Rick Santorum Progresses the War Against Women - PLUS: Sarah Palin Newsweek Article - The Myth of Trig, and the Lies of Sarah Palin

By Kathleen

In a barely disguised contempt for the intelligence of women, Rick Santorum, who finished last in the 2012 Nevada caucus yesterday, repeated the anti choice lie that abortion causes cancer. This is a blatant attack by Santorum on the organisation of Planned Parenthood and a good old boy pat on the back for Komen. 

In an interview with Fox News Sunday Santorum whined:

"I don't believe breast cancer research is advanced by funding an organization that does abortions where you've seen ties to cancer and abortions."

As the Huffington Post article points out a 2007 study revealed that there is no link between breast cancer and abortion and Planned Parenthood spends a mere 3 percent of its funds on abortion services whilst 16 per cent is allocated for cancer screening and prevention. Obviously Santorum is a member of the school of thought that believes if you repeat a lie often enough it will soon become true.

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Sarah Palin and the Myth of Trig

Several weeks after Sarah Palin sounded off against Newsweek Magazine and Andrew Sullivan in the following tweet:

@Newsweek: know what's truly "dumb"? Giving a cover story to the TrigTruther conspiracy kook writer who thinks I didn't give birth to my son
— Sarah Palin (@SarahPalinUSA) January 17, 2012

she has (ghost) written an article for Newsweek in which she portrays herself as a dutiful mother who has "periodically put her family first" and is worried about Trig's "health and social challenges" that he may face.
 

In the article Palin wants people to believe that she and Todd, like other parents who have to care for Special Needs children, understand the "unique" challenges and rewards of caring for such a child. The reality as the above photo proves is somewhat different. Palin had no hesitation whatsover in dragging her clearly just wakened and undressed child then parading him in front of flashing cameras and a loud crowd. Where is her concern for Trig in this picture and what sacrifices has Palin really made on behalf of her family? Especially for her children who were often employed as shields from the press with their pesky questions. Her children who went on to grow up considering themselves as celebrities or just that so much better than others and who have no hesitation to use homophobic slurs against their critics.

It's also a pity that Palin used the worn out "Trig applauds the world" meme again as it is one that she has repeated many times already.

Trig is almost 4 years old now, and every morning when he wakes up, he pulls himself up, rubs the sleep out of his eyes, looks around, and then starts applauding! He welcomes each day with thunderous applause and laughter. He looks around at creation and claps as if to say, “OK, world, what do you have for me today?”

The fact that she yet again churns out the same anecdote about him prove to me that she is not that involved in his life. Surely if she spent more time with him she would have many other stories to relate rather than an observation made way back in May 2011 and which now appears to be part of the Trig story. The story as Palin tells it.

And that is what this article is. This is Palin's telling of the Trig myth. This is her response to those of us who do not accept that she gave birth to Trig because the evidence and facts suggest otherwise. It's easy Sarah. Release the medical records and the birth certificate proving that you are Trig's mother and we can start talking from there. 

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Note by Patrick:


The Lies of Sarah Palin - Her faked pregnancy:

I left a shorter version of the following comment on Huffington Post - hopefully, it will be approved:

In this new Newsweek article, Sarah Palin talks about her "doctor's appointments." Fact is, the Palin's official schedule from late 2007/early 2008 doesn't show ANY doctor appointments (the schedule was released already in 2009 through a FOIA request). In addition, Sarah Palin's doctor Cathy Bandwin-Johnson who gave the mysterious "OK to fly" to Alaska on April 17, 2008 after Sarah Palin's water broke in Texas (official story!), lived HUNDREDS of miles away. 

Sarah Palin spent January to mid-April 2008 in Alaska's capital Juneau, due to the legislative session. Cathy Baldwin-Johnson, however, lived and worked in Anchorage - which is in fact 849 miles away, according to Google maps. Even the closest staff members of Palin were completely surprised when she announced the pregnancy on March 5, 2008. Even her closest aides had no knowledge of any doctor's appointments.

On our "Politicalgates" blog, you will find all the relevant information regarding Sarah Palin's "pregnancy" through the links which are being mentioned in the sidebar. There is also a link to a "box net" folder with lots of various documents, including Sarah Palin's official schedule from early 2008, which I mentioned above.

We collected a huge amount of damning "circumstantial evidence" regarding Sarah Palin's pregnancy, including photos, video clips and documents. Apart from that, we received excellent inside info from Alaska already about three years ago, when very knowledgeable people from the "upper echolons of society" told us that Palin's pregnancy was faked - and that high-ranking Republicans knew about it.

If you search on youtube for "Michael Carey Palin" you will also see that the faked pregnancy was basically an open secret in Alaska in 2008 (TV-interview with ADN-journalist Michael Carey from September 2, 2008). Sarah Palin herself was confronted with the "fake pregnancy allegations" already in March and April 2008, as Frank Bailey reveals in his book "Blind Allegiance." Even then, when she was still supposedly "highly pregnant" (officially giving birth to a baby weighing more than six pounds on April 18, 2008), Palin was very upset about the allegations - but had no way to refute them! On the contrary, she asked her staff whether the Anchorage Daily News was "suspecting" anything and desperately tried to find ways to "squelch" the rumours, as she called it herself.

