Sean Hannity and Matt Lewis, Tear Down This Wall!

By Patrick

It's done! The wall is coming down! Freedom! Victory! After six long, long years, we can now all agree and shout out in public: "Yes, Sarah Palin is an idiot!"

A few days ago, Sarah Palin was still a fairly respected member of the Republican establishment, although to some of us the cracks in the wall were already obvious. But now, FREEDOM! Today, a former huge Palin-supporter, Matt Lewis, is finally able to breathe the air of liberty, and can openly admit, without the fear of being viciously slaughtered by his peers: "You Betcha I Was Wrong About Sarah Palin"...!

YES! What joy! What relief! The world will never be the same again.

Yesterday, the eternal concrete-head Sarah Palin tried to stem herself against the tide, when she appeared on Hannity, and furiously defended herself. But even Hannity knew that the show is over. Watch for yourself, it is well worth it:

Sean, don't hold back! Tell us what you really think. You can do it, even without a degree! :-)

So much has been said about all this already, not only in the comments of our last post, but everywhere on the internet. "Secretly", virtually everybody knew that she is an idiot, but in public, it was still hard to mention this as a conservative, as Matt Lewis admits:

Palin has contributed to this phenomenon by playing the victim card, engaging in identity politics, co-opting some of the cruder pop-culture references, and conflating redneck lowbrow culture with philosophical conservatism.

And this makes me wonder if I might have contributed to this by boosting her—and by publicly chastising her conservative critics.

My harshest criticism was directed at conservative writers whom (I felt) prematurely attacked her during the months of September and October in the 2008 presidential campaign—and possibly even contributed to her radicalization. (In my mind, Palin changed after the 2008 loss, a shift that correlates closely with the election of Obama and the rise of the Tea Party.)

But you could argue that the conservatives who went after Palin back in ’08 have now been vindicated—regardless of their motivation. And my counterfactual argument (that Palin might have turned out better had everyone had cut her some slack in 2008) feels increasingly tenuous.

Is it possible that Kathleen Parker saw something I didn’t when she attacked Palin? I saw it as strangling the conservative baby in the crib; Parker probably saw it as snuffing out a monster.

Such is the plight of a writer; I got some stuff right, and my position was justifiable at the time, but in hindsight I regret contributing to the premature deification of Sarah Palin.

Well, Matt Lewis, writing such an article is a big step, however, there are still some things to clarify, once and for all.

You also write:

But something happened on the way to Des Moines. I suspect the most vicious attacks (especially the “Trig Truther” stuff) radicalized her and embittered her, but I also suspect she also took the easy way out.

OK, wait a second, Matt. Yes, we, amongst some others, are the "Trig Truthers", a label that we did not choose. We have been writing posts about the topic of Sarah Palin's pregnancy for years. However, we did not do this in order to be "vicious." We did this because we knew with 100% certainty already since 2009 that it is a true fact that Sarah Palin faked her pregnancy with Trig.

Matt, this is also not a big secret in Alaska. You would be surprised how many people know about this, especially within political circles. You would be surprised how many Republicans in Alaska know about this. Trust me, I have spoken to some of them. You, Matt, obviously have not. Maybe it should be your responsibility as a serious journalist to do this at some point.

Also, your assumption is totally wrong. The accusations about her faked pregnancy with Trig, the "Trig Truther stuff", as you call it, did not happen "on the way." These allegations long existed in Alaska, they started when Sarah Palin was still "pregnant"...! Also, Sarah Palin knew about "the rumours" right from the beginning.

In my post from February 19, 2011, I quoted from an email by Sarah Palin which was included in the leaked transcript of the book by Frank Bailey, a book which was appropriately called "Blind Allegiance to Sarah Palin". The email dated from April 2, 2008 - which was 16 days before Trig was officially born:

Yeah- Brsitol (sic) just called and heard the rumors too, but this time is was from Wasilla High kids who heard that I'm not really pg, but she is, and I'll be taking/raising the baby she's supposedly having next month. She's ticked, but made light of it with, "They think I'm pregnant just because I have huge boobs?" Told her to just tell those rumormongers that they're invited to peer at my stretch marks, that'll prove who's really pg.

Yeah, right, the "stretch marks" will prove who is really pregnant! Apparently, no birth certificate is needed! No surprise, because Sarah Palin is unable to provide a birth certificate for Trig, although she simply lied about having provided one in a radio interview from December 2009, and in the same interview Palin had the audacity to say that Obama's birth certificate in contrast would be "a fair question."

