Thursday, December 30, 2010

Palin Lied About Her Tweet?

I see all these "news stories" about how Palin lied in her Alaska series about the "refudiate" thing by claiming it was a typo. Here's what they say she said:

"I pressed an F instead of a P and people freaked out," said Sarah, pointing out that her blunder was the second-most-searched word on Google trends. "Make lemonade out of lemons," said Sarah.

What about that is a lie, exactly? Where does she say it was a typo? She pressed an F instead of a P and people freaked out. That's just factual, people. If she didn't press an F instead of a P, we wouldn't be wasting time on this garbage.

She pressed an F instead of a P. She did.

Monday, December 27, 2010

Refudiation

In the latest episode of Sarah Palin's Alaska, we get to ride along as Sarah tells Todd that her typo has become the number 2 search on Yahoo. It's a quite funny moment.

And of course the media is all, "She tries to explain away 'refudiate,' but don't forget! She said it once before the typo as well."

Get real. So she said the wrong word once before in an interview. Do you honestly think she was sitting in the van thinking, "Oh, you know what? I said it wrong once in an interview." As if anyone other than loser bloggers even noticed.

Yeah, I totally remember all the times I've ever misspoken. (eye roll)

The 'refudiate' thing actually happened while they were shooting this episode. She called into the Bob and Mark show after they went logging and talked to them about it.

This whole thing is just funny. That a typo would make international news is absolutely hysterical. And that the media takes itself seriously when it makes this kind of story a priority is priceless. I mean, how stupid is that?

Sometimes conservatives are all, "Why doesn't the media trumpet Obama's flubs like they did Bush's or like they do Palin's?"

Honestly, the way they treat Obama's flubs is the way they should treat everyone's. Look, the man's human, he's going to mess up from time to time (this is for his gaffes, not his stuttering and stammering and "uh-uh-uh"-ing), so what? We're just tired of the double standard. Obama can mess up from now until doomsday and they'll make excuses for him. Heaven forbid a Republican misspeak. They'll be branded for life.

Although, come on. That "corpseman" thing was funny. Much better than "nukular."

And full disclosure: I said "refudiate" before Palin ever tweeted it. Rolls off the tongue with much more ease. Not in the dictionary? Oh, well. Now it is. :-)  And I know I heard other people say it before too. 

And I proudly say "ain't." Much to the chagrin of my old grammar teacher. "It's not a word." Yeah, whatever. I say it, you know what it means, it's a word, okay? Period. End of story.

But that's just me.

So thank you, Palin for making it acceptable to say "refudiate." It was the better version all along.

Good for Bristol

Rumblings of it were first heard on an entertainment website last week: Bristol is thinking about buying a house in Arizona. Also potentially has a new boyfriend and wants more kids.

Well, turns out that the first one was true. The girl payed cash for a five bedroom house in Arizona. Nice. Very nice. Most websites are wondering "why" she did it. Why? It's Arizona. It's warm. That's my theory.

As for the other two things, I have no idea. Sounds like the guy's got a job anyway, so that's good. A marked improvement. And does she want more kids? I don't know. Who cares? Let her have fifty if she wants.

Rumors that she's looking at college in Arizona too.

Cash for a house at 20. Sweeeet.

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Merry Christmas! - Christmas Favorites

I'm going to take off for a few days. I leave you with some (some; I couldn't possibly list them all) of my Christmas favorites. Merry Christmas!







I used to watch this when I was little. I'd forgotten all about it before I stumbled across it on Hulu:




More goodness here.

Monday, December 20, 2010

E-mail Motherlode

It's not often that I link to a Mother Jones post, but this one interested me. It's part window into just how much of a pain the e-mail requests have been to the state of Alaska, part reporter complaining about not getting the e-mails right away despite the fact that it's an enormous pain.

First off, REALLY? You asked for ALL e-mails sent to and from and copied to Governor Palin during her whole tenure as Governor????
I sent Palin's office a request for all emails written by her, received by her, or cc'ed to her during her tenure as governor. In subsequent weeks other news organizations, including the Associated Press and MSNBC.com, the state Democratic Party, and individuals (such as Alaskan citizen watchdog Andree McLeod) filed similar requests.

You couldn't narrow it down a tad? That's insane. Do you have any idea how many emails go back and forth in a day, let alone two and a half years (at that point)? Good golly, miss molly.

Corn (the author of the article) also takes the time to complain about Palin using private e-mail accounts. Kinda fails to mention that she was cleared of wrongdoing in that area. No rules against it.

I just hope that whenever (if ever) they get all their e-mails, that they release them to the public.

Speaking of which, you know that Todd e-mail dump that I said about a year ago I would break down? Yeah, I'm finishing that up. That was a fraction of what this guy requested. I ended up putting it on the back burner many times to actual pressing business. I hope to have it up at the end of the holidays. The only reason I'm doing it is because I said I would. I doubt anyone really cares anymore. It's the kind of thing only I and maybe two other people on earth would find interesting.

I confess that if they ever do get those e-mails though, I want to read them. I'm curious that way. I'd never ask for all of them like that though. That's nuts.

Friday, December 17, 2010

Palin Meets Marlee Matlin

Cool story over on Zap2It:

On Wednesday (Dec. 15), in a break in her trailer between takes during a guest-starring appearance on CBS' "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," tentatively scheduled to air on Thursday, Feb. 3, Matlin tells Zap2it in sign language, through an interpreter, "My opinion on Bristol is that I really applaud her. I saw, from the very beginning, that she wasn't a good dancer, but she had her own identity. She didn't give a f**k that she was the daughter of Sarah Palin, and I could see that.

"Then I saw, week-by-week, the transformation of her really blossoming. She didn't deserve to be the top winner, she didn't deserve that, but I think she she deserved to be in the third slot -- maybe fourth spot would have been better. I didn't think Brandy should have been knocked off.

"She did come a long way. I mean, that's what the show is about -- be a crummy dancer or have no talent at all and grow. There was evidence of that. I got a chance to tell her mother, in an elevator, in New York."

Turns out that fate brought together Matlin and the former Alaska governor and 2008 GOP vice-presidential candidate, who is now a Fox News contributor and has her own documentary series, "Sarah Palin's Alaska," airing Sunday on TLC.

"I was in the elevator already," says Matlin, "and she walked in, without a bodyguard. She and her husband walked in. I said, 'Well, well, Mrs. Palin,' and she turned around, 'Marlee Matlin!' I said, 'Hello, it's nice to meet you.' And she said, 'You speak very clearly.' And she said, 'My son is learning to sign, the son with Down's Syndrome.'

"And I said, 'I heard that, and I think that's great.' We spoke as two mothers back and forth. Then I said to her how proud I was of Bristol, and that she should be, too, and I told her why, with my observation.

"She said, 'Thank you, thank you, thank you,' and gave me a hug. Elevator opened, and she walked out. My interpreter said that he heard her say, 'Wow!'

"You understand, I don't support her politics, but as a woman and as a mother, yes, just like any other mother. And she's really pretty."

Reached by email, Gov. Palin recalls the encounter, writing, "That is so nice! She was so gracious when we met, and we got to talk about Trig learning sign language. Having that small but meaningful connection was sweetly surreal. I have always admired Marlee."


