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:
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."
"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:
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:
.
No comments:
Post a Comment