Sarah Palin Yesterday on Today

Yesterday on Today, Sarah Palin weakly co-hosted a segment with veteran Today show host Anne Curry on “Navigating the Challenges of Raising Teenage Girls.” Something  Anne generously said Sarah “knows a lot about.” 

(I guess navigating the challenges of hiding the serial pregnancies of your teenaged girl is something like raising one.)

Two women were guests in the segment; Dr. Janet Taylor, a clinical psychiatrist at Columbia University (mother of four girls) and Haley Kilpatrick the author of “The Drama Years,” a book about helping girls navigate through the challenges of the teen years. Ms. Kilpatrick’s book came about as a result of a program of study conducted with thousands of girls.

During the four minute clip, watch Sarah’s body language as compared to the other women. In the beginning, Anne reads the intro remarks (which you know, under contract, the producers provided to Sarah in advance) and the women guests lean slightly forward, look at Anne the entire time, and nod occasionally.  This is typical of women’s communication -  we signal we are listening  (eye contact and head nods, sometimes a smile) in a way men typically do not. When men nod, it's in agreement. Women do that too, but they also nod while listening, whether agreeing or not.  (Trust me, I studied communication. If you'd rather check it out for yourself,  I'd encourage that.)

Reality TV is the first “problem” put on the table in this discussion. Sarah’s co-host begins by  saying that a Chicago-area teacher recently said  “Too much focus on reality star type celebrities” is harmful to girls’ self-esteem.

As soon as Anne Curry begins to read from her notes, Sarah tunes out. She lowers her head and looks at the notes in her own lap. I think I could read her thoughts:

Oh man! On the very day Bristol’s reality show was scheduled to debut on TLC and then got delayed because of that horrible woman putting out that awful book telling on Todd… Flippin’ unbelievable! This is a gotcha topic.

Ms. Curry comments after reading the quote, and Sarah looks off into the distance, in stark contrast to the other two women who continue to focus on the speaker.  For eight full seconds, Sarah does not give  the other co-host any visual support, or any signal that she is listening. Then she turns and looks at Anne, not with the intense interest of the other women, not leaning into the group at all, and not even the slightest nod. Sarah looks physically detached; to me, her gaze suggests tolerance.

Three seconds later, Anne Curry says something that makes Sarah’s lips tighten and her tongue slip out.

There’s too much focus on reality star type celebrities. What are we not doing enough as mothers to help our daughters have more confidence?

The question is directed at Dr. Janet Taylor, and Sarah stiffly turns and looks at her. Sarah has not yet, not once, nodded her head to show she is engaging with anything that’s been said.

Dr. Taylor, says the “Most mothers, we want [our daughters] confident, successful.  So when we hear them talking and making comments about reality stars we need to focus them back on their own strengths their own values. We have to look at ourselves as mothers in terms of what we teach them. So often it is from a deficit model, you know, my thighs are too big,…my hair is not straight enough…I’m not brown enough, even.  We have to refocus them back to what's good about them. Teach them how to look in the mirror every day and say something good about themselves.

Wow, wish the camera had been on Sarah. Young black girls not thinking they are "brown enough”? Remember when she said the Tea Party didn't care if President Obama was "half white or half black" telling Sean Hannity the First Lady and the President should "refudiate" the NAACP? 

And doesn't this get right into Sarah's business?  She has a high school aged daughter who intends to go to "hair school" and  her older daughter made major permanent surgical changes to her own body before she was old enough to legally drink wine coolers.

The professor from Columbia finishes. Sarah jumps into the conversation. Here’s what’s been on Sarah Palin’s mind since the first “hello”:

You know what would be nice, though, is if the marketplace would demand, though, that maybe some reality shows would start portraying some very healthy, independent , young women who are striving for strong work ethic examples and doing those things that are kind of the antithesis of so many of the things that we are seeing what’s being portrayed in reality shows.

Anne nods and nods and nods throughout Sarah’s thinly veiled self-serving defense of Bristol and this opportunistic plug for “Bristol Palin: Life’s A Tripp” reality show.  How convenient, that Momma Grizzly Palin is suggesting people create  “marketplace demand” for a show with an independent young woman with a strong work ethic the very day the first episode of Bristol's show was supposed be on the TLC network but  mysteriously didn't air.   

This is all so familiar.   There are no new tools in the Palin toolbox. The old ones work just fine. Just like the " Dance Bristol, Dance " campaign worked to get a lazy and untalented Bristol into the finals of Dancing With the Stars,  we should expect to see a “grassroots” movement coming out of  C4P demanding this “antithesis” of reality shows get on the air.