In addition, I would like to refer you to the interview with veteran Alaska journalist Michael Carey from September 2, 2008, in which he explains that the "story" about Sarah Palin's faked pregnancy "has been around for quite a while":

Sarah Palin is not a victim of the "Trig Truthers." Sarah Palin is a victim of her continuous inability to accept reality. The exact reason for Sarah Palin's failure to acknowledge reality is unknown.

But in the end, the reason is also not important. What is more important, and more shocking, is the fact that over the course of more than six years, seemingly intelligent people supported her, and enabled her, and defended her against others who were simply "pointing out the obvious."

There would be much more to say about Sarah Palin, and the lasting damage she has done to the political culture in the USA. The first steps are made to undo some of the mistakes which were made in the past. But there is still a long way to go, until things are "back to normal." Also, Sarah Palin has inspired other politicians, like Joni Ernst, who campaigned together with Sarah Palin in 2014, and who is basically "Sarah Palin 2.0." It remains to be seen whether this "model" has a future.

So for today, let's rejoice and breathe the air of freedom. As a reminder of the past, here are some old photos I took myself a long time ago, together with some genuine radical left-wing Berlin artwork (LOL!).

I still remember this feeling when the wall came down. It was wonderful! The fake reality suddenly vanished, it was beautiful. Suddenly people in East-Germany could say what they always knew: It was all wrong, it was just a big mistake, we knew it for years, but were afraid to say it loud.

Say it loud, and say it proud: Yes, Sarah Palin is an idiot!

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Click to enlarge:

Cattle Battle: Cliven Bundy is an Anarchist and Domestic Terrorist, NOT a Patriot

by Sunnyjane

Militia patriots honor the National Anthem of the country they would like to destroy. 

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines patriot as One who loves his or her country and supports its authority and interests.  Conversely, the definition for anarchist fits Cliven Bundy like a redneck's undershirt: a person who rebels against any authority, established order, or ruling power.  And when Harry Reid called him a domestic terrorist, he was using the George W. Bush administration's definition of domestic terrorism: ...the unlawful use, or threatened use, of force or violence by a group or individual based and operating entirely within the United States or Puerto Rico without foreign direction committed against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof in furtherance of political or social objectives.  I guess Sean Hannity didn't get that memo.

In addition, Cliven Bundy is an ignorant, racist, hypocritical, lying, welfare-mooching old git, the far-right's Jesus-in-a-Stetson.  Yeeeeeee hah, Buckaroos! 

A Wail of a Tale:  Now About Those 19th Century Ancestral Rights...

Whoa, Kemosabe...my people have lived here since 10,000 BC.

Let's get real here.  If there's a land-grabber in this mess, it's Cliven Bundy, not the government.  Bundy doesn't own the land on which he's been grazing his cattle for free all these years; he has no deed to the land and he's never paid taxes on it.

Furthermore, he has lied about those ancestral rights -- as reiterated by his daughter in a fairly illiterate Facebook screed.  The truth is that his family has not grazed up and down the Virgin River since 1877, at least that which flows through southern Nevada.  According to the 1900 Census, Bundy family members lived in Arizona.  Cliven's father, David Bundy, is seen on the 1940 Census as still living in Arizona; he bought the land in Nevada on which the Bundy family lives today in 1948, two years after Cliven was born.  And he did not purchase the public land that is in dispute today.  There are records to prove that, of course.  Oh, those pesky verifiable documentary evidence thingies!

There's a history here, of course; it's not an issue that suddenly appeared out of thin air.  President Ronald Reagan signed an Executive Order in February 1986 establishing fees for use of federal (public) land because it had been poorly managed by the ranchers themselves by overgrazing on certain parcels and ignoring the environmental impact of some of their activities.   All ranchers in the area, including Cliven Bundy, began paying these fees accordingly -- government subsidized fees, I might add: the fee today is $1.35 per cow/calf combination, a real bargain, since to graze on privately owned grazing land would cost a rancher up to $16.80 for the same cattle combination.  But in the early 1990's, Mr. Bundy decided that the public land actually belonged the county, and he no longer paid his grazing fees.  He tried a couple of times to give them to Clark County, which refused to accept them, of course.  (That's sort of like paying your mortgage to your neighbor because you don't like Bank of America's attitude.)