I honestly have no clue who Marlee Matlin is. Don't really care. Just a cute story.

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Kate: "Sarah, All Hail You, Amazon Woman"

When the news first came out that Kate was going to be on Sarah Palin's show, I was really, really hoping it was an unfounded rumor.

But come on, this is hilarious:




Not to rag on Kate. She provided us with a lot of laughter last night.

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Palin in Haiti with Samaritan's Purse - Update

Governor Palin and Greta van Susteren are in Haiti with Samaritan's purse to:
Encourage the people of Haiti and bring awareness to the needs that still exist there.

Slideshow:



Stories here and here.



And a word to those who say, "She's only doing this for a photo-op! She doesn't really care about Haiti!"

Who do you care about? Her being there is drawing attention to the cholera problem and to the good work of charities like Samaritan's Purse. What difference does it make to you why she's there if it's doing good? You should put your disdain for Palin on the back burner to the suffering in Haiti. Kudos to Democrats with brains:



Update - More pictures have been added to the slideshow. I think as I add them they go to the end, so you'll have to skip ahead.

Saturday, December 11, 2010

"America by Heart" Not Selling Well? - Update

In what universe?

The book has been doing extremely well. I don't think anyone expected it to do as well as Going Rogue. And there's no way it's going to surpass the tell-all of a former President. Coming in second was pretty d*** good.

Also, confession here. When I first heard about the new book, it was exciting, sure. But the description of the book didn't exactly thrill me. A collection of quotes and inspiring essays? Um, okay. Love Palin, but I can look up quotes on the Internet. And I already love America and believe in its founding principles, so not much of a point in reading it just to reinforce my own beliefs. I bought two copies, pretty much just to have them. With Going Rogue I bought ten or twelve and handed them out as Christmas presents.

The book isn't just a collection of essays or quotes, however. It's really a book of philosophy. The heart of America. What makes it tick? It's kind of a letter to the next generation. And there's plenty of original Palin material, it's not just an amalgamation of other people's works. You should read it twice to fully appreciate it.

I guess my point is that if a die hard like me kinda went "eh," then lower-than-Going-Rogue book sales don't mean much of anything with regards to Palin's "luster."

Update: On second thought, that a book basically marketed as a collection of quotes is doing as well as it is actually might say something about Palin's "luster." Something pretty good.

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Glenn Beck: Palin Was A Blessing to Me


Aw, sweet. The image of Glenn falling into the depths of despair and Palin having to talk him back from the brink is kinda funny to me. Glenn's such a pessimist sometimes and Sarah strikes me as an eternal optimist. "We're all gonna die!! The machine!! Tokyo...!!!"

"Now, Glenn, it's going to be okay. Calm down there, buddy. Just stay in the game."

Love the end with Pat Gray.

I'm the same way. I don't mind watching other people shoot and butcher things, but I'm not a big hunter myself. I have a gun and enjoy shooting targets, but I don't like to kill anything unless I have to. My dad bagged three deer in a week this last season and he's been bugging me to go out hunting with him lately. Maybe I'll give it a try next year. I don't know. I'm the kind of person who will catch the bee and put it outside on a flower rather than just swat it with a fly swatter.

Update:

Seriously though, with regards to a "machine" and all that. Are there guys sitting in a smoke-filled room somewhere plotting to take over the world? I don't know. Maybe. Does it worry me? No. This may sound really corny, but when it comes down to it, my hope doesn't lie in this world. (Yeah, that sounded corny. Oh, well. ;)

Psalm 2 -

The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying,

Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.

He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh...

Yeah, He's not too worried about it. I'll stick by the One laughing at those guys.

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Palin Knows Where the Next Battle Is

Business Week:

Now that the tax fight is over, Sarah Palin has quickly zoomed to the next huge issue: The possible bailout of insolvent states.

In a post on her Facebook titled Bailouts Reward Bad Behavior, she slams the idea of helping fiscally reckless states (like California, whose finances have deteriorated under the stewardship of her enemy Arnold Schwarzenegger), while talking up the finances of Alaska (not mentioning, of course, the incredible oil bounty it sits on).

Anyway, she's shrewd. This is an issue that will probably grow, and she recognize that. Here's her post.

Love the mantra of, "Sure Alaska's doing great, but they're sitting on oil!"

Uh-huh. And California isn't? What, California just can't develop its own resources and cut some of their ridiculous spending to help balance the budget? Spare me.

California's too busy shutting off water to farmers to save a minnow. They don't have time to fix their sinking economy. Should be really fun under Jerry Brown.




FB excerpt:

My home state made the switch from defined benefits to a defined contribution system, and as governor, I introduced a number of measures to build on that successful transition, while also addressing the issue of the remaining funding shortfall by prioritizing budgets to wrap our financial arms around this too-long ignored debt problem.

When my state ran a surplus because we incentivized businesses, I didn’t spend it on fun and glamorous pet projects for lawmakers – though that would have made me quite popular with the earmark crowd. In fact, I vetoed more excessive spending than any governor in our state’s history, and I used the state’s surplus to bring our financial house in order by paying down our unfunded pension plans that some other governors wanted to ignore. This fiscal prudence didn’t make me popular with the state legislature.

In addition to vetoing hundreds of millions of dollars in wasteful spending, I put billions of dollars into savings accounts for future rainy days, much like most American families do in responsibly planning for the future. I also enacted a hiring freeze and brought the education budget under control through a commitment to forward-funding.

I returned much of the surplus back to the people (it was their money to start with!) through tax relief and energy rebates. I had proven as the mayor of the fastest growing city in the state that tax cuts incentivize business growth, and though the state legislature overrode some of my veto cuts and thwarted an additional tax relief request of mine, the public was supportive of efforts to rein in its government.

It’s one thing to veto spending and reduce the size of government when your state is broke. I did it when my state was flush with revenue from a surplus – though I had to fight politicians who wanted to spend like there was no tomorrow. It’s not easy to tell people no and make them act fiscally responsible and cut spending when the money is rolling in and your state is only 50 years shy of being a territory and everyone is yelling at you to spend while the money is there to build.

My point is, if I could fight this fight in Alaska at a time of surplus, then other governors can and should be able to do the same at a time when their states are facing bankruptcy and postponing this fight is no longer an option.


"I returned much of the surplus back to the people (it was their money to start with!) through tax relief and energy rebates."

Silly Sarah, breaking with centuries of tradition.

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Bristol Palin Answers Margaret Cho - Update III - Cho Admits It Was Just A Rumor

Up until yesterday, I'd always had a lot of respect for Bristol Palin. After all, 17 years old, pregnant for the whole world to see, raising a kid, engagement falls apart, ex goes out and starts trashing the family for money... it's amazing she's still sane. Were there times when I wondered about her choices? Oh, yeah. And when I first heard about DWTS, I thought it was a horrible idea, but she proved me wrong on that one. More has happened in her life the past few years than most sixty year olds have had to deal with. So, respect? Check.

But it was only yesterday that I really started liking her. Anybody that gets a kick out of someone calling Keith Olbermann a "dick" is cool. The end.

