Exclusive pictures and report from Glenn Beck's and Sarah Palin's "Restoring Honor" rally in Washington D.C. - UPDATE!

Guest post by Kimba

We arrived at the event at around 11:00 a.m. We took the metro there. The trains were packed with people going to the event. When we got off the train, and started our walk towards the Monument, to our right was a large display of the image of Martin Luther King, Jr. There were speakers broadcasting his "I have a dream" speech.

There was plenty of walking room along the path to the Lincoln Memorial. We passed some interesting people along the way, some who did not agree with the Tea Party's political views, or the underlying divisiveness, racism, fear and hatred that seems to define a lot of those in this movement.

One of those was a guy named Gary. He held a sign in protest stating that MLK's dream could work. And he apologized to us that his ancestors were slave owners.

Once we got close to where the crowds were, we got a better look at those who were attending this event. This crowd seemed to be composed of those older people who could easily be frightened by the things that Fox news reports. I could even believe that these same people don't use other sources for their enlightenment, and rather, would trust an organization which manipulates them by using the fear of "brown" people with different beliefs taking over their beloved America.

There were also some young people there, and some families. People who seemed to have never stepped outside their bubble and interacted with people of color. For the record, we saw a few people from India, and a few African Americans there as well.

Apparently, everyone more or less obeyed the request not to bring posters. We didn't see any except for those who were protesting (there were few). Most of the Tea Party members, instead, wore clothing that had the American Flag on it, or made entirely of a replica of the American flag. They also wore hats or head bands with the stars and stripes. Some carried various flags. Some wore tee shirts with slogans on it.

As we got closer, we could here someone from the stage saying "Obama no!" "Obama no!."

There really didn't seem to be a lot going on. People were waiting around. Then someone introduced MLK's niece. The applause was polite, but barely there. She didn't seem to connect with the audience, from what I could see. She sang a christian song, but it apparently wasn't one that the right wingers could relate to. She left the stage and an African American minister spoke. The crowd really could have cared less. People were walking and talking the whole time. The crowd was pretty fluid. My camera has a recorder on it, but there was nothing to record. These folk mostly kept to themselves.

By this time, it was getting past noon, close to 12:30. We wanted to take more photos and wanted to get up on one of the walls to do so. There were many (white) people sitting on the walls snapping away. When we went to an opening, we were told by the gentleman there that the police would come and tell us to get down, so we shouldn't get up there. Now mind you, the Tea Parties were all along the wall everywhere taking all kinds of photos, and there were no cops to be found asking anyone to get down.. I don't think we were wanted, but we told the guy very politely that we would take our chances and we got up there and took photos anyway.

Around 12: 35, there still was not sign of Palin so we decided to leave. A lot of others decided to leave, too.

My whole take was that this was an event where the people who attended were waiting for Palin to speak and made the trip soley for that purpose. Other than that, the crowd was subdued, not a lot of excitement. People did stare at me and my family and other minorities, but it was only because there were so few minorities there.

As I stated earlier, we did not stay around to hear the Queen's screech. Many others left right along with us before she came out. Nothing really happened, it was an unenthusiastic crowd by all accounts, especially when King's niece and the minister were speaking, though that may have changed when Palin came out.

Got quite a few photos of some of the attendees.

Only three incidents stand out in my mind about this event:

1. An elderly couple was in front of us and my daughter and I were discussing how sad it was that Fox news was using fear to exploit a lot of the older people, and how untrustworthy Fox really was. The couple got visibly angry and walked faster to get away from us.

2. The attempt to not allow us to get photographs of the crowds.

3. On my way back to the Metro, an elderly gentleman ask me about my camera and I was polite and friendly and responded back. He then stated that he brought his camcorder so that the media could not get away with under counting the number of people who attended this event.

By the way, I am not good at estimating crowds, but I don't think there was greater that 100,000 who attended, if that much. My daughter puts the estimation at around 50 thousand. You can see in the photos that there were a lot of space between the crowds. Just simply not that big a deal.

My daughter and my friend, who I am visiting, have become more educated by this experience. They were fascinated by what they saw and it just brought an awareness about the Tea Party members that wasn't there previously.

+++

Pictures taken by Kimba:

(Captions by Patrick)

The white masses are arriving:

Dr. Kings's dream is certainly not dead, but was nowhere to be found at Glenn Beck's rally:

Glenn Beck hails Dr. Martin Luther King, the socialist and anti-war activist - or doesn't he....?

$ 10 if you can spot a black guy:

More real Americans arriving:

Glenn Beck and Abraham Lincoln ™:

I hope that this guy is not anti-solar power and anti wind-energy, that would be a real letdown:

Some protesters were also there and made fun of the teabaggers:

Restoring Bush...I mean, restoring honor, sorry:

Many white people having a big picnic in the sun:

OK...I have looked up this website, and I still don't know what they want:

(EDIT - One of our readers explained:

"The Taxation w/o Representation refers to Washington DC residents not having a congressman or senator. They are the only citizens of the US who do not have representation, yet they do have to pay taxes like everyone else.")

"Hope and change enemy" struggling to find a good view:

I guess he doesn't mean that HE is a communist, right?

That's the end of the pictures. Communism has arrived in the USA. Hope you are all happy now in the new communist paradise. ;-)

+++

Note by Patrick:

Many, many thanks to Kimba for writing the report and taking the pictures for us!

Kathleen and I had a very relaxing day in the zoo today. It was necessary. The monkeys seemed so much more loving and intelligent than Palinbots, I can tell you.

By the way, I have recently started to watch a lot of the hilarious Kathy Griffin, since I realized that virtually all episodes of her incredibly funny "My life on the D list" series are on youtube.

After I saw the episode of Kathy Griffin visiting a "baby and toddler pageant" in California, I thought to myself that Sarah Palin should probably re-consider her claim that the USA is an "exceptional" country. ;-)

See these parts HERE and HERE.

On a more serious note, Kathy Griffin has not just produced very funny, but also incredibly moving episodes of her "D-list" series when she for example visited Washington D.C. in order to stage a rally for the abolition of "Don't ask don't tell" and performed in prisons and also performed for the US troops in Iraq.

Have a nice evening, everybody!

+++

UPDATE:

New Left Media, who in the past brought us already several unique, unfiltered views on the teabaggers and right-wingers, visited Glenn Beck's Whitestock and interviewed the teabaggers. The result confirms the impressions from previous events: The teabaggers believe everything what they want to believe if it fits their prejudices, and what Glenn Beck, Fox Noise tells them.

Good job, Koch Industries! You can be proud of yourself, all your millions weren't spent in vain.

I wanted to add another clip, because it was brought up by the interviewer that Glenn Beck said in an interview that he believed that Barack Obama is a "racist." The brainwashed teabaggers wouldn't believe that Glenn Beck said that. But of course he did - and he also said that President Obama has a "deep-seated hatred against white people":

For more controversial quotes from Glenn Beck (there is no shortage of them), please visit Wikiquotes.

