Palin Family Circus News - Monday, June 6, 2011

This morning there was a package of sliced, smoked salmon on the tabloid racks. Underneath the salmon was Globe, featuring a story about the Palins on the cover -- divorce.


You may have heard or read of the Wikipedia edit war as Palin's fans attempt to re-write the history of Paul Revere's ride. Historical revisionism is very reminiscent of what went on in the Soviet Union.

The usually apolitical Computerworld has published "Sarah Palin fans try to rewrite history on Wikipedia." This tendency of Palin's fans to re-write history necessitates a thorough review of all their claims about her, because, if they can't refrain from historical revisionism in a matter that might have blown over with time, how can they be trusted to accurately portray her record as governor and mayor?


"Only 23 percent of voters surveyed say Palin is qualified to serve as president. Sixty-three percent say Palin is unqualified." -- Poll: Mitt Romney qualified, Sarah Palin not


How Are Critics Liking the Hot New Sarah Palin Documentary? Gawker's Jim Newell writes, in part: "The documentary about herself that Sarah Palin secretly commissioned, The Undefeated — a.k.a. Triumph of the Grift — will debut in Iowa at some point later this month. And some lucky film connoisseurs, mostly all for conservative publications, have already viewed advance copies! So does it give Errol Morris a run for his money, or is it undiluted shite? Critics are torn."


Bill Dedman of msnbc.com writes, concerning the 24,199 pages of e-mails about to be released by the state of Alaska:

... Soon after the emails are released, msnbc.com plans to scan them in and put them online in a public archive, restoring the electronic records to electronic form. This archive will be co-sponsored by Mother Jones magazine, which also requested the documents back in 2008, and with Pro Publica, the nonprofit investigative newsroom, just as msnbc.com did with a batch of Todd Palin emails last year. Those emails showed the vigorous role the "First Dude" played in the operation of state government. Here is that archive.

Not all the e-mails are being released. The state had said that it it is withholding thousands of pages because of privacy concerns or the executive or deliberative exemptions in the state public records law, as it withheld documents in the previous release of Todd Palin emails to msnbc.com. ...

Fox News seems to be tuned-in to the Sarah-Palin-is-a-wannabe-comedian meme, but can't seem to distinguish Palin from Tina Fey.


factcheck.org's "Palin's Twist on Paul Revere" isn't helping her.


This post's "painting" of Paul Revere's reaction to Sarah Palin's revisionist history was found here. It is derived from a portrait of Revere by John Singleton Copley, here.

Something to bug you

Are you going to fight crazy with crazy? Are you going to get emotional every time Sarah Palin says or does anything?

Try Zen. Here is an interactive intro. To make progress, you may have to move or click the mouse. Don't become annoyed. You may eventually get here, where there is more to discover.



The photo of the garden at Ryōan-ji temple is from one at Wikipedia.


Note: The intro requires Shockwave. A lot of the experience will be lost without sound.

Sarah Palin to take our country back ... to 1964. It'll be deja vu all over, again!

A recent Politico article described how Sarah Palin pleaded her electability at a meeting of Republicans in Florida. She told them something like, "Ronald Reagan was a 'true conservative' and was considered to be unelectable; I am a 'true conservative,' like Reagan; therefore, anyone claiming I am unelectable is wrong." Sounds logical, doesn't it?

But is a "true conservative" electable? Let history be a guide: To find a "true conservative" who ran for President, we have to go back to 1964. In that election, Barry Goldwater was trounced by Lyndon Johnson. Goldwater received only 38.5% of the popular vote; Johnson received 61.1%. As you can see on the 1964 electoral map, above, the result in the electoral college was even more lopsided.

And at a time, now, when President Obama's popularity has declined, a new CBS poll gives Palin even more bad news:

President Obama would trounce Sarah Palin in a 2012 match-up, according to a Bloomberg National Poll released today.

Fifty-one percent of respondents in the poll said they would vote for Mr. Obama if the election were held today and Palin were his GOP challenger. Just 35 percent said they would vote for Palin. Another 10 percent said they wouldn't vote at all, and 4 percent were unsure. ...

Surprise! Palin's numbers are a lot like Goldwater's final numbers. Obama's numbers aren't up to Johnson's, yet, but give it time.

