President Obama needs Sarah Palin !?

Oddly, there is suddenly chatter of an iceberg that is about to wreck Sarah Palin's ship, as though an iceberg were necessary. If there ever was an iceberg, it must have melted by now. Don't worry though: Sarah Palin has effectively done herself in. She's drowning.

But in "Obama Benefits in Having Palin as His Foil," Matt Bai comes along and writes that Sarah Palin may be President Obama's best asset:

... “In our system of government, the party that does not have the presidency does not have a recognized leader,” said Mike DuHaime, a top Republican strategist. “She’s one of the very few who tries to fill the void.”

For the White House, it would seem, this is a hopeful development. That’s because every modern president, and especially one who finds himself confronting divided government, needs the kind of critic who can remind the public of why he once seemed so eminently presidential.

Think of it this way: American voters have for decades now sent their presidents to Washington in hopes of delivering some mortal blow to the status quo. Once in office, it’s hard for any president to fully embody the reform that a restive electorate may have hoped for. But it’s considerably easier if you can contrast yourself with an adversary who embodies the kind of outdated politics, ideological rigidity or divisiveness that repelled those voters in the first place. ...

... Next year, when Republicans settle on a presidential candidate, Mr. Obama will have an adversary chosen for him. But for now, he could clearly do worse than to have Ms. Palin overshadow the party’s more predictable leaders in Congress [John Boehner and Mitch McConnell]. With every controversial tweet or video, Ms. Palin makes Mr. Obama, who has often struggled to project the regality of the office, seem more like the post-partisan grownup he always intended to be.

Shortly after Mr. Obama’s speech last week, his opponent from the 2008 campaign, Senator John McCain of Arizona, issued a gracious statement thanking the president for his call for civility. Perhaps Mr. Obama wanted to thank Mr. McCain, as well — for having created the Sarah Palin phenomenon, thus giving the president’s words more resonance than they otherwise might have had.

What to do? Throw her an anchor? A rope? Both ends of the rope?

Palin vs. the GOP's 'blue bloods'

The Washington Post's Colbert I. King has come out swinging against Republican blue bloods elites who are trying to discourage Sarah Palin from running. He says, among other things:

I wouldn't want to see Sarah Palin anywhere near the White House, let alone in the Oval Office with a nuclear arsenal at her disposal. That's not a likely scenario anyway, given her low standing among independents and Democrats.

But the notion of a phalanx of conservative elites - Palin called them "blue bloods" - standing between her and the GOP nomination because they perceive her as inferior in intellect and social and political standing is pure snobbery.

At bottom, their real slander is against Palin and her slice of the American electorate, captured in H.L. Mencken's caustic observation: "As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron."

King quotes and links to several Republican writers who have slammed Palin recently. The Weekly Standard's Matt Labash has left her side; Bill Kristol bailed a couple of days ago.

Although none of this may discourage Palin, it's important because there isn't going to be anyone left to spin her pratfalls into oscar-winning performances for her. She'll have to rely exclusively on the sympathy vote.

King's article can be read here.

John Dean, White House Counsel to former President Nixon, wrote an interesting article, "Sarah Palin and the Dumbing Down of the American Presidency."

2013: There Won't Be a Narcissist in the White House

Here, we see Sarah Palin laughing maniacally. An aide has just informed her that DSM-5 (due to be published in 2013) will no longer include narcissistic personality disorder.

DSM-5 is the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th edition, and it will replace the 4th edition, which is currently being used by clinicians to diagnose mental disorders.

Some more information about the new manual and its elimination of the narcissistic personality disorder diagnosis can be read in a NY Times article, "A Fate That Narcissists Will Hate: Being Ignored," which inspired this post.

How not to boost your blog's traffic

aview999 is one of palingates' most prolific commenters. He (or she) at times writes a lot of the comments that appear on palingates. aview999, also active on HuffPo, went from a nobody there to a high-level muckety-muck in a short period of time, with hundreds of fans, but was recently banned. And the guy is asking HuffPo for a written explanation.

Why was he banned? Probably for spamming and hijacking HuffPo's posts with links to palingates. It was so obvious; there is no need to ask HuffPo.

You can click on both of these images to see how a conspiracy to bring aview999 back from the dead is under way:






Traffic at palingates has cratered the last couple of days (Hint, Patrick: If it's not about Sarah Palin, fewer people are interested), so Patrick may want aview999 back into action, spamming HuffPo.

