Sarah Palin Rewrites History - UPDATE: Son of Sarah Palin's best friend Juanita Fuller shot funny video clip at the "Casa Palin" in Arizona

By Kathleen

Several hours ago Sarah Palin, or her ghost writer, wrote the following on her Facebook blog

"Here's a feel good story from Wasilla High. Glacier is the son of my friend Jana. We were both pregnant at the same time when we worked together at City Hall when I was mayor and she worked in Parks & Recreation. My daughter Willow and her son Glacier were born just a few days apart. And a few days after Glacier was born, Jana told me he had Down syndrome. I didn't even know what to say, nor could I imagine what life would be like for her. All I could say was God knew what He was doing when Glacier became part of her life. She grinned and agreed, and she has been an inspiration to me ever since. And now all these years later, our Wasilla Warriors just elected Glacier Prom King!"   (Bold emphasis is mine)

Here is the screenshot that I took:

In this post Palin claims that she and Jana "were both pregnant at the same time when we worked together at City Hall when I was mayor and she worked in Parks & recreation." She goes on to claim "Willow and her son Glacier were born just a few days apart." According to Palin's autobiography, Going Rogue, and other sources Willow was born on the 5th July, 1994. 

Sarah Palin was first elected as mayor of Wasilla in 1996. Not 1994. So once again Sarah Palin embroiders a story to make herself seem more important. Not just a city councillor but mayor. Palin seems to think that a little tweak here or there will not be noticed but she should remember that some of us are paying attention. 

By the way, congratulations Glacier for being crowned Prom King. That is a powerful achievement and we here at Politicalgates wish you all the best for the future. 

Here is the link to Glacier being crowned as prom king:

http://www.ktuu.com/videogallery/75287925/News/Wasilla-High-School-Prom-Royalty

Court documents reveal that Glacier was born on 7/08/1994 so he is presently 18 years old. 

UPDATE:

Several of our readers have pointed out that Sarah has herself claimed that when she became pregnant and discovered that her baby would be born with Down Syndrome that she didn't know anyone with DS and that she knew nothing about the condition. MaeLewis writes:

"Another part of Sarah's post is that Jana has always been such an inspiration to Sarah. That's strange, because for being such an inspiration, neither Jana nor Glacier are mentioned in Sarah's book, "Going Rogue." When Sarah has told the story of first finding out that Trig was going to be born with DS, she embroidered the story by saying that she didn't know anyone with DS, and she didn't know anything about the condition. She had to educate herself by reading the pamphlets that her doctor gave her. Todd had to contact relatives to see how a cousin with DS was doing. How about Glacier? How about Jana? Where's the inspiration?" 

Yes Sarah, where is the inspiration? 

As usual Palin has momentarily hitched herself to Glacier's star because he is in the news. 

Glacier's older brother is Crosby Morrow. Crosby is one of Levi Johnston's closest friends. So close that last year Crosby obtained a licence and officiated over the wedding of Levi and Sunny. Levi thinks of Jana as a second mother and considers Glacier and Crosby to be his second brothers. The Morrow family and the Johnston family have maintained that relationship for many, many years. Now that is what I call friendship. 

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UPDATE 2:

Why not have a little fun update? Well, what we have here is not a "scandal", but very entertaining nonetheless, and if there is one thing that the Palin-family has given the world over the years, it is entertainment!

Our wonderful reader "HopeforAmerica" found a video on youtube which was posted there by Alex Fuller, a guy who asked Willow Palin out to prom last year (Bristol wrote a post about it on her blog).

This year, Alex Fuller asked another girl out to prom. This time, it is not Willow, but a girl called Kally. So far, so good. Why not have a little change? Alex had the great idea to make a funny little video clip in order to convince Kally to go with him to the prom. A charming and creative young man, well done!

However, the funny and entertaining part for us is that Alex decided to shoot the little video in "casa Palin", Sarah's and Todd's "luxury compound" in Arizona. He put in on youtube, in HD! Sweet! I hope that the Palinbots will be thrilled to see these unexpected "inside views" of the Palin-house. That's where their goddess lives, look! How we like to make them happy, they have so little reason to rejoice these days.

By the way, Alex Fuller is the son of Juanita Fuller, who happens to be Sarah Palin's best friend in Wasilla, part of what once was the "elite six."

Here is the video which Alex shot in "Casa Palin" and put on youtube:

Some screenshots from the video (click to enlarge):

Some details from the clip:

Compare this with some of the pictures from our long post about Palin's house in Arizona from May 2011.

