Obama
New Gallup Poll Shows Romney-Palin Tossup for GOP Nomination//UPDATE//UPDATE 1.1
May 18, 2011
I place little credence in long-term polls, but this one has to be considered a warning shot across the bow of all those purveyors of conventional wisdom who have decided that Sarah Palin can be safely stored in our collective memory/nightmare bank.
Think about how she must view developments of the past few days: two people who were outpolling her have chosen not to enter the race. Absent Huckabee and Trump (always a farce, but even Slate bought into it late last month ), Sarah finds herself rising to the top by default.
To Sarah, this likely seems evidence that God is, in fact, opening the doors for her and sending her a message that she is His chosen candidate, the Christian leader best prepared to wage war on the secretly-Muslim darkie who occupies the White House.
Given her egomania and ambition, and her belief that she has been anointed by God to prepare the USA for the second coming of Jesus, why would she not run?
And let’s not ignore what Rachel Weiner reported in the Washington Post: she just sent out 400,000 solicitations seeking donations to SarahPAC. She entitled her pitch letter “2012 Can’t Come Soon Enough.”
Does this sound like someone who’s not planning to enter the race?
UPDATE:
Politico features new poll results: “Mitt Romney, Sarah Palin jump to top in new Gallup poll.”
She’ll be on FOX twice tonight: with Sean Hannity and with Eric Bolling. No doubt Hannity will ask about these poll results and whether she’s going to run. No doubt she’ll duck the question. What’s the hurry to announce when she can become a front-runner by doing nothing?
UPDATE 1.1:
Outside-the-beltway right-wingers climbing back on board the S.S. Sarah.
Posted in 2012, Donald Trump, Joe McGinniss, mainstream media, Obama, Sarah Palin, The Rogue | 
Tags: 2012 gop candidates, christian, god, GOP primaries, huckabee, muslims, rachel weiner, war, Washington Post | 
86 Comments »
Enter THE ROGUE Last Chapter Contest Here…$250 Prize for Winner!
May 17, 2011
Here’s the best chance for you commenters–and anybody else who has an idea about what the last chapter of my book about Sarah Palin should say–to make a difference.
I’m about to start writing the last chapter of THE ROGUE. It’s due for delivery to my publisher Random House/Crown on June 3.
Tell me, please, what you think I should say, why I should say it, and how I can prove it to an extent that would pass legal vetting.
Trig is not off limits–nothing is off limits–but I’m not going to devote the chapter to showing how Figure A or Figure B proves that Sarah was or was not pregnant with that child. I’ll make my own views on that question clear in THE ROGUE.
So the matter before us today is: if you had five thousand words, more or less, in which you could summarize The Rise and Fall (and Possible Rebirth) of Sarah Palin, how would you use them? What would you say?
Please remember, in THE ROGUE, I am not preaching to the converted: I can’t–nor do I want to–write a final chapter that contains only snark and invective. The first twenty chapters don’t do that, so–despite the fact that I won’t pull punches–I don’t want to leave those who read the finished book with the taste of bile in their mouths.
Let’s put it this way: imagine yourself in a dialogue with a friend who respected your opinions.
You have three or four minutes, without interruption, to explain why Sarah Palin is every bit as bad as you believe her to be, and why she continues to be a danger to the USA.
What would you say? How would you say it?
As I’m working on my last chapter, I’d love to know.
I’d love to know so much, in fact, that I’m offering a $250 prize to whoever gives me the best suggestion about what I should write in the next two weeks–whether it’s a phrase, a sentence, or whether you take five thousand words to express it.
thanks,
Joe
Posted in 2012, evangelical, Joe McGinniss, mainstream media, Obama, right wing, Sarah Palin, Tea Party, The Rogue | Tags: contest, joe mcginniss, joe mcginniss writing contest, Sarah Palin, the rogue, valley refuse, writing contest | 193 Comments »
Sarah Palin Hits Daily Double: Obama Okays New Alaskan Oil Drilling & Huckabee Says He Won’t Run
May 15, 2011
The president’s announcement, which included plans for expanded drilling in Alaska demonstrate[s] his commitment to reducing oil imports by increasing domestic production…Mr. Obama said the administration would begin to hold annual auctions for oil and gas leases in the Alaska National Petroleum Reserve, a 23-million-acre tract on the North Slope of Alaska. The move comes after years of demands for the auctions by industry executives and Alaska’s two senators, Lisa Murkowski, a Republican, and Mark Begich, a Democrat.
