The Rogue
Honestly now…//UPDATE: New neighbors offer advice via NYTimes
May 27, 2011
…if you had the choice of spending the summer on an air-conditioned bus (or, more likely, on an air-conditioned private plane that could drop you at a private airfield so you could board the bus minutes before your next destination and pretend to have been on it all along) or here:
where summertime temps reach 120 and where you can’t putter in your “little garden,” or mow the lawn with Trig on your back, and where there’s no “children’s play area” (unless you want to turn them into lizards), and where you yourself would fry in five minutes in your “shorts and tank top,” and where there’s no “family swimming hole,” not to mention no place for Todd to land his float plane…well, which would you choose?
Not to mention that your Political Action Committee can hardly ask people to donate for you to stay home.
Sarah tried that once, charging the state of Alaska per-diem for working out of her house on Lake Lucille, claiming that she was entitled because Wasilla wasn’t her “duty station.”
No wonder that this year she’s opting for the bus. Take a good look at that house and property (and, yes, that’s the compound she just bought and is moving into, even erecting a new fence around it): she spends a summer there and by September we’ll be calling her Osarah Bin Laden.
There’ll always be time next year for her new TLC show: Sarah Palin’s Arizona.
UPDATE:
NY Times (and who’s more “lamestream” than them?) offers Sarah advice from her new Scottsdale neighbors.
The one I feel sorry for is Monica Rahman,
who says that even though “the commotion was scaring her horses,” she’s “excited to have a new neighbor.”
The well-intentioned Ms. Rahman says she “plans to bring cookies to the Palins.”
I hope she’s ready to leave them at the outer gate. Having been a Palin neighbor, I’m pretty sure she won’t be welcomed with open arms.
Especially not after having spoken to the New York Times.
Good luck, Monica! Just check in here if you feel you need advice.
Posted in 2012, Joe McGinniss, Palin children, Sarah Palin, The Rogue, Todd Palin, Trig Palin | 
Tags: 2012 gop candidates, alaska, arizona, bus tours, cookies, extreme heat, GOP, GOP primaries, horses, lake lucille, monica rahman, neighbors, sarah palin 2012 campaign, sarah palin bus tour, sarahPAC, Scottsdale, the learning channel | 
78 Comments »
Sarah’s Magical Mystery Tour
May 26, 2011
I wonder if this time she’ll really ride the bus.
Doesn’t look like there’s much space on the side for an ad for THE ROGUE, but I’ll ask Crown to inquire anyway.
At least this will give us all a chance to get out and say hi to Sarah in person–maybe our last chance.
And it will get Chuck and Sally and Piper out of Alazona for a while, and it also gets Trig out of mothballs.
More seriously, it will be a genuine test of how far Sarah’s star has fallen since the Going Rogue days in the fall of 2009.
And, of course, it may be the quasi-official start of her 2012 presidential campaign.
I’m sure she’s anticipating huge cheering throngs at every stop. Do you think she’ll get them?
Any thoughts as to which of Sarah’s band of Merry Pranksters will be on board? Meg Stapleton? Rebecca Mansour? Franklin Graham? Greta Van Susteren? Mary Glazier? Andrew Breitbart? William Kristol? Shailey Tripp?
Whoever Sarah chooses for the cast, I’m sure they’ll have a rollicking good time on the road.
Although I doubt the new tour will dethrone Ken Kesey and the original Merry Pranksters from number one on the “Best Bus Tours of All Time” list.
Posted in 2012, Breitbart, Chuck Heath, Fox, glenn beck, Greta Van Susteren, Joe McGinniss, Palin children, Sarah Palin, Tea Party, The Rogue, Todd Palin, Trig Palin | Tags: andrew breitbart, bus tours, franklin graham, ken kesey, magical mystery tour, mary glaier, merry pranksters, shailey tripp | 109 Comments »
“THE OFT-DEFEATED”—the OTHER Sarah Palin movie coming in June
May 26, 2011
THE OFT-DEFEATED
A DOCUMENTARY IN FOUR SCENES…WITH FIFTH SCENE TO COME LATER THIS YEAR OR NEXT.
SCENE 1: 1984
The film opens at the finals of the Miss Alaska Pageant, 1984.
LONG SHOT of contestants on stage.
VOICEOVER: “And the winner is……..”
CLOSEUP of expectant SARAH Heath
VOICEOVER: “Maryline Blackburn!”
