Tea Party
New York Times calls Sarah Palin: “The Woman Who Might Be President”
May 30, 2011
She shows up in black leather with a Harley helmet on her head, and, yes, her talking points written on the palm of her hand, and mainstream media—-as exemplified by this story in The New York Times, (featured at the top of their home page, which is equivalent to above the fold on page one, back when anybody actually read the print edition)—-rolls over giddily and begs her to scratch their collective belly.
For sheer mastery of celebrity theater, Sarah Palin cannot be beat.
Ms. Palin, the former governor of Alaska, let the anticipation build for hours on Sunday in the Pentagon’s North Parking Lot, where thousands of bikers (and their rumbling Harleys) had gathered for the annual Rolling Thunder rally ahead of Memorial Day.
And then, suddenly, there she was: Ms. Palin, with her husband, Todd, and the rest of the family. Wearing matching black Harley-Davidson helmets, they rode motorcycles toward the front of the procession through a crush of cameramen, photographers, reporters and leather-clad bikers, all jostling for just a peek at the woman who might be president.
It’s long past time for those of us who believe that Sarah continues to represent a real threat to the (largely) rational discourse that has been a hallmark of our democracy for 235 years to keep blaming her and recognize that it’s the enabling by mainstream media, desperate for page views as print circulation plummets, that keeps her not only afloat, but aloft.
MSM argue that they have to cover her because everything she says and does is “news.”
But it’s only news because they make it news.
Granted, as a candidate for vice president in 2008, Sarah was news. But since November, 2008–and even more so after she quit as Alaska governor in 2009–it’s been MSM’s presenting her as a serious person, even while deriding her in the snobbish fashion that allows her to call them “lamestream”–that has kept the helium in Sarah’s balloon.
What’s clear from the weekend is that nobody has learned a thing.
She starts a “bus tour”—one for which her organizers refuse to say where she’ll be tomorrow— on the back of a motorcycle, and she’s hailed for her “mastery of celebrity theater,” and praised for outFoxing (pun intended) the MSM journalists who chase after her, tongues hanging out.
Okay, but cover her in the entertainment section. Even as the solemn debate about whether she’ll actually be a candidate next year continues, The New York Times calls her, without apparent irony, “the woman who might be president.”
And Chris Matthews, who stated the obvious last week by saying, “she’s profoundly stupid,” said more recently:
“She is really good . . . she’s fantastic on a stage. When she walks out on that stage there’s something kinetic happening. She looks great, look at her, she’s alive, she’s smiling, she’s doing stuff, she’s moving around. You can’t take your eyes off of what she’s doing.”
God help us, his leg is tingling again.
And both John McCain and Andrew Sullivan said yesterday that given the right set of circumstances she could beat President Obama next year.
Hey, if exchanging nasty comments about Sarah on this or any other blog makes you feel good, by all means keep on doing it.
But don’t kid yourself that it’s having any effect in the real world, where media memes are created, where elections are decided, and where the moral, ethical and political contours of our country are being shaped.
Seeing the gleeful embrace that MSM is giving Sarah as she returns from self-imposed, post-Tucson exile, I don’t quite despair, but I worry.
And in my head, I replay Bob Dylan’s lyrics from “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue,” which he wrote and first performed in 1965, in the wake of the John F. Kennedy assassination:
You must leave now, take what you need, you think will last
But whatever you wish to keep, you better grab it fast
Yonder stands your orphan with his gun
Crying like a fire in the sun
Look out the saints are comin’ through
And it’s all over now, Baby Blue…The empty-handed painter from your streets
Is drawing crazy patterns on your sheets
This sky, too, is folding under you
And it’s all over now, Baby Blue
Sarah hops on a Harley at the Pentagon and MSM falls back in love with her again.
Happy Memorial Day.
Posted in 2012, Andrew Sullivan, Joe McGinniss, mainstream media, Obama, Palin children, Sarah Palin, Tea Party, The Rogue | 
Tags: Andrew Sullivan, bob dylan, chris matthews, d.c., harley davidson, it's all over now baby blue, mainstream media, memorial day, new york times, pentagon, rolling thunder, sarah paliln, washington | 
80 Comments »
“I love that smell of the emissions.”
