Pat and Palin (and more) - UPDATE: Andrew Halcro takes aim!

I just found this great article, which is also a nice Thanksgiving read.

You will find out at the end of the article who Pat is (it's not me, of course, nor our special friend Pat Dougherty).

The beginning of the article reads:

"Pat does not like Sarah Palin.

If Pat doesn't like Sarah Palin, than I would feel pretty confident stating Republicans need to stay away from giving Palin the go-ahead nomination for 2012.Pat is as Independent as they come. She's registered Independent and true to form, she has voted for Democrats and voted for Republicans. She does not vote based on party, but for the person who she feels will be a stronger leader.

Pat does not like Palin.

Pat did like Candidate Obama, and thought he would be a much better President than the one that was currently in office (Dick Cheney- her words, not mine) and she had no problem saying she would never vote for McCain for one reason: If McCain kicked the bucket, Palin would be her President.

And, Pat does not like Palin."

Continue with the article HERE.

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All this "Pat" stuff inspired me to take a look at the Anchorage Daily News, and what a surprise: The ADN published a good article called "Palin's anti-intellectualism dangerous", written by Alaska Professor Steve Haycox.

Although I really like what the ADN has done there, is still strikes me like kicking a dead corpse. When Sarah Palin was the Governor, you wouldn't find those articles in the ADN. Am I unfair? Probably - after all, I am just a non-commercial citizen blogger, and I have no boss asking me whether the urgently needed revenue from the State of Alaska will arrive this year as usual!

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Andrew Sullivan has published another very revealing article about the affairs of Sarah Palin, and about the non-existing fact-checking by Harper Collins in particular. He writes:

"You also wonder whether any fact-checking was done at HarperCollins. Well: you don't have to wonder. They had no fact-checkers at Harper Collins when they marketed my book (I had to hire two of my own). A random blog, I'd wager, has more factual reliability than a book published by Jonathan Burnham and edited by Adam Bellow. Yes: Adam Bellow. Editing Sarah Palin. What a stunning emblem that is of so much."

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UPDATE:

I almost had overlooked the most important article of the day, but an invaluable source in Alaska alerted me to it!

Andrew Halcro has taken off the kid gloves! In a must-read, long article on his blog, the former Republican AK State Representative, successful business-owner and challenger in the primaries against Republican Don Young for his congressional seat, blows Sarah Palin to smitterens.

He writes:

"(…) Those who line up to buy her book are disillusioned by the perceived East/West coast "elitist, smarty pants" mentality that they believe looks to the heartland with a disparaging eye. Talk about a red herring.

Do the parents in Port Washington, Pennsylvania really hope their kids grow up "not smart enough" to have a shot at getting into the best (dare I say elite) colleges in the country?

Ironically, the people in rural America are supported heavily by the federal income tax dollars that flow from East and West coast inhabitants, that pay their farm subsidies, auto industry bailouts and Ma and Pa Jones Medicare and Social security.

But they apparently want a return to the simple times when you could gather around the kitchen table and not worry about the complexities of a global economy and the real challenges of governing a country where our greatest strength is our diversity.

It's all noise, generated by the Sarah Palin's of the world who want to distract from their inability to articulate real solutions to real problems by repeating meaningless phrases. Last week in answering about a dozen questions from Rush Limbaugh, Palin said some combination of "solutions," "conservative" and "commonsense" twenty-five times.

Here's a tip: If you have to repeatedly qualify what you're saying is a commonsense solution, than it's not really a commonsense solution.

The beauty of commonsense solutions is that they are common without having to be labeled as such. In fact it's all common "nonsense." (…)

She writes harshly about John Bitney, but did she ever talk to him directly about his Blackberry or anything else she took issue with? No. In fact when Bitney was fired, he found out only after trying to use his state issued Blackberry to call his office and it was turned off.

Then to blame him for not communicating with lawmakers about her vetoes is another sign of her ability to lie. The fact is in June 2007, in the weeks leading up to Palin's vetoes, lawmakers knew she was considering cuts to the capital budget and tried desperately to meet with Palin but she refused. (…)

And then there are the things she conveniently left out about during her two hundred word assault on me. Oh the stories I could tell...and will in time.

