Iron Dog Update - UPDATED

Tracey Porreca has a cool account of the Iron Dog and a link to some pics of this year's race start. Palin/Davis team from this year pictured above.

There was some concern that Scott Davis had crashed and hurt his back. You can follow some of the concern here, on Eddie Burke's Twitter:

I have rode w/ scott davis many times and hes the best! been doing it since he was kid! motocross too. hes tough and will make it if he can.

it appears frm my exp running the race that Todd and Scott are @ Puntilla lk..takin layovr ..leaders are pushing to McGrath for layovr

it all jives now! scott crash on river.prob lots ice heavs! sleeping in Puntilla lk to rest and push fwd n morning>. hopefully???

they went to Puntilla lk then machines are ok! scott is prob sore, but still pressing forward.. scotts tough he will make it.

IronDog Fb comment: Looks like it was Davis's handlebar that was damaged. Crashed going into Skwentna.

As far as anyone knows, Team 22 is taking a layover in Puntilla and will hopefully be back on the trail in the morning.

According to the Frontiersman, conditions are bad this year. While it's dumping snow in Washington D.C., it's all melty up in Alaska. More dirt in some places than snow. This year, it's about getting across the finish line in one piece.

UPDATE:

You've probably heard by now that the Davis/Palin team scratched. Apparently, Davis got roughed up a bit and the snowmachine got roughed up even more. Major Bummer. These guys train all winter for this race. But, it's better to rest and heal and come back next year than to screw something up permanently.

Apparently, a few teams are having to scratch, with probably more to come. Conditions are just not good this year.

Happy Sunday!

Iron Dog kick-off day. You should be able to track the race here.

Predictably, today's videos focus on Todd:






And, come on, how sweet is this:

Iron Dog

Sarah Palin tweets:

Family is getting ready for Todd's IronDog race tomorrow; I'm watching @GlennBeck on TV now giving #CPAC speech, while racers are in garage.

Yep, it's that time of year again.

Time to finish up those last-minute ceremonial things....

Coax the kids down off the snowmachine...

Put that flattering anti-frostbite tape on your face....

Do some last-minute tune-ups....

Sign a few autographs....

Give the wife one last ride around the starting line....

Gear up for a few days of moose soup with the guys....

Kiss the wife and kids goodbye....

And it's off to the races!

Have fun, drive safe. Try to avoid broken limbs and broken snowmachines....

We're rooting for a win, but no matter what, you're still one cool dude.

Just come back safe. And, uh, try not to do anything crazy....

Good luck!

For your viewing pleasure, this video compiles a lot of my favorite moments from the Iron Dog last year. The Iron Dog fun starts at around 5 minutes in:



And no Iron Dog would be complete without this video of Todd after his first Iron Dog win in 1995:

Where Was Todd?

I can hear it now: "Todd wasn't at the Daytona 500! And on Valentine's Day! They really do hate each other!"

Oh, shut up.

To put it simply, nothing comes between a man and his snowmachine. Daytona will just have to wait.
Todd is back in Alaska gearing up for the Iron Dog. JohnDoeAt30Below over on C4P even talked to him on Saturday:

Had a long talk with Todd yesterday, he looks fit and ready. I told him how proud I was of him, Sarah and the family for handling all the mud slung at him and I told him I thought it would have ended by now. He just said, "That goes to show you how much the media tries to control things."

FWIW, Todd is essentially a pretty quiet guy and doesn't like to discuss politics. Talk snow or hunting or the outdoors and his eyes light up.

Todd has to get ready for the Iron Dog. Tech inspection/autograph session yesterday afternoon, starting draw and banquet last night.

Well, there ya go.

The race itself kicks off on the 21st and ends on the 27th. Go Piper's dad!

I'm Baaaaack

Wow. What a week. Should I even try to catch up?

I watched the Tea Party Convention on C-SPAN last night. I enjoyed the panel before Palin's speech as well. Good stuff. Everybody hyped up the TPNC speech, making it out to be the next RNC speech, but I doubted it. This was not for a campaign.

Apparently, there's some controversy over Palin writing on her hand. I kid you not. Some say that the pics of the writing are faked. I don't know. I don't really care. It's a stupid non-issue. But I'm lovin' this:



"Hi, Mom!" She has way too much fun.