Back to Today, yesterday.  It’s the other guest’s turn and she ignores Sarah's "contribution" and says she "agree[s] with Dr. Taylor. “We need to as adults model great behavior at home, in the classroom, and extracurricular activities.”

Dr. Janet interjects “Fathers play an important role in how girls our feel about themselves in terms of being interested in what they are doing. Being interested in schools…

Hold on a minute. Wasilla Middle School was where Todd Palin met Shailey Tripp for the first time.  If I made that connection, Sarah must have. You betcha. Awesome.

…Our kids, our girls learn the most about what they hear at home and  what they see us doing. We…place too much emphasis on the power of reality TV and not enough on our own power at home.”

Sarah whines, coming in at 2:23  “You know when we talk about, too, the father’s role in all this, and when you talk about the mother’s relationship with their daughter, there is a fine line  between  wanting to be your child's friend, wanting to the cool mom or dad, the fun one, and being their parent and I think that today perhaps you see this in your studies, too,  too often a parent wanting to be their child’s friend and kind of skipping that parenting..”

Ms. Kilpatrick added to that, telling the famous Momma Grisly who took on David Letterman over a joke about Bristol and unnecessarily drew sexually-based attention to then-14 year old Willow:

 “Absolutely, it is not your job to prevent your daughter from feeling disappointment or pain. You don’t want to interject yourself into anything that happens in your daughter’s life. You don’t want her to think that you are going to jump in and save her from any bad thing that is going to happen in her life And too,  you don’t want her to think that she can’t handle it, that she can’t handle it on her own.

Encourage and teach boundaries and draw the line and let our kids know consequences of what happens when they either fail or succeed."

Wait just a flippin’ minute here. Sarah’s email show she thought it was funny when Piper suggested pulling someone’s hair. She was proud when Willow mouthed off to the security guard in the State Office Building. She ignores or encourages bad behavior. We have never seen her reprimand one of those spoiled brats. I dare any troll to site a single example. Where are the boundaries, where are the consequences?

Piper was such a pisser on that bus trip last summer it made news. And as for being a cool mom – Bristol made the point in her book that all their friends think her parents are cool.  This is a theme the Resident Troll repeats, too. Sarah is so cool. The kid’s friends just love her.

 Yeah, Bristol,  it’s cool that your mom let you stay over at Levi’s house all night. It’s cool that Levi got to live with teenaged you. It’s cool that your book opens with the scene of you going camping with guys and other girls and your mother hardly looks up from what she’s doing at the table. So cool.

At the end, Sarah tries to impress everyone with mid-twentieth century Dr. Spock-type knowledge that our grandmothers understood without pretending they read a study on it “… and kids inherently want those boundaries, and not only do they need them, but they want them.”

Dr. Taylor squeezes in this truism right at the end, “That comes from family time…”

I want to shout - Hey Sarah! Photo ops are NOT family time.  Neither is family time synonymous with filming reality television or campaigning.  Your girls reflect what they learned at home. Willow's shorts are too short. Bristol's face is not the one God gave her. Piper wears heels and carries a designer purse before hitting puberty. Your family reeks the results of your neglectful parenting.

Congratulations Grandma Sherry

It's being reported that Levi and Sunny are in the family way.  The timing (about three months) sounds just about right for Grandma Sherry.  If I'm correct, she completes her 3 year obligation to society and will be free to take this new grandchild out in a stroller - even if, in Alaska, that means going to the mall.

As I have in the past, I continue to wish them well.

Bristol Palin: Life's a Tripp - Nothing to See, Move Along

It’s sad how that youngest Johnston is everyone’s pawn. During the Christmas holidays and his own  birthday ( real date it is roughly during that season) the Johnstons  didn’t get time with him. Then came the January  thaw.  Bristol let the kid spend time with his daddy on more than one weekend - practically unheard of and a noteworthy change - and another visit was arranged near Valentine's day.  

Because this coincided with Bristol's return to Wasilla life, and saying she had given up the search for a spotlight, silly me, I thought the visitations were indication that those things were true.  I'm gullible. How embarrassing.

On February 29 the Lifetime Channel announced Bristol’s new plan to make money off of Tripp – a reality show based on her Wasilla life raising the kid she conceived with Levi. Tonight is the first airing of the first show starring Bristol and Tripp. 

