing speaking engagements and stuff like that. Right now I'm just focused on raising Tripp,’ her 2 1/2-year-old son with Levi Johnston.”
[Of course, Tripp is just 1 ½, but Trig is *reportedly* 2¼ but *actually* about 2½, based on what we have learned.

AKSandhills and sunnyjane picked up on this gem from Bristol: “Sounds like what she said about teaching Tripp about sex. I don't remember the exact words, but it was something like, ‘I'll tell him not to have sex until he's married or whatnot.’ What the hell is whatnot?”

AKRNC has an interesting post about a conversation (at 8:47 a.m. Tuesday) with an RNC mucky-muck; here is just a tiny bit: “Palin has really made some enemies among the old guard members of the GOP because she refuses to take advice or listen to what anyone has to say about ANYTHING!”

Soapydog, jula, wesinoregon and many others weighed in on Levi’s apology to the Palins: There were lots of comments about Levi’s demand that Mercede take down her blog or she would never see Tripp or him again. From Thanks_a_bunch_John: “I think the ‘apology’ and the simultaneous threat to Mercede to take her blog down are so telling and obvious. This is coercion, plain and simple.”

Kilob had a great response to one of Louie’s gems: “Once again Louie drops nuclear snark from half court on the Bumpitcuda! Yea, Louie!”

Drpatois gave us hope: "Nothing is hidden that will not be made known;
nothing is secret that will not come to light." Luke 18:17

Cheeriogirl got us back to babygate: “There is no way on God's green earth that ANY doctor would deliver a 44 year old mom, with a history of six previous pregnancies, four live births, 5 weeks pre-term, with a fetus known to have Down Syndrome and a hole in his heart, in a community hospital with no NICU, no obstetrician, and no neonatologist present, other than in a bona fide medical emergency. The hospital's own legal team would NEVER allow this type of delivery to take place for any other reason, because it would expose them financially to a humongous settlement.” (part of an excellent longer post, good followup comments)

Ripley in CT reminded us of more inconsistencies in Sarah’s story: “Look, Mrs. Palin. You can't say you never tried to hide it and then say you tried to hide it with scarves, then say you had tight abs so you didn't need to hide it, then ... Oh wait, you did. YOU LIE”

Sdilmoak: “Yup...remember the email about ‘the puppy was ready for pickup?’"

Mrs TBB and a Guest had an interesting exchange about what the tabloids know, including:
“He hinted during the 2008 election there is a LOT they uncovered about her, so I think your conclusions that they have some good stuff are sound. Kathy Griffin was on the show in the last couple of weeks and she said that Levi has told her stuff about Sarah that would ‘absolutely take her out.’ …She said that he wanted to have access to Tripp and had to make a decision…I'm sure that the McCain staffers have told many stories over drinks in the last couple of years, so the GOP leadership can't be in the dark about her mental illness. They think they have no other viable candidate and are going to try to get her elected the same way they did with Dubya--through dirty tricks and a redacted record.”

There were some interesting comments on the Frontiersman and ADN sites; here is one that Buffalogal found: “ sarahsexfriend wrote on Saturday, Nov 14 at 05:22 PM »
How in the Hell did you ever convince Todd he was the father of your first born child after you celebrated all those times up at the Forks Roadhouse ??”
and another from janpatches & TruthSeeker: "HelenKennedie wrote on 07/06/2010 07:33:21 PM: Let's have a little chat with SARAH about Sheep Creek Lodge and the Fork's Roadhouse.... (yupp! some of us remember you before you were NOTORIOUS!)"

Laprofesora: “Not to oversimplify things or ignore the hard work and research that has gone into this matter, but when dealing with disbelievers it really comes down to this:
1) By her own account Sarah Palin selfishly put the health of her unborn child in serious danger by flying back to AK while leaking amniotic fluid or
2) She made the whole thing up.
Which is it?”

Maelewis: “Judge Judy always say, ‘If it doesn't make sense, it isn't true.’”