In crediting Murkowski and Begich for the policy change, The New York Times omitted the name of Sarah Palin, who’s been screaming about this for at least as long and even more loudly than have Alaska’s two U.S. senators.
Hours later, Mike Huckabee, who won the 2008 Iowa Caucus, announced he would not be a candidate next year.
Today’s news makes it clearer than ever that Sarah will have a second chance–and her last chance–at the brass ring of national political power.
And don’cha think she’s gonna take it?
Because Sarah is not an elected official, but only a celebrity screecher from the sidelines, she can’t claim credit (except on her Twitter and Facebook pages and on Fox News) for having persuaded President Obama to change his mind about the vital economic and environmental issues posed by the prospect of reopening Alaska’s North Slope to further exploration (some would say “exploitation”) by Big Oil.
And won’t it gall her to see Sen. Lisa Murkowski, in particular, cited as one who made “demands” to which President Obama eventually caved?
Especially with Huckabee handing her, gift wrapped, the USA’s evangelical base, it seems obvious that Sarah will announce her candidacy for president later this year: if she doesn’t, a year from now people won’t even remember how she spells her name. (Is it p-a-l-i-n, or p-a-l-l-i-n, as in “pallin’ around with terrorists”?)
Even if, as many argue, the personal bottom line of http:www.Palingrifters.com is what Sarah cares about most (or only), she must recognize that as soon as she definitively takes herself out of the GOP 2012 candidate pool (aka “The Sargasso Sea”), nobody will care any more about what she says, what she wears, how she looks, Track’s latest brush with the law, Bristol’s latest plastic surgery, Willow’s latest brush with the law, or even whether she really gave birth to Trig.
Sarah’s greatest fear is irrelevance. What if she fell in a forest and nobody heard?
Bruce Springsteen might as well have been writing Fade Away for Sarah in 1980, when she was a sophomore at Wasilla High:
I don’t wanna fade away
Oh I don’t wanna fade away
Tell me what can I do what can I say
Cause darlin’ I don’t wanna fade away
Do you really think she’ll just fade away now?
Having come out of nowhere to get this far, will she go gently into that good night without even a last hurrah?
Especially after Huckabee’s Saturday night announcement that he won’t run,
His decision to forgo a run presumably leaves that space wide open for Ms. Palin, a self described “Bible-believing Christian”
Doesn’t it seem that God is working overtime this weekend to open doors for her so she can plow through?
Hope he gets at least time-and-a-half.
Posted in 2012, evangelical, Fox, Joe McGinniss, mainstream media, Obama, Palin children, right wing, Sarah Palin, Tea Party, The Rogue | Tags: bruce springsteeen, doorman, evangelical, fade away, god, huckabee, lisa murkowski, mark begich, new york times, sargasso sea, the river, willow palin | 30 Comments »
That Amazing Robert Hunt Illustration atop The Atlantic’s Palin Story//UPDATE: Andrew Sullivan on the illustration and the story
May 11, 2011
Robert Hunt is one of the most extraordinary illustrators of our time.
In fact, let’s skip the qualifiers and just call the man a great artist.
The Atlantic commissioned him to do the illustration that accompanied “The Tragedy of Sarah Palin” in their June issue (about which I blogged earlier today.)
Whatever one might think of Joshua Green’s article, there is no denying the power of the portrait. It’s Sarah Palin as she sees herself, and as her worshippers see her: in the Oval Office.
It turns out that The New Republic was also aware of Robert Hunt’s artistic brilliance.
They commissioned him to do a portrait of Barack Obama for the cover of their December 2, 2009 edition, which contained a number of articles highly critical of the president.
Hunt has a fascinating account of his interactions with the magazine as he worked on the illustration.
As he describes (and shows), he offered them several possibilities:
Which one did they choose?
Did they choose the one that showed President Obama looking the difficulties of his job straight in the eye?
Or even one that portrayed him in profile, pensive and deliberative, possibly humbled by his responsibilities?