May 29, 2011
Sometimes you don’t have to say anything, because Motorcycle Mama–and motor mouth–Sarah says it all herself.
Posted in 2012, Joe McGinniss, Sarah Palin, Tea Party, The Rogue | Tags: motor mouth, motorcycle, motorcycle mama, rolling thunder, Sarah Palin | 25 Comments »
The DC Motorcycle Gang Doesn’t Want Sarah: Who Will?
May 28, 2011
I’m just back from one of those effete, elite Eastern liberal dinner parties where we all sit around over white wine and brie and plot how to keep our black Muslim in the White House for four more years, and the question I was asked most often was, “Where in New England does Sarah think she can go with her bus tour where she won’t be laughed off whatever stage she takes?”
“Beats me,” was all I could say.
The organizer of the “Rolling Thunder” motorcyclist event said more, earlier today:
“She’s not invited…We’re not endorsing her…She’s definitely not speaking on our stage,”
Maybe not the kickoff Sarah was hoping for.
But can it get better in New England? Will she stop In Massachusetts, maybe Plymouth Rock, Lexington and Concord, Bunker Hill, or the site of the original Boston Tea Party?
Nobody knows, because the destinations of this first leg remain shrouded in secrecy. Hmm, why would that be? For fear that anti-Palin demonstrators will outnumber her faithful?
All I can tell you is that I’ll be covering one of her New England appearances next week for The Daily Beast.
Not to mention that it will make the perfect closing scene for the last chapter of THE ROGUE.
So Sarah and her gang are coming my way?
Bring ’em on!
And if she wants to know where to get the best fried clams in Massachusetts, or the best lobster in Maine, all she has to do is call me.
Posted in 2012, Joe McGinniss, right wing, Sarah Palin, Tea Party, The Rogue | Tags: black muslims, boston tea party, brie, bunker hill, concord, effete liberals, lexington, massachusetts, motorcycles, muslims, new england, plymouth rock, rolling thunder, white house, white wine | 46 Comments »
Sarah’s Magical Mystery Tour
May 26, 2011
I wonder if this time she’ll really ride the bus.
Doesn’t look like there’s much space on the side for an ad for THE ROGUE, but I’ll ask Crown to inquire anyway.
At least this will give us all a chance to get out and say hi to Sarah in person–maybe our last chance.
And it will get Chuck and Sally and Piper out of Alazona for a while, and it also gets Trig out of mothballs.
More seriously, it will be a genuine test of how far Sarah’s star has fallen since the Going Rogue days in the fall of 2009.
And, of course, it may be the quasi-official start of her 2012 presidential campaign.
I’m sure she’s anticipating huge cheering throngs at every stop. Do you think she’ll get them?
Any thoughts as to which of Sarah’s band of Merry Pranksters will be on board? Meg Stapleton? Rebecca Mansour? Franklin Graham? Greta Van Susteren? Mary Glazier? Andrew Breitbart? William Kristol? Shailey Tripp?
Whoever Sarah chooses for the cast, I’m sure they’ll have a rollicking good time on the road.
Although I doubt the new tour will dethrone Ken Kesey and the original Merry Pranksters from number one on the “Best Bus Tours of All Time” list.
Posted in 2012, Breitbart, Chuck Heath, Fox, glenn beck, Greta Van Susteren, Joe McGinniss, Palin children, Sarah Palin, Tea Party, The Rogue, Todd Palin, Trig Palin | Tags: andrew breitbart, bus tours, franklin graham, ken kesey, magical mystery tour, mary glaier, merry pranksters, shailey tripp | 109 Comments »
“THE OFT-DEFEATED”—the OTHER Sarah Palin movie coming in June
May 26, 2011
THE OFT-DEFEATED
A DOCUMENTARY IN FOUR SCENES…WITH FIFTH SCENE TO COME LATER THIS YEAR OR NEXT.
SCENE 1: 1984
The film opens at the finals of the Miss Alaska Pageant, 1984.
LONG SHOT of contestants on stage.
VOICEOVER: “And the winner is……..”
CLOSEUP of expectant SARAH Heath
VOICEOVER: “Maryline Blackburn!”