Guess what - Rupert Murdoch agrees with Glenn Beck regarding his "racist" comment. Somebody should have told the teabaggers:

+++

UPDATE 2 - BY PATRICK:

My personal view on the current "anti-Muslim sentiments" in the USA, which seem to get more and more out of control:

I have witnessed in Germany in 1992/93 how a racist "mass rage" can spin out of control.

Starting with horrible crimes committed by radicalized, badly educated right-wing youngsters in East-Germany, a wave of right-wing violence flooded the country for about 1-2 years. I still remember it vividly, it was horrible. Basically every day, there were reports of attacks against foreigners, acts of arson etc. The Jewish historian Robert S. Wistrich noted a few years later:

"It is tempting to dismiss the neo-Nazi movement and violent skinhead gangs who have envenomed race relations in Europe in recent years as politically insignificant in view of their small size, lack of leadership, coherent organization or ideology. Except in Germany, their numbers do not usually exceed a few thousand, and since they are generally in the 14-25 age group, they have no major influence on electoral politics. But the wave of racist violence in Germany in the early 1990s, with brutal attacks on Turks, Third World immigrants and handicapped people, as well as the desecration of Jewish cemeteries and Holocaust sites, was a chilling reminder of the fascist potential still lurking in the lower depths of European society. In 1992 alone, there were 2,506 racist attacks (nearly double the previous year), 697 cases of arson and 17 deaths caused by neo-Nazi skinheads in Germany. Their message of hate is relayed through skinhead music, pioneered by racist rock bands in Britain, and computer games as well as racist literature."

More information about the background of this wave of right-wing attacks in 1992/93 can be found HERE.

Fortunately, it was later possible to get the situation in Germany under control again and stop the wave of violence after a major combined effort, but only after many people had died, including several "foreigners", for example Turkish citizens, who burned to death in their homes.

This kind of mass rage can easily happen again in other places as well. All you need is an incident, a reason to ignite the flame. There seems to be already a broad base of people in the USA who are heavily prejudiced against Muslims, and we have seen the first "incidents" against Muslims. What would for example happen if a Muslim "hits back" and hurts a "white person?" Wouldn't that give people a reason to "strike", to "retaliate" against the Muslims?

That's why Glenn Beck's and Sarah Palin's game is so dangerous: If you whip up the masses, you might very well see some (unwanted?) results.

+++

Two of the worst right-wing racist attacks in Germany in 1992/93:

This should be seen as a warning for everyone who thinks it's a good idea to stir-up anti-muslim sentiments.

Arson attack in Moelln (Mölln), West-Germany in 1992:

Two Turkish girls, aged ten and 14, died in the flames, also the 51-year old grandmother. Nine other family members were injuried, some very badly.

Link to the translated German wikipedia page (there is not much material to be found online).

EDIT: I found more photos related to the attack in Moelln.

Images can be so much more powerful than words.

Don't let history repeat itself.

Faruk Arslan, father the 10-year-old murdered Yeliz Arslan with a picture of his daughter.

Moelln - Evening after the attacks

Demonstration after the attacks - 1

Demonstration after the attacks - 2

Grandfather Nazim Arslan in the burned out flat.

The destroyed flat.

Gravestone Ayse Yilmaz (who was 14 years old when she died in the arson attack).

Inscription: "Here lies our beloved daughter Ayse Yilmaz, who was murdered in the German city of Moelln by inhuman forces through a savage arson attack."

Nazim Arslan on 23 June 1993 before the Second Criminal Division, High Court of Schleswig, Germany:

"I still can not believe what happened on November 23, 1992 to my family. It is so horrible and cruel. My wife Bahide is dead, my granddaughters Yeliz and Ayse Yilmaz are dead. My daughters-in-law are disabled and in pain, the family is no longer what it was. My wife Bahide was the center of my family - my life.
... We were asked to come here, we have come because labor was sought in Germany - and we have worked. We both have worked.
... The horror and the terror are still always with me. Every time I go to the Mill Road (Mühlenstraße) and see the burned-out house, I think of this cruel night. ... I hear the screams, see the flickering light from the fire and the blue light from the fire engines, the loud noise of the fire and keep seeing the picture of my wife disappearing in the smoke and the fire.
... It is so incomprehensible to me, why, why my wife had to die and the two girls. Because they were Turks? Because these men wanted to execute their inhuman political ideas?
We were invited here, we came as guest workers. We were guests here! Do you know what hospitality means in Turkey? ... I cannot understand such a vicious crime."

+++

Arson attack in Solingen, West-Germany in 1993:

From Wikipedia:

The Solingen arson attack of 1993 was one of the most severe instances of anti-foreigner violence in modern Germany. On the night of May 28 to May 29, 1993, four young German men belonging to the far right skinhead scene, with neo-Nazi ties, set fire to the house of a large Turkish family in Solingen in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Three girls and two women died; fourteen other family members, including several children, were injured, some of them severely. The attack led to violent protests by Turks in several German cities and to large demonstrations of Germans expressing solidarity with the Turkish victims.

+++

In both cases the victims were Turkish muslim families. During these extreme right-wing attacks in Germany in 1992/93, Turkish citizens were often the "preferred" victims.

.

Open thread - Some British comedy

I think we need some comedy after the insulting "honor" rally.

Readers have been talking about food and recipes, so I found a funny video about herbs and spices.

Enjoy!



Bonus

There you go, some Eddie Izzard.

Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin: "Restoring honor?"

T-shirt seen today at Glenn Beck's rally

Glenn Beck, the bipolar Fox News talk show host, had his great day today. He is on a mission to"restore honor", and Sarah Palin joined him. Glenn Beck today shamelessly exploited the legacy of Martin Luther King, a man who would be on Glenn Beck's infamous chalkboard if he were alive today - for example because of his scathing anti-war speeches and his open support of union-led strikes.

So Glenn and Sarah want to restore honor. There are a few questions that need to be asked, for example:

1. Whose honor needs to be restored?

2. Why does the honor need to be restored?

3. How do you want to restore honor?

I listened to a lot of the speeches today, and I couldn't find the answers to those very simple questions.

So let's say the honor of the USA needs to be restored. Why? Because of the budget deficit? Because of the unemployment? Because there is now a President in the White House who doesn't plan to start another war, but rather wants to end wars? Because the current political leaders are against transforming the USA into a theocracy?

What came across as the main message was that one thing in particular needs to be honored: Serving soldiers, veterans, the dead, the military and women who give birth to soldiers.

So was the real message that the honor of the MILITARY needs to be restored after two disastrous wars which left the country in catastrophic public debt, and in which victory can only mean for the USA to leave the occupied country without loosing face, because real "victory" can never possibly be achieved?

Listen to Sarah Palin's speech. Palin was announced by Glenn Beck as "a mother of someone in the military":

EDIT: Read the full transcript of Palin's speech at The Midnight Review.