I explained this in great detail in a post from February 2011 about "Blind Allegiance", which can be found in the "popular posts" in the sidebar on our blog.

Sarah Palin's article in Newsweek is another "pre-emptive" strike regarding her pregnancy with Trig. Several of those "pre-emptive" strikes happened in the past, or at least were attempted. On one occasion, Sarah Palin even flat out lied about having shown Trig's birth certificate, so desperate was she to get the "rumours" out of the way.

Unfortunately, the media has failed badly in investigating Palin's pregnancy, causing the ridiculous situation that Andrew Sullivan especially is now somewhat "tainted" as being a "Trig Truther" - despite the fact that he asked exactly the right questions, and was one of the very few people who was not fooled - and he should have some received awards for his courage! However, I still have hope that the full truth about Sarah Palin's “pregnancy” will finally be revealed - with evidence which will be impossible to ignore, even for the unwilling media.

While I was the editor of Palingates, one of your readers. Lidia17, created an excellent three part documentary about Sarah Palin's faked pregnancy with Trig.


First part:

  Second part:

  Third part (the "wild ride"):

There is more. It wasn't Andrew Sullivan or some blogger from the "Daily Kos" who started the rumour that Sarah Palin faked her pregnancy with Trig. In fact, it was an open secret amongst "knowledgeable people" in Alaska, as we know from our own sources from Alaska, and as Anchorage Daily News columnist Michael Carey confirmed on tape in an interview at the Republican National Convention on September 2, 2008:

However, it's even "worse." The rumours that Sarah Palin faked the pregnancy did in fact already emerge in March and April 2008 while Sarah Palin was still officially pregnant! The proof can be found in Sarah Palin's own emails from these months, which have been published by her former top-aide Frank Bailey in his book "Blind Allegiance to Sarah Palin." I wrote a detailed post about this in February 2011, quoting extensively from Sarah Palin's emails.

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UPDATE:


For those wondering as to whether there is a recent picture of Trig in Newsweek magazine my very reliable sources tell me that the answer to that is a resounding no.

This is the most recent photo that I have seen of Trig. It was posted on January 21st, 2012 on Bristol's public facebook. Here he is with Bristol and Tripp. Bristol writes "Love these boys." h/t to hopeforamerica.

Herman Cain's new website "Women for Cain": Supporters who give "thumbs up" in website logo are "stock photo models" from Germany - UPDATE!

By Patrick

Herman Cain's rapidly descending career reaches a new low point: The adulterer and compulsive liar Herman Cain today opened a new section at his website with the curious name "Women for Cain." It's of course not supposed to be Herman's private dating website, but a place on his website where female fans can express their unwavering support for Herman Cain - like for example Priscilla Wooten from Georgia, who is quoted saying:

"Mr. Cain, please do not step down. You are exactly what this country needs to get us back on track, from the disaster that presently sits in our oval office. From the 1st time I saw you in Douglasville Ga,I knew that I wanted you to be my President. Stand strong, sir."

An initial research of the women leaving comments at "Women for Cain" reveals that a lot of them have connections to the Tea Party (surprise, surprise). We looked some of the women up on the internet, and they often seem to be member of the "Tea Party Patriots" or work as "Tea Party Organizers". In some cases they seem to have donated large sums (for example $ 3,000 in one case) to Herman Cain's campaign.

While the creation of this website is already embarrassing enough on the limitless "GOP embarrassment scale", another big cock-up (pardon my language) has been discovered. I cannot claim credit for this discovery, as it happened in the comments to an article about Cain's new website at TPM. Ever since Herman Cain's infamous and much parodied "smoking campaign advert" has been published, it should be clear to everyone that Herman Cain's campaign staff obviously consists of a bunch of amateurs. Today, we have more proof for this assumption.

In the logo of his new website "Women for Cain", Herman Cain shows four smiling ladies who give the "thumbs-up":

I believe that Herman Cain's website tries to give the impression that these four young ladies are true supporters of Herman Cain. I might be naive, but in my view, if you are a politician and show pictures of people giving you the "thumbs-up" at a prominent place of your website, even if these people are not named, they still should in fact be real supporters. Otherwise, you would just be running some kind of online shop, selling "yourself" as a product.

But it turns out that Herman Cain's campaign doesn't share my views.

The four ladies are not supporters of Herman Cain. In fact, that might not even have heard of him, as live far, far away - in good old Germany. Herman Cain's campaign didn't bother to find four real good-looking female supporters. In their rush to make Herman Cain more appealing to women (haha!), they instead simply used a commercial stock photo which was taken by a German photographer and which can be bought online at this website.

Screenshots:

This just brilliantly embodies in my opinion what Herman Cain's campaign is all about: The selling of an inept and deceptive candidate.

Herman, it's time to go! Do yourself a favour and end this farce.

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ALREADY AN UPDATE!

Literally minutes ago, the stock photo has been removed - and left a gaping hole on Herman Cain's website.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

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UPDATE 2:

You have seen "Women for Cain" - but why be one-sided? It was only a matter of minutes or hours, and now it's online: "Men for Cain."

