The media all over the world wasted no time in producing spectacular headlines when they came across the revelations about Sarah Palin in Joe McGinniss's book, paying particular attention to sex dalliances and drug abuse.
Then they started to defend her and attack the author. The New York Times, the Washington Post and even Keith Olbermann deplored the nature of the explosive contents that have been made public so far. They find the whole thing irrelevant and not connected to politics. I think they would have a stronger point if Sarah Palin had not written about her younger years in Going Rogue.
Personally, I couldn't care less how many sexual partners of any race she had before she was married, after she was married or right now. What makes it relevant to me is her hypocrisy and the fact that she lies at any given opportunity.
In her own book she painted her relationship with Todd in very different tones. He was the one, he has always been the only one. Always. She painted herself as little miss perfect, utterly dedicated to Todd and then to her brood. The devoted girlfriend became a devoted wife and mother, her motivation to do anything, including her involvement in politics, always noble and selfless, was based on the values she learned from her dad, her family, basketball, fishing, hunting, all the things that gave her a faultless work ethic.
We had already found many inconsistencies in her account of many events, so when we look at McGinniss's version (from the excerpts so far) side-by-side with hers, her version becomes even harder to swallow. I expect the author and his publishers took all the necessary steps to avoid litigation and should be able to back up any revelations with some kind of proof.
Sarah Palin wrote about her whole life in saccharine tones, with the added twist of "little Sarah against the world" as the running theme of her political career. Why should the world be so against a person who, according to herself, had only the noblest of motives?
Joe McGinniss interviewed a great number of people who know Sarah Palin well and many of them felt they had been wronged by the Palins. People who had once admired Sarah Palin were deeply disillusioned. And they talked.
If The Rogue is being branded a hatchet job, what is Going Rogue? Yes, a hatchet job. The difference is that one book is well written and the other is very badly ghostwritten. Sarah Palin set out to settle scores and consolidate the myths about a persona she created for public consumption. The Rogue simply debunks it.
Now the contents of The Rogue are deemed to be politically irrelevant... but wait a minute! Sarah Palin made them relevant by writing Going Rogue and working the whole of personal life into the narrative of her political career. Sarah Palin provided the context herself.
She wrote her story and somebody went behind the scenes to have a closer look at it. If the picture that emerges is not a pretty one, is shooting the messenger the best anybody can do?
I hope that you all had a wonderful day, and in case you thought that Kathleen and I didn't celebrate Thanksgiving in Germany, then you were very mistaken! ;-)
Kim Chatman recently moved the Ramstein, Germany, where she will be working for the next 3-5 years as a civilian in the military at the local US base. She is living here together with five of her seven kids. It's not easy at the moment for the children to get used to the completely new environment, but at least Kim found a spacious, very nice house, which makes things a bit easier. In addition to the kids, three little dogs also ensure that a lively household is in operation. ;-)
Our visit was the opportunity to celebrate our first American thanksgiving, and also get to know Kim Chatman much better. Let's start with the food - it was simply fantastic, and there was a lot, of course:
We also had "real" Americans drinks with "real" ingredients... ;-)
Together with all the guests, we were about 15 people, and we had great fun.
The visit was of course also an opportunity to get to know Kim Chatman much better, and to talk for example about Sarah Palin. Regarding Kim, I would like to highlight that fact that she has been working for the military for 30 years in total, including 15 years of active duty in the Air Force. I believe that this fact should be emphasized, as Sarah Palin seems to believe that all soldiers admire her, and on a regular basis uses "the troops" as a tool to silence her perceived opponents - for example when she addressed the media in her final speech as Alaska's Governor:
"Democracy depends on you. And that is why, that's why our troops are willing to die for you. So, how about, in honor of the American soldier, you quit making things up."
(Meaning: Media making things up = Media reporting the ugly truth about Sarah Palin.)
But not all soldiers are fans of Sarah Palin - far from it.
Kim showed us some "souvenirs" from her military career.
That's her with seventeen years, after she had joined the US Air Force:
San Antonio, Texas, in 1978:
Her first dog tag:
Here is an unusal "souvenir" - in the "old days", members of the forces were apparently sent the following letter when a baby was born:
Kim Chatman became a fierce opponent of Sarah Palin after it became obvious during Palin's time as Governor of Alaska that Palin is a liar and a phony. Interestingly, one of the "crucial" moments was when Kim Chatman and her kids saw Sarah Palin at the Elmendorf Air Force base in Alaska, shortly after Palin had announced her surprising pregnancy on March 5, 2008. Kim Chatman realized immediately that Sarah Palin was not pregnant at all, and this became a turning point for her. Kim recently went on the record about this incident when she gave Palingates in September 2010 the permission to publish her comments about it:
Kim's opposition to Sarah Palin had consequences: For example, after she filed the ethics complaint because of the "Alaska Fund Trust", several friends in Alaska turned away from her. But Kim is as determined as ever and was well aware that her opposition could have undesirable effects. She was also not afraid to turn up at Sarah Palin's book signing in December 2009 at the Elmendorf base, identify herself and get four copies of "Going Rogue" signed (her daughter Kayla even showed up wearing an Obama t-shirt).
Today, she gave one of the books as a present to us, signed by Sarah and Todd:
We already know what we are going to do with this signed copy of "Going Rogue." More details later!
Enjoy the rest if your holiday, Gaters! :-)
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Update (November 27):
Kathleen and I returned today from Ramstein. We stayed one day longer as planned, and we had a wonderful time. We talked with Kim about many topics regarding Sarah Palin, and with a bit of luck, we might meet her and her family soon again.
When we see Kim again, I plan to do a taped interview with her, because she has a lot to tell, and she is not afraid of anything. If more people in Alaska had as much courage as Kim, Sarah Palin would already be history. There are a few courageous people in AK (mainly women, actually), but there need to be many more.
Kim Chatman was, by the way, a lifelong Republican until 2008, but due to the Republican madness which then started in combination with the promising rise of Barack Obama, for whom she and her family campaigned, she then changed her registration to Democrat. Kim says that she never cared too much for politics before Sarah Palin was chosen by John McCain, but afterwards, the impact these events had on her life was huge.
