Actually, this is getting old fast…//UPDATE: Piper hits the wall, Sarah runs straight through it

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was thinking of writing a piece for The Daily Beast about a Palin appearance in New England this week.

But I’m not going to play hide-and-seek.  So, Sarah, you can relax–at least until Sept. 20 when THE ROGUE will be published.

Seriously, how far does she think this “Close your eyes and count to twenty, then catch-me-if-you-can” approach will take her?

Actually, knowing her, and knowing MSM, I’m sure she thinks–with some justification–that it can take her all the way to the White House.

Even still, I feel sorry for the reporters assigned to the bus tour beat.

And I have an idea for MSM editors: un-assign them.

There’s a lot of talent out there chasing after ephemera.

And, as with the dog chasing the school bus, it’s only worse if you catch it.

Here’s something else, and uglier:  Sarah used Trig as her photo-op prop on her Going Rogue tour in the fall of 2009.

Now, almost two years later, that poor Down Syndrome child is neither so photogenic nor so manageable, so he’s off (or under) the bus.

So it’s Piper who has to fill in.  Do you think that poor girl had a choice?

Last summer, Sarah complained long and loud that I’d moved in next door because I wanted to peer at Piper through her bedroom window.

Her hot-to-trot flunkies like Beck and Van Susteren made that slanderous accusation into a right-wing meme.

But the notion was so silly and sick that I couldn’t even get mad about it.

I do, however, have granddaughters who are just about Piper’s age.

Their mothers and fathers have nurtured them since birth, and continue to do so.  I can’t wait to see them again in July.

But what about poor Piper, reduced to a photo-op, and with no chance to opt off the bus?

The only time I saw Piper—I never laid eyes on her last summer—was at a Sarah book-signing at The Villages, Florida, just before Thanksgiving, 2009, when I reported on the event as part of my research for THE ROGUE.

I was appalled to see the poor girl ushered up to a FOX News platform for makeup before Sarah brought her on camera during an interview with one of the Fox blondes about what a swell Thanksgiving they were all going to have.

Trig, at least, was too young and too Down to know how he was being used.

Piper was being taught to love it.

And it’s only going to get worse.

In the end, there are three things to remember about Sarah:

1)  Everything she says and does is fraudulent.

2)  She cares about no one but herself.

3)  She believes that God has told her that 1) and 2) are okay and that any harm she does to her children is merely collateral damage.

 

UPDATE:

Here’s one of the great things about kids: they can upstage even the Ultimate Upstager.

End of her first day on the bus, and poor little Piper is pissed.  As Michael D. Shear reports for The New York Times:

The youngest Palin daughter looked none to happy to be delayed by the press corps, and repeatedly tugged at her mother’s arm during the questions. At one point, she said, “Mom, let’s go.”



After all this, I wouldn’t be surprised if in ten years Piper Palin joins Al Qaeda.

179 Responses to “Actually, this is getting old fast…//UPDATE: Piper hits the wall, Sarah runs straight through it”

  • 2012???:

    You have to feel for the child. That picture is disturbing because it shows Piper out in front during a photo-op. Anything that the mother does will be called grandstanding but if she puts her daughter out in front then the picture looks like Piper is eager to learn about America and the Palin-bots will gush about their Queen inspiring her daughter to learn about America. They will say she can teach America about America.

  • Dusty:

    Seriously Joe, Palin can’t have Piper in school anymore. She is what 10 yrs old so she is in what 5th grade now (well she should be in 5th grade). If Piper passes 5th grade she’ll be smarter than her mother in regards to American History.

  • Marie:

    Joe,

    You are so right! Trig was useful to her on the VP trail and during her book tours – pro-life mama with kid in hand, no shoes, no socks, no pants, no eyeglasses, no hearing aids and everyone else wearing jackets. Photo-prop he was and now, he is left out of the family vacation, because she is to busy doing her presidential exploration to see if she thinks she has enough fans to get her to the White House. No time for Trig. And Piper, I think she is a lost cause; she is now a mini Sarah and it would take a lot of Mothering and family nurturing to get her back to the child she should be allowed to be.

    And her sneak preview with Greta and “brief” comments to reporters to manage to catch the bus, she is talking politics the whole way.. Right under Roger Ailes nose!

    And how and why is she allowed to use her personal bus from the TLC show with a “paid for by SarahPac” on the back. Do Pacs pay for personal vacations or is it only acceptable in Sarah’s world?

  • Sarah HalfTime:

    Hello Joe!
    It sure has been some mighty wonderful, sunny days in Wasilla.
    And no Sowah around!

    Anyway, my little family and I are just sitting around the pond, enjoying some cold raspberry tea and watching the grandkid roll around in the kiddy pool. Well we were all talkin and feel the vindictive one isn’t gonna anounce her run for pres. till after your last chapter is done. It’s just how much of a chip Alaska’s Shame has on her shoulder. We all know how much the worst Govenor Ever hates it when someone makes money off her name and “intellect”. Heck she tried to trademark herself!

    Anyway just a thought.

    It sure is a nice evening and we gonna pull out the bubbles and kites. My hubby’s dad didn’t survive Vietnam, so for years now, the hubby likes to honor those whom have served and lost thier lives with one of his new homemade kites. This year the kite is like a falcon. Its a really pretty kite this year.

    Take care Joe. We look forward to reading your book!

  • gypsyrose:

    joe we are so synced!! i left this comment on your last post a little bit ago!
    gypsyrose:
    May 31, 2011 at 3:07 am
    Family vacation paid for by sarahpac? and considering her “mom image’ and her “mother of a special needs child image” it is just too glaring that Trig is never with her. What kind of mother leaves her child more often than she is with him? The bots can say whatever they want to but in her speaking appearances, trips to Israel and India and even on this hoax of a family vacation, she never mentions Trig……….she never says she needs to get back to her room because he is waiting for her, she isn’t seen “running” with him in a stroller, she isn’t seen handing him off to someone else to take questions. She never mentions him at all with the exception of her varying stories of his immaculate birth. How can she even claim to be the mama grizzly she claims if she is leaving her special cub behind as she trots her wares out all over the place!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    ugh!

  • FrostyAK:

    It is a shame, but I don’t see any of those kids getting out of this freak show intact. ALL children deserve better than to be used by their mother. And being used as a political prop is just disgusting. I seem to be using the word disgusting every time I talk about the Wicked Witch of Wasilla lately.

  • juicyfruityy:

    I think, that is a good idea, Mr McGinniss. She might try to have you arrested and accuse you of stalking her and her family. I look forward to reading your book.

  • Lainey:

    Piper will be yet another palin to give a grandchild prematurely to the sarah clan…bristol, track, willow next, piper next. too bad child protective services doesn’t get involved in “media whoring” out your children.

  • Sheesh:

    Completely concur Joe. The MSM needs to just let her take her tour and refuse to cover it. There surely is far more in the nation going on that can captivate viewers and readers…weather, other candidates, war, economy, Casey Anthony, Arnold Swartzenegger, the list goes on.

  • Deb:

    Have you seen Trig recently? He’s quite possibly the cutest child on earth. How can you say she uses him. People crave Trig, they love seeing him. Her fans would be disappointed if he didnt come along. So which is your story? Are you mad that She brings him along or mad that she leaves him behind? Because I’ve seen both thoughts from the same people. Ever stop to think that Sarah and Piper ventured out for a reason, and, so as not to upset media, she stopped for 2 minutes to talk?

    Why demonize everything she does? She means no harm. Her family is amazing and having a blast. Bristol just sent out fb messages to everyone else saying “youre majorly missing out”. That doesn’t describe the image you’re projecting onto them. Is there a writer left who sees things objectively?

    I was a helped at the last book signing. It was soo much fun. PIper and Willow had a “photoshoot” with a local girl and anytime PIper spied a baby, she lit up. This family is genuine and incredibly real. Why the attempts to destroy them?

  • Kristina:

    How can you say Trig isn’t photogenic enough anymore? I just saw pictures from his birthday (april 18) and he’s freaking adorable. I haven’t seen him in person in about a year though but last June when I did (it was at home with the Palins), he was a joy. I know he travels wherever Sarah goes typically, as he’s been seen in AZ pretty regularly but it’s not kind to meanly speculate why the babies aren’t on tour. If they in fact arent.

  • Pam:

    Something off topic. Remember pix of Palin with large new boobs shortly after she abdicated the Alaska Throne? Seems she is back to normal size boobs now.

  • Freesia:

    Thank you.

    She’s a twisted and misshapen human being who’s been propelled by people as distorted as she is, for their own reasons, to their everlasting disgrace. Whether what she is is rooted in something organic or a result of trauma (she reaches too easily and too often for the idea of sexual abuse. My alarm bells goes off.) I don’t know. I only she’s wharped. And nowhere is it more evident than the way she uses her children.

    The one thing that really does highlight everything that’s wrong with Sarah is that she has hostages. Her children are her most obvious victims.

    Parents shouldn’t give up living and working toward dreams just because they have children. Certainly not. In fact I think it’s one of the best lessons you can give your child, that family doesn’t stop your living but only makes it worthwhile. But always the lesson is supposed to be, the commitment that comes with having children, is that the child comes first. Their world is safe. “Mama Grizzly” will see to that. That’s the deal when you have kids. For normal people anyway.