Where Alex was sitting and writing the letter:

You can see the fireplace also in the clip:

The outside:

I am sure that the enthusiastic reality show stars Sarah, Todd, Bristol and Willow will appreciate Alex Fuller's talented efforts! We hope Kally said yes!

My Mom and Social Security

By Blueberry T

My mom is 89 years old and she receives $971 per month from Social Security, from which is immediately deducted $249/month for Medicare and supplemental coverage.  This leaves $722/month for: housing; food; heat; electricity; water; telephone/internet/TV; additional medical expenses; clothes; shoes; personal and household necessities; and any other expenses.  She has a modest amount of savings, which was helping bridge the income gap but is currently earning close to zero interest.

Well, she couldn’t do it; she couldn’t make ends meet. She ran up big credit card bills, and then racked up interest charges that were completely unaffordable.  I discovered this when I visited her last spring and went over her finances with her – it was not a pretty picture!  So, we had to take most of her savings to pay off the credit cards. Now, we’re tapping into the remaining principle each month to make ends meet, but at least she isn’t running up the credit card bills. I hope. (I canceled the accounts and cut the cards up.)    

We’ve been over her expenses many times, trying to figure what can be cut.  We got rid of all the non-necessities. Until last year, she had an old car and paid for gas, maintenance and insurance.  She made the decision to stop driving when she turned 88, in part for safety reasons and in part because she could no longer afford having a car. That saved a lot of money, but unfortunately, she is now almost entirely a shut-in, as the elder-transportation system in her community is so overbooked that she has been on the waiting list for more than a year.

She has always been a kind and generous soul, and the downside of that is that she is easy prey for every con-artist, scam, and even legitimate charitable organizations. They call constantly for donations, and each time, she gave. That had to stop. Now, she gives small donations to just a few charities and gives $5 to her church every week, even though she can no longer attend services. It saddens her that she cannot give more, though.

She also sends money to the family for birthdays and holidays – a matter of both generosity and pride. We tried not cashing the checks, but that upset her as she wants to be able to do this. Let’s just say that now, some of these gifts might find their way back into one of her own accounts.  

Her meager savings were in CDs that were earning 4%, but when they matured, the new rate was close to zero. The low interest rates are bad enough, but holding them so low for such a long time is really hurting elderly people like my mom. She can either accept very low interest, and spend down her principle, or shift her money to riskier investments. That is because the financial sector and its regulators have jointly concluded that interest rates should be kept near zero, going on 5 years now and projected until at least the end of next year, to address the financial calamity that they caused and/or abetted. My mom and the rest of us are paying the price for their high crimes and misdemeanors. (Actually, I think they were all felonies, but Eric Holder says they’re “too big to jail.”  Fortunately, not everyone agrees.)

As if things aren't tough enough, now President Obama proposes that Social Security benefits should be "adjusted" lower by using "superlative" (a misnomer if ever there was) or “chained CPI." This would save $130 billion over 10 years.

How do those savings materialize? By cutting benefits, with the cuts "compounded" over time and thus hitting the eldest recipients the hardest.  Robert Reich explains. (Here and here is more on the subject and here is AARP’s calculator to estimate the reduction in benefits over time.) The fallacy is that elders spend a high percentage of their income on medical costs, which have a high rate of inflation; elders cannot simply substitute for cheaper options as the chained CPI formula assumes.

To many, this feels like a betrayal by the President of all those who worked so hard to elect him, and of the promises he made on the campaign trail. (To be fair, it was Joe Biden who "flat guaranteed" no changes to Social Security during last year's campaign; then-candidate Obama said that raising the income cap was the preferred option back in 2007-08.) The blogosphere is aflame with scathing critiques of President Obama’s decision to cut Social Security benefits. I want to give him the chance to explain himself.  If it is NOT a betrayal, then I say: "Mr. President, please explain yourself. In detail. Sooner rather than later. Please."

This is not an abstraction for me and my family, nor for millions of other Americans, especially older women. I realize that my mom is probably not going to live long enough to have the new chained CPI proposal affect her Social Security income by large amounts. That will be my generation’s problem and that of our kids, and theirs. But my mom’s story is pretty typical and will play out for many millions of Social Security recipients in the future. How would someone at her benefit level survive on ~10% less income per year, when she can’t get by now? They will be consigned to poverty. 

Chained CPI will hit women especially hard. Women typically receive lower Social Security benefits because women earn less than men, even for comparable work; many women (like my mom) were stay-at-home mothers or worked part-time for a significant part of their “working” years, thus building a lower earnings record on which their own benefits are calculated; and many women are only eligible to receive half their husband’s benefit. Women are more dependent on Social Security for a large percentage of their retirement income, and women live longer, and will thus be subject to the larger benefit cuts over time that will occur with chained CPI. 