These guys are like Chicken Little and The Boy Who Cried Wolf. Don't spam the blogosphere with links unless your post delivers what your spam promises! How long will it take HuffPo and its readers to get wise to the new aview?

The times shown in the palingates comments are Central European Time. Six hours ahead of EDT. The post is their Monthly Message, of October 1, 2010.

Can Sarah Palin Dance?

Last Saturday, I opened a new front in the war on Sarah Palin by questioning her ability to dance.

This picture purports to show her dancing at her inaugural ball in 2007; however, we still aren't certain she can dance.

The picture is but one moment out of the many moments that comprise Sarah Palin's life. Unless we see additional photo evidence, we cannot be sure that she was actually in motion -- dancing -- when the picture was taken. And we would like a lot of other information about any pictures that may appear: camera make, focal length of the lens, distance from camera to subject, camera angle, lighting ... the list goes on.

Of course, Sarah must have been irked by our doubts. Now she may be scheming to prove she can dance by showing us video. How? By dancing on Dancing With the Stars!

Yes! In "Will Another Palin Go 'Dancing' Next Season?" I was amazed to read:

Sources tell me that Sarah Palin had such a fantastic not-booed-at time on 'Dancing With The Stars' Monday night that she's itchin' to return to the ballroom herself next season.

"Sarah was overwhelmed with what a great time she had at the show," an insider who was at the show tells me. "In fact she enjoyed herself so much that she mentioned to producers who greeted her that she would be open to competing herself next season."

But until we see it, we'll remain doubtful that she can dance.

---

Afterword

Fight fire with fire: one conspiracy theory with another?

It happened serendipitously. I doubted Sarah could dance out of mean-girl orneriness. After I hit 'Publish Post,' I remembered that there was a picture of her dancing at the inauguration, so I posted it in the comments, along with a babygate-style argument.

"Babygate" is a dead issue. Its loss may disappoint, even anger, some, especially Sarah Palin. It was her oxygen: whether she talked about it or her enemies did, it rallied her fans.

---

Learn to cry with Glenn Beck

Glenn Beck is a clown. Don't believe it? Watch this video:



He may have initially had some problems cursing God, but it looks as though he's got a lot of the upset-baby faces down pat, doesn't it? They obviously had a good time making this video.

Video found in this post at Progressive Alaska, which could be a resource for "inside" information about Alaska's senate race.

A bird is about to bite the hand that feeds it

In Steve Almond's article at Salon, we're informed:

It’s not exactly a shocker that Sarah Palin loves to tweet. Indeed, Twitter seems to have been invented expressly for the former Alaska governor, a public figure whose prodigious need for attention is matched only by her microscopic attention span. ...

... Palin has every right — even an obligation, as a possible presidential candidate — to critique Obama’s positions on vital issues such as immigration. But her tweets don’t do that. On the contrary, they offer up talking points meant to shift the focus from an honest debate of policy to public recrimination. ...

Twitter, like Facebook, is ideal for Palin, because it's a one-way medium. Is it any wonder that it's a demagogue's preferred medium?


Sarah Palin will appear with Kate Gosselin in a special episode of "Sarah Palin's Alaska." Is that going to be any different than "My Alaska" or "Your Alaska?" The show is set for eight episodes, beginning November 18th on TLC. It will be interesting to see whether Gosselin can get along with Palin well enough to be Palin's running mate in 2012. Here is a Fox story about the show.


From an LA Times article: "We examined whether money given to a [California State University, Stanislaus] charitable foundation was handled appropriately, but found no violation of law," [California Attorney General] Brown said in a statement. "However, the foundation board has agreed to make changes to improve oversight of its funds."

The LA Times' article has a picture of Sarah Palin wearing a halo and monster pearls. The same picture, credited to Debbie Noda of The Modesto Bee, can be seen here. It was used in a post on June 26th, and is one of this blog's most downloaded pictures.

Speaking of The Modesto Bee, that paper published a story about the investigation, too, and their story may be more informative than the LA Times' story.


I am not sorry that there isn't more Palin news.

Palin Family Circus News - There really is a sucker born every minute.

Here, we see Sarah Palin, thinking, momentarily, "Darn! They're onto our tricks."

In today's column, "TV show is the price of love for Palin, Johnston," Bill Zwecker of The Chicago Sun-Times wrote:

Could Bristol Palin and Levi Johnston quietly be doing a bit of news manipulation -- in order to fatten their bank accounts?