    But Sarah doesn’t do that. No what Sarah does is rather than help her children reach their potential by setting an example and by helping them, she instead stunts their potential by insisting they help her and setting no example at all. She treats them like accessories that she can dangle or store as needed. Hence you have truants and drop outs and vandals and teen pregnancies and 20 year olds getting plastic chins and eye lifts. And Down Syndrome children tossed to whoever will take them. Seriously, they’ve spent their whole lives working as props, or getting out of Sarah’s way. (When do you suppose is the last time that Mrs. “Family Values” was there to give Willow a proper supper as a given not a treat, show up for something that mattered to Willow, discipline her instead of covering her tracks because it might prove politically embarrassing? I’d say it’s been years that it’s happened and if it did it was considered a sacrifice by Sarah. We wonder that Willow is a troubled teen?)

    There’s only one child in the Palin family. She’s 47 years old and is thinking of running for President.

  • Psalm023:

    It’s not rocket science to see that these children could very well have problems later in life. Constantly exposing a child to throngs and cameras will eventually strip them of a healthy identity. And it’s not the same thing as an entertainment celebrity couple or parent and child who’s being followed by Papparazzi. The entertainer parent can find ways to keep their children as far away as possible and most do. The Palins demonstrate that they pre-plan these photo ops and include the kids in the very act in front of national media.

    These children always see themselves as the “daughter or son of” the celebrity. If a child has no peers, to confide in, be best friends with, because they’re in constant moving mode, out of school, missing important class functions, being away from home so much, would be a concern for any loving mother. Being with cousins doesn’t cut it either. Kids need to learn social skills and make choices and seek out peers and learn how to relate to strangers. The sacrifices Sarah constantly mentions are never made by her, it’s her kids that carry the burdens on their shoulders and them that make the sacrifices.

  • gypsyrose:

    Have YOU seen Trig recently? IN Sarah’s arms? NO sarah should not have pimped him out to the press and her supporters during the campaign or during the book tours. As it has been stated ad nauseum though, she IS the one who puts her kids front and center, on stage, on the cover of magazines, and apparently even at a motorcycle rally! She continues to talk about Trig and her “wild ride” in her speeches and uses him as her pro life creds and PROMISED on the campaign trail that those with special needs had a friend in her, she would fight for them. She not only has done nothng charitable for special needs kids or adults, but her own special needs child is left behind. Ah yes, no child left behind unless it is a Palin child.
    Not to be snarky to you sweetheart but you don’t know any celebrity when they are not “on”.

    If you truly think this is a nice and normal family then all I can do is use a fabulous Texan phrase I learned years ago-why,bless your heart.

  • Olivia:

    NO ONE has seen Trig for quite some time in public. Where are the pics of him? Anyone want to make book on Piper’s future as a pole dancer ? This is really pathetic.

  • Freesia:

    That “Her fans would be disappointed if he didnt come along.” shouldn’t matter squat to Trig’s real mother. (But that’s another story.)

    He doesn’t exist to make his “mother’s” fans not be disappointed. He exists to be kept dressed and warm (not dangled from bus windows to his mother’s fans who would be disappointed) and to have a mother who actually raises him and shows up for what he needs. His job is not fulfill his mother’s fan’s needs.

    His mother’s fan’s disappointment isn’t even a factor to any adult person with a conscience. That you worry about the fans (interesting you use the word “fans” instead of supporters.) speaks volumes.

    It really does.

  • Ivyfree:

    “Having a blast”? I don’t know anybody but Sarah who uses that dated expression.

    The family is real? That’s kind of the problem.

  • Freesia:

    By the way Joe, the “swell Thanksgiving they were all going to have” in 2009. Do I remember that that was when Sarah went and pretended to run a race (dropping out before the end or her makeup sweated off) and Todd didn’t come because he was “fixing the roof”and then Piper got a real full on Walton’s Mountain style Thanksgiving at…Quiznos?

  • Olivia:

    I just had a thought, I LOVE the Obama family, they seem so normal and what we all would like our families to be. And I know that the girl’s names are Sasha and Malia but I have no idea which one is which.Isn’t this how a family should protect the children from the intrusion of publicity? On the other hand, EVERYONE knows the names of Palin’s kids and which one is which.

  • curiouser:

    Joe – I’m so glad you won’t join the circus. It would be different if there was a newsworthy event to cover. All that’s happening here is a money transfer from SarahPAC to the Palins and the humiliation of the U.S. media.

  • rm:

    Joe

    Piper is pissed acc. to this report:

    “The youngest Palin daughter looked none to happy to be delayed by the press corps, and repeatedly tugged at her mother’s arm during the questions. At one point, she said, “Mom, let’s go.”

    http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/05/30/palin-talks-to-the-media-for-three-minutes/

  • Sarah HalfTime:

    Frankly, how long is the media gonna follow “the family motorhome” around? Like there is no schedule?
    Kinda a silly and cheezy. So to speak.
    Me thinks it is going to get old real fast.

    But hey, at least she’s out of Alaska.

  • Freesia:

    Malia is the older daughter. (Isn’t she just President Obama in a feminine form? So calm and watchful. She’s going to be a beauty.) And Sasha is the the younger. She makes me smile.

    And I think it’s lovely that you didn’t know which is which. It means that the Obama’s are a family, and Michelle and Barack are parents (not entertainers) and that they have two daughters not two pawns. Oh we might see them at the lighting of the Christmas tree or an occasional outing where they’re seen eating ice cream on vacation (a real one – not a campaign stunt posing as one). Short of the Democratic Convention, where they only appeared to say hello to their dad’s video relay or boarding a plane to do something special with their parents, they’re out of sight. They’re in school. They’re playing soccer. They’re with Bo on the South Lawn. They’re with Grandma Robinson in the private quarters – “private” – doing their homework and getting washed up for supper with mom and usually dad. And that isn’t filmed. As it should be.

  • rm:

    LOL
    Keith Olbermann tried once again to catch Palin on a syntactical failure, correcting her use of “foundation” to “founding.” It is perfectly fair to assume that by “foundation,” Palin meant the foundation of moral and political principles on which conventionally American thought is based, and not necessarily the actual establishment of a nation.

    http://twitter.com/#!/KeithOlbermann/status/75288615223169024

  • Olivia:

    Yes, they are really the most normal family that have been in the WH in years. Those girls will amount to something that their parents and the whole nation can be proud of. And I really don’t expect that their major accomplishment will be DWTS. I know that there is a certain class of people who think that would be the pinnacle of success but I know that real class will prevail.

  • Thank You Joe for running your view points, I have some friends in Bethel who are probably still miffed about your take on them in” Going To Extremes” but never having read that one I don’ have any opinion on that. However, if you would like to have a first hand observation on how scary tried, for political gain, tried to tweak the alchohol laws for this part of the state, and how that backfired you are welcome to contact me. I am in the same choir as you. sideshow panderella is a blight that needs to be eradicated and the sooner the better. On the other hand I, for many will miss the entertainment value of her idiocy.She is most certianly an evil force.

  • myrna nichols:

    Palin complained that one author was going to spy on Piper when he moved next door. Now it’s Palin’s turn to put Piper on Parade for everyone (except one guy) to stare at her. That’s called hypocrisy.

    Palin complains that there is a young man who lives in Pennsylvania who is a stalker, meaning to do harm to her and her family. She went to court to continue the restraining order against him. The judge granted it for Sarah, but not for all of her friends and family (who didn’t bother to come to court). Now, Palin is going into the Jaws of Hell, Pennsylvania, the home state of her own dangerous personal stalker. That’s hypocrisy.

    Bristol just sent out fb messages to everyone else saying “youre majorly missing out”. That girl is so eloquent, and her mastery of the English language is majorly major. And think about it, that girl has dashed off a book in a couple of months while Joe is still working on his. Attention Bristol: it’s you’re and there’s no such word as majorly.

  • nancy in Ak:

    In January, when I was at a medical appointment, I was talking to the medical professional (I don’t want to get too specific because the Mat Su Valley is a small place in some ways) and she said her two teenage daughters went to Colony High School. I said, “They must know the Palins – or Willow” and she said, Yes. Then she said, Willow is sort of a bad influence and hangs with a rough crowd. She knew Willow personally. She also said that Willow was basically living with another family (and had been for a long time) because her parents were out of town so much. She stayed with these family friends almost all the time. I forget the name of the family, but they have been mentioned in other blogs…the mother is sort of a helper/babysitter to Sarah and her son was rumored to be one of the Palin girls’ boysfriends, but he was not. My guess is that this same family helps out with Trig. So the bottom line is – the Palins abandon their children. Track went off to Michigan in High School; Bristol went off to live with her aunt; now Willow lives with family friends. It is very sad that they don’t take care of their children themselves. This probably explains a lot regarding the children’s behavior. I think Bristol’s situation is so sad. I really rooted for her during DWTS; I thought she was very nice and so down to earth/pretty in a very natural Alaskan way…and now, with the plastic surgery, she looks like a typical California actresss/Barbie Doll…I was just shocked that she did anything…she was so pretty before and now she looks terrible.

