Sarah Palin is an opportunist - cynical and dangerous

Aides to Sarah Palin have asked the Republican National Committee to remove her name from an invitation that suggests she might attend a series of committee fundraising events timed to coincide with next week's Southern Republican Leadership Conference in New Orleans.

Though Palin will speak on Friday at the SRLC, a gathering of top Republican officials and an early cattle call for potential 2012 presidential candidates, the former Alaska governor will not be participating in any RNC fundraising event, a Palin adviser told CNN.

It's difficult to make sense of the moves made by Sarah Palin's camp. Some decisions and statements from former aides were already a bit chaotic, but Meg Stapleton seemed more predictable. Since Meg was pushed under the bus by Jason Recher, things have become even more puzzling.

We have to keep jumping back and forth to guess what the master plan might be. What's driving the bus forward? Politics? Money? Religion?

Sarah Palin went rogue on purpose. Without any particular allegiance, she can slip into whatever mode seems more profitable at the time. She supported some Republican candidates and became the Queen of the Teabaggers, pushing her simplistic anti-government agenda. She tried to be the reincarnation of Ronald Reagan, but hasn't mentioned his name in a long time, so perhaps that didn't work out very well.

Sarah Palin has been exploring a number of different avenues since she quit as governor for the good of Alaska. Author, Fox News contributor, TV presenter, speaker, Facebook blogger, twitterer. Her main aim is to stay in the headlines. If a controversy is not readily available, she creates one. And she has props for each occasion. Her family, Alaska, the Republicans, the Teabaggers, God, unborn children, Israel, the military... they are all props.

SarahPac made some eleventh hour token donations to political candidates in order to justify its existence, but in reality it seems to be a nice piggy bank for Sarah Palin and her cronies.

Sarah Palin is a cynical opportunist. If she made her money in the same way as Octomom or the Gosselins, if she grew an extra head and became a freakshow, if she decided to fake another fifteen pregnancies for a reality show, if she made millions of dollars from any of these things, all would be well. The problem is that politics is her main theme. That's why she's dangerous.



This following was no.5 in the top ten 2009 editorial cartoons in the TIME annual competition:



Sarah Palin already appears in several other categories. I hope her targets and inflammatory rhetoric won't find their way into some sinister list in 2010.



She's not the only dangerous person around but seems to be one of the most pernicious and high profile among many. Others may have genuine concerns and are driven by their fears. Sarah Palin's sole motivation appears to be money and she doesn't care about the consequences of her poisonous statements, it's all about her bank balance...

Take the money away and Sarah Palin, with her "servant's heart," would sit down and shut up very quickly.

(Our friend Ennealogic has a very good and very graphic analysis of Sarah Palin's metaphors)
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Sarah Palin is not a good special needs advocate

I'll start with a quick comment about Meg Stapleton's resignation.

If she wasn't thrown under the bus and we take what she said at face value,

"I have done my best to scale back but Isabella is now resorting to hiding my BlackBerry and she shouldn't grow up begging for a mother to start acting like a mother,"

good for her!

I shudder to think what would happen if one of Sarah Palin's children should resort to the same tactics and hid her precious BlackBerry... they're having a bad enough time as it is!

Moving on to the real topic of this post, we've been validated at last.

Down syndrome real advocates are not very keen on Sarah Palin and her approach to the whole special needs issue.


From the ADN, via Daily Beast:

"Since the end of the presidential election, we haven't heard Sarah Palin articulate any specific policy proposals [on disability]," said Peter Berns, CEO of The Arc, a lobbying group representing people with intellectual disabilities. ...

Bruce Fletcher, founder and CEO of the New York-based National Association for the Developmentally Disabled, was harsher, saying, "I think having a celebrity as an advocate is a very good idea. But I don't think she's the right person to do that given that there's a cloud over her in terms of her credibility."

MSNBC First Read, also via Daily Beast:

Palin has drawn crowds of parents of children with disabilities to some of her events, but even as she professed to be their greatest advocates during the 2008 campaign questions were being asked as to what she would do when it comes to funding. At the end of the day, that's where a legislator can have the greatest impact.

And Palin was on record in wanting to reject stimulus funds to her state -- millions of which included special education funding.