Less than two years ago, while wearing an engagement ring, she told Us Weekly:

"We get offers all the time to do reality shows, but it's not for me. I don't think I'd ever consider it. It wouldn't suit our lifestyle, and I don't want that invasion of privacy."

Bristol, Bristol, Bristol.  You are your mother's daughter.  Not only did you consider it , as our friends at Politicalgates discovered, you bought the house last summer to stage the show. Is that when you signed the contract, and sold your son's name?   Who wants that invasion of privacy?  You do!  Wouldn't suit your lifestyle?  Chasing fame and pimping Tripp is the only lifestyle you've had since 2009.  Bristol Sheeran, you've grown into the name your parents gave you - B. S. 


This young woman is a master manipulator and a practiced prevaricator. Look how carefully worded is this quote from an article she sold to In Touch magazine January 5, 2012:


 “I wasn’t really into the Hollywood thing,” she says. “After that, I just realized that I was over it. I was ready to come home.” 


Ah, the Hollywood thing.  See?  The reporter assumed. And the reporter didn't ask the right questions.   The reporter was being sloppy when introducing the quote by saying Bristol "realized she was done with showbiz..." She said "Hollywood" not "showbiz." Just like Sarah parsing her words about being Trig's mother.  "Wackos say I'm not Trig's mom."  Of course that's not what Truthers say; the doubters say Sarah didn't give birth to Trig.  Words are important.


I can't call that reporter gullible without reminding myself that I got taken in by Tripp getting to spent a bit of time with Levi in January and February.  I should have known something was up. 

Bristol had given Levi the big middle finger one more time when she made it sound as if it were Levi's fault that he wasn't seeing Tripp:

Though Bristol has the full support of her family, she’s still getting zero help from Tripp’s father, Levi Johnston, whom she often sees driving around town in his truck. “He’s not using his visitation, and he’s not paying his child support,” Bristol reports.   

The magazine came out, and right after that, Bristol let Tripp see Levi. More than once.  It's obvious now that those  visitations  were meant to get Tripp comfortable around people who were nearly strangers so that when the camera crew started shooting it all would look nicey-nice, as if Bristol had been a good mommy who had always wanted her son and his daddy to bond. But Bristol's ploy didn't work;  Levi isn't buying into it. He doesn’t want anything to do with pimping out his son with a new show. 

No matter what Bristol said, when Levi and she briefly reunited, there was another show in the works The few who purchased Deer in the Headlights know that the $300, 000 paid for an exclusive announcement of the second engagement went mostly to Bristol in a Thomas Van Flein slight of hand. (The "couple" agreed to split the payment 50/50.  Then, Sarah's attorney -supposedly without the quitter's knowledge-drew up a contract with seventy-five percent to BS Palin and 25% to the guy who thought he was in love. )  Levi let it go, because he thought they had a future together, a show coming up, and a lifetime to share everything.  He's older and wiser now.

If you tune in tonight, don't expect to see or hear anything new. Keep your truth meter tuned up. And in spite of how much Sarah gushes tomorrow morning about Bristol when she makes her Today show appearance, don't be gullible.

Remember, there is nothing new under the Alaskan sun.

What's in Mercede's Safe?

Yup, Sadie has a safe. No, not a locked box in a bank with a few stocks and maybe her grandmother's wedding ring. Nor am I talking about  a money box with a little padlock  or combination lock.  I'm talking about a real safe. The sort of thing that can't be easily broken into or easily stolen from your house or office. 

Why does Mercede Johnston, unemployed 20 year old whose claim to fame is being the aunt of a Palin spawn, need one of those?  Even if being in Playboy’s September issue paid well enough to have money left over after trips, expensive gifts for family and friends and to keep her in manicures, highlights, and designer jeans for a year-  even if that were true, a bank is the place for that kind of money.   

A safe is only necessary if you have things that someone may break in to steal.  That could be money - if one has a need for lots of ready cash.  Safes are a must have for the Todd Palins of the world - no banks, no records, lots of cash - but this is Levi's pretty, young, spunky sister Sadie I'm talking about.  I don't see cash on hand as the reason for a safe.


Unless there's unreported income from Babygate. That's not so far-fetched.  Babygate income in large amounts wouldn't be deposited in an account. Palins wouldn't want it to be traceable. That something Todd knows all about.

Okay, that's one plausible scenario. Here's another. Sadie is the keeper of Trig's birth certificate. Or a copy.  Because when he was born, Levi thought that was his son.  That's a wild guess. 