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UPDATE 3:

Herman Cain's 1986 Sexual Harassment Training - Learn about the "NEIN NEIN NEIN" rule!

Herman Cain's 1986 Sexual Harassment Training from Tim Meadows

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UPDATE 4:

Herman Cain's campaign finally found the right photo to "plug the whole" on the "Women for Cain" website, after the German stock models had disappeared. Why look around for fake or real female supporters, when you could use a photo of your wife smiling in the camera (pictured together with yourself):

So all is good again. Apart from the curious fact that Gloria Cain did not know about the 13-year "friendship" with Ginger White and the fact that the Daily Beast just yesterday published a bombshell article, claiming that the marriage of the Cains is, well, a little bit different:

The Cain campaign denied any strife in the marriage, but one campaign worker speaking anonymously said that Cain doesn’t want to quit because he doesn’t want to be seen as a loser.

No matter what happens to Cain’s presidential aspirations, sources close to his family say the accusations of infidelity have already taken a significant toll on an already strained marriage.

A close friend of one Cain’s two children explained that Herman and Gloria Cain’s marriage has seen its share of trouble over the years and his attraction to other women always played a huge role in the friction.

“It never felt like a real marriage when I was around them,’’ says the friend. “Mostly he was always gone and his wife seemed to be OK with it. Not being together seemed the norm for their marriage, and Gloria didn’t seem to mind. His kids didn’t seem to mind either. ’’

The friend noted that when Cain was around, he seemed completely in his own world.

“He was king of his castle and no one questioned him,’’ says the friend. “It was an uncomfortable set-up for an outsider like me to be around. He was so indifferent to everyone. But I liked Gloria. She was warm and kind.”

Several people who know the Cain family say Gloria and Herman have even lived in separate residences over the years. “They stayed together for good face. They’re old school where you stay just because. Herman likes to give the appearance of living this holier-than-thou life. But it’s anything but,” says someone close to the family.

Cain told Fox News that his wealth allowed him to give money to both men and women in need and certainly had no romantic implications. Ginger White, who says she had a 13-year affair with Cain, also said he gave her money and supported her throughout their relationship. Cain later admitted that his wife had no idea he was supporting White financially.

While Cain denies an affair with White, many in Atlanta can’t seem to remember seeing the Cains out together very often. Lowery says he saw Cain out and about in Atlanta over the years, but rarely ever with his wife.

“I can’t say I remember seeing the two of them being out together,’’ says Lowery. “I’d see him at conferences and other church-related functions from time to time. I even heard him sing a few times, but I never saw him with Gloria.’’

Another family friend says Gloria Cain was never a fan of her husband’s “look at me’’ tendencies or his run for office, even though Cain assured her it wouldn’t require much of her physically or emotionally. He was wrong.

“This is a very arrogant man,’’ says the friend. “It probably never occurred to him that all these women would eventually come out. It’s funny to see him talk about the toll on his wife. He never thought of that before.’’

Well, it's not know yet whether the trainwreck which is Herman Cain's campaign will move on, or whether he will throw the towel. Given the level of arrogance displayed so far by Herman Cain, he might very well continue. Which would be a good thing from my point of view, because Herman Cain's campaign has been a constant source for parody and entertainment.

Speaking of parody - one of our readers had another good idea for a Herman Cain support site: "Weasels for Cain."

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More parody, this time not related to Herman Cain, but concerning Sarah Palin - who mercifully began her inevitable decline into obscurity. Yesterday, Sarah Palin again appeared on Hannity (click here for video) and was wearing, well, something that looked like a red bathrobe. Which is possibly not the most unusual thing in the world for housewives in Wasilla to wear, but still a noteworthy event when it comes to national television. This is a screenshot from the interview:

Our wonderful reader Azure Ghost has her own take on Sarah Palin's appearance in the interview:

Thank you, Azure Ghost! What an amazing resemblance.

Dusty's Corner -- Herman Cain and Lethal Remedies.

By Dusty

Hi! Welcome to Dusty's Corner. Pull up a comfy seat, grab your favorite beverage, smoke em if you got em and don't worry if you are still in your jammies as that is what makes life interesting and fun. Thank you everyone for all your great comments and the warm welcome as a new contributor here at PoliticalGates.

Wow it appears Michele Bachmann will sign any pledge placed in front of her if said pledge will deliver more money or attention. Last week Bachmann signed a pledge to build a $100 million fence between the US and Mexico. Wonder where she thinks she is going to get the money to pay for this fence since she signed the no new taxes pledge. Think she will take it from the farm subsidies pot of gold? Yeah me neither.

You also just gotta love Michele’s wonderful Christian values you know the ones: faith, charity, hope and love for just those who match her skin tone and tax bracket. Michele, hair up does not mean we will take you any more seriously than we do now. Yes, yes I know Sarah got a total pass and we are still paying dearly for it today but damn girl for the last time you are NOT Sarah.

Seriously though do NOT repeat the above look. It is hard enough to take you seriously when you say stupid stuff like ““And one thing I would say is, when you take the 9-9-9 plan and you turn it upside down, I think the devil is in the details.” The only good thing about that totally insipid statement is it brought my focus back to your actual words. Michele, when you make statements like that while trying out a whole new ‘look’ (which failed btw) it just makes me change the channel or even worse (for you anyway) blog about it. Dusty Helpful Hint: Add a little splash of color. Not just the flag pin dear.