Palin writes about how my gig as a radio host and blogger was a "step up from my previous job as a limo driver at Todd's cousin's wedding."

Why didn't she write that I owned the company and I was driving because the chauffeur originally scheduled for the run was sick? I guess in Palin's world a small business owner should take the same approach she did when faced with a challenge; give up and quit instead of taking care of your responsibilities.

And why did she leave out that when I was elected to the State House in November of 1998, she sent me a hand written note congratulating me and saying she hoped I'd bring my "small business" experience to Juneau?

Why?

Because in doing so Palin would reveal what many of us found out years ago; her inability to tell the truth is only second to her inability to accept the truth. (…)"

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A short note which has nothing to do with Sarah Palin:

While writing blogposts, I have listened very often to THIS ALBUM.

Just a general recommendation! It's very inspiring music.

:-)


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"Going Rogue": Sarah Palin mentions the "Trig Truthers"! How nice of her! Also: How Piper and her family were harrassed by evil reporters!

First, I would like to say a big "thank you" to "Gawker", who linked to us today, as well as to the "Daily Kos", who in a very informative diary post also included a link and even cited from our blogpost! It's great to see solidarity in the blogsphere in this important and difficult fight.

Gawker also posted four scanned pages of "Going Rogue" - NAUGHTY! But then as we know, Christopher Goff from Harper Collins is only going after the non-commercial citizen blogs, not after the commercial blogs like Gawker and Wonkette who certainly would have some sharphish lawyers and large funds behind them. But maybe we also have some battle-hardened lawyers in the background, who would just be too happy to take on Sarah Palin - you never know...!

So - does Sarah Palin mention the Trig Truthers in her book "Going Rogue"?

Yes she does! Hurray!

However, this excerpt is as BIZARRE as anything else in this ultra-bizarre book which was apparently written far far away in loonyland.

But first, another excerpt. Sarah describes how the media "continued to hang out in Alaska sniffing for tabloid stuff" after Sarah's nomination (p. 346). Heartbreaking scenes of unspeakable harrassment followed:

We never shut our doors to anyone, so people of all kinds attended these press availibilities. We didn't check credentials. But glancing along the side wall, I recognized these particular folks as the same ones who had cornered Piper on her walk home from Harborview Elementary School and talked to her for who knows how long about who knows what. That day Piper had come to my office and said, "Mom, remember those reporters who came on the campaign plane with us? You know, the ones Nicolle (Wallace, P.) said didn't like us very much? They just interviewed me on the sidewalk."

That was Piper's last independent walk from school.

Reporters from across the nation camped out at the end of our driveway in Wasilla and on the ice in front of our home. They incessantly called and stopped my parents' and siblings' and inlaws' homes and businesses. Hostile political operatives barraged Meg and her husband's home, medical practice, and neighbours, and bugges my attorney, my doctor and anyone else who might have anything to do with us. (p. 346, 357)

So, Sarah, WHY were you so afraid that Piper was talking to the media - alone, unsupervised? Enquiring minds want to know! Because according to the pictures I have seen from the campaign, Piper didn't seem to mind too much the attention she received during the campaign, so her talking to some reporters could hardly have been such a great deal, can it?

Piper during the campaign:








Then come the "Trig Truthers". But who are they, these mysterious Trig Truthers? Sarah Palin knows:

Challenges with the traditional media were one thing, but in addition there were the "new media" - the left-wing bloggers. The lines between the two were often blurred, with stories starting in the blogsphere and leapfrogging to old-media channels. And some of the strangest, the conspiracy-nut "Trig Truthers" were still at it, harassing my attorney and my doctor. I loved my dad's straight talk on the subject when he had to respond to one Truther: "I know Trig is hers, dumbass. I was there when he popped out!" (p. 347)

Again, that's rich. The Trig Truthers were harassing her attorney and her doctor? Well, not the Trig Truthers I know! And it's the job of every attorney to get harassed, that's what they are there for, so I am not sure what she is complaining about. But who harassed her doctor, I would like to know?