But the bet I'd make, is that Sadie has photos the Palins don't want released. Or, a twist on that would be Sadie wants the Palins to believe she has photos that would do them great damage. 

No one disagrees with this fact - Mercede is the keeper of the Johnston family photos.  In Deer in the Headlights, Levi talked about her being a shutterbug.  On her own blog she said she has and always has had a camera with her. 


In 2008, Sadie's MySpace pictures went viral as soon as the news outlets gave us the Palin kid's names and pajama-clad bloggers and their readers logged into MySpace.  The McCain campaign didn't know about Sadie's MySpace, or Levi's for that matter.  Obscure bloggers and their readers found them and witnessed history being erased. Things began disappearing while the world watched.  Below is a comment from a blog that briefly batted around the Babygate questions; in response to someone suggesting that "Suchandrika" had photoshopped a screenshot of then-mystery girl Sadie's MySpace:

Mercede Johnston's picture stash may well be the biggest reason for the placement of McCain operatives in the house.  Sadie was naiive back then. She didn't protect her valuables.  She is older and wiser now. Sadie has a safe.

When we learned in 2010 that her computer was wiped clean during the McCain/Palin campaign,  she exaggerated the story, leading us to conclude she had no copies of the lost pictures.  People felt sorry for her. Some clicked the PayPal button on her blog, reinforcing the message that photos = cash.

I say reinforcing because it was Sadie who sold Star magazine a picture of  infant Tripp in March, 2009 for $5,000 (according to "Not Afraid of Life"), and it was Sadie who made the "mistake" of including a  picture of Levi holding baby Trig in the Palin kitchen when turning over Tripp pictures to the Tyra Banks Show staff when the Johnstons made their first television appearance one month later, April 2009.  

Palin's Deceptions was quick to pick up on the new Trig siting,  and the anti-Palin blogworld lit up. The photo of Levi cuddling Trig had not been seen before, and it was easy to date - it belonged with the Triggybear set.  

 If the Palins were as surprised as we were to see that picture, they, too, must have thought "What other pictures has Sadie still got?"   Remember - the computer hard drive was replaced, stolen, or scrubbed in the fall of 2008, so  Sadie's photo collection was supposed to have disappeared. But here was an early 2008 picture of Trig.  Oh my. Big. Potential. Problem.

If we could track the money, figure out when it first began to flow into the Johnston home, it might be right after this one-two set of photo punches that 17 year old Sadie threw. At that time, Sherrie was facing felony drug charges,  Sadie was in high school, Levi had dropped out and was unemployed.  A year later, when they  were evicted, so to speak, because Keith stopped paying the mortgage, Sadie was sad to leave her childhood home, but she had money to decorate her new room, drove a new car (small, but new) and pimp it out with pink HD headlights and headrest televisions.  Where did the money come from to decorate the room for Tripp?  Get a French manicure? Put gasoline in the car? Buy lots of designer jeans. LOTS of $150 - 200 jeans!


Then came summer 2010 and a second engagement. Bristol got another ring from Levi. She got something else, too. Levi's pictures. 


That was when I realized that the few photos I had of me and Bristol were gone. I only had had, maybe, five...Not anymore. The envelope where I kept them was gone...I asked her about it once, when I met her to get Tripp and, behind his head, she gave me the bird. (Deer in the Headlights pg 252)

Sadie is smarter than her brother.  Since that first loss of pictures, the one during the campaign, she keeps photos in a safe place. They come out one at a time, as needed. 

Remember the “found this in a shoebox” release of a young Levi in a green t-shirt holding Trig in the hospital after he was born. That was posted June 24 , 2011 on Immoral Minority. Bristol's book,  in which she essentially was accusing Levi of rape, had come out three days before. Not very likely that this was a coincidence. Bristol trashed Levi. Mercede gave us a picture.  If Bristol doesn't watch out, Mercede can talk about that picture and tell much more than who is in it. Much more.


Seeing her nephew is  what Aunt Mercede claims to want  more than anything money can buy, but we all learn sooner or later that we can't always get what we want.  Compromises can be worked out when people try hard enough. 

When Mercede Johnston goes public with an old picture that we haven’t seen before, you have to wonder if it's a message. This week  she posted an old picture of Levi to her Facebook  page.   You can see it below along with her current Facebook profile picture. (For those who are new to all this - that is a January 2012 picture of Sadie is  holding her nephew Tripp).