The visit also gave Kathleen and me some new insights into contemporary African-American culture, as all of Kim's children are African-American. We watched for example movies by Tyler Perry, which was a great discovery, as Tyler Perry is an incredibly fascinating and inspirational person.
So hopefully we will be able to meet Kim and her family very soon again!
Here is the second and last part of Sarah Palin's speech at the "Women of Joy" conference in Kentucky on April 16, 2010 (clips 4-6 and transcripts). Our brilliant reader Tildama has once again completed a fantastic job of transcribing the speech. She probably won't be able to listen to Sarah Palin for the next few weeks, but it was definitely worth the effort. ;-)
Click HERE for the first part with clips and transcripts 1-3.
Download the complete transcript of the speech as a Word-document HERE.
We feel that Sarah's speech in Kentucky is important, because it's another example of her not only trying to boost her "street cred" amongst the Christian fundamentalist base, but also another example of her creating an alternate reality - a version of events which exists to a large extent only in "Sarah's head".
In December 2009, we posted an article with a documented example of this alternate reality which Sarah Palin presents in "Going Rogue": The real version of events is on video tape! I keep coming back to this post because it so clearly illustrates what Sarah Palin constantly does since she has published "Going Rogue": To present to the public a highly distorted version of events - and to sell it as the "real deal". Steve Schmidt didn't fall for it, when he called her book "100% fiction", and many others didn't fall for it either. However, a frightening number of supporters take Sarah's word for gospel, especially those who think that God speaks through her.
I would like to highlight two parts of the transcripts we publish today:
1) Sarah tells the audience a heartwarming story about reading parts of the Old Testament to Piper:
Now I was trying to make a point about preparation with Piper the other night and I’m reading her the book of Esther out of the Old Testament. And I’m telling her all about Esther. See honey, I’m telling her, she’s the underdog, and she’s the orphan, she’s working hard preparing to be judged by others. Essentially Esther, she was out there on the stage wondering if she’d be chosen to have opportunity to really help change her world and Piper’s listening and she’s kinda dozing off and finally she rolls over and she says “Wow, that’s just like ‘American Idol’”.
So, Sarah - you read Piper the Book of Esther "out of the Old Testament"?
Let's take a look at one of the most "easily accessible" versions of the bible, the "Good News Translation". What does in actually SAY in the bible in the Book of Esther?
1 Later, even after the king's anger had cooled down, he kept thinking about what Vashti had done and about his proclamation against her.2 So some of the king's advisers who were close to him suggested, Why don't you make a search to find some beautiful young virgins?3 You can appoint officials in every province of the empire and have them bring all these beautiful young women to your harem here in Susa, the capital city. Put them in the care of Hegai, the eunuch who is in charge of your women, and let them be given a beauty treatment.4 Then take the young woman you like best and make her queen in Vashti's place.
The king thought this was good advice, so he followed it.
5 There in Susa lived a Jew named Mordecai son of Jair; he was from the tribe of Benjamin and was a descendant of Kish and Shimei.6 (A)When King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon took King Jehoiachin of Judah into exile from Jerusalem, along with a group of captives, Mordecai was among them.7 He had a cousin, Esther, whose Hebrew name was Hadassah; she was a beautiful young woman, and had a good figure. At the death of her parents, Mordecai had adopted her and brought her up as his own daughter.
8 When the king had issued his new proclamation and many young women were being brought to Susa, Esther was among them. She too was put in the royal palace in the care of Hegai, who had charge of the harem.9 Hegai liked Esther, and she won his favor. He lost no time in beginning her beauty treatment of massage and special diet. He gave her the best place in the harem and assigned seven young women specially chosen from the royal palace to serve her.
10 Now, on the advice of Mordecai, Esther had kept it secret that she was Jewish.11 Every day Mordecai would walk back and forth in front of the courtyard of the harem, in order to find out how she was getting along and what was going to happen to her.
Read the rest in the "Good News Translation" HERE.
As some of you will certainly know, the story shortly afterwards becomes very cruel, when King Xerxes issues "the instructions that on a single day, the thirteenth day of Adar, all Jews—young and old, women and children—were to be killed. They were to be slaughtered without mercy and their belongings were to be taken."
It's apparent that this is the comparison Sarah Palin wants to draw to herself. The woman who is "chosen by God" and who stands up against her "enemies" and "adversaries", as she calls them in her speech. Sarah also duly mentions the "Trig Birthers" in Kentucky. ;-)
2)
In the speech she gives another example of one of the conflicting versions of her pregnancy story when she says:
"And here all along after I finally got to tell Todd and it was a few weeks after I had the test results (of the baby having DS) I finally got to tell Todd, and he had come home (I didn’t want to tell him over the phone). And my first question to Todd after he looked at the sonogram pictures too, I said, aren’t you asking “Why us?” and Todd looked at me and he says “Why not us?” And right from that moment *applause* my destiny began to change."
As it may come as no surprise, the story that Sarah tells in "Going Rogue" is different. In "Going Rogue" Todd didn't come back after a "few weeks", but after a "few days" (p. 178).
However, will any journalist pick up on this fact? Most likely not, because the media already has given Sarah a pass with her monstrous lie, the fact that she faked the pregnancy with Trig. That Sarah now tries to pass off her alleged pregnancy as an "experience of biblical proportions" is in my opinion another reckless act of her megalomania.