Chained CPI will also reduce benefits to veterans and the disabled.  

I realize that President Obama has said that he will carve out some exemptions from “chained CPI” to protect the vulnerable, but what on earth does that mean?  Enough with being cagey about the exemptions. I need to know what that means; we all need to know. 

We need to see for ourselves and judge for ourselves whether this is a fair proposal. I don’t want to have a knee-jerk reaction, but the lack of information from the Administration makes it hard not to. My hope, perhaps delusional, is that he will actually propose increases in benefits for people like my mom at the low end of the benefit curve, protect the disabled, and save the benefit reductions for those who have substantial income in addition to Social Security.  If so, it may be a reasonable reform. I realize not everyone will agree!

We will still be left to wonder why it is not a better “fix” to raise the cap on income subject to  FICA taxes; it seems like so much more reasonable an approach to resolving whatever issues Social Security may have in the future.  The President himself said so (when he was a candidate). Otherwise, it seems to me that we’re really talking about definitely cutting benefits now to avoid possibly cutting benefits later. What a deal! (Not.) And, as Senator Bernie Sanders so often reminds us, Social Security does not add to the deficit. The Senate has now voted in opposition to chained CPI (in a largely symbolic vote).

At this point, I think it is fair to say that the President’s chained CPI proposal is immensely unpopular with progressives, his base and the elderly.  AARP did some surveying about it; here is their report. I ask President Obama - why should the Congress listen to the American people on gun reform, as you have repeatedly argued - but yet you ignore the American people on Social Security? 

Some claim this is President Obama's strategy to show how uncompromising the GOP is. [More here on Obama bluffing.] We already knew that they are uncompromising. What we didn't know that a Democratic President would undermine one of the most successful social programs in history, a signature Democratic accomplishment that has saved millions of Americans from poverty. That is a bad, bad message.

As was true with mischaracterizations of the Affordable Care Act (like Sarah Palin’s “lie of the year” about “death panels”), President Obama is not doing himself any favors by keeping his cards close to his chest on this.  He is allowing others to write the narrative, instead of doing so himself. It sure would help if he would explain why he thinks this is reasonable, and what exemptions he proposes, rather than leaving us to guess as to what he means, or conclude that he is betraying us and lambaste him as "the Democratic President who cut Social Security."      

So, why should we not oppose this?  Please proceed, Mr. President.

Sarah Palin's speech in Philadelphia yesterday at the "Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network’s Award Gala" - Boots on the ground report and pictures! - UPDATE - Revealed: The press photographers by Getty and Corbis were told by a Palin-representative that they need to get their photos approved before publishing! - UPDATE 2: Video with the full speech

Sarah Palin speaking in Philadelphia yesterday - 
Photo taken by our reader "ComeOnPeople" (click to enlarge)

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By ComeOnPeople

For 4 ½ years I have waited to see Palin in person. I know she is not Tri-G’s birth mother and relish the opportunity to tell her to her face that she did not fool me. When I heard she was coming to my city, I bought a ticket and gave up tickets to a very important skating event so I could hear her in person.

I went to the Phila airport yesterday, guessing at the flights she could be taking. I guessed wrong, although she said in her speech she did fly in on 4/4. I wasn’t going to wait around all afternoon. Had I run in to her, I had a speech all prepared. I am passionate about exposing her hoax. I think because I am in healthcare, I have some anger about the role medical professionals and institutions played in the hoax. I know there is not much you can do about stupid people who believe her, but I definitely expect more from the medical community.

I got dressed up in a cocktail dress, drove downtown alone and observed the event. There were about 380 people – 38 tables of ten. The crowd was lily white – I did not see Adrienne Ross there, but could have missed her. The only person of color I saw was the foster child of a couple from Washington with whom I chatted for a bit by the bar. Everyone was well dressed, very nice and very, very Catholic. Many professional couples, doctors, lawyers, many families, MANY families with DS children attended. All age groups were represented but the majority were older couples. There were Catholic school girls in uniform who directed you up the escalators to the cocktail reception. They were also selling some book someone wrote about Terri. AND they were auctioning off these really bad pictures that they say Teri had drawn. I thought it was comical that the totally amateur drawings of a nobody were framed and being auctioned off. However, since I went to the shindig alone, I did hang out by the drawings for a while to kill time.

I had actually purchased a pen that records audio and video, but it turns out I did not need it as cameras and cell phones were allowed and were used freely by many people.