Wait a second....could it have been...the Anchorage Daily News (ADN)? I can hardly believe that I would have to give them some credit to them, after the big mess the ADN left us with: "The story that was researched but never appeared and was forgotten thereafter for all eternity."

So how did they harrass Cathy Baldwin-Johnson?

Thank you, Sarah Palin! Finally, I have the perfect opportunity to tell the world the story which I had mentioned in several comments before, but not in a blogpost.

In the autumn of 2008, the ADN was actually researching the "fake pregnancy rumors", and the ADN-reporter Lisa Demer was assigned to research and write the story. The ADN asked to interview Cathy Baldwin-Johnson about the details of the pregnancy. Cathy Baldwin-Johnson was hesitant at first, but then agreed to do the interview - and we have been told that Sarah Palin's doctor Cathy Baldwin-Johnson brought her lawyer with her to the interview with the ADN.

(If everything is fine and you have nothing to hide, you bring your lawyer to an interview with a newspaper? Of course, what else? After all, lawyers just have too much time these days!)

Asked by the ADN if Cathy Baldwin-Johnson delivered Trig, we were told that she answered that she "cannot confirm it". The ADN then didn't press further.

This story was never published by the ADN, but we received this information through a reliable source. You will find no reference of this story anywhere else. When I mentioned this interview in my "angry email" to ADN-editor Pat Dougherty several weeks ago (amongst a few other things), he didn't respond to the matter of this interview at all.

So there you have it. The ADN are apparently Trig Truthers! Don't tell Pat Dougherty, it might make him feel uneasy, because after all, the State of Alaska so graciously showers the ADN with presents!


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Sarah Palin and the ADN - by Patrick

Sarah Palin, the Anchorage Daily News and the State of Alaska – A Delicate Relationship?

- Guestpost by Patrick –

The Anchorage Daily News, as mentioned in my previous guestpost here on Palingates, seem to have a monopolistic status in Alaska, as no serious competition in the print sector in Alaska is apparent.

Furthermore, the ADN has a proud history. Wikipedia tells us: “The newspaper has won the Pulitzer Price twice in the "Public Service" category, in 1976 and 1989. No other Alaska newspaper has ever won a Pulitzer.“

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anchorage_Daily_News

But times for newspapers are hard these days. The virtual world is taking over. The ADN clearly took a beating recently, as the paper admitted in a recent story titled “ADN announces staff, pay cuts”, and reported:

“The Daily News will cut its work force and reduce wages as part of a major nationwide effort by its owner, the McClatchy Co., to cut $110 million in expenses to offset declining advertising revenue, Patrick Doyle, the newspaper's publisher, told employees in a letter Thursday.

This will be the third round of staff reductions at the newspaper in 10 months and is symptomatic of an industry-wide crisis threatening to sink newspapers across the country.

Staffing at the Daily News will drop by 45 people, or about 17 percent, through a combination of buyouts, layoffs and the elimination of vacant positions, Doyle said. Seven of the jobs eliminated were the result of new, more efficient production equipment.”

Link: http://www.adn.com/money/story/728972.html

These developments did not go unnoticed. As we learned from the email exchange between Sarah Palin and ADN editor Pat Dougherty concerning the “investigations” into the “babygate rumors”, clever Sarah had a fine nose for the current situation and remarked:

“Sarah Palin:

Thank you for your patience in awaiting my response. I do hope for nothing but the best for our local newspaper in these trying economic times that have hit your parent company.”

Pat Dougherty in return gave a curious response to this remark:

“Pat Dougherty:

As you suggest, these are tough times for newspapers. Having a bunch of conspiracy nuts denouncing the Daily News for hiding your secret just adds to the overall happy ambience.”

See here:

http://community.adn.com/adn/node/136586

So...what’s the deal here?

We decided to look a bit deeper into this.