And now there's this. I was hoping she'd maybe give a short statement to someone after that Cho thing picked up way more steam than it ever should have, but this is ten times better. Go check it out on her FB page if you can. I know some people get errors though or can't get into Facebook, so here's the note:


I met so many interesting people on Dancing With The Stars. It was an incredible experience that I will cherish the rest of my life. I have explained my own motivations for accepting the invitation to dance, which included the simple fact that I was ready to get out of my comfort zone and try something new and challenging. I thought dancing would also be a great way to exercise--and it was. I thought it would boost my confidence--and it did. Notably absent from this calculus were political considerations. You want to talk politics, talk to my mom. You want to talk rumba, waltz and the beautiful Spanish paso doble, I'm your girl (but if you want to talk to the expert, call Mark).

So with this in mind I was somewhat taken aback to read about me in a blog by my friend and fellow contestant, Margaret Cho. In a post she called "Pistol Whipped" she wrote that "the only reason Bristol was on the show was because Sarah Palin forced her to do it. Sarah supposedly blames Bristol harshly and openly . . . for not winning the election,and so she told Bristol she "owed" it to her to do DWTS . . . ." Let me shamelessly steal from Saturday Night Live: "Really, Margaret? Really?"

I will give my friend credit for creativity, and extra points for getting so many "facts" wrong in so few sentences. Let me be blunt: my mom did not "force" me to go on DWTS. She did not ask me either. The show approached me. I thought about it. I made the decision. After first worrying for me in terms of being exposed to those who hate us for what we believe in, both my mom and my dad became my number one supporters. Anyone who watched the show could tell I performed better, and I felt better about myself, when they were in the audience. I wanted to make them both proud, but politics had nothing to do with it. Loving my parents had everything to do with it.

It saddens me that people would think that my mom would "blame" me for anything that occurred in the 2008 election--much less "harshly" and "openly." I think that canard (there, I said it again), has been floating around since then also. I will set the record straight, though my mom already did in her bestselling book "Going Rogue"; there were a number of reasons President Obama won in 2008, but the primary reason was that the economy was starting to falter and the majority of voters thought Obama could do a better job than my mom and John McCain. It turns out, two years later, the majority of voters were wrong, but we can talk about that another time. The point is, I seriously doubt anyone who considers herself a student of American politics truly believes I impacted even one vote in that election.

There you have it. Why do I want to set the record straight? Because it is this type of hurtful and false narrative that people promote to make my mom look bad. For 20 years my mom had my back--and for the rest of my life I will have hers.

To my friend Margaret Cho, if you ever have a question, call me girlfriend. Don't ever rely on "sources" who claim to know me or my family. You will be taken every time. And we need to talk. You say you "don't agree with the family's politics at all" but I say, if you understood that commonsense conservative values supports the right of individuals like you, like all of us, to live our lives with less government interference and more independence, you would embrace us faster than KD Lang at an Indigo Girls concert.


P.S. If you want to baby-sit Tripp, I could use a night off.



Bristol Palin


Like.

I'm over here twiddling my thumbs because C4P is still down.


(cue a blonde whining that she never gets to babysit in 3, 2, ....)


Update - By the way, the title was:

"CHA-CHA-CHA to CHO-CHO-CHO--HERE'S A HINT: THREE DOG NIGHT"


In other words, "Mama told me not to come."


Update II:

Cho responded, by the way. Of course, as a comedian she'll probably use this stuff to keep her name in the news. Everybody's figured out by now that all you have to do is drop your name next to "Palin" and you'll get a headline. That's one reason why I hoped Bristol wouldn't slam Cho personally if she did respond. No need to start a Bristol/Cho war. As if the Palins don't have enough to deal with already.

I wouldn't call Bristol's response "freaking out," not by a long shot. I can't believe anybody would be stupid enough to believe Cho's story, but a good chunk of Americans don't believe we landed on the moon, so I suppose anything's possible. As much as I try to stay away from the mantra "people are stupid," the more I see the way people just blindly accept the media narratives and don't logically think through these things, the more I'm tempted to just say it. People are stupid.


Update III:

Okay, hopefully this is the last I'll say about this, but I found a more expanded version of Cho's reaction.

Now she's basically saying "It's just gossip. I was just reporting gossip, I don't know if it's true or not and I'm not going to retract it because I was just reporting gossip. I just want to stop Palin from becoming President. And Bristol's cool!"

Well, at least she's honest. Her tweet kinda contradicts that statement, but whatever. "It's the truth! Well, no, actually it was just gossip. I was just being the town crier. I want to stop Sarah Palin!"

So she admits it was a rumor. I guess I'll let it go then. Unless something else pops up.

Friday, December 3, 2010

Bristol Palin and John Ziegler Slam Keith Olbermann on BAM - Updated

Bristol responds to being named the "Worst Person in the World" for her work with the Candies Foundation:



John Ziegler calls in as well, comments on Olby, and chats with Bristol. Bristol also responds to the rumor that her Dad might go on DWTS:



Update
- Just figured I'd click on my stats, and I'm wondering where the thousands of people came from....

Ah, C4P link. And Hot Air? That would explain it. I'd have tidied up the place if I'd known y'all were coming. :)



Update II:

By the way, BAM stands for Bob and Mark, for anyone unfamiliar with these guys. Go here for a lot more of their stuff with the Palins - http://www.palintv.com/category/shows/bobmark/. They're rock station DJ's and aren't exactly rated "G" so if you listen live to their station online, consider yourself warned. The earlier stuff is what's most interesting to me. This is one of my favorites, from October of 2006 when Sarah was still running for Governor:



Update III:

Since people are still checking out this post, I figured I'd put in a plug for Ziegler. He recently re-released the movie "Media Malpractice: How Obama Got Elected and Palin was Targeted."

Go here for more information. I believe you can order it VOD now too.

Here's an interview he did with Bob and Mark upon the movie's re-release:



Oh, and if you see any bull circulating around about BAM, it probably has to do with this episode. Hilarious lefties getting their panties in a wad over nothing. The whole affair was taken out of context as well, little clips being pulled out of the larger story to create a scandal. Bob and Mark are rock station DJ's, all right? They play to a harder core demographic.

They're also two of the biggest hearted guys I've ever listened to. Not too long ago they did a radio drive to help a terminally ill woman get a fence built in her backyard so she could keep her dog. (I think it was a fence. Might have needed a ramp or something too). Someone called in and told them about the girl having to give her dog up, they got on the radio and got the volunteers and the materials and everything. Then they interviewed the girl and Bob practically broke down in tears right there. Mark had to take over for him because he couldn't even talk.

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Some Scenes from "Salmon Run"

If you missed tonight's episode of Sarah Palin's Alaska, check your guide and be sure to catch a replay. It's probably the best episode so far. I think at the end of the day, episode one is going to turn out to be the worst of the series. (That's another way of saying that they keep getting better and I wish the 5 million tuned in for tonight's episode instead of the first one.)