MARYLINE BLACKBURN IN 2010
CLOSEUP of SARAH whispering to GOD: “I froze my ass off for you in Big Beaver or Little Beaver or one of them Beaver lakes when I got immersed for you in 1976. Don’t you ever let some black bitch beat me again!”
SCENE 2: 1997
Mayor SARAH sits with supporters at Wasilla Assembly of God church, looking at newspaper headlines proclaiming that the Alaska Supreme Court has just permanently prohibited Wasilla’s Valley Medical Center from banning second-trimester abortions.
SARAH: “That’s why we need Christian judges: so no branch of any federal or state government will ever bitch-slap Jesus again.”
OTHERS: “Amen! Amen, Sister Sarah! Amen, Queen Esther!”
Others leave. SARAH returns to her MAYOR’S OFFICE. She places a call.
SARAH: “Hey, Savior-Man, what’s up? You just slammed another door in my face.”
GOD: “Whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, Sarah. I’m trying to toughen you up for bigger fights ahead.”
SCENE 3: 2002
Election Night at “Palin for Lieutenant Governor” headquarters. Early vote totals make it clear that SARAH will lose.
CLOSEUP of SARAH, now speaking on cellphone:
SARAH: “WTF, Big Guy? How tough do you think I need to be? If you’re going to have some dude make a movie about me nine years from now and call it The Undefeated, it might be nice if you’d let me win something for once.”
GOD: “I only want the best for you, and I only give my best. Remember though: My ways are not your ways, my thoughts are not your thoughts…for as the heavens are higher than the earth, my ways are higher than yours! I wrote that all down for you in the Good Book! Look it up!”
SARAH: “Hey, chill a little. You’re God. You don’t have to use so many exclamation points.”
GOD: “Sorry, daughter, sometimes I get carried away. In any event, don’t sweat it. I’m going to send you a Down Syndrome baby who will make you the Republican nominee for vice president in 2008. And when you write Going Rogue you can quote me. You can even say, ‘I decided to write the letter as though it were from Trig’s Creator, the same Creator in whom I had put my trust more than thirty years before.’ You cool with that?”
SARAH: “Sure, but won’t there be copyright problems?”
GOD: “Not if you credit me properly. What do you think, I’m gonna sue?”
SCENE 4: 2008
LONG SHOT of McCain headquarters in Arizona. Cactuses wilt. Gila monsters curl into fetal positions. Rattlesnakes cry. Slaves escape from the compound. It’s obvious the McCain-Palin ticket has lost.
CLOSEUP of Sarah, talking to MCCAIN.
SARAH: “I wanna make my own speech.”
MCCAIN: “It’s just not customary. I can’t let you do it.”
SARAH: “Fuck you! It wasn’t customary to pick an ignorant, narcissistic backstabber to run with you in the first place. So don’t give me that ‘customary’ shit!
MCCAIN: “Listen, bitch: you dragged me down. You put that black Muslim in the White House. But I’m not going to let you steal my last act tonight.”
SARAH: “Let me tell you something, you wet old fart. If you’d have let me go rogue”—
INTERRUPTION as we hear “Onward Christian Soldiers” playing as a cell phone ring.
SARAH: “Excuse me, I’ve got to take this……Hello? Yes, this is her. Oh, God, good to hear from you. Hey, buddy, you didn’t open that door quite wide enough…..What’s that?……Yeah, yeah, that’s easy for you to say, but I’ve been defeated one more time, pal, and now I have to go back to effing Alaska. What circle of hell is that?!……Yeah, right, but you know what? You sound like the Brooklyn Dodgers, always saying ‘wait till next year.’…….What’s that? You’ve got me a deal on a one-point-seven million dollar house in Scottsdale?……You’ve got me the presidential nomination in 2012?……Okay, okay, but not so fast. What about the 2012 election? I lost to that black bitch Blackburn for Miss Alaska back in the day, and everytime I see Michelle Obama all I can think of is that. So no deal, Bro’, unless this time you’re gonna take me all the way…..What? What’s that?……Sorry, you’re breaking up……
FADE TO BLACK
Posted in 2012, evangelical, Joe McGinniss, Michelle Obama, Obama, Palin racism, right wing, Sarah Palin, Tea Party, The Rogue, Wasilla | Tags: arizona, assembly of god, baptism, big beaver lake, god, john mccain, little beaver lake, maryline blackburn, miss alaska, onward christian soldiers, queen esther, Scottsdale | 27 Comments »
NY Times Front Page: “Signs Grow That Palin May Run”
May 25, 2011
Nothing I haven’t been saying all along, but it’s suddenly the new mainstream meme.