The question for Mercede today is, why the long look back?  Has there been too much chatter lately about Tripp’s paternal genes? Or are you reminding Bristol, herself, who fathered the boy?  Does this have anything to do with Bristol’s disapproval of Auntie Sadies' upcoming Playboy redux?

Oh, again for very new Truthers, now that she's an adult, Mercede Johnston makes money from selling pictures of herself, too. So what if she's posed for Playboy?That's her business. Her body. Her choice. The Tripp, Keith Johnston and Levi picture in 2009 wasn't hers to release, but she was young and the money probably impressed her. That's all I'll say about that.

Seeing her nephew is what Aunt Mercede continually claims is what she wants more than anything money can buy.  She does like things money can buy, though.  She has a walk-in closet full of  designer jeans, Coach sneakers in every color, Coach purses,  takes extended vacations to resort areas and expensive theme parks, and goes shopping while most of us go to work. Unlikely that one Playboy shoot paid for all of that.  Besides, that shoot was last year. She's been doing well for much longer. Was if funded by a story here and another there in the Star and the Enquirer? Doesn't add up for me.

If it's true that the Palins know or suspect that Sadie has pictures we haven’t seen, pictures they wouldn't want us to see, then until the pictures run out or the story comes out, we won't see Tripp's auntie working retail or serving coffee.  No real work for Mercede. Except maybe as a model, a Playboy bunny, or a reality TV star.  


This can be very  useful for Truthers. Sadie's employment or lack thereof is a gauge we can use.

If Mercede continues her busy social life of restaurants, movies, shopping and the like (no she isn't tied to the house, not by any stretch)  with no clear means of income, we can and should assume that  Babygate secrets are in that safe.  Which means that someday, via Mercede Johnston’s photo evidence and first-person accounts, Babygate can be solved.  


You would think that Ms. Johnston can make, as Sarah would say, "rill money" by writing a tell all and putting in some of those pictures. Politicalgates encouraged her again this week to write a tell-all.  Think about Mercede posing in Playboy. Fame, attention, cameras, interviews. Fifteen minutes of fame, maybe more. So if she'd do that, why wouldn't she be writing a memoir?  


My my. The Palin cash must be really good.   


Ok, that's settled.  


The price negotiated with  the Palins must be a decent amount that is going to be coming in for a very long time. I say this because, unlike most 20 year old single women who have not had a job since high school, Sadie's in the market for a condo.  She must be paying cash because otherwise a bank would want proof of income that will cover monthly payments. 


Shailey Tripp told us Todd Palin knows how to hide transactions; he has income he isn't reporting to the IRS. Todd Palin has ways.  Bet Todd Palin has a safe. Or two. Or three. Maybe in a few in different states.


Mercede may not know anything about Shailey Tripp's book Boys Will Be Boys.  I hope she's blissfully ignorant about all that. And I'm in no way saying any money going to Sadie is  part of Todd's nasty business profits from oppressed women he prostitutes out in today's version of slavery. Any quiet money going to Sadie would be coming from Sarah's speeches, right? It's Sarah's problem more than it's Todd's so why should he pay for it?  I don't think he pays Sarah's bills.   

What is important for Truthers is this : if Palin money dries up, then how would hush money get to Mercede?  It wouldn't.  So if there are things in that safe that could provide needed income, then we will see the photos.  That would be the time for a Mercede Johnston book. 


When the money dries up that’s been keeping her walk-in closet full, paying for  makeup, pink HD headlights,  movies, concerts, restaurants, travel, and  backrest TVs in her car, that young woman will unlock the safe, go to someone she trust among bloggers, get hooked up with a publisher, and editor, and write her own book. And she won't need a ghost writer like Nancy French.

This is my guess.  If you think I could be onto something, Truthers, and if  you are serious about getting to the truth about Babygate you have a powerful tool. You are in front of it right now. So, have you contacted the IRS yet and reported Todd Palin?

Remember, you don't have to give your name.   The IRS may even give you a cut of the unpaid taxes.  Now THAT would make Sarah angry. 

Sarah Heath Palin Has No Diploma, No Courage, No Decency

No matter how often or who has asked, Sarah Palin has never publically displayed Trig’s birth certificate. Makes us all wonder what it really says.  We Truthers also speculate about that other official document she hasn’t produced - a college diploma. She talks about having a degree in journalism, but like her stories about being pregnant in 2007-2008 and giving birth on April 18, 2008, the evidence suggests she’s lying.