In this clip, Todd plays with little Trig:



And here, Sarah and Piper meet their little cousin Matthew, a relative on Todd's side of the family:

Kids on TV

Transcript:

GLENN: But the one thing that my wife and I were talking about is the exposure of your family. And I know the press has exposed the family, but you don't seem to have a problem with that. What do you think the effect of all of this is on your kids?

SARAH PALIN: Well, I'm just dealing with reality knowing that they're not going to let up until the collective will of the people is to remind the press that kids should be off limits. And in our case that just isn't happening yet. So I deal with the reality as it is and remind my kids that maybe in our culture there's not a lot of justice in terms of kids being left alone to just be kids and make mistakes but learn as they go and overcome challenges, you know. My kids have the same story as every other kid in this world.

GLENN: But my kids are left alone. I mean, but I just don't, I don't ever, ever put them in front of a camera. You know, anybody takes a picture of my kids, I go all TSA on them.

SARAH PALIN: Yeah, here's the deal. Here's the deal, what we got ourselves into, I guess, was there on the national stage, literally there at the GOP convention when I, being so proud of my family, bringing them on stage like every other politician has done since the beginning of time, being charged then with exploiting my kids and here I'm looking around going, wait, every other candidate, every male candidate brings their family on stage, proverbially and literally. So having done that. And then from there just sort of a different standard that's been applied in terms of the accusations that there's been exploitation or using the kids for whatever. Then, Glenn, having to correct the record and try to change the narrative into what the truth is about my family. So constantly being on defense and having to sort of counterattack the things that they say. That's the position that we're in.

--------------

What Glenn is trying to question is the apparent contradiction of saying "leave my kids alone" and then putting your kids on a tv show.

First of all, I happen to be of the opinion that just because kids are visible doesn't mean they're fair game. I think it's absurd that people call Trig names and rag on Willow and Piper and use the "well they're out there" line as an excuse. It's no excuse, sorry.

Glenn, as a protective father himself, is trying to figure out the rationale of having your kids "out there" but at the same time wanting to protect them from all the bull. If you really want to shelter them, shouldn't you keep them, well, sheltered?

I think the point Palin was trying to make with her answer is this. When she first came onto the scene, she did what every other politician does - introduced her family. (I covered this before here.) Because no one had a clue who she was or who they were, a huge media vetting process kicked into gear, and apparently, they didn't consider the kids to be off limits.

People found her family fascinating. Some began attacking the kids or using the kids to attack their mom. A lot of rumors got started and a lot of conclusions were drawn about the kids and the family that weren't true. The haters attempted to paint the family as some kind of a freak show, and because the majority of the American public didn't know any better, many bought into that perception. How do you combat that? Do you just let the world continue thinking it, or do you let them in and show them what really goes on?

That's what this is. It's an attempt to correct the mischaracterization.

Grown adults who use the kids being on TV as an excuse to attack the kids boggle my mind. Now, Bristol is an exception. She herself has chosen to put herself in the spotlight. She's also a 20 year-old single mother who's more than capable of handling herself. Doesn't mean the stuff coming at her isn't disgusting; I'm just saying that there's no expectation that she won't be fodder for late-night jokes, etc...

Hmm - Update

Mediaite has a piece up on the Willow Facebook thingy, more specifically, on Mama Palin's reaction to it. My general position on this whole thing is that Willow is 16 years old and off limits. People say, "Oh, but she was in the TV show." So? I love how people seem to think that because the kid is visible then you're perfectly justified in saying whatever you want about them. Tripp and Trig are in the show too. Will TMZ be doing an expose' on Piper now? Bristol's an entirely different matter. She has put herself out there.

As for what actually occurred on the Facebook page, let's just say I've heard ten times worse in high school hallways (one of the reasons why I don't think you could pay me enough to get me to send my kids to a public school). Maybe I've seen one too many flame wars on the internet the last two years and am desensitized. That could also be a factor.

From Mediaite:

Palin is absolutely correct that the children of politicians ought to be off-limits to the media, or at least, that there ought to be a high bar set for newsworthiness. Similarly, Palin’s skill as a parent should not be considered fair game. Neither subject has any relevance to Palin’s career as a politician, or as a media figure, and decency dictates that they remain private.

What is relevant, though, is how Palin chose to respond to the incident.

Here’s a transcript of the relevant portion:

People probably think that my greatest frustration is the lies that are told in the tabloids and on hateful blogs full of anonymous sources about my family … and there are constant everyday lies that we have to read that are out there in the public. But my family and I…thick skin…we can take it, you know…we can take what the haters say despite the fact that there’s injustice in the situation.


I mean, look at the other day. Willow, finally, my 16 year old, she had had it up to here with somebody saying very, very hateful things about the family and saying mean things about her little brother Trig, and Willow finally responded and she used a bad word when she responded in defense of her family. And her response became national news, even hard news copy it turned into, so that’s ridiculous and I had to explain to her, “Willow, there is no justice here but you have to just zip your lip and let’s move forward.”

Perhaps most glaring is the fact that, in an interview in which she promises to restore journalism, Palin gets her facts wrong. The exchange to which she refers contains nary a mention of Trig Palin, and was touched off by a single negative comment about Palin’s reality show, Sarah Palin’s Alaska. Palin would have been perfectly justified had she chosen not to get into the details of the story, but since she did, she ought to have described them accurately.

Here's the Facebook exchange. It does indeed appear that the whole thing stemmed from a guy saying "Sarah Palin's Alaska is failing sooo hard right now." One of the more mild things anyone has ever said about the Palin family. Trig is nowhere to be found. (Now, if my mom were doing something like this and one of my facebook "friends" didn't like it, I may have reacted too, maybe with a few less swear words.)

Now, a couple of things here. First off, the Palin kids can't fight back against most of the cr** they get handed on a daily basis. This may have been a case of the straw that broke the camel's back. I've been tempted to do this myself a time or two. Frustrated to the extreme and I end up dumping all over someone or something that didn't have much to do at all with the real reason why I was upset. Maybe Willow saw something somewhere else that got her all riled up and she dumped all over this guy instead (but Bristol responded first, so I'm not sure how that works. But she gets cr** from all corners too). That's one option.

Another observation is that this is a screencap of one Facebook page, and it looks to me like the conversation is incomplete. Maybe it is complete, but there are some things that don't quite fit.

For example, notice how Willow talks to Matt when Matt hasn't even said anything yet. That doesn't make a whole lot of sense unless this conversation was also happening on other people's Facebook pages or this was a continuation of a previous conversation. There's a possibility that we're not getting the full picture here.

Yeah, this is all total speculation. :)

If it's none of the above, then maybe little cub pulled the wool over Mama Grizzly's eyes. That's what I would try to do, are you kidding me? You wiggle out of it however you can when you're that age.

If the FB screencap is indeed complete and none of my other options are legitimate (which I don't think I'll ever have any way of knowing) then I call BS on Mama's Grizzly's answer and wonder if she actually read the exchange.

I don't say any of this to disparage the Palin kids, on the contrary. As you'll see tonight in the third episode of Sarah Palin's Alaska, the kids are typical kids and Willow's pretty awesome. I'm just trying to sort out fact from fiction and get a grasp on what's actually happening here.