Here is the part where she talks about mothers giving birth to soldiers:

"I’ve been asked to speak as the mother of a soldier, and I am proud of that distinction. You know, say what you want to say about me, but I raised a combat vet, and you can’t take that away from me. I’m proud of that distinction, but it is not one that I had imagined because no woman gives birth thinking that she will hand over her child to her country, but that’s what mothers have done from ancient days."

"Mothers proudly giving birth to soldiers" is a classic fascist meme. You find it all over again in fascist speeches. The Nazis even went to so far to hand out special medals ("cross of honor") to mothers, because the birth of soldiers had to be encouraged. The Nazis of course expected to win the war at this point. The more children, the "higher" was the award.

Further below I quoted from a speech of Hitler's "deputy" Rudolf Hess from February 25, 1934. You will be able to find many, many similar speeches from leaders of the "Third Reich." Here is what he has to say about the mothers:

"We do not want to forget the mothers, women, and children who gave their dearest, often their provider, and bear their fate with quiet heroism. The battle-ready manly heroes and the quiet sacrifices of mothers and women are holy examples of loyalty for us Germans."

(end of edit)

That was a truly cringe-worthy speech. Military, military, military. Is there anything else in Sarah Palin's world which is important?

Where does patriotism end, and where does nationalism start?

It seems that conservative observers of the event found nothing wrong with it. The comments I have read is that this event was apparently all about "hope, faith and charity", and how can this be a bad thing? In addition, there were lots of preachers on stage, including several black people and including Glenn Beck, who magically transformed into a preacher himself. Then you had people singing on stage, black and white. All friendly and innocent, nothing to worry about?

However, a closer look at this supposedly "innocent" event pretty quickly reveals that propaganda techniques were used that should better have been left untouched.

Propaganda can be very seductive. The Nazis ruthlessly used propaganda techniques, as it is well known, and made no secret about it. The USA was never subjected to these kind of techniques on a larger scale, as far as I know, although it surely had its fair share of "extreme" politicians as well.

But I feel that events like the one which happened today are crossing a line, and more importantly, many Americans don't seem to notice it - probably because there is a lack of "sensitivity" to certain keywords, methods and images.

This is different in Europe, especially in Germany. It's starts already with the title of the event: "Restoring honor."

It would be impossible that one of the main political parties in Germany to choose such a title for an event - because "honor" (in German: "Ehre") was one of the keywords of Nazi-ideology.

The word "honor" was used (and abused) by the Nazis for good reason. It's very vague, can be interpreted in many ways and somehow appeals to patriotic emotions - but it's quite difficult to establish what exactly it is, how it can be damaged, and how it can be restored.

However, one thing is clear: Nobody wants to be "without honor."

Without "honor", the people of a country are supposed to be unsatisfied, because something important is missing. So Adolf Hitler felt it was very important for him to declare on January 30, 1937:

"The restoration of the honor of the German people was the most difficult and the most audacious task and work of my life."

But the use of the word "honor" by the Nazis went much, much further. For example, members of the Hitler Youth received daggers on which was printed: "Blut und Ehre" ("Blood and Honor"), when they reached a certain rank.

In addition, "Meine Ehre heißt Treue" (translates as "My honor means faith", or "My honor is called faith") was the main motto of the SS, the elite Nazi-organization which was instrumental in executing the Nazi-terror (also used on SS-daggers and on SS-buttons).

I am perfectly aware that most Americans approach the word "honor" with different sensibilities and would not necessarily have this dark background in mind. However, the problem begins in my opinion when media personalities stage mass rallies in order to "restore honor" and then fail to explain why they have chosen this title, but instead start to rave about the military, the fallen heroes etc.

It seems obvious that they chose this term merely for its emotional effect, because it's not only vague, but also very effectively appeals to the patriotism and pride of the "common citizen" - and that's also exactly the reason why the word was so popular with the Nazis and so widely used in their propaganda.

Here is a youtube-user who seems to have uploaded the complete rally to youtube. Let's have a look at these three clips:



Note that in the previous clip, Glenn Beck said from 10:57:

“What is it today that America truly believes in?

We have very little trust in most of our institutions, but there is one thing that still is 15 points higher at the top of the list on things that America trusts: Our military!”

So the military is supposed to be the answer to all problems? Nobody else in the USA who is truly "honorable" any more?

If this is not a nationalistic appeal, they I don't know what it is.

This is not patriotism any more. This is the excessive use of national symbols and national heroes and patriotic feelings for your own political agenda - which conveniently is barely explained. But who cares about details: All you need is to BELIEVE.

However, it's seems clear to Glenn Beck that Americans had a "soft life" so far, the "poorest" in the USA apparently still belong to the "richest in world." I wonder how often Glenn Beck meets poor people...

The "restoration" of the "honor" can easily be filled with your own political agenda - which in this case is for example to overcome the separation of church of state - and a strong military in order to, well, make sure that the USA "won't perish."

To me, this event sounded more like "Restoring honor and taking revenge for the recent 'embarrassing' wars" (ideally through bombing Iran as a start, I presume).

The exploitation of fallen soldiers, the "heroes", was also hugely popular in Nazi Germany, as the leaders of the "Third Reich" were obsessed with the military. See for example in this speech of Hitler's "deputy" Rudolf Hess from February 25, 1934:

"You are swearing your oath on a holiday that Germany celebrates for the first time: Heroes’ Memorial Day. We lower our flags in remembrance of those who lived as heroes, and who died as heroes. We lower the flags before the giants of our past, before those who fought for Germany, before the millions who fought in the World War, before those who died preparing the way for the new Reich."

To use dead soldiers, the fallen heroes, as political props is hugely tempting.

Appeal to emotions, to patriotism, to religious feelings, make it simple, don't say to people that they should "think." What they are supposed to do is to believe and obey. Critical thinking is subversive, potentially a socialist activity.

Those who dare to think critically are not believers, they have no faith.

It's actually comical that from 1:55 in the second clip, Glenn Beck demands from his followers that it's the "sacred honor" that you "tell the truth", and that there are "no lies in your life." Well, I guess Sarah Palin didn't get the memo!

More interesting clips:

Here is Glenn Beck as he leaves the event - look at the bodyguards. I guess the President of the USA couldn't be protected better:



Somebody made backstage recordings with Sarah Palin:



Sarah Palin then confirms again that the whole thing is mainly about the military:

+++

There are some excellent pictures of the event on the Daily Kos.

More very good pictures on the "therightscoop." It's obvious from these pictures that Glenn Beck wore a bulletproof vest under his shirt.

Our reader BuffaloGal compiled a selection of quotes by Adolf Hitler - compare them with what Glenn Beck said today!

+++

As this event was already extensively discussed in the comments of the previous post, here are some of the comments from our readers:

From mealewis:

King modeled his program of non-violent demonstrations after Gandhi. King faced dogs, water hoses, and angry crowds. He is known for his non-violent resistance. He was a pacifist who spoke out against the Vietnam war, saying that war was the enemy of the poor. There are two days in the year when Sarah should learn something about MLK. Today, in memory of his famous "I have a dream" speech, or in January, when the nation celebrates his birthiday.