  • Freesia:

    Yes. They’re going to do us all proud Olivia. Because they’ve been allowed to be proud of themselves. Earned the pride. Been hugged for doing something to be proud of. Having parents helps. 😉

    And for all I know they’re both dancing buffs and someday one or the other might think it a fun idea to go on DWTS. But it would be for fun. Not trying to make political PR hay for their mother and trying to turn pregnancy to a profit. (Lord how distasteful that was.) Oh and if they did, they wouldn’t have a political fan club jamming the phone lines to skew the votes.

    Again, as you said, “real class”. It prevails. Ultimately.

  • Joe:

    People in Bethel still miffed? I spent a terrific couple of nights as the guest of Thom Foote and his wife last summer in Fairbanks. I’d love to get back to Bethel. Maybe in September.

    Thanks,

    –Joe

  • Lisabeth:

    You are busy busy here and at other blogs writing fairy tales.
    How pathetic are you to defend someone so narcissistic . It’s obvious Sarah puts her ambitions before her children’s well being. You sound delusional and you are justifying a form of child abuse.
    Look in the mirror!!

  • Molly_WI:

    Hey Mom?

    Can’t we ever just go on a vacation without it being ALL ABOUT YOU, Mom??

    You thought Bristol rebelled? Watch ME, Mom!!

    Love (maybe), Piper

  • omomma:

    Uh. Sarah? That you? Still writing fan letters to yourself?

  • jk:

    “People crave Trig.”

    What a sick thing to say. Trig is not a fetish, he isn’t some kind of magical child or a symbol of whatever it is you find so bizarrely attractive about Sarah Palin. If anybody other than myself, my husband, my parents or my inlaws said they “craved” my children, I’d be seriously worried. Scratch that, “craved” is not a word any one should be using about kids.

    Poor Trig, reduced to a symbol thanks to his sicko “mother” and her sicko fans. It brings to mind that photo of Trig, brought out into a chilly night without shoes or socks or pants, for that matter. He stared at the outstretched hands of a group of middle aged women who took photos of him while his “mother” fist pumped the air. The look on his face obviously read, “what the hell?”

  • gypsyrose:

    Then you explain to us why she hoisted him on her hip EVERYWHERE she went, during the campaign and at every stop on her book tour and now does not even refer to him at all in terms of him being a current part of her life. She ONLY speaks about him in past tense, specifically about the “wild ride”.

    WHY did she post a “happy birthday Trig” tweet on twitter with the same picture she used last year? Why isn’t Piper holding Trig’s hand at the Rolling Thunder rally while he toddles along beside his “pro life mama”?
    Piper certainly spent enough time carrying him while sarah campaigned with Mccain and during the book tours.

    Should anyone choose to defend sarah fine, do so, but do not just spout talking points like she does. Offer up your own information and please, do not insult us with your “first hand observations” about her. If there was so much good to say about sarah then the airwaves and blogasphere would be flooded with charming anecdotes from hundreds and thousands of Alaskans………..instead she has PLUMMETED in popularity in Alaska EVEN more than in the rest of the country. It has less to do with her quitting her ‘SERVICE’ to Alaska and more to do with who she is. With all the fine commenters posting on this blog I have no need to repeat their words as to who she is.

    Get smart. If you want to persuade anyone with your views, don’t insult us as sarah does please.

  • Chris:

    really, Trig has been seen in AZ regularly? please prove this statement of yours. Because, no one has seen Trig for quite some time, so no one knows of his well being or “cuteness”. SO, where is Trig?

  • Lisabeth:

    Really? You were at home with the Palins? How many fairy tale writers of you are there out there?
    No one believes you because you write these warped tidbits that don’t sound real.
    I feel very sorry for all of the Palin kids. Try reading Alice Millers book; Children of Narcissistic Parentts and you will see what’s in store for them.

  • Lisabeth:

    So true! what are the names of Romneys kids? Or even Sean Parnell? What about Hannitys kidsvor Becks? Nope! We don’t know because they protect their children. Good parents keep their children out of the limelight.

  • Rhonda:

    Trig is close to his paid nanny and not to Sarah.

    Since Trig has been on his own with his nanny, Sarah can’t be seen trying to hold Trig’s hand when he not even comfortable with her and believe me it is only going to get worse. I betcha when she needs a photo op with Trig, she’ll drug him up first.

  • Freesia:

    It was sickening. Trig might as well as been her Star of David necklace or her flag pin or her big dangling cross. An accessory.

    I’m looking at that photo of Piper that Joe put up. And Sarah’s happily open (when isn’t it open?) big jawed mouth. She’s playing to the crowd like an addict taking a hit. But it seems the child equivalent of a necklace/pin/dangling accessory wasn’t in the mood. And Sarah kept right on blowing emissions into the air.

  • KiteGirl:

    I spent a number of years living and working in Bethel, Alaska, and everyone I talked to (Including people who were in the book) liked the book!

  • Me:

    Typo – only worse if you catch it.

  • WakeUpAmerica:

    Where’s the proof? Put up or shut up. You’re nothing but hot air with no proof.

  • krbmjb05:

    Sascha and Malia don’t sign autographs, don’t tug on their Mom or Dad’s arm, while scowling and pouting looking bored out of their minds (even though they MAY be). These Palin kids are what is wrong with this country….really. I would throw myself off a cliff if my children behaved this way – a total embarassment!

  • Ivyfree:

    Yes, it must be annoying for the Family Values crowd to have a progressive family beat them at their own game.

    Of course, with the Righties we know it’s a game. With the Obamas, it’s just normal family life.

    I’ve just been so proud of the way the President and Mrs Obama represent us abroad. Thank fortune, we’re not having to deal with President McCain and Cindy. They are living proof of the maxim that money can’t buy class.

  • Susan:

    Her children are stage props….and perhaps worse, human shields. You would be hard pressed to convince me this is not child abuse. I suspect every one of her kids will have more than their fair share of difficulties navigating the course of their lives.

  • Archivist1000:

    That picture was old. Same one as last year, I think

  • newmeximan:

    I lived in the SF Bay area after high school, and before college in the 80’s and 90’s. There were a number of 60’s and 70’s musicians in my neighborhood; you could even call them rock stars. Most had children of school age – some even had adult children

    None of them pimped out their children like $arah does to the media. Rock stars have adoring fans because of their musical talent. $arah has adoring fans because… I can’t think of a good answer for that.

    Hopefully, this tour will change some hearts and minds that $arah is not the paragon of virtue she claims to be, and not fit to serve in ANY elected office again. After all, even though she claims that the 2012 election and this family vacation are not about her, her actions speak much louder.

    She could simply ask the media for privacy while on vacation, and when asked questions she could simply say “no comment.” That will never happen.

  • sallyngarland,tx:

    I was thinking the same thing. “Blast”–sure sounds like Sarah.

  • Susan:

    Deb, Kristina……..Wow how many blogs have you hit with these exact same comments.
    Someone prepare them for you, or do you have to make them up on the fly? I am curious as to what the going rate of pay is for Sarah’s Trollers?

  • Rene:

    I want to applaud Joe for his decision to not cover the one nation/family vacation/ political action/talking points circus.

    I have empathy for the children. It would not surprise me to learn Palin dangled carrots setting Piper up to expect something that is not delivered. When children ate told up is down, that a negligent parent is the best in the world or actual abusive behavior is love eventually children disconnect emotionally severely damaged incapable of pleasure, sadness, empathy and compassion.

    From what I have seen and heard of this family exemplified by Bristol is habitual lying is a Christian trait. They lie they personally do everything for their children. When photographed with a nanny or shipping a toddler away for weeks they lie with ease as if they were the one’s providing the care.

    A family vacation includes family members. It is a different family that more often has a toddler sent away, another hired caretakers, another living with yet another family.

    It can permanently damage a child. Anyone who had a brutal realization they were but an extension being used like an object to impress people understands and can see through this alleged first hockey family.

    So, has anyone else noted Todd and Sarah are just now having a sudden interest in taking their children to see historical sites? They did not care if Piper attended school for the past two years. Watch out for Todd, the quiet one and main orchestraor

  • Samantha:

    You said it. She has “fans” not voters. She has paparazzi, not reporters.

    As far as the bus, why is it paid by her PAC? Isn’t she on vacation as her BFF Greta said? Sarah doesn’t have to tell FOX where she goes on vacation, isn’t what Greta said? All of this is ridiculous, if she’s running she should be fired from FOX and giving interviews to other networks, like any candidate. What is this, this sort of hybrid celebrity/political thing tour? If I was an editor, I wouldn’t assign even one reporter to this beat. Let the entertainment reporters cover her. Political reporters should be assigned elsewhere.

    As far as the Trig thing, it sure does seem he’s been demoted. Why doesn’t any of the Political Paparazzi ask her about Trig? Is that an off base question for a candidate? BUT SHE’S NOT a candidate, according to her. So ask her why she’s going on vacation without her disabled son!

  • Samantha:

    Didn’t I see this same post yesterday on another blog? LOL. If you were at the book signing, then you’ve seen Piper’s disgusted, tired face, the face of a girl who is sick of being paraded around. Sure, it’s fun sometimes. And they probably ask her…you wanna be in school, eat boring nutritional dinners, and do household chores….or do you wanna wander around the country and eat and do whatever you want? You know the answer.

