Today is October 25, 2014. The now infamous "Palin-Brawl" happened on September 6, 2014 in Anchorage, more than 1 1/2 months ago.
However, only now we see headlines like this one (from ABC News, October 23, 2014):
So, finally, after such a long time has passed, the Palin-family found their PR-strategy for this incident - and they try to do what they are best at: Claiming to be victims, and trying to rewrite history.
Therefore it is only appropriate to remind ourselves (and the media) what really happened after the brawl.
The Timeline:
Saturday, September 6, 2014:
A massive brawl involving the Palin-family (Track, Bristol, Sarah, Todd, Willow) breaks out at a party at the home of Korey Klingenmeyer in Anchorage, while Bristol's five-year-old son Tripp was waiting for them outside in the car, a Hummer stretch-limo.
The news quickly make the rounds in Alaska, by word of mouth. We hear about it from a source in Alaska already the following day, but the details are still very sketchy. We hear that apparently a group of people from the "Iron Dog" crowd was involved.
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Sunday, September 7, 2014:
Sarah Palin posts the following message on facebook:
I was traveling yesterday, so I'm posting Todd's 50th birthday greeting a day late, which is fine because the handsome guy barely looks a day over 50.
- Sarah Palin
Screenshot:
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Monday, September 8, 2014:
Bristol Palin and Levi Johnston attend the settlement conference of their new custody trial for their son Tripp, at the Superior Court in Palmer. According to the Alaska court records, a settlement was reached on this day. The details of the settlement are sealed, therefore we do not know the outcome. See our extensive reporting about the custody trial, including the documentation HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE.
Screenshot from the Alaska Court records, accessible via Alaska Court View (click to enlarge):
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Tuesday, September 9, 2014:
The first report about the brawl appears in public, written by Alaska blogger Amanda Coyne, containing a few details, but some facts are still sketchy, as Amanda Coyne also admits herself. Title of the post: "Loose Lips: Hell hath no fury like a Palin family visit."
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Wednesday, September 10, 2014:
Politicalgates publishes in the "Important second update" of our post about the brawl several more new details about the brawl, obtained from a source on the ground who saw the incident. Our information was subsequently being confirmed by further media reporting and the police documentation.
Still no statement about the incident from a member of the Palin-family or their lawyer.
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Thursday, September 11, 2014:
Blogger Amanda Coyne publishes a post with more important details, titled "A note to readers about the Palin family brawl."
Then, the first report in a mainstream media outlet, by the "Alaska Dispatch News", Alaska's biggest newspaper, titled: "Witnesses, APD confirm Palin family was present at Anchorage party that turned violent."
Still no statement about the incident from a member of the Palin-family or their lawyer.
Then, on the same day, blogger Amanda Coyne publishes her most comprehensive post about the brawl, titled "Eyewitness comes forward on ‘Palin brawl’." As one of the very first eye-witnesses, Eric Thompson, employee at McKenna Paving Bros, goes on the record.
In the meantime, Sarah Palin publishes a new post on facebook about her support for conservative candidate Rob Maness in his bid for the US-Senate seat in Louisiana.
In the evening, Sarah Palin appears on Hannity and talks about ISIS. In this conversation with Sean Hannity, the brawl is not mentioned at all.
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Friday, September 12, 2014:
The story about the brawl hits the national media, for example with a detailed TV-report on "Good Morning America", who spoke with eye-witness Eric Thompson:
Still no statement about the incident from a member of the Palin-family or their lawyer.
Politicalgates is being quoted by a number of mainstream media outlets, for example New York Magazine, New York Post and ABC local news.
Later in the day, news breaks that eyewitness Eric Thompson has been fired from his job by his employer, McKenna Bros. Paving Co, for speaking out about the brawl to the media, in his interview for ABC News.
The party happened at the house of Korey Klingenmeyer. He is an employee with McKenna Brothers Paving.
The witness Eric Thompson, who is now fired, was also an employee with McKenna Brothers Paving.
The party was for the 40th birthday of the owners of the company, Matt & Marc McKenna.
