Palin Family Circus News - Saturday, October 16, 2010

Meg Whitman, like several other nationally prominent Republicans, has evaded the question of Sarah Palin's qualifications to be President. The LA Times reports:

Asked whether she thought Palin was qualifed to be president, Whitman said: "Technically, she’s qualified to be president because you have to be a U.S. citizen and be in good standing. I think the voters of the United States are going to decide who's going to be the next Republican nominee and there's going to be a lot of competition for that."

There are millions of people just as qualified as Palin, using the "constitutionally qualifed" standard.

Sarah Palin has been in California, and she will appear at a Republican National Committee rally, today, in Orange County. But two of California's office seekers are staying away:

A Field Poll released last week found that 58 percent of the state's registered voters hold a negative view of Palin, although she remains quite popular among Republicans. In addition, two-thirds of independent voters would be less inclined to support a candidate endorsed by her.

That could help explain why California's two most prominent Republican candidates this year — gubernatorial hopeful Meg Whitman and Senate candidate Carly Fiorina — will be absent from Saturday's RNC rally in Anaheim.

San Jose Mercury News' article also describes Palin's appearance and speech, yesterday, alongside Howard Dean, in Sacramento, California's capitol. Palin tried to convince the audience that Republicans are on the side of the little guy, saying, "This election is about the little guy, the common man, independence, and the middle class — those forgotten and ignored for far too long, and now they're fighting back," but she then slipped-up by saying, "They — we — are saying enough is enough."



The LA Times' Top of the Ticket column has an article about Sarah Palin's Alaska. The column says, "I'd rather be doing this than in some stuffy old political office," Palin is heard saying while looking out on across a beautiful snowy vista. And how can you not agree with her? The show begins November 14, and a 30-second promotional video can be seen at The LA Times.



Any publicity is good publicity? Celebrity Cafe is reporting, "The porn actress best known for her parodies of Sarah Palin says she will not do films that require unprotected sex."

Palin Family Circus News - Friday, October 8, 2010

Delaware's Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, Christine O'Donnell, is the latest to evade a question of whether Sarah Palin is qualified to be President. The NY Daily News reports:

Sarah Palin's finding out the Tea Party is a tough crowd.

Palin's mini-me, Delaware Senate contender Christine O'Donnell, ducked a question over whether Palin is qualified to be President, joining fellow Tea Party Senate hopeful Joe Miller in declining to comment.

Palin, the face of the budding Tea Party movement, is widely seen as a contender for the GOP nomination in 2012.

O'Donnell broke her boycott of national media Thursday and chatted with CNN reporter Jim Acosta. In response to his question about whether Palin was qualified to be commander-in-chief, O'Donnell said:

"Is she running for President? Again, hypothetical."



New York's "Nobody Wants to Say That Sarah Palin Is Qualified to Be President," tells us, in part:

Sarah Palin sure has some fair-weather friends. ...

Guess what's going to happen now, besides Todd Palin sending a sassy e-mail to Christine O'Donnell. Reporters are going to start asking every prominent Republican with electoral ambitions whether they think Palin is qualified to be president, hoping for another awkward dodge. Any such dodges, along with those of Miller and O'Donnell, will be reported in the media and contribute to the erosion of whatever viability Pain has as a presidential candidate. Palin has her friends Joe Miller and Christine O'Donnell to thank for that.

About one year ago, Mississippi's Republican governor, Haley Barbour, damned Palin with faint praise by saying that she is constitutionally qualified to be President. Guess what? Millions of others are also, too.



Salon's "America Hates Sarah Palin" has:

According to a new CBS poll, America really doesn't care for Sarah Palin. She is viewed favorably by 22% of Americans, and unfavorably by 48%. Those are not great numbers for a potential 2012 candidate. ...

... The polls also serve as a reminder that the Fox/Tea Party bloc of enraged older white people, for all their bluster about taking "their" country back, represent a sliver of the population. ...

The Washington Post's Jonathan Capehart has the best palinsight around and wrote of a Palin candidacy:

Taking time out from bashing out-of-touch elites, Sarah Palin went to West Palm Beach on Wednesday to tape a webcast for newsmax.com and made a laughable pronouncement. According to Jose Lambiet's "Page 2 Live" blog at The Palm Beach Post, the former half-term governor of Alaska and 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee said that she would run in 2012 if "the American people" want her to.

Earth to Palin: they don't. ...

... Now, this might difficult for Palin or her legions of fans and admirers to accept, but "the American people" have consistently said they don't think she is qualified or should be president. You will recall that last month I said Sarah Palin is everywhere -- and going nowhere. A CBS News poll released on Oct. 6 shows nothing has changed. ...

... Palin told her Palm Beach audience that she wasn't sure if voters were ready for her "unconventional," "out-of-the-box" style. As the polls have shown since late 2008, they're not.

