Tuesday 14 December 2010

Palingates Weekly Roundup - December 6 to December 12


By Blueberry Tart



Sarah and Chuck had flippin’ fun killing and butchering a reindeer less than 3 weeks before Christmas eve. Now, that is Sarah’s idea of wholesome family entertainment! It is evident that Sarah knows nothing about handling guns, and no surprise that she would blame the gun when she misses. Sarah as huntress is a – what’s the word I’m looking for? – a CANARD. Chuck is creepy and falls on his face, literally (“proverbially”) and figuratively. ((((♥)))) to Bella; we’re really sorry you watched this one. The post includes another of Sarah’s blatant lies, how she and the other gubernatorial candidates were questioned about abortion in 2006. Some great updates show Palin-fodder for the comedians. Phil Munger weighed in with a fish story showing Chuck’s true character, and Regina commented about what was likely staged in SP-AK and how drama was added in the editing studio.



The post begins with Rep. John Yarmuth’s brilliant analysis of Sarah Palin’s “lame stream media strategy.” (H/T to TruGal.) “…When your voice contradicts reality and truth, the only way to create space for it is to discredit reality and truth. Palin, Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and others have made an art form of convincing far too many Americans to suspend their disbelief, and they have severely damaged the ability of our country to have serious discussions about serious challenges. Once again, comediennes also play a key role in revealing Sarah Palin; this time, it’s Margaret Cho, who is now engaged in a Twitter-Facebook standoff with Sarah’s protégé, Bristol. Margaret is not intimidated and stands by her report about Sarah pressuring Bristol to do DWTS to win back fans for Sarah. Next, Patrick picks up on the Alaska Dispatch article flagged by our reader BinCo (and others). AD shows the difference between Sarah’s extravagant hunting expedition and the way most Alaskans hunt. In Sarah Palin's version of Alaska, when you need to fly anywhere, just hail a plane! It's that easy and anybody should be able to afford it...



Memo to self: be fully awake before checking Palingates; those Time Magazine covers were tough to see while I was still groggy first thing in the morning! Patrick’s excellent post lambastes Time’s sorry excuse for journalism, as they conduct an “interview” with Sarah Palin by email. She is literally “emailing it in” and they report it – absurd! I do not know of any political figure in our history who has been allowed to write his/her own narrative as SP does. Time also buys into the idea that Sarah actually writes her books and op-ed pieces. Thanks to the Wayback Machine, Palingates shows samples of Sarah’s writing; suffice it to say that her middle school persona shines through her words! But: “…Sarah Palin's media strategy is working. Intelligent people refuse to do their homework and choose to accept the lies and platitudes that Sarah Palin offers them.” Relief: a great cartoon!

HUGE THANKS to Palingates’ wonderful and generous readers, with special gratitude to drpatois and ennealogic for their matching gift challenges during the Moneyblast, which raised the amazing amount of $ 7798.01 + approx. $ 300 still to come in!

Palingates Moneyblast banner

Note by Patrick: Everybody, thank you so much! This result greatly exceeded our expectations, and I would like to mention that a) about 10% of the donations came from Alaska, which is quite amazing, and b) the rest came from ALL OVER the USA. Special thanks to Ennealogic and Dr Patois for their "matchmaking challenges", which found a huge response. But at the end of the day, it's everybody together who contributes to the Palingates community in very different ways who makes Palingates such a success.


Getting ready for her close-up

"Snarkasm" abounds regarding Sarah Palin's jaunt to Haiti. Palin's BFF Greta Van Susteren is conveniently along to document the trip; can't let a PR opportunity like this go to waste, can we? Patrick contrasts Palin's extended photo op with the work of Sean Penn, whose disaster relief work there has been going on since just after the earthquake, and has made a tremendous difference in addressing the true needs of the Haitian people. Gag alert: the post also includes commentary on Palin's recent swipes at President Obama, as she tries to make it appear that he is idling on the golf course while she is addressing America's real issues and doing good deeds.