Note: It's doubtful that Ronald Reagan was a "true conservative." A Conservative wouldn't have employed deficit spending like Reagan did, for example. Palin isn't like Reagan in many ways, but she claims to be a "true conservative," so, for the sake of argument, we take her at her word.

Goldwater wrote the Conservative "Bible," The Conscience of a Conservative. At that Wikipedia link, you can find a .pdf of Goldwater's book and references to other writings that illustrate how far those who now claim to be "true" or "common sense" conservatives have strayed.

Sarah Palin's 'Wild Ride' - Part I

I went to Wikipedia in order to be clear about what a tall tale is, and I have adapted some of their text:

A tall tale is a story with unbelievable elements, related as if it were true and factual. Some such stories are exaggerations of actual events, fish stories ('the fish that got away') such as, "that fish was so big, why I tell ya', it nearly sank the boat when I pulled it in!"

The tall tale is a fundamental element of American folk literature. The tall tale's origins are seen in the bragging contests that often occurred when the rough men of the American frontier gathered. The tales of legendary figures of the Old West owe much to the style of tall tales.

Sarah Palin is -- or would have you believe that she is -- one of the rough women of the Alaskan frontier, so it shouldn't be too difficult to find at least one instance of an exaggeration -- a brag? a tall tale? -- by Sarah Palin.

When will Mama Grizzly go into hibernation?

Bears hibernate, right? So, when can we expect Mama Grizzly, a.k.a. Sarah Palin, to go into hibernation? She needs the rest. We could use a break.

It turns out there is some debate as to whether grizzly bears actually hibernate. From Wikipedia's Grizzly Bear entry:

In preparation for winter, bears can gain approximately 400 lb (180 kg), during a period of hyperphagia, before going into a state of false hibernation. The bear often waits for a substantial snowstorm before it enters its den, such behaviour lessening the chances that predators will be able to locate the den. The dens themselves are typically located at elevations above 6,000 feet on northern-facing slopes. There is some debate amongst professionals as to whether grizzly bears technically hibernate. Much of the debate revolves around body temperature and the ability of the bears to move around during hibernation on occasion. Grizzly bears have the ability to "partially" recycle their body wastes during this period. In some areas where food is plentiful year round, grizzly bears skip hibernation altogether.

Oh, no. Her food -- she thrives on attention -- hasn't been scarce this year, so Mama Grizzly may not need to hiberate! It's a disappointment, I know. Better luck next year?

The Wikipedia article contains a lot of information about ursus arctos horribilis (latin for horrible arctic bear); for example, its range used to extend into Mexico and the midwest, but is now limited, with the exception of Montana in the lower 48, to western Canada and Alaska.

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?

Raw JournoList E-Mails on 'Babygate' - Was there a 'liberal conspiracy' to protect Sarah Palin? - Updated!

Here, we see Sarah Palin thinking, fleetingly, just for a moment, "Darn! We can't have it both ways!"

The Daily Caller has published "Raw Journolist emails on 'Palin's Downs Child.'" These are posts by members of JournoList (to the list) concerning stories that Sarah Palin had faked a pregnancy. WikiPedia's entry for Ezra Klein, the founder of JournoList, has this background information about the list:

In February 2007 Klein created a Google Groups forum called "JournoList" for discussing politics and the news media. The forum's membership was controlled by Klein and limited to "several hundred left-leaning bloggers, political reporters, magazine writers, policy wonks and academics." Posts within JournoList were intended only be made and read by its members. Klein defended the forum saying that it "[ensures] that folks feel safe giving off-the-cuff analysis and instant reactions". JournoList member, and Time magazine columnist, Joe Klein added that the off-the-record nature of the forum was necessary because “candor is essential and can only be guaranteed by keeping these conversations private”.

The existence of JournoList was first publicly revealed in a July 27, 2007 blog post by blogger Mickey Kaus. However, the forum did not attract serious attention until March 17, 2009 when an article was published on Politico that detailed the nature of the forum and the extent of its membership. The Politico article set off debate within the Blogosphere over the ethics of participating in JournoList and raised questions about its overall purpose. The first public excerpt of a discussion within JournoList was posted by Mickey Kaus on his blog on March 26, 2009.