"Earth to Palin?" Let me go all palingates here and offer "proof" that the Palins are from another planet:

Palin Family On Their Home Planet

Click the photo to enlarge it

More photos from TLC's "Sarah Palin's Alaska" can be seen here.



Celebrity Cafe's "Bristol Palin Hasn't Noticed Weight Loss From Grueling 'Dancing with the Stars' Workouts," quotes Bristol: "I haven't really noticed a change in [my body] ... I think most people lose weight [on the show] because they're too stressed out to eat. I haven't had that problem!"



The NY Daily News has "Sarah Palin: 'Dancing with the Stars' asked my husband Todd to be on ABC show before Bristol joined."

Todd must have sloughed it off onto Bristol, because he can't dance, right?

Palin Family Circus News - Monday, September 27, 2010 -- Updated !!!!!!!

From the AP:

LOS ANGELES — Sarah Palin may be outspoken, but she kept her opinions to herself on "Dancing With the Stars."

The former vice-presidential candidate was in the ABC ballroom Monday to cheer on her daughter, whom she called "Bristol the pistol."

Palin had only good things to say about her daughter's competitors and the show's three judges when interviewed briefly by show host Tom Bergeron.

Palin praised the "courage, joy and exuberance" of the dancers and kept mum about the judges, saying, "It's like a hockey game. You're not going to chew out the refs before your team is up." [emphasis added]


Leave it to Mama Sarah Palin to cheer on her favorite daughter Bristol, or as she likes to call her... Bristol the Pistol. Look for this on T-shirts in the very near future.. natch.


Did Sarah Palin Just Get Booed on Dancing with the Stars? ... Celebrity Cafe has a story, too.


The NY Times' Arts Beat blog provided the post's photo and has a story about Sarah Palin's "interview."


Update: From USA Today:

Highlights and scores of the night:

- Judge Carrie Ann Inaba said, "Bristol, you remind me of one of my favorite dancers - Kelly Osbourne." ...

- Jennifer Grey's energetic jive only earned a 24 from judges, despite Carrie Ann saying, "You were amazing from start to finish!" and Len declaring, "It was full-on fabulous." The audience booed when the 8, 8 and 8 score paddles went up. She deserved higher. [emphasis added]

The leaderboard:

Jennifer Grey 24
Audrina Patridge 23
Kyle Massey, Bristol Palin 22
Rick Fox, Brandy and Kurt Warner 21
Florence Henderson 19
Margaret Cho, The Situation 18
Michael Bolton 12

Think Michael Bolton's going home? On Tuesday's results show, look for Seal and Janelle Monae to perform.

Update: Washington Post's The TV Column has a story about the booing. Were they booing the judges or Sarah Palin?


Update: CBS has a story quoting one of the judges:

The judges said Bristol needed to engage the audience more in her performance. "It's not quite there," judge Len Goodman told Bristol. "It was neat and precise, it's just needs a bit more flair....You've got to take chances if you are going to win 'Dancing With the Stars.'"

Update: E! Online writes:

Bristol Palin, meanwhile, kept her nerves in check even though mama bear was in the audience and continued to represent. Her quickstep wasn't as polished as Audrina's, but she's just as enjoyable to watch—if not more so.

Update: The Daily Mail has a story with a lot of pictures, and offers some evidence that Sarah Palin can't dance:

It [Bristol's appearance] was introduced with a clip showing her visiting the family's home in Wasilla with partner Mark Ballas.

Bristol is asked how she likes Los Angeles compared to home.

'It's like a night and day, the difference,' she said. 'I like it, but I like Alaska better.'

After standing by a stunning lake, Ballas is greeted with a bear hug from Sarah as they walk into the family home's enormous living area.

With husband Todd and a baby visible in the background, the politician screams out to Ballas: 'I'm so star struck! How are you? It's nice to meet you, thanks for taking care of my girl.

'We had so much fun watching you, we were just whooping and hollering!'

To laughter from the audience, she then attempts to copy her daughter's shimmy of the arms and shoulders from last week's performance, saying: 'I thought, "how did she do that?"'

Update: LA Times' Show Tracker asks whether Sarah was booed.


Update: The NY Daily News wrote, in part:

Prior to the 19-year-old taking the stage, ABC aired footage of Bristol's highly publicized trip with her partner to Alaska last week. In the clip, the 19-year-old explained that she took Ballas home with her to thank him for being such a great teacher - and to introduce him to her mom, his biggest fan.

"I'm star struck," Sarah Palin said as she welcomed the dance pro into her home. "Thanks for taking care of our girl."

She told Ballas that her family had been "whooping and hollering" during the show's premiere as he and Bristol danced to "Momma Told Me Not to Come."

She later tried to get him to spill the beans on their dancing techniques.