The guy who was punched by Bristol Palin was Korey Klingenmeyer.
We believe that the firing of Eric Thompson is also supposed to be a warning to Korey Klingenmeyer, who has a well-paid job there at the company, in order to prevent him to file charges against Bristol.
Saturday, September 13, 2014:
Although there is still no offical statement from the Palin-family, journalist Scott Conroy publishes "The Palin Family's Side of the Anchorage Brawl Story", quoting only an anonymous source, but the details are rather sketchy, It becomes obvious however that the Palins apparently see themselves as victims.
Multiple media-requests directed at the Palin-family to give a statement about the brawl are denied.
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Sunday, September 14, 2014:
Politicalgates publishes more details about Marc and Matt McKenna, the owners of McKenna Bros. Paving Co. who fired Eric Thompson.
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Monday, September 15, 2014 to Thursday, September 18, 2014:
Still no statement about the incident from a member of the Palin-family or their lawyer.
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Tuesday, September 15, 2014:
Fired eye-witness Eric Thompson gives an in-depth interview to the Alaska Dispatch News:
Eric Thompson talks about Palin's involvement in a house party fight from Alaska Dispatch on Vimeo.
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Thursday, September 18, 2014:
Bristol Palin publishes on her own blog (with her ghost-writer, the right-wing journalist Nancy French) a post in which she jokes that some people mistakenly believe that her parents are getting divorced.
Curiously, Bristol Palin doesn't mention the brawl at all, although it had been reported all over the national media that she apparently played an important role in the brawl and reportedly punched the host Korey Klingenmeyer several times in the face (which was also confirmed by our own source who was at the scene).
Screenshot of Bristol's short post:
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Friday, September 19, 2014:
Finally, a first statement by Sarah Palin, addressing the brawl, nearly two weeks after the incident.
However, Sarah Palin is very vague and just says that she is "proud" of Bristol and "loves" her. Sarah alludes to the fact that the media reporting was apparently not correct, but doesn't say why this should be the case, or what actually happened in her opinion.
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Saturday, September 20, 2014 to Wednesday, October 8, 2014:
The big silence!
No statement at all by the Palins about the brawl.
Bristol Palin publishes no less than nine (!) posts on her blog during these dates (ghost-written by Nancy French), but none of her posts addresses the brawl in any way.
Same with Sarah Palin:
No less than 12 posts during this time-frame on her facebook-page, but not one of them addresses the brawl.
So far, there is still no meaningful statement from the Palin-family about what happened during the brawl. The news about the brawl start to fade.
On September 21, 2014, CNN-host Brian Stelter states that he believes that the Palins "deserve the benefit of the doubt about the brawl."
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Thursday, October 9, 2014:
If the Palins hoped that the brawl would disappear from the headlines, they are in for a rude awakening. The report by the Anchorage Police Department is released, and several witnesses confirm what Eric Thompson already said in public: The Palins started the whole fight, showed outrageous behaviour, and Bristol punched host Korey Klingenmeyer repeatedly. Also, the police report confirms that Track and Bristol were "heavily intoxicated."
The police report hits the headlines with full force.
DOWNLOAD THE REPORT HERE
Screenshots:
It now becomes increasingly clear that the strategy of the Palins, which could so far be described with "dodge, dip, dive, duck, and dodge", would not work out in the end. The witness statements in the police report are simply too damning. Also, it becomes more than obvious that the "The Palin Family's Side of the Anchorage Brawl Story", which had been published by Scott Conroy on September 13, 2014, as I mentioned above, was not confirmed by any of the witnesses outside the Palin-family.
So, what to do, how to play the victim, the favourite Palin-activity of all time?
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Tuesday, October 21, 2014:
It is very telling that the silence on part of the Palin-family continued.
However, the publication of the police tapes on October 21, 2014 appeared as a "stroke of luck" from their point of view, as listeners could now hear for themselves how a crying Bristol Palin described her ordeal (or that's what it now sounded like).