As for the Todd Palin emails, all I can say is, thank you anklebiters. I have enjoyed the inside look at the Palin administration with the previous email dumps, and I'm enjoying this one. And Todd's role is highly overrated, but I'll have more on that later.


Haven't seen the Chris Wallace interview yet; I'm still in Super Bowl mode.

Here's some Tammy Bruce. A few days old, but still good:




My take on the Palin vs. Rahm thing is pretty much the same as Sean Hannity's:



Great articles in Hillbuzz. One on how "polarizing" Palin is here. And this one is my favorite:

Today is Ronald Reagan’s 99th birthday.

Next year is his centennial.

We believe one year from today Sarah Palin will officially declare her bid for the presidency, with the Reagan family at her side.

There’s a chance she’ll do this in Tampica, Illinois and not Wasilla, Alaska.

Governor Palin, if you ever read this, we hope you know you’ve got a ground team ready and willing to start hitting Iowa for you. You need to start early and not wait too long to get on top of the Caucus. Learn from the mistakes we all made on the Clinton ‘08 campaign.

You can and will be the 45th president if you want it, Governor. We will do everything we can to help you.

One year from today, when you announce, we hope to be there in person to cheer you on.

Go, Sarah, Go!

Okay, I'll leave you alone for now. Good night Bill589, wherever you are!

SP Video Sunday (and Happy Birthday Tripp!)

Although it's nearly Monday, I figured I'd post a couple of things for any late night/early morning Palin fans.

I would like to start with a quote that's been running through my mind. I see the world go crazy, especially the elite media, over Sarah Palin. They don't know what to make of her. They can't figure her out. Andrea Mitchell said recently that it's scary. I think God is sitting up in heaven getting a kick out of all of this. I Corinthians 1:26-28:

"Not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:

But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;

And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are.

I know that theologically these verses have a different application, but they've been running through my mind recently nonetheless.

Next, the article in People magazine on Palin's Wild Ride can be found here. Excerpts:

The purse, called a Possibilities Bag, was made by some friends back home. "It's otter. They hunt it, they eat it, they make a bag." Why the name? "A man gives it to his wife," Palin says with a playful lift of her eyebrows, "and then he has possibilities."

"There are a lot of shackles when you are in an elected position. So if I believe it's best for my family and country that I assist minus those shackles, then I will go down that path." She sounds perfectly content when she adds, "I do my work from a kitchen table now."

"He [Trig] is just so cool," says Palin, breaking into a grin. "He knows he has us wrapped around his little finger." The family has all learned sign language and Trig signs for "milk." Palin admits that she aches to hear "Mama," but right now she is teaching Trig to sign, "I love you." He and their grandson Tripp—Bristol's 11-month-old son with ex-boyfriend Levi—are "growing up more like brothers," she says.

With or without political office, she has a very full life, and that, she says, may be the best revenge. "There's a toast that Todd and I love: 'May we always be happy, and may our enemies know it!'"

Oh, and today is Tripp's first birthday! Happy birthday, Tripp!



You're getting big fast!

Now for a couple of vids. First, in the spirit of winter, Todd winning his first Iron Dog in 1995:


And now here's an interview Sarah gave to a Canadian show called The Hour last January:


And finally, a couple more People magazine shots:

A Few Goodies

Just popped in to upload a few screencaps from the Oprah interview. Click on 'em to get a bigger picture. I'll add more later:

More Snippets From Book

The Daily Beast has more snippets from Sarah from Alaska. Again, I don't know what's fact and what's fiction; it's fascinating either way:

"McCain's aides literally turned the lights out on Palin when she retook the stage later that night [of the concession] to take pictures with her family, fearing that she would give the concession speech after all.

"Not only was (Palin) denied the opportunity to speak, but there was no real post-campaign celebration with the McCains," the authors write. "Instead, Palin and her entourage accidentally ran into McCain in the parking lot as they were making a quiet exit. McCain's wife Cindy was already in the Chevy suburban when Palin halted them by calling out, 'John, is that you?'"