He filed a law suit.  He lost.  He refused to pay the million dollars he owed for back fees. The BLM revoked his grazing permit.  By now he had decided that the land was actually his, having those bogus ancestral rights and all.  The BLM warned him several times that his cattle could be impounded if he continued his refusal to pay.  Then he was told that on such-and-such a day that BLM enforcement officers would arrive on the public land to take any cattle that roamed there.  That began the current imbroglio.

Sounds like Cliven Bundy is taking lessons from Vladimir Putin, doesn't it?

Oh Give Me a Home Where the Negro Don't Roam...

Real good thing you Fox boys is all white 'cause I ain't talkin' to no Negros .

After the BLM wisely decided not to enforce their orders to impound Bundy's cattle for fear that there would be shooting, the gun-totin' rednecks declared victory, saddled up their horses, and left old Cliven to his own devices.  Perhaps they had had enough of him, anyhow, since he was not happy with them.  Why?  Because, it seems he had given them a command -- which he had received from God himself, mind you -- that they tear down the toll booths at Lake Mead and disarm the Park Service.  (Don't ask me why; I dunno.)  But they didn't carry out his order and Bundy was angry with them: The message I gave to you all was a revelation that I received. And yet not one of you can seem to even quote it.   Well, no wonder the man was pissed; I mean it was from God, after all.

So when the real story was over, old Cliven would have been much better off to retire to his front porch and bask in his anti-establishment heroism, feverishly wondering which right-wing politician was going to be the first to invite him to the 2015 State of the Union Address.  They were all lining up, I'll wager.

But then his balloon burst.  For some reason, in the waning moments of his fifteen minutes of fame, Cliven Bundy decided to share his thoughts on The Negro:  And because they were basically on government subsidy, so now what do they do?  They abort their young children, they put their young men in jail, because they never learned how to pick cotton. And I’ve often wondered, are they better off as slaves, picking cotton and having a family life and doing things, or are they better off under government subsidy? They didn’t get no more freedom. They got less freedom.  (And, no, I've never heard of anyone -- of any race -- aborting young children, either.  The man's an illiterate kook.)  And a healthy dose of hypocrisy, given that he received government subsides for his grazing fees and has received welfare for twenty years for his cattle after he stopped paying.  Can you say Getting free stuff from the government?   Can you say Taker?

So as frequently happens when the far-right takes on what they believe to be a government overreach issue, the solid waste came in direct contact with the small oscillating appliance -- again.  All the ravers and ranters -- politicians, pundits, and television/radio talking heads -- started pulling away or went into hiding.  Even the Koch Brothers' Prosperity for America Nevada scrubbed their support from all of their social media accounts.  Heh.

End Note

I love the U.S. Constitution, but I don't recognize the government it stands for!

A Mole on Patrol: 'An Atheist in the FOXhole'

by Sunnyjane

There's tremendous power in television news. With a well-positioned negative word ... you can make the most powerful people on earth tremble.         

Bill O'Reilly, from his 2004 novel Those Who Trespass

At twenty-two years old, Joe Muto found himself working at Fox News for the most time-honored reason: he desperately needed a job.  Having beer-kegged his way through the University of Notre Dame via its Department of Film, Television, and Theatre, he graduated with a less than stellar grade point average of 2.8.  It's not terribly surprising then, that his applications to the TV and print media organizations in New York with which he would have been proud to be associated went unanswered.

Muto's book is interesting for its inside look at how television news is produced.  Briefly, the talking head of each show holds a daily pitch meeting with his or her staff of producers whose job it is to suggest stories that are breaking or continuing to be talked about, so long as Fox can report it with their own conservative slant.  

Fox News is not really into breaking news, per se; they leave that up to MSNBC and CNN, their chief ratings rivals.  Since this is Joe Muto's story, I won't bother to provide much commentary, except where I simply cannot help myself!  

The real story to most readers, of course, is likely to be... 

The On-Air Hosts and Other, um, Fox Talent

Absurdly blessed with a $20,000,000 annual salary, the top dog at Fox News is Bill O'Reilly, the moody and ill-tempered host of the 8:00 PM The O'Reilly Factor.  It took less than three years for the liberal-thinking mole to be offered a job on the staff of Papa Bear's now-defunct radio show -- a job Muto took because it was a promotion.  In early 2009, it was back to television as a Factor producer.

Muto shares some of the lessons he learned on how to successfully pitch a story to O'Reilly, including:  Make sure to demonstrate how the host can stoke the fires of outrage in his viewers; establish a villain; and where possible, show him how he can make it about sex.  And so on.

