Monday, September 26, 2011

Weekly Roundup, September 19-25, 2011: What a week!

by Blueberry T

Monday, September 18, 2011

The Rogue, Chapter Nineteen

March 14, 2008 Photo from ADN

Joe McGinniss’ book is finally out! Thanks to Crown Publishing, I got a small headstart reading it, and dove into Chapter 19 immediately. For someone who is “Trignostic,” Joe does an excellent job of presenting Sarah’s tale of her pregnancy and Trig’s birth so that the implausible aspects of the story are clear to the many people who are reading about this for the first time. He bolsters the case for the hoax by quoting a doctor who points out how her tale, if true, would amount to practically criminal negligence; he also says many Alaskans thought the story was fabricated or that, at the least, Palin was eminently capable of such a hoax. This is a MAJOR step forward for our work – kudos for Joe for taking this issue on and holding up under enemy fire. Main complaints: photos would have made this chapter even more effective (see update to the post), and attribution for Politicalgates would have been nice, too. (Joe has acknowledged the archives here, albeit not in the book.)

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Levi Lies to Leadfoot (and everyone else)

Levi kissing Trig at RNC

Leadfoot has reason to be even more disappointed than the rest of us about Levi’s participation in the Babygate coverup – he looked her in the eye and told her she would LOVE this book! Well, we don’t love the part dealing with Babygate, that’s for sure. But, in fairness, many of us feel that the Palins have Levi over a barrel on this subject, so that it is unrealistic to expect that he can divulge the truth about Trig. Many theories abound about why… [to be continued]

Blogging The Rogue

One thing that struck me about this book is how much we already knew of what Joe wrote – and he is a renowned investigative journalist who spent months living in AK next door to Palin and worked on this book for more than a year! So we should all take a collective bow for having helped expose so many of Sarah’s secrets. I think the book will be shocking and powerful for those who are new to the subject. Joe shows over and over again that Sarah is an utter fraud whose image is the opposite of who she really is. Some highlights: many stories, often by people who were willing to give their names, show that Sarah and Todd are mean and vindictive “because they can” and the only things they truly inspire are fear, hatred and violence. The family is completely dysfunctional and the marriage is a sham. The fear of an investigation of perjury during Sarah’s Troopergate testimony may have played a role in her decision to resign. One recurring theme that may take people aback is that Sarah’s religious beliefs and associations, which are at the root of her political career, are far more extreme and disturbing than the MSM has reported.

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Sarah Palin, The Crone of Crony Capitalism

Nomad’s excellent post gave us a brief respite from the book reading club this week, as he looked closely at Palin’s new favorite term, “crony capitalism.” The epitome of this political-corporate intercourse is of course GWB, Dick Cheney and Halliburton, so it is ironic that Palin and Bachmann have taken up this term – except that projection inoculates them against being accused of exactly what they are blatantly doing. [How often this tired trick still works reminds me and other readers of Lucy and Charlie Brown.] Of course Palin’s cronyism is not at the scale of Bush and Cheney, but in the small pond of Alaska, she appointed unqualified friends to many positions as both mayor and governor. Nomad also ties her to Bill Allen of VECO, whose crony capitalism and sex scandals rocked Alaska several years ago. Nomad neatly brings the story full circle by showing Cheney’s connection to the oil pipeline deal and the key players in AK. Great post! Patrick added the video clip of Joe McG’s appearance on The View to this thread – I thought it was great that he said all this before a national audience, and it was interesting that both Barbara Walters and Joy Behar had no trouble coming up with motives for Sarah to fake the pregnancy.

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Levi’s Publicity Tour Begins

Patrick jumps in to explore the question of what Levi knew about Babygate and when he knew it. He thinks that Levi was duped by the Palins into believing that Sarah was actually the mother of Trig. Here’s probably one of the few times that most of us disagree with Patrick. ;-) His PR tour is proving very interesting, what with all the different accounts, and the occasional awkward moments when he looks like the kid who is caught with his hand in the cookie jar (but still denying it’s really there…). He sure is cute, though!

Friday, September 23, 2011

Dear in the Headlights?



Levi is lying about Trig, but Leadfoot forgives him because in other respects, his book is a good and believable story about a young guy from a small town who was thrust in the middle of a whirlwind, not of his own choosing. There are some choice tidbits; my personal favorite is that Levi says the McCain campaign did not know that Bristol was pregnant until after they announced Sarah as VP candidate. Our regularly scheduled programming was upstaged by Bristol’s latest homophobic incident.

Some Comments and Links:

Marieke02: Projection has become a Republican lifestyle. And as a political tool it's very effective: you inoculate yourself by accusing your enemy (not opponent now, enemy) of what you yourself are doing. But Palin's reflexive use of sexual innuendo, accusation and/or slander every time she feels angry or threatened is far more than that. A good guess would be a classic case of cognitive dissonance: she knows those early experiences are way wrong, but is far too fragile and still so enmeshed with Chuckles that she just can't free herself of it. So it leaks out all the time, kind of like a default setting.

Sunnyjane: When my son was four years old, he and his pre-K class went to a local farm petting zoo. That afternoon I asked him if he had a good time, and he shook his head sadly and said, "That was a very disappointment experience." I was trying so hard not to laugh that I couldn't correct him on "disappointment." But I feel the same way about Levi's book: a very disappointment experience. [Later] You know, if there were a Hypocrisy Tax in this country, we could fund health care, subsidize job creation, and wipe out the national debt. Tomorrow!

Buffalogal: What woman knows that she's leaking a drop or two of amniotic fluid? You're constantly peeing by that point. Even if you did notice a few stray drops of liquid, you'd assume it to be urine. What a totally ridiculous point to try to pass off as true.

That entire birth story is spin. I suppose it would be in his interest to lie and keep the secret if he was complicit in one of the grand hoaxes of our day. He may have been told " If I go down I'm taking you with me"

IWanttheTruth: I haven't read the comments yet but I just want to say, I think all this lying is a strategy. Imagine a puzzle box and you dump out all the pieces. Eventually it would all fit together. Now imagine you throw in a bunch of other pieces from a similar puzzle. It's almost impossible to find the picture. This strategy works only when you avoid any questions from the press which might clarify which pieces of the puzzle are genuine and when you do get asked you throw in more red herrings. I can imagine it would be quite amusing to watch people struggling to make it ALL fit into a cohesive picture.

Jame: I wonder if she has any INKLING of the degree to which Roger Ailes and Rupert Murdoch just 'go into orbit' over obtaining tidbits of lurid gossip about politicians and celebrities and how, though they are backing her financially, they would find some of the things exposed by McGinniss to be not only highly amusing (they are sexist – and elitist – males, after all), but also titillating. I further wonder if it has ever occurred to her that Ailes and McGinniss could be occasional drinking buddies? And that McGinniss, but not she, may regarded by either or both of them as a friend? And that there may have been some two-way report-back going on between them and McGinniss all along – with her as a topic?...

Peacepax: I think the AMA needs to speak up, not because they were involved, but because they were not involved. The Palins have left many innocent young women in America with the false impression that leaking amniotic fluid is no big deal. Sarah was not pregnant, so for her it was no big deal. But others might ignore leaking amniotic fluid, and think it is no big deal based on what the Palins, and now Levi, have said. If even one drop of fluid can get out, then bacteria can get in. There can be thousands of bacteria cells on the head of a needle,and not be visible to the naked eye. If ignored, Leaking amniotic fluid can cause an infection that can be fatal. WORDS HAVE CONSEQUENCE. Sarah, do you have your next 'blood libel' speech ready?

HelenNPN found hope in Mike Lofgren (former Republican Congressional staffer), who has broken away from the lunacy of GOP fold.

sunnyjane found this great piece: Jesus Christ files lawsuit against GOP.

rollingingraves pointed out this excellent review of The Rogue by Andrew Sullivan in The Australian.

Patrick found more from Andrew – whoa, great stuff!

Brad Scharlott’s excellent, updated paper was published by Business Insider.

Here’s an excellent review of The Rogue from Sarah Jones at politicususa.

Kathleen linked to this important post on Alternet with Rachel Maddow and Michael Moore; also, who knew that Roseanne Barr would step up as she did on Wall St.?

The Last Word: Older_Wiser found this from Margaret Thatcher: "There will be a time when loudmouthed, incompetent people seem to be getting the better of you. When that happens, you only have to be patient and wait for them to self-destruct. It never fails.” - Margaret Thatcher

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