Next up in the Stupid Things Republican Candidates Say News of the Week is Herman Cain. Herman (Herb) Cain has stated he is open to lethal remedies (what is it with the radical right wing and their 2^nd amendment remedies anyway- penis envy or courage envy?) for those trying to cross the border from Mexico to the US. That statement has got to make you wonder just what the hell does Mexico thinks of the United States now. Didn’t these two freaking clowns learn anything when East and West Germany had a wall between them and lethal remedies were used? Update: Oopsie now Herb said he was just kidding. Yeah right Herman.

Did I also mention ole Herb finally admitted he doesn’t have a clue what his 9 9 9 plan actually entails other than it is quite the catchy talking point with no substance. I am pretty sure even a first grader can grasp the fact that the US does not currently have a National Sales Tax and the addition of a 9% Sales Tax on ALL good and services equals a Tax INCREASE on everyone. Ummm Herb- aren’t you forgetting something? You signed the no new tax increase pledge too. Grover is not happy with you Herman.

Irony like Karma can be a bitch sometimes but other times it is just so sweet. BOTH Republican Candidates Jon Huntsman and Newt Gingrich 2012 Presidential Campaigns are $1 Million in DEBT. Yes you read that right $1 Million dollars in debt right now. The same two guys who are running on the Less Government, Less Federal Spending and Balance the Budget platform are both in debt and are still spending money they don’t have. Yep that sure gives me more confidence to vote for either one. NOT!

A second irony moment this week is Congress is working on yet another anti-abortion bill that makes triple sure that no federal funds are used to fund abortions but this one adds yet another twist. If an insurance company offers a plan that covers abortions and you pay for that insurance plan out of your own pocket guess what you are paying for an empty plan. Because this new bill will force you to pay for all expenses related to that abortion out of pocket. Yes you read that right- if you want or need an abortion the insurance policy that you pay for out of your own pocket will not be allow to pay for any expenses related to the abortion. I sure wish someone in the media would ask those who sponsor and vote for this bill how this is less government and why is the government allowed to regulate a women’s health care needs but not the EPA.

The Occupy Wall Street movement has expanded worldwide and finally news outlets were unable to ignore it any longer. Good Job to all those who went out on the streets and also those who occupied the web. To those 1% who hung the signs up in your offices on Wall Street and those in politics and the media who discount what 99% of the nation has been saying we are getting stronger and our voices will be heard. Our voices were heard in 2008 when we voted for hope and change. You didn’t listen when poll after poll showed that the majority of Americans wanted the ObamaCares aka the American Health Care Plan and you still didn’t listen when the majority said they do not want it repealed if anything the MAJORITY still want a national health care plan for everyone including you! To those who can afford it you can have your own gold standard plan you know the plan the same plan you have now while your fellow Americans are dying with no health care coverage. Keep trying to repress our voices and in 2012 we will vote again for Hope and Change not for Fear and Hate like some of those who voted in 2010.

What would a visit to Dusty's Corner be without Sarah Palin. Yes the less popular and the finally fading North Star of the Hate Sarah Palin. Finally a special moment was caught and will live on forever on the internet.

Meet the real Sarah Palin!

Does it strike anyone else as odd that here she sits in a roomful of MEN and she is sitting there looking both scared and insecure. What happen Sarah? Your famous tongue action didn't work? I guess South Korea guys have more self control than your other male followers?

Did it finally occur to you that no matter how much weigh you lose, no matter how much make up you wear, no matter how many wigs and fake glasses you wear, no matter how big the boobies, no matter how high the bumpit (did yours fail to clear airport security?) no matter how fake the accent, or how short the hemline AND how high the heels there are people out there in this world who just aren't that into you? Sarah it's not what is on the outside that really matters it is what is in the inside. Darlin, you just don't have what Americans are looking for in a leader.

David Frum had this to say about Sarah Palin "In the end, she exploited, abused, or embarrassed almost everyone who had believed in her. Most embarrassing of all: she was never even a very good con artist. Everything that was false and petty and unqualified in her was visible within the first minutes of encountering her." I sure wish I could ask David if "everything that was false and petty and unqualified in her was visible within the first minutes of encountering her" why the hell did you and John McCain continue to support and defend her after those first minutes?

So Buh-Bye Sarah, we'll turn the lights out for ya and please don't let the door hit your padded ass on the way out okay? I can also report with almost 100% certainty you will not be missed as Anita Perry has stepped up to fill your ill-fitting shoes and will soon be the next Queen of victimhood, blaming others and just generally making shit up as she goes along. But enough about Anita we talk about her next time. It's time to say Nighty Night Sarah I can't say it has been all that enjoyable but I did want to thank you for my friends at PoliticalGates. If it weren't for you we all wouldn't have met and that Sarah would have been a real shame.

Thank you HonestyInGov and Annes_123 for the great pictures.

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UPDATE by Kathleen:

Thank you Dusty and once again welcome to Politicalgates.