Please note that I have uploaded the complete police audio tapes in just one file HERE for download. I could not upload them to youtube in one file, as they are more than two hours long in total!
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Wednesday, October 22, 2014:
Suddenly, the big silence stops.
The Palin media-machine quickly kicks into gear again - with the old worn-out phrases.
Bristol Palin publishes "the truth" about the brawl, believe it or not. It was all about "violence against women", and Bristol now conveniently claims to have been the victim.
Screenshot:
However, Bristol's post contains a bold, important lie which can easily be debunked - Bristol wrote:
This guy, who Bristol curiously does not mention by name, is Connor Cleary. His twitter is here.
So, according to Bristol, Connor Cleary tweeted at the night of incident he was "about to get famous".
Really, Bristol Palin/Nancy French?
The problem: This is a blatant lie, which can easily be proven.
Connor Cleary tweeted, but only five days later, on September 11. The sentence he tweeted was: "About to be famous up in this bitch."
Screenshot:
No word of apology by the Palins about their own behaviour. No mention that the other witnesses had not confirmed the Palin-version of events.
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Friday, October 24, 2014:
Sarah Palin started her favourite activity - hunting journalists. Not seeing the irony that her heavily intoxicated family delivered more than enough "punches" at the brawl, poor Sarah now feels "punched in the gut." Why? Because CNN journalist Carol Costello aired a segment which wasn't to Sarah Palin's liking:
Journalists like Carol Costello are "ruining America", did you know...?
The segment was "truly sickening, yet strangely laughable"...?
I think Queenie Palin should create her own media.
Oh, she tried to do that, totally unsuccessfully? Too bad.
Needless to say that although Carol Costello has already apologized for her remarks, Sarah Palin and her ilk want her scalp. Sarah Palin already said that the first apology in a statement to Politico could not be "accepted":
Unfortunately, Sarah Palin forgot to mention that she herself for example never apologized to former Alaska State Senate President Lyda Green (Republican) for laughing when a right-wing radio-jock called Lyda Green a "bitch" and a "cancer." Lyda Green herself is a cancer survivor, which Palin knew.
Watch:
Senior Republican Lyda Green is indeed not a fan of Sarah Palin, which is not surprising, as she had good insights into how Sarah Palin is wired. Green was a guest on the Rachel Maddow show in 2008, explaining her experiences with Sarah Palin (and Todd Palin).
As an inevitable result of Sarah Palin's attack on Carol Costello, the facebook of the CNN-journalist is now being flooded with ugly comments from right-wingers. This might please Sarah, as her favourite attitude towards her perceived enemies has always been the same: Hunt, seek, destroy.
Screenshot from Costello's facebook:
However, facts have always been the biggest enemy of the Palins, and that is why I wrote this post.
As usual, the deflections and the lies of the Palins are in plain sight, for everyone to see.
Finally, I would like to highlight the following articles in the media:
Josh Marshall, editor and publisher of "Talking Points Memo": "Sarah, Bristol & The Recurrence Of The Eternal Victim"
Andrew Sullivan, "The Dish": "The Odd Lies of Bristol Palin"
Finally, a rather unlikely source - the conservative "Daily Caller" doesn't buy Bristol Palin's accusations against the media: "Bristol Palin Claws Media With 10 Perfect Post Brawl Nails"
Have a good weekend, everybody!
Politicalgates publishes more details about Marc and Matt McKenna, the owners of McKenna Bros. Paving Co. who fired Eric Thompson.
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Monday, September 15, 2014 to Thursday, September 18, 2014:
Still no statement about the incident from a member of the Palin-family or their lawyer.
+++
Tuesday, September 15, 2014:
Fired eye-witness Eric Thompson gives an in-depth interview to the Alaska Dispatch News:
Eric Thompson talks about Palin's involvement in a house party fight from Alaska Dispatch on Vimeo.
+++
Thursday, September 18, 2014:
Bristol Palin publishes on her own blog (with her ghost-writer, the right-wing journalist Nancy French) a post in which she jokes that some people mistakenly believe that her parents are getting divorced.