Memo to Sarah and Rebecca: I suggest that you study this question. It just might appear on the gotcha test when Sarah is running for president. (At the time of King's marches, the army had just been barely integrated. The armed forces were famous for having separate companies for different races).

From JTme:

For a moment I forgot what year this was. How can policies like this still even be around? I'm starting to feel a bit of despair today, what with Beck's Hate Fest, channeling Hitler, another of $arah's bullshit screechy speeches, ugh. It's getting overwhelming. Someone please talk me down!

From Indigoblue:

I was just reading a story about the big event today and saw this-

"Palin, the 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee who may make a White House run in 2012, said activists must honor King's legacy by paying tribute to the men and women who protect the United States in uniform."

Soon as I read it I thought- of course, all Americans would pay tribute to our folks in uniform, but isn't Dr. King's legacy all about civil rights, peace, putting an end to racism and poverty? Wouldn't those things come to mind first?

Suddenly, it occurred to me that Palin doesn't know a damned thing about Martin Luther King, Jr.

From Sunnyjane:

Beck and Palin know NOTHING about the struggle for equal rights in this nation. They know nothing about honor. They know nothing about America. They know nothing about ANYTHING.

They would take us back (by restoring honor) to a time when African Americans and women had no rights. I know of what I speak. Until the mid-1970s, women in Virginia could not own personal property, i.e., a car, etc. It belonged to their husband. Women could not have certain medical procedures (tubal ligations, etc.) without their husband's approval. A married woman's salary could not be used to get a mortgage until she was at least 28 years old because she was still of "child-bearing age." I would ask the women who appeared at today's rally how they would like to return to those times. Not so much, me thinks!

The struggles of African Americans to earn a modicum of respect and civil rights have totally been lost on them. I think there is no hope for right-wingers, and I refuse to engage them with facts. We must move forward without them.

YES WE CAN!

From aview999, quoting David Neiwert from Crooks & Liars:

Glenn Beck promised there wouldn't "be a dry eye in the house" after his big speech today at the Lincoln Memorial for his "Restoring Honor" rally -- because, you know, it was going to be "so stirring."

Riiiiight. Well, Glenn Beck's eyes certainly weren't dry. He started weeping while telling the crowd that somewhere out there was "the next George Washington".

Dunno about you, but when I saw pan shots of the crowd -- which was one of the whitest crowds in D.C. in recent memory -- I mostly thought I saw "the next Timothy McVeigh." But your mileage may vary.

As for the speech itself: Lunesta in verbal form. I'm having to pick my head up from my desk just to write something about it.

+++

UPDATE:

I would like to add a comment by our friend and fellow blogger Ennealogic:

Navy "sills," the real "dill," the American "idill..."

Pronunciation aside, a time worn tactic in political battle is to usurp the icons, heroes, and intentions of opponents. Thus it was today. Glenn Beck and his sidekick Sarah Palin did their best to bury the essence and meaning of the struggle of Dr. Martin Luther King and supplant it with pseudo-patriotic images from Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan. No doubt the men whose stories she told were worthy of remembrance, but not on this day. Perhaps on Veterans Day. Or some other gathering to give thanks and recognition to members of the military who blindly went into battle. I say "blindly" because when you are young and vital and filled with national pride, and find yourself sent into war, you do not think about it ahead of time, "Is this right, just and good?" You do not question, "To what end is this conflict and who benefits?"

I am a veteran, Vietnam-era. I saw the troops leave and I saw the bodybags and wounded and crippled coming back. And I never questioned, until later, what it was all for. But none of that has a damn thing to do with the long and painful struggle for civil rights in this country. None of that has a damn thing to do with "restoring honor" to our country. What the hell does that mean anyway? Kick the black man out of the White House? How have we lost honor? Who lost it, and where did it go?

The crowd in the video was all white as far as I could see. What honor, Sarah? Whose honor? Define honor, if you please. And damn you to hell for trying to usurp and re-paint the civil rights movement into some god-awful nationalistic "go war" story.

+++

UPDATE 2:

I would like to add another comment, by our reader "d lusia":

Patrick,

You said, "The USA was never subjected to these kind of techniques on a larger scale, as far as I know, although it surely had its fair share of "extreme" politicians as well."

In fact the US population has been victim many times over of manipulation of information and massive PR campaigns--as well as continual targeting of reformers as "enemies," as in the labor movement and MCCarthy era--labor leaders and other "enemies" were called communists; in the 1960s peace activists were "traitors"; post 9/11 term is "terrorists."

The US was isolationist prior to WWI. Britain wanted the US to enter the war against Germany. To that end President Wilson's government formed the Creel Commission, which used propaganda techniques to sway the population toward war.

Edward Bernays was hired to run the propaganda campaign and it was so successful that in 6 months Americans not only wanted to go to war against Germany, but many wanted the teaching of German banned from schools (along the use of the word "hamburger").

As Bernays knew, in a democracy consent has to be "manufactured" since one cannot overtly use censorhip. Bernays, considered the father of PR, who was also a nephew of Sigmund Freud.

You are right to point out that the Becks and Palins are crossing a line. That is, they are more overt and transparent now in their propaganda techniques. I'm not sure if that is good or bad--I mean if they were more clever and subtle in their methods perhaps they would be more more dangerous. But they should not be underestimated by any means, and their incendiay rhetoric, though foolish, is still dangerous.

Covertly, the US government has been manipulating and hiding the truth about policy and facts for many years from its citizens. For example, if it weren't for people like Daniel Ellsberg when would we have learned the truth about what was going on on Viet Nam?

MLK's speeches were censored by Democrats as well as the Right. He not only was against miltarism but felt that social justice could not be attained without a radical restructuring of a system that keeps so many impoverished.

Some accused him of being a communist, though he was not. He and many others throughout US history--including labor leaders, artists, anti-militarists, peace activists, civil rights workers have been spied on, jailed, driven into exile, some into suicide--some, like MLK, murdered.

The "no-nothings" and their masters the oligarchs have been playing this game for most US history.

Thanks for you insightful thoughts about the the Nazis and their use of propaganda and mass psychology. Let's hope some light can penetrate the darkness that is full of hatred, bigotry and fear.

+++

UPDATE 3:

Very good clip by Media Matters about the "real" Glenn Beck (h/t Political Carnival):

What about this one - Glenn Beck said that the $ 700 billion Wall Street bailout is "the right thing to do" and "not nearly enough":

Sarah, what was the bailout all about again?
.

Breaking News: The top-secret contract of Sarah Palin with CSU Stanislaus Foundation has been published!

BREAKING NEWS - Just in:

The top-secret contract between Sarah Palin's agents, the Washington Speakers Bureau and the CSU Stanislaus Foundation has been published!

This happened in response to the ruling of the Superior Court of the State of California, which concluded that the contract was a public record and subject to disclosure.

We have hardly had a chance to look at the contract in detail - it can be downloaded HERE.

But what we can say is that the Washington Speakers Bureau were dealing with Susana Gajic-Bruyea, who had "one foot" in the University and "one foot" in the Foundation.