I received that last snippet of information that I need for my post this morning. Look for it to be put up sometime in the next few days after I have recovered from my terrible cold.

Update 2- Added due to popular demand

So Sarah, How's all that bunchy padding workin' out for ya?

Rick Perry announces his candidacy for US President and steals Sarah Palin's talking points - all of them, any of them - BONUS: Perry and Hitler

By Patrick

Sarah Palin might be "THE big Elephant in the GOP tent", as Joe McGinniss wrote yesterday, but the GOP tent is now in real danger to get stomped on by another elephant, Texas Governor Rick Perry, who yesterday announced his candidacy to become the next US President.

His announcement appears to be a real game changer and a huge problem for Sarah Palin, as Rick Perry already proved that he has no hesitation to steal all her talking points, and behave "more presidential" at the same time. In his announcement speech yesterday in South Carolina, he sounded like a mixture between G.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan, and he also fully embraced Sarah Palin's well-known talking points - but his vocabulary doesn't appear as limited as the one of the Ice Queen from Wasilla.

If you want to hear a politician talking for example about

- cutting spending

- creating new jobs

- keeping the taxes low

- strengthening private enterprises

- President Obama being a big failure

- military, military, military

- American exceptionalism

- America always coming first

- protection of American interests in the world

- Ronald Reagan's shining city on a hill

- praying for America

- family values

- repealing healthcare

- protecting unborn life

and so on, you don't have to listen to the fame-whoring screech from Wasilla any more. As Rick Perry made clear in his announcement speech, he embraces all these points - what a coincidence that is.

Watch (there is also good commentary at the end of the second MSNBC clip):

In addition, you get a "real politician", and not a wannabe who quit her job when the going got tough.

Rick Perry's talking points seem to be a re-hash of G.W. Bush in 2000 and certainly don't offer solutions to the current economic crisis in the USA, but they raise an important question: Is there still room for Sarah Palin after Rick Perry entered the race? I truly don't believe there is.

Even hardcore Palin-supporters will soon realise that not only the talking points are basically identical, but that Rick Perry also instantly appears much more "presidential." In their eyes, he could be the "strong man" that the USA currently needs. Unlike Sarah Palin and her equally fame-whoring daughter Bristol, Rick Perry is not overexposed yet, but a "fresh face", so to speak. Despite his highly questionable record as the Governor of Texas, Rick Perry at least is a sitting Governor since 2000, and the State of Texas is of huge importance for the presidential election.

After his announcement, some interesting details came to light: After Mike Huckabee refused to get in the race a few months ago, Rick Perry was urged by evangelical leaders to enter the race, CNN reports:

Many of the activists checking in with Shackelford are concerned that Pawlenty and Bachmann, the other Republican candidates popular among conservative evangelicals, aren’t generating enough support and have limited appeal outside the evangelical subculture.

“They want a candidate who is not only socially and fiscally conservative, but who could actually raise money,” says Shackelford. “Perry can bridge the establishment and grass roots sides of the party and that’s really hard to find.”

Perry, who has presided over a state that has seen strong job growth amid the economic downturn, is considered popular among business groups.

“Rick Perry has the potential to energize tea party and social conservatives, as well as attract endorsements and contributions from GOP donors and elected officials,” said Ralph Reed, who leads the Faith and Freedom Coalition.

“Not unlike another Texas governor, George W. Bush, he can bridge the establishment wing of the party and the conservative grass roots,” said Reed, the former executive director of the Christian Coalition. “That’s quite a combination, and my sense is he will reshuffle this race in a significant way.”

Romney, the current establishment favorite, is unpopular among many conservative Christian activists because of his onetime support for abortion rights and because of a health care law he signed as governor of Massachusetts that mandates coverage.

And Romney, a Mormon, faces obstacles in connecting with evangelical voters along religious lines, as Perry, Pawlenty and Bachmann appear to be doing.

“I got involved in The Response three or four months ago and at that time, the Perry for president push was not the issue," said Garlow, who is supporting Newt Gingrich for president but is disappointed at the former House Speaker's performance so far. "It became that way primarily after Huckabee pulled his name out of the race.”

Indeed, many conservative activists began calling on Perry to run only after former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee announced in May that he would not seek the White House.

“I was astounded at the pressure on him to run - you felt it building and we were trying to plan this prayer event and we’re saying, ‘How do we keep this out of politics because this is about Christ?' ”

So Rick Perry could quickly emerge as the new darling of the evangelical right. Interesting that the evangelicals are apparently not so keen on Sarah Palin running, as no "signals" to get her in the race are visible at this point. My impression is that she lost a lot of important support in the background, and we can only guess about the specific reasons. But it's probably rather simple, as Sarah Palin in the past turned out the be unreliable, irrational and uninformed on a regular basis, apart from being a money-grubbing fame whore. Maybe people just "got it" in the end and realised that Sarah Palin simply isn't presidential material.

The American people of course also don't believe that Sarah Palin is presidential material, as for example the latest CNN poll from August 5-7 revealed again (click to enlarge):

In addition, the latest Fox News Poll revealed that a whopping 74% of Independents and even 58% of Republicans believe that Sarah Palin "would not make a good President" (click to enlarge):

So wouldn't it be great if actually Sarah Palin became the Republican nominee, as she is polling so badly on a regular basis - wouldn't that be fantastic for the Democrats? Shouldn't they actually work FOR Palin in order to enhance her chances? Shouldn't the anti-Palin bloggers just shut up?