Curiously, Bristol Palin doesn't mention the brawl at all, although it had been reported all over the national media that she apparently played an important role in the brawl and reportedly punched the host Korey Klingenmeyer several times in the face (which was also confirmed by our own source who was at the scene).
Screenshot of Bristol's short post:
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Friday, September 19, 2014:
Finally, a first statement by Sarah Palin, addressing the brawl, nearly two weeks after the incident.
However, Sarah Palin is very vague and just says that she is "proud" of Bristol and "loves" her. Sarah alludes to the fact that the media reporting was apparently not correct, but doesn't say why this should be the case, or what actually happened in her opinion.
+++
Saturday, September 20, 2014 to Wednesday, October 8, 2014:
The big silence!
No statement at all by the Palins about the brawl.
Bristol Palin publishes no less than nine (!) posts on her blog during these dates (ghost-written by Nancy French), but none of her posts addresses the brawl in any way.
Same with Sarah Palin:
No less than 12 posts during this time-frame on her facebook-page, but not one of them addresses the brawl.
So far, there is still no meaningful statement from the Palin-family about what happened during the brawl. The news about the brawl start to fade.
On September 21, 2014, CNN-host Brian Stelter states that he believes that the Palins "deserve the benefit of the doubt about the brawl."
+++
Thursday, October 9, 2014:
If the Palins hoped that the brawl would disappear from the headlines, they are in for a rude awakening. The report by the Anchorage Police Department is released, and several witnesses confirm what Eric Thompson already said in public: The Palins started the whole fight, showed outrageous behaviour, and Bristol punched host Korey Klingenmeyer repeatedly. Also, the police report confirms that Track and Bristol were "heavily intoxicated."
The police report hits the headlines with full force.
DOWNLOAD THE REPORT HERE
Screenshots:
It now becomes increasingly clear that the strategy of the Palins, which could so far be described with "dodge, dip, dive, duck, and dodge", would not work out in the end. The witness statements in the police report are simply too damning. Also, it becomes more than obvious that the "The Palin Family's Side of the Anchorage Brawl Story", which had been published by Scott Conroy on September 13, 2014, as I mentioned above, was not confirmed by any of the witnesses outside the Palin-family.
So, what to do, how to play the victim, the favourite Palin-activity of all time?
+++
Tuesday, October 21, 2014:
It is very telling that the silence on part of the Palin-family continued.
However, the publication of the police tapes on October 21, 2014 appeared as a "stroke of luck" from their point of view, as listeners could now hear for themselves how a crying Bristol Palin described her ordeal (or that's what it now sounded like).
Please note that I have uploaded the complete police audio tapes in just one file HERE for download. I could not upload them to youtube in one file, as they are more than two hours long in total!
+++
Wednesday, October 22, 2014:
Suddenly, the big silence stops.
The Palin media-machine quickly kicks into gear again - with the old worn-out phrases.
Bristol Palin publishes "the truth" about the brawl, believe it or not. It was all about "violence against women", and Bristol now conveniently claims to have been the victim.
Screenshot:
However, Bristol's post contains a bold, important lie which can easily be debunked - Bristol wrote:
Why would anyone do this? Well, here’s a hint. The guy was on social media during this incident, tweeting, “about to get famous.”
When Willow saw all this happening she looked at the guy’s mom and said “get ahold of your son.”
But apparently the apple didn’t fall too far from the tree, because his mom pushed Willow. A grown woman pushed my little sister.
(...)
But the evening that began so well took a turn for the worse when this guy decided he wanted to “get famous.”
After I got out of the car, I didn’t get far. I never even got to talk to his mom, because a guy in his late thirties or early forties got in my face. He was towering over me – probably at 6 foot something and over 200 pounds. He puffed his chest out and started yelling.
“You c-nt!” he looked right in my eyes and said. “Get the f-ck out of here, you slut!”
I was alarmed that things had gotten so bad so fast. But it got even worse when this guy started pushing me. He had his hands on me, pushing me down. That’s when I swung and hit his face.