I left the official program on my table , so I am sorry I forget the hosts name. She is a woman who works in Hollywood, was second runner up for Miss America. She made a really inappropriate comment before we said the Pledge of Allegiance: something to the effect that she can’t say the Pledge in Hollywood, or Hollywood people won’t. Some drivel. Then, a very disappointing video of Gary Sinese was played. Sinese apparently is involved with the Schiavo Foundation and WAS going to be at the event, but his band was playing a show , so he did a video instead. Damn! I’ve really liked him since he played in Apollo 13. I had no idea he was so uninformed.

Palin was the keynote speaker. She wore a suit with an appropriate length skirt. I couldn’t see her shoes. I don’t think she looked terrible emaciated in this suit as she has in many recent pictures. Her hair looked awful – uncombed with a big birds nest in the back. I think she was a tad late getting to the room as the emcee lady kept looking over to her right and ad libbing until Palin got there. I did not see Todd. Palin’s 40 minute screech was one that we all have heard ad nauseum over the years. It seems she stuck with the birth version from Going Rogue. She talked about the ultrasound tech noticing a thick neck and CBJ calling her a few days later and delivering the DS diagnosis over the phone at 2:22 one cold winter afternoon. She talked about keeping the” pregnancy” a secret until 7 months, wearing layers of clothes, etc, etc. She said she held Tri-G as soon as he was born. Yeah right. Doubling down on the fantasy high risk premie delivery . If you listen to the videotape, I apologize in advance for my sighing and other vocalizations of disgust and incredulity…but I did not curse! I stared Sarah down the entire speech.

My face told a story every time she spoke about the pregnancy and birth. I had my camera and Iphone up and recording the entire speech. I was pretty close to her and perhaps it is wishful thinking, but I think she saw my scowl and quizzical looks and got unnerved. She would look down at her notes A LOT .

The crowd obviously had not heard many of her jokes before, because they earnestly laughed at the “my kid has more chromosomes than your kid” and other old, old, old recycled same- old jokes. Since she was talking to Catholics she mentioned she was a Catholic and then went to Assembly of God church. She talked about God a lot. I absolutely see her becoming the next Tammy Faye Baker. These people, even though many were obviously successful in life, lapped up her bull@#$% and asked for more.

Her speech ccntent was disjointed, and she took up a lot of time making doctors, clergy, veterans, Terri’s parents all stand up individually for applause. Then she read some of the Constitution She went on and on about death panels again and I saw a lot of people nodding their heads in agreement. I stopped looking at the crowd then because I can’t fix stupid. She talked about Philadelphia which made me laugh because although the Marriott is 5 minutes from the world famous Art Museum, the Reading Terminal Market , our beautiful City Hall and other exciting parts of the city, we pretty much know she spent her time in the hotel room. I wonder if Todd moseyed over a few blocks to Arch St. to check out the working girls?

After milking the speech along for exactly 40 minutes, she ended and got a standing ovation…I only stood to take some more pictures. Palin was then given a Life and Hope Award from the Foundation (which will probably get dumped in a dumpster somewhere like she ditched the empathy belly in Texas) and then she excited stage left….not sure if anyone signed up for a $25,000 Meet and Greet or not.

After she spoke, I excused myself from the table and hightailed it out of there. There is only so much a girl can take. There was some literature distributed at the event in case people needed to learn some more about Palin. There were some laminated business cards and some posters in the bathroom stalls. Someone has a sense of humor. I sent the blogs a picture of the items. 

Drawings by Terri Schiavo which were auctioned at the event - 

Photo taken by our reader "ComeOnPeople"

More pictures of these drawings can be found on the Corbis-website.

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By Patrick:

Many thanks to ComeOnPeople for this excellent report, and for making the effort to go to the event in the first place!

These were the items which ComeOnPeople cleverly left at several place during the event:

From our "special friends" at C4P we learn that Sarah Palin also told her standard "I was not a spring chicken any more" and "Todd is not Abraham" story again, which she recycled word-by-word from old speeches:

When it comes to personal experience with life issues, Sarah Palin has more clout than most. Fittingly, she discussed them at the Schiavo event. Palin recalled her pregnancy in 2008 and how she kept it out of the public eye until she was seven months along even though she was in the daily spotlight as governor. She said in Alaska it’s easier to hide a pregnancy than in most states because you can always add layers. But eventually folks started wondering if she was getting “chunky”. Palin had just become the youngest governor in state history and the first woman to serve in the high office. The last thing she needed was the good old boys pointing the finger at her for getting pregnant. Finally she let the press and America know she was in fact expecting. She had been thrown a “curveball”. Palin pointed out that she was no spring chicken at the time and she prayed about her new addition. She joked that even though her name is Sarah her husband’s name is not Abraham!