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Part 4:
And I would surely be wise to put my life in His hands, in the creator’s hands, and let Him direct my path, that from that day forward putting my life in God’s hands, that’s why I was saved and I found that faith has sustained me through some tough times and certainly strengthened me through joyful times. *applause*
The surest measure of that truth was that year of the, the tumultuous and full and fun times, and that that fullness it continues today. But I know we all have our battles, we all have our challenges and maybe the enemy is doing to you what the enemy is never going to let up trying to do to all of us, to proclaim our faith in Christ. Because he wants to knock us off our rock, so that we’ll give up, so that we’ll sit down and shut up and we wont go forth seeking the destiny that God has for us. But we’ll just concede and say no, it’s not worth it, I’m tired, I’m sick of gettin beat up, I’m gonna sit down and shut up. That’s what the enemy wants to do to us. And maybe what you’re going through, in fact I know that everybody is going through something a battle, a challenge, some are being played out on the front page of the newspaper but most are not. *laughter*
And we with all of our battles know that what we’ve experienced. For instance with Trig and with Bristol, and any other thing that happened that year that I don’t have time to talk about, then it only reaffirmed really and strengthened my resolve and my beliefs. With Trig and with Bristol it has been the unwavering support for the sanctity of life. The gift of life that is at every stage and choosing life may not be easy path but it really is the right path *applause and cheering* What the enemy means for good, what the enemy means for bad, to harm us, it it is what God is going to turn into good. And that only happens when we put it into God’s hands. God promises that. And the timing or the circumstances perhaps not perfect, not ideal, what we had planned for, but God sees a way where we cannot. And He does not make mistakes. We may say “oops” but God does not, and he does not look away from us.
So putting my faith in that fundamental belief and crying out for more faith, then you do that too, we are all going to learn together. And what seems like life’s greatest challenges at the moment end up being our greatest blessings. And we are also learning that our faith isn’t just there for us in the hard times, it is also guiding us in the good times. When we are calm and when we’re still, we can sense our purpose. We can sense our calling and those promptings of the Holy Spirit. For me the thing tugging at my heart was a desire (ever since I was a little kid) was to be of service to others my neighbours, my community, I did want to serve my state, even as a child and eventually beyond. And that desire pointed me in the right direction – at least some would say it’s the right direction, others would say “Get her the heck outta there. We don’t want anything to do with her”.
But it provided me with what has become my life’s work finding that path. And at first I didn’t know what to do with those passions, and those interests that were within me. I didn’t know where it would lead me but I was blessed with the support of family and a husband taking joy in my work, I knew I had options. And I knew that what stirred passion in me was that desire to make a positive difference for others and not just in family, but in community and in the wider world as well.
So I started out volunteering in schools and then served on the city council, then was elected Mayor and served as our City Manager and then I was Chair of the state’s Oil and Gas and then I became Governor. Those were the steps along the way. And then I joined the ticket with John McCain I knew events led to that opportunity along the way. I’d sought signs all the time that would confirm and affirm that I was on the right path, and throughout life always trying to be prepared because opportunities needing that preparation that’s when you have success that’s when you have progress and you have joy. But I honestly had no idea where the road would lead because we are never promised to know what the detailed results are going to be.
Now I was trying to make a point about preparation with Piper the other night and I’m reading her the book of Esther out of the Old Testament. And I’m telling her all about Esther. See honey, I’m telling her, she’s the underdog, and she’s the orphan, she’s working hard preparing to be judged by others. Essentially Esther, she was out there on the stage wondering if she’d be chosen to have opportunity to really help change her world and Piper’s listening and she’s kinda dozing off and finally she rolls over and she says “Wow, that’s just like ‘American Idol’”. *laughter/talking over the applause/laughter* my point there. But I hope you too will take the time to ask yourself what is it within you, that tugs at your heart and makes you excited to wake up in the morning and be able to applaud that new day. Figure out what gets you excited. Is it art? Is it science? Is it working with children, or gardening, or cooking the best “something” in the entire world. Maybe it’s travel? Reading about history? Learning about government, maybe throwing a tea party *loud cheers/applause* Home for your children and your grandchildren. Whatever that desire of your heart is.
I love the words of Proverbs 3 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart” Lean not on your own understandings. We don’t know what the heck to have is the plan for this. Lean on God and in all ways we should acknowledge Him and He’ll direct our path, that’s His promise. See God puts those interests, and those desires, those passions within you, not to tease and frustrate you but to give you direction. They are to put you on that right path towards your calling, directed to your calling, your destiny. So find your inspiration from the gifts that God has given you and stop and think about what it is that you would love to do and then you look for the signposts along the way that guide your path. Which means door opening and people with your best interest at heart supporting what you’re doing. And once you’re on that path, don’t give up. My Dad says we do a lot of (hunting or punching?) together. My Dad says don’t let them get you down when you’re tired or frustrated. Don’t retreat, just reload. *laughter/applause*
Don’t retreat and there will be challenges. You have to be realistic. Knowing that there’s going to be challenges just because you’re on the right path doesn’t mean that there won’t be bumps in the road. Whatever work we do in the world all of us have challenges to overcome and battles to fight. If we take the time to look around we get outside of ourselves and remember it’s not about me. We’re not here on this earth for me, me, me. And that’s a problem with our culture, it’s all about me have to get away from that *applause* get outside of our selves *applause* and know that it is about glorifying God that is our main purpose and we’ll find that there is more than enough inspiration from God and from others that is our purpose and we’ll find that there is more than enough inspiration from God and from others to see us through. And read Proverbs 3, 5 and 6 where it’s promised there too. “If we trust in the Lord with everything that we’ve got” that is our own understanding. He will direct your path, if you promises He will direct your path. Now with what’s going on in the world today I know that good on in the world today I know that good news sometimes seems to be in short supply. Maybe, maybe you’re not just worried about what’s going on in the country but, but in your own lives and your homes, your business or about your lives, your families, trying to keep a business afloat, keep your job.
Maybe it’s about trying to be the best parent that you can be in these challenging times and raising kids, maybe you’re feeling like a “crap shoot” you know you’re doing the best you can in these challenging times in our culture but these are the times when we lean on His word and we draw nearer to God and then He draws nearer to us and he announced that promise in James 4. And when we truly say with the psalms(?) that we may endure for a night the joy comes in the morning. That’s what God taught me. *applause*
Even now there is a lot to be joyful about and inspired by. You can step outside yourself and your immediate circumstances which may seem overwhelming. You can find so many positive and life-affirming things because while these are troubled times, we still live in the best nation on earth and surely that is something to be grateful for? America itself is so inspiring *applause* the opportunities that we have and the freedom, the freedom to assemble in a place like this and worship, that is so precious and may we never lose that.