Some would say I should’ve never retaliated in defense against him, but certainly he should never have pushed a girl. It didn’t phase him. He pushed me down to the ground and kept me there.
It was scary and awful. He held me down until someone got me out of the situation.
That’s it – that’s the story.
This guy, who Bristol curiously does not mention by name, is Connor Cleary. His twitter is here.
So, according to Bristol, Connor Cleary tweeted at the night of incident he was "about to get famous".
Really, Bristol Palin/Nancy French?
The problem: This is a blatant lie, which can easily be proven.
Connor Cleary tweeted, but only five days later, on September 11. The sentence he tweeted was: "About to be famous up in this bitch."
Screenshot:
With this proven lie, Bristol's "new story" falls apart completely. As this was tweeted five days after the brawl, how on earth could Willow have used this as a pretext for approaching his mother, in order to "get hold of her son"....?
Connor Cleary has already been named in connection with the brawl, this is not a secret.
He told his story to the National Enquirer - quote from the article:
One victim, Connor Cleary, 26, told The ENQUIRER it was a peaceful party until the reality show family showed up!
Connor said he was approaching the Palins’ stretch-limo Hummer when Track began getting in his face. “He (Track) kept trying to pick a fight with me and then when it all came down – it happened,” Connor said, in an exclusive interview.
“He kept saying, ‘Oh what, are you trying to get into the ----ing limo?’ and he kept cursing at me and walking towards me,” claimed Connor.
Track allegedly threw two jabs at Connor, according to an online report – and that’s when all hell broke loose outside the residence of 39-year-old Korey Klingenmeyer, host of the Sept. 6 bash.
Alarmed, someone screamed, “This isn’t some damned Hillbilly reality show!” according to an eyewitness.
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Friday, October 24, 2014:
Sarah Palin started her favourite activity - hunting journalists. Not seeing the irony that her heavily intoxicated family delivered more than enough "punches" at the brawl, poor Sarah now feels "punched in the gut." Why? Because CNN journalist Carol Costello aired a segment which wasn't to Sarah Palin's liking:
Journalists like Carol Costello are "ruining America", did you know...?
The segment was "truly sickening, yet strangely laughable"...?
I think Queenie Palin should create her own media.
Oh, she tried to do that, totally unsuccessfully? Too bad.
Needless to say that although Carol Costello has already apologized for her remarks, Sarah Palin and her ilk want her scalp. Sarah Palin already said that the first apology in a statement to Politico could not be "accepted":
Unfortunately, Sarah Palin forgot to mention that she herself for example never apologized to former Alaska State Senate President Lyda Green (Republican) for laughing when a right-wing radio-jock called Lyda Green a "bitch" and a "cancer." Lyda Green herself is a cancer survivor, which Palin knew.
Watch:
Senior Republican Lyda Green is indeed not a fan of Sarah Palin, which is not surprising, as she had good insights into how Sarah Palin is wired. Green was a guest on the Rachel Maddow show in 2008, explaining her experiences with Sarah Palin (and Todd Palin).
As an inevitable result of Sarah Palin's attack on Carol Costello, the facebook of the CNN-journalist is now being flooded with ugly comments from right-wingers. This might please Sarah, as her favourite attitude towards her perceived enemies has always been the same: Hunt, seek, destroy.
Screenshot from Costello's facebook:
However, facts have always been the biggest enemy of the Palins, and that is why I wrote this post.
As usual, the deflections and the lies of the Palins are in plain sight, for everyone to see.
Finally, I would like to highlight the following articles in the media:
Josh Marshall, editor and publisher of "Talking Points Memo": "Sarah, Bristol & The Recurrence Of The Eternal Victim"
Andrew Sullivan, "The Dish": "The Odd Lies of Bristol Palin"
Finally, a rather unlikely source - the conservative "Daily Caller" doesn't buy Bristol Palin's accusations against the media: "Bristol Palin Claws Media With 10 Perfect Post Brawl Nails"
Have a good weekend, everybody!
(h/t KAO!)
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