The author writes several examples of funny parodies on how he would have pitched historical and Biblical stories to O'Reilly.  On the Civil Rights Movement of the sixties:  Bill, radical black activists in the South are carrying out a campaign to damage the teeth of police dogs.  Or this on Adam and Eve: Bill, a liberal feminist extremist tricked her husband into consuming drugs, and then told authorities that a talking snake told her to do it.

The most notorious story about holier-than-thou Bill O'Reilly is the sexual harassment suit brought against him in October 2004 by one of his female producers, Andrea Mackris.  In the $60,000,000 law suit, Mackris alleged that Papa Bear had made unwanted sexually explicit phone calls to her, even describing his, um, family jewels to her (big!).  Further, he suggested that she should use a vibrator and told her the sexual fantasies he was having about her.  At one point he must have gotten really hot and bothered by his own words, because in an ignominious twist of the tongue, he began calling the loofah he wanted to rub between her legs falafel.  (Think about it...ewww!)

The suit was settled in less than two weeks.  O'Reilly paid her some money, but the terms of the settlement remain confidential.  The word falafel was never to be used at Fox News headquarters thereafter. 

That Hack, Hannity

Leading the pack as Fox lost its fucking mind after the election of Barack Obama in 2008 was none other than Sean Hannity.  Having rid himself of his liberal partner, Alan Colmes, and getting the prime 9:00 PM slot all to himself, the Hack jumped the new president at every opportunity.  When President Obama went to a burger restaurant in Washington several months into his first term and asked for spicy brown mustard, something like that, or a Dijon mustard, Hannity sneered, I hope you enjoyed that fancy burger, Mr. President!  From that point forward, everything from teleprompters to foreign policy were fodder for Sean Hannity's twisted concept of what constitutes news.

Joe Muto says in his book that he once overheard a discussion between a very conservative producer and a tech: Goddamn, Hannity is completely unwatchable lately while the other responded, You're acting like it was ever watchable in the first place.

 
As Sirius Left host Richard Bey said recently, I worked at ABC Radio with Sean. He doesn't know anything about history. He knows what they give him on the talking points.  

And, according to Muto, Bill O'Reilly can't stand Hannity, the feeling is mutual, and the two do not speak.

Just Plain Greta

Neither as bombastic as O'Reilly nor as professionally untalented as Hannity, Greta Van Susteren appears almost boring.  Not only does she not fit the good-looks mold as a Fox News female personality, but her On the Record segment at 10:00 PM deals primarily with legal and crime issues.  

Describing what I assume is the unofficial criteria for female talking heads, Muto provides a handy list:*

     -Hotness
     -Ability to string two words together
     -Ability to summon outrage and berate a guest at length
     -Blondness
     -Conservative views (or the ability to convincingly fake them)
     -Journalistic credentials


While Greta could hardly be thought of as hot and her conservative views might be suspect, she's very intelligent and her's is rated the third most-watched show on Fox News, behind Hannity at #2 and O'Reilly at #1.  Muto actually had little interesting to say about her.

*See She's Hot and She Gets Good Ratings, below.  (Heh)

There's Gotta be a Conspiracy in Here Somewhere!

Even given what Fox News usually considers the dead-zone time slot of 5:00 PM to 6:00 PM, it didn't take Glenn Beck long to start reaching -- and in many cases overtaking -- the ratings of the Big Three, O'Reilly, Hannity, and van Susteren.  O'Reilly decided the best way to handle this was to give Beck a small segment on the Factor.   Van Susteren and Hannity wanted nothing to do with him.  It didn't take long for O'Reilly to get tired of Beck's craziness and he gave up on the idea.

The problem with Beck was that in the beginning, they all thought he was performing on his show.  When they finally realized that he actually believed all that shit he was spouting, alarm bells went off everywhere, even at the Ailes' level.

While there have been differing theories as to why Beck departed Fox News after little more than two years into his three-year contract, Muto contends it was because advertisers were leaving in droves.  If so, that was it: Ratings are good, but advertising makes the news business go round, and Roger Ailes does not endure losing money.

She's Hot and She Gets Good Ratings
 

Ith Othma...Oblama...Obama sthill the prethident?