Part 5:
*applause* I see that my see first hand that yes, America’s finest our men and women in uniform. They’re a force for good in this world and there’s nothing to apologize for. And I know that so many of you to are married to, or the daughter of, or the mother of someone in the service. I, I connect with ya, I understand and I appreciate the sacrifice that you make too. So, learning that lesson through that and um our son that year going ??? so proud. And he’s a real clever kid. He, he like most soldiers, you know, he comes home and he’s gotta be really unique and different and show us a tattoo. Because every soldier gets a tattoo to be different and unique, right? Yep *laughter/applause* stand out from the crowd, yeah they all did, yup. *laughter*
He comes home all proud and he tells us that he’s got some ink. And I’m like oh, no, yeah right, this is gonna end up on youtube or somethin’ like that *laughter/applause* He’s so clever he chooses a design his Mamma can’t argue with, and his Granny, and he rolls up his pants leg and shows us he got a Jesus fish on his calf. Awwww *laughter/applause* He did it just ‘cause he knew I couldn’t argue. *applause* You know and say how dare you or somethin’.
But in this year though, this was happening then and then I (??spoke fit??) Todd and I we find out that we’re gonna have another baby and “woooo” talk about rockin’ our world. I’m, I’m, you know, I’m no spring chicken “woooohh” *laughter* “woooooh” ........ real And I’m telling God “oh really, yeah, my name is Sarah but my husband isn’t Abraham” *loud laughter and applause*” it’s Todd”. *laughter/applause*
But you know I know what the critics would be saying in Alaska. I’m thinkin’ you know they’re gonna say “Yep they finally, the pioneers up there, we finally elect a little woman and she goes and gets herself pregnant you know, whatever, my God, there you go. But whatever. You know, it takes me a little while to wrap my arms around it and and working and good, bringing up children and, yeah Todd’s like, “the more the merrier, yeah” It’s very easy for him to say. Yeah *laughter* You know there’s no better ingredient in this sometimes mixed up world of ours and the most promising ingredient is a child. So good we can embrace it and and we know that it will be treated well. Todd and I though we’re keeping it to ourselves we didn’t even tell the other kids, because it was like in such a public arena to have one thing that was personal and private and we just weren’t up to telling anybody about it. In fact I didn’t tell anybody until I was 7 months along. And, yeah, I wanted to get the record you know for going (to lunch?). But I know that they know that I was getting really chunky but everybody was just really too polite to say anything in the governor’s office. And yeah we’re in Alaska, winter time, we wear lots of layers and you know I’m thinkin’ they’re thinkin’ I’m just puttin’ on another layer of fleece to stay warm.
Anyway then the baby’s born 5 weeks early, so reporters are doing the math. They’re like this couldn’t be her baby she was only pregnant 3 weeks *laughter* and to this day we still have on the internet the Trig-birthers who still don’t believe that he’s my so. Don’t make me show you the stretch marks to prove it. Don’t make me prove it. But it was a very special time. And in this time early on, 12 weeks, I had an ultrasound and the technician tells me that she could tell it was a boy. And I’m just ?“marvinated”? and I start crying. Oh man, that this is so awesome. We dared not even pray for another boy, but that’s what we wanted and we were just so happy and I thought “Wow, God is so good and He knows what he’s doing to give us another son”. Then sh , the technician says well maybe his neck is a little bit thicker than what we normally see at this stage. And I’m still marvelling, thinking “wow, she can measure the baby’s neck at 12 weeks”. And God is so good he provides the technology, this wisdom, to create technology where you can measure a baby’s bones and you can see this child at 12 weeks. And I’m thinking it’s really great. And then thinking, that all of that was so awesome, I stopped real quickly though when I recalled with a kinda quick shot of fear what a thicker base of the neck could be. And in that moment, I’ll be honest, I, I was scared to death.
And you and I know that there aren’t any reporters in here. Even if reporters have snuck in well I’m going to say some things that I’ve never said before publicly. But again, knowing that you know, the spirit of Christ is in this place and there is protection there *applause* and I can share from my heart *applause* and I will *applause* If anybody misconstrues what it is that I say or we say, well good, then we’ll have an opportunity to clarify or get to repeat some of the messages that were talked about today. Yeah.
But I was really scared to death and um quickly though trying to shove doubt on that fear. Doubt with, no God would never give us something that we couldn’t handle. He he knows me. I’m busy and I I’ve got 4 kids and I want these overachievers who’ve gotta be outta the place, good grades, oh gosh. And think I know what’s really important, and the kids, they need my attention and I have a state to run. And “Remember God,” (I’m saying) “it’s my sister who can handle a situation like this. God you need to give to my sister Heather who I would think is, who’s more nurturing and more compassionate and patient. You gave her a child with autism, so one of us out of the family, right God? You would never give us something we could not handle. I just don’t know if I’m wired for that, right God?”
And I’m asking these questions and trying to shove doubt and fear though and then the doctor called though. And I’ll never forget, I glanced up at the clock and it was 2.22. And 2.22 has always been (a tape jump here) it’s good news God, I glanced at the clock and remember it was a freezing cold day outside, looking out from the windows in my Governor’s office in Anchorage um lookin’ out the office and the doctor says “Yeah the child will be born with Down Syndrome. And my world just stopped spinning at that moment. Because I thought at that moment “God are you in this? Is there a God? Didn’t you hear me God? I said I don’t think I can handle such a thing”. And I asked God “why?” And I wondered if perhaps he’d over estimated us this time.
I knew that my impression of babies with Down Syndrome, they are aborted so to me I had that kinda inkling. It was like, maybe these are not only less than ideal circumstances, maybe these are impossible circumstances to deal with. I don’t know if I can deal with this. And my faith faltered as I wondered “Does He really know what He’s doing? Why? What? This isn’t part of the plan.”
And I was very very scared of the unknown. And I had nowhere else to go in this secret place, in this private chapter in a very public setting; nowhere to go but prayer. And I cried out to God to change my heart. Quickly change my heart Lord. Make me ready for this. Prepare me for this because I hadn’t planned for it.
And here all along after I finally got to tell Todd and it was a few weeks after I had the test results I finally got to tell Todd, and he had come home (I didn’t want to tell him over the phone). And my first question to Todd after he looked at the sonogram pictures too, I said, aren’t you asking “Why us?” and Todd looked at me and he says “Why not us?” And right from that moment *applause* my destiny began to change.