Monday, November 15, 2010

Chicago Meet-Up

I'm sure the C4P Meet-up Committee will have something to say about the ordinary barbarians' descent on Chicago, but in the meantime, here's my story.

This was my first meet-up, so I wasn't quite sure what to expect. I was a little nervous about meeting the people behind the avatars, but that nervousness dissipated when I ran into Nicole as we left to go have pizza. "What's your name?" she asked.

"Kelsey--" No time for anything else. She was already giving me a big ole' hug. And the whole experience just got better from there.

We walked to the pizza place. Sapwolf brought some of his huge Sarah posters and walked with them prominently displayed down the streets of Chicago. Gotta admire that guy's boldness. He let me have one of the post cards he had picked up from a Sarah Palin's Alaksa screening, so that was really cool.

There were at least a few PUMA's in our midst. Nicole, being a recovering democrat herself, was very excited to hear that. I ended up sitting across from Ron Devito and Nicole, and between hrh and someone I'm calling, "the Vegetarian." I run screaming from vegetables so it comes in handy to have a vegetarian in the vicinity. They can eat all the stuff that I refuse to touch. ;-)

S.E. Cupp was there signing books and we were all eating and chatting happily away, when a guy in another part of the restaurant realized that we were Palin supporters. He started yelling something to the effect of: "Sarah Palin's a moron!" The first time we ignored it, but he did it again, if not three times. Not surprising. It was Chicago, after all. I'm actually kind of shocked that no one else backed him up on it. He was a lone heckling wolf.

Well, Nicole being the spunky lady that she is jumped to her feet and pointed to herself and others around the table yelling, "Former Democrat! Former Democrat! Former Democrat!" Somewhere along the line the rest of us burst into a short chorus of "Sarah! Sarah! Sarah!" It all died down quickly.

After the dinner, Mia found the guy. He said that he just likes to cause trouble. Not wanting to leave the place with any hard feelings, Mia offered to buy him a drink. I believe he accepted.

We walked back to the hotel and who was standing outside? Tammy Bruce. We informed her of what had happened and she told us to answer with, "We believe in the Mayan calendar. The world is going to end for liberals in 2012 with two words: President Palin."

Yeah, baby!

Dr. Gina Loudon stayed up with us in the lobby that night just talking about Palin and telling us her own theories about how the 2012 race will shape up. She repeated much of what she said in her speech, and  I'm sure someone will post the speeches, so I won't reiterate it.

All of the speakers were amazing and so great for coming. But at the end of the day, there's no doubt that Tammy was the barn burner. (Side note, I got to ride in a cab with Thomas of Palin Promotions, Nicole, and the one and only Tammy Bruce. How cool is that?)

Saturday night we had dinner in a separate room of a restaurant. Tammy was the last speaker of the event and man, she let everybody have it. I get the feeling that she's not too fond of Karl Rove. Just a wee bit of a feeling. ;-)

Tammy picks up on the almost instinctive (dare I say, Providential?) nature of this whole thing better than anyone else I know. When the speeches are posted, you have got to watch hers, at least. Hers and Loudon's were my faves, but they were all great.

I kept an eye on the waiters during Tammy's speech. They didn't have much to do at that point, but a few of them hung around the back anyway and you could tell they were listening. It is Chicago, so I wasn't sure how they were taking it, but after she was done they clapped like crazy. I didn't see the next part, but I've heard from others that when Tammy went up to buy a drink later, the guy told her that it was on him. Maybe there's some hope for Chicago yet.

After dinner, this barbarian hit the hay, but I hear that many of my peers stayed up well into the wee hours of Sunday morning chatting in the lobby, and that Tammy stopped by to chat for awhile herself.

I don't have time to go into all the great people that I met, or the Governor's call (yes, she called in). If there's anyone I didn't say "hi" to, I apologize. I'm not the most outgoing person in the world, but if I hang around Nicole long enough, maybe some of her personality will rub off on me. :-)

Oh, and I met a fellow Norwegian, an actual true Norwegian who was born in Norway and moved here. Sweet.

Let's just say that it was definitely worth it and my hat is off big time to the people who put it all together. If at all possible, I'll be at the next meet-up, that's for sure. Gotta hang with my fellow barbarians.

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Bristol Palin on the Bob and Mark Show - Nov 9, 2010

Bristol was on the Bob and Mark show yesterday morning. She addresses the "Tea Party votes are keeping her on!" thing at the end:



Oh, and she made it by the way. Kurt Warner got the boot.

Monday, November 8, 2010

SPAlaska

Here are the latest three pics I could find, courtesy of Brittany at Team Sarah:




Love this one           ^^^.

And some nice photoshop work too -



Not enough room to post 'em all, so here's a slideshow of what pics have surfaced so far.



The New Yorker

Nancy Franklin (whoever that is) wrote a review of "Sarah Palin's Alaska" for the New Yorker. Take a moment to be impressed by the number of commas in the first sentence:

When it was announced, in the spring, that Sarah Palin would be making a reality show about Alaska, the state she grew up in and then, last year, blew off, by resigning the governorship, I’m sure I winced and groaned and rolled my eyes, before hanging my head, shaking it, and emitting a deep sigh, and then repeating the sequence several times.

Magnificent. Meghan McCain would be proud. I won't bother covering the entire article as its mostly Ms. Franklin trying to impress her audience with how very smart she thinks she is, but here are a few things that stuck out to me.

And what could Palin’s agenda possibly be? Supposedly, it was to show us the wonders of Alaska (the show is called “Sarah Palin’s Alaska,” after all), to acquaint us with the state’s resources and its people, and, to some extent, with her own family.


Well, you just answered your own question, Nancy. That's exactly what the show is about. To take the Lower 48 on a tour of Alaska and to give us some fun behind-the-scenes glimpses into the Palin's lives in the process. It's good, clean, family-friendly entertainment. The election's over. Can't we just forget all that for awhile? Relax and enjoy, Nancy. Just breathe... Apparently not.

Moreover, you might ask, how seriously will people take her as a political candidate—a Presidential candidate—once she has participated in a reality show? ....


But if Palin fails to win elective office in the future it probably won’t be because she did a reality show; it will be because of real-world reality—a shift in the political climate or a strong opponent.

Since the sitting President appears on reality shows, I don't think anybody really cares. Times are changin'. As for appearing "Presidential," this show isn't about that. If Palin wants to look Presidential she'll run for President and look that way. That's not the point of the show. Oh, sure, sometimes she'll say something political. She can't divorce herself entirely from that aspect of her life, but those moments are few and far between.

Why she thought that was a good idea, considering that she complained regularly about the media’s intrusion into her family life when she was John McCain’s running mate in 2008 (while, at the same time, frequently putting her children on display), is a mystery.

Actually, I recall her being upset when people would attack the kids. That's about it.

Palin has an interesting family background, which she describes in her book “Going Rogue,” and I was hoping that she might explore that, and that she might reveal something profound about her avowed love of nature. I’ve seen only one episode of the show so far, but I’m not optimistic. We do meet her parents, but nearly every other moment comes across as calculated—including, in the first episode, the absence of her daughter Bristol—and we find out nothing about Alaska that we didn’t learn in elementary school. I know that some Americans think Palin is stupid, but I never realized that she thinks we’re stupid.