The Daily Beast was given copies of the speeches Palin could not deliver, concession as well as victory. The victory speech included this line: "And I said to my husband Todd that it's not a step down when he's no longer Alaska's 'First Dude.' He will now be the first guy ever to become the 'Second Dude.'"

Lines from the undelivered concession speech:

“If [Obama] governs America with the skill and grace we have often seen in him, and the greatness of which he is capable, we’re gonna be just fine.”

“Now it is time for us go our way, neither bitter nor vanquished, but instead confident in the knowledge that there will be another day.”

“I told my husband Todd to look at the upside: Now, at least, he can clear his schedule, and get ready for championship title number five in the Iron Dog snow machine race!”

New Video

This is a really cool interview from Oct. 3, 2006. The Bob and Mark Show call Sarah Palin at home, Todd picks up. Check it out:

Awwwwww.....

Todd Palin has resigned from his job on the North Slope, at least for now. Sidenote: I hate how the AP puts all the garbage they can find in the article. All they had to do was say, "Todd resigned." (Sigh) Anyway, I just thought the pic on the article was cute.

Which led me to thinking about other cute pics:

And that's all. Just some fluffy bunny stuff for a Sunday.

Palin at Hong Kong Airport

Palin-Hunting

Every now and then I do searches into the remote areas of the web to see if there's some video clip or picture or article out there with Sarah Palin's name on it that I haven't seen yet. When I find something I'll call the post, "Palin-Hunting" and will post the link or video or whatever. Here's some of my latest finds:

Sarah Palin Happy Family?!
Uploaded by TECHNOLOGOS. - Family events, birthdays and parenting videos.

Enjoy! (more later)

Sarah, Todd, and Piper at a shop campaigning for Governor

Picture of the Day: July 26, 2009

Simply adorable

Emails and the Alaska Independence Party

I find myself in an odd position (I'll explain later).

Which, if any, of these statements do you disagree with?

1. All political power is inherent in the people; that all government originates with the people, is founded on their will only, is instituted to protect the rights of the individual.

2. All persons have a natural right to life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, and the enjoyment of the rewards of their own industry.

3. All persons are equal and entitled to equal protection under the law.

On board so far?

Good. What are the above statments? They are the preamble to the platform and goals of the Alaska Independence Party.

Here are some of their specific goals and tenants:

1. To effect full compliance with the constitutions of the United States of America and the State of Alaska.

2. To support and defend States' Rights, Individual Rights, Property Rights, and the Equal Footing Doctrine as guaranteed by the constitutions of the United States of America and the state of Alaska.

And a whole bunch of other things like gun rights, abolishing property taxes, etc...

Here is the link to their platform and goals. You will notice that there is no mention of secession.

I find myself in the strange position of having to defend the Alaska Independence Party.

Why?

Because of the emails that have surfaced between Palin and Schmidt about whether or not Todd was a believing member of that party.

Now, the Left would have you believe that the AIP is some radical, secessionist group that hates America.

On the contrary. I think they're closer to loving the principles of America than Washington D.C. is at this point.

They clearly state in their platform that they support the United States Constitution along with Alaska's. They are not a lawless, nuke-happy organization.

Now, I don't agree with all their tenants, and I doubt Todd does either, which is why the Palins say he registered as AIP by mistake. The AIP appears to lean libertarian, and I don't agree with all aspects of libertarianism, but there are some parts of it that are dead on. I don't throw out the baby with the bathwater.

Now, given the position that the AIP takes on the Constitution and the blatant disregard that the federal government seems to have for the Constitution these days, it would naturally follow that the AIP doesn't rule out secession.

As I've said before, good. That's that good old, independent spirit that said, "If Britain's going to ignore the law and push tyranny down our throats, we're not going to be part of Britain anymore."

Folks, that's not hating America. That's about as American as you can get.

So all this talk about whether or not Todd believed in the AIP, I believe, doesn't really matter anyway.

But since it is now a topic, let's investigate a little further.

As I've stated before, Sarah Palin alleged that Todd registered as part of the AIP by mistake, thinking that he was registering as Independent. Sarah Palin said in her emails to Schmidt that he caught his mistake when they moved and changed his party registration then.