Read it here.
Are there still doubters?
Posted in 2012, Joe McGinniss, mainstream media, Obama, right wing, Sarah Palin, Tea Party, The Rogue | Tags: 2012 primaries, glassner, GOP, sarah palin 2012 campaign, Scottsdale | 32 Comments »
“The Undefeated”: 2-Hour, $1Million Palin Commercial to Premier in June–in Iowa!
May 25, 2011
Scott Conroy, co-author of the 2009 quasi-bio Sarah from Alaska: The Sudden Rise and Brutal Education of a New Conservative Superstar, announces on RealClearPolitics that a film described as “Sarah’s Secret Weapon” will premiere in Iowa in June.
The film has been financed and produced by Stephen K. Bannon, an ex-Goldman Sachs investment banker previously known for In The Face of Evil: Reagan’s War in Word and Deed, and such other right-wing red meat feasts as Fire from The Heartland and Generation Zero.
Bannon clearly has money and anger to burn, and he’s now all-in with Sarah.
Laugh him off at your own (or our) peril.
Conroy, who obviously has gained membership in Sarah’s current coterie, tells all about the upcoming epic. I won’t even attempt to summarize. Read about it here and don’t blame me if you gag.
My friends and readers, I’ve said all along–and you can go back and look at earlier posts here–that Sarah will run for president next year. Some of you have accused me of taking that position only in an effort to hype THE ROGUE. Those sentiments were not even worth responding to.
I urge one and all to read Conroy’s story, which obviously was written with Sarah’s approval, and perhaps even at her behest.
Can anyone who reads it, and who is aware of Sarah’s move to Scottsdale, seriously doubt that she plans to take down President Obama?
If so, please explain your thinking, because, to me, the writing on the wall could not be clearer: JUST WHEN YOU THOUGHT IT WAS SAFE TO FORGET HER, SHE’S BACK IN YOUR LIVES AGAIN.
For “your,” read “our.”
The drums of ugliness may seem faint and in the distance now, but they’re going to grow louder and closer.
And don’t laugh them off, as Bill Maher, David Letterman and Rosie O’Donnell are shown laughing off Sarah in this film.
Her people are out there, they are numerous, they are angry: and there is not another credible Republican candidate in the race.
Up to this point, Sarah has laughed all the way to the bank.
Now she hopes to laugh all the way to the White House–swept there by a tidal wave of “real” Americans who don’t like elitist liberals (i.e. for a start, anyone with a college education) portraying them as racist, pitchfork-carrying buffoons.
Neither Romney nor Pawlenty can active them, but Sarah can.
And she plans to. Because God is telling her to do so.
Oh, man, this makes what I’ve written in THE ROGUE about how steeped she is in Christian Dominionism all the more relevant. She truly believes her “prayer shield” will keep her invulnerable to attacks between now and election day 2012.
After that, she’ll lay down the shield and pick up the sword of fire with which she’s waiting to smite all of us who do not see her as Queen Esther.
We laugh at her and call her a joke, but she’s serious. And she has big bucks behind her, and nothing to lose.
We’d better stop laughing now, or she’ll have us all crying out for mercy on Inauguration Day, 2013.
Posted in 2012, Breitbart, evangelical, Fox, Joe McGinniss, mainstream media, Obama, right wing, Sarah Palin, Tea Party, The Rogue | Tags: fire from the heartland, generation zero, in the face of evil, iowa primary, paln documentary, real clear politics, ronal reagan, scott conroy, stephen bannon | 141 Comments »
The Beat Goes On…Sarah + Van Susteren Tonight
May 19, 2011
Sarah’s back on her chatty pills. After two Fox News appearances last night, she’s scheduled to be back with her spiritual Siamese twin, Greta Van Susteren, on Fox tonight. Any day now, I expect to see a National Enquirer headline about the “love triangle” involving, Sarah, Greta and Franklin Graham. For a Scientologist, Greta sure hangs with militant fundamentalist Christians a lot.
