By Blueberry Tart
Last week’s roundup generated many interesting comments. Among them was a thread on Mercede Johnston’s new blog, which spotlighted the loss of all Mercede’s photos and computer files, and the women who moved in to “protect” her family during the campaign. One was Anna Arodzero, whom Patrick had revealed as a McCain campaign operative way back in March 2009 (on PD), confirmed in a post by Audrey that April. This thread also linked to a new post on politicususa.com which offered a tantalizing but as-yet-empty hint about a photo of Sarah and Bristol proving that Sarah was not pregnant and Bristol was, prior to Trig’s birth. Reader Owen gave us an expert tutorial on options to wipe a hard drive.
We commented extensively on the oil spill; H/T to EyeOnYou and others who included many links with their well-informed comments, and Patrick’s information on the toxicity of the dispersant used by BP. There were also links to articles about earlier BP oil spills in Alaska:
Slick Operator and Alaska Oil Spill was largest ever...
Oopsie, didn’t Sarah say that both offshore and onshore drilling are safe? Oh, now I get it. Since in Palinspeak black=white and up=down, logically safe=unsafe. I guess I am finally starting to understand her!
The comment thread wrapped up on a positive note with mxm’s report that Chuck Todd refused to engage in any discussion of Palin, calling her tweets and FB posts irrelevant, since she won’t be interviewed except by her employer FauxNews. YES – it’s about time! Voiceinwind opined that Sarah deliberately chose to dress down at Belmont because it would attract attention, in the same way a grown woman writing on her hand would do. Sounds about right for our favorite 46-year-old middle-school-mean-mental-midget.
Okay, who among us did not get reeled in by the next headline, which was an attention grabber about real boobies! Do not miss Patrick’s excellent Babygate summary, outlining key evidence proving that Sarah Palin did not give birth to Trig. The photos alone are conclusive, and the links tie to a wealth of information on this subject. But where is the FB rebuttal, you may ask? Where is the letter from Attorney Van Flein? Of course, Sarah can’t challenge PG directly because it would call attention to the true facts – she can only use her patented innuendo to imply that we are whackos (of course, her own campaign said SHE was a “whack job” and “mentally unstable,” yet who remembers that?) She HAS to make people believe that the bloggers are not credible and are out to get her, and to distract attention from the truth. But I digress. The summary is the condensed version of all the information amassed over the past 21 months of investigation of the many, many discrepancies in Sarah’s pregnancy story. Bristol’s “:(now I’m a mother duck for that baby” text elicited lots of comments about WTF it means. Full disclosure: I have always believed that this comment, sent just before the “ha ha im a slut” comment, meant that Bristol was pregnant. JMHO, but I would bet the blueberry farm on it, actually. On Thursday, Patrick reported that there were about 3000 downloads of the summary (in just two days) – wow! The truth is getting out to more and more people! (Several commenters expressed the hope/need for a brief narrative summary as well.)
The clever teaser about the beautiful boobies had us all giggling, I’m sure! Major H/T and oohs and aahs go to BanditBasheert for her outstanding photos from the Galapagos!
The open thread covered many topics of discussion. I would like to especially tip my Stetson AGAIN to EyeOnYou and others for their continuing updates with information on the Gulf oil spill crisis, a matter of huge interest and concern to many Palingaters. There was some well-justified indignation about the utter cynicism of Palin, Boehner and others who are trying to deflect the blame for the disaster onto the President and those who had opposed offshore drilling all along, and shift the cost burden to the taxpayer. There were numerous links to interesting articles on this topic; here are just a couple: Palin to Obama: Call Me on Oil Disaster and
Sarah Palin was in Bed with BP
The thread also chatted about the mean-girl Republicans running for office; made hay with the gaffe-prone and incompetent Carly Fiorina; speculated about a perfect match between Meg Whitman’s mean-guy son and Bristol (who BTW is apparently going to co-host The View – barf); had fun trying to list all Palin’s lies and deceptions; compared her to Chauncey Gardner (except he was nice)… and many other comments! Many expressed suspicions about shenanigans in the S.C. Senate race.
The former half-term governor reportedly surprised the audience at a motivational seminar by showing up in person and imparting the great wisdom she gained from the event that changed her life, her crowning achievement, and certainly the culmination (read: end) of her emotional maturation: her very limited role scoring a couple of points in a championship high school basketball game, where she gained one of her greatest skills: taking credit for the achievements of others. Her idea of motivational speaking was apparently to borrow all the ideas for her speech from Coach John Wooden.
