Post Loss Depressing

After her defeat in her bid to be Veep, Sarah Palin returned to Alaska hoping to put the bad press, the bad image, and the bad news behind her. Then came TurkeyGate.

We all saw the pictures of Governor Palin pardoning the Thankdsgiiving Turkey and then having an impromptu press conference while, right behind her, turkeys were beheaded and allowed to bleed out. Quite the metaphor for the post-election beheading and bloodletting Palin felt was unduly aimed at her.

But then there was LeviGate when the Baby Daddy and the Baby Mama broke up. Levi said he stayed at the Palin house with Bristol many nights before the abstinence-ending pregnancy; Palin denounced him and denied the claim and lashed out again at the liberal media out to get her.

Then we had Levi'sMamaGate when Levi's mother, Sherry Johnston, pleaded guilty to possession of Oxycontin with intent to sell it. All eyes again were back on Sarah Palin and what she knew and what she did about what she knew. It was guilt by association, but once again the spotlight was on Palin and it wasn't the light she liked.

DianaGate came next, when Todd's half-sister Diana was arrested for twice breaking into a home to steal money. no further explanation was given. More bad press linked, unfortunately, to Sarah Palin, whether she ahd anything to do with it or not.

All these 'gates' had Palin lashing out almost constantly against the media, saying they were hounding her, looking for ways to smear her. She had begged and pleaded with the media to stay out of her children's lives, but then she began talking about Levi and his mother, Todd's half-sister,. She didn't seem to see the contradiction.

She also didn't see the contradiction when it came to the stimulus package. Palin announced she wouldn't take it; she was the fiscal conservative battling big government and wanted no part of this hand out. But then she and her staff announced that she had never said No to the stimulus money, she just had never said Yes. It was, once again, the truth as Palin sees it. In the end Governor Palin accepted all but 3% of the stimulus package. The fight had left her tired.

People in Alaska were growing tired of their governor as well. People in Juneau were tired, too. And ready to stand up to her.

Sarah Palin had nominated ultra homophobic, gun-toting right-wingnut Wayne Ross to be attorney general, but, in a first for the state, a governor's cabinet nominee was rejected. It was the beginning of the end of the glory days of Sarah Palin. The national spotlight that had been on her since her addition to the Republican ticket in August had finally reached home, and Alaskans were none too pleased. Palin's approvals ratings, once in the 80s, had now fallen into the 50s; respectable, yes, but proof that she wasn't as popular or trustworthy or likable as she had once been seen.

Todd Purdum, researching his article for Vanity Fair, began to hear people talk about Sarah Palin not seeking reelection as governor; this was long before there was even a hint of quitting. But most people knew that Sarah Palin didn't want to be a lameduck governor; she didn't want to be seen as having one foot out the door for an entire second term, but what could she do? How could she turn the talk from a negative to, what she thought of as positive, and keep the light shining brightly on her?

So the talk continued and the whispers grew. People suspected she would run for Senator from Alaska, but she said nothing about that; not that that's anything new. Palin never shows all her cards. That way she can change her hand at any time and no one is the wiser.

She hadn't done much politicking, either. There was little time, and too few people willing to listen, for Sarah Palin to campaign. She was charged nearly constantly with ethics violations. She was under attack by the very people who had once worshipped her. Now all she could offer were opinions on the controversy surrounding Carrie Prejean and the Miss California pageant. Now she was left with sparring with David Letterman over several bad jokes--or maybe just one bad joke.

And then came her admission that she, of the anti-abortion, no way no how, stance had once, even as she says, for a "fleeting moment" considered terminating her last pregnancy. Only at the last minute, upon seeing an amniocentesis that showed some disturbing abnormalities., did she stop thinking about an abortion. Yet she still believes that no woman should ever have that option; an option she very nearly chose. Remember, she'd kept the pregnancy a secret from her friends and family, from her constituents. No one would have ever known.

Palin was seeing her star falling, even within the Republican Party. Once the Golden Girl, she was now finishing with the Bronze, or worse. Bobby Jindal seemed a better choice, until he opened his mouth. Mike Huckabee may have a better shot, if he's willing to give up his TV show. Sarah Palin, in just a few short months since the McCain defeat, has gone from first to worst. And no one seems to know why

Maybe it's because Sarah Palin doesn't listen to anyone, except maybe her husband, Todd. She has a long history of aligning with people who can help her, then tossing them aside when their work is done. She did that to John McCain the night of the election when she thought it was her place to speak; many thought her concession speech would really be the beginning of her run in 2012. And she has a history of pointing the finger at people when she, herself, is just as guilty. She's run her campaigns based on the truth of the moment; the truth moment to moment, because, for Palin, the truth doesn't matter.

And she's become not just a has-been, or in the case of her quitting her job as governor, a never-was, she's becoming a victim. Listen to her speak today and you're sure to get an earful of all those out to get her, everyone from the liberal media, to national political figures--let's not forget McCain neglected to mention her as a force in the GOP. She believes in some all consuming conspiracy that people are trying to bring her down.

We don't need to do that, Sarah, you're doing a fine job all by yourself.

The Vanity Fair article is HERE.

