Sarah Palin
Salon, etc. Trash Trig Truthers/UPDATE
April 22, 2011
Salon launched a two-fisted attack today on those who are not yet convinced that Sarah Palin gave birth to Trig. Justin Elliott’s “definitive debunker” is supported by former Anchorage Daily News reporter Wesley Loy’s recollection that–contrary to what he wrote at the time–Sarah actually did look pregnant in March, 2008.
That’s more than enough evidence for Jonathan Chait at The New Republic, whose blog post is headed, “Yes, Sarah Palin Is Trig’s Mom.”
The sudden wave of mainstream ridicule has not shaken the conviction of Jesse Griffin at The Immoral Minority, who says he’ll match his sources against Justin Elliott’s “any day of the week.”
All this comes at the end of a week that saw Huffington Post refuse to post Geoffrey Dunn’s article about the controversy, citing their “stated policy of not publishing conspiracy theory posts.” That’s a “policy,” by the way, that apparently does not apply to Donald Trump’s allegations that President Obama was not born in the United States. Business Insider was quick to step in, featuring Dunn’s post prominently.
For the moment, all I’ll say is that during my research for The Rogue, I spoke to an extremely knowledgeable source who had never before been willing to discuss the question of Trig’s birth. But my lips are sealed until September.
UPDATE:
Not only did Huffington Post refuse to publish Dunn’s fair-minded and carefully-reasoned analysis (and he’d been a regular contributor there for the past couple of years) but today they feature this Jason Linkins jeremiad.
Is it purely coincidence that so many are suddenly so intent on insisting that there are no legitimate questions to be asked?
From Chicago, on the road: Happy Birthday!
April 20, 2011
Conservatives4Palin wishes Trig a happy third birthday. As do I, and as I’m sure all of us do.
I’ll be back with you on Friday.
Thought this was a good week to take care of some personal stuff.
Wrong again.
“Just when I thought I was out…they pull me back in.”
Posted in Joe McGinniss, mainstream media, Palin children, Sarah Palin, Todd Palin, Trig Palin | 
Tags: conservatives4palin, wishful thinking | 
9 Comments »
I’m Traveling This Week
April 18, 2011
Probably no new posts until Friday. Thanks for all the comments.
–Joe
Fight Like a Girl
April 18, 2011
At the anti-labor Tea Party rally in Madison yesterday, Sarah said, “The 2012 elections begin here.”
The words of a non-candidate? Washington Times doesn’t think so.
They say her “rip-roaring…pep talk reminds why she would be a formidable candidate,” and that her
“charisma, authentic ‘woman of the people’ quality and common-sense, family-oriented conservatism”
could carry her “a lot of the way” to the White House.
All who have contempt for her can sit around the campfire and deride her.
But there is another America out there, thrilled and energized by what the Washington Times
calls her “weekend tour de force” in Wisconsin.
And then there is Sarah herself. No accident that she used the phrase, “Fight like a girl.”
It’s a Bomshel song that says:
“Hold your head high.
Don’t ever let them define
The light in your eyes.
Love yourself, give ’em Hell.
You can take on this world.
You just stand and be strong
And then fight
Like a girl.“Oh, with style and grace
Kick ass and take names…”
Not all of us would agree that Sarah is doing it with “style and grace,” but it would be naive
to think that she doesn’t still intend to “kick ass and take names.”
She’s already taken mine. I wonder if she knows how to spell it.
Posted in 2012, Sarah Palin, Tea Party | Tags: 2012 campaign, bomshell, fight like a girl, Sarah, Tea Party, washington times | 49 Comments »
Sarah Slides Further down Soap Opera Chute
April 17, 2011
A presidential candidate she might not be, but this week Sarah achieves an apotheosis of sorts by becoming a “True Hollywood Story” on E!
The show will air at 10 p.m. EDT this Thursday. Among the featured interviewees will be Alaskans Lyda Green, Anne Kilkenny and Shannyn Moore.
Like water, Sarah is constantly seeking her own level and it looks like this time she’s found it, given that recent episodes have featured Charlie Sheen and Sarah’s old camping buddy, Kate Gosselin.
Personally, I try to avoid TV shows–not to mention networks–that have exclamation points in their title.
Anybody want to watch for me so I don’t have to?
Posted in Sarah Palin | Tags: charlie sheen, E!, kate gosselin, Sarah Palin, soap opera, true hollywood story | 23 Comments »
Dunn Writing Commentary on Scharlott Paper
April 15, 2011
My friend Geoffrey Dunn–whose book, The Lies of Sarah Palin, will be published next month–is working on a piece for Huffington Post about the Brad Scharlott Trig Hoax paper and various responses to it. Don’t know yet when HuffPo will post it.
Posted in Geoffrey Dunn, Sarah Palin, Trig Palin | Tags: Geoffrey Dunn, lies of sarah palin, Scharlott, Trig hoax | 43 Comments »
Cold Water Thrown on Simmering Trig Hoax Allegations?