Arctic Loon asks a good question: “What is Baldwin-Johnson's explanation of why labor was induced once Palin was safely in the hospital, rather than just putting her on bed rest? Was it because of THE RISK OF INFECTION from the water having broken? Then was this or was it not a risk the day before?” [My note: just one of many reasons CBJ won’t talk.]

Peacepax responded: “…If she was not leaking amniotic fluid, there was no reason to induce a five week pre term DS infant, and like you say, every effort should have made to keep the baby in the protective environment of the uterus as long as possible…There was absolutely no reason to induce a high risk pregnancy in the poorly equipped hospital in Wasilla. A short ambulance ride would have taken her to a modern NICU. I always feel so foolish typing this nonsense. Sarah Palin clearly is not the birth mother of Tri g. To suggest that she was pregnant with Trig is an insult to our intelligence.” Pat- RN (mother of 11)

newsOne clarified that Sarah herself said amniotic fluid leaked in TX; Bree (on palinbabygate) made the good point that most people don’t know that this is Sarah’s own story.

Cheeriogirl: “Different medical presentations call for different medical actions, which was my point. Some scenarios would call for an emergency cesarean, some would call for you to use everything in your arsenal to stop contractions to halt delivery for as long as possible, keeping in mind the babies due date as your goal. There are a myriad of choices in between… NONE of which a family practice doctor from a hospital with few deliveries annually is qualified to make.

I'm not just talking medically here, sunnyjane. The practice of medicine, and medical care these days is largely driven by legal issues and malpractice insurance. There is NO WAY that CBJ would have been allowed to make that medico-legal call , to induce the sitting governor of the State of Alaska, five weeks ahead of her projected delivery date. That would be left up to a high risk obstetrician with many, many MILLIONS of dollars in malpractice insurance coverage, and YEARS and YEARS of obstetrical experience behind him/her to make that call.

NO hospital's attorney would ever allow a family practice physician to make those kinds of decisions. To do so would be to basically INVITE the family to file a medical malpractice/malfeasance suit against the hospital- and WIN!”

Ivyfree had a number of excellent comments about how she reads the hospital scenario and CBJ’s involvement. Well worth reading…

Patrick: “And I can tell you here and now that Cathy Baldwin-Johnson will strictly REFUSE to take responsibility for the infamous medical letter which was patched together by the McCain/Palin campaign. I guarantee you 100% that she will say that she has no responsibility for the content whatsoever.”

More_Cowbell: “this is a woman who puts first class flight or learjet in her speaking contracts FOR HERSELF, and she turns down a private flight WHEN THE SAFETY OF HER HIGH-RISK BABY IS AT STAKE?”

Minnesotamud: “That's a problem: If she did not give birth on the 18th but was allowed to position herself in a room/in a bed in the hospital, there had to be some collusion with someone of power in the hospital.” [My comment: perhaps that’s why CBJ was no longer on active status at Mat-Su as of June 2008.]

Lilylake: “She has a faux religion, had a faux pregnancy, works for faux news, and faux hair, probably a faux marriage; I can't think of much about her that seems real at all.”

Cheeriogirl found this: “The Nation reported that she had been vetted by the secretive Council for National Policy just before the convention, but that meeting may have been more of a ratification of the McCain selection. The Council is composed of several hundred of the foremost leaders and funders of the ultraconservative right wing, including billionaires from the Amway families, the Prince families ( the Blackwater mercenary operations in Iraq ), as well as Pat Robertson, James Dobson, Phyllis Schlafly and the late Jerry Falwell".”