What we found was quite surprising, to say the least, although I am not sure whether Pat Dougherty would share this view. But judge for yourself:

The State of Alaska makes no secret of its expenses. Therefore, according to the golden rule “follow the money”, we thought it would do no harm to check whether the ADN might be in a “mutually beneficial relationship” with the people they are supposed to have a “watchful eye” on – the administration and government of the State of Alaska.

The result of our research astounded us.

For example, between July 1, 2007 and August 31, 2008, the ADN received the following payments from the State of Alaska:

a. $ 427,386 for “Advertising”

b. $ 250,768 for “Print/Copy/Graphics”

c. $ 2,932 for “Subscriptions”

In total, the ADN received more than $ 681,086 for “Advertising, Print/Copy/Graphics and Subscriptions” from the State of Alaska during this period, and the Governor’s office alone advertised with the ADN for the amount of $35,339.

This is certainly not pocket money that we are talking about here.

This report (“checkbook online”) can be downloaded here:

http://fin.admin.state.ak.us/dof/checkbook_online/resource/acct_detail_fy08.pdf

The main competitor of the ADN, the Fairbanks Daily Newsminer, received a considerably lower amount during this period: Around $ 147,407.

In the following financial year, from July 1, 2008 to August 31, 2009, the payments for the ADN were only slightly less and amounted to more than $ 640,349 (including $ 20,783 from the Governor’s office).

Link: http://fin.admin.state.ak.us/dof/checkbook_online/resource/acct_detail_fy09.pdf

Government advertising in newspapers is of course common practice. However, around the world, government advertising is also recognized as a source of conflict between newspapers who are dependent on these revenues, and governments who use those funds to favor “friendly” media outlets or punish overly critical ones – for example in Canada, Latin America, Pakistan, Russia and even Bermuda.

The point I am trying to make here is that Palin in her New Year exchange with Pat Dougherty specifically seems to want to remind him that his parent company is in trouble; the implication being that they need all the money that they can get from advertising etc. She does so in an exchange which she initiated when she wrote to him complaining about the way in which she was portrayed in the ADN and the fact that the ADN had initiated an investigation into Trig's birth. Does that seem wrong to you? It does to me.

Therefore, the question seems justified: How independent can a newspaper be when in incredibly difficult economic times the State of Alaska is such a major customer, probably even their largest advertiser? What thinking process might be initiated in an editor’s mind when the Governor drops such a hint in an email conversation? Will this increase his willingness to pursue the “persistent rumors” about the Governor’s alleged faked pregancy?

I think not.

Pat Dougherty, as is his prerogative, might disagree, however, I would still be interested to hear his answer to my question.

I would like to conclude with two observations that readers of my previous guestpost here on Palingates have sent to me (to my email: patrick12344@yahoo.com).

A reader from Texas wrote:

“The wording of Pat Dougherty’s denial does not reassure me that the ADN has never been threatened to be sued by Governor Palin. Rather, all he is denying is that the ADN has never been threatened to be sued for something that ADN has never published. After all, if no story was published, of COURSE there would be no party with any standing to sue for something that is non-existent! He didn't deny that SP threatened to sue the paper IF it ran a story or stories about a possible faked pregnancy.”

A practising corporate attorney from Florida wrote:

“I agree that rumors are not facts. But Mr. Dougherty should also agree that his failure to pursue the answers to questions raised by hard factual evidence is mediocre journalism at best. Some might even suggest that such failure is a passive cover-up ("We don't want the answers, because they may well force us to change our preconceived viewpoint regarding Trig's parentage, which admittedly is not "evidence-based," but which is based solely upon a self-serving, unverified and an uncorroborated assertion by Sarah Palin.")

Does the Alaska Daily News publication really want to serve its customers with truthful and factual reporting, or is that merely lip-service? My prediction is the historical record will prove that is not a rhetorical question.”

Our investigation continues. As I said in a previous comment on Palingates, either Sarah Palin is exonerated after providing solid evidence, or she is guilty. At the moment she is neither, because the Alaskan media refuses to investigate a major political scandal which is lying in front of them. This doesn’t satisfy. A resolution is needed, and in my heart I know that Pat Dougherty is aware of this, too.