Comments of the Week

Nin1963: …We have all of the anecdotal evidence required to make the prediction that Palin as POTUS would bring much suffering to this country and to the world. This evidence has been collected in story upon story of her character, her quick temper, her willful ignorance of the rule of law…and… her vindictive nature against those who would question that authority. Her paranoia about the press…should inform us as to how she would treat the 4th estate if given authority…

Arvad: I have wracked my brain trying to understand why anyone would see Sarah Palin as a leader. There is nothing presidential about her. There is nothing even stable about her… She is like the person in a public meeting who stands up and yells "I'm not putting up with this!" and stomps off in a huff, followed by other equally angry people… She's angry, she likes attention, she is mean-spirited, but she is profoundly lazy. The people who admire her… watch her like they watched the news, believing everything they are told. They have an allegiance and that is all that is necessary. No thinking, no analysis required.

Annettek: Wonder how well that shooting Rudolph the red nosed reindeer stone dead in front of the kids just before Christmas thingy will work out for ya Sarah.

BluedogAK: Do the Palinistas seriously think average people don't notice the difference in diction and syntax between someone who writes "Notably absent from this calculus were political considerations" and someone whose favorite verbal response seems to be "It really sucks"?

Moldy_Cheese: Does the Palin family have a meeting every morning to assign the "whine of the day" or does each member get to pick their own?

Heidimn: This family displays so much passive (and non-passive) aggression towards each other it's appalling. I saw a clip on tv of one daughter smashing the face of another into a cake and cannot fathom the dynamics that brought that on. This is not a family that loves each other, they are all in competition with each other and settle their scores openly and viciously.

Teutonic13: *sigh* Someday I'll make a notable quote... :)

PA_John quoted Seth Meyer on SNL: "You can’t just change the ‘P’ in a word to an ‘F’ and say that you came up with a new word.” He demonstrated his point: “New Oxford American Dictionary, please stop rafing the English language.”

Ice_nine and other hunters agree: The way she moves that rifle around with her finger on the trigger is terrifying. You NEVER put your finger on the trigger until your sights are on target and you are ready to fire - unless you are clueless ignorant moron.

Leu2500: If a child displayed this type of cruelty towards animals you'd take the child to see a shrink for fear she'd grow up to be a serial killer…to take GLEE in the death of these animals? I've never seen that.

Lilly-lily: And Bristol in her stupidity is managing to rack up others in the enemies department all by herself. Starting with the Johnston Family, the kid in Tennessee, facebook kids who dare say her mothers show stinks, the teacher in Homer, Maks, Margaret Cho, and many many others. I'm sure she has quite a few from Juneau days and from Wasilla High. Like mother, like daughter.

Sdilmoak and others are onto Sarah: Come on now $arah....do tell......could you tell all of us stupid people how daddy dearest managed to get 6 people from the tent (where that big ole' bear was a scratchin') into the ole' Valiant? It is a friggin' or flippin' miracle you all lived, isn't it? Why wouldn't old Chuckles just SHOOT the bear? Instead he hustles a bunch of children from the tent to the car? RIIIIIIGHT!!!!!!! It's satire....I get it!

Yknott: So much for common sense truths! She fudges the truth about the fact that she needs to fill her freezer, the whole thing is staged and at a huge expense, and she happily "kills" an innocent caribou to boost her image and get some creds. The whole time it is obvious and apparent she has never or rarely shot a gun and doesn't know wtf she is doing.

Historygoddess had a great long comment; here are snippets: …I teach in a red, red county where it is common for boys to grouse and duck hunt before school…A large number of students are out of school during hunting season…But, the talk today was Palin-bashing. Her fake hunting was too much for these folks that love hunting. They were making fun of her not sighting her gun beforehand. Questioned her choice of gun…Not hanging the meat! Dumb. Wearing make up? Not wearing the waders when walking through water, but did wear them later. Dumb. Not being able to cock her own gun? That's unforgivably stupid…And the student hunters- they were ruthless. They called her a Poser.

MANY ‘Gaters took offense to Sarah’s comment about “ruggedness” applying only to Alaskans.

TruGal: "Our ruggedness is (really) a mystery to people in the lower 48." That's the quote TLC uses in the promo for next week's show with Kate Gosselin. I'll bet a million bucks Palin's not rugged enough to last one WEEK in New York City!

To which nycgirl replied: Oh, please God, let me show her my New York… I'd put her on the Subway & we would never hear from her again. I'd bring her into a Korean deli where she would meet some ''rill'' Americans who work 18 hrs a day to support their families… I would bring her to Harlem, Far Rockaway, Crown Heights, the South Bronx, then drop her in the Atlantic Ocean. Let her swim back to Wasilla.