I want to also say how moving it is to see that, amidst the intensity of the dialog about Sarah Palin, readers also support and ((())) those in the Palingates community who are experiencing personal losses and struggles. Ivyfree, cheeriogirl, kellygrrrl, mrsgunka and others told some stories that moved many to send many well-wishes. Palingates is really evolving into a very warm and caring community of friends, which is quite wonderful.
Patrick’s post spotlighted yet another unsavory development in the Sarah-CSU speech scandal. Previously, Palingates broke the story about Sarah’s speaking fee of $75K + $18K in expenses, a scandal in its own right given the fact that the Foundation has cancelled scholarships. In addition, we already knew about the Quitter Queen’s contractual demands for regal treatment (luxury travel and accommodations, bendy straws, etc.); threats against Senator Yee, who dared publicly criticize and challenge her majesty’s appearance; and revelations that Jodie Soderlund, who works for Carly Fiorina’s campaign, is promoting Sarah’s speech. As if those outrages were not enough, we now learn that Homeland Security is training local police and firefighters to break up demonstrations at the event. H/T to honestyingov for taking the initiative to call Senator Yee, the Fiorina campaign and others – great job!Maelewis and others aptly summed up the irony and outrage of using tax dollars on a public university campus to (potentially) suppress the freedoms of speech and assembly for those who have the impunity to protest the hateful rhetoric of the 2009 Liar-of-the-Year. Many Palingaters thought that Homeland Security should have other priorities than suppressing dissent among US citizens.
Regina explained the recent inter-blog kerfuffle with a comment (~#401 if you are looking for it). Apparently there was a disqus glitch that caused some comments to be rejected; this led some folks to feel upset, believing they were being censored. Regina clarified that only trolls are censored; everyone else is welcome, and some differences of opinion are to be expected and totally fine. Hopefully this puts a rest to some of the infighting, because (take it from one who knows) infighting is the surest way to destroy a cause or movement.
Regina’s wonderful post on several families whose beautiful, happy children have special needs showed us the sharp contrast between the loving care that these children receive and the cold and distant way Sarah treats little Trig. We met the cute and engaging Max and Max, and heard about the great work being done by families and friends raising kids with special needs. Regina and many commenters made note of how Sarah, with her ready access to the media, at the snap of her fingers, could really make a difference by hosting fundraisers and using her bully pulpit for the benefit of these families. It was duly noted that she had given the whopping total of $1000 to a Down Syndrome charity at the end of last year – funds that came from her PAC.
Laprofesora and others commented forcefully on Sarah’s disinterest in Trig and how that is such an anomaly among special needs families. tXdAd added his insights, warming all our hearts with his words of wisdom about his family and how “priorities shifted, the paradigm changed…for the better.” He mentioned learning “how I was unintentionally being hurtful by using the R-word as a pejorative.” Palingaters send our best wishes to tXdAd! StephiLou273 also weighed in later: “To be a part of the group, she would be required to put herself in the background....there is no way that is going to happen.” Litbrit and Vera City shared their sons’ wonderful stories -- (((♥♥♥))) to these fantastic parents!. The thread contained a lot of thoughts about the difficult road ahead for Trig, many Palingaters expressing heartfelt concern about his development, care and welfare. MicMac reminded us of how important health insurance reform is to families with special needs kids.
Another great example of Palingates incredible investigative reporting -- Patrick has posted information about the cost and ownership arrangements of Bristol's condominium, as well as an update showing Levi's truck, parked outside! While we do not yet know all the implications of this information, we do know that no one in the MSM (or even most blogs) is doing such original research and investigation. Huge kudos to RPK, the photographer, deed research and the team as a whole! Here are just a few additional snippets gleaned from the comments (I finished my roundup earlier, but these are simply too good to leave out).
Patrick: "Condominiums are easy to get when you forget the condoms. ;-)"
Leading litbrit to coin a new phrase: "condomaximum: the vast material rewards that await those who eschew condoms or other birth control and when pregnancy inevitably occurs, toe the pro-life party line and thus boost political careers. Wow, all Bristol had to do to reap the condomaximum was not use birth control or have abortions."
[Should be submitted to Urban Dictionary, at the suggestion of several readers]
Kellygrrrl: "look,I'm not gonna lie, I'm starting to not give a rat's ass about these freaks, other than making absolute certain that Palin is taken down and out and her connection to the Christianists is a gaint taint on the social cons ... but I am an entrepreneur at heart, and I really want to know, is there truly 'that much' money in the meth trade ... also2, how can I get my hands on a Wasilla truck dealership and/or one of these fancy revirginization franchises?"