How is it possible that a person devote years of college-level study to a profession, frequently lay claim to having said degree, but not one time demonstrate, expound upon, or otherwise apply the learning she claims she acquired? Never has Sarah Palin’s criticism of the press pointed to any knowledge of the profession other than the journalistic cliché the rest of us learned in the fourth grade (who, what, when, where, why, AND HOW. She always forgets that last one). In fact, Sarah in November 2010 claims she learned “Who, what, when, where, why,” in college! Good grief, was that college accredited?

Asked by  Sean Hannity on Fox news if she would ever sit down with Katie Couric for another interview and how it would go if she did, the governor who quit after two years said:

I want to help clean up the state that is so sorry today of journalism. And I have a communications degree. I studied journalism -- who, what, where, when, and why of reporting. I will speak to reporters who still understand that cornerstone of our democracy, that expectation that the public has for truth to be reported. And then we get to decide our own opinion based on the facts reported to us. So a journalist, a reporter who is so biased and will, no doubt, spin and gin up whatever it is that I have to say to create controversy, I swear to you, I will not my waste my time with her. Or him.

If only that first sentence above were true, great  good could be done from Sarah’s bully pulpit.  If only she actually had that combination of education and the desire to use it for the common good.  Her conservative spin notwithstanding, I, for one, would welcome public debate started by a former VP candidate on such topics as the affects of corporate ownership of the news, how the telecommunications act led to the disappearance of locally owned radio stations,  crime as entertainment, how the media stereotypes criminals and victims, crimes against women and how they are portrayed in the news, media censorship as a military strategy, first amendment rights in the age of the internet, or a series of addresses on ethics questions in journalism.  But, as you can see, these  topics are suitable for college theses, and Sarah doesn’t have the depth and breath to contribute on that level. 

When some ignoramus compares Sarah Palin to Barack Obama and concludes she is more accomplished, I only have to look back at two historical moments from the past four years and I know, without  a doubt, that Sarah Palin pales in comparison and that anyone who can’t see that is unwilling to accept the truth. Barack Obama remains cool under pressure, and addresses the big picture, keeping his personal life removed from public issues. Sarah Palin is the opposite. She makes things personal, using cutting words and powder-keg phrases, sometimes even sexual references ie cojones, limp, impotent.  And, by the way, “pales in comparison” is not an ethnic reference, and I purposely avoided describing her as whiney because that is a  gender-packed word. This isn’t about those things.  It’s about accomplishment, education, ability, maturity, and leadership.   

As  evidence to support these statements, I’m including two historically significant speeches, one from then-candidate for nominee for President, Barack Obama and one from former nominee for Vice President Sarah Palin.  Showing them chronologically, the first is the candidate Barack Obama’s  March 2008 response to the Rev. Wright story.  It’s a message that should be studied by school children and college students, historians and parents. It should be remembered by all of us who heard it in real time. Senator Obama gave a carefully prepared and brilliantly delivered speech, holding forth on the subject of race in America, a subject that makes 99% of Americans cringe.  He did so without seething anger. He did so with humility. And yet he was able to do it in a way that should now make all of us proud to call him Mr. President.  Would you like to hear it again?  Gather your children and grandchildren and help them understand this subject. Do this in addition to tuning in to this day’s news coverage of dead teenage boy in Florida.

Sarah Palin’s turn to made an historical address came in early 2011. Like Barack Obama and the Reverend Wright tapes, Sarah Palin was being pulled into a national controversy and being criticized loudly and seemingly everywhere for the actions of someone else and she, too, chose to make a public statement.  When Sarah Palin addressed  the nation following the shooting rampage in Arizona that killed a nine-year-old girl and six others, and wounded 13 including a female member of Congress who took a  bullet in the head, she managed to make  the message about herself. Unbelievably, she made it obvious that  she was  including herself among the victims, scolding “journalists and pundits” for their “manufactur[ing] a Blood Libel”  and complaining about “mindless finger pointing” as if that were the most important issue in the aftermath of that Saturday morning bloodbath in Arizona. 

Over her left shoulder, a picture of baby Trig sits on the mantle near the American flag. She, like our president, uses phrases like “sacred freedoms” and “Founding Fathers” and calls for God’s guidance and the peace that He provides. For the sake of educating your children and grandchildren, you may want to review Sarah’s failed attempt to look presidential and to deliver an appropriate message to the American people after a national tragedy and explain to them why this speech brought about bi-partisan disapproval :

Sarah isn't much of a student. 