  • honestyingov:

    Joe,
    Sunday she was ‘ using’ Veterans for her little side-show. Today it is Piper. Tomorrow it WILL be something else.

    We can just use one word to describe them all…. less confusion. These are all sarah’s ” Photo-PROPS “.
    Feel free to use it yourself. I hope everybody else uses the word as well and keeps using it.
    It REALLY is sarah. ” Photo-PROP Princess ” sort of rolls right off the tongue as well.

  • Samantha:

    Thank You!!!!!!!!! lol. Exactly the point.

  • truthrocks:

    Alice Miller’s books are incredible. “The Drama of the Gifted Child,” her first one, changed my life.

  • Samantha:

    Didn’t she tell reporters with her friend at the run that cooking and shopping for Thanksgiving was too much work? She had no holiday for her kids. I think they were shipped off to an Aunt or something. I noticed that the friend she was with at that run had a load of plastic surgery, Sarah’s had it, and now her too-young daughter Bristol. Too much of a bother to cook, but there’s always time to go under the knife.

  • Molly:

    Poor, poor Piper. Can you just magine how she is going to feel if she is subjected to this for weeks on end. For a ten year old the fun will quickly wear off if she is going to be visiting museums and places of historic interest ad nauseum. She already looks bored out of her mind.

    Palin’s selfishness and her state of oblivion regarding her children’s need is absolutely staggering. It is child abuse.

    And yes. Where is Trig?

  • carollt:

    I was going to go and see Sarah in New Hampshire this week, but I agree with you Joe. I am not going to play cat and mouse either. I booked my week and it doesn’t include Sarah Palin. From what I saw, the media is making a spectacle out of themselves and Sarah is just loving it. John King from CNN was camped out at Gettysburg for CNN doing his show from there and speaking all things Palin.

    I was encouraged to see Joe Scarborough say this morning on Morning Joe that they are not going to talk about Sarah Palin’s bus tour. Joe said that if she announces, they will talk about her, but the show did not want to be a part of Sarah’s tease with the media.

    Have a grand time Sarah and if you can, please find time to call Willow and Trig, the children you left behind.

  • Don'tHatetheGame:

    Have to hurry and get ready for work, but I have a comment and a question. Just heard the best quote from George Will about Palin and her becoming president, “…should we give this person access to nuclear weapons… and that answers itself”. He bus tour is turning into a complete FAIL.
    Question, Politico reported yesterday that the girl/lady on the bike with Palin was Willow… REALLY??!!

  • Ferry Fey:

    It was about 90 degrees in Gettysburg on Monday. IIRC, it’s the second time Sarah’s had on a long-sleeved shirt in the past couple of days. I feel hot just looking at her.

  • troubled:

    It’s kind of funny watching the MSM chase Palin. My husband said yesterday while watching Palin plastered on several newscasts “Can you believe this is on the national news?”

    It’s also sad watching the MSM chase Palin. Who are the stupid ones here? I think the media wins this one, they look pretty stupid running after her. I’ve always thought of her as the ultimate fame whore so she must love having these reporters groveling at her feet.

    Most people, particularly famous ones, would prefer a quiet family vacation, out of the limelight. They usually go out of their way, to a remote place, or try to stay under the radar because family time is important to them and fame isn’t real. To Palin fame is real in fact it is everything.

  • Beaglemom:

    The Gettysburg Battlefield is a wonderful place to go. Most visitors know a lot about the history of those three horrific days. It is a place that is all about remembrance – as you walk or drive from section to section you see monuments commemorating the soldiers who fought there, from the north and the south, and you invariably talk to your companions about what happened at the very spot you are standing in. It is not a circus venue. What Sarah Palin and the media have done is called desecration and it should be seen as a national disgrace.

  • kilob:

    Joe, do you deal with Sarah’s schizophrasia in The Rogue?

  • BlueberryT:

    It would be hard to ask for privacy when you are driving around in a bus with your name and patriotic imagery all over it! Privacy is the last thing she really wants.

  • grammy97:

    Deb, it’s apparent that you’re the same $arahSupporter who posts from Brooklyn. The sort of questions you pretend to be asking are the ones media people should have been asking for the last 3 years. Those who did ask, and found answers, are steadfastly opposed to seeing your idol in a position of power.

    For a short time, I tried to tell myself that you are showing a minimum of “courage” by posting all your praises of the Palin Posse on these blogs. But the truth is, you’re a coward. None of the anti-Palin people would track you down, threaten you, burn your outbuildings, shoot your dog, or even snarl in your face. These are actions taken by $arah and her $upporters. And you’re well aware of it: you know you’re safe because we’re civilized.

  • grammy97:

    Kristina/$arah, if this is truly a family vacation, and if this strange woman is truly trying to avoid the media, then those toddlers should be with their family. Their “mother”, “aunts” and “grandmother” are in the group that’s supposed to be traveling in that gaudy bus. Where are the toddlers?

    It isn’t “meanly speculating” to take this insane, evil woman at her words and ask the sensible questions about those words. But I’m delighted to see that Mr. McGinniss’ post and the comments here have goaded you into showing your ego again.

  • Sir Guestalot:

    Is it? Pretty obscure lexical point you’re making. Palin is not verbally nor intellectually sophisticated enough for your semantics. Trying to cover her gaffes once again….

  • Sir Guestalot:

    I completely agree with you, Beaglemom. It is a place of mourning and solemnity. What Palin’s doing is like bringing a carnival to a cemetery.

  • msf:

    Here you go guys. I thought playing the Where’s Waldo Game would be much more fun than the Where’s Sarah & Company Game & you know it is. MSM stop the madness. Please tell Roger Ailes that we are starting to laugh at him. This is ridiculous. We know Sarah has mental issues but the entire media is not supposed to act like loons.

    http://whereswaldo.com/index.html

    PS Good to see Piper acting out. I thought she was back on her game, but nope she’s still pissed from being thrown under the bus in favor of Trig during the book fiasco.

  • Jewels:

    What if the Media Stopped Sensationalizing Sarah Palin?
    http://www.bagnewsnotes.com/2011/05/what-if-the-media-stopped-sensationalizing-sarah-palin/

    Finally, supposedly out of camera range, it’s actually refreshing to see Todd (aspiring to Washington) not wearing that happy face. As for Sara (sic), I’m sure most people (mirror, mirror) would understand that wearing that badass helmet does involve relaxing about letting your hair down.
    http://www.bagnewsnotes.com/files/2011/05/Palin-Rolling-Thunder-3.jpg

  • omomma:

    Someone over on PG noted “schizophasia.” Check it out–a perfect fit.

  • Jen:

    I think (even) she must have noticed how flabby her arms looked in the photos w Rolling Thunder!

  • Headset:

    “And he is freaking adorable.” That is one of the sickest statements that I have ever read. Is that freaking you, Lou Sarah?

  • Flying Pig Ranch:

    Would someone please explain what a PAC actually is?

    It would appear that the Palin family vacation is a business trip. This is the “research” for book number 3…..”ONE NATION”…..Sarah Palin’s Rill Amerika. I would bet everything from the bus and the bus wrap to the Harley helmets are write offs. The experience of the crowds and the bus give Sarah the feeling she is “running for something” and feeds her ego. Could her use of PAC money give rise to another one of those “frivolous ethics complaints?”

  • msf:

    These are angry kids, no doubt about it. They have been used & reused & they know it. Their mother is a nutcase with no empathy or maternal instincts. Did Piper really think they were going on a family vacation? Sad.

  • fromthediagonal:

    That girl is tired and weary and not in a happy “hey, Disney World wore me out, Mom!” way. Sad.

  • Caitlyn:

    No, that’s definitely not Sarah–unless someone wrote it for her. Sarah’s writing is not nearly this coherent (although the sentiments expressed are just as absurd).

  • fromthediagonal:

    Marie, remember Palin’s long-ago statement that she would continue to do things “her way” until a judge would tell her that she could not do it? The more things change, the more they stay the same.
    Where is the IRS when needed, dammit?

  • msf:

    That whole thing with the kid from PA is pretty psycho, don’t know all the gory details but I do know Palin seems to have completely destroyed their family… emotionally & monetarily. How does someone in the political spotlight get themselves this involved? Just like she did with Troopergate etc. Creepy, sleazy people.

  • Kerry:

    Sarah didn’t show up because she couldn’t find the street number for the “Gettysburg Address”! ;O)

  • Tservo:

    The only destruction the Palin family suffers is that which Sarah Palin brings to their lives.

  • gypsyrose:

    a truly great post by a commenter at the daily beast:

    A Vietnam Veteran’s Letter To Sarah Palin – author unknown

    For some time now, you have been an amusing, albeit mostly incoherent annoyance. But today you crossed a line. With that high cut helmet, carefully designed to allow your professionally coiffed hair to flow freely, you have tried to hijack a moment that you can’t even begin to understand. You decided that an event that has for years been intended to call attention to our POW/MIAs would make a really cool photo-op, as well as a great kick-off for your next get-rich-quick scheme.

    Well, Sarah, you picked my war this time. I had several buddies, two of whom died within a couple of meters of me, and you zoomed right past their names on The Wall today; winking and smiling all the way. You weren’t invited, you weren’t welcome, but when has that ever stopped you?