Okay, let's break down the facts:

Todd was registered as a member of the AIP from 1995 to 2002, when he changed his registration. That's seven years, just like Sarah Palin said in her email to Schmidt (see the post below for the emails).

It is also worth noting that Sarah Palin registered as Republican her whole life.

As for the voter registration form itself, I couldn't find a pdf of a 1995 version of the form (I don't know if it has changed since then or not), but here's the current format:

You'll note that just plain "Independent" is not on the form, and Non-partisan and Undeclared are listed further down. If Todd just skimmed the form without looking too closely, I can see how it would be easy to check the wrong box. Inattentive, perhaps, but hardly scandalous.

Sarah Palin described the option in her email to Schmidt as "Alaska Independent." Again, I don't know if the 1995 registration form was different or the same, so I have no idea if she is lying, misremembering, or telling the truth. Remembering exactly what a piece of paper said that you didn't even sign from seven years prior is quite a feat anyway.

Before 2000, Alaska had blanket primaries where party affiliation didn't have anything to do with who you voted for, so if you made a mistake you would never have known it.

In 2002, the Palins moved to their current home in Wasilla. You only have to register to vote once, but when you move, you must change your address on the registration form. When they moved and went to change their addresses, Todd Palin checked a different box.

Now, as I've said, I don't really have any bone to pick with the AIP anyway. But I don't see any evidence that either one of the Palins are anything but Republicans. If Sarah Palin wanted to secede from the union, she wouldn't be so all-fired anxious to get the Trans-Canada pipeline built. She would be focused on the All-Alaska gasline, which is what Wally Hickel (who once ran on the AIP ticket) wanted her to focus on.

And then some have said, "Well, she went to the AIP convention in 2000."

Yes, and where was the AIP convention held in 2000? That's right, in Wasilla.

She was mayor; going to the convention was just a polite thing to do as part of her job. (For the record, she was registered as Republican at the time.)

Now, many members of the AIP support Sarah Palin. But it would be nearly impossible for this not to be the case since the AIP is the largest third party of any of the states.

Having said that, I think it's obvious that Sarah Palin (beyond the more obvious things like a firm belief in the Constitution and states' rights) does not adhere to many ideals of the AIP. If she did, she wouldn't have run for Vice President of the United States.

I would even go so far as to say she probably doesn't like the element of the party that does advocate secession, since she referred to the party in her email as "anti-American."

As Governor, she taped this video message for the AIP. In it she clearly referred to them as another party with different ideas and competing interests and that it was healthy to hear all voices in the debate, including theirs.

What on earth is wrong with those statements?

Some members of the AIP claim that Sarah Palin was a member of the party before she was mayor in 1996, but her registration records prove that she was Republican all the way from 1984 (in 1984, Sarah Palin was 20; it was also the first Presidential election year in which she could vote).

She does tend to lean a little libertarian, which is why, I think, most members of the AIP love her and some like to claim her as one of their own.

In conclusion, the Palins are not radicals, the AIP is not radical, and the Palins very much love the United States of America and haven't given up on it just yet. It's really no big deal, but people will grasp at any straw they can these days.

The AIP and the Band-Aid

The Vanity Fair piece is shedding alot of light onto the inner workings of the McCain campaign and its staffers, and I say, good. The more we know about these weasels, the better.

Many things have hit the fan, but I want to address two right now: Todd's involvement with the Alaska Independence Party, and Andrew Sullivan's fascination with Sarah Palin's band-aid.

First up, the AIP.

Some emails sent between Palin and Steve Schmidt about the question of Todd's registration with the AIP have surfaced. Here is Sarah Palin concerned with accusations about her husband being a member of the AIP:

"Pls get in front of that ridiculous issue that's cropped up all day today - two reporters, a protestor's sign, and many shout-outs all claiming Todd's involvement in an anti-American political party," Palin wrote. "It's bull, and I don't want to have to keep reacting to it ... Pls have statement given on this so it's put to bed."

Schmidt's response:

"Ignore it," he wrote. "He was a member of the aip? My understanding is yes. That is part of their platform. Do not engage the protestors. If a reporter asks say it is ridiculous. Todd loves america."