Such was the excitement surrounding the entrance of Sarah Palin onto the Fox News stage in January 2010 that the Big Three were falling all over themselves trying to be THE ONE to score the first interview with her.   (Naturally, #1 was awarded that honor and in my opinion, this first interview set the stage for things to come between O'Reilly and Palin.)

She was a perfect fit for the network, writes Muto, beautiful, feisty, and controversial, inspiring utter devotion from her fans and blind outrage from her critics, and, hopefully, the theory went, high ratings for the network.  

Popular opinion on the Second Floor was that all they had heard about Palin's being vacuous, ill-informed, and thin-skinned certainly had to be liberal slander ... How dumb could she be?

It didn't take long for Fox News to see that Palin's critics were right:  Her abilities as a pundit left much to be desired.  She conversed entirely in shallow, empty platitudes, as if she'd just memorized a list of talking points instead of actually boning up on whatever issue was on her plate.

Two more interviews with O'Reilly sealed the deal; he was done with her.  The first was on immigration, during which he kept asking her for opinions on different aspects of the issue and she continually responded with keep it simple and whatever it takes.   The interview on entitlement programs brought it to a screeching halt, where O'Reilly was concerned.  This is where, in an effort to actually have her give rational policy suggestions on entitlement reform, he interrupted her and Palin snapped back at him.

Recently asked by a Twitter follower for his opinion on Fox News rehiring Palin for another stint, Muto tweeted back:

I just can't believe they hired her back. I'd be LESS surprised if they hired ME back.

Author, Author!

By early 2012, Joe Muto had grown weary of Fox News.  Eight years with the network had given him enough experience and insight to understand what it would be like working there during the general election campaign, as the network tried to ensure that President Obama would not win a second term.  A prime example of the kind of crap he predicted was the attack ad against Obama that was so roundly denounced that Fox had to remove it from their website.

He began writing an anonymous column for Gawker as the liberal mole working for Fox News.  He may well have never been caught had he not also provided his handlers with video from the Fox News archives, one of which is an amusing look at Callista Gingrich styling Newt's hair before his on-air interview with Bill O'Reilly.

Muto was a lousy mole; the IT crew at Fox caught him within twenty-four hours.  A permanent job at Gawker did not materialize and he was charged with attempted unlawful duplication of computer material and attempted criminal possession of computer material, to which he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to community service.

His book is good, and it is not as mean-spirited as one might think.  Muto is as hard on himself as he is on the people at Fox News.

End Note

 

We all knew, from the liberals to the most conservative producer in the building, that 'Fair and Balanced' was a sham ... We used to call it 'stirring up the crazies,' because the angrier they were, the more they would watch.

Joe Muto, in an interview on June 14, 2013

Sarah Palin Lies On Hannity And Falsely Claims That President Obama Did Not Apologise For A Comment That He Made Three Years Ago Involving The Special Olympics - UPDATE

By Kathleen

Last night in an interview with Sean Hannity about the left's hateful rhetoric Sarah Palin called out President Obama for not apologising for a comment made on The Tonight Show back in March 2009 when he called his bowling skills "bad" and "like the Special Olympics or something". The rather inconvenient truth for Palin is that President Obama made a personal apology to the Special Olympics Chairman Tim Shriver for his comment and any reader with a few limited internet search skills can find hundreds of links to his apology. Palin flat out lied and she knew about it. 

After making her false claim, Sarah Palin went on to say in the interview with Hannity that President Obama has "very selective ways of showing compassion and feeling America's pain."

By neglecting the true fact that President Obama made a statement of apology directly to the Special Olympics Palin once again reveals that she is prepared to do and say anything in order to push her anti Obama agenda. She will lie and lie and lie until her lie becomes big enough that it is accepted as the truth. Her truth. Palin when she spouts such "truths" relies on the fact that her supporters will take her word for anything and have no interest in checking herclaims because they are blinded by their belief in her. Moreover, if she is caught out in a lie her fans will squirm and twist events in order to defend her.

Palin's indignant poutrage regarding the Special Olympics is also hypocritical. After all, didn't she veto an increase in funding to the Special Olympics in the SOA 2007/2008 budget? The Alaskan legislature allocated $650,000 and Palin slashed the amount to $275,000. Although this was a small increase over the previous years allocation the Special Olympics had requested a substantial increase in funds so it can be reasonably assumed that Palin's big stick veto harmed the organisation. How does that old saying go? Sticks and stones can break my bones, but names can never harm them. I know which actions I believe harmed the Special Olympics most and it was not President Obama's, even if his remarks were somewhat indelicate.