    Did you make a few extra bucks for your PAC? If so, I hope that helps you sleep tonight. Because you see, Sarah, my buddies have been sleeping for 40 years; and if they knew that a two-bit grifter like you would one day be making money off of their sacrifice, they might not be resting as easily as I hope they are tonight.

    I’m a Christian, Sarah, and I don’t say this lightly … God damn you, Sarah Palin.

  • lilly lily:

    LOL. At Deb. from Brooklyn?

    Trig is not the cutest child on earth. I see cuter toddlers every day of the week. I have no interest in seeing him, EVER.

    I have no particular interest in Bristol. Track, Piper Willow or Tripp. Blotting paper is more interesting.

    They are shoved down our throats by Sarah And have been seen day one.

    Most politicians leave their families out of it. It never bodes well to have them used as props like her flag pin, her faked interest in the Constitution and her faked devotion to the military. She is a fraud, and her family know it. Her only interest in religion is her personal doorman God. Otherwise she is

    These kids are children of false entitlements plus gross neglet.

    If they turn out well it will be a miracle.

  • Lisabeth:

    Yes I agree! These are actually the same exact book. The title changed at some point.

  • Do you think Piper’s ever been to Disneyland? Poor Kid!

  • LisaB:

    I wouldn’t be surprised if she had. Alaska Airlines runs a lot of “kids fly free” deals if you book your Disneyland vacation through them. If you’re an Alaskan of any means, chances are you’ve been to Hawaii, So Cal, or Cabo. Around February, cabin fever really sinks in, and folks who can try to get somewhere warm for a week or three.

  • Elle:

    Piper is what I call an organ grinder monkey. It’s not meant as an insult to her. There are many other organ grinder monkey-children out there….child actors, children of celebrities, politicians, faith leaders, corporate heads. (The covers of people magazine and other magazines have been featuring them w/ their parents regularly over the past few years…their parents even get paid for it)
    Their narcissistic parents trot them out to complete their own image as “family people” and then neglect them afterwards. They learn to “perform” in order to get attention and approval from their parent/parents/adults. It’s sad. I’ve worked for some people who raise organ grinder monkey-children and it’s not pretty. They use them as a buffer, so they can avoid conversations about difficult topics. I had one boss who would take her young son into negotiation meetings, so that when things got tough, she could conveniently get distracted by her child….nobody would ever dare complain that her “mother role” was a distraction b/c she would guilt them to death.

    When these kids grow up, you get people like Al Gore and John Kerry, who are uncomfortable and painfully awkward in the limelight and around most people. Al and John are examples of two who at least functioned in a career. They were trotted out by their parents at dinner parties and then sent away after everyone said how cute they were. There are examples of others who have turned to drugs/alcohol, abuse, and suicide when they no longer were cute. The O’Neal kids, the entire Jackson family, former child stars too numerous to count. Also those kids whose parents drag them to protests and who are so wrapped up in their causes that they neglect to give their children a childhood.

    Organ grinder monkeys are raised by people of both political parties, by people who proclaim to practice a faith, and by those of no faith. It’s not cute at all. It’s sad. And it’s abusive.

  • Nan:

    Actually, the word “foundation” is perfectly legit (much as I hate to admit it, considering who used it).

    I know I have to remind myself sometimes that just because SP says or does something, that isn’t an automatic OMG DID YOU SEE or HEAR THAT kind of situation.

    Now before you get all cranky on me, please let me finish (i.e. read the rest, *then* get cranky – ha)

    Someone mentioned above that first, we’re bent out of shape because Trig was dragged around on that bus and shoved in front of a camera, willy nilly. Next thing you know, we’re all bent out of shape ’cause we DON’T see Trig (being hauled around willy nilly, etc).

    On the surface, that does sound at odds. But most of us know that in having kids, there is no black-and-white, there is no all or nothing. There could be a happy medium.

    She could have had him with her, but not hauled him out in the weather every stop she made. She could let him be at home with a “real” (rill?) schedule not possible in a hide-and-seek-prepaid-rolling-billboard, just letting those “fans” (ahem!) know he’s doing fine, but is taking a nap now – or whatever.

    But if he’s so blasted important to her as a “right to life” mom, why has she not even mentioned his name? If “quantity of time” is so important, then why isn’t he with her and the rest of the family, and *only* the family, not being hauled out in the rain etc. It just doesn’t add up.

    And THAT, grasshopper, is one of the things that makes most of the rest of us so exasperated and critical.

  • lilly lily:

    I’m very amused by this trip.

    continues to disapoint more of her worshipful fan base. Keeps them salivating and standing around for what is it 9 hours? What an idiot.

    A short stop at Gettysburg? How can that be? Little Roundtop? They zipped right through the biggest cemetary in Pa. You can feel the spirits at Gettysburg.

    . How much do you want to bet she knows nothing about anyplace she is stopping? She is an ignorant woman, who knows nothing of American History much less World History.

    This tour is funded by PAC. Everyone in her family who is involved will be paid out of PAC. As long as she has funding and people buying into her cons, she will be playing cat and mouse with the media and doing whatever she can to be in the public eye.

    I look forward to a lot of gaffes.

  • Kimberly:

    One the back of the PAYlin’s RV there is a statement on the shrink wrap, “Paid by SarahPAC”. What exactly is being paid by the PAC? Greta says Sarah told her this nation thingy is a family vacation. Sarah tells meida the RV now bus is not a political trip. How can Sarah & company be taking a family vacation on PAC donations? How can anyone donate to this liar when it is obvious she is scamming? Not only is she by all accounts getting donors to pay off her personal several hundred thousand dollar recreational vehicle she also to is leasing private SUV’s and expensive hotels? Why does she need rented rooms anyway when she has a half million dollar suite on wheels? The entire road trip is linked exclusively to SarahPAC. It is obvious Sarah is looting PAC funds for this vacation. How can those who say they are not turning on their AC to afford to send Sarah another donation for her nation tour to encourage her to drop her name for 2012 be that stupid?

  • Kimberly:

    One the back of the PAYlin’s RV there is a statement on the shrink wrap, “Paid by SarahPAC”. What exactly is being paid by the PAC? Greta says Sarah told her this nation thingy is a family vacation. Sarah tells media the RV now bus is not a political trip. How can Sarah & company be taking a family vacation on PAC donations? How can anyone donate to this liar when it is obvious she is scamming? Not only is she by all accounts getting donors to pay off her personal several hundred thousand dollar recreational vehicle she also to is leasing private SUV’s and expensive hotels? Why does she need rented rooms anyway when she has a half million dollar suite on wheels? The entire road trip is linked exclusively to SarahPAC. It is obvious Sarah is looting PAC funds for this vacation. How can those who say they are not turning on their AC to afford to send Sarah another donation for her nation tour to encourage her to drop her name for 2012 be that stupid?

  • LisaB:

    I have no clue whether Trig is photogenic or not. I don’t care.

    I simply find it disingenuous to say one is taking “family vacation” without the entire family, and to do it in a gaudy bus with paparazzi in tow.

    Color me reactionary, but my family vacations are about family, not playing hide and seek with the media.

    When Sarah stops stopping for photo ops and interviews, I’ll believe she’s taking a family vacation.

  • g:

    I’m hoping Piper ends up being the “Mommie Dearest” author of the Palin clan.

  • Anonymous:

    “People crave Trig”
    This is a sick and disturbing thing to say about a 3year old child. Do people “crave Trig” like an addict craves his next fix? Or a pregnant woman craves pickles and ice cream? You are very disturbed “Deb” and you sound just like all the other Palin Fairy Tale Stalker Trolls i read on other blogs. You must be $arah because I don’t think a real Palinbot would say this about Tri-G.

  • Dis Gusted:

    in order to write a book, she would need an education. Heaven help her if Mommy is her only teacher in her ‘home school”. We see how well that worked for Willow, not.

    Trig has evidently been returned to “rent-a-baby’. Track may actually get married some day to Britta. What was that – in 7 months you say? Is that when his parole ends?

    Are the babies with their father, Keith?

  • Sarah HalfTime:

    Joe, you use the most popular sterotypical discription of Alaska Natives in your book Going To Extremes: basically intertwining booze and Alaska Natives, as your written experience with the two, while here.

    At some point it begs the question; Ah, was that the only experience with Alaska Natives? Granted it is your choice to write about whatever, but you protrayed the common sterotype and it gets old. It was old back when Going To Extremes came out. Truefully, I didn’t get to the end of the book because of what you wrote in your memior of the two. Clearly sterotypical.

    My first thought way back then and currently, was someone needs to get your arse out on the river. The whole summer. Slammin for enough fish to feed a family of five for the winter. And don’t forget to gather some berries towards the end of your fish camp season as well. Personally, I felt you needed some hard work mixed with some good ol Alaskan summer on a river bank.

    Scheesh, Joe, your depliction of Alaska Natives in your memoir, Going to Extremes really sucked. But quite common. Not too many writers get beyond the booze and Alaska Natives scenerio and find the real life stuff that has been occuring for generations. Most just go towards a less talented route, sterotyping…
    Basically, that is pretty much it.