DebinWI: Bristol, is now a puppet just like her mom -- they both need people behind the scenes to pull their strings and talk for them. Empty inside. No substance. Nothing to offer. Always angry. Always the victim.

CR46: Even as an avid hunter, there was just no reason to show the quartering of the Caribou on TV, it was meant to offend people. Sarah has complete control and this is what she chose. As for the home life, if those are parts she thinks are normal...well then her family is screwier than I thought.

Later: What a Canard! I think we caught a Menard ( Troll) hoisting Scarah's Petard!
anonPoster: As Twitler would say: "Don't retreat. Have your Daddy reload." One dopey episode of her reality show has blown her favorite political motto out of the water for good. She'll be laughed off the stage the next time she brays that motto.

Louiecypher: …Well I saw your latest faceybook post, and you never took any fed dollars while you were mayor or 1/2 term gov, never once did you board a plane to Washington with your "hat in your hand". I was wondering if I could borrow your time machine, there a wee bit of history I would love to go and re-write… And later: …Oh one other thing Hatey isn't an island of people full of hate, (which I know would be better than college in Hawaii) anyways you and Graham Cracker don't forget the COOOOKKKIIIEEES!!!!!!

Kellygrrrl: I mean, did she really say "I know, we don't like feelings either." and did Chuckles really put the heart in Piper's face? [Yes.] Dear Gawd!!!!!!!

SteveinVancouver: …everyone has to be quiet so as not to scare off the caribou, but shooting at it 5 times doesn't scare it off??? Really???? Second, the caribou that goes down at 48 seconds is NOT the one that was in the scope just prior to that. The racks are completely different in size and shape. The rack on the earlier caribou is similar to (but appeared to be larger than) the one that was shot, so they are not necessarily the same animal. I'm betting that the entire thing on the people side was just staged, the stock footage of caribou walking, standing and going down were edited in and then "verifying the kill" was staged with a caribou shot by someone else. To be sure, Sarah didn't shoot anything.

Cheeriogirl found the cost of the caribou hunting guide ($5200/hunter for 1 caribou or $6000 “trophy fee”), making this one helluva expensive caribou. Kind of laughable about Sarah’s “have to hunt to fill the freezer” meme.

Laprofesora: …She cannot accurately fake a normal family because she has no experience with what a normal, average family looks like. Her perspective is completely skewed by her mental illness. This is evident in the scenes she chose to include in her show. How could she not see how badly she and her family will be viewed? She approaches the whole thing from a clearly delusional mental state. I'm quite sure she thinks she pulled it off splendidly and we are none the wiser. "Ozzie and Harriet" of Alaska the Paylins aren't.

AnnaLynne noticed that Chuck and Sarah behave the same when they don’t get their way:

How Chuck Heath behaves: “He wouldn't leave me alone, and kept getting excited as we landed more salmon...” How Screech behaves: She told me that once Bristol had the baby she and Todd would adopt him… She was nagging—she wouldn’t give up… We both kept telling her we were definitely not going to let her adopt the baby.

There were several excellent comments from experienced hunters, ALL of which noted Sarah’s lack of even the most basic knowledge of how to use guns safely. Palingates welcomes Hunt Like You’re Hungry and thanks sjk, CR46 and others for sharing their hunting expertise.

Minnesotamud found this great comment on NYT blog, by Gemli from Boston: “…she inflames the Left because she is a threat. She embodies the ideas of action without intelligence, of fame without reason, and of self-esteem without justification. These traits were also present in the previous president, who nearly destroyed this country with eight years of blundering mismanagement…

BanditBasheert: Palin may have been hacked but it was not by Wiki - they aren't doing this - the fact that she said they "traced it back" was an outright lie - which led to the even BiGGER lie that she was even hacked. If the story begins with a huge lie???? You can bet the rest is either a lie or a fantasy.