April 15, 2011
UK’s Daily Mail posts a photo of Sarah at her Dallas speech that shows her with “not only a pregnant stomach but a visibly fuller face and breasts, all signs of late pregnancy.” Case closed, say they.
Hey, none of the pictures of Sarah pregnant-or-not with Trig is the Zapruder film. None of them proves anything. At most, people can use them to support the opinion they already have. I just learned today, for example, that a couple of Brits spotted about-to-be princess Kate Middleton’s face on a mango jelly bean. Truth is as the eye of the beholder sees it.
But a mainstream backlash is developing against impudent suggestions that questions about Trig’s birth are legitimate. MSM news and opinion site Slate (owned by Washington Post Co.) posts an article headlined “Occam’s Razor Says Sarah Palin Is Trig’s Mother.”
Who doesn’t like Occam’s Razor? This is a philosophical principle posited by a 14th Century Franciscan friar called William of Ockham. It says, bottom line, that when there are varying explanations of an occurrence, the simplest is most likely to be true. In this instance, Sarah Palin gave birth to Trig. Period. End of story. That’s the simplest explanation. Occam says, “No story here, move along now.”
But as I just mentioned in a Twitter post, Occam never got to Wasilla. If he had, he might have thrown away his razor and grown a beard.
Sarah Palin’s Fantasy Life: UPDATE
April 14, 2011
When nothing else seems to be working, Sarah can be relied upon to conjure fantasies of older men coveting her daughters.
Palingates asks, “Why are sexual and other threats against her daughters such a recurring theme in Sarah Palin’s life? Why does she repeatedly paint an image where her daughters are the objects of men’s fantasies?…Who is sexualizing Sarah Palin’s underage daughters? Who’s conjuring up images involving sexual violence against her daughters again and again and again?”
Well, we all know that answer to that one: Chuck Heath’s middle daughter, that’s who.
And Papa Chuck makes sure to say, “we armed ourselves.” Just as they did against Trooper Mike Wooten.
As the father of two daughters, I can’t help but feel sorry for Sarah’s. What an atmosphere in which to grow up.
UPDATE: Jesse Griffin at Immoral Minority has spoken to Shawn Christy, the young man against whom Sarah obtained the restraining order.
Posted in Chuck Heath, Joe McGinniss, Mike Wooten, Palin children, Sarah Palin, The Rogue | Tags: chuck heath, fantasy, palin children, palin daughters, Sarah Palin, sexualize, wooten | 32 Comments »
Blodget Pokes a Stick at the Sleeping Bear
April 14, 2011
Henry Blodget, CEO and editor-in-chief of Business Insider, writes that Northern Kentucky University professor Brad Scharlott alleges Sarah Palin “probably staged a gigantic hoax about being Trig’s mother,” but “our media has been too wimpy and pathetic to investigate.”
The sleeping bear is awake now and starting to growl.
To be clear: I am not at this point accusing Sarah of staging a hoax in regard to Trig.
I am, however, like Andrew Sullivan at The Daily Beast and Jesse Griffin at The Immoral Minority, saying that mainstream media, as well as Alaskan media and some otherwise progressive Alaska bloggers, gave Sarah a free pass re Trig in 2008, and have continued to denigrate anyone who suggests that the issue–a cornerstone of her political identity–is worth exploring.
The question now is whether the mainstreamers will revoke the pass, given that they’ve written Sarah off for 2012.
“Ultimate Makeover” for Sarah Palin on Friday?
April 13, 2011
Sarah’s next speech will be at a Women of Joy gathering in Oklahoma City on Friday. Women of Joy is an evangelical organization that’s part of Phil Waldrep Ministries. In its mission statement, the Phil Waldrep Evangelistic Association says it seeks “to spread the gospel to all of the world.”
Sarah spoke to a Women of Joy conference in Louisville in spring of 2010, urging her audience not to “let anyone try to convince you that God should be separated from the State.” Transcript of her speech available here.
It seems to me that Sarah has been badly wounded by her precipitous drop in popularity and relevance. Seeking solace, and trying to rebuild her self-confidence, which has always been far more fragile than her public appearances would suggest, she’s returning to her evangelical–Christian Dominionist roots.
The degree to which she’s wedded to Dominionist beliefs is something into which I delve deepy in The Rogue.
What better place for Sarah to lick her recent wounds than at a “Women of Joy” gathering in Oklahoma City? There’s no indication that Phil Waldrep will be there himself–he’s busy building his own evangelical radio network–but no doubt someone will be there, like Thomas Muthee was in Wasilla, to pray that Sarah remains impervious to infiltration by devils.
And if she’s really lucky, she might get nominated–if not by the GOP for president–at least by the Women of Joy for the “Girls Night Out Ultimate Makeover,” offered by Phil Waldrep’s organization.
Posted in evangelical, Joe McGinniss, Sarah Palin, The Rogue | Tags: christian, dominionist, evangelical, phil waldrep, Sarah Palin, the rogue, women of joy | 16 Comments »