  • grammy97:

    Kimberly, just two weeks ago we were pelted with endless ‘articles’ about mr. Harold Camping and his prophecies. And every article mentioned at least one deluded person or family who was handing him money, at terrible sacrifice to themselves. It’s religion. Religion is not the same thing as faith.

    $arah has made herself into a religion.

  • Rocky in Texas said...:

    I believe the main reason why she won’t commit to a schedule is because…

    she has no idea from one day to the next if she will be able to handle an appearance…

    Depends on her meds and/or her whatever other drugs she takes for breakfast.

    Another reason is to keep the Real Americans from meeting her there with there signs, speaking truth about the fraud that she is…

    and another reason being that she is worried about being caught hopping private jets between cities.

  • msf:

    Maybe Joe could ghost write it for Piper….yes? It would be a whooper!!

  • Kristina:

    It’s very important to remember, when discussing another person, that people don’t “cover for them”. They speak from personal experience. Sarah is far from the only person who has contradictory stories told about them. I think this is one thing people forget. I will also say that it is common for people to tell blatant lies for unknown reasons. Look at the mini lies in Dunns book, the things Frank didnt remember perfectly, and the oddities in magazines spreads.

    I wouldnt call journalists bad people. They tell what’s been told to them.

    Ask Michael Jackson’s oldest friends just what they think of the fame hungry morons who destroyed his reputation.

  • Mary:

    Prediction: Trig will guest star on Palin Family Vacation one day soon. Palin reads these blogs and reacts to criticism. She’s very predictable.

  • Ailsa:

    Is a “mini lie” like a white lie?

  • Rocky in Texas said...:

    Is your last name “Cole” ?!

  • Molly:

    You keep forgetting your apostrophes……Brooklyn ( of the missing period fame), is that you?

  • FEDUP!!!:

    She is on the same track like her older sisters – a school dropout, just at a WAY younger age – so she will be the most affected by this non-education.

  • Roxie in Texas:

    Sarah brought her parents along. Can’t they be bothered to take care of Trig?

  • Blue Galangal:

    No, $arah would say “flippin'” adorable.

  • Susan:

    It is interesting Palin’s references to Trig are typically past history…you rarely, if ever hear references to Trig’s life today. She has stripped him of his human dimensions, he is most definitely a story line and political prop from the past.

  • gypsyrose:

    Perhaps your “experience with sarah and the rest of the palin clan” is a blind allegiance Kristina.
    It is not that unusual for you to not understand our perspective considering we are using logic and factual proof and you are using an emotional reaction only.

    I don’t know you but I am going to venture a guess that you have had limited experiences with people in power and/or celebrities. It is quite normal to put them on a pedestal and worship them as idols however false they are.
    Her tweets, fb posts, speeches, videos, etc. have plenty of proof in them about her LACK of character, morality, christianity, kindness, grace, class, and/or her love for humanity. We know from reading comments at c4p and other pro palin sites that you don’t see any of that. You talk about if her hair is up or down, what she is wearing, what type of glasses she has on. You talk about whether she is looking thinner or not, tired or not, if she is less screechy or not. Yes there are comments about her “hitting it out of the ballpark” in her replies to the softball questions or in giving a speech, however, the majority of comments are full of worship for her and begging and pleading for her to run.

    What is so unique about her talking points? Just because she says “drill, baby drill” doesn’t mean she is saying anything different than most republicans have been saying and continue to say about drilling in the u.s.
    She continues a republican talking point about cutting taxes. That is no new thought, no unique plan -it is business as usual for the republican party.

    You have regular peeps posting comments right now about how they “have never seen a bad photo of sarah” and “she looks better than Angelina in that motorcycle helmut” and “I love her in those pencil skirts”, etc.
    SERIOUSLY, you want people to think of her as a serious candidate for president when this is how you all talk about her? Don’t you wonder why so much time is spent at c4p talking about whether she will run and how she looks and will she come to your state, etc.? It is BECAUSE there is nothing substantive about sarah.
    You can’t tell us what a good christian she is because you have no facts to back it up. Where are the photo ops of her and the family going to church? Any church? Where are the stories about her soothing the ill and helping the poor? Why doesn’t her pac filings report donations to charitable causes?

    Finally, PUHLEASE!!! Don’t insult Angelina Jolie by comparing sarah to her in any way at all. Angelina is beyond gorgeous and actually does go around the world to bring suffering in other nations to our attention. She has adopted and given birth to multiple children and was honest about it. She also is not a perfect person but she shows more grace and human kindness than sarah ever has plus she also shows respect for the press and she and her family are HOUNDED

  • gypsyrose:

    Perhaps your “experience with sarah and the rest of the palin clan” is a blind allegiance Kristina.
    It is not that unusual for you to not understand our perspective considering we are using logic and factual proof and you are using an emotional reaction only.

    I don’t know you but I am going to venture a guess that you have had limited experiences with people in power and/or celebrities. It is quite normal to put them on a pedestal and worship them as idols however false they are. Most people do however grow out it at some point in their lives.

    Her tweets, fb posts, speeches, videos, etc. have plenty of proof in them about her LACK of character, morality, christianity, kindness, grace, class, and/or her love for humanity. We know from reading comments at c4p and other pro palin sites that you don’t see any of that. You talk about if her hair is up or down, what she is wearing, what type of glasses she has on. You talk about whether she is looking thinner or not, tired or not, if she is less screechy or not. Yes there are comments about her “hitting it out of the ballpark” in her replies to the softball questions or in giving a speech, however, the majority of comments are full of worship for her and begging and pleading for her to run.

    What is so unique about her talking points? Just because she says “drill, baby drill” doesn’t mean she is saying anything different than most republicans have been saying and continue to say about drilling in the U.S.
    She continues a republican talking point about cutting taxes. That is no new thought, no unique plan -it is business as usual for the republican party.

    You have regular peeps posting comments right now about how they “have never seen a bad photo of sarah” and “she looks better than Angelina in that motorcycle helmet” and “I love her in those pencil skirts”, etc.
    SERIOUSLY, you want people to think of her as a serious candidate for president when this is how you all talk about her? Don’t you wonder why so much time is spent at c4p talking about whether she will run and how she looks and will she come to your state, etc.? It is BECAUSE there is nothing substantive about sarah.
    You can’t tell us what a good christian she is because you have no facts to back it up. Where are the photo ops of her and the family going to church? Any church? Where are the stories about her soothing the ill and helping the poor? Why doesn’t her pac filings report donations to charitable causes?

    Finally, PUHLEASE!!! Don’t insult Angelina Jolie by comparing sarah to her in any way at all. Angelina is beyond gorgeous and actually does go around the world to bring to our attention the suffering in other nations. She has adopted and given birth to multiple children and was honest about it. She is not a perfect person (nor do I recall her ever claiming to be, unlike sarah) but she shows more grace and human kindness than sarah ever has plus she also shows respect for the press and she and her family are HOUNDED by them EVERYWHERE they go EVERYWHERE in the world.

  • Desecration indeed. Am wondering why the National Park Service is putting up with this. Our family visited Gettysburg twice, from Washington state, when our youngster was old enough to appreciate the magnitude of what happened there, and during his “reading about the Civil War” phase. I can only imagine how other families, like ours, who made plans long ago for their visits, must be feeling about arriving to find the Palin Family Circus with its companion media “show”. I would be utterly infuriated. Her act will backfire far more than she knows.

  • Virginia Voter:

    Would that family be the Fullers…Juanita Fuller is the friend of Sarah, Alex Fuller is her son who is a friend of a
    Willow’s

  • Cracklin' Charlie:

    He can’t go because he looks like his daddy – Levi. Can’t have that showing up in the photo ops!

  • Lilylake:

    I believe she is trying to turn attention away from some mighty good books that have come out lately. As a teacher and mother it saddens me to see this. It’s the Narcissistic Mother Syndrome. All of the daughters are suffering from it. Remember from Going Rogue – they wanted 2 boys all in a row; she never said she wanted girls, ever, that I know of.

    I think she dislikes women, and doesn’t like being a woman. And certainly doesn’t know how to be one.

  • Flying Pig Ranch:

    I have got to get a grip on this Sarah thing. I am wasting way, way too much time reading and worrying about this Snookie of Politics getting elected to another office or perhaps worse to remain doing what she is doing right now: Doing nothing of real importance but getting way too much attention in the process. The Bailey and Dunn books have been read and confirmed what most of “us” have observed and heard watching Sarah work her BS.

    I am taking the Summer off. It’s the common sense thing to do. I have really enjoyed your blog and the smart replies. Joe your book is on order and I will buy a copy of Levi’s book this Fall, also, too.

    Have a great Summer Y’All!!!

  • gypsyrose:

    Joe,
    i accidentally hit a key when typing a comment which then posted my comment before it was finished.
    Without realizing this i finished my comment and hit submit and now there are two nearly identical rambling and long comments from me that are veritably the same!!
    Please delete the first one………….i am annoying myself as I read the new comments and have to see myself twice!!!