More_Cowbell: “This 2008 story from The Independent has this quote from Phil Munger "Mr Munger also asked Mrs Palin if she believed in the End of Days, the doomsday scenario when the Messiah will return. "She looked in my eyes and said, 'Yes, I think I will see Jesus come back to earth in my lifetime'." So what does she care about maintaining renewable resources?”

bluedogAK had an excellent post on AK’s wildlife policies that increasingly allow “predator control” (euphemism for wanton slaughter): I wish the country knew what really happens to Mama Grizzlies in Alaska, thanks to Sarah Palin's wildlife policies. She didn't invent predator control of wolves and bears, but her policies and her appointments to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game have accelerated them to a degree that would shock most people… the guiding political philosophy of the Board of Game in Alaska is now, ‘Kill 'em all and let God sort 'em out.’ …Mama Grisly is more like it.” [lisantx suggested a full post on this]

Louiecypher can always make us laugh: “Hey there Sarah, well quite the movement with the whole Grizzly Mamma thing going on, here's the thing, did you know Grizzly Mamma's (well all Grizzly Bears) hibernate from about early November to mid-April. So I was thinking to stay true to your moniker how about you do the same?”

Grasshopper: “Is it my imagination or is that funny looking lady with the dirty hair and googly eyeballs standing next to that nice man holding a dead fish who is NOT going with the flow?”

Historygoddess aptly dubbed Sarah “the Deflectress.”

Our Palingates community sends ((((♥♥♥)))) to mrsgunka and her hubby. Warm hugs and best wishes to NJfan and Beverly729, too.

MrsTBB: “Most unbelievable to me of all is the fact that the stories already published by the National Enquirer--each one vetted and PASSED by TWO American Media staff attorneys before publication--got no further play from the MSM. Maybe, just maybe, I could understand what litbrit calls the "Don't Go There" factor applied solely to Tri-G, if he were the only iffy story in $P's family psychodrama. But add the NE's reporting on her affair with Brad Hanson (unanswered by Camp Palin), Track's woes, Bri$tol's banishment(s), plus every -Gate in the sidebar at right... it just doesn't make sense why the MSM hasn't sent Our Girl back to Wasilla for good. Except that she's a living, ongoing soap opera, she generates copy every week (if not every day), she's someone whom the "low-information voters" can adore and the so-called "elites" can feel superior to. Let enough muck about $P trickle out and just about anyone the GOP presents as an alternative will have to look like an improvement.”

Older_Wiser (welcome back!): "’Pink elephants’ are what alcoholics suffering from delirium tremens see, aren't they? Is she trying to tell us something else?”

Peacepax: “Hi lilybart, You say: "Yes, the timing of living with Aunt Heather is the smoking gun now isn't it?" Definitely. It doesn't even take much of a brain to figure that one out. Any body that wanted to see the truth could do so in about five seconds. Of course it was for a pregnancy other than Tripp. There was no missing school, or staying with Aunt Heather with Tripp. There were just a couple weeks left of school when Bristol discovered she was pregnant with Tripp, and school was out for the summer before Bristol told her mother.”

Janpatches had a great quote: "If you can't dazzle them with your brilliance, baffle them with your bullshit."

Quiet1: “Even a hypothetical mention of "President Palin" makes me nauseous : ( “

Mitch233: "I believe in the idea of amnesty for those who have put down roots and lived here, even though sometime back they may have entered illegally," - Ronald Reagan.

Maelewis had a good, detailed analysis of the BOR interview, ending with: “Bottom line: Bill gave her every chance to make clear statements, and she couldn't handle an interview from a friendly source.”

Links of the Week:

Kathleen linked to Andrew’s Sunday Times of London article.

EOY had a good find in the Peoria Journal Star on the Eureka College gaffe.

Honestyingov and seallen posted the link to the March 4, 2008 video of a Newsweek interview with Janet Napolitano.

Palinoia: Another excellent write up over at Politicsusa (President Obama vs. "self styled shadow president" Palin), freshly posted by Jason Easley.

Finny: Have you ever seen this video from the Young Turks with their speculation on why she went to so many colleges? It's quite funny ;)

Litbrit linked to PG in her recent post on babygate.

Ginam posted a link to gawker with Bristol’s acting debut.

Kilob: LOL... The Cocky Wacko starring Sarah Palin... (Lincoln Chafee commenting on her)

Darkefang urged us to comment on pandagon: let's see some Palingates people back up poor Chet, who seems to be in way over his head.