No, The New Republic wanted an illustration that showed him cowed, defeated, turning his back and walking away.
And so of all the choices Robert Hunt offered them, this was the illustration they used:
I hope Robert Hunt will share on his blog his alternatives to the Sarah Palin illustration The Atlantic chose.
Whether he does or not, isn’t Robert Hunt amazing?
As for the editors of the mainstream New Republic and Atlantic, what subliminal message do you think they are trying to convey?
Take a look, side by side:
And Sarah complains about “lamestream” media?
MSM continues to roll out the red carpet for her, because MSM wants her to run against Obama next year.
He’ll be reelected, no matter who his opponent is. But MSM is increasingly desperate for readers and viewers.
MSM is sinking fast, and as a former psychiatrist of mine once told me, “A drowning man has no morals.”
MSM wants Obama v. Palin, because the alternatives are so dull. Without her, nobody will bother to read or watch and MSM numbers and dollars will continue their flight to alternative sources of news, opinion and entertainment.
Only Sarah can juice up the campaign: with Tea Party moronics, blatant racism and Christian Dominionist hate.
So MSM is trying to seduce her now in order to betray her later, after they’ve used her to improve their bottom lines, just as she’s used them to improve hers.
Frankly, they deserve each other, and may the worse whore lose.
But before the whole orgy really heats up, take one more look at Robert Hunt’s vision of President Obama that The New Republic didn’t want you to see:
That’s Mr. President.
Sarah is Ms. Pretender.
UPDATE:
Andrew Sullivan tells it like it is.
Posted in 2012, evangelical, Fox, Joe McGinniss, mainstream media, Obama, Palin racism, right wing, Sarah Palin, Tea Party, The Rogue | Tags: barack obama, illustrators, mainstream media, racism, robert hunt, Sarah Palin, stupidity, Tea Party, the atlantic, the new republic | 30 Comments »
What Sarah Palin REALLY Cares About//UPDATE: LA Times on what Sarah and Common have in common
May 10, 2011
If nothing else, Sarah’s new advisers have managed to bring her Twittermania under some semblance of control.
Last summer, it seemed that Sarah was tweeting hourly, to the extent that it was devaluing her “brand.”
I’ve always thought that Twitter was the perfect medium of expression for Sarah. If she has to extend a thought, feeling or impulse beyond 140 characters, the vacuity of her mind becomes plain for all to see.
But even within the Twitter framework the sheer relentlessness of her tweets lessened the impact of her opinions. If somebody never shuts up, we stop listening to anything they have to say.
The post-Tucson version of Palin sometimes lets whole days pass without twittering. Not counting re-tweets, Sarah has only tweeted five times this month.
Thus, when she does, we’re more likely to assume it’s about something that matters to her.
That’s why her most recent tweet is so interesting:
Oh lovely, White House… http://dailycaller.com/2011/05/09/burn-a-bush-michelle-obama-invites-rapper-common-to-a-poetry-reading/
What got Sarah’s goat? Michelle Obama’s invitation to the Grammy-winning hip-hop artist Common to participate in tomorrow night’s White House tribute to American poetry.
No problem when Barbara Bush welcomed child-molester Michael Jackson to the White House.
But let a black president’s black wife invite a black rapper to a broad-based celebration of an art form–poetry–that Sarah knows nothing about, and her lily-white knee jerks immediately in outrage.
In THE ROGUE, I’ll have plenty to say about Sarah Palin’s attitude toward people of color.
But with today’s tweet she’s given us all a little preview.
UPDATE:
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2011/05/sarah-palin-and-common-have-at-least-two-things-in-common.html
Posted in Joe McGinniss, Michelle Obama, Obama, Palin racism, Sarah Palin, The Rogue | Tags: black artists, common, hip-hop, michelle obama, poetry, rap, tucson shooting, white house | 36 Comments »
VF’s James Wolcott Takes Note of Sarah’s Next Crusade
May 5, 2011
Wolcott seems amused by Sarah’s choice of Peter Schweizer as her new “foreign policy advisor.” But don’t take this appointment lightly. Clearly, it signals a new direction for Sarah: an all-out Christian militant war against the Evil Empire of Disney.