Take a look at Sarah's demands without the filter of the evil media. ;-)

Uncensored, just he facts. Sarah should be happy!

+++

Palingates was the first publication worldwide which revealed Sarah Palin's speaking fee, four days before the LA Times confirmed this fact.

The complete, extensive reporting by Palingates about the CSU Stanislaus affair can be found HERE.

+++

Screenshots of the first pages:

Susana Gajic-Bruyea signed the contract EXPLICITLY in her function as Vice President for University Advancement AND Executive Officer for the Foundation Board!

This is the proof that the University always had the contract, right from the beginning. They never had ANY right to refuse the disclosure! See also the last page:

+++

UPDATE:

Earlier today, AP reported that the University couldn't comply with the court order:

SACRAMENTO - A California university says it can't comply with a court order requesting Sarah Palin's contract for a June speech because it doesn't have the document.

California State University general counsel Dawn Theodora said Thursday that the contract belongs to the CSU Stanislaus Foundation, which handled the negotiations for Palin's speech at CSU Stanislaus.

She said the university would ask the nonprofit to release it.

However, now we know that Susana Gajica-Bruyea signed the contract in her role as Executive Officer for the Foundation as well as in her "University role" as Vice President for University Advancement. So this whole argument "the University doesn't have the contract" was nonsense right from the beginning. Susana Gajica-Bruyea might not have kept it in her "University cupboard", but surely in her "Foundation cupboard", and both are certainly pretty close to each other. In my opinion, the separation of the Foundation from the University doesn't really exist in practice, and the contract proves it.

+++

UPDATE 2:

That's what the foundation paid $ 75,000 + expenses for:

30 minutes of "remarks" - and strictly "NO REMARKS" during the expensive private reception. ;-)

It's also interesting to note that originally the speech was not supposed to be broadcast - just three minutes of video ("no audio") for b-roll footage was originally allowed (the reversal of this decision proved to be a disaster for Sarah Palin).

Apart from that, it's all in there: The bendy straws, the private jet (or first class flight), the SUV's, the deluxe hotel and not to forget: "Arrangements of the highest order" regarding security - due to the "high profile" of the speaker. But I thought she is just a private citizen...?

The CSU scandal had it all:

A speaker who was chosen for political reasons by the Republican leadership of the University and the Foundation.

A contract which at first didn't exist, and from which pages 4-9 were then discovered by the students Alicia Lewis and Ashli Briggs in a dumpster, revealing that the "ordinary American" Sarah Palin had "rock star luxury demands."

The Palinbots retaliated and sent disgusting messages to California State Senator Leland Yee, who demanded transparency from the University.

Sarah Palin, who doesn't like it when her secret contracts are being published, then insinuated in public that the two students had stolen the contract.

Later, during her speech at CSU Stanislaus (video), Sarah Palin hurled more insults and called the students "dumpster divers" and "political operatives." Note the usual message: You do NOT cross Sarah Palin.

Internal emails from the University which were obtained through an FOIA request by California Aware then revealed that the University (or was it the Foundation, I am getting confused) had hired Republican PR-firms to deal with the crisis - including "shill comments" on news websites. The emails also revealed that the profits from the event were not supposed to be used for scholarships. In fact, the Foundation announces in public at the same time that scholarships are being cancelled.

On May 24, 2010, Palingates exclusively revealed Sarah Palin's speaking fee - and scooped the LA Times.

For the speech, large parts of the University campus at Stanislaus were then fenced off on the day of the speech. An impressive number of students protested against Sarah Palin's appearance.

Sarah Palin's speech was atrocious and included several gross mistakes, like the non-existing Eureka College in California. However, the biggest disaster happened after the speech: The microphone for the live internet broadcast of the speech was still open when journalists who listened to the speech afterwards mercilessly slammed Sarah Palin's performance.

Palingates published a transcript of the speech and highlighted Palin's mistakes and "gaffes."

+++

UPDATE 3:

It will not be a surprise for our readers, but the complete contract also reveals that Sarah Palin lied in her speech about her "contractual demands."

From Fox40 News:

"Palin said during her fundraiser event that the "lamestream" media erroneously reported her requests in exchange for the speaking engagement, which included the straws and the water."

From Sarah's CSU speech transcript:

"Um, I am so honored to get to be here and before we get started let me just get through some logistics really quickly. First, um, I got my water... do I have my straz? I want my straz. And I want ‘em bent, pleaz, thank you. At least that’s what I read in some of the lamestream media outlets. Is that I was demanding straz or some ridiculous thing. So, I’m just so glad that we got some of those con contractual demands out of the way and finally settled."

So Sarah has been caught red handed - again.

Yes, she wanted her "bendy straz" - and much more, like a real "celebrity."

(h/t so_many_unanswered_questions)

Sarah Palin mocks the bendy straws during the speech - which she DID request!

+++

UPDATE 4:

The local Fox40 News station reports:

According to a press release issued by the school last month, the university brought in $473,000 from Palin's appearance, with $207,000 in net proceeds.

(...)

According to a document released last month, CSU Stanislaus spent $75,000 in guest speaker fees relating to Sarah Palin's appearance and more than $30,000 in payment to the Modesto and Turlock police departments for security the night of the event. An additional $42,000 was spent in event decorations, $30,000 was spent to cater the event and $80,000 was spent printing programs and contributing to other entertainment-related expenses.

At the day of the speech, Palingates exclusively revealed that members of the board of the CSU Stanislaus Foundation donated at least $ 90,000 themselves for the event - including $ 50,000 from Matt Swanson's company, who is the President of the Foundation. Therefore, they did everything to make sure that the event was not a failure. It is likely that actually much more money was donated from board members.

In addition, we revealed that at least one donor who had donated for scholarships in the past, now donated for this fundraising event instead.

We wrote back then:

According to Michael R. Leaveck, the real scandal, well hidden from public view is the fact that for example a donor like Gemperle Enterprises (Farms) was once a sponsor of CSU Stanislaus "Presidential Scholarships," a program that has been discontinued as of this year due to economic hard times. Instead, this year, Gemperle Farms is a $10,000 sponsor of the 50th Anniversary Black Tie Gala, featuring Sarah Palin!

Now, due to their own stupidity and over-eagerness to please Sarah Palin, the University will also have to pay the costs in the lawsuit against "Californians Aware", which the University lost. The court ordered that the University will have to pay all costs, including the legal fees of "Californians Aware." This surely will be a massive bill.

+++

"Mercurynews" have also published a good report about this topic.

+++

UPDATE 5:

Alaska Dispatch has an interesting observation regarding Palin's contract:

One interesting tidbit is that the only audio recording allowed of Palin's speech in the original contract was one that must be sent to Linsday Hayes, a former speechwriter for the late Sen. Ted Stevens, within 24 hours of Palin's engagement. That embargo clause was canceled prior to the speech, and it ended up being recorded (watch it at the Modesto Bee). According to Democracy in Action, Hayes was the senior writer for the Republican National Committee in 2008, a senior associate at Nahigian Strategies, and once wrote for the late Sen. Ted Stevens.

+++

Websites which linked to this post:

Alaska Dispatch

.

Fundraiser with Barack Obama - Determination and Pride - UPDATE! CSU Stanislaus has to disclose Sarah Palin's contract - Read the judgement

Guest post by Jula

Last week was a very interesting one. I had the privilege of seeing/greeting President Obama at a fundraiser. I came away re-energized.

Earlier on Sunday, BfromC also had a nice reminder about Frank Schaeffer’s good piece on political sanity prevailing: "Obama Will Triumph - So Will America", also published in Huffington Post.

The article was written by Frank Schaeffer, already back on December 21, 2009, but they are words to consider when one is feeling pretty bad about how low things are going.

Final paragraph (it's worth reading the whole article):

The Future Looks Good

After Obama has served two full terms, (and he will), after his wisdom in moving deliberately and cautiously with great subtlety on all fronts -- with a canny and calculating eye to the possible succeeds, (it will), after the economy is booming and new industries are burgeoning, (they will be), after the doomsayers are all proved not just wrong but silly: let the record show that not all Americans were panicked into thinking the sky was falling.

Just because we didn’t get everything we wanted in the first short and fraught year Obama was in office not all of us gave up. Some of us stayed the course. And we will be proved right.

I saw that article when it came out originally and I thought he was right on. Obama came in with such huge (almost superhuman) expectations and this myth that the Dems have a filibuster proof Senate. They do not. They have low 50’s number of real Dems and then the Blue Dog “conserva-Dems” like Ben Nelson, Bayh, Landreau, Lincoln, etc. and “independents” like Lieberman that often side with the Republicans. And contribute to the right wing spin machine. Its impressive what he has gotten done so far, although I too get frustrated that more hasn’t happened. I’m glad to see even KO was more acknowledging of these facts in some of his criticism recently.

We cannot get discouraged even though the relentless right wing disinformation campaign seems to be winning the public debate lately! Especially Sarah’s disrespectful sniping and fear mongering.

Back to the fundraiser with Obama this past week:

Wow—talk about a difference from the Tea Party and Sarah rallies. Very racially diverse crowd, no disrespectful signs about the other side, no yelling, people bringing their kids, many seniors (supposedly a group Obama doesn’t have as a big base), many people talking about their charitable work. Some protesters outside, most of whom had various things on their signs. Nothing specific about the mosque issue that I saw. In fact, the opponent of the candidate Obama was stumping for was there in plain site and people just walked right by him and never said a harsh word. Some even greeted him.

There were some African American kids sitting next to me and you could just see them sit up a little straighter and beam with pride that this country was open minded enough to elect a black president who is such a wonderful role model for them.

As usual, Obama was intelligent, gracious and very articulate. He recounted the mess he inherited and the progress since he took office. He spoke about not giving into fear and division and not to underestimate the American workers. And that Americans have been through a lot and never lost hope. And yes we can.

Addressing his poll numbers, he emphasized that he is elected to do what was RIGHT, not what was popular and that sometimes you just have to establish the foundation to continually build upon (I assume that he was referring to healthcare, etc.). And if you don’t get everything right away you keep trying and need to take the long view.

Even the digs at Republicans were done with that same charming snarkiness that Rachel Maddow also does so well that it doesn’t come across as mean spirited. One of his best line: ”When you want your car to go forward you put it in “D”. And when you want to go backwards…..well, you know the rest."

I have certainly been frustrated with him sometimes. But we cannot lose site of the big picture. And we cannot lose faith—the good guys are in charge now. I thank God every day that we elected this super smart and decent person versus Uncle Fester and the crazy lady from Wasilla.

So, in the vein of slow and steady progress, the ‘gaters are keeping at it to expose the hypocrisy and move this country forward. In the end, I agree with Frank Schaeffer that truth and decency will win out.

P.S. Obama’s other best line: "There are no coincidences."

P.S.P.S. The national media were there and I discreetly gave some of them a card with palingates URL when they walked by. Ya never know!

+++

Note by Patrick:

I always thought that the following clip is a fitting depiction of what Barack Obama was facing when he took over the leadership of the country.

Obama campaigned in the rain in Chester, PA, on October 28, 2008. It was a bitter cold day. John McCain cancelled his own rally 50 miles north due to the bad weather.

The Americans voted for the tough guy. Good choice!

+++

UPDATE - GOOD NEWS:

The "Palin-curse" now struck CSU Stanislaus with full force - again (see our previous reporting). The Superior Court of the State of California ordered in a very precise and convincing judgement that CSU Stanislaus has to release Sarah Palin's secret contract which the CSU Stanislaus Foundation signed with the Washington Speakers Bureau.

Fortunately, we already got hold of the original ruling, which can be downloaded HERE.

SFGate reported today that CSU Stanislaus is "perplexed":

CSU has yet to receive the judge's ruling, said spokeswoman Claudia Keith, "We're perplexed as to how he could have come to that conclusion," she said. "Nevertheless, we'll comply with whatever the court has ordered."

Well, we are not "perplexed", because the reason for the need to disclose the contract is pretty obvious, it's not exactly rocket science:

The court also stated in the description of the facts of the case that the University was so eager to protect Sarah Palin and her request to keep the contract secret that at the beginning they went so far to LIE for Sarah Palin:

Fortunately, due to the persistence of "California Aware", the two students Alicia Lewis and Ashli Briggs and State Senator Leland Yee, the University didn't succeed with their dirty tricks.

Now we will have the pleasure to see for the first time a complete copy of Sarah Palin's contract which was negotiated for her by the Washington Speakers Bureau.

Secrecy is Sarah Palin's best friend. Good to see that outside Alaska, people are willing to apply the law correctly, even if it doesn't favor Sarah Palin and her desperate need for secrecy.

Inside Alaska, however, there isn't much hope.

+++

BONUS:

You know why:

.

Todd Palin's aggressive encounter with a citizen at Valdez airport on August 17, 2010 - Sarah Palin's husband attempts to bully Valdez citizen (VIDEO)

Sarah Palin likes public appearances - provided everything is under control, questions are pre-screened and no potentially critical soul is in sight. Spontaneous, unscripted encounters which are being taped are not her thing, which became painfully obvious when Shannyn Moore recently published "Sarah Palin's Homer moment". In Homer, Sarah, Todd and Willow Palin confronted the Alaska teacher Kathleen Gustafson, who put up a huge sign saying "Worst Governor Ever" - and this encounter was taped with a cell phone. This unplanned meeting with Kathleen Gustafson turned out to be a PR-disaster.

Today, we get another unscripted and unfiltered view of Sarah and Todd Palin.

Apparently Sarah and Todd Palin now regard every video recorder (and the owner) they can spot around them as the enemy.

Hawk is a citizen of Valdez and owns several shops there. He is very well connected within the community of Valdez. On August 17, 2010, Hawk went with his wife to the airport at Valdez, as she had a plane to catch from Valdez to Anchorage.

Coincidentally, Sarah Palin, Todd Palin, Greta Van Susteren and her Fox News team were booked on the same flight as Hawk's wife.

When Hawk spotted Sarah and Todd, he took out his video camera and started filming. Not an unusual type of behavior when people spot a very famous person at a public place like an airport, wouldn't you think?

What followed then is not only an incredibly awkward encounter, but also provides an unique insight into the mindset of Sarah and also especially Todd Palin. Never before has the highly aggressive side of Todd Palin being caught on tape. We know from documents for example like the Branchflower-report in the Troopergate-affair that Todd Palin likes to try to bully other people into submission, and this tape is proof that the former "First Dude" hasn't changed.

Hawk starts filming, and then immediately Sarah and Todd Palin start to take pictures of him and seem to be taking down details about him, as if they were employed by the secret service.

Hawk then follows them into the airport and has his first unpleasant encounter with an angry Todd Palin. Shortly afterwards Hawk switches the camera off.

Moments later, Hawk then accompanies his wife to the gate. The camera is still switched off at this point. Then 10-15 minutes after the first encounter, Todd Palin then suddenly approaches him again, and the following encounter is even more aggressive on Todd's part. Hawk switches the camera back on again, to record the rest of the encounter. Another woman gets involved who belongs to Greta Van Susteren's team at Fox News and waves papers in front of Hawk's camera, in order to make him stop filming.

To recap:

A private citizen takes his wife to the airport to catch a flight, spots a celebrity (Sarah Palin) and starts to film her to show his family and friends. This everyday occurrence between a member of the public and a celebrity is met with a very hostile response by Todd Palin.

See for yourself. This is the complete footage, nothing has been cut out or edited:

This is Hawk's own description of the incident:

I start to tape as I'm walking out the door and Dave Cobb (interim mayor of Valdez) is standing there, listening to Sarah.

SP: More policies comin' down the pike..they're gettin' worse....

She notices me almost instantly, cuts off her conversation and says:

SP: Hello there, how are you?
Me: Good
SP: Good.. What's your name?
Me: What's YOUR name.. you look familiar?

Sarah starts walking toward me.

SP: Hi, I'm Sarah.. what's your name?
Me: Hawk.. Nice to meet you Sarah
SP: Nice to meet....... cha... this is my husband Todd Palin.. what do you do here?
Me: Hi Todd.. I'm a small business owner
SP: (voice getting higher) OK. what kind of business do you own?
Me: I have skateboard shops, espresso shops, things like that.
SP: Very good. and you live here in Valdez?

Todd moves out of the picture and starts to take pictures of me from the side.

Me: I do
SP: Do you mind if I take a picture of ya?.. love meetin' the locals.
Me: not at all.
SP takes a picture you can hear the shutter.

SP: Thaaaaats wonderful.. Todd ya wanna stand by him and I'll take a picture?
Todd: Hey I'm good right here.

I pan over to show Todd way off to my side taking pictures of me and using the keypad on his phone.

SP: Good good. OK, we're gettin' on the flight.
Todd: What was yer name again?
Me: Hawk
SP: Hawk.. and he's got the local skateboard shop.
SP: and you're doing the vid-ee-oo foooooor what?
Me: Just me.

SP: Nice to meet you Hawk (she then starts to chat briefly to another member of the public)

Todd and Sarah walk into airport a ways and then both turn around and stop and start taking more photos of me. I follow them into the airport and she's kind of just wandering around. She starts talking to some people up at the counter and others are asking her for pictures. In fact, an airport employee even comes out from behind the counter to have her photo taken with Sarah. It is obvious Sarah is NOT trying to avoid being photographed. In fact, she encourages it and welcomes it , as you can see.

As I'm following her with the viewfinder from the back of the room, you can see Todd circle around out of the picture to come up from beside me. I never saw him coming.

Next thing he's right on top of me and mumbles something. I pan the camera over and say "What's that?" and he takes another picture of me right in front of the camera.

TP: What do you need a video camera for, man?
Me: You got a problem with that?
TP: No.. I mean you got a life or what..? Why you shaking so bad.?
Me: I'm here with my wife, she's getting on the plane.

Todd takes a few more pictures of me as he keeps moving back and forth in front of me and backing me up.
TP: (again) Why you shakin' so bad.. Why you shakin' so bad?

He takes more pictures of me and starts walking to the other end of the terminal, together with Sarah. I tape as they walk away. I turn the camera off and sit back down.

10-15 minutes later, in a different part of the airport:

My camera is still switched off, and next thing I know, right after my wife walks off, Todd runs right into the back of me, so I flip the camera back on, spin around and there he is with his camera right in my face again. Unfortunately, it took a few seconds for the camera to turn on, so I didn't catch the first thing he said to me which was "Why are you videotaping my wife?," Which I wasn't. I was leaving. I never saw him sneak up this time either, but here's the rest that's on tape.

Me: Why do you have a problem with it?
TP: Why are you doing that?
Me: I didn't stick it in your face. I was never...
TP: Why did you stick the camera in Sarah Palin's face? Why did you do that?
Me: I wasn't within 10 feet of you guys.

Now it looks like he's filming me one-on-one with his camera phone, he's got it stuck in my face but it's not taking pictures and he's following me with it. Todd advances closer and closer to me and I keep backing up to avoid a confrontation. At this point, you just now see Sarah and Greta coming down the hallway towards us. They had been no where near me.

Me: Do you have a problem with me being here with a camera? (Evil eye from Todd at this moment.....)

Then the little brunette who I believe was a member of Greta's Fox News team jumps in and says "No.. There's no problem.. there's just nothing to see here."

Me: My wife is getting on that plane...I am just here.

That's when she starts hitting the front of my camera with her notes.. I just say "niiiiice" and they all finally wander off to the loading area. Sarah turns around for one last stare at me.

+++

Later, Hawk's wife was seated on the plane right next to Sarah Palin, but Sarah then changed seats with Greta Van Susteren.

Not one word was spoken between Hawk's wife and Sarah and Greta on the flight...

It sounds amazing even to write it down, but this is the couple who were chosen by John McCain to become the "deputy first couple" and now seriously wants to be the next "first couple" of the United States of America - the most powerful position in the world.

+++

Here are screenshots from the video, in chronological order (click to enlarge):

"Hi there, what's your name?"

Sarah doesn't like it and pulls a face.

Taking down the details.

Todd starts to take pictures of Hawk.

Sarah also takes pictures of Hawk.

Sarah and Todd walk into the airport.

Sarah takes more pictures of Hawk and tells Todd to do the same.

Todd also takes more pictures.

Sarah goes to a desk and starts to have pictures taken with an employee.

First unpleasant encounter with Todd who walks up to Hawk.

"What are you videotaping for?"

Hawk explains: "I am here with my wife, she is getting on a plane."

Sarah still has pictures taken with the employee.

Sarah greets another citizen.

Sarah and Todd walk away. Hawk stops filming.

At the gate, 10-15 minutes later after Hawk stopped filming, Todd suddenly walks up to him again and tries to intimidate Hawk, who switches on the camera again,

but Todd's first sentence was not recorded.

Todd: "Why did you stick the camera in Sarah Palin's face? Why did you do that?"

A young woman, part of Greta's Fox News team, then tries to block Hawk's view.

"Nothing to see here."

Everyone walks into the gate. End of recording.

+++

UDPATE:

The Cyber bullies at C4P are in action!

It's the most predictable response: He is a stalker!

Well, no, actually, Hawk isn't a stalker. If Todd Palin hadn't tried to intimidate Hawk TWICE in this disgusting manner, nothing interesting would have been caught on tape. It would have been a boring video with Sarah Palin talking to people at an airport for about 2 minutes, with Hawk being 10-15 feet away from Sarah and Todd. Nothing newsworthy at all.

The truth is that it was Todd Palin who stalked Hawk, especially at the second encounter which happened 10-15 minutes after Hawk had turned his camera off.

This was a chance encounter that a citizen from Valdez had with the Palins. Hawk's wife was on the same flight, he went with his wife to the airport, where he then spotted the Palins. When Hawk started filming, he had no idea that it would turn into such an controversial story. This should have been a boring 2-minute video of the Palins strolling around in an airport, but because Todd in particular chose to confront him, it turned ugly.

The "second" confrontation with Todd, from 3:13 in the video, happened after Hawk had switched his camera off already for 10-15 minutes. He was sitting at the gate and didn't plan to do any more filming. Todd then suddenly approached him again in this intimidating manner, which was Todd's own choice. Nobody had provoked him to do that. It was only then when Hawk switched the camera on again. Todd really showed his nasty side there - a side of his personality which by the way was already very well documented during the Troopergate investigation.

On the plane, Hawk's wife was then actually seated right next to Sarah Palin, but Sarah realized that this was awkward and then changed seats with Greta Van Susteren.

In addition, the other predictable response: Hunt the enemy!

Suck it, Palinbots, nobody is afraid of you.

Now we know why C4P and Sarah and Todd Palin are a match made in heaven.

Oh, C4P, thanks a lot for reposting the video!

+++

UPDATE 2:

The local media in Valdez reported the story and also mentioned Hawk's full name.

We post this link with Hawk's permission. It's also the proof that our story is correct, as the Palinbots have questioned whether "Hawk is really Hawk" and whether he really is a local business owner - as was to be expected.

Message for Palinbots: Nobody is afraid of you - and nobody in Valdez likes your Queen Sarah Palin either.

+++

UPDATE 3:

Another update! It's amazing to see how the right-wingers try to twist and turn the story, which, however you look at it, is not a positive one for the Palins. Even the centrist-conservative website mediaite.com, whose journalists are in general not fond of "Palin-hating websites", concluded: "It’s the end of the tape, where Todd runs into the guy later, that really looks bad for him."

So the Palinbots are angry. There are just a few details we would like to clear up - not for the Palinbots, who in their blind adoration for their Queen wouldn't believe us anyway, but more for the "general public."

Hawk was at the airport because his wife was on the same flight, which was a pure coincidence. He had no idea the Palins would be at the airport. The reason he had the video camera with him was not that he wanted to film his wife at the airport, but his wife originally wanted to take the camera to Kodiak, which was her ultimate destination.

Hawk explains:

"After talking to Dave Cobb and finding out that he was there to be interviewed by Greta, I had her get the camera out of her bag. I took about 2 minutes of footage of Greta walking around with no incident whatsoever, before Palin showed up. Nobody including Dave Cobb knew Palin was there."

Dave Cobb is a Council member in Valdez, and currently the interim mayor. Sarah Palin is talking to him at the beginning of the clip.

After Hawk had his first encounter with Sarah and Todd, he decided to keep the camera, because he now had something "interesting" on film.

Then followed the infamous "second" encounter with Todd Palin (from 3:13 in the video), which, as mediaite.com and others correctly observed, is particularly damning for Todd Palin. Does anybody who is not brainwashed want see Todd Palin in the White House after watching this clip? I don't think so.

Hawk's wife can be seen in the video from 4:04-4:10, the blond woman standing in line with the grey sweatshirt:

She was in front of the Palins in line, and Hawk was just leaving when Todd bumped into him again from behind and (from 3:13) started his unprovoked "Why did you stick the camera in Sarah Palin's face" rage.

The Palinbots now started their "revenge" activities, but this just shows again what vile, disgusting people they are, and it will only backfire on Sarah Palin.

+++

UPDATE 4:

The local "Valdez Star" reports under the headline "Palin pays secret visit to Valdez":

Many were excited to see the former governor turned celebrity back in Valdez.

Ice cream truck owner and operator Peggy Giles said she was so thrilled to have Van Susteren take a photo of her pink truck that she forgot to get a photo herself.

The hush-hush visit surprised many, including Linda Vandenburg, proprietor of Valdez U-Drive. The group rented a van from the company without having made a reservation, and Vandenburg said it was lucky for them they even had one available this time of year.

The van was returned with only eight miles added to the odometer.

After his interview with Van Susteren at the airport, Cobb said the news host told him the Palins were having lunch in a truck at the parking lot out front and hoped to see him before they flew off.

“We didn’t talk anything about politics,” Cobb said, “We talked about fishing.”

Cobb’s impromptu chat with the Palins was cut short when Valdez business owner Hawk Pierce began videotaping the visit. Cobb left and Palin introduced herself and Todd.

The Palins used their cell phones to take Pierce’s photo in return; Palin says she enjoyed meeting “the locals.”

Todd Palin later challenged Pierce as he followed the couple through the airport, taking close-ups of Peirce with his cell phone.

The footage shot by Pierce was posted on YouTube Monday.

+++

UPDATE 5:

It might seem a bit "over the top" for some of our readers, but we still thought that it would be good idea to show the flight documentation for Hawk's wife, in order to convince the last "doubters" - although the die-hard Palin cultists will of course never be convinced by anything.

Here is Hawk's description for the following two documents:

The first ticket from Valdez to Anchorage was done on coupons. That's why it looks the way it does. You'll notice the ticket was turned in at 8:03 for the flight, but the planes didn't fly. So they just kept her reservation and boarded her on the next available flight which was the Palin flight.

The second document is her itinerary continuing on to Kodiak that afternoon on Alaska Airlines.

Document 1:

Document 2:

+++

Websites which linked to this post:

Politicususa

The Political Carnival

Oliverwillis.com

Dependable Renegade

Mock, Paper, Scissors

Dagblog

Democratic Underground

FreakOutNation

Wonkette (posted the video)

CBS NEWS

Mudflats (posted the video)

KVAK Radio - Local News in Valdez

The Midnight Review

KTVA 11 (local CBS affiliate)

Progressive Alaska

Mediaite

Asylum

Anchorage Daily News

The Daily Beast

Valdez Star (Local News in Valdez)

.