Well, given some of what she heard in the 2008 campaign, I wouldn't be surprised if she thought the Lower 48 was completely ignorant when it comes to Alaska. At least Ms Franklin finds Palin's family background interesting.

Ms. Franklin's idea that the absence of Bristol from the first episode is somehow "calculated" is weird. Bristol is in the show, just not the first ep. They seem to have done the show largely on the fly; whoever was around or wanted to tag along went on the various adventures. Apparently Bristol wasn't available to go glacier-climbing. Odd thing for Ms. Franklin to even bring up.

When a bear growls, Palin says, “You hear that? That is a growl.” And then, “Wow.” And then “Wow” again. And then “Wow” again.

And your play-by-play commentary is truly fascinating. I think I just fell asleep for a split second.

Next, we go to Denali National Park. This time, Palin’s sixteen-year-old, Willow, gets dragged along, but when weather forces the plane to turn back, and the Palins have to postpone for a day, Willow is allowed to beg off. (“My back hurts,” she says. Right. What probably hurts is that she’s stuck in this family.

Either Ms. Franklin has no kids or has never been a teenager herself. I used to beg off of things all the time, usually just so I could have the house to myself for a couple of hours. Why that's fun when you're a teenager, I don't know, but it is.

I can’t say what Palin is really up to with this show. She seems to want viewers to think that she’s conflicted about public life. She says that she’d “rather be doing this than in some stuffy old political office” and “a poor day of fishin’ beats even a great day of work.” In that spirit, I wish Palin many, many days—years—of fishin’, starting now.

"a poor day of fishin’ beats even a great day of work.."

I think my Dad has that bumper sticker.

You know, it is genuinely more fun to be out enjoying the great outdoors than it is to be cooped up inside pushing papers around. Try not to overthink this, Nancy.

You're a TV critic. It's your job to write Lefty, snarky pieces for the New Yorker. I get that. But, Nancy, if you're serious about this article, then I think you've forgotten how to just kick back and enjoy life. Relax, grab some popcorn, try to put aside your snark for an hour and watch it again. You'll enjoy it.

Friday, November 5, 2010

Crazy Candidates - UPDATE

A co-worker and I were discussing the election on November 1st. The conclusion: "If the GOP wins 65 seats they'll say that if it hadn't been for Palin they'd have won 66." Same kind of sentiment with regards to the Senate. Apparently the largest gains in recent GOP history aren't enough. If Palin would just go away we could have more!

As far as I'm concerned the GOP should be on its knees humbly thanking their Maker for another chance. Either do it right this time or hit the highway for good as far as I'm concerned. Trust has been broken.

I'm satisifed with the election results. Re-taking the Senate was not something I wanted anyway. I want the GOP to stay hungry. What did we gain, 6 seats? I think it was 6. I don't think we lost any.

The WaPo has taken it upon itself to bemoan the GOP's election losses:

Even a vast political victory does not change an iron law of politics: The quality of candidates matters. Serious, mainstream Republican Senate candidates could have won in Delaware and Nevada. But Christine O'Donnell was not serious. And Sharron Angle - warning of "Second Amendment remedies" in case of political loss - was not mainstream. Weak, poorly vetted Senate candidates were the main reason that while Republican gains in the House were historic - the largest in 72 years - gains in the Senate were not.

O'Donnell and Angle were gifts of Sen. Jim DeMint and Sarah Palin to their party. Tea Party enthusiasm and shallow ideological purity were supposed to be better than outdated, "establishment" attributes such as achievement, wisdom or qualification. This approach to politics is expected of DeMint, who has gained national prominence by accusing his Republican colleagues of compromise. Coming from Palin, however, it is a threat to the Republican future.

Ah, yes. That achievement, wisdom and qualification that lead us to brilliant proposals like cap and trade.

O'Donnell and Angle were gifts of DeMint and Palin? I don't know DeMint's political history so I won't get into that, but I will address the Palin aspect.

Palin never endorsed Angle in the primary. She didn't endorse anyone in the primary, although her Dad and brother stumped for Danny Tarkanian. After the primary who was she supposed to support, Harry Reid? I will be the first to say that Angle made mistakes, but that's what happens when you're a rookie candidate. The Tea Party has brought many political newbies to the forefront, and they're just getting started. They'll be back.

As for O'Donnell, Palin endorsed her I think a few days before the primary. I'm all for crediting Palin for her endorsement power, but the truth is that O'Donnell probably would have beaten Castle anyway. O'Donnell was then facing an uphill battle for Joe Biden's old seat in a deep blue state against everyone, including Republican organizations who would have left her hung out to dry entirely if it had not been for the rage of the party base at that idea.

Mr. Gerson assumes that if we had run Mike Castles in Nevada and Delaware that they would have won. How he knows this is anybody's guess, but my personal opinion is that we've already got a couple moderate RINO headaches to deal with. Definitely don't want one more named Mike Castle.

Gerson continues:

Palin's support for O'Donnell showed poor political judgment. But Palin went further, also endorsing Constitution Party gubernatorial candidate Tom Tancredo in Colorado, one of the most divisive figures in American politics.

Gerson will note that Colorado's governorship went to a Democrat. After winning the Republican primary, Dan Maes went on to implode with people un-endorsing him left and right. Endorsing Tancredo was a last-ditch attempt to save the Governor's mansion from the Dems. It didn't work anyway. The Democrat got 51%, Tancredo came in second with 37% and Maes got a whopping 11%. Even if Maes and Tancredo had morphed into one guy the Democrat still would have won. I'm sure someone can find some way to blame Palin for that too.

I seem to recall President Obama praising left-wing nut Alan Grayson as an outstanding member of Congress last year. Grayson lost by 18 points to Palin endorsee Daniel Webster last Tuesday. I wonder when Gerson will write an article about Dems concerned about Grayson or Pelosi and Obama's support for them.

The whole thing is silly. When it comes down to it you rally around your teammate, no matter how "nutty" the media makes them out to be (unless they're truly insane with people locked in their basement).

Yes, Gerson, quality of candidate does matter. That I will agree with. Now please explain to me how Mr. "This War is Lost" Reid is of better quality than Sharron Angle or Christine O'Donnell.

Hindsight is 20/20. Conservatives will evaluate their performances this year, figure out what worked and what didn't and come back later even stronger. In the meantime, for Pete's sake, we did great. Don't get bogged down by the two or three losses. You can't win 'em all.

At least all this talk of extremism gives me an excuse to watch this video again:




UPDATE: RAM (Rebecca Mansour who works for Palin) pretty much confirms my explanation of the Angle and Tancredo situations on Twitter:

FTR: Palin didn't endorse anyone in the NV GOP Senate primary.But she got behind Angle when she won - just as all good conservatives should.

FTR: Palin endorsed Tancredo days before the election (when the GOP candidate was polling at 5%).