A source very close to Johnston insists that the whole ''We're Getting Married'' story -- sold for a reported $100,000 to Us Weekly -- was all about the ex-couple negotiating a deal for a reality show that would have paid them even more big bucks.

''That emotional story about how Levi and Bristol had resolved their differences and had rediscovered the love that brought them together originally was a lot of baloney,'' said the source. ...

There is more to the story. About Bill Zwecker: "From the top stars of Hollywood to Chicago's best-known celebrities like Michael Jordan and Oprah Winfrey, Bill Zwecker is the expert when it comes to knowing the scoop on the rich and famous. The Chicago Sun-Times columnist -- who is also the entertainment reporter and film critic for WBBM-TV (CBS) in Chicago -- covers the globe finding out the latest news about celebrities for his readers and viewers."

Conspiracy Theorists Gone Wild!

Breaking news! Protestants conspired to assassinate President Kennedy! Here is the screencap from the comments of palingates' post of 10:00 P.M. (Central European Time) of July 30, 2010:

(Click the screencap for an enlargement)

For those of you who may not know, John F. Kennedy was the first Roman Catholic president of the United States.

Wikipedia's John F. Kennedy assassination entry links to its John F. Kennedy's assassination conspiracy theories entry. There are several theories there, but Kathleen Palingates' post is the only place I've read that the assassination was carried out by protestants! We learn something new, everyday, don't we?

Palin-Gosselin 2012 Is The Ticket !!!

Recently this blog posted "Kate Gosselin Being Considered as Palin's Running Mate." There, we provided photo evidence of Kate Gosselin meeting with Sarah Palin and a rationale for putting Gosselin on the 2012 ticket as Sarah Palin's running mate. Just four days later the idea appeared in MetroWNY!

Although the rationale is different -- MetroWNY assumes Gosselin would be the primary beneficiary of a Palin-Gosselin ticket, while we assumed Palin would be -- that MetroWNY is carrying the story must prove that it is true! Right?

But, of course, we're not claiming that MetroWNY got the idea from us. That would be a post hoc ergo propter hoc logical fallacy on our part. But how else could they have come by such a cockamamie idea?

Sarah Palin doesn't believe in coincidences, right? Neither should you!

Kate Gosselin Being Considered As Palin's Running Mate

Here, we see Kate Gosselin arriving for a meeting with Sarah Palin. The planet's buzzing with rumors that Palin is about to give Gosselin the VP nod.

Officially, it's just a coincidence that Gosselin has been seen in Alaska while Palin is filming her own reality show there, and it's just a coincidence that they're both TLC properties, but no one is denying that Gosselin would bring a lot to the ticket.

As Palin's children age, they will become less effective with the press. It's thought that Gosselin's brood, being younger, could prolong a Palin administration's good relations with the press.

So far, the lamestream media hasn't caught on and is only reporting that Palin and Gosselin will appear on each other's show. They say that Gosselin's children are going to learn some science from Palin's father, Chuck Heath, when they appear on Palin's show. There is no word yet about what Palin, possibly accompanied by her children, will do on Gosselin's show.

Here are the lamestream media reports from: ABC News, NY Daily News, and The Washington Post. As usual, they don't have the full story.

Palin Family Circus News - Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Here we see Sarah thinking, "Darn! Why didn't I learn any geography? The least my PAC could do is hire someone to fact-check me before I go shootin' off my big mouth. Again!"

Sarah, out filming an adventure, stated that Alaska's Kodiak Island is America's largest. Wrong! See "Sarah, one more time: HAWAII IS IN THE USA!"


Sarah's latest faux pas was also reported by Boston's Herald, which noticed some other facts she overlooked while endorsing a candidate in the neighboring state of New Hampshire.


NY Times' The Caucus blog noted Palin's endorsement of a "Granite Grizzly" in New Hampshire. Is she statuesque? (I do know that New Hampshire is referred to as "The Granite State.")


Levi had a girlfriend between Bristol (first edition) and Bristol (second edition) (Between Levi I and Levi II?). Will this be the news that breaks Kathy Griffin's heart?


People reports that Bristol and Levi are playing hardball in their negotiations for a reality show. They want a full season! Way to go: get the money up front; you don't need no stinkin' pilot.


Stop the presses! Sarah may not attend the wedding.


Sarah Palin's "Mama Grizzlies" might be more aptly named "Mama Polar Bears." Is anyone surprised?