She didn't learn a thing from Barack Obama's reaction when under fire. Not everyone can be a Harvard educated lawyer, and no one is asking Sarah Palin to match the presentation of a Constitutional Law professor, but sheeesh, where is her decency? All that time she spent in church and she didn't even learn common decency.

On the one hand, Senator Obama presented a history lesson. He spoke of the willingness of people in successive generations to continue the march for a more just, more equal, more free, more caring and more prosperous  America. He appealed to the goodness within us;  "We may not look the same, we may not come from the same place, but we all want move in the same direction. – toward a better future for our children and our grandchildren."  And on the other hand, Sarah Palin's speech resulted in a history lesson of the origins of the words  "Blood Libel" and a civics lesson on not using those words because they can be deeply offensive.

The Huffington Post printed a release from  Jeremy Ben-Ami, leader of Jewish advocacy group:

The country's attention is rightfully focused on the memorial service for the victims of Saturday's shooting. Our prayers continue to be with those who are still fighting to recover and the families of the victims. The last thing the country needs now is for the rhetoric in the wake of this tragedy to return to where it was before.

We hope that Governor Palin will recognize, when it is brought to her attention, that the term "blood libel" brings back painful echoes of a very dark time in our communal history when Jews were falsely accused of committing heinous deeds. When Governor Palin learns that many Jews are pained by and take offense at the use of the term, we are sure that she will choose to retract her comment, apologize and make a less inflammatory choice of words.

I never heard about an apology, but what I did find in my look backwards, was that on the Conservatives4Palin (C4P) website four days after Sarah's speech, during a time when her speech was  being called a big political mistake , there was a post titled

What Happened to the Who, What, When, Where and Why of Journalism?

Not only does the "author" Sheya, write suspiciously like Sarah herself she even leaves the "HOW" off of "the Who, What, When, Where, and Why."  This person, whom I believe was Sarah, stresses the point that there is "no supporting evidence to suggest any connection" between Sarah and the shootings.  Isn't that what we hear over and over about the fake pregnancy?  No evidence. Chuck Heath said it like this, "You can't prove that." 

Shaya on C4P, finished in a very Sarah-like manner. " Come on cut me some slack, I didn’t even go to Journalism school."  Who talks like that - "Journalism school"?  Wouldn't most people say "go to college and study journalism" or say "I didn't study journalism in school" or maybe say "major in journalism."  Who says "go to Journalism school?" except Sarah Palin.  Is journalism school like hair school? (The quote below is from Fox news Feb.17, 2012, I hope my computer didn't pick up a nasty virus looking this up.)

 Willow’s doing awesome. She’s going to graduate high school a year early, and then she’s going off to hair school, and she’s so excited about that. She’s 17, and she was in New York and D.C. with me at the beginning of the week, and Willow got a little taste of real life because she was telling some folks that she was proud that she was getting to graduate a year early and that she’d gotten everything lined up and then she got accepted to hair school. Then it occurred to her, she was like, “I think they looked at me, mom, like, ‘well if you’re willing to pay the tuition, doesn’t everybody get accepted to hair school?’” But she’s still real excited, and I’m excited for her.

Maybe Sheya was Willow. 

 And that's as funny as today's message is going to get. Because this really isn't funny at all. It's stomach-turning. When I compare the actions of Barack Obama to Sarah Palin in these two videos, what I see is the difference between day and night.  One shedding light to dispel darkness, one exposing the darkness within herself and spreading it to others.

Meanwhile, there is a public that still follows Sarah Palin's interviews, tweets, and the C4P website. She could have made strong statements about the tragic shooting in Florida.  She could have offered condolences to the parents of a dead child. She could have, but she didn't. She doesn't have the words, the class, or the courage.

Sarah, where’s your diploma?   

Sarah, where’s your heart?

Sarah, why haven’t you spoken out about Trayvon Martin? About guns killing people?  Or about police drug testing an unarmed dead black kid but not the armed adult who  disobeyed the 911 operator, tracked the kid down and shot him?

Sarah, sit down and shut up.

Sunday Funnies

H

These aren't all new, but the truth doesn't get old.  Have a great Sunday, Truthers. 

Missing Keith Olbermann

I miss Keith Olbermann. If Keith were on MSNBC this evening, we might see a picture of Todd Palin and the words “WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD!”  