MARYLINE BLACKBURN IN 2010
CLOSEUP of SARAH whispering to GOD: “I froze my ass off for you in Big Beaver or Little Beaver or one of them Beaver lakes when I got immersed for you in 1976. Don’t you ever let some black bitch beat me again!”
SCENE 2: 1997
Mayor SARAH sits with supporters at Wasilla Assembly of God church, looking at newspaper headlines proclaiming that the Alaska Supreme Court has just permanently prohibited Wasilla’s Valley Medical Center from banning second-trimester abortions.
SARAH: “That’s why we need Christian judges: so no branch of any federal or state government will ever bitch-slap Jesus again.”
OTHERS: “Amen! Amen, Sister Sarah! Amen, Queen Esther!”
Others leave. SARAH returns to her MAYOR’S OFFICE. She places a call.
SARAH: “Hey, Savior-Man, what’s up? You just slammed another door in my face.”
GOD: “Whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, Sarah. I’m trying to toughen you up for bigger fights ahead.”
SCENE 3: 2002
Election Night at “Palin for Lieutenant Governor” headquarters. Early vote totals make it clear that SARAH will lose.
CLOSEUP of SARAH, now speaking on cellphone:
SARAH: “WTF, Big Guy? How tough do you think I need to be? If you’re going to have some dude make a movie about me nine years from now and call it The Undefeated, it might be nice if you’d let me win something for once.”
GOD: “I only want the best for you, and I only give my best. Remember though: My ways are not your ways, my thoughts are not your thoughts…for as the heavens are higher than the earth, my ways are higher than yours! I wrote that all down for you in the Good Book! Look it up!”
SARAH: “Hey, chill a little. You’re God. You don’t have to use so many exclamation points.”
GOD: “Sorry, daughter, sometimes I get carried away. In any event, don’t sweat it. I’m going to send you a Down Syndrome baby who will make you the Republican nominee for vice president in 2008. And when you write Going Rogue you can quote me. You can even say, ‘I decided to write the letter as though it were from Trig’s Creator, the same Creator in whom I had put my trust more than thirty years before.’ You cool with that?”
SARAH: “Sure, but won’t there be copyright problems?”
GOD: “Not if you credit me properly. What do you think, I’m gonna sue?”
SCENE 4: 2008
LONG SHOT of McCain headquarters in Arizona. Cactuses wilt. Gila monsters curl into fetal positions. Rattlesnakes cry. Slaves escape from the compound. It’s obvious the McCain-Palin ticket has lost.
CLOSEUP of Sarah, talking to MCCAIN.
SARAH: “I wanna make my own speech.”
MCCAIN: “It’s just not customary. I can’t let you do it.”
SARAH: “Fuck you! It wasn’t customary to pick an ignorant, narcissistic backstabber to run with you in the first place. So don’t give me that ‘customary’ shit!
MCCAIN: “Listen, bitch: you dragged me down. You put that black Muslim in the White House. But I’m not going to let you steal my last act tonight.”
SARAH: “Let me tell you something, you wet old fart. If you’d have let me go rogue”—
INTERRUPTION as we hear “Onward Christian Soldiers” playing as a cell phone ring.
SARAH: “Excuse me, I’ve got to take this……Hello? Yes, this is her. Oh, God, good to hear from you. Hey, buddy, you didn’t open that door quite wide enough…..What’s that?……Yeah, yeah, that’s easy for you to say, but I’ve been defeated one more time, pal, and now I have to go back to effing Alaska. What circle of hell is that?!……Yeah, right, but you know what? You sound like the Brooklyn Dodgers, always saying ‘wait till next year.’…….What’s that? You’ve got me a deal on a one-point-seven million dollar house in Scottsdale?……You’ve got me the presidential nomination in 2012?……Okay, okay, but not so fast. What about the 2012 election? I lost to that black bitch Blackburn for Miss Alaska back in the day, and everytime I see Michelle Obama all I can think of is that. So no deal, Bro’, unless this time you’re gonna take me all the way…..What? What’s that?……Sorry, you’re breaking up……
FADE TO BLACK
Posted in 2012, evangelical, Joe McGinniss, Michelle Obama, Obama, Palin racism, right wing, Sarah Palin, Tea Party, The Rogue, Wasilla | Tags: arizona, assembly of god, baptism, big beaver lake, god, john mccain, little beaver lake, maryline blackburn, miss alaska, onward christian soldiers, queen esther, Scottsdale | 27 Comments »
NY Times Front Page: “Signs Grow That Palin May Run”
May 25, 2011
Nothing I haven’t been saying all along, but it’s suddenly the new mainstream meme.