The Governor Has Two Faces

Even Palin fans, and there are many, to be sure, were stunned at her election to the Governor's chair in Alaska. According to Todd Purdum's Vanity Fair article, Rebecca Braun, publisher of the Alaska Budget Report, saw the Palin victory as "something 'far beyond anything you could explain in terms of intellect or training.'"

But Sarah Palin made three promises to the state of Alaska, and she came through on all three; she increased oil taxes, won legislative framework for that natural gas pipeline, and initiated significant ethics reforms. Telling, since now she is under fire for so many ethics complaints, but I digress. You see, even with her accomplishments, it wasn't all sweetness and light in the Palin government.

• As a mother to several children already, Sarah Palin, for unknown reasons, kept her last pregnancy a secret from friends and family, going so far as to travel from Texas back to Alaska, arrive in Anchorage and then drive forty-five minutes to a hospital in Wasilla, all the while leaking amniotic fluid, just so her child could be born in Alaska. But, seriously, why all the secrecy surrounding the pregnancy and the birth?
• Of course, then there is the famous 'bridge to nowhere' on Gravina Island that Sarah Palin at first supported, then didn't support, then ultimately denied she'd ever supported it when nationwide criticism began to turn against her.
• And then we have the Sarah Palin who filled her government with friends from high school, neighbors from Wasilla, and any other form of Yes Person she might find. Her pick for director of the state Division of Agriculture gave a "childhood love of cows" as a qualification for the position.
• And while most of her staff was comprised of friends and family, she would only communicate via Blackberry or a personal email account so she could "avoid having to disclose documents under the state public-records laws."
• Sarah Palin, after spending ninety minutes in a closed door session with legislators then immediately appeared on television to deny that she, or anyone on her staff, ever held closed door meetings. Lyda Green, one-time friend, now Palin foe, was at that closed door meeting and was stunned by Palin's denial. Many thought Green's sudden dislike of Palin was jealousy over Palin's meteorite rise in the political chain of Alaska, but Les Gara, a Democrat who once worked with, and supported Palin now says of her: "She didn't work very hard. You would speak to her on particular issues, and it was like she didn't know anything about them and she never seemed very engaged...[but]...if your priorities happened to be her priorities, you could build a coalition."
• Palin wants what she wants, and works with you if you agree, works against you if you don't. Case in point: John Bitney, who worked tirelessly for her campaign, and was praised on high after her election, was summarily fired; he says it was due to the fact that he had the misfortune to fall in love with the wife of a friend of Palin's. For the record, Palin announced that his departure was amicable, but later, to The Wall Street Journal, she said he was fire due to "poor job performance." Sarah Palin had a one-way view and if you stepped out of line or in her way, you were gone.

Todd Purdum says he spoke to many people in Alaska and many independent sources each cited the theory that Sarah Palin suffers from narcissistic personality disorder. This is quite evident in the emails she sent out upon the birth of Trig, her last child; the pregnancy that she kept secret fro so long. In the email, she talked of her pregnancy and of the birth of Trig "not in her own name but in God's" name. She actually signed the emails "Trig's Creator, Your Heavenly Father."

And one of the biggest missteps in the Palin government was her personal vendetta against a state trooper, was the so-called Troopergate. During her first year as governor, Palin, her husband Todd, who reports say spent nearly every day in the governor's office with Palin and sat in on all government meetings, and her aides complained incessantly to Walt Monegan about Mike Wooten, married to, but now divorcing Sarah's sister Molly. Wooten, by all accounts, was a horrible trooper, but he'd been disciplined many times, so Monegan was not about to continue the harassment at the whim of the governor.

Then, in June of 2008 Monegan sent Palin an email saying that a state legislator had seen Palin driving through Wasilla with baby Trig not in a car seat. "'I have never driven Trig anywhere without a new, approved car seat,' Palin fired back. 'I want to know who said otherwise--pls. privide me that info now.'" Less than two weeks then passed before Sarah Palin fired Walt Monegan.

One does not cross Sarah Palin, for fear of retribution. One does not disagree with Sarah Palin without threat of punishment. One does not get in her way, does not live life in a way she deems unacceptable, without fear of losing your job.

There is the truth, and the truth as Sarah Palin sees it.

More to come.
The Vanity Fair artcile is HERE.

Quitters Never Win

Sarah Palin is shrewd. I was going to say shrew, and, while that's true, too, and a bit too easy, she is actually shrewd.

In the Vanity Fair piece, Todd Purdum talks about her as McCain portrayed her: the "fresh-faced reformer who had taken on Alaska's big oil companies and the corrupt Republican Establishment, governing with bipartisan support."

This unfortunately, is only part Sarah Palin.

Sarah Palin is very cool, very determined, with a strict mindset of attaining a goal at all costs--though, surely, with no costs to herself. Purdum describes her as "intuitive," but also says she surrounds herself with a small group of people that she trusts, but has no qualms about disregarding and discarding those people who question her or have outlived their usefulness toward attaining Sarah Palin's goals. She is also seen as being quite vengeful to those who cross her. There is the truth, and then the truth as she sees it.

In high school, says Lyda Green, a former Republican senator and former supporter of Palin, "her nickname...was 'Barracuda.' I was never called Barracuda....There's a certain instinct there that you go for the jugