Monday 14 March 2011

Recent bits and pieces about Sarah Palin


Here's another summary of recent Sarah Palin news.

Sarah Palin didn't make the Newsweek list of the "150 Women Who Shake the World." A couple of people don't think it was fair to leave her out:

Mark Berman:

There is one name noticeably absent -- Sarah Palin.

Agree or disagree with Palin's views, she is certainly a force in our national dialogue. The mere title of the piece warrants Palin's inclusion on the list. She can't open her mouth without the entire world "shaking." Everything she says or does is closely watched and reported by the media ad nauseam. If she is not earth-shaking, who is?

Palin deserved to be on the list more than many of the women who did make it.

Suzanne Fields
:

There's Nancy Pelosi, but no Sarah Palin, for instance. We get complaints that fewer women serve in the new Congress, but there's no mention of the tea party winners.

Alex Pareene doesn't think HBO's Game Change, starring Julianne Moore as Sarah Palin, will be a good film:

After living through the 2008 election, does anyone really need to see a movie about it? HBO apparently thinks so. The network made news yesterday -- masterfully -- by leaking the news that Julianne Moore has been cast as Sarah Palin in the upcoming made-for-television adaptation of "Game Change," the most annoying political book of the post-Bush age.

Roger Ailes wasn't impressed with Sarah Palin's "blood libel."

Before Sarah Palin posted her infamous “Blood Libel” video on Facebook on January 12, she placed a call to Fox News chairman Roger Ailes. In the wake of the Tucson massacre, Palin was fuming that the media was blaming her heated rhetoric for the actions of a madman that left six people dead and thirteen others injured, including Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.

Ailes told Palin that she should stay quiet.

“Lie low,” he said. “There’s no need to inject yourself into the story.”

But, this being Sarah Palin, she did it anyway.


Ailes was not pleased with her decision, which turned out to be a political debacle for Palin, especially her use of the historically loaded term "blood libel" to describe the actions of the media. “The Tucson thing was horrible,” said a person familiar with Ailes’s thinking. "Before she responded, she was making herself look like a victim. She was winning. She went out and did the blood libel thing, and Roger is thinking, 'Why did you call me for advice?'”


Ailes’s displeasure matters, not only because his network is a holding pen for Republican candidates-in-waiting, but because he is paying Palin a hefty $1 million annual salary while she strings out her decision over whether to run for president.

Aaron Blake and Chris Cillizza
discuss Sarah Palin's plummeting figures in the most recent Bloomberg poll:

Sarah Palin's unfavorable rating has spiked to a new high, adding further fuel to the argument that her presidential campaign may be doomed before it begins.

A new Bloomberg poll shows the former Alaska governor is now viewed unfavorably by 60 percent of American adults. That's higher than any other poll has shown, but it's not even the entire picture.

Of that 60 percent, nearly two-thirds - 38 percent of all adults - say they view the former GOP vice presidential nominee "very unfavorably." No other politicians tested even comes close, including President Obama (22 percent). What's more, Palin's unfavorable rating is more than twice as high as her favorable rating, which rests at just 28 percent. Another 12 percent aren't sure how they feel about her.

Emi Kolawole comments on the possibility that Sarah Palin was chosen by McCain because of her gender:


A former campaign manager for Sen. John McCain's (R-Ariz.) 2008 presidential campaign is reported to have said that former Alaska governor Sarah Palin was added to the vice presidential "short list" because then candidate McCain had requested a woman be added.

There were rumours about a move to Arizona:


On Wednesday, Ben Smith of Politico quoted an unnamed source who suggested that a 2012 Palin presidential campaign, if there is one, might be headquartered in Scottsdale.


On Tuesday, a Democratic state lawmaker peddled the theory that Palin might actually be angling to join McCain in the U.S. Senate by replacing the retiring U.S. Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz.


In his weekly newsletter to constituents, state Rep. Steve Farley, D-Tucson, wrote: "And as long as we are trading in rumors, I will leave you with an unwelcome one that I heard this afternoon from two separate reliable sources: Sarah Palin is considering moving to Bristol's new house in Maricopa in order to run for Kyl's Senate seat. Just what we need in our politics - another politician from out of state who believes that ideology trumps jobs, the economy, and common sense. Let's hope the rumor is wrong."

Further afield, there were a couple of articles related to India.

Amnesty International suggests an itinerary for Sarah Palin when she visits India:

I understand that you will be travelling to India to deliver a speech to the India Today Conclave. This conclave is a a group of extremely wealthy and self-declared important people in India, talking about how awesome India is while pretending not to see all of the poverty and hardship faced by hundreds of millions every day. OK, there are some good people speaking at the event and I shouldn’t be so cynical. But, I digress…

Keep in mind that there are lots of vegetarians in India, Gov. Palin.

I realize that we need not worry too much about your expertise on India. India is pretty darn close to Russia and as you told us when asked about your foreign policy experience, “They’re our next door neighbors and you can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska.” But despite that, I thought it might be helpful for me to give you a suggested itinerary to give you a more well-rounded picture of the country.

Somya Lakhani, of Indian Express, watched Sarah Palin's Alaska, which starts airing in India tonight.


This is not how we remember Sarah Palin's series:

The show takes the viewers on a trip to Alaska and controversial American politician, Sarah Palin, is the gracious tour guide.

Sarah keeps politics out of the show and is often seen juggling various relationships. The children, surprisingly, come across as well-grounded and their individual characters come out rather well on the show. The former governor gets candid about her relationship with Todd and even breaks down as she talks about her youngest son, Trig, who suffers from Down’s Syndrome. The excellent production values of the show make it a fun watch and the non-political life of the former governor of Alaska is intriguing.

We had already looked into Sarah Palin's own appearances and pronouncements in recent days. The news cycle was dominated by more urgent news than Sarah Palin, so this was all I could find...