Read it here.
Are there still doubters?
Posted in 2012, Joe McGinniss, mainstream media, Obama, right wing, Sarah Palin, Tea Party, The Rogue | Tags: 2012 primaries, glassner, GOP, sarah palin 2012 campaign, Scottsdale | 32 Comments »
Is Sarah Palin “A Face in the Crowd?”
May 25, 2011
More than a half-century ago–in 1957, to be exact–America was treated to (and in some quarters alarmed by) one of the finest films ever to receive commercial release in the U.S.
I’m talking about A Face in the Crowd, adapted by the great Budd Schulberg from his short story “Your Arkansas Traveler,” and produced and directed by Elia Kazan, and starring Andy Griffith, Walter Matthau and Patricia Neal.
Here’s the IMDB plot summary:
An Arkansas hobo becomes an overnight media sensation. But as he becomes drunk with fame and power, will he ever be exposed as the fraud he has become?
I first saw A Face in the Crowd as a teenager. It made such an impression that more than fifty years later, as I was considering whether to write a book about Sarah Palin, I watched it again. In the context of Palin, it resonated even longer and louder the second time around.
Whether or not you plan to see Sarah’s million-dollar epic to be released in June, I urge you to watch A Face in the Crowd.
Once you do, I suspect you won’t find it quite so easy to ridicule Sarah Palin as an ignorant moron who can’t possibly harm us.
Posted in 2012, Joe McGinniss, Sarah Palin, The Rogue | Tags: 2012 campaign, a face in the crowd, andy griffith, budd schulberg, elia kazan, fraud, GOP primaries, republican nomination, Sarah Palin, walter matthau | 20 Comments »
“The Undefeated”: 2-Hour, $1Million Palin Commercial to Premier in June–in Iowa!
May 25, 2011
Scott Conroy, co-author of the 2009 quasi-bio Sarah from Alaska: The Sudden Rise and Brutal Education of a New Conservative Superstar, announces on RealClearPolitics that a film described as “Sarah’s Secret Weapon” will premiere in Iowa in June.
The film has been financed and produced by Stephen K. Bannon, an ex-Goldman Sachs investment banker previously known for In The Face of Evil: Reagan’s War in Word and Deed, and such other right-wing red meat feasts as Fire from The Heartland and Generation Zero.
Bannon clearly has money and anger to burn, and he’s now all-in with Sarah.
Laugh him off at your own (or our) peril.
Conroy, who obviously has gained membership in Sarah’s current coterie, tells all about the upcoming epic. I won’t even attempt to summarize. Read about it here and don’t blame me if you gag.
My friends and readers, I’ve said all along–and you can go back and look at earlier posts here–that Sarah will run for president next year. Some of you have accused me of taking that position only in an effort to hype THE ROGUE. Those sentiments were not even worth responding to.
I urge one and all to read Conroy’s story, which obviously was written with Sarah’s approval, and perhaps even at her behest.
Can anyone who reads it, and who is aware of Sarah’s move to Scottsdale, seriously doubt that she plans to take down President Obama?
If so, please explain your thinking, because, to me, the writing on the wall could not be clearer: JUST WHEN YOU THOUGHT IT WAS SAFE TO FORGET HER, SHE’S BACK IN YOUR LIVES AGAIN.
For “your,” read “our.”
The drums of ugliness may seem faint and in the distance now, but they’re going to grow louder and closer.
And don’t laugh them off, as Bill Maher, David Letterman and Rosie O’Donnell are shown laughing off Sarah in this film.
Her people are out there, they are numerous, they are angry: and there is not another credible Republican candidate in the race.
Up to this point, Sarah has laughed all the way to the bank.
Now she hopes to laugh all the way to the White House–swept there by a tidal wave of “real” Americans who don’t like elitist liberals (i.e. for a start, anyone with a college education) portraying them as racist, pitchfork-carrying buffoons.
Neither Romney nor Pawlenty can active them, but Sarah can.
And she plans to. Because God is telling her to do so.
Oh, man, this makes what I’ve written in THE ROGUE about how steeped she is in Christian Dominionism all the more relevant. She truly believes her “prayer shield” will keep her invulnerable to attacks between now and election day 2012.
After that, she’ll lay down the shield and pick up the sword of fire with which she’s waiting to smite all of us who do not see her as Queen Esther.
We laugh at her and call her a joke, but she’s serious. And she has big bucks behind her, and nothing to lose.