Once doctors determined the new Palin baby would have Down Syndrome, they were overcome with a slew of feelings and emotions. Many in this country immediately suggest abortion in cases like this. Todd and Sarah Palin chose life. A new baby boy was born. “Trig melted into my arms,” Palin said. “What a blessing he is.”

Yes, what a blessing! Unfortunately, Sarah Palin did indeed fake her pregnancy with Trig, so this story is made up just like myriads of other Palin stories.

Sarah Palin told her audience the same "spring chicken/Abraham" story for example at an event in Texas in September 2010:

So why not pay $ 90,000 plus expenses for up to three people for lame recycled speeches in which the old lies are repeated over and over again. Because $ 90,000 plus expenses is still Sarah Palin's standard speaking fee, as we discovered yesterday, thanks to the help of a young overly enthusiastic Palin-fan.

"Dissent" to Sarah Palin's appearance at the Terri Schiavo Gala comes from an unlikely source, the comments at C4P. There, commenter and Palin-fan "colint" left two long comments, defending the actions of Terri's husband Michael Schiavo - and ultimately criticizing Sarah Palin's participation in the event. Let's see whether this comments stays up. Excerpt (h/t Older_Wiser):

"TERRI the truth" author Michael Schiavo, 360 pages, published 2006. I obtained this book from my local library in Vancouver, Canada. It is an excellent book. After reading it, I am convinced that anyone's opinion on the Schiavo case is worthless without reading this book. I wish someone like CHUCK HEATH Jr would read it and he might see that Sarah should not again be involved with this charity created by Terri's father as he was not a nice or honest person.

(...)

Michael also faced the abusive power of Governments. Florida and the state government with Jeb Bush and later the US House and Senate (signed by POTUS Bush) passed UNCONSTITUTIONAL laws to stop Michael from allowing Terri's body to die as has been done under law in thousands of other cases involving Persistant Vegative State.

Michael declined several large offers based on giving control of Terri to her parents. Google "Gloria Aldred Michael Schiavo" for story re $1,000,000 offer.

Many people at the time were MISLED by seeing on TV a 2 minute clip of Terri Shiavo where she appears to be responsive. This two minutes (collection of reflex movements not thought directed) was cut from 4 HOURS of film made for evidence for the court with the rest containing 238 minutes of NO movement. About 5,500 days passed between when Terri's mind died and when her body was allowed to die. While she did not know it, in those years she was fed a paste like nutrition and liquid through a tube in her abdomen to her stomach. Each day she expelled urine and feces requiring several adult diaper changes each day. She acquired diseases. There were records of Michael (after dressing her etc) taking her in a wheel chair to a doctors office over 100 times. There was also a record that, due Michael ensuring her care, she NEVER had bed sores.

Some on this site have called this Schiavo event a "Gala" to celebrate Terri's life. Apart from the years between meeting Michael and her collapse, she had a ROTTEN life. At high school she weighed 250 lbs. She was ridiculed by her father. This may have caused an obsession with weight that resulted in her bulumia . They were trying to have a baby and consulted a doctor. She had been purging (making herself vomit). She was down to 115 lbs when she collapsed.

(...)

This article is based on an interview with Terri's brother, Bobby Schindler. He said that Terri's diagnosis, her prognosis, her wishes, her autopsy are no longer that important to him. Neither he or his father, who died in 2009, were ever interested in Terri's wishes or the well documented medical facts of the case. Until the media showed up the father and son had rarely visited. Without a doubt her husband, Michael, based on visitor records kept by the institutions caring for Terri, spent over a thousand times more hours with Terri than these two. In the early years her mother did visit but that declined.

It is in the record that the Schindlers tried to get control of funds held in trust for Terri. The Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network was formed supposedly to help others but it is providing a good extra income for the Schindler family. In 2011 Bobby got $47,062, the mother $23,250 and the sister $39,042. The son says his father died "broken hearted" that he was unable to save his daughter. When Terri weighed 250lbs in high school she was ridiculed by her father which may have caused bulemia that later resulted in her collapse. In a deposition and in court he testified that if his daughter had limbs with gangrene, if it was up to him, he would have authorised amputation to keep keep her body alive. Terri's soul would have been welcomed in heaven. I doubt the father's soul ended up in the same place.

Schindler said "when the autopsy came out, showing the extent of her injury, he thought people used it as justification for her death". He accidently made a true statement. The autopsy did show that the destruction of critical areas of her brain prevented any recovery. He said that "he thinks that people like his sister are a "blessing". How we care for them is in a way testing us, a reflection of our culture" What a phony. These people are tragedies. He rarely visited his sister. Schindler failed the test.