Members of JournoList included, among others: Ezra Klein, Jeffrey Toobin, Eric Alterman, Paul Krugman, Joe Klein (no relation to Ezra Klein), Matthew Yglesias, and Jonathan Chait.

On June 25, 2010, Ezra Klein announced in his Washington Post blog that he would be terminating the Journolist group. This decision was instigated by fellow blogger Dave Weigel's resignation from the Post following the public exposure of several of his Journolist emails about conservative media figures.

Klein had justified excluding conservative Republicans from participation as "not about fostering ideology but preventing a collapse into flame war. The emphasis is on empiricism, not ideology".

The 'babygate' posts to JournoList are sorted by date and time, beginning:

Ryan Donmoyer

Aug 30, 2008, 12:07am

I actually hesitate to bring this up…

But is anyone following this:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/8/29/17933/7330/417/579267 [that story has been deleted]

And ending:

Katha Pollitt

Sept 1, 2008, 12:02pm

I think people are making very narrow harsh judgments about behavior and decisions while pregnant that are not all that unusual. A lot of things look worse on paper than they do in real life. Sarah Palin had been pregnant and delivered four times before Trig. What looks to some j-listers like wild irresponsibility bordering on criminal insanity may have just been her belief that she knew how her body worked and how much time she had before going into full delivery mode. And, if it was her baby, she was right! she didn’t give birth on the plane etc.

In between those two posts, there are many more by well-known members of the media. The consensus that seems to have emerged was that it was a story that should not be covered. The posts are interesting and may provide some insight into why the mainstream media "ignored" the story, as some have claimed; however, the NY Times did mention how the story was received inside the Republican convention hall in 2008 in its story "Palin Daughter's Pregnancy Interrupts Convention Script," which tells why the McCain campaign released news of Bristol's pregnancy, and the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) did describe the "Wild Ride" as well as the scene inside the convention.

Interesting that the "liberal," "biased," "lamestream" media gave Sarah Palin a pass, isn't it? A recent Salon article, "Today's liberal journalist e-mail scandal: They criticized Sarah Palin," is also interesting.

The claims by the right that JournoList is evidence of a liberal media conspiracy don't hold water after reading how members of JournoList didn't run with a story that might have severely damaged the Republicans and Sarah Palin.


Update: Conservative Andrew Sullivan has weighed-in and, apparently, sees something of a conspiracy in the JournoList posts on 'Babygate.' He ends with:

This is your liberal media, ladies and gentlemen: totally partisan, interested in the truth only if it advances their agenda, and devoid of any balls whatsoever. ...

But, Andrew, why didn't they run with the story? Wouldn't a "liberal media" have been delighted to "advance their agenda" and derail McCain's campaign with a story about how Sarah Palin had faked a pregnancy?

People should be aware that conservatives of all stripes are desperately trying to use the existence of JournoList as evidence that an evil, liberal media conspiracy exists. Andrew Sullivan is one of them. Unfortunately, he chose to make a case with the 'babygate' posts to the list, which show that JournoList's members were not part of a liberal conspiracy.

Update: Sarah Palin wrote this about these JournoList posts published by The Daily Caller:

How ironic that on a day when we celebrate the 20th anniversary of the enactment of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, The Daily Caller released 15 pages of JournoListers’ email exchanges about a dark and demented conspiracy regarding my son, Trig.

It’s tough to fittingly describe these numerous members of the mainstream media who actively engaged in the debate about this conspiracy back when I was first introduced as John McCain’s running mate, ...

Did she read the posts? Does she know that none of those JournoList members published a story about the "dark and demented conspiracy?" That they saved her bacon?

CBS has a story about Palin's Facebook post. CBS' story quotes this part of Palin's Facebook post, among others:

This JournoList exchange exposes the warped nature of today's media, thus explaining why many of us are forced, in fairness to the public, to utilize other mediums to communicate until the mainstream media wakes up and begins respecting the public's intelligence and desire for truth in reporting.

By substituting ignorance for intelligence and common-sense for truth in her last sentence, you may understand part of Sarah Palin's problem with the media. "The public" must be Sarah Palin's fans. Sarah Palin's found an excuse to continue to hide-out on Facebook and pontificate on Fox!

Upate: Andrew Sullivan has posted "Journo-List And My Hyperbole."