But through those months still difficulty wrap my arms around this. And it seemed a part of all this though was this constant whisper and all this asking. So you boldly tell others about your faith and you believe in the sanctity of life and you speak of the pro-life message and you talk of God’s sovereign plans, so are you gonna walk the walk, or are you just talking the talk? And I could only hold on to faith.
And then when he was born. Oh and he was placed in my arms and Trig just sorta melted right into me. And he was this quite tiny mellow, sweet little guy. On my chest up to my heart and he’s just like he felt, I felt he was saying “Aahh Mom. I’m here. Love me. God gave me to you.” *applause* And what Trig brought to me was this message, that God knows what he’s doin’. Part of the message was too – “Bug up OK?” *laughter* I knew though that God had heard me. He answered my prayer, because it was the miraculous heart change, and it was beyond anything that I could have ever imagined and really a miracle. From the second that he was born, I knew that God was in this because it’s a miracle to us. Trig is so perfect and I know I’m not the worldly standard of perfection. But we have been given eyes now to see God’s standard of perfection when we see this child *applause* and this gift that he is.
Part 6:
*applause* And hear me then, that you know, one of the ways, you know, that you’re going to be able to get something done in life, that you’re going to get joy in it. In the midst of all of it, one of the ways is really to have that “help mate” to know that you have somebody standing by your side. And for me it’s Todd. It’s nice to have someone who’ll stand by you and someone who can look at when you’re frazzled and you’re messy and you’re trying real hard and they tell you, “It’s cool”, “You’re doin’ fine” and “It’s gonna be OK”, and that’s Todd. Twenty eight years later and he’s still by my side *applause* through thick and through thin *applause* and it’s a lot of challenges and a lot of joy in life with him, it’s good.
So for me it’s like strengthening faith the key to keeping joy in life has been family first. And my kids keeping me grounded and keeping it real and they provide a healthy perspective on what really matters. And they are the reason that I do what I do. And like you, who love kids, you know, I breathe my children and I protect my children. And that’s why with all the political shots that sometimes we take, and serve as junk on the periphery, trying to distract from what the mission is at hand. And some people want to bombard and distract. But I can handle that, because of the perspective my kids bring.
But um considering considering the media, which really has changed ?them? drastically. When I was a reporter years ago, I was a sports reporter, and I had learned, in seeking and then receiving my college degree, the who, what, where, when and why of reporting and you keep your bias out of reporting this the er facts. But um it’s been a scary thing for me to see this cornerstone of our democracy that’s so important, kind of being atrophied and this erosion of ?criticism? and trust by citizens in our media. And there is much deception in the media and we got ??? there. But our adversaries though are kinda throwing away the darts and the arrows. I can use that prayer shield of prayer warriors to deflect that, and it kinda allows my skin to grow thicker (and I’m hoping that you’ll learn that too) allow it to grow thicker, your skin and go forth. That I know truth and I know what really matters, so I can deal with the misrepresentation any misreporting or mocking or whatever. That’s just the worldly reality that that’s what it is right now. And that also applied when the darts and arrows are aimed at me.
Now, when they’re aimed at my kids, oh, that’s a whole other story. That’s a whole other story. *laughter* ‘Cause you can imagine um indecent shots at kids. um . . I’m like the Mamma Grizzly bear like we have up there in Alaska. When they rise up on their hind legs they say “You leave my cubs alone”. *applause* So if any of you *applause* if any of you were inclined ever to want a prayer focus, for what it is you’re doing, please pray for grace in that area. Don’t let me just tear the head of some reporter who want to take shots at my kids. *laughter* no don’t dare, pray for me. But I did digress right there.
OK Gals. I want to talk about (?omens?) Take a quote from Notre Dame host Lou Holtz said “I can’t believe God would put any of us on this earth to be ordinary.” No. What God has done is allow us to be extraordinary by providing us opportunities that can really blow our mind, if we know where to look. I think, if we think that it’s OK to be complacent and accept ordinary, then we’re going to be stuck in a rut, and we won’t find joy. God has created every one of you with purpose and with a destiny in mind that it’s just so perfect for just you, only you. And there is going to be nothing ordinary about it, I can promise you that. And I know this. It’s our job then to be prepared for opportunity that He gives us. And preparation means working hard and working selflessly and seeking those divine appointments and the opportunities to reach out and to help other people. He expects us not to squander opportunity that He provides. And God doesn’t drive parked cars. He expects us to get out there and move and find opportunities *applause* and find inspiration. He expects us to act on the promptings that he gives us. And we do have to be still, every once in a while, and seek the Holy Spirit’s promptings to tell us which direction to go. And to know that nothing is coincidental. I still believe that nothing in this life, in this world, is a coincidence. It’s not an accident that we’re all here tonight. It’s not like things just happen to “work out” for all of us to get us here in Kentucky tonight. Here tonight seeking the tools that we can all use to find joy. But more importantly to ultimately know what our real purpose is. And our real purpose ladies on this earth, is to glorify God. *applause* It would appear at this conference seeking the tools to allow us to figure out how to glorify God. Ultimately that is our real purpose on this earth and it is no coincidence, no coincidence that it happened. Let me tell you why I know, that I know, that I know it to be true.
Let me tell you about a year in my life, what happened. It was only about a one year time span. It really strengthened my faith and affirmed and confirmed in me that God knows best. He’s given me hope and He’s given me joy after a year, of kinda tumultuous, very full, some fun times, but a pretty wild year.
I was very very busy as the Governor of Alaska. And I was the first woman elected, and the youngest governor so there was a little bit of a double standard I knew would be applied there. The largest state of the union and we were very focused on energy development in Alaska. My baby has been energy independence for our nation. We have such rich, vast, resources of oil and gas and other sources of energy here in our country and it is nonsensical that we rely on foreign regimes to purchase *cheers/applause* because many of these regimes involved don’t even like America and they would seek to do us harm. And yet we are beholden to them, because we ask them to produce our energy. When God has given us the resources here in the United States of America *applause* We’re spending hundred of millions of dollars, US dollars going overseas, to purchase these instead of creating millions of jobs here at home. And there is an inherent link between energy and prosperity and energy and security in a nation. There is an inherent link between energy and freedom, so that is kind of my platform that that I’ve worked on for all these years.