Progressive Alaska has video of Cenk Uygur on Sarah's tweet about Cordoba House.


Andrew Sullivan recaps some recent mail he's received about whether it's worthwhile to investigate Trig Palin's birth.


"Planned Sign of Tolerance Bringing Division Instead" is a NY Times article of July 13 (Is Sarah a slow reader?) reporting about the controversy over Cordoba House. It stated, in part:

... With a November election approaching, politicians have latched onto the issue as a high-profile platform to attack their opponents.

On Tuesday, Rick A. Lazio, a Republican running for governor, urged the landmarks commission to protect the [existing] building [at the planned site of Cordoba House], constructed in the late 1850s in the Italian Renaissance palazzo style; this would effectively halt the plans for the Muslim center. The commission expects to vote on the issue in August.

“This is about getting questions answered,” Mr. Lazio told reporters. “This is about transparency. This about the safety of the people of New York.”

“Religion has nothing to do with this,” he added.

Representative Peter T. King, a Republican, joined Mr. Lazio in calling for an investigation into the financing of the project. But Andrew M. Cuomo, Mr. Lazio’s Democratic opponent and the state’s attorney general, has rebuffed those requests.

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has strongly endorsed the project, arguing that it is not the role of government to meddle in religious and business affairs.

“Government should never — never — be in the business of telling people how they should pray, or where they can pray,” Mr. Bloomberg said on Monday. “We want to make sure that everybody from around the world feels comfortable coming here, living here and praying the way they want to pray.”...

Finally, there is "Why Sarah Palin Endangers American National Security (and Israel's, as well)"

Palin-Johnston edition of 'Dancing With The Stars' in the works?

NY Times op-ed columnist Gail Collins has been following the news from Wasilla. Last week, she posted "My Boyfriend's Back," and this week she's posted "The Bad News Bears." In "Bad News Bears," Collins puts the engagement of Levi Johnston and Bristol Palin in the No Good Can Ever Come of This bin, writing:

... Let me go out on a limb and say that Sarah Palin was probably not happy to learn about her oldest daughter’s re-engagement to her baby-daddy via an eight-page cover spread in Us Weekly. ...

... This cannot be a welcome change of subject for the former Republican vice presidential nominee. She’s been on a political roll — raising money, making some prescient picks in the Republican primaries. She’s got a hot “mama grizzlies” video out, in which she touts a new wave of conservative women, rising up to protest ... the bad thing. Palin is really, really vague about exactly what the threat is. (The closest she gets is “the fundamental transformation of America.”) But there’s really no need to be specific because, as she says in the video, “Moms kinda just know when something’s wrong.”

The Bristol-Levi debacle, which might be a minor sideshow for another politician, looms larger for a Mama Grizzly. Inquiring minds might want to know why she didn’t sniff trouble, rise up on her hind legs and eviscerate that hockey-playing thug the first time he followed her daughter through the kitchen door.

Since Sarah Palin’s own fame seems grounded on little but a look and an attitude, you can’t blame the kids for thinking the same kind of thing would work for them. Bristol tried to become a celebrity unwed mother, the anti-teen-pregnancy spokeswoman for a sexy clothing line. Levi tried to make a name for himself as the celebrity unwed mother’s ex-boyfriend. It might have worked out, except that as a spokeswoman, Bristol turned out to have nothing to say. And Levi, who kept showing up on TV promising to tell “my side of the story” was close to sub-verbal.

But the conviction that celebrity is transferable, like chicken pox, is still going strong in Wasilla. ...

... Tune in tomorrow when ... What next? My money’s on an all-Palin-Johnston edition of “Dancing With the Stars.”

An engagement ... Wedding Bells! ... Levi + Bristol -- A New Today Show VIDEO

Bristol Palin and Levi Johnston reveal exclusively in the new Us Weekly that they are getting married.

And, they tell Us Weekly, former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin has been kept in the dark about their plans ... until now.

"We got engaged two weeks ago," Bristol, 19, tells Us Weekly. "It felt right, even though we don’t have the approval of our parents."

PHOTOS: Bristol and Levi's relationship: a look back

Bristol and Levi, 20 -- who famously called off their previous engagement two weeks after welcoming son Tripp in December 2008 -- tell Us Weekly they reconnected three months ago while working out a custody plan for their 18-month-old son.