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Media Malpractice Re-Release

John Ziegler was on the Bob and Mark Show this morning talking about his documentary on the media coverage of Obama vs. Palin in 2008. It's about to be re-released and is now available on satellite as Video on Demand. Direct TV has it for sure, supposedly through April of next year. You can find it in their listings. If you haven't seen it yet, I would encourage you to watch it on demand as it's cheaper than buying the DVD. But I'm not sure what all the VOD presentation will include. Probably just the movie itself. I doubt it will have the special feature of Ziegler's entire, unedited Palin interview which is on the DVD.

Anyway, he had a fun conversation with Bob and Mark:



I know Ziegler gets a little crazy sometimes, but I'll keep promoting the movie because it is a nice takedown of the media in 2008. He even includes a section on the Katie Couric interview. I highly recommend it.

Website here - http://howobamagotelected.com/

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

The Election

Well, the results are in, most of them anyway.

First off, I want to say that this is the first time I've ever actually gone to the polls in a general election. Before I've always had to do absentee or early. It was kinda cool.

For once I'm actually pretty proud of Wisconsin (channeling Michelle Obama). Doyle is out!! Woot!! Scott Walker is in. I don't know much about Walker. He's famous in another part of the state, but the people I know from that part of the state say he's fantastic. Here's hoping that he cleans up that cesspool in Madison. They describe him as a kind of Chris Christie without the in-your-face attitude or the big gaping liberal holes.

Ron Johnson made it too. My guy didn't win for Congress though. Oh, well. It was kind of a long shot that he would anyway.

As for the rest of the country, I'm satisfied. Won the House, not the Senate, exactly like I hoped. Palin's candidates did pretty well. A few major bummers like Jackie Walorski. I was hoping she would get it. Ruth McClung lost too, but she came really close considering the Democrat district she was running in. Last I saw she only lost by 2 points. That's pretty amazing. I still think there's a future for that girl.

Ayotte won big time! So much for Palin killing off her chances. O'Donnell lost, but I don't think that's a huge surprise. Exit polls show Castle would have lost too, so whoopde. I clung to a shred of hope that Christine could pull it off, but it was a long shot.

California elected Jerry Brown. LOL!!! Now that's funny. From a safe distance in a state far away, I have to say I'm getting ready to enjoy the show. The man is a fruitcake.

I wish Fiorina could have pulled it off, but if California would elect Brown (I mean, really???) then I don't think there was much hope for anybody but Boxer. (Brown, really???)

Nevada though gets my head shake of the evening. With unemployment through the roof you seriously voted back in Harry Reid? I expect that kind of reckless behavior from CA, but the land of the casinos? You couldn't take a chance on Angle?

On the bright side, we'll have "Dingy Harry" to kick around for another few years.

It looks like a chunk of Alaska Democrats voted for Murkowski. I don't think that race will be decided for awhile yet, but it doesn't look good for Miller at this point. Oh, well. Hope he pulls it off, but he really caught lightning in a bottle when he won the primary. Lisa's supporters stayed home before because no one thought he had a chance. They weren't going to make the same mistake twice, and McAdams was a weak enough candidate that Dems were willing to vote for Lisa just to screw Miller.

That's my theory anyway. I could be wrong. I know people will start saying this means Alaska rejects Palin or whatever, but I know a couple of guys who were leaning Murky, one was definitely supporting Murky, and these guys are also big Palinistas. Do the names "Bob and Mark" ring a bell?

Let 'em spin it however they want. What we got out of this was a revelation of what Lisa is really made of, and it ain't pretty. That alone was worth the price of admission.

But, I'm going off the assumption that he lost. Like I said, we won't know for awhile yet.

All in all, a good day. Lost some, won a lot. Lots of great people headed for Congress. Rand Paul, Sean Duffy, and Allen West just to name a few. This is going to be fun.

Saturday, October 30, 2010

Mockeries

Operation Alaska Chaos. I have to say, it warmed the cackles of my cold, cold heart when I read about a woman carting an oxygen tank behind her as she went to sign up as a write-in candidate for Senate in Alaska. She was upset that the state was allowing a list of the write-in candidates. She signed up herself as a form of protest. I think I'd vote for that woman if I wasn't vested in Miller for Palin's sake.

Oh, I know, Miller's a great guy, but still. Only in Alaska. If I lived there, you'd better believe I would have signed up. (sigh) I think it's awesome.

As for Lisa calling it a mockery of the process, you're the mockery, Lisa. This is to protest the lows that you're so willing to stoop to. Heaven forbid you lose that seat. If you can do it, they can do it. Period. I hope you get your butt kicked next Tuesday.

The court came back and said that the list will only be available on a restricted basis or something. In other words, if someone comes up and specifically asks for help in spelling a certain name, they can help the person with the correct spelling. Not sure how I feel about that.

But here's what I do know: Lisa has been running as a write-in candidate for quite some time now. If you are bent on writing in her name and you don't know how to spell it at this point.... Let's just say I have no sympathy for you.

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

DWTS - Sarah and Bristol Video, the Dance, and Backstage

First off, paparazzi vid. What a life, sitting up high somewhere waiting for a celebrity to walk by. Sarah gets out of the car with Trig and another lady has Tripp. Tripp throws a few punches:




The Tango:




After the show:

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Qualifications - Update

http://newsminer.com/bookmark/9959325

So very sorry to vent here, but to post a comment there you gotta go through this whole sign-up process now and it's just not worth it.

I just wanted to take apart the troll logic for a moment.

No qualifications required other than live in the city limits for a year, etc... And the trolls yuk it up.

Um, yeah. That's pretty much the case for every office in America. You know there aren't really any "qualification requirements" to be President either, right? You just gotta be a natural-born citizen and 35 or older. Tens of millions of US citizens meet those requirements. Doesn't mean they, or Levi, have a snowball's chance in a very hot place of being elected to anything.

Palin-haters have the maturity level of two-year-olds. My apologies to those currently going through the Terrible Twos.

The implication of course is that this means being Mayor is no big deal, therefore Palin is no big deal, etc... Heh. Sure, Levi. You just keep telling yourself that when you get a total of two votes on election day.

Jealous, jealous little boy.

Update -

I decided to look it up because I suspected you have to spend a certain amount of time in the US to qualify to run for Prez, and sure enough - http://www.presidentsusa.net/qualifications.html.

Have to live here for 14 years.

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Speeches and TLC

Howdy. What's up?

Sorry I don't keep up here as much as I should. I've taken to using Twitter lately instead of the blog to fire off my random thoughts. You can follow me @barbaricblog if you don't already.

Palin's speech in Anaheim last night was awesome. The best (IMHO) since the RNC convention. I absolutely loved when she took on the Delta smelt. People are more important than a two-inch fish.

I think my favorite part (besides the fish) was when she told the media that she would invoke Reagan: "Again, and again, and again, and again..."

Like rubbing salt in the wound. I could feel liberals wincing.

It also set me to thinking about how great Reagan really was. We have his example to look back on; he pioneered.

I'm not comfortable with calling Palin "Reagan reincarnate" or Thatcher or anyone else. I see similarities with them and many others and often make comparisons, but Palin is also her own unique self.

In other news, TLC has new pics out, in case you haven't seen them yet.



I can hear the criticism now. "She doesn't actually do those things, it's just for the reality show!"