Several readers linked to Mercede's blog post.

Thanks a bunch John posted links to Andrew Sullivan on the Mercede blog dispute, which was also picked up by newser.com.

Crystalwolfakacaligrl from Andrew Sullivan on the Levi situation.

SickntiredofPalin: Sarah Palin: “I think it is so far in outer space, the possibility that [Giuliani] would ever want a hockey mum from Wasilla to be his running mate, that I haven't considered it. I think the obligation that I have here is to serve my four-year term as a governor of Alaska. That's the deal that I struck with voters. There is much more that Alaska can do to contribute to the US and I think I can help it do that as governor. But it would obviously be an honour for me to serve the country. And for Alaska's sake too, it would be very good for our future for an Alaskan to be serving nationally.”

honestyingov posted this from palinoscope (Alaskans : Palin Birth story must be Told): “Sarah Palin has lied about her pregnancy with Trig. That much is clear at this point. There are people who know the truth, or a piece of the truth, which, if added to the pieces that others know, would create a cohesive narrative. If there are enough tips to piece together a narrative, the parts that don't fit the facts already known, and the general shape of the narrative that emerges could be eliminated. What we find could be placed in the public domain where anyone who is researching could use it as a starting point."

So_many_unanswered_questions: Mining for a message in Palin's speech
(brief excerpt from clever piece) “Now, about that speech: What did she say? Not much. And we listened to it twice…”

Pallotine linked to an email on Sarah’s VP chances.

EyeOnYou had an interesting post on Forbes’ report, with insider info, of how much money Sarah has made since Quitter Day, closing with: “Bottom line: thanks to a memoir published at the zenith of public interest in her, the former Alsaka governor had a windfall year. But her best days, financially, could be behind her. Unless, of course, she's elected President.”

BanditBasheert: “Head on over to Andrew Sullivan - he's got a guest post [from a parent of a special needs child] on Palin's FAKE Mama Grizzly meme”.
Patrick also linked to this: “And the reader is none other than Mickey7, who published a brilliant guest post about the same subject at Palingates in May."

Honestyingov took the initiative to let palinscope know about Palingates’ secure tip box and they linked back to us – H/T! “Palingates Has a Secure Anonymous Wikileaks Link"

Orangetriangle gave us a little respite from the storms: “OT...but fun. Try this crazy anagram finder. You type in your whole name and up comes a silly anagram...and some are pretty accurate! Try: Sarah Louise Palin

Palingaters had lots of fun coming up with PANT DILDO (for Todd) and HA HA! HIS PRENATAL (for Sarah). Comeonpeople (later): President Palin: Randiest Nipple; Maverick Mccain: Man, I'm crack vice; President Sarah Palin: Piranhas and reptiles; Meg Stapleton: gleam not pest;
Conservatives for Palin: Fornicator enslaves VIP; Rebecca Mansour: on macabre curse [lot’s more there and Saturday morning] ***** I need an intervention***** I can't stop*******

Pallotine: Earlier today i posted about Palin's professed love for Bristol Bay. Which was really ironic, because we know how she spoke out on prop 4. Here is the other side of Palin. The mining lobby showered Palin with gifts, one being a $1200 dollar pin or broach, whatever. Gifts totaling over $25000, but she claimed ignorance in not declaring them.

SoCalWolfGal: Sarah and Faux News have resurrected the Death Panels in full force now. And I had hoped this August would not be another Summer of Hate.

Very good article in Salon.com about Sarah's presidential ambitions.

Excellent piece in Huffington Post: Women voters will choose progress, not Palin.

Palinized: This is a rebuttal to Palin's video. It needs to go viral.

Several readers posted links to articles about jewelers who have come together in opposition to the Pebble Mine; here is one.

Here is the link to the BOR interview on immigration and aview999 sent a link to the transcript.

Anony in Fl: Crooks and Liars has the BOR interview up with a great article - "Sarah Trainwreck strikes again."
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