"I really thought we were over," Levi tells Us Weekly. "So when I went, I had no hope. I think we both just started talking — and then we took Tripp for a walk."

Says Bristol, "When he left that night, we didn’t hug or kiss, but I was thinking how different it was. He texted me: 'I miss you. I love you. I want to be with you again' ... I was in shock." ...

US Weekly's story continues with Bristol telling the magazine that she's scared of Sarah's reaction.

NBC's Today has an interesting story about the engagement:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Us Weekly's story is here.


Update: The unavailability of NBC's video may be due to an embargo that may end soon. After it broadcasts on the west coast?

Update: Sarah and Todd Palin said in a statement on NBC's "Today" show Tuesday that they want what's best for their children and that Bristol believes in "redemption and forgiveness." And it seems Bristol blames her mom for their initial breakup. In a newly released People interview, Bristol says that had her mom not been a VP candidate, she and Levi would already be married and would never have split. (via HuffPo, which has a large hi-res picture of Us Weekly's cover)

Update: The new video is not the earlier video with Matt Lauer, but it is an interesting interview with Caroline Schaefer, Us Weekly’s executive editor.

Update: The story must be true. It's made the paper of record. "Bristol Palin + Levi Johnston = Engaged."

Update: From Bristol's interview with People Magazine:

Bristol, who did not wear an engagement ring during her conversation with PEOPLE, replied to the question of if they would marry: "Yeah. I mean, I don't really want to get into detail about what's in store for our future, because who knows? But all I'd like to say about it is, hopefully we will be a family."

As for how they managed to bury the hatchet after their very public falling out, Bristol credits Levi's "just coming around. But, I don't know. It's good. It's good for all three of us [including son] Tripp Easton!"

Looking back, Bristol believes that if fame, money and her mom Sarah Palin's vice presidential campaign had not become part of her and Levi's lives, the ex-couple would already be happy living a simple life.

"I think Levi and I would be married," she says without hesitation. "He would still have his [oil] job on the North Slope, and we'd be in a one-bedroom apartment, scraping by."

Bristol, who says all of her friends have gone out of state, has no plans to follow them. "Levi and I are both Alaska based, and I don't see us moving anywhere else."

Pink Elephants On Parade

Pit Bulls and Mama Grizzlies aren't good enough? Sarah's now saying, "Look out Washington because there’s a whole stampede of pink elephants crossin the line, and the ETA, stampeding through, is November 2nd 2010." (emphasis added)

Dumbo, starring in a 1941 Disney film, drinks water spiked with champagne and hallucinates:



Sarah's "Look out Washington..." is from a transcript of SarahPAC's new video, "Mama Grizzlies." You can see the video and read the transcript at The Mudflats' "SarahPAC Video Post-Mortem." Greg Sargent's blog at The Washington Post has the video, too, and he may be taking it too seriously. CBS has a story, which relates the video to the rise of "conservative feminism," which is an oxymoron, like "a cruel kindness." IM notes that some moms, like Sarah Palin, may not know everything, and in the same post has news that the RNC doesn't believe Palin will be a player in the party's future.

Did you sing along with "Pink Elephants On Parade?"

Bristol Palin: Fashion Model / Tea Party Hostess

In this wonderful Harper's Bazaar photo of Bristol Palin and her son Tripp, it's apparent that her modeling career is off to a good start.

Of course, the gown is beautiful, but it's Bristol's hair color and skin tone that perfectly complement the gown and set it off so effectively.

The photography is nothing less than excellent. Perspective and composition are under control, the sweets' colors are vibrant, and Tripp is interesting in his own right, yet the gown remains the center of attention.

The photo indicates that the gown is a Lanvin and available for $4385 at Barney's in New York and L.A. The gown isn't shown at Barney's on the web, here, but a strapless floral dress in blue, which, like the gown, has a waist adornment and twisted bodice, can be seen here. A pouchette, which appears to match the dress, can be seen here and is available for $1005.

See "Bristol Palin's Solo Act" at Harper's Bazaar.

Photo From Hell (Lake Lucille Isn't What We've Been Led To Believe)

If Sarah Palin's latest Facebook rant is to be believed, the Palins have a new neighbor.

It's a funny strange story. According to Sarah, "Upon my family’s return this morning from endorsement rallies and speeches in the Lower 48 states, I finally got the chance to tackle my garden and lawn this evening! So, putting on the shorts and tank top to catch that too-brief northern summer sun and placing a giddy Trig in his toddler backpack for a lawn-mowing adventure, I looked up in surprise to see a “new neighbor” overlooking my property just a stone’s throw away. Needless to say, our outdoor adventure ended quickly after Todd went to introduce himself to the stranger who was peering in..."