We’d better stop laughing now, or she’ll have us all crying out for mercy on Inauguration Day, 2013.
Posted in 2012, Breitbart, evangelical, Fox, Joe McGinniss, mainstream media, Obama, right wing, Sarah Palin, Tea Party, The Rogue | Tags: fire from the heartland, generation zero, in the face of evil, iowa primary, paln documentary, real clear politics, ronal reagan, scott conroy, stephen bannon | 141 Comments »
Turn Back the Clock: FENCE DAY was 1 Year Ago Tomorrow //UPDATE: FENCE DAY, 2011, in Scottsdale
May 24, 2011
How time flies. Already it’s been a year since Sarah Palin accused me of peering into Piper’s bedroom window, Glenn Beck first called me a stalker and Todd Palin had a work crew double the height of the ten-foot fence between the Palins’ property and the lot on which my rented house stood.
As I write in THE ROGUE about May 25, 2010:
“All day, I hear hammering and sawing. Todd has about twelve guys throwing up a new fence that’s roughly twice the height of the old one. I’m all in favor of the fence. Maybe once it’s up, Sarah will chill and we can both get on with our business. No one brings over a blueberry pie.”
Sarah had written on Facebook the night before, “Maybe we’ll welcome him with a homemade blueberry pie tomorrow so he’ll know how friendly Alaskans are.”
Not surprisingly, she didn’t.
In fact, as tweets leaked to The Daily Caller demonstrate, Sarah’s chief enforcer, Rebecca Mansour, had a quite different idea:
May 25, 2010 5:35:46: Time to find a way to go medieval on this McGinniss. Don’t be fooled by the light tone of the FB post. The BigBoss is so upset by this.
5:36:56: It quite broke my heart to get the emails from her about this. She feel like big brother is watching her & her family…
16:00:56: I was thinking…of mailing him a dead fish.
I never got the dead fish, either. But I’d say Mansour, no doubt smiling out of the other side of her face today, is a dead duck in Palinland.
Oh, by the way, the first strong wind last fall blew down the fence. Todd’s about as capable a builder as Sarah is a fisherwoman.
UPDATE:
It’s been rumored since last week that Sarah and Todd have bought a new home in Scottsdale, Arizona.
I believe it. Especially after seeing this photo, sent by commenter “Jewels” to whom I’m, of course, grateful.
Looks mighty like a new fence going up around the house, doesn’t it?
I hope Todd and the gang do a better job with this one. You think Wasilla gets windy? Check this Fox News story about wind damage in Scottsdale last year:
Winds Damage Cars at Auction: MyFoxPHOENIX.com
And remember, Sarah, it’s an ill wind that blows nobody good.
Posted in Joe McGinniss, Palin children, Sarah Palin, The Rogue, Todd Palin, Wasilla | Tags: big brother, blueberry pie, c4p, car auction, conservatives4palin, dead fish, facebook, fences, high winds, ill wind, neighbors, rebecca mansour, Scottsdale, twitter | 76 Comments »
“Roger Thinks Palin Is An Idiot. He thinks she’s stupid.”
May 22, 2011
Roger Ailes has been a friend of mine for 44 years. Most people think I first met him when he was working for Richard Nixon and I was researching The Selling of The President 1968, but we actually got to know each other a year earlier, when I was writing a column for the Philadelphia Inquirer, and Roger was producing the nationally syndicated Mike Douglas show in Philadelphia.
If Roger and I have ever agreed about anything having to do with politics or policy, I sure can’t remember it. From Richard Nixon to Rupert Murdoch, I think everyone he’s ever worked for has harmed this country in some way. I also think Fox News is an excrescence. And Roger knows that. Mutual candor is one aspect of our friendship. Roger’s terrific sense of humor is another: he is one of the funniest people I know. I don’t think I’ve spent five minutes in his company, privately, without laughing out loud at least three times at things he’s said.
But the one quality Roger possesses that I admire above all others–and it is undoubtedly the one least known and appreciated by those who deal with him only professionally–is his generosity of spirit. Roger will do anything for a friend. My respect for his privacy prevents me from getting into detail, but I know this first-hand. Maybe someday, when he’s retired, he’ll let me tell people about his extraordinary loyalty, unselfishness and generosity.
Roger and I are in frequent contact by email, we talk by phone at least monthly, and we get together for lunch or dinner at least a couple of times a year. We talk far more about family than politics. I gave up trying to convert him years ago, and he’s known from my Philadelphia newspaper days that I was beyond redemption from his point of view.