Michael Schiavo did become the best example of caring for someone.

I found this comment by a Palin-fan quite remarkable. We are dealing here with very complex ethical, medical and human issues which should not be open for quick "law and order" solutions and for political exploitation. Read also this thoughtful article about the subject, which raises good points.

Due to technical issues, we will publish the video by ComeOnPeople from the event at a later point.

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UPDATE:

Our commenter "Andi" was also at Sarah Palin's speech yesterday and told us the following additional points:

I was there last night at the Schivo Banquet...just a few things to clarify from ComeOnPeople's great post.

1. Adrienne Ross was there. She and a few other "Palinistas" ran out of the ballroom to catch up with Palin. After Palin greeted the parochial school girls, they trailed off after her to the elevator.

2. You are right about Palin flubbing things. She was really subdued, not her normal histrionic self.

3. She actually left Philly Saturday Morning. Mark Lamont hill said she came up to him at the PHL airport and said hello. It's on his twitter feed.

4. I am betting those big gulp cups came from the 7/11 right across the street from the Marriott. They are so pathetic.

5. Best story was I spoke with the Getty and Corbis photographers after Palin's speech. They were wrapping up. Some Palin person came up to them and said, you can't publish these pics until Palin's person approves of them. She does not want any unflattering pics out there.

You can imagine how that went over with the Pro's. They were also not allowed to video much of the speech.

Oh no! That's the "freedum of the press" the US troops are apparently dying for, according to Sarah Palin! She has her own version!

Many thanks for the information, Andi! We really appreciate it!

The Getty photos from the event can be found HERE.

The Corbis photos can be found HERE.

I have asked Getty and Corbis for a statement whether "pre-approved photos" at public events are an acceptable policy for them.

Imagine president Obama doing such a thing! The outrage...

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UPDATE 2 - Correction:

Our reader "Andi" clarified his/her comment and would like to make it clear that he/she does not know whether the Getty and Corbis photographers at the event followed the request for the approval of the pictures. Andi commented:

To clarify Patrick, They were asked by a Palin Person to have the photos approved. I don't believe they did get approval as both photographers were ticked about it and were packing up to leave. IDK what happened after as I went back into the banquet.

Therefore we do not know whether Getty and Corbis followed the request. I have also changed the headline of the post accordingly.

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UPDATE 3 - NEW VIDEO:

Our wonderful reader ComeOnPeople has now uploaded the video of the speech. It includes some very interesting parts. Funny that no Palinbot found the words of their goddess worthy enough to record them, but that our crowd had to do it! :-)

The edited video is now online! What I have done is, with the permission of our reader ComeOnPeople, to "crop" the video in a format that looks more like "typical video-size." The content is identical, nothing has been cut. 

Watch the new video:

The original video by ComeOnPeople is also still online.

Hilarious: Enthusiastic young Sarah Palin fan wants her idol to speak at her college, but is then shocked to discover that Sarah Palin charges $ 90.000, plus hotel, plus meals plus "stuff like wifi for up to three people"

Sarah Palin's classic double act: Empty speeches and empty wallets

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By Patrick

It is good to be young and politically active. You make experiences which can shape your views for the rest of your life. You can choose to fight for example against war, poverty, growing inequality and the rule of the rich. On the other hand, you can also choose to fight for the Tea Party and Sarah Palin. That's the pleasure of living in a democracy: You have a choice!

Our little story today goes like this: There is the young and enthusiastic "Teen Conservative" Emily Baxter, who is apparently only 19 years old, and who is already very busy writing for websites like "Youngpatriots.com" as a "staff writer" and "Collegepatriot." Three cheers for Emily and her activism! I can relate to her, because when I was 19 years old, I was also already politically very active and at this age stood as a candidate in local elections (almost got elected, actually). I certainly made very valuable experiences back then. You can learn a lot!

Emily had the great idea to bring her idol Sarah Palin to her college for a speech. Hurray! Don't we love it when Sarah Palin speaks at colleges! We will never forget the epic disaster that was the CSUS Stanislaus speech in 2010. It was not only a disaster from beginning to end for Sarah Palin and her supporters, but also had very positive political consequences. The very short version can be found at Wikipedia on the page for California State Senator Leland Yee:

In April 2010, Yee filed a public records request to discover if any state funds were used by California State Stanislaus Foundation to hire and pay former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin $75,000 to speak at the school's 50th anniversary celebration on June 25. The foundation refused to divulge the any information about fees paid to Palin.