  • Lidia17:

    He’s so photogenic that on his last birthday, “mom” Sarah sent out a photo of him that was almost a year old…

  • Jewels:

    Piper has hit another wall today. The media situation is getting more dangerous by the day.

    http://www.myfoxphilly.com/dpp/news/local_news/raw-video:-sarah-palin-in-philly-053111

  • Susan:

    Sarah Palin, once attended to and dressed by stylists on the campaign trail stroke me as a very attractive woman. Opening her mouth however had the effect, for me, of erasing what ever potential benefit that may have provided her with. I don’t dwell on her looks, but I do notice them, and feel that they have changed in a less than subtle or complimentary way. I also notice her attire, because frankly it is hard not to.
    It never seems to be professional or age appropriate, and many times unpractical…stilettos on a Harley, she’s lucky she didn’t break an ankle or burn her legs. I am not sure why she is inclined to “sexification”, perhaps she is comfortable with that type of attention and her ability to manipulate it. I think in part it distracts from an average and rather unremarkable figure. Nothing bad about her figure, but Halle Barry she ain’t.

    The one thing that always grabs my attention however is her upper arms….they are totally incongruent with the idea that Sarah Palin is a physical fitness enthusiast. They are very large, appear to be very soft , and IMO seem really out of proportion to her body. Our arms are an area of our bodies that respond very quickly and with dramatic effect to exercise and weight training. Everytime I see them I am startled, and they scream fitness enthusiast…no freaking way. You’ve heard of lyin eyes, I keep seeing those lyin’ arms.

  • rm:

    There are few videos – NBC/CNN and morning show where Piper is caught on camera complaining.

    Palin is treating reporters like paparazzi!

    Scarborough nailed it: Why Should Media Care About Sarah Palin’s ‘Big Fat Weekend Of Nothing’
    And since Palin now established that if she does do something, the press will in fact come, Scarborough seemed disappointed to admit “her gambit paid off.” However, until an announcement about her presidential intentions, it appears Morning Joe might be one place that won’t continue to play along and follow Palin’s adventures.

    http://www.mediaite.com/tv/scarborough-why-should-media-care-about-sarah-palins-big-fat-weekend-of-nothing/

  • lilly lily:

    Piper looks fed up and it is only the start of this experiment to see how Palin can jerk the press around and still have them running and panting for more.

    I’ll keep making fun of her as long as she is in the news. The only thing that works for this bitch is ridicule.

    A lot of ridicule, just heap it on for her thin skin. The hick on the high wire needs the press to start noticing that they are irrelevant… So they oblige her.

    Skimmed through the Bailey book. Nothing I didn’t know.

    Gina Gersham should do another video. The one where the press was going to ignore her is hilarious.

  • A Reader:

    Joe, Did you see that you were featured in one of the Taiwanese animated news segments?

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INReYQ6npRc

  • Scout:

    An excerpt from the text accompanying that little video segment:
    “Palin may head out to Valley Forge before continuing her bus tour of historic regions as part of a publicity effort paid for by her political action committee.”

    So who is calling this a “family vacation” anyway? It’s just so much total BS.

    And yeah, the kid is definitely getting aggressive and defiant. The way she thrust herself between the microphones and Mommy Dearest had all the appearance of a kid who has already asked “are we there yet?” about 542 times and is not buying the answer “soon” any more.

  • lilly lily:

    She is meeting with Donald Trump tonite in his Manhatten glitzy, Trump Tower, all gold leaf digs. Then they are going out to dinner. Her idea..

    My bet. She wants to see if he will bite for a third party run. She knows she is dead meat in the Republican circles.

  • Author of vietnam vet’s letter to Sarah is “11 Bravo”, the author of over 1000 posts at democraticunderground.com

  • Joe:

    Funny. Now I’ve been pixelated and animated. What’s next?

    –Joe

  • The author is KNOWN – the author of vietnam vet’s letter to Sarah is “11 Bravo”, the author of over 1000 posts at democraticunderground.com

  • Pam, you should check Laura Novak’s blog. She and Sarah Jones are teaming up to follow the crazybus and point>laugh>keep the entertainment abundant. They are exchanging remarks today on your observation.

  • Kimberly:

    Watch that clip very slowly. Piper is not being a brat pushing into that reporter because she wants mommy time. Piper was pushing that guy just like Todd was pushing into that lady in Homer. My God now they have that 10 year old being the enforcer to keep reporters from asking questions. Their bodyguard telling them all to keep walking. Watch how he leads Piper at the end to keep her body against the guy with the microphone. This is beyond outrageous.

  • LisanTx:

    Ha ha; I think you’re right. There were some pictures of Trig from the first book tour where he looked just like Levi! Here is a link to one:

    http://shealahcraighead.photoshelter.com/gallery-image/2009-11-29-WA-Richland/G0000rplrptRYqz8/I0000excgX9uWi4E/P0000lMKdCzN08e8

    Here is the link to that set of pix: http://tinyurl.com/3gkx4w3

  • fromthediagonal:

    Sarah HalfTime: Please tell your hubby that a kite is a wonderful way to honor those who have left for the great blue yonder… I call it dancing the night sky unencumbered.
    May his kites dance upon the up drifts for a very long time.

  • physicsmom:

    The best thing the media can to is to IGNORE HER! Leave her alone and all she can do is rant on her facebook page to the few thousand sycophants who follow her there. What peace and quiet we would have for a while, until the next nutjob announces he or she is running for Prez.

  • shandee:

    I totally agree Kimberly. When I first saw that video I immediately thought of Todd in Homer with the teacher who had the WGE banner.

  • msf:

    Piper looks ready to rumble. Someone said Piper is treating the press like paparazzi……perhaps it’s because that’s what they are acting like.

  • carollt:

    Being a resident of New England, when I think of historical sites, I usually don’t think New Hampshire. Sure enough, they have some houses where some famous people lived (the John Paul Jones House, for example), but there are no battlegrounds per se in New Hampshire.

    So, I guess I am wondering where the Palin bus will be stopping in New Hampshire so Sarah can educate the masses about the founding of our nation.

    It looks like Sarah will be touring New York City on Wednesday. That means Thursday in New Hampshire. Mitt Romney is due to announce on Thursday afternoon from Stratham, New Hampshire. I see that Romney has said he will announce that afternoon, but has not stated a time. That poses a problem for Mrs. Palin. How can she have a two minute impromptu press conference at the exact time that Mitt announces if she does not know when Mitt will announce?

    Mitt is a smart guy. I wouldn’t vote for Mitt, but he is a very intelligent man. No doubt he knows Sarah will be in New Hampshire, so it will be interesting to see the dueling press conferences. Or perhaps the press will see what fools they are making of themselves following the Queen and stop.

    Better buy a new push up bra Sarah. The one you wore on Sunday looked a bit worn down. As a woman making this comment, I don’t feel it is sexist; I think it is fact. Mrs. Palin is one of those women who uses sex appeal to make a sale. And of course, most women who work have spent their careers trying to live down the damage caused by women like Sarah Palin.

  • Kimberly:

    Read how the Palinfreaks are reviewing Pipers acts. OMIGod!!! Palinis snubbing the meida? She is the one chumming the water.

    Looks like little Piper Palin has a little moma grizzly in her as she rushes to get in between a obsessed reporter with a mic and shoves him away from her mother as he relentlessly tries to interview her. The media is going to the extremes to get a interview with Palin who is snubbing them but Palin’s daughter made the day. Watch now as the word in the liberal media will spin this that Piper has anger problems.

    Good Lord, Piper knows who the enemy is? These people should be in intstitutions.
    http://www.politicalforum.com/current-events/189324-fed-up-piper-palin-shoves-obsessed-reporter-protects-mom-sarah-philadelphia.html

  • B:

    “And I have an idea for MSM editors: un-assign them.”

    Amen. Commit journalism.

  • LisanTx:

    Miller’s book about emotional blindness really helped me, as did The Betrayal Bond. I think Frank Bailey has an emotional blindness that allowed him to be conned by sarah. Miller’s theories are very interesting.

  • Karen:

    How disgusting to have a 10-year-old girl rubbing up against a grown man like a menace! Nice training for her future career as a nightclub bouncer.

  • Kimberly:

    These comments about Piper are bizarre, disturbing, insane.

    “Piper is a pistol….she walks right into that clown…..she is very protective…..nobody better ever hurt Sarah, I don’t think Piper is the kind to forgive and forget….”

    She is 10. She will never forget? She should kick the guy in the balls? Piper running security with the cold shoulder. Adorable?

    http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2727695/posts

  • lee:

    Levi was wearing the hospital issued bracelet in a photo taken of him holding Trig.

  • Kimberly:

    Real American’s kick ass 🙂 BTW, spending an entire hour at a historic site is nothing. Hope Palin;s keeps it up until Piper pulls a Spears and takes out a reporters car with an umbrella. About the only way that child will get noticed enough by outside resources to get protection and therapy.

    “I think she should stop the tour, stay home and stop causing chaos for everyone else,” said Ann Marie Pellicane, a chaperone with about 120 children from Lincoln Elementary School in Edison, N.J., waiting to get into the Liberty Bell pavilion.”

    “Jon Katz, from Santa Monica, Calif., said he yelled to Ms. Palin urging her to run for president, but only because he supports President Barack Obama and he thinks Ms. Palin wouldn’t stop his re-election.”

    http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2011/05/31/palin-visits-the-liberty-bell/?mod=WSJBlog

  • lilybart:

    Palin should NOT be bringing her children into media scrums in the first place!

    I was going to say, shame on her, but she has no shame.