Amberglade333 (Helen, nailinpalinnow): "The reason there is a laser focus on anyone associated with Sarah Palin is that she represents a problem for the United States of America and therefore the world. With her continual super-hawkish, anti-environmental bible thumping stances and statements which make a mockery of civil thoughtful discourse in America, Palin is able to continue to operate on the dark side of American politics ONLY because her many many deceptions have not been revealed or widely publicized."
Regina's Sunday post is a fascinating combination of hilarity and serious stuff, what with the announcement that Sarah Palin's staff is arranging for her to meet with Lady Margaret Thatcher on an upcoming trip to the UK (or is it England, or... what is the difference anyway?) Many readers had great recollections of British TV, especially the brilliant comedy! Not lost on everyone was Sarah's transparent ploy to ride the (somewhat out-of-date) coat-tails of both Thatcher and her good buddy, President Reagan. I guess since Ronnie is no longer here, Maggie will have to do! But the idea of arranging a meeting with someone who is known to have dementia may represent a new low in exploitation, even for Sarah. (Or, maybe not.) Here are a few good comments (gleaned as of Sunday morning):
litbrit: "Oh dear! I can practically hear the Iron Lady's voice, asking Mrs. Palin which of the Bard's sonnets was her favorite..."
(All together now: ALL OF THEM!)
From EOY:
@SarahPalinUSA nice that U are willing to exploit M. Thatcher and her illness for your own personal gain. U R A Very Sick Person. Seek Help
These last two threads showed a rift among Palingaters and more cross-blog ugliness. Regina pointed that it appears to be a symptom of the Sarah Palin effect, the poison spills even into a close community like Palingates. I'll repeat what I said earlier: Infighting is the surest way to destroy a cause or movement.
Comments of the Week (there are so many good ones, I couldn’t choose!):
From KarenJ: “She…skitters from issue to issue like a cockroach on speed.”
Sick of Sarah, quoting lilybart: ..."last position Sarah held that she was qualified for was Miss Wasilla"
Maelewis, Moon and ivyfree commented about Sarah’s hypocrisy, extreme opportunism and shrewdness and how she can be warm and charming; Moon responded that “Some of the best con artists appear warm and charming.” [My note: in fact, that is one of the hallmarks of a con artist.]
EyeOnYou: “As for Palin, she is one who I would say is looking for conflict, where it may be. She likes it. She likes pitting people against each other while she accepts no responsibility for creating that turmoil.”
Cheeriogirl: “Sarah is stuck at an emotional age equivalent to a typical 14 year old.”
From aview999: I just have to post this from AlaskaWTF:
"Look who’s got a new set of fake cans! It’s the Twitter quitter with the new titters!”
kellygrrrl labeled Liz Cheney “Daddy's Dearest Darthette” and fantasized about a new reality show, with Sarah and Liz on a deserted island left to their own devices to see who survives.
Cheeriogirl’s retort: “…Sarah, the tribe has spoken.”
cheeriogirl posted an excellent word salad: PALIN: “Gah! Nothing specific right now. Sitting here in these chairs that I’m going to be proposing but in working with these governors who again on the front lines are forced to and it’s our privileged obligation to find solutions to the challenges facing our own states every day being held accountable, not being just one of many just casting votes or voting present every once in a while, we don’t get away with that. We have to balance budgets and we’re dealing with multibillion dollar budgets and tens of thousands of employees in our organizations." This made me think that perhaps we might assemble some of the all-time classic Sarah-Salads as a future post!
Louiecypher was blowing many kisses after entertaining us with more of his good advice to Sarah, this time cleverly employing the “cypher” part of his name in his post.
JCos logically noted that there would be no need to use scarves and such to conceal a pregnancy if indeed Sarah did not “show” as her followers claim (in explaining the most damning photos of her in March and early April with no baby bump at all). Er, JCos, what’s logic got to do with it?
BanditBasheert posted quotes from a clever Kos “interview” with the deep-sea robot working to repair the damaged oil rig; here is a small part:
Q. So what do you do down here when you're not working?
A. I think deep thoughts. Stay up on current events. Think o' the wife and the little bots. Wonder why the Scandinavians and the Canadians can prevent this kind o' thing from happening, but you can't. I'll tell ya what I don't do anymore: go fishing.
Q. Favorite Movie?
A. Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. The sub they used was my great uncle.
Q. What would you to say to Tony Hayward in response to his comment in which he said, "I would like my life back"?
A. I'd tell him to get a grip. I'd love to demonstrate how...on his skinny whiny little weasel neck. I'd just wanna squeeze and squeeze and squeeze and... You can edit that out, right?