Maelewis: Being in the spotlight must be like a drug to some people. No matter how loud the applause, next time it has to be louder. The thrill has to be bigger. It gets harder and harder to top the last performance or bit of attention… Sarah's constant need for attention is a sickness, especially when she says and does things that are so unbelievable…

Drpatois: Patrick, this reminds me of a quote from William Bernback, a top advertising executive from the 1960's. "The truth isn't the truth until people believe you, and they can't believe you if they don't know what you're saying, and they can't know what you're saying if they don't listen to you, and they won't listen to you if you're not interesting, and you won't be interesting unless you say things imaginatively, originally, freshly."

sunnyjane’s son had a great title for the SPAK episode: The Caribou, The Witch, and The Camo Wardrobe."

Linda1961: There is a special place reserved in Hell for that woman who rather than trying to alleviate misery, is exploiting it for political gain.

Mrs TBB: Doesn't Haiti have enough trouble as it is?

Cacklingrad: This is funny: I don't know what kind of glitch in their system put it there or how long it will stay there, but Amazon currently has Sarah's ABH as #1 in their "Bestsellers in Christian Science Fiction and Fantasy".

CaliGirl and Molly_WI made this point: She's so concerned about rumors about a hunting license that a video is released to prove her purchase of them. She's so concerned about rumors about Trig not being her son that she just tells everybody "What, do you not believe me or my doctor?" and offers no proof, which would be as simple to prove as a hunting license. And she (apparently) doesn't allow her doctor to talk about the birth either.
465janedoeseeker: …when people bash and condemn the concept of social justice here at home, I just can't take them at face value when they go abroad on 'missions' to allegedly promote social justice elsewhere.

Sondra Tompkins: SP's tweet should have read: "Life is 10% truth, 90% lies you make up to cover the truth." Later: This trip to Haiti was just a notch in Sarah's political bedpost.

Ennealogic had a great comment Sunday morning on the Time cover “paint by numbers” approach.

BBT says: Okey-doke, I’m gonna stop here… there are so many great comments!

Links of the Week

Austintxx linked to the NYT: “Do you follow yourself closely on Twitter? Have you been blogging regularly about your… memoir? Do you make a habit of weeping about your values in public?...”

Paradigm Shift: Tina Dupuy makes a good point about Palin and her enemies list at the 1:50 mark. "Look, if there is a list, there is clearly a pattern. But if there is seventy on that list, that is a complex."

Later: "...women don't trust Sarah Palin when it comes to women's health issues."

TruGal linked to Sullivan refuting Palin’s hunting prowess

to NYT on She Who Must Not Be Named and more from NYT on Sarah Palin’s Alaskan Rhapsody http://tinyurl.com/2f5498w

Myrtilla noticed that even Murdoch’s WSJ took some swipes at Sarah the rookie huntress

Drpatois (to Bella): Since you were exposed to $arah's dreadful behavior, I wanted to offer you a story of some real Alaskans. They are not at all like $arah Paylin. I hope it makes you smile!

Mxm linked to this HUGE smackdown on a hunter’s site, commenting on Sarah’s obvious lack of even rudimentary hunting skills… It was simply a hunting trip to bag some PR for a complete idiot loser who represents the hunting community in a horrible way...

Paradigm Shift (H/T @liberalchick230) A thoughtful piece from Rep. John Yarmuth (D-KY) "Sarah Palin's Lame Media Strategy"

and this on Palin Fatigue: Palin "unfavorable" 60% The more people see of her, the less they like her.

Joey with Aaron Sorkin from HuffPo: “…You weren't killing that animal for food or shelter or even fashion, you were killing it for fun. You enjoy killing animals...I've tried and tried and for the life of me, I can't make a distinction between what you get paid to do and what Michael Vick went to prison for doing…”

Joey also found this at the Baltimore Sun

Juicy and austintxx linked to Maureen Dowd in the NYT “The doomed caribou gazed calmly across the Alaska tundra at Caribou Barbie…”

Juicy also posted this from AK Dispatch and to NY Daily News on Sarah exploiting Haiti as “poverty porn”

Aview999 found this on an epidemic of narcissism

And this comparing Julian Assange and Robert Novak

She also this from The Guardian on Samaritan’s Purse’s idea of humanitarian relief

Cheeriogirl found an interesting article on BofA lobbying its regulators

HIG linked to Jimmy Kimmel

Kathleen linked to this petition re Wikileaks

BluedogAK found this in the Newsminer about shifting stories in Palin’s two books

Sickntiredofpalin on Bristol being a bigger star than Sarah was followed by curioser11 on Bristol’s popularity dropping by 62%