In response, Yee introduced SB 330 which would require groups to abide by California's Public Records Act. On May 28, the Los Angeles Times reported that two California State sources disclosed that Sarah Palin will receive $75,000 for her speaking engagement. Officials would not confirm the amount of the disclosure. In response to the disclosure, Yee said, "It's rather disappointing that Sarah Palin is asking for nearly $100,000 to speak at this anniversary event when we're looking at state increases in student fees, cancellations of classes and the fact that this money could be going to scholarships… She could do wonders for all of us … by taking this money and donating it back to the foundation." Palin's speech brought in a then record $200,000 profit for the Cal State Stanislaus Foundation.

Oh, yes, the profit. Well, the companies of the conservative organizers donated like crazy, in order to avoid an embarrassment. So everyone was happy in the end: Sarah Palin got a lot of money for spewing garbage in a speech which was riddled with errors, the CSUS Foundation got a lot of money, California after a few hickupps finally got a new law, and the lives of two activist students, Alicia Lewis and Ashli Briggs, who Sarah Palin called "dumpster divers" in her speech, were influenced through these incidents in a major way.

At Palingates, we had lots of fun with the CSUS speech back in 2010, and disclosed Sarah Palin's fee actually several days before the LA Times did, as the very first "media outlet" - bad, bad Wikipedia! You just don't like us because we are the "Trig Truthers", right, Wikipedia...?

The "icing on the cake" was the infamous "open mic incident", when journalists were caught making very disparaging comments about Sarah Palin after her speech at CSUS Stanislaus - they completely failed to recognize Sarah Palin's genius, the liberal bastards:

So yes, we all think that Sarah Palin speaking at colleges and/or universities is simply a great idea! What could possibly go wrong...?

Emily Baxter therefore certainly receives our full support, when she today commented today at C4P (or the "peepond", for insiders):

Hey y'all!

So in few weeks I'll get approval from the president of my college to bring Governor Palin here. First off, money's an issue. We're super small. I'm probably going to open this up to all six private colleges in the area. I'm hoping that will help.

I'll be selling tickets. Cheap ones for students (because I am aiming for that) and really expensive for everyone else.

Yes, money is an issue! But how big of an issue? Well, Emily found out, and commented:

If I open this up to all 6 private colleges, we'll have a lot more interest. I think some people here are interested, but not willing to say so. The booking agent told me $90,000 plus hotel (1 day I'm assuming) meals, and stuff like wifi for up to 3 people (Todd, a kid, and her).

Wait, what? Not exactly on on the cheap side, the one and only Sarah Palin! But why be cheap, when you have fans who believe it to be simply invaluable to hear their goddess speak?

Emily Baxters response after learning about Sarah Palin's speaking fee is priceless:

"I found out her speaking fee and about died."

It comes as no surprise that Emily Baxter later deleted the part of her comment which included the amount of $ 90,000 (plus perks) after a suggestion of another member of the Palin cult. Well, too late. Our great reader "annettek", who is also a diarist for the Daily Kos, copied the comment before it (partly) vanished. Sweet!

Screenshots - from C4P:

Screenshot from the comments at Politicalgates:

So now there is proof that Sarah Palin still does what she always did best - emptying others people's pockets.

But the educational aspect should not be underestimated. It is certainly money well spent, as past experiences show.

Therefore: Go for it, Palin-fans! Sarah Palin needs the money, and we need the laughs!

+++

UPDATE:

Emily Baxter confirmed over at C4P that we reported her deleted comment correctly:

The "Whacko-Bird" Wisdom of Michele Bachmann

by Sunnyjane

Warning: Medical science experts have not ruled out the possibility that lunacy is transmitted via the Internet.  Too much of the Tea Party may make you go nuts.

If it wouldn't do permanent damage, it might be interesting to spend two minutes inside Michele Bachmann's brain.  

Like an eighth-grader's dubious lab experiment gone really bad, the never-gonna-be-president House rep from Minnesota's 2012 campaign started out improbable and ended up preposterous.  Her entire campaign centered around social issues because when forced to enter into real policy issues, she almost made Sarah Palin sound rational.  Of course, she began her presidential campaign before the 2008 election, taking up the McCain/Palin mantra that Barack Obama doesn't see America as we see America.  And even prior to Tea Party darlings former rep Allen West and current Senator Ted Cruz, Bachmann was channeling her inner McCarthyism and saw anti-Americans (translation: Communists!) behind every pillar and post.  

While she should be treated for insanity, Bachmann's actually being investigated for, um...irregularities in her campaign.  As John Avlon at The Daily Beast reported recently, she is embroiled in a litany of legal proceedings related to her rolling disaster of a presidential campaign -- including an Office of Congressional Ethics investigation into campaign improprieties that has not previously been reported.   But never one to ignore an opportunity to blast President Obama, Glenn Beck has decided that Bachmann is under investigation because she's against radical Islam.