Do you think Sarah is squeezing all she can out of Fox because she knows that once she announces her candidacy that golden goose will turn back into just another Lake Lucille grebe?
The math is simple: the longer Sarah delays her announcement, the longer she can keep her hands in Rupert Murdoch’s pockets.
And Fox is putting no pressure on her. Why should they? Every time she’s on their air, their ratings go up.
Expect this win-win situation to stay as it is, at least through the summer.
Until, let’s say, September 11.
The tenth anniversary of 9/11 is coming up. Keep an eye on Sarah’s plans for the occasion.
Posted in 2012, evangelical, Fox, Greta Van Susteren, Joe McGinniss, Sarah Palin, Tea Party, The Rogue | Tags: 9/11, 9/11 anniversary, Fox News, franklin graham, fundamentalist christian, golden goose, grebes, lake lucille, national enquirer, sarah palin 2012 campaign, Sarah Palin announce for presidency | 45 Comments »
Sarah Palin: Media scrutiny next year? “I just have to be prepared for it and overcome it.” UPDATE//: Ivan Moore in Anchorage Press says “absolutely yes, Sarah will run”
May 19, 2011
Oh, man, I was just on my way to bed when I saw Sarah-sites overdosing on her Hannity interview.
So I watched it. I figure that since I’m still writing my last chapter, I get paid to stay up late and do such things.
Some of it was (unintentionally) funny, such as:
I think one of my problems in this whole process is I don’t live for that game of the pundincy [sic] of the opining and speculating on who’s doing what …What I live for is fighting for family and faith and freedom in this country.
But I won’t go to sleep smiling over her later words:
I’m still not ready to make an announcement….I’m still seriously considering it and praying about it…I want to make sure that we have a candidate out there with Tea Party principles.
Perhaps scariest of all was Sarah’s Freudian slip at the start.
I realize that the Wasilla Assembly of God taught Sarah that Sigmund Freud was Sigmund Fraud, and that she’s believed it ever since, but that doesn’t immunize her from what the rest of us might call a Freudian slip. Speaking of Gingrich’s recent stumble out of the gate, Hannity asked her, in regard to 2012, “Is there going to be a different standard?” Meaning: will candidates be held accountable for their words? Sarah said:
There’s gotta be the preparation on all the candidates’ parts for those gotchas. That’s what the lamestream media is known for nowadays is the gotcha, trip-up questions, and I just have to be prepared for it and overcome it. (emphasis added.)
Why would someone who did not intend to seek the Republican nomination say “I”?
If she weren’t planning to run–notwithstanding how she makes everything about herself–wouldn’t she have said “they?”
Dr. Fraud, where are you now that we need you?
I, for one, am going to need someone to interpret the dreams/nightmares I’m about to have as I go to bed with Sarah’s mantra in my head:
“I just have to be prepared for it and overcome it.”
At least she’s got God helping her. I’m all alone down here, trying to muddle through with nothing more than rationality, a modicum of decency, and whatever I learn from my reporting.
Anybody know a good Jungian shrink? Because here’s what I’m afraid I’ll be seeing tonight:
UPDATE:
Alaskan pollster Ivan Moore says in Anchorage Press that it’s “Palin’s Perfect Storm.”
Here’s his lede:
Us pollsters don’t like making predictions. No really… we don’t. We can measure things at any given point in time, but we can’t, no matter how much others may want us to, see into the future. Today, however, I’m going to make an exception, because I’m absolutely certain of what I’m going to predict.
No ands, ifs or buts about it, Sarah Palin is going to run for president.
And so to bed.
Posted in evangelical, Fox, Joe McGinniss, mainstream media, right wing, Sarah Palin, Tea Party, The Rogue | Tags: causes of nausea, dreams, Fox News, freud, jung, lunacy, narcissistic personality disorder, nightmares, Sarah Palin, sean hannity | 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 »