Alaskans’ First Pimp Todd Palin deserves that WPIW designation as much as anyone who ever made the list – Rush Limbaugh, Dick Cheney, Sarah Palin and her mini-me Bristol.  I wonder if that would have been a record - the only family with a trinity of WPIW honorees.

Night after night during John McCain’s failed 2008 run, Keith spoke his mind and our thoughts. He made the phrase“That woman is an idiot” synonymous with Sarah Palin. It made us laugh. We nodded our heads in agreement. We repeated it to each other, posted it on the internet, said it under our breath when watching the news. Sarah knew it was “God’s plan” for her to be Vice President. (see Game Change the movie and read the book). Therefore, Sarah knew  Keith Olbermann was acting in opposition to God’s plan. No doubt  in her mind. Mr. O was serving Satan himself as evidenced by the liberal-leaning news commentator’s relish in exposing her political inadequacy. Pay no attention to the evidence before your very eyes. The Couric interview – ignore that. The Gibson gaffes – ignore those. The out and out lie about being vindicated in the Wooten matter. 

In Palinland, truth is  whatever Sarah says it is and if your eyes or ears tell you something else, your faculties have failed you.  Sarah’s the queen, whatever she decrees is fact.  Sarah facts include “Trig is my biological son,” “My children are overachievers”(from Going Rogue) “Bristol is a hard worker,” and a slew of lies – Sarah facts- we saw Steve Schmitt dealing with in the HBO movie Game Change. 

I don't know of any prophecy warning us about Sarah Palin, but all of us were warned against such a person when we were children and our parents and teachers read us the story of  The Emperor’s New Clothes.”

Tea Party members have obviously forgotten that silly emperor,  duped by conniving “tailors” into believing  they had made him a magical suit finer than any other. (He bought a garment only wise people could see?  Did they also sell him a bridge to nowhere?)  He was so proud, he put on his “suit” and held a parade to show it off to the townsfolk. (In today’s world, he’d have posted pictures on Facebook, or written a "memoir") The crowd of simpletons, sycophants, scaredy-cats, and suck-ups cheered.  “Beautiful!” “Wonderful!” “Amazing!” (“Sarah! Sarah! Sarah! Sarah!”)  

But one little boy wasn’t fooled. In his short life he had not yet succumbed to peer pressure, political correctness, or self-interest. With innocence and honesty,  and probably giggling, he pointed and shouted out “The Emperer’s not wearing clothes!”Only then did the crowd burst out laughing, admitting to one another what they knew all along – that the Emperor didn’t have amazing, beautiful clothing at all, he wasn’t wiser than everyone else. What was on display for everyone to plainly see was his arrogance and his stupidity.

Keith Olbermann was our 2008 campaign version of that boy. He told the truth. Sarah is an Idiot. Bristol deserved her Worst Person in the World designation. But there are crowds of idiots who don't see what we see. Tea Party Patriots,  simpletons, sycophants, scaredy-cats, and suck-ups fill up the Conservatives 4 Palin website with stupid comments about how beautiful, wonderful and amazing that woman is. Like the stupid emperor,  they part with their money for the privilege of being taken in by a smooth talking hustlers.  And like Sarah Palin, they probably think Keith Olbermann is evil. Applying the same criteria,  the little boy in the story of “The Emporer’s New Clothes” was EVIL!.  

I’ve often wondered if he lost his post at MSNBC because of a Palin full-court press. If so, Sarah surely feels vindicated. No remorse. No sympathy. No sympathy because Sarah believes, knows without a doubt, that she was chosen by God to run for VP and was supposed to win, which means Keith Olbermann was working for the devil and helped the devil win. 

When my generation was young that story was supposed to encourage us to grow up to be brave – brave like Keith Olbermann. And if shown a picture of Todd Palin and we should say “That man is EVIL!”We should be the ones shrieking. After all,  Todd Palin has been exposed for:

Pressuring a destitute single mom with disabled children into prostitution to increase his power and wealth.

Secretly collecting sex-related information about business associates.

Arranging travel for prostitutes in a multi-state operation of sex for hire.

Mr. Olbermann might like to read this post. He might get a chuckle out of it. And he might want to look between the covers of “Boys Will Be Boys” using the Amazon.com “Look Inside” feature.  Does anyone have a Twitter account? Maybe a few dozen of you could send him this message. Think of it as making Sarah Palin squirm. If you are so inclined, leave a comment saying you did it. That will make Todd squirm, too.

Maybe she’s pointing at the screen right now and shrieking! They are all  EVIL! I hope so.