It's little wonder she's being investigated.  Her campaign and office staffing problems have a long history.  In 2011, the Associated Press did a little tally and found that in the four years she had been in the House of Representatives, she had lost six chiefs of staff, five press secretaries, five legislative directors, and three communications directors.  Whew! 

Charles Pierce of Esquire weighed in like this in late March:  Ever since the 2012 Iowa straw poll, when Bachmann stormed to victory by being the candidate best able to bus old white people efficiently from one part of Iowa to another, there have been rumors that, internally, the Bachmann campaign was a five-alarmer in Shanghai, and that was before Ed Rollins, bless his perpetually treacherous heart, began telling anyone within earshot what a freak show he'd signed up with. 

Ed Rollins, of course, signed on with Bachmann's campaign before she even announced her candidacy in June 2011; by September, he quit because he'd had a stroke.  (Well, who wouldn't have had a stroke, huh?)  By the end of October, he was saying, She's out of money and out of ideas.

How History Will Remember Michele Bachmann

Even Texas will not be able to whitewash the Minnesota representative's record for their textbooks.  It's far too outlandish.  We all know that she told folks in New Hampshire how much she loved their state because You're the state where the shot was heard round the world in Lexington and Concord. She was speaking. of course, about the beginning of the Revolutionary War, which actually began at Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts.  And she thought slavery was a bad thing, but at least it kept families together, so it was better than their current situation under the Obama Administration.  She also asked attendees at one speech to wish the deceased Elvis Presley, said to be one of her favorite singers, a raucous Happy Birthday! -- on the thirty-fourth anniversary of his death.  And of the President's foreign policies, she huffed that ...he put us in Libya. He is now putting us in Africa.  I have no clue where she thinks Libya is, but she obviously doesn't realize that it is in, uh, Africa.

One of the most tone-deaf, whacko scenarios of her political career had to do with Michael Steele, former chairman of the Republican National Committee. Steele spoke at CPAC 2009 where he took partial blame for the GOP's loss to Barack Obama the previous November.  Bachmann's turn at the podium was next, and before she began her speech she yelled, Michael Steele, you be da man, you be da man!   No information on exactly what Mr. Steele thought of being cheered in Ebonics by one of Minnesota's state birds, the Common Loon.

Hey, Barack!  Wanna suck on my belly button?

But there may be some instances of how brainless Bachmann is that haven't received as much attention.   Yes, she kissed George W. Bush at her very first State of the Union Address in 2007 and had such a death grip on him for thirty seconds that a reporter for Fox News hilariously told Tucker Carlson, We were about ten seconds away from a Secret Service moment there; you could see those guys talking into their wrists.  Things were going to get ugly.

But in 2008, Bachmann also threatened then-candidate for president, Barack Obama, with similar treatment:  If the presidency would somehow go to Barack Obama, I would welcome him to the 6th District as well ... As a matter of fact, I would put my hand on his shoulder and give him a kiss if he wanted to.  (There is no truth to the scurrilous rumor that Senator Obama muttered, I'd rather eat cold coffee grounds.)

End Note(s)

Marcus recently updated his social media Relationship Status to: It's Complicated

With DOMA and Prop 8 having just been argued before the Supreme Court, it is worthwhile to examine Bachmann's opinion on the subject of gays and lesbians marrying.  Actually, contrary to everything you think you know about how she feels, she believes it's perfectly acceptable.   Of course, there is one wee caveat.  In 2011, she told the president of Waverly High School's Gay-Straight Alliance in Iowa that gays and lesbians have every right to get married -- so long as they marry someone of the opposite sex.  

There!  It makes you wonder why, instead of wasting the Court's time, someone else hasn't come up with this practical solution. 

After all, who would know better than Michele Bachmann about such a situation.  Right?

In the immortal words of her fellow Republican, ditzy Dan Quayle: What a waste it is to lose one's mind. Or not to have a mind is being very wasteful. 

Joe Gandelman at the Huffington Post very recently wrote The Michele Bachmann sideshow is hurting the GOP, in which he says that it's her sensationalist rhetoric that's destroying her credibility.  After all, when Bill O'Reilly attacks her for her CPAC attacks on the President, you know she has become GOP toast.  That rebranding thingy ain't working, guys, when you've got the likes of Michele Bachmann on the team. 

The most positive remark one can make about Bachmann is that, unlike Palin, she hasn’t yet begun choosing her wardrobe from the Dimwitted Sluts-R-Us Collection.