Uh-huh. Sure. Exhibits C, D, E, & F.

I'm sure way back when Sarah Palin was, ya know, four or five and her Dad was teaching her how to skin a seal she was thinking, "Better get my bonafides down for the reality/travelogue show that I'll do someday." Right.

Now, I'm sure her schedule is far too packed to go hunting or fishing every day, especially over the past few years since her political career really ramped up, but the idea that she wasn't raised to know the outdoors and that she never hunts or fishes is patently absurd and easily disproven, so shut your PDSing traps all ye who hail gossip in Vanity Fair articles as the gospel truth. (Wow. That was a long and possibly grammatically incorrect sentence. Grammar. Pffft.)

I sent this clip to my parents, and my mom sent it to all of her friends. I might actually talk her into watching the show:

Friday, October 8, 2010

Bristol in Fargo

Drove all day Thursday from my home to Fargo, ND and back. I was curious to hear what Bristol had to say and I've been itching to get out of the house for a change. A road trip on a beautiful, crisp autumn day seemed like just the ticket. And it was a beautiful ride. Autumn colors, Minnesota lakes all over the place, sky clear and as blue as blue can be making the water equally as blue, contrasting with the trees. Crisp, but not too cold.

Once I got to Fargo, it took me 20 minutes to find the Holiday Inn where she was speaking, but I need not have rushed. They said they got about 200 more people than they planned for and the line was still long. I estimate that they started half an hour late because of it. All in all, over 1,000 in attendance.

Unlike the last time I went to a Palin event, I didn't take any notes. You can't really enjoy it when you take notes, so if I get a few quotes wrong... Consider this my disclaimer.

First off, the Perry Center seems like a wonderful organization. Patricia Larson, the Administrator of Perry Center, choked up a number of times telling the story of how the Center was founded and her involvment in the ministry. Basically, they're a home for girls ages 12 to 23 (although exceptions are made for other ages) who get pregnant and don't know what to do.

Patricia told the story of how she graduated college just before the passage of Roe vs. Wade. She never really thought about abortion until she heard that an abortion clinic was being opened nearby. Inside she felt that this was very wrong, but she wasn't sure how to help. Her husband (she calls him the idea man) was away doing ministry work at the time. He called her up soon after and said, "Well, I did it." He had put an ad in the personal section of the paper:

"Pregnant? Call us first."

That was it. About six people responded in just the first week. Patricia found herself in the business of helping overnight, encouraging these young women, telling them that they are not junk, their lives have meaning. The baby they're carrying is not a mistake, it's a life God wants to use. Don't throw it away; there are other options.

One day a doctor came up to Patricia at church and offered to do whatever he could in addition to his regular practice. His name was Dave Perry. He often delivered the babies free of charge and sometimes provided emergency medical treatment to girls who were suffering from a botched abortion.

One of the more heart-wrenching parts of the story was when Patricia told of the first time she ever held signs in front of their local abortion clinic. It wasn't something she wanted to do; she felt that her strengths laid elsewhere, but she got talked into trying it for at least one hour.

The hour was almost up with her opinion unchanged, when a big Cadillac pulled up in front of the clinic. A well-to-do man and his wife got out of the front seat, went around to the back, and pulled their daughter out. She looked to be about 15. She was sobbing. "Someone help! I don't want to kill my baby, don't make me kill my baby!" They drug her in anyway.

That was it. Patricia was in with both feet, even for sign-waving.

Learn more about the Perry Center and about how you can help - http://www.perrycenter.org/

They showed this video in the introduction:



Anyway, on to Paliny things.

Scott Hennen, a regional conservative radio celebrity, was the Master of Ceremonies. He got fired up. I wish I had video of his introduction alone. He was praising Sarah Palin up and down, Bristol as well. C4P linked the interview he had done with Bristol earlier that day.

He told about how he was down and bored to tears in August of 2008 with McCain. "Is this the best we've got?"

He was talking to a friend of his, and his friend turned to him and said, "Don't you know the Barracuda?" Scott said no. His friend proceeded to tell him about the Governor of Alaska, former basketball player nicknamed 'the Barracuda.'

About a week later, she was announced as John McCain's VP pick.

I wish I could remember everything he said, but here's an example:

When something needs fixing, who do you call? "Moooooom!!!"

Deficits, government out of control... "Mooooooom!!!"

We're all here for a reason. That's her reason. That's why she's here.

He had me grinnin' from ear to ear. His speech was about as close you can get to an endorsement without technically endorsing. It was also so cute the way he talked about wanting Tripp to play hockey for the North Dakota Sioux. (That also reminded me of this stupidity. I demand they ban the "Fighting Irish!" stereotype as well /s. I'm sorry, but "Fighting Sioux" is a compliment. It's cool. What do you want to be called, the Knitting Sioux?)

Anyway....

Bristol got up after a couple more speakers. She was pretty nervous, I think. Not big-time outwardly, but she's shy by nature. It manifested itself in her speaking softly. An audience of 1,000+ has got to be nerve-wracking (I absolutely hated my speech classes). The audience was eager to cheer Bristol on and encourage her in her efforts. It had a feeling of them being there for her just as much, if not more, as her being there for them.

Hm, what to tell? There are a couple of really cute anecdotes she shared, but I'm not sure how detailed I should get. Janne has a general rundown.

She said she believes life begins at conception. She talked briefly about Baby Doe, the child with down syndrome who was left to starve to death. The man who pressured Congress to adopt the Baby Doe Law to make sure something like that would never happen again, Dr. Koop, talks about it and Reagan here. Ted Kennedy actually deserves a pat on the back for his role in the process as well.

She emphasized that her family was your typical, middle American family. The fact that the media looks at her family as if they came from another planet just shows you how out of touch the media really is. She talked about how, when she got pregnant, one of the things that made it so hard was everything else that was going on in their lives at the time. Big Brother about to go off to a war zone, a brand-new baby brother in the house, already-hectic schedules, etc... And now this.

Okay, I have to share a couple of the cute anecdotes, and then I'll leave it at that.

This wasn't her first trip to North Dakota. Track went to a hockey camp at UND, and Bristol said that they all hopped in the mini van and drove down to surprise him.

(According to Sarah at Faulker University, they were ready to do the same thing for Bristol. Just hop in the camper, drive down, and park alongside Bristol's place. I love how they don't seem to give a second thought to what anyone else would think about it. It's their family; it's what they do. They show up for each other.)

One more story. She said that at one of her basketball games, her dad showed up in the middle still in his hunting camo. He had just skinned a moose. He might have looked a little out of place but for the fact that he was in good company; Mom had arrived still in her camo a few minutes before.

The audience was really cool. Seemed like there were a lot of churches present, and again, it was like they were there to really encourage Bristol. Scott Hennen emphasized that God has a plan for Bristol and for Tripp. There's nothing like a salt-of-the-earth old church guy throwing his arm around you when you're young and telling you that you've got purpose. You're going to do something great for God one day.

At the very end, Scott got up again and made a pitch to donate to the Perry Center. Then a local pastor gave the closing prayer. He said that they had come up with the idea that they should pray for Bristol, and that's exactly what they did.