One person didn't take so long to figure out what Sarah Palin was all about. On September 10, 2008, Amy Silverman, mother of a then 5-year-old child with Down syndrome, had already heard the alarm bells, as when Amy describes hers and her husband's reaction to McCain's pick of running mate:

Neither of us was sure how to pronounce her name, and we didn't know much about her politics, but both my husband and I knew exactly who Sarah Palin was. We paid attention in April, when she had her fifth baby, Trig.

We pay attention to things like that. Our 5-year-old daughter has Down syndrome.

I immediately started shrieking, and didn't stop for a week.

(snip)

I'm pretty much done shrieking. Now I'm just scared.

And mad that I wasted so much time being pissed at myself for being distracted by Sarah Palin's personal life. Her personal life is not a distraction; it's her selling point, and to that end, it deserves the scrutiny it's gotten, and more. When she put her four kids center stage — literally — and talked about the fifth fighting in Iraq, she made perfectly clear what she brings to this campaign: her experience as a hockey mom.

And how sad that she was willing to put her oldest daughter through the humiliation of having her unplanned pregnancy outed to everyone in the world with access to a television set.

Palin is shamelessly using her personal life to sell her candidacy in a way that's reminiscent of just one other politician I can think of — and that's John McCain. But at least in McCain's case, he's his own pawn, vis-à-vis his POW story. Track, Bristol, Willow, Piper, and Trig are their mother's pawns.

Andrea Friedman summed it up, recently: "My mother did not carry me around under her arm like a loaf of French bread the way former Governor Palin carries her son Trig around looking for sympathy and votes."

(Do read the rest of Amy Silverman's article. You can also visit her delightful blog, Girl In a Party Hat.)
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Sarah Palin's little problem with the truth

Meg Stapleton has released a statement regarding the "gang rape" threats against Willow Palin, saying that the threat was real, made in a MySpace post and duly reported by the family to the governor's security detail, investigated, blah blah. The statement comes as an obvious reaction to speculation that Sarah Palin lied about the incident in "Going Rogue".

There are many, many lies in Sarah's book. If we give Sarah the benefit of the doubt, there are certain memory lapses, at the very least.

For example, Sarah Palin tells this little tale relating to Willow's birth:

"Then our third child, pretty little Willow Bianca Faye came along. I went into labor with her on the Fourth of July while kayaking with the Menards on Memory Lake. I so wanted a patriotic baby that I paddled as hard as I could to speed up the contractions, but she held out until the next day."

Sooo... according to Sarah, Willow was born on July 5. (Memory Lake, sweet irony!)

Several people found this information (page 59):

Willow Bianca Faye Palin was born July 7, 1994 at 7 lbs., 12 oz. [Anchorage Daily News (AK), 7/25/94]

Did the Anchorage Daily News make a mistake? Who reported the happy event in the life of Wasilla's council member and provided the birth date?

Sarah Palin appears to have a recurring problem with birth dates. Nobody seems able to get any dates right!

Cathy Baldwin-Johnson's letter released on the eve of the November election gave Piper's birthday as 2000.

The same document (also on page 59) that gave Willow's birthday as July 7 states:

Piper Indi Grace Palin was born March 19, 2001 at 7 lbs., 13 oz. [Anchorage Daily News (AK), 3/29/01]

Last year Tripp Johnston's birth date was initially given as December 28, 2008, according to a relative in the state of Washington, then changed to December 27. The press release from the office of the then governor didn't specify the date.

Poor gal, there must be some kind of conspiracy going on. All these people get their facts wrong and make Sarah Palin come across as some kind of liar...
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Sarah Palin is too busy...

Politico reports on a fundraiser to which Sarah Palin was invited to appear as the headline speaker:

Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty will headline a major fundraising dinner next month for the Iowa Republican Party, another in a growing list of signals that he’s laying the groundwork for a 2012 presidential run.

The state party originally sought out former Alaska Gov. and vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin to speak at this event – or any other she’d like to attend. Strawn said in a brief interview that while they heard back from Palin, they never got “a yes or a no.”

“We did make an open-ended request for Gov. Palin,” Strawn said. “We were told it’s under review.”

Palin adviser Meg Stapleton said the former governor is still interested in a visit to the Hawkeye State, but that they couldn’t fit the dinner in.

"With the Governor's accelerated book schedule and other travel obligations, the timing was just too difficult to make a firm commitment,” Stapleton said, adding, “We look forward to another opportunity."