Let “Pussyfoot” Obama fight the war on terror. Sarah will lead the ethnic cleansing of Disney theme parks around the world to assure that no traces of dreaded homosexuality remain.
Posted in Breitbart, evangelical, Joe McGinniss, Obama, right wing, The Rogue | Tags: crusades, disney, disneyland, disneyworld, donald duck, ethnic cleansing, gays, homosexuality, mickey mouse, schweizer, theme parks | 11 Comments »
Breitbart Blogger Says MSM Smearing Sarah
May 5, 2011
Here I was, foolishly thinking mainstream media bears responsibility for the degree to which Sarah Palin has been able to inflict herself on American society, when a Breitbart blogger set me straight. “Big Hollywood” editor in chief John Nolte explains that, in fact, MSM, “in their desperate efforts to undermine and destroy” Sarah, have “weaponized” her own children (gasp!) as “political bludgeons against her.”
It’s a leftist conspiracy, all right, led by well known, arch-radical militants Barbara Walters and Whoopi Goldberg.
Someday, I’d like to see Breitbart, Glenn Beck and Greta Van Susteren all on stage somewhere with a physician who could tap each of their knees with a rubber mallet, just to see whose jerks fastest.
Posted in 2012, Breitbart, Fox, glenn beck, Greta Van Susteren, Joe McGinniss, mainstream media, Obama, right wing, Sarah Palin, The Rogue | Tags: 2012, barbara walters, breitbard, conspiracy, GOP, john nolte, right wing, Sarah Palin, smear, whoopi goldberg | 12 Comments »
Sarah and Jerry Boykin Share Stage at Colorado Christian U.//UPDATE//UPDATE 1.1
May 3, 2011
The Colorado Independent offers a fine preview of this “patriotic/Christian” event.
Conservatives4Palin site promised live streaming, but all it does is crash my browser.
Probably God telling me not to bother paying attention.
Even God must have limits when it comes to Sarahspeak.
UPDATE:
Jason Salzman at http://bigmedia.org writes that “neither Boykin nor Palin is going to discuss Islam,” and says: “She and Boykin should be asked the question that the organizer of tonight’s event posed but refused to answer, ‘Can a good Muslim be a good American?'”
Don’t hold your breath for either the question or answer. Although I think we know that if they were honest, both Palin and Boykin would have to answer, “No.” Their God is for evangelical Christian dominionists only. It’s not a big tent. Leave your shoes and rationality at the door before entering. But bring your guns, willful ignorance, intolerance and cross-hair maps. Donations to the cause gratefully accepted–especially by Sarah.
UPDATE 1.1
ABC News’ Claton Sandell reports from Lakewood, Colo.:
Sarah Palin gave passing praise to President Obama’s “decisive leadership” in the operation to kill Osama bin Laden, though in a speech here Monday night the former Alaska governor and vice presidential candidate did not once use Obama’s name.
“We want to thank our president,” Palin said, but then she quickly shifted focus to the previous administration for having laid the groundwork.
“We thank President Bush for having made the right calls to set up this victory,” Palin told a cheering crowd.
So Sarah mentioned Bush by name, but not Obama. One thing about people devoid of class: they’re consistent.
Hey, tomorrow is a new day. And Sarah will get up in the morning and realize that she’ll have to live with herself throughout it.
No wonder–as I report in THE ROGUE–she used to come home when she was mayor of Wasilla and go to bed at 4 p.m. with a box of chocolates and a handful of celebrity picture magazines.
Living with that self for sixteen hours a day would exhaust any of us.
The Girl Can’t Help It: Nastiness & Pettiness Form Sarah’s Core//UPDATE 1.1
May 2, 2011
Even knowing that it was the right thing to do–both from a standpoint of simple decency and for her own self-interest–Sarah Palin last night could not bring herself to congratulate President Obama.
On Twitter, she thanked “American men and women in uniform.”
On Facebook, she added “our intelligence services.”
But for President Obama, Commander-in-Chief of U.S. military and intelligence forces, nary a word.
She’s just too mean-spirited and resentful. It’s in unguarded moments that character–or lack of same–most often reveals itself.
First, after the Giffords shooting and again last night, Sarah inadvertently gave us a glimpse of what passes for her heart.
It ain’t pretty.