Vera City posted a really nice response to inter-blog criticisms and defense of the PG community, summing up the feelings of many ‘Gaters. Many (((♥))) went to Vera City.
Later, ginam said: "this divisiveness is exactly what the Grifter is famous for. We just have to be more mature. The pettiness is so draining."
Litbrit: "Learning to disagree is one of the hallmarks of becoming a grownup, I think…
the inability to accept differing points of view speaks to a deep-seated insecurity in one's own convictions. If you require 100% agreement from others at all times, how well-founded *are* your beliefs, anyway? …What a pity that it's so easy to nudge certain people to take their collective eye off the ball, simply by stirring up dissent that way. It's a classic triangulation tactic… And look how well it worked. Over there, I mean. ;-)"
Pam spoke for all of us in reassuring Lee65 about being welcome at PG: "Are you thinking that you may be asked to leave the PG blog? I cannot believe for a second that such a thing would ever happen. I have never read a blog with more accepting people. Seems to me all are warmly welcomed here with the occasional exception of a very obnoxious troll."
Brown_fox: "Just goes to show that the twit is frozen at a juvenile mental age. Forever fourteen!"
Laprofesora: … "Scarah Paylin puts the “ass” in “class”"
Vera City: … "it suddenly dawned on me that Mrs. Palin's inflated breasts are the perfect metaphor for her. In order to get attention, she is always making mountains out of molehills."
Mrs. TBB and others observed how pitifully CSU Foundation handled Sarah’s speaking engagement there and that they should pay for the security costs…cheeriogirl followed up with: “Funny isn't it, how the Republicans like to privatize benefits, while socializing all costs…”
From sunnyjane: The grandmother in the story says, "We make our friends and we make our enemies, but God makes our neighbors." I think God was trying to tell ol' Sarah something, as in: "Take that, Birdbrain!"
EOY from twitter: NOAA now estimates that over 100K pounds of crap a day is spewing from @SarahPalinUSA's mouth. #p2 #oilspill
EOY, honestyingov and lexky alerted us to this article in Newsweek on “Saint Sarah,” which begins: “To white evangelical women, Sarah Palin is a modern-day prophet, preaching God, flag, and family—while remaking the religious right in her own image.” The article says what 'Gaters already know: it is “The Story of Trig” that attracts people to her. [Which is why Babygate remains so important.] Please get your barf bag before reading—you’ll need it! Honestly, hopefully this is so over-the-top that it puts people off. I hope!
Vanity Fair has an antidote with their alternative covers. Here's Palingates own subtle alternative:
Trigmund Freud stuck his neck out a little bit, acknowledging Sarah “as an exceptionally adept political talent; which again, like it or not, she is.” “Like it or not, lovelies, she is a ‘force to be reckoned with’ and it's intellectually dishonest to suggest otherwise.” (That’s why so many of us are still here, despite having other things to do and wishing that we could be free of this particular obsession ;-))
KarenJ reminded us of Sarah’s huge flip-flop on Ted Stevens, first putting him in the corrupt-politician category that she takes credit for fighting, then saying how great he was and how much Alaska misses having its elder statesman.
Rumor of the week (in comments Friday) – Levi is back together with Bristol, staying at her apartment. OMG. Nooooooooo Levi…don’t do this to yourself! And what about Ben; is he there too?
Commenting on Sarah’s lack of bonding with Trig, there was an interesting first hand account from Kk175: "I would say there is little bonding between her and any of her children. I only "observed' the Palin family for about an hour; they were sitting around a pool at resort after the 2008 election, but from what I and others saw/compared notes, we saw a very disjointed group of people. She sat in one lounge chair in the middle, Todd at the other end, furthest from her and the children...and the children. The young boy jumped into the pool, no supervision, right into the deep end--he couldn't swim and was rescued by a local tennis pro swimming that morning, not the parents...the other children were at the far end in a wading pool never looking over or up at the parents, never yelling 'mom, dad, look at meee!!" as kids will do in when having fun in a pool...she never got up from the chair, but did have Trig with her...none of them, I mean NONE of that family connected or even looked like they knew one another...it was very, very weird."
Laprofesora: "I found the perfect job to distract Scarah from politics: Nicholas Kristoff thinks we should have a monarchy for ceremonial purposes. Let her be queen! She'd love it, all the perks, none of the work…"
(With my apologies for not being able to find who invented this new acronym for Sarah): PPOFB – Pretend President on Facebook
from aview999 (and me), “See ya later, Palingaters…” ♥
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