The rest of the interview is Palin once again whining about the attacks on her family and promoting Bristol's blog. It's a grudge fest. 

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UPDATE (by Patrick):

I now created a clip with Sarah Palin's false and nasty remarks in the Hannity interview yesterday. This new clip contains the relevant excerpt from Hannity's interview with Palin and also contains footage of what really happened in March 2009.

Watch:

Please help us to make this clip go viral! Do not let Sarah Palin get away with her false and nasty accusations.

Tweet the clip:

https://twitter.com/#!/politicalgates/status/183641715306020864

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Here is the complete clip of the interview with Hannity -- you can catch her comments about President Obama and his supposedly missing apology from the 6:20 mark:

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Please re-tweet:

https://twitter.com/#!/politicalgates/status/183591489912320002

https://twitter.com/#!/politicalgates/status/183591101876285441

https://twitter.com/#!/politicalgates/status/183590407303729152

https://twitter.com/#!/politicalgates/status/183597992153071616

Sarah Palin after first part of "Rolling Blunder" tour: "Regroup" in Arizona, and then we will "get back on the trail" - PLUS: The "tour lies"

By Patrick

I have to say that it felt very good for a couple of days to see Sarah Palin again revealed as the big running joke she really is, after her epic Paul Revere blunder. Palin was ridiculed all over the interwebs, and her remarks instantly inspired the hilarious #PalinHistory hashtag on twitter, with new tweets virtually every minute (see the new special Sarah Palin twitter tracker for #PalinHistory at the bottom of the sidebar). Once you catch Sarah Palin unscripted, disasters are bound to happen. It's a scientific fact.

However, despite of all this fun, it should not be forgotten that the USA is entering into very, very difficult times. Under normal circumstances, Sarah Palin would just be a joke. But times are bad. US unemployment remains at very, very high level, and there are no signs yet for a real recovery, which will bring President Obama under huge pressure:

US unemployment rate, January 2006 to June 2011

In addition, the US federal debt is gigantic (click for more details). These developments are not President Obama's fault, but he will receive all the blame in the upcoming campaign, with Sarah Palin at the forefront as the most ruthless (and ignorant) demagogue. The US federal debt exploded because George W. Bush wanted to have his war in Iraq and wanted to have his tax cuts, but do voters really care too much about facts? Many of them certainly do not. They only want to see quick and easy solutions.

The political showdown about "the USA defaulting" is going to take place very soon, and the world can just pray that there will be an agreement between the political opponents.

In these difficult times, many voters will desperately look for a saviour - this is understandable on the one hand, but can on the other hand also lead to completely erratic decisions about who to vote for. Sarah Palin positions herself as the hardliner, the woman who will be strong and firm and will reverse all the bad developments, and who will "restore America", as she calls it.

Many voters will believe it, because they want to believe it, and they will ignore everything which could contradict an idolised picture of Queen Sarah. They will even ignore her ongoing blunders, which prove over and over again that she has the intellectual capacity of a little child. Another example of "Palin History" were for example her recent remarks about the Soviet space program, which Ann Talnaes, cartoonist at the Washington post, turned into a little funny clip.

The ever observant Andrew Sullivan remarked:

Which brings me to the debt ceiling. I think that raising it is a classic opportunity for the GOP and fiscally conservative Democrats to insist on more seriousness on deficit and debt reduction. I hope they do. But I do not believe it should be used as a piece of blackmail at the expense of the American and the global economy. In fact, this may be the riskiest un-conservative posture the GOP has yet advanced. Palin, who is the id of the GOP, addressed the question yesterday:

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin weighed in on the debt ceiling debate Thursday night following a private clam bake in Seabrook, N.H., saying the nation’s borrowing ceiling should not be raised. It would be “a failure of leadership in the House” if “they were to cave and the debt ceiling were to be increased based on what I believe are Timothy Geithner’s false statements to the American people that a catastrophe would befall us all if the debt ceiling isn’t raised.” She told reporters outside the small beach house at which she had organized the party that increasing the debt ceiling is “just going to allow the big spenders to have an additional tool to spend more money.”

Remember: the spending has already been passed. This is not about changing spending in the near future. It's simply about paying our debts on time. The minute that the US is regarded as being unreliable on this core piece of governing competence, the world markets will experience shock waves in the midst of a still very fragile, post-bubble recovery.