"How does she do that…" the politico said as she lifted her arms up and down and made a pigeon sound.

Asked if she was embarrassed to watch her daughter strip off her clothes on camera, the 46-year-old responded that, on the contrary, she was "proud" of Bristol for being able to cut a rug in front of 20 million people.

Her daughter then hit the dance floor to perform a quickstep to Diana Ross' "Can't Hurry love." Bristol wore a more reserved costume this week - a lavender dress with silk gloves up to her elbows - as she and her partner shared numerous Eskimo kisses, no doubt a nod to the teen mom's hometown.

Her mother watched with glee, swaying to the music and clapping.

Bristol and Ballas scored a respectable 22 out of 30 (up from 18 last week) and the judges agreed that the ex-governor's daughter was disarmingly relaxed and unaffected.

After hearing her scores, Bristol told host Brooke Burke that she was "so glad" her mom could be there and Ballas added that he was "proud" of his partner before hugging and kissing her.

"Dancing with the Stars'" results night airs Tuesday at 8 p.m. on ABC.

The video:



Sometimes there's a party, and you might just as well go and have a good time.

Palinpalooza still rollin' - how long can the wheels stay on?

Multiple Bristol/Levi + Baby shows are being shopped, according to TMZ.

Hey! They could do parodies of stories from Going Rogue! Would they cower in the car all night staring slack-jawed at some Mama Grizzly stealing food from their campsite? No! As soon as Bristol said, "Levi, I've seen this movie before," it'd be, KABOOM! Problem solved.

But Celebrity Cafe is being more cautious regarding the rumors of any show:

... No one has been able to confirm that the reality show deal even exists. Palin’s reps have yet to comment concerning such a program and Johnston’s attorney Rex Butler didn’t return phone calls for a statement.

Bravo and MTV both verified that no shows about the pair are in the works. Two nameless prominent reality-show producers said that a show about Palin and Johnston were not even being considered in the shopping stage.

One producer said, “If they prove to be bankable — and the Us Weekly cover could prove that — there could be a number of companies who want to air their story.”

These kids are entrepreneurs. Sarah should be proud of them.


Daily Beast's Mark McKinnon wrote, "She's Running!" Oh! But Jonathan Bernstein says anyone claiming to know what she'll do should be ignored. Pick your poison.


Associated Press is reporting that Palin was paid $75000 for her appearance at California State University, Stanislaus. The Los Angeles Times has a story, too.

This disclosure certainly gives organizations that might engage Palin a starting point in their negotiations with her agent, Washington Speakers Bureau. An excellent negotiating strategy would be to determine how effective a Palin appearance is. For example, an organization might ask, concerning appearances she's already made, "What percentage of the money raised was paid to Palin?" And, "What were the event's total costs, as a percentage of the money raised?" If they would do that, organizations could determine whether a Palin appearance is cost effective. It could be that more traditional fundraising techniques are more cost effective, i.e., more efficient.

For example, if the $207000 being reported is the net from the event, with Palin's fee $75000 and other expenses, assumed, $50000, then $125000 + $207000 = $332000 was raised. $207000 is only 62% efficiency ($207000/$332000). Charitable organizations with efficiencies less than 80-90% are generally considered rip-offs, because their cost of raising funds is too high.


Greg Sargent's got his ear to the ground, listening for that stampede of Pink Elephants. Today he reports on a new Gallup poll that shows Sarah Palin with a high favorability rating among Republicans, but high negative ratings among Americans overall:

... The numbers from Gallup tell the story. Palin has a whopping 76 percent favorability rating among Republicans; only 20 percent don't like her. That's significantly higher than the other GOP 2012 hopefuls.

At the same time, among all Americans, she's viewed unfavorably, 47-44. That's also significantly higher than all the other GOP 2012 hopefuls. Only nine percent of Americans don't have an opinion of Palin, while that number is in high double digits for all the others. Her situation is different than that of her rivals: They have room to expand their appeal, and she doesn't.

As Ben Smith has noted, Palin's strategy of going around the lamestream media filter has been a huge success with the Palin Nation hordes but it has failed in that she continues to grow more unpopular with everyone else. As the above numbers demonstrate, this works for her in her current role, but make it increasingly unlikely that she'll succeed if she ever sets foot outside of the bubble she's created for herself. ...

See Sargent's post for late-breaking news about why Democrats may find reason to like Palin!


It was a blogging frenzy kind of day, today, and I did three other posts! Just scroll down to read them: People are thinking of Sarah as Pat Buchanan in drag? The nerve of them! Gail Collins foresees a Palin-Johnston edition of "Dancing With the Stars." Shoot your TeeVee. Some anonymous Romney/Palin aides got into it ... Romney tweeted about their stupidity (take that, Palin-aide!).