NO, of course not. Sarah Palin is a mentally unstable, ignorant, reckless, narcissistic and vindictive woman, whose main ambition in life is to fight against her real and perceived enemies, basically anyone who doesn't adore her. She already caused a lot of damage to the political culture. Such a person would be highly destructive for any civilised society. Even though her chances to win the election would be slim, a successful primary would give her the chance to poison the political climate even more. Not even for tactical reasons should she be allowed in a position to seriously run for the presidency.

James C. Moore, another commentator at CNN, sees Rick Perry already heading for the White House. While it may very well be the case that Perry could soon the be the Republican frontrunner, Moore comes to a peculiar conclusion at the end, when he writes:

Fueled only by speculation that he might announce, Perry became the putative front-runner (heard that word at a fancy Washington restaurant and thought it was cool). Because presidential politics tend to be more visceral than intellectual, Perry's coyote-killer good looks, $2,000 hand-tooled cowboy boots, supernova smile and Armani suits, combined with podium skills to embellish the mythology of Texas, all will create a product Americans will want to believe and buy.

After he wins the nomination, protocol will require Perry to have discussions with Bachmann about the vice presidential slot, but he will, eventually, turn to Sarah Palin. The general election will force the Texan back toward the middle and he will stop talking about faith and abortion and gay marriage; Perry will campaign on jobs and the economy.

Palin, who is loved by the tea party as much as Perry, will keep the Teavangelicals animated while he tries to talk to the adults to win the election on a single issue: the economy, stupiderest!!! (Forget about Rudy Giuliani; the GOP cannot win New York, don't need it to take the election and Giuliani is wrong on gay marriage for this ticket).

No way! Somebody clearly didn't pay attention. It would be suicidal for Rick Perry to choose Sarah Palin as his running mate, as should be evident from all the past events (James C. Moore apparently also needs to educate himself about the long list of Sarah Palin's scandals, which are ticking time bombs).

In fact, Rick Perry already made clear who his favourite would be, and consequently announced his candidacy in her home state: South Carolina's Governor Nikki Haley. They already wrote an op-ed together for the Washington Post in July 2011 about the "cap, tax and balance pledge", titled "Break the spend-and-borrow cycle", and Nikki Haley quickly called the timing of Rick Perry's announcement in her home state "brilliant."

Sarah Palin is not on board. In fact, she was clearly annoyed that she didn't know that Rick Perry would announce, as was evident from her remarks yesterday which were reported by Scott Conroy:

I am certain that it's out of the question that Sarah Palin would be Rick Perry's running mate.

Right now, it appears that Sarah Palin out manouvered herself. Andrew Sullivan thinks that she wants to wait with her announcement after the books by Joe McGinniss and Levi Johnston have been published, and that may very well be true. Andrew Sullivan wrote:

My bet is she'll wait till after Levi's and McGinniss's books come out. And she'll leverage her campaign as a victim of the evil media.

But I cannot know, of course. All I know is that Palin craves attention and believes she has been chosen by God to lead the nation. Bowing out of the race is the end of her fifteen minutes. My bet is she wants a few more hours.

Yes, she wants more hours, and so do Todd and Bristol. Let's see what she will get in the end. The right-wingers on the major website "Free Republic" already started to slaughter Sarah Palin (and her bots in particular!), and hardly anyone defends her there any more. The right-wingers want a winner, not a quitter.

By the way, I don't think that Michele Bachmann has a serious chance. She bought herself the victory at this ridiculous straw poll in Iowa with giving away 4000 free tickets, which otherwise would have cost $30 each. Americans don't want a crazy lady with an even more embarrassing husband as their president. I believe that Rick Perry will start to dominate the polls as far as the radical right-wing base is concerned, as the main opponent to Mitt Romney.

The crazy lady from Wasilla then will need a new purpose in life. But she will probably just go on for decades complaining about how she was destroyed by the evil media, repeating this mantra like a broken record. Fortunately, we then don't need to listen to her any more and can concentrate on more pleasant things in life again.

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http://twitter.com/#!/politicalgates/status/102593354377867265

http://twitter.com/#!/politicalgates/status/102594884124422144

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UPDATE:

Fortunately, Rick Perry's gaffes already started while he was in college. If you put one of his college pictures and a historical picture of Adolf Hitler side-by-side, this is what we get (click to enlarge). I just couldn't resist to create this photo comparison.

I don't want to say that Rick Perry is a Nazi, but let's be serious for a moment - can you imagine what the right-wingers would have done if they had found a similar picture of Barack Obama...?

Rick Perry - Adolf Hitler (click to enlarge)

UPDATE 2:

While Perry's college pictures are just what they are, old pictures, and while it's also not Rick Perry's fault that the uniform very closely resembles a Nazi uniform, it is worth pointing out that the right-wingers also discovered the pictures today, and that they not only love them, but also had no hesitation to immediately compare them to Barack Obama's college pictures, in order to prove that Obama was just a stoned hippie at college, unlike Rick Perry. So it is fair to point out in my view that Perry's picture is actually rather unfortunate.