I find it really amusing that when Sarah Palin had her accelerated pregnancy with Trig she had no problem taking him to her office (full of germs, reporters, cameras and all that), even though he was a premature, jaundiced baby with special needs. She didn't alter her schedule at all. Everything went according to plan, perfect timing!

At least back then she was the state governor and could say she wanted to show the "neanderthals" that she could have a baby and rush back to work as if nothing had happened. The baby appeared, the baby was presented to the world, everything was back to normal, just like that!

Now that she's unemployed there are clashes in her schedule? A book is preventing Sarah Palin from progressing her career?

Does she still have a career?

Will Sarah Palin show up this time?

Economic Club announces 2009-10 speakers

The worlds of politics, sports and journalism will come to Lake Michigan College beginning next month as former Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, former Vice President Dick Cheney, former First Lady Laura Bush, Michigan State University head basketball Coach Tom Izzo and New York Times columnist Tom Friedman address The Economic Club of Southwestern Michigan.

In announcing its 2009-10 speakers lineup Friday, the club offered the teaser that former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin might speak to the club.

Palin, who recently resigned as Alaska's governor, has not begun accepting speaking invitations. But when she does the club will invite her, said Club President Michael Cook. If she accepts, she would probably speak in May.

When the time comes (and it's a long way away), the day before Sarah Palin is due to speak, Meg Stapleton will say they never heard anything about any speech.

No?

(more about Sarah Palin's avoiding public appearances here)
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$urprise! Who's doing stuff behind $arah Palin's back?

$arah Palin was shocked to find out that an official legal fund, called The Alaska Fund Trust, was launched to solicit donations to pay the governor's, her family's and her employees legal bills! $he knew nothing about it.

The trustee of the AFT, Kristan Cole, real estate professional, chair of the Board of Agriculture and Conservation (formerly known as the Agricultural Revolving Loan Fund Board), member of the Royalty Gas and Development board, wife of Brad Cole, who's a member of the Real Estate Commission, former beauty queen and daughter of a convicted embezzler, broke the news to the governor yesterday:

"The first and only time I have spoken with the Governor about the Trust was yesterday to alert her that I was responding to this violation of the law and leak of preliminary and confidential materials from the complainant."

According to Meg Stapleton's statement to the Associated Press, $arah Palin must have had an inkling about the Trust:

"The continuing generosity of Alaskans and Americans is overwhelming as many reach out to assist Governor Sarah Palin and her family with their legal bills.

However, the official legal defense fund for Governor Sarah Palin has not been formed and the Governor cannot accept monies for those obligations from any other entity than the one in formation. Numerous federal and state laws to need to be abided by and the official legal defense fund will have very strict donation guidelines.

We thank everyone interested in helping the Governor. The best way to assist her will be through this official fund which will launch later this month."

Meghan Stapleton
Palin Family Spokesperson

Spokesperson means she speaks on behalf of $arah and her family, no? A mouthpiece, as if the governor or her family were uttering the words themselves...

SarahPac is authorized by $arah Palin. From the website:

Who is behind SarahPac?

Gov. Sarah Palin believes all Americans must work together for the future, regardless of their party affiliation. Gov. Palin is the honorary chair of SarahPac, and its supporters are Republicans, Democrats, Independents, and those unaffiliated with any political party.

SarahPac solicits donations to the Alaska Fund Trust.


A legal document, the Alaska Fund Trust Agreement, has a whole paragraph regarding successor trustees, using $arah Palin's name in big capitals:

In the event that the original named Trustee herein shall desire at any time to be relieved of his duties herein, said Trustee may resign by written notice to SARAH PALIN, who may appoint a successor Trustee with the qualifications set forth in paragraph 4 above. In addition, SARAH PALIN shall have the same power to appoint a substitute Trustee in the event of the death, incapacity, or failure to act in accordance with the terms of this instrument of any Trustee. In the event of SARAH PALIN's inability to act as a result of incapacity or other reasonable cause, the proper legal representative of SARAH PALIN shall have the right and authority to seek the appointment of a substitute Trustee.

Wow! Kristan Cole put the governor's name in BIG CAPITALS in a legal document without any consultation with the governor???

So many things going on behind $arah Palin's back: the Trust, her spokesperson speaking, her SarahPac asking for money to be given to the official legal fund...



Bad, bad people!
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