Myrtilla: From Mother Jones, Quote of the Day: Sarah Palin's Busy Life

Molly_WI found The Victim Chronicles on the Mudflats

Patrick found that The Independent reports that even conservative websites are smacking down Sarah’s pitiful performance as a hunter

He also linked to Salon on Time’s cover story based on emails that they don’t even know came from Palin herself

Dusty17 and Juicyfruityy had this from politicususa (teaser: the url includes palin-idiot-politics)

Tweets of the Week

Mmboucher8: @SarahPalinUSA please explain where common sense was when you [claimed you] boarded plane while having contractions and leaking fluid.#Palin

Hannah_Bell suggested this tweet: "you love proving your 'haters' wrong-so why no birth cert for Trig? Nobody is saying you aren't his mom-we're saying you did not GIVE BIRTH to him!"

BellPeppery: @SarahPalinUSA Like driving past hospitals w/NICUs in Dallas and Seattle, bypassing Walmart/McDs to spend $42K "hunting" caribou = CRAZY.

@SarahPalinUSA Millionaire fake huntress says it’s flippin fun to kill/butcher reindeer. Wholesome family TV during Xmas = killing Rudolph? [Thanks! From BBT]

Twitter campaign? "Sarah - God wants you and Bristol to donate ALL your TV show earnings to the Haitian people"

@SarahPalinUSA's Holiday To Do List: 1. Shoot reindeers 2. Exploit crisis-stricken Haitians 3. Buy Bristol more scarves to hide belly behind

ForeverAnonymous found this (from Bandit Basheert, right?): Sarah Palin’s Hunting Trip To Feed Her Family Cost — $42,400 or $141.33 per lb. of Caribou Meat! Exclusive! http://tinyurl.com/29c42a4

Honestyingov: #SarahPalin, FAKE Mayor-hired CtyMgr,FAKE Hunter@TLC-Amateur+ Cost?,FAKE Hcky Mom-Never there 4 Kids,FAKE pregncy-YU betcha! @Palingates #p2

@Sarahpalinusa, we know U don't read,BUT Haiti Disaster was 1yr AGO! Did U just find out abt it.Were U Busy gettin Willow out of Jail THEN?

@SarahPalinusa, Saw Todd #Palin on B.Walters.Obviously Gaunt &sick.NO Tweet asking ppl 2 pray 4 Him? Guess U dont care.HIDING sumthin again?

Tyroanee: #Palin/Cheney Duck & Cover Hunting Academy- applications forms available @ I can't believe Americans fall for this Sh8t!

Get a Life: @sarahpalinusa says "bailouts reward bad behavior" but expects palinbots to pay legal bills for ethics charge filed against herself. #palin

#youmightbeapalin if your whole life is one big canard.

Disqusux: @RAMansour Nobody gives a damn about Palin's reading habits, not even Katie Couric. #whining grizzly

The Last Word

LouieCypher (tot_ou_tard had a version of this, too)

puts yule log on the fire and sits in cozy chair, apologies to Henry Livingston and Dr Seuss

Twas the night before sarahmas, all through the compound;
not a family member was there, no Trig to be found,
except for dear Sarah who was heard to be yelling.
'I've used autopen, leather bound but my book's just not selling!"
Then appeared Tawd decked in his Artic Cat Jacket.
"Let's go to Haiti and start a new racket"
She fluxored, she fumed then slowly waxed'
"Tawd I'm afraid to go there I've heard they're all black"
Her thumbs became restless with the need to a twitter,
but how to explain I'm not a half governer quitter?
She paced the floor, then suddenly boasted
"Call up RAM and get this ghost fake facebook posted"
"What does it say, what does it say?" she squelled with a grin
"I hope it says something bad about the Obama admin"
It really said nothing to no ones total suprise
and her heart shrunk further to a third of a third it's normal size,
That's when they say the miracle begin
for in her twitter account there was a DM
I'll shorten the speach and cut through the drama
but there it was a DM from Obama
I'm not quite sure if he called her a bitch
Might have been something bout tax cuts for the rich
She danced with glee to the sound of flunkets and flaxer's
And tried to decide which of her kids wasn't a bastard,
We've tried to deduce what happened that night
when suddenly dear Sarah wasn't full of hate and spite.

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