Palin's answer:

"That's not part of their platform and he was only a 'member' bc independent alaskans too often check that 'Alaska independent' box on voter registrations thinking it just means non partisan," Palin wrote. "He caught his error when changing our address and checked the right box. I still want it fixed."

And Schmidt's (long) reply:

"Secession," he wrote. "It is their entire reason for existence. A cursory examination of the website shows that the party exists for the purpose of seceding from the union. That is the stated goal on the front page of the web site.

Our records indicate that todd was a member for seven years. If this is incorrect then we need to understand the discrepancy. The statement you are suggesting be released would be innaccurate. The innaccuracy would bring greater media attention to this matter and be a distraction.

According to your staff there have been no media inquiries into this and you received no questions about it during your interviews. If you are asked about it you should smile and say many alaskans who love their country join the party because it speeks to a tradition of political independence. Todd loves his country We will not put out a statement and inflame this and create a situation where john has to adress this."

Palin did not reply, and no statement was issued.

For the record, I couldn't care less if Todd were a proud member of the AIP. Most, if not all bodies of land not directly attached to the Lower 48 (and some that are) have independence movements (Guam, Hawaii, etc...).

And the frustration level that would lead to advocating secession is understandable considering that no one in Washington wants to listen to Alaska on issues like ANWR and insists on telling them what they can and can't do with their own resources.

Many feel disenfranchised and unrepresented in Washington. This leads to that good old, independent spirit that led our founding fathers to cut themselves off from Great Britain.

There is nothing wrong with that spirit, if anything, it's healthy. It shows an aversion to tyranny and a longing to be free and to make decisions for yourself. It doesn't mean you're a radical wacko who wants to nuke the Pentagon.

The CBS article where I got the emails suggests that Palin lied about what the voter registration form actually said, and I don't know. I have never seen a voter registration form from Alaska, especially not from the year Todd registered. I don't even know what year that was, so I'm not going to go into that. It was at least seven years ago, and we can't remember every detail. I don't remember everything that happened yesterday, so, I don't really care about that part.

Now, if I were an actual journalist I would look up all of those things, but I'm not getting paid, so I don't really care. If it becomes an issue, I'll stretch myself. Beyond that...

Two points:

1. How many times does Schmidt think you register to vote? Annually?

If you made a mistake on your registration form (as in, thinking you were registering as Independent, but in fact as a member of the AIP), why would you change it? As far as you know, it's correct.

And if you think it's correct (I don't look at my initial voter registration every year to make sure it's still good) you will naturally just go along thinking all is well.

It wouldn't be until you had to change something on that form or redo your registration (like when you move and get a new address) that you would catch the problem and correct it, which is exactly what Sarah Palin said happened.

2. The problem with Schmidt is that he believed the accusations.

Schmidt was not in Palin's corner. He believed the accusations that Todd was a secessionist, etc... (Which, again, even if he was, I don't care). So rather than feel compelled to go out and correct the supposed misconception, his advice to Palin was to simply gloss it over with a smile and a non-answer.

Oh, that worked out real well. To this day there are questions swirling around this issue. The right thing to do would have been to find out all of the facts and to present them. Period.

Okay, enough of the Schmidt clown, on to the band-aid.


Andrew Sullivan in the Daily Dish seems real concerned with Sarah Palin's truthfulness. The most pressing thing on his mind today?

Her band-aid. (Yes, her band-aid.)

In her interview with Runner's World (which is an awesome interview, by the way) she said that she swore her security detail to secrecy and thought that no one knew about how she cut her hand while running.

Sullivan writes:

"I keenly remember watching the news the day of the big VP debate. I remembered as she came down the stairs off the plane in St. Louis that she had the bandage on the palm of her hand as she waved, and the newscaster told how she had injured her hand in a fall while running."

Notice that his accusation is not that she lied about her story, but that she lied about how many people knew about the story.

What?

That's not a lie, that's not knowing how many people knew about the story (like I've said before, she was in a bubble during the campaign). If this is an example of how dishonest Sarah Palin is, she's got nothing to worry about.

These people who claim they hate Palin so much, I actually think are obsessed with her. Only someone with an obsession would pick on something as innocuous as a band-aid.