So, the family was in the Lower 48? But a NY Times reporter spoke with Todd Palin in Wasilla recently, and Todd indicated that Piper, Track, Trig and Tripp were with him and that Sarah would be returning this weekend. Does Sarah have a secret family in the Lower 48?

Another odd thing about the story is that Sarah welcomes her new neighbor, but complains about him "peering in" and writing "bizarre anti-Palin administration oil development pieces," which, of course, were dutifully refuted by her friends &mdash all experts in yellow journalism &mdash at her Department of Natural Resources.

And what's this about the "family's swimming hole?" On a lake? A lake isn't usually thought to have a "swimming hole," like a river may have. Does some family think they own the lake?

The photo is from here, by way of "Neighbor From Hell," by TBogg at Firedoglake.

Flightseeing In Alaska

Journeys

Alaskan Road Trip, 500 Feet Up

Scott Dickerson for The New York Times - A flightseeing tour of Alaska.

By SARAH MASLIN NIR

Published: February 21, 2010

[I]n Alaska, a vast state covering 663,267 square miles, much of the terrain is completely cut off from roads. By conventional means, a tourist can get only so far — or rather, so near. Standing at the end of the Homer Spit, I’d reached the end of the road: a few feet in front of me, the pavement dropped off into the sea.

Slideshow

Above it All in Alaska

Sarah Maslin Nir also wrote Sarah Palin: Going rogue in Wasilla

Wasilla's Light

At Gryphen's, there is a story from The National, a newspaper in the United Arab Emirates. In The National's story, about Sarah Palin's book signing in Wasilla, there is a photo of Wasilla's Mocha Moose, during full daylight, and a photo of Jessica's Beehive Beauty Shop in low-light. The National's Mocha Moose photo reminded me of a photo of the Mocha Moose made in low-light by Bill Hess. Seeing The National's photo of Jessica's beauty shop reminded me, too, that there can be some beautiful light in Wasilla.

Here's The National's Mocha Moose photo, where Sarah Palin drives-through:


Here, Bill Hess has made a photo of the Mocha Moose when he visited at another time of day:

As I pulled up to the drive-through at Mocha Moose for my
afternoon coffee break, ...

And, here is the low-light photo of Jessica's Beehive Beauty Shop, where Sarah Palin has had her hair done:

Frank Flavin's photos are from a story about Sarah Palin's book signing, in Wasilla, Alaska.

Bill Hess covered the book signing, too. Bill Hess has seen Russia from Alaska! Bill Hess' blog — Wasilla, Alaska, by 300 ... — can be found on the blogroll.

It Was Fact-checked!

What? Going Rogue was fact-checked?

No! We're not fools. Me and Mrs. Palin was fact-checked!

We can now read the story as a series of episodes out of Levi's life with the Palins.

We can now ask, "Who was present in each episode? Who could verify this?"

Remember! It's not necessarily someone we're told was present.


How do I know this?

Levi Johnston encountered Meghan McCain at the 2008 Republican National Convention:

The night Sarah made her speech, Willow and I were in the hair room. One of the hairdressers was working on Willow’s hair, and the other was doing mine, when Meghan McCain walked in and asked if someone could do hers. “I have a show,” she said. One hairdresser told her she would do her hair as soon as she was done and Meghan just lost it. “You’re going to do her hair before you do mine?” She got riled up and started dropping cusswords. “How are you going to do her hair when I have a show in 20 minutes? You guys are supposed to be working for my dad,” she said. “You’re not doing my fucking hair? Maybe you need to get some more people.” Then she left. [A representative for Meghan McCain called Levi’s account a “naïve mischaracterization.”]

If characterizations weren't imperfect — it wasn't a lie, but Levi's naïve and unaware that there is royalty in America — Levi might have told us of his regret about failing to realize that he should have jumped from his chair so Meghan wouldn't have to wait. So, you see, Meghan didn't actually "lose it;" her reaction wasn't unusual, given her status. Anyway, the takeaway from Levi's description of that scene is that Vanity Fair checked-out what Levi told them.

Meghan McCain pushed back! Over a "naive mischaracterization," not a lie.

None of the story's other participant's pushed-back!