When we do talk politics, it’s always off the record. Because Roger knows I’ll never violate a confidence, he has no qualms about telling me exactly what he thinks of the various high-profile political and media people with whom he deals. So I can’t, for example, tell you what Roger really thinks of Sarah Palin.
But I’ve just read Gabriel Sherman’s terrific, in-depth story about Fox News, the Republican party and Roger in the new issue of New York magazine. It contains this quote, from “another Republican close to Ailes”:
Roger thinks Palin is an idiot. He thinks she’s stupid.”
As I say, my friendship with Roger precludes me from sharing anything he’s ever said to me about Sarah.
But I can say that I think Gabriel Sherman is one of the best young journalists in America. If it’s in a story he wrote, I believe it.
And thinking back to the lunch Roger and I had in a private dining room at Fox headquarters in July, 2009, just after Sarah had quit as governor of Alaska, I have no doubt that the above quote is accurate.
Of course, Roger hired her anyway. He hasn’t built Fox News into a nearly $1-billion per year company by letting his personal opinions interfere with his programming instincts.
And if you’d like to know what Roger thinks of Sarah as a possible GOP nominee in 2012, pay particular attention, in Sherman’s story, to the part about how hard Roger is pressing New Jersey governor Chris Christie to enter the race.
As is always the case with Sarah–and this is a point I make repeatedly in THE ROGUE—those who know her best like her least.
Sarah Palin’s Worst Nightmare: Michelle Obama Addresses West Point Class of 2011
May 21, 2011
Wonder why Sarah has been looking and sounding so stressed in recent days? Maybe it’s this: Michelle Obama spoke to the graduating class at West Point and their proud families tonight.
Posted in 2012, Joe McGinniss, Michelle Obama, Palin racism, Sarah Palin, The Rogue | Tags: graduation speech, michelle obama, u.s. military academy, West point | 19 Comments »
“Prayer Shield” Protects Palin from Critics//UPDATE: How can she stay out when “lamestream” wants her in so bad?
May 20, 2011
Much attention is being paid to Sarah’s comment to Van Susteren last night that she has “fire in her belly.” Video and transcript of her appearance here.
But to me the most revealing moment was when she said, “The darts and the arrows keep flying…it’s going to keep on coming and, you know, I feel like I have a prayer shield in front of me that deflects a lot of that..” [emphasis added]
No doubt the shield was manufactured by her Prayer Warriors, working overtime in the attic of the Palin home on Lake Lucille.
It’s hard for rational people to appreciate the extent to which Sarah is in the grip of religious delusion. I honestly believe that Sarah thinks God has armed her with both sword and shield and has sent her forth to do battle with the infidels. The Anchorage Daily News was on to more than its reporters and editors realized when they called Sarah “The Joan of Arc of Alaskan politics” in 2006.
Look again at her remarkable words to “Focus on the Family” founder James Dobson toward the end of the 2008 campaign:
As I write in THE ROGUE :
Dobson told her that not only was he praying for her but that he’d just hosted a gathering of more then four hundred “prayer warriors” and that, “We were sure asking for God’s intervention,” in the campaign.
“Well, it is that intercession that is so needed,” Sarh said. “And I can feel it, too, Dr. Dobson. I can feel the power of prayer and that strength that is provided through our prayer warriors across this nation…We hear along the rope lines that people are interceding for us and praying for us. It’s our reminder to do the same, to seek His perfect will for this nation, and to of course seek His wisdom and guidance in putting this nation back on the right track…I have to have faith that our message will get out there minus the filter of the mainstream media…I have to have that faith that God’s going to help us get that message out there.”
Unfortunately, the Big Guy in the Sky fell asleep at the switch on election day. But Sarah’s had his ear plenty since then and she’s not going to let him make the same mistake twice.
UPDATE:
See Chris Cillizza in “The Fix” in Washington Post:
In a field without much star power, a Palin candidacy would immediately suck the media oxygen out of the room for the other contenders. Put simply: Palin is the only potential candidate in the field who could go to Iowa tomorrow and have 5,000 people show up.
Posted in 2012, Anchorage Daily News, evangelical, Fox, Greta Van Susteren, Joe McGinniss, mainstream media, Sarah Palin, The Rogue | Tags: delusion, focus on the family, Fox News, god, greta van susteren, james dobson, prayer shield, prayer warriors, prayer warriors for sarah palin, the rogue | 65 Comments »