The Washington Post reported yesterday that when Sarah appeared at the MSNBC party after the White House Correspondents dinner, “Invariably, onlookers whispered to their friends: ‘Isn’t she pretty? Isn’t she nice?‘”
Answers?
No, and no.
UPDATE:
Even Rush Limbaugh was able to say what needs to be said: “Thank God for president Obama.”
Snarky Sarah has painted herself into another lonely corner by refusing to give the president credit for the successful Bin Laden operation.
UPDATE 1.1
Limbaugh now says he was being sarcastic, which makes him every bit as horrid as I always thought he was. Let’s see what Sarah says tonight at the “Honor the Troops” event at Colorado Christian U.
Posted in 2012, Joe McGinniss, Obama, Sarah Palin, The Rogue | Tags: Giffords, mean girl, MSNBC, osama bin laden, president obama, Sarah Palin, shooting, Tuscon, Washington Post | 83 Comments »
And You Thought She Was Finished?///UPDATE
May 1, 2011
Where was Sarah today, before flying to Fresno for her $115,000 speech tomorrow at a junior college thirty miles to the south?
Holed up in her Lake Lucille compound, licking her self-inflicted wounds?
Hardly.
If you thought that, it just proves you don’t know Sarah: as irrepressible as she is irresponsible.
Look at the picture above. That’s newly-spruced up Todd on the left; then Sarah, looking at Todd as if she’d just learned that all the rumors about him and his love child and the hookers had been confirmed; then Greta Van Susteren, the Fox TV blatherer who last summer called me “The Wasilla Stalker,” and on the far right, Bill Press, who hosts a theoretically “liberal” talk show on SiriusXM satellite radio, and who’s proven himself a more tolerant man than me, because I’d never let Scientologist Van Susteren get close enough to me to put her arm on the back of my neck.
Washington Post gossip column Reliable Source has such a wonderful account of this event that I’ll republish here in full, rather than just posting a link:
Sarah Palin is surprise guest at White House Correspondents’ weekend parties
By The Reliable Source
And you thought this weekend was going to be all about Donald Trump! Probably only one other lightening-rod VIP could have stolen the mogul’s buzz in the pro-am zeitgeist tournament known as the White House Correspondents’ weekend, and darned if she didn’t pull a surprise appearance. You betcha, she did.
Sarah Palin walked into the Georgetown home of Mark Ein shortly before noon Saturday to dazzle a brunch crowd of Washington insiders and visiting luminaries. Black bell-sleeved summer dress, shiny hair. She and a clean-shaven Todd Palin posed for a few photos with hosts Wendi Murdoch and Susan Axelrod, then carved a path through the crowded dining room with their host for the weekend, Fox News’s Greta Van Susteren.
So, a win for Van Susteren, scoring the buzziest guest? (Her other guest, Kate Hudson, had to bow out for movie-promotion commitments.) Sure, but with an asterix, for Palin’s not actually expected at tonight’s White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, Van Susteren’s husband John Coale told us: “She’s just doing the brunch and the after-parties.”
Let’s forgive the Washington Post for misspelling “lightning rod.” Because, that’s our Sarah, isn’t it? “Just the brunch and the after-parties.”
She wouldn’t attend the dinner itself, because there she could not have made herself the center of attention.
But to all who still think she’s toast: Sarah Palin plans to run for the Republican nomination for president in 2012.
She’s not kissing Beltway butt just because she likes the way it makes her lips feel.
Thanks to a commenter for pointing out that the real reason Sarah is not attending the dinner itself–this is something the Washington Post gossip columnists apparently did not know–is because she’s picking up another $100,000 for speaking at the “Heroic Media: Heroes among Us” dinner just across the District line in Bethesda, Maryland. Heroic Media describes itself as “a faith-based non-profit that reduces abortion by helping women who face unexpected pregnancies learn hopeful alternatives through mass media advertising.”
Best way to stay non-profit is to pay Sarah a hundred thousand bucks a pop.
Posted in 2012, Fox, Greta Van Susteren, Joe McGinniss, mainstream media, Obama, Sarah Palin, The Rogue, Todd Palin | Tags: bill press, brunch, greta, greta van susteren, kiss ass, white house correspondents' dinner | 56 Comments »