None of this matters to Palin. Because for her, radicalism is so much easier than responsibility. In fact, the reason I am focused on Palin is because she represents, to my mind, the core of today's "conservative" movement: a desire to smash existing institutions and to "fundamentally restore" the American status quo before the Great Society, and even, the New Deal.

They are playing with sharks. But one of these days, it will no longer be play.

Sarah Palin also has no hesitation in intimidating the GOP with the scare of a third party, as she again did yesterday in an interview on Fox News with Sean Hannity:

The interview with Hannity was shown in three parts:

Part 2

Part 3

So what are Sarah Palin's plans now?

CNN assumed that the would fly back to Alaska (if anyone can find a quote by Sarah Palin regarding this fact, please put it in the comments). However, it turns out that Sarah Palin didn't head to back to Wasilla at all, but to her new, formerly secret mansion in the desert in Scottsdale, Arizona. A crew of the local ABC News station met her by coincidence at Phoenix airport and was able to conduct a very revealing short interview with her:

So she wants to "regroup" in Arizona, and then "get back on the trail." No Alaska for Sarah, it seems - and where is Todd, and the rest of the family? Where is Trig? He appears to be non-existent. Piper's unhappiness has been documented over and over again during the trip, also in this clip.

I love it how Sarah Palin gets slighty angry when the reporter asks her about the Arizona Senate seat. No, she doesn't like unscripted questions, never has.

Speaking about Sarah Palin's lies: Sarah Palin told a good amount of lies during the short first instalment of her bus tour. Politifact today published a "special report" about statements which Sarah Palin made during the bus tour, and examined three statements. Rulings: 1x "Pants on Fire", 1x "False", 1x "Barely True." We would expect nothing less from Sarah Palin, the liar-in-chief.

I was happy to see that the Washington Post also did their own fact check on Sarah Palin's statements during the tour - their result: An impressive "four Pinocchios" - which is their highest rating. I guess we have a winner!

Both Politifact and the Washington Post even missed another huge and already debunked lie which we highlighted in a previous post - that Alaska provides 20% of the US energy supply (meant to prove Sarah Palin's competence on energy issues...).

Also, Sarah Palin claimed that the ethics complaints against her were "going to bankrupt Alaska", as a justification for her to step down. It's just far too easy to debunk this ridiculous lie as well.

The trainwreck will continue. I look forward to many more unscripted moments, but we all feel incredibly sorry for poor Piper. She is the latest victim of Sarah Palin's immense ambitions.

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UPDATE:

As a sort of "preview" of the ugliness which we are about to see during the next 12-18 months, the "black conservative" and tea party hero Lloyd Marcus just published a facebook post which he apparently considers to be "rousing." Under the headline "Gunfight At DC Corral: Palin vs Obama." he proves that he has learned a lot from his hero Sarah Palin as far as ugly imagery is concerned - excerpt:

Nothing frustrates me more than GOP candidates walking on eggs cautious not to offend or anger the despicable, lying, agenda driven and evil liberal media. Why should we show respect for characterless people who are committed to lying and putting a negative spin on everything we say and do? The liberal media's mission is to politically “kill” the tea party. Get it?

Sarah Palin gets it. Palin does not give a rat's behind about what the liberal media thinks of her.

On numerous occasions, without the slightest hint of reservation or FEAR, Palin has attacked Obama “the man”; his lies, his anti-American associations, his socialist agenda, his assault on our freedom, liberty and culture and his horrific record, thus far. Thank You Sarah Palin! God bless you!

I realize I sound like a broken record, but I can not express the following point strongly enough. To beat Obama and “his media” in 2012, our candidate MUST embrace Palin's aggressive fearless battle plan.

It has been said, only a fool brings a knife to a gunfight. Without restraint or mercy, Obama, the democrats and Obama's liberal media gang will show up at the 2012 DC fight for the White House with mega guns firing at the tea party and the republican presidential candidate.

Any republican presidential candidate who is timid due to the historical context of Obama's presidency saying, “God bless Obama's heart. He meant well, but his policies have failed” is like entering this crucial battle for our country with a butter knife. Such a restrained effort would insure political death to our side and the end of America as we know it.

Patriots, we need a fearless political gunslinging hero. And so far, our heroic pistol packin' mama is Sarah Palin.

Lloyd Marcus, Proud Unhyphenated American

Wow, Sarah the pistol! Don't forget to bring the guns. Oh, yeah, figuratively! Figuratively!