And my busy ??? running this energy producing state and chairman of the nation’s oil and gas compact mission at the time, we were working out national issues. And Todd’s busy working up on the North Slope at the time. Alaska is so big that Todd’s work commute 1,700 miles from the governor’s mansion up to the oil fields where his job was. That’s how large it was, in this day too. So when he’s not on the oil fields though he’s a commercial fish. He’s out there on the waters of Bristol Bay as a commercial fisherman doing tough, dangerous, blue collar hard work. And we’re really busy but you know things are pretty much under control. We got a plan. We think we got a plan. And the four kids, they’re doing well. Our son is thinkin’ he’s the next Wayne Gretzky and don’t we all, you know we all hoping the best for our kids and we don’t want to knock the dream outta them, life kinda knocks the dream outta them. So he’s living for hockey. He’s travelling the country with a couple of real strong teams and though life happened to my son and he got injured so badly, that finally after shoulder surgery he had to hang up the skates. And that was you know that was a bit dramatic for him. So barely 18 years old, he decides he still wanted that camaraderie of team and he wants the physicality. And he decides in his patriotic heart that he wants to serve something greater than himself. So on September 11th, he tells us that he’s enlisting in the United States army, as an infantryman. And yeah *cheers and applause* that was it.
It kinda rocked my world because that wasn’t really part of the plan. But ah, you know, I hear the news. And I go with him to the enlistment ceremony, I’m thinkin’ “Wow God, really?” OK you know you gotta trust, even more so when Striker Brigade gets deployed the next September 11th for their year long mission in Iraq. That was kinda rockin’ my world. But through that unexpected event, through it, I gained such an appreciation for country and for freedom and for those willing to sacrifice all for the rest of us, for our security. *applause*
Many stories about the colorful life of Sarah Palin have been told so far, and many of those by Sarah herself. Sometimes over and over again. However, through experience we know that those episodes which Sarah is shy to talk about, or which she simply likes to "skip", for example in her memoir "Going Rogue", are the most interesting ones.
One of these rarely told stories is the fact that Sarah and Todd took a rare visit to the cinema to see the movie "Juno" on Saturday, March 3, 2008.
So what's wrong with Sarah and the first Dude watching a movie? Don't they have the right to enjoy themselves, too?
Sure! :-)
But let's have a look at the situation on March 3, 2008 in Alaska:
1) Rumors had already been circulating in Juneau since December 2007 that Sarah's daughter Bristol was pregnant. Lyda Green confirmed this to me in a phone conversation in August 2009.
2) In January 2008, a top Republican in Alaska mentions in a private, confidential conversation as a fact that Bristol is pregnant. We know the identity of this Republican politician.
3) From the beginning of October 2007 onwards, Bristol Palin vanished from the face of the earth. Her last public appearance, although this was never ever mentioned in public by Bristol herself, was as a member of the audience during the taping of the MTV show "TLR" with Jennifer Lopez in New York on October 7, 2007.
See my flickr-account with the pictures of Bristol HERE and the youtube video of the MTV-show HERE.
4) Bristol herself was out of school with a "prolonged case of mono" from January 2008 onwards, as a young student from Anchorage, whose identity we know and whose family has political connections, posted on "reddit" on April 8, 2008 - ten days before Trig was "presented" to the world. We have subsequently heard the "mono story" from other young Alaskans as well.
5) The rumors didn't escape the attention of Sarah Palin. Kyle Hopkins confirmed in the ADN on August 31, 2008 that Sarah Palin herself was well informed about the rumor that her daughter Bristol is pregnant - even before she announced her pregnancy with Trig on March 6, 2008:
McAllister was an Anchorage TV reporter before working for Palin. He said Palin once approached him - before people knew she was pregnant - assuming he'd been hearing rumors.
"She said it's not true about Bristol," McAllister said.
At the time, the rumor would have been that Palin's daughter was pregnant.
Sixteen-year-old Minnesota high-schooler Juno MacGuff (Ellen Page) discovers she is pregnant with a child fathered by her friend and longtime admirer, Paulie Bleeker (Michael Cera). While at first she intends to have an abortion, she changes her mind and decides to make a plan for the child's adoption. With the help of her friend Leah (Olivia Thirlby), Juno searches the ads in the Pennysaver and finds a couple she feels will provide a suitable home. Along with her father, Mac (J. K. Simmons), Juno meets the couple, Mark and Vanessa Loring (Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner), in their expensive home and expresses a desire for a closed adoption.
Vanessa, while grateful, is somewhat anxious that Juno may change her mind, and their initial interactions are uneasy. However, Juno and Leah happen to see Vanessa in a shopping mall being completely at ease with a child, and Juno encourages Vanessa to talk to her baby in the womb, where it obligingly kicks for her. On the other hand, Juno more easily forms a friendship with Mark, with whom she shares tastes in punk rock and horror films. Mark, who has set aside his rock band youth (now confined to memorabilia displayed in the one room of the house allowed him by Vanessa), works at home composing commercial jingles. Juno hangs out with Mark a few times when visiting the house, ignoring a warning from her stepmother Bren (Allison Janney) that she should not spend time alone with a married man.
As the pregnancy progresses, Juno struggles with the emotions she feels for her baby's father, Paulie, who is clearly — although passively — in love with Juno. Juno maintains an outwardly indifferent attitude toward Paulie, but when she learns he has asked another girl to the upcoming prom, she is hurt and angrily confronts him. Paulie reminds Juno that it is at her request they remain distant and tells her that she broke his heart. He also suggests that she has feelings for him she is unable to admit.
Not long before her baby is due, Juno is again visiting with Mark when their interaction becomes strongly emotional. Mark then tells her that he will be leaving Vanessa. To his surprise, Juno is horrified by this revelation. Vanessa arrives home, and, to her shock, Mark tells her he does not feel ready to be a father and that there are still things he wants to do first — dreams Vanessa does not share. Juno watches the Loring marriage fall apart, then drives away and breaks down in tears by the side of the road before coming to a decision. Returning to the Lorings' home, she leaves a note and disappears as they answer the door.
After a heartfelt discussion with Mac, Juno accepts that she loves Paulie. Juno then tells Paulie that she loves him, and Paulie's actions make it clear that her feelings are reciprocated. Not long after, Juno goes into labor and is rushed to the hospital, where she gives birth to a baby boy. She had deliberately not told Paulie because of his track meet. Seeing her missing from the stands, he rushes to the hospital, arriving to find Juno has given birth to their son, and comforts Juno as she cries. Vanessa comes to the hospital where she joyfully claims the newborn boy as a single adoptive mother. On the wall in the baby's new nursery, Vanessa has framed Juno's note—addressed only to her—which reads "Vanessa: If you're still in, I'm still in. —Juno." The film ends in the summertime with Juno and Paulie playing guitar and singing together, followed by a kiss.
In short: It is about a teenage girl who decides not to abort her baby, but instead willingly gives up her baby to somebody else directly after the birth in a closed adoption - and all parties are happy about it.
Please note that John McCain sealed his nomination as the Republican Presidential candidate one day earlier - on April 4, 2008.
Unfortunately, at this point, Sarah Palin didn't look pregnant at all. This also was directly confirmed to me by Lyda Green in our conversation in August 2009 - and Lyda Green was in the same room together with Sarah Palin when she made her announcement on March 5, 2008.
"The governor, a runner who's always been trim, simply doesn't look pregnant."
In addition, we have been in contact with several other people who met Sarah Palin in person in March and April 2008 and they also confirmed that Sarah didn't look pregnant at that time.
Which is of course what the available pictures also show - for example the footage was which taken by Israeli filmmaker Elan Frank on April 8 and 9, 2008 (with a nice comparison to a pregnant woman, created by our friend Ennealogic):
This particular screenshot of the shootage by Elan Frank is from THIS VIDEO, at 5:08.
More "kitchen footage from Juneau" taken by Elan Frank can found from 3:52 in THIS VIDEO.
Additional scenes shot by Elan Frank are shown in THIS CLIP, which has been discussed in THIS POST on Palingates.
OK...what else do we find in the movie "Juno"?
We find parents who didn't know that her daughter was sexually active:
The first incidence was already the subject of a previous discussion during our reporting about "abortiongate". Sarah's describes in "Going Rogue" how a cold-hearted doctor performed a sonogram before Sarah's first miscarriage:
At my exam, the doctor listened for the baby's heartbeat. When she didn't smile, I didn't worry; she was known for her mellow demeanor. But I noticed that she kept moving the stethoscope around. And she didn't hand it to me as doctors usually do, so the expectant mother can listen to the sound of life.
"Let's do a quick sonogram," she said.
I agreed, eager to confirm that Tad was a boy - or to be surprised.
We moved to another room, and I lay down on a sheet-covered table. The doctor spread gel on my belly and began sliding the transducer back and forth. I waited for the familiar Shoosh-shoosh-shoosh sound of the baby's beating heart.
But it didn't come. And the sonogram picture looked empty.
The doctor said coldly, "There's nothing alive in there."
Her bluntness shocked me. I felt sick and hollow, and burst into tears.
"You have a couple of choices about getting rid of it," she said.
"It." That's what she called our baby, whom we'd been calling Tad for three months.
She went on to explain that I could go home and let "it" pass naturally. Or I could have a D&C.
Later in "Going Rogue", on pages 175 & 176, we have another memorable "sonogram" story. Here, not a doctor, but an ultrasound technician plays a major role. "The technician was a sweet, funny older lady who'd been doing the procedure for decades. She prepped me, and we joked about a lot of things while she pressed the wand across my belly". Sarah then describes that she had a "flashback" to her first sonogram and adds: "Then the technician smiled. 'I see boy parts...would that be good?"
Later, the technician discovers, according to Sarah, that Trig has a "thick neck", a possible sign for Down Syndrome.
Willie Brown, former Democratic politician and mayor of San Francisco, recently had dinner with an illustrious bunch of people. He reported the events of this evening in a column in the San Francisco Chronicle on January 31, 2010:
"It was quite a scene down at the Cut steakhouse in the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, where I had dinner with Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and former Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger stopped by, New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd stopped by, and Dolly Parton stopped by. But it was John McCain campaign manager Steve Schmidt who stole the show with his tales of Sarah Palin.
He was still royally ripped with Palin for her comments about him in her book.
I joked that I'd read the book and figured it was about 70 percent fiction.
He said, "No, it's 100 percent fiction."
He also said that if Palin's real spending on clothes had been accurately reported during the campaign, the country would have been in an uproar.
According to Schmidt, she would go into a store, buy everything in sight, and have the bill sent to the Republican National Committee.
Schmidt said he stopped counting after the tab hit $250,000."
Although I am not sure if he was 100% serious, because back then he also wrote:
"Governor or not, Palin is still the biggest star in the Republican galaxy. After all, who else have they got?"
Which strikes me as "poisoned praise".
Anyway, 2009 is over. Willie Brown's new article from January 31, 2010, was also posted online, but in my opinion it carries even more weight when you see it in print - I miss print sometimes! I hardly hold a newspaper in my hands anymore, just magazines. My newspapers are all online these days. Do I read them? All of them, I swear!
Many thanks to our readers "cookie" and N.S. for sending us scans of the article!
Here we go:
+++
UPDATE:
Speaking of magazines - imagine you were a Palinbot and couldn't get enough of Sarah Palin. Wouldn't you want to read even more about Sarah Palin and see even more pictures about your idol? Maybe in a magazine produced by some fancy New Yorkers who "scratched their head" how people could possibly support Sarah?
Well, your dream just came true: Let me present to you: "Sarah Palin - The Untold Story":
One of the things Sarah Palin has sought to do since stepping down from the governor's office in Alaska is seize control of her image. So it is perhaps a sign of how difficult a task that remains for the GOP's former vice presidential nominee that a new single-issue magazine has hit newsstands and convenience stores around the country. It claims to present "Sarah Palin: The Untold Story...in her own words!" -- and it was produced, according to its publisher, without her knowledge or participation.
Retailing for $8.99, the 100-page glossy magazine, titled "Sarah Palin: Faith, Family, Freedom," hit newsstands in mid-January and was jointly published by a fashion-publishing subsidiary of international marketing firm IMG and Imagine That Publishing. It will remain on sale through April 30.
"The genesis of it was really simple," said Steve LeGrice, the publisher and editor of Imagine That. "We're up here in New York, and there was clearly this huge enthusiasm for Sarah Palin, and at the same time all the people in the media world were sitting around scratching their heads" about how people could support her.
"What we decided to do is put out a magazine all in her own words," he said -- a magazine "without any opinion or anything added in."
The "untold story" withoutthe "participation" of the Quitter-Queen? Just her "own words"? Sounds like a fun ride.
To answer your big question on the cover: "Can she save America"?
Guys, the only way Sarah Palin deserves to be brought in connection with the word "save" is to invoke the ever growing "savings" on her bank account!
"Yeah, some of the left are afraid and worried about Sarah Palin - in the same way that people in Weimar Germany and Italy & Russia in the 1930s were afraid that a charlatan, rebuked pseudo-artist/pseudo-Christian-cultist and a paranoid peasant's son would figure out a way to mass-market themselves as saviours to a population desperate for easy/false answers and solutions to their national and economic malaise. People like Palin have reached powerful positions before in this world, and the results have been millions of lives lost in bloodshed and massive oppression. Learn from history or be doomed to repeat it."
Sarah Palin is very contradictory regarding what she calls the "elite". Her definition of elite is simplistic, as expected.
She says she's fighting for the little man, for the struggling middle class and her fight is against those who believe they are better than everybody else. As usual, she didn't really address the question, her answer was trite and childish.
Ironically, taking into account Sarah Palin's own definition of elite, in "Going Rogue" she blows her own trumpet from beginning to end. She was a fantastic basketball player, a gifted fisherwoman, moose hunter extraordinaire, an insightful, ethical politician who took on the establishment and single handedly put them in their place. She had the courage to ruffle the feathers of the big oil corporations. (This is a no-brainer, what are they going to do? Take their oil and go somewhere else?) She speaks of God as if she was chosen as his pet project.
How are all these self-descriptions not indicative of Sarah Palin's belief that she's better than everybody else? Oh well, she paints herself as little old me from Wasilla, the outsider, the underdog, so she's really humble, you see?
Sarah Palin has a servant's heart. She's concerned about the have-nots.
But she chooses which elites she despises very carefully. Some elites are perfectly acceptable.
Fat cats in the health insurance industry? They rented Sarah Palin's Facebook page at the height of the healthcare reform debate. They are a "good" elite. (I wonder if their "contribution" to their mouthpice will show up in her tax returns or the SarahPac accounts...)
She's all for giving the rest of the fat cats in any industry tax breaks, Reagan style, so their wealth trickles down, blah blah.
The economic elite is ok with her. Now she's one of their members, but as she would say, she worked her butt off to get there.
Sarah Palin's main beef is with the intellectual elite. She has no hope of entering it, and in order to distance herself from them even further, she maintains a tabloid image. Mother and daughter bringing up their babies together, bathing babies in the kitchen sink, party guests wearing hoodies and track suits were all part of the In Touch magazine spread. The Palins no doubt set up the domestic scene themselves or went along with whoever came up with it and approved the content of the article as it appeared in the magazine.
The message seems to be that although she's now very rich, her family is still the same as other "real" American families. Her supporters are definitely not part of any elite. So that they don't feel threatened by her new found wealth, she gives them the opportunity to identify with her on a personal level. She's still valley trash and proud of it.
The "Going Rogue" book tour counted on her mom and dad, her younger kids and an aunt, in a most convincing tour-de-force to reinforce the "I'm one of you" image. Her supporters couldn't get enough of it and were thrilled to bits to shake Chuck Heath's hand or have a moment with her mom. They're so normal, so real!
One branch of the intellectual elite is the liberal media. They make Sarah Palin foam at the mouth.
The McCain/Palin campaign had a big problem with them.
As the second woman ever nominated as a candidate for vice president, Alaska governor Sarah Palin became an instant phenomenon. Americans were enthralled by a woman with charm, ambition, natural political talent, and a passion for conservative values.
But the fascination of ordinary people quickly drew an unprecedented attack from the media elite and liberal activists. Far beyond the normal bounds of tough questions and challenges, Palin's enemies decided that nothing was too personal to attack-including her marriage, her children, her faith, and her wardrobe. The media distorted Palin's positions and beliefs beyond recognition. And almost every word out of her mouth was spun as a "flub."
Weekly Standard writer Matthew Continetti reveals the true story of the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee and her persecution by the elites who tried to hide their bias with solemn declarations of objectivity. Continetti offers fresh examples of malicious spin and deceit and shows how liberal snobbery has become a driving force in American politics.
Palin's ordeal has become a rallying cry for the GOP in the Obama era. This perceptive book is a must-read for conservatives who want to understand what really happened-and how to avoid a repeat.
The media was actually very kind to Sarah Palin and continues to give her a pass to this day. She is their cash cow. It's not in their interest to bring her down for good. If they really reported the truth, after the initial spike in interest, she would become a non-person, a hasbeen, not the best subject to attract readers and juicy revenue for media outlets. So they report her Facebook and Twitter rantings as if she should be taken seriously. They report her family scandals without going deep enough, always relegating them to the tabloid, sensationalist media. Why kill the goose that lays golden eggs?
Sarah Palin appears to have survived the revelations that emerged with the publication of "Game Change" and is now a political comentator on Fox News, a million miles away from the liberal media, where she's going to give a "fair and balanced" view of everything.
Tabloids, Fox News, teabagging... she's not part of the elite, that's for sure. Sarah Palin is just a filthy rich opportunist, without an ounce of class and monumentally ignorant.
Dictionary definition of elite:
"A group or class of persons or a member of such a group or class, enjoying superior intellectual, social, or economic status." .
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