  • EatMoreFish:

    Why do the media think that their viewers are so interested in Paylin coverage of this stupid family trip??

    Gawd, it reminds me of the Anna Nicole Smith coverage after she died- endless nothingness about a nobody.

  • Kimberly:

    What is really going on is Sarah using Piper in an attempt to headline her family as victims….again. It is the same whacked mentality that made Willow a national poster child for dirty old men. The same way Bristol was supposedly afraid for her life in their backwoods cabin from boys claiming they wanted to rape her. The way the lunatic tried to turn Joe into perv.

    Sarah has Piper pushing into reporters hoping one of them puts their hand on her or touches her to keep from being shoved so Sarah can claim child abuse. Sarah can hide from media saying they are endangering her 10 year old daughter as an excuse to grab the spotlight but not have to talk. These videos are very future telling of Piper’s new role in Sarah’s mania. Palin’s have a history, a MO of exploiting their children. These events all show the signs of Piper being placed in a position to accuse someone of harming her.

    Whoever is assigned to follow this crazy woman should decline or pace themselves far away from Piper.

  • Freesia:

    lol Funny.

    Oh and when she went to the Liberty Bell she was disappointed that they didn’t sell Crunchwrap Supremes. 😉

  • Anon:

    @ Sarah HalfTime:
    Um, how many years ago was this — 1982?
    Why don’t you send this in a personal message and get off of this thread? thanks.

  • carollt:

    My thoughts exactly omomma. Is that you Sarah? Good to see you read Joe’s blog. Little Piper looks very unhappy. Ten year olds rarely like visting museums (except maybe a science museum) and historical sites. Politics? Forget about it.

  • grammy97:

    Kimberly, Piper’s behavior was bizarre, disturbing and insane. Who taught her to push her shoulder into that area of a grown man’s body?

  • Al:

    Piper is a “human shield.” Would you heckle a person if they have their kids with them?

  • lilly lily:

    I didn’t see this. Is it like Toad bumping up against the teacher in Homer. The woman who dubbed Sarah. “Worse Governor evah”?

    That is one sad little girl. She looks completly fed up with it all, and with good reason. The first book tour seemed to have been it for Piper. Bored out of her skull and annoyed at the same time.

    Sarah wants her adulation, but Piper wants to be a 10 year old and do whatever it is that 10 year olds do, w And it isn’t being cramped up in a tour bus, endless hotels, taken to historical sites, and endlessly trotted out for the photo ops for her mothers ambitions.. She had to listen to boring, boring things, over and over and over again, and while the campaign might have been fun first time round, now it is boring.

  • carollt:

    Both the President and the First Lady take great pains to ensure that both their children lead as normal a life as is possible when your father is the President of the United States of America. Instead of taking a media- seeking “family” bus tour with the Constitution printed on it, our President read the Constitution. I believe he taught constitutional law prior to going into politics. I know he graduated Magna Cum Laude from Harvard Law School, so I am quite sure he knows something about the Constitution.

    It really is a shame that a person who has not read the Constitution (I base this on the fact that Sarah thinks that when her fellow citizens shout her down, we are impeding on her first amendment rights; no Sarah, the Government is not allowed to stop you from speaking; we citizens can do anything and everything we can think of within the bounds of the law to get you to shut up) tries to portray herself as some sort of expert, capable of educating the masses. And to bring the family along on this shameless adventure; it truly boggles the mind.

  • Catherine:

    How do you know that?

  • lilly lily:

    I just watched the video.

    Piper is going to be troublesome. She doesn’t want to be part of the circus, but her mother has put her there.

    Just as Palin took Piper to the hockey event knowing she would be booed in Philadelphia. She said they would never boo her with her children there. Well the Philley fans booed her.

    In a few weeks of this cutesy nonsence of a family tour in a bus with a political agenda shrink wrapped around it, who knows what will happen. Talk about idocy, it is LOOK AT ME written on all over it.

    It isn’t cute, and she isn’t a grizzley cub. She is a kid with anger issues.

  • lilly lily:

    Reporters better wise up.

    . It started like a circus, and it will end in tears.

    I have a very bad feeling about the outcome now that Piper is acting up.

    It isn’t normal.

    They had best stop using her as a prop. Or are they going to have Piper selling lemonaide at all their stops?

  • g:

    You are deluded, Deb. Seriously.

  • Mary:

    Have you seen the video of Todd putting the same type of moves on an older, female schoolteacher in Homer, AK? The whole family is a bunch of bullies and thugs. Sadly, including the 10-year-old. I predict arrest and worse in this young lady’s future. That may sound dramatic, but there is a lot of rage in that child and no, ‘bots, it’s not justified against anyone but the person who put her in the situation that she so obviously hates – Sarah Palin.

  • Catherine:

    So now it’s 10 year old Piper’s turn to protect her mother.
    That is sick. Are these fans demented? The comment about craving Trig was weird too. I understand Sarah believes her family is important to her but she is hurting them.
    The whole game with the press is sick too.

  • Kimberly:

    Think of the free air miles, hotel rewards, gas bonuses the Palin’s are racking up right now off of the PAC. Rewards like at Marriott do not care who pays the bill. Palin’s get their hotel rewards number in the system when they check in they get the perks of the stay and the points. Marriott is really good about rewards to their elite members. Just another grift, another scam, another freebie off of the flock.

  • Kimberly:

    There is Piper with Trump tonight. There should be a special provision for Palin kids about how much time by law they spend in front of a camera for mommy’s production.

    Love Trump’s face here. Sarah making sure she keeps a hand on Piper so she doesn’t run away huh?
    http://www.daylife.com/photo/0badblI4od02o?__site=daylife&q=Sarah+Palin

  • nancy in Ak:

    yes – that is the family.

  • lilly lily:

    Does she have her personal photographer with her as she did on the book signings?

    I have a very bad feeling about this sick, sick person and her ambitions. Right now it is only her family who is affected (outside of death panels and that nonsense), but god forbid she ever, ever gets any position of power.

    She is definatly a rotten mother. Absolutly self absorbed.

  • Melly:

    Piper seems almost feral, and that freak of a mother of hers isn’t even protecting her physical well-being let alone her psyche. And doesn’t Scarah MISS being with Trig??

  • curiouser:

    I wouldn’t heckle anyone. But if I had a chance to tell Sarah Palin what I thought or ask her a question that would surely make her angry, I wouldn’t hold back because her children were there.

  • mistah charley, ph.d.:

    I know it because the first appearance of the letter, chronologically, is at democraticunderground.com, where it is attached to the name of the author, a frequent poster there (more than a thousand posts). You will not find any appearance of this letter attributed to “author unknown” which predates this.

  • msf:

    Many Alaskans seem to hold grudges. Thought the same thing.

  • Yes, indeed. This is a child who has been schooled in the “horrible-nasty lamestream media” lesson for so long, that she’s trying to protect Mom from the “bad guys”. Very, very disturbing. This family needs an “intervention” in the worst way.

    Also, how must these children feel, knowing that their mother really wants to be and is the right-wing soft-porn queen? How permanently injured would that leave any child anywhere? So, so grotesque.

  • Sarah Palin reminds me of the Jehovah Witnesses that bring their children along with them when they knock on doors in order to 1) show the kids how it’s done and 2) soften responses from those who would otherwise throw them off of their porches…

  • Joe:

    Not only have I seen the video, I spent several hours with the teacher in Homer and write about it in THE ROGUE.

    Todd, personally, was even worse the guy in the Valdez airport, about which I also write.

    –Joe

  • M. Aragon:

    That picture of Piper glaring at her mother says it all. Poor kid.

  • miles:

    I became friends with those J.W. coming to the door. My wife taught me all they want is to give you their crazy magazine and they are then off the hook. Fast forward 11 years and the young son went from little to 6’6 tall, 18 year old charming young man. That is when I found out that if you are a J.Witness you are not allowed to go to college.

    Why? Because college would show that you really did not believe the end of the world was tomorrow, which would make you a apostate (?). Made me so pissed I told them why and refused to open my door to them anymore.

    Bristol is standing in the sun for an extended period of time, bored out of her mind and tired. No its not child abuse but normal families don’t do that to their children anymore. Unless they are in show biz.

  • msf:

    Good news. I find it interesting in both of these videos the Palins never expected them to be viewed by the public. It was through the blogs that both became public & showed the Palins as they really are…up close & personal….not ready for prime time.

  • Cassie in MD:

    I have to agree with you. This is the first time I have posted on any article, but as the mother of five children myself, I am terrified for this little girl and very sad that the older ones have been given the message of entitlement and permission to lie and swindle that they have. I can’t see this ending well in any way. The sides are so polarized, but I am getting to the point that if the country turns in the direction that the Tea Party seeks, I would no longer consider myself “proud to be an American”. Fortunately, I speak several languages and have lived abroad and could do so again. I have read the Dunn and Bailey books and Joe – your’s cannot come out soon enough! The worship and bigotry on the Palin sites are nauseating and so misguided. The Palin worshippers won’t be swayed until they, themselves, or their children, have been steamrolled over on her way to greater wealth and fame. She will be happy to take their hardearned money and spit in their faces later. I may be dissolusioned now, but at least have my eyes open. What does this say to a watching world?