UPDATE 3:

Our photo-comparison is starting to make the rounds.

Andrew Sullivan and John McCain believe that Sarah Palin has a chance to beat Obama in 2012 - Palin causing major stir at "Rolling Thunder" (PHOTOS)

By Patrick

If America wants it or not, she is "back." The force of the Palin-propaganda machine is just about to hit the country, and John McCain already appears to rate her as a serious contender. Today on "Fox News Sunday", he said, according to "The Hill":

The GOP’s standard-bearer in 2008 also shrugged off his former running mate’s poor standing in many polls, saying she would have the opportunity to turn that around if she did make a bid for the White House.

“That’s what campaigns are all about,” McCain said on “Fox News Sunday.”

“I’ve never seen anyone as mercilessly and relentlessly attacked as I have seen Sarah Palin in the last couple of years,” the Arizona senator added. “But she also inspires great passion, particularly among the Republican faithful.”

So, she "inspires great passion", and she could "turn that around." Thank you, John McCain! Also for unleashing Queen Esther onto the world, we are incredibly grateful, thank you so much, John. She's just what the world has been waiting for. A warmongering, lying, deceitful, demagogic politician whose main argument is that if you are against her, you are against women and against real American values.

Andrew Sullivan is one of the few journalists who have taken the threat that Sarah Palin poses seriously, and of course he has been ridiculed many times, because she is such a joke, isn't she! Who could possibly take her seriously!

This weekend, he was not afraid to defend his position on the Chris Matthews Show at MSNBC:

From the exchange:

CHRIS MATTHEWS, HOST: Does anybody here really, does anybody imagine Sarah Palin being elected President of the United States?

ANDREW SULLIVAN, DAILY BEAST: Yes.

MATTHEWS: You can.

SULLIVAN: Yes, because…

[LAUGHTER]

GLORIA BORGER, CNN: Uh oh, here it comes.

SULLIVAN: …not because of her apparent virtues, not because of Obama’s weakness, but because of unforeseen events. I do think that if for example we have a collapse in the markets because of a debt ceiling crisis, if we have a second recession…

MATTHEWS: You’re talking Armageddon.

SULLIVAN: If we have another terrorist attack…

BORGER: Sorry.

SULLIVAN: No, I’m just saying we shouldn’t rule out things.

MATTHEWS: Okay, okay, let’s go…

JOE KLEIN, TIME MAGAZINE: You were around, you were around in ’79 and ’80 as I was. Did you see many people in the Carter administration think that Ronald Reagan could beat Jimmy Carter?

MATTHEWS: Okay, let’s imagine that short of an Armageddon moment like the capture of 80 hostages and the humiliation of the United States for year-long and inflation and unemployment like Carter had.

Well, we’ve got the soaring gas and food prices as well as the unemployment. Apparently Obama gives Matthews too much of a thrill up his leg to notice.

Regardless, a few minutes later, the discussion came back to Palin:

MATTHEWS: Okay, let’s go to Palin. Lot of fun here. Palin, you love Palin. In some strange way you’re fascinated by her, Andrew.

SULLIVAN: As I said on the show many times, she started running the day after the 2008 election ended, and there’s no reason to believe she isn’t running.

MATTHEWS: Did she take a smart break the last three or four months so that the Newts and the Trumps make fools of themselves more or less?

SULLIVAN: Her position has been formerly if no one else will represent this grassroots movement of cutting government down to size and standing up for America abroad, then I will have to go in.

MATTHEWS. Anger. She’ll be the anger candidate.

SULLIVAN: Not just the angry candidate. She’ll be the principled candidate against what she will describe as the free…

MATTHEWS: Are you getting her into this race? Are you escorting her into this race?

SULLIVAN: No, no, no, no, no. I’m too terrified for the country to do such a thing. But I don’t, I do think Washington has misread her, underestimated her, and doesn’t see the…

MATTHEWS: Okay, can Palin and Bachmann run both on the right?

KLEIN: Sure they can both run, but I don’t know that either of them can win. But one thing you have to say about Palin: she doesn’t know anything about policy, but she’s got skills. She knows how to be a standup politician.

MATTHEWS: I agree. Great on the stage.

KLEIN: Yeah.

BORGER: But I believe in the end she’s so relentlessly negative that the, the American people don’t like relentlessly negative politicians. Look at Ronald Reagan. Ronald Reagan was optimistic, positive…

SULLIVAN: But “Sarah Palin’s Alaska” is the most – I know it’s completely phony – but it’s very optimistic. This whole “Triumph of the Will” movie she’s putting out there, two hours of total upbeat, optimistic stuff. She, she knows this, and she’s going to work around it.

The right-wingers surely are mightily upset that Andrew Sullivan compared Sarah Palin's upcoming propaganda piece to Leni Riefenstahl's "Triumph of the Will", but so be it. "The Undefeated" will be pure propaganda, and even if it's packed with lies, just as "Going Rogue" was, her fanatical fans will love it, because they want to believe in her. This has nothing to do with rational thinking. What we have is a populist who is willing to use every lie imaginable in order to impress her fans - and the potential voters. This should scare anyone, it's no laughing matter - but I believe that large parts of the media will be very happy to play the "Palin media game", again. She will give them the sound bites, and they will happy to pick them up, because Sarah Palin sells. It would help if the media started to take her seriously. So far, not many people in the media seem to do so, which I believe is a great mistake. Sarah Palin is ruthless, and she is determined. Virtually every move she has made after she resigned as Governor is directed to prepare her upcoming presidential campaign. Therefore, nobody should be surprised, and Americans need to realize what's heading towards them.

Sarah Palin's embarrassing interviews have been around since 2008. But journalists have no excuse any more, when it comes to simply repeating Sarah Palin's lies about her record. They are now in a position to educate themselves, as Geoffrey Dunn's book "The Lies of Sarah Palin" and Frank Bailey's book "Blind Allegiance to Sarah Palin" are packed with facts which are damning.

I was very happy to see that Jack Cafferty highly praised Geoffrey Dunn's book on CNN, saying that it "ought to be required reading for anybody considering supporting a Presidential run by this woman":

Now, I do hope that neither the journalists nor the voters will forget Sarah Palin's disastrous appearances during the 2008 campaign - because one thing is for sure: There will be no more interviews with critical journalists, as Sarah Palin recently announced on Hannity. It will only be propaganda, propaganda, propaganda.

Is the USA prepared for that? I surely hope so, because otherwise we will all be in big, big trouble.

Let's finish this post with Sarah Palin's "Greatest Hits" - we can never see them often enough:

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UPDATE:

A new report by the "Washington Post" describes how the appearance of Sarah Palin caused a major stir at the "Rolling Thunder motorcycle ride." Palin did a great job of hijacking the event:

Participants in the annual Rolling Thunder motorcycle ride Sunday expressed mixed feelings about the involvement of former Alaska governor Sarah Palin (R).

Palin, along with husband Todd and daughters Bristol and Piper, joined the hundreds of thousands of riders who gather in D.C. every year to raise awareness for prisoners of war and soldiers missing in action.

Palin’s arrival at the event around 11:30 a.m. caused a huge commotion that event organizers struggled to contain. Photographers swarmed her; young men in suits hung around the press pack asking Palin to sign copies of her books. Rolling Thunder security yelled at press and fans not to touch the expensive bikes.

“I’m very not appreciative of the way she came in here,” Ted Shpak, Rolling Thunder’s national legislative director, said of Palin’s arrival. The former governor came in the front of the Pentagon’s north parking lot, where event staff and press were assembled. “If she wanted to come on the ride, she should have come in the back.”

The ride goes from the Pentagon, past the Vietnam Memorial, to the National Mall. From there, Palin plans to head to the National Archives to see the Constitution. It’s the beginning of a week-long tour of historic sites in the Northeast.

But many riders said politics has no place in the event.

“It intimidates our people if we’re pro or con any particular candidate,” said Wayne Kirkpatrick, chairman of the board of an Illinois chapter of Rolling Thunder. “And until national says there's a candidate we’re and supporting them, we don’t want to feel because the president of this chapter is pro-tea party, ‘Gee, I have to be our else I better get out of this organization.”

While many riders said they were fans of Palin, they still did not want her to bring politics to the ride. “Don’t come here and try to make a political point out of it,” said Joe Clark of Pennsylvania. “If she’s just here backing the cause of the entire run, that’s fine. If she’s just trying to get votes, she should just stay out of it.”

Also, we have the first pictures of Sarah Palin at Rolling Thunder ride, thanks to one of our readers (click to enlarge):

The inevitable "hand":

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UPDATE 2:

Major screech alert - Fox News interviews Sarah Palin at the ride - hide your dogs before you watch the video (it's just once sentence, though). Sarah Palin says that she

"loves the smell of the emissions."

I am sure that the Koch Brothers will be happy to hear that!

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UPDATE 3:

Many Americans will not be fooled by Sarah Palin's show, and others are certainly not fooled as well. The UK Daily Mail published a good, also very balanced, article, with lots of pictures and additional information, as well as scathing captions, such as:

"Parade time: Ms Palin waves to the crowd, from the back of a hog...

where she sat for a few minutes"

The Daily Mail writes:

Jim Roddey, chairman of the Allegheny County Republican Committee in Pittsburgh, said: 'Overall, most of us feel she could be an important force in the party, but I would hope she would not run for president.

'I don’t think she has the intellectual capacity or the depth of knowledge to be president.'

She has also been criticised by Maryland’s 2010 GOP gubernatorial nominee, Robert Ehrlich, who called her a quitter and said: 'If you look at the categories of potential nominees, most people do not mention her as a tier-one candidate.'
Palin's problem in the north east is the predominance of suburban swing voters, who are not impressed by her social conservatism and anti-intellectual posturing.
Mr Madonna said: 'The overall style, her manner, her approach, doesn’t sit well with college educated, independent-minded women.

'They’re looking for a different persona in their candidate.'

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UPDATE 4:

Super-LOL! The Taiwanese are at it again! Especially the depiction of RAM is simply brilliant:



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UPDATE 5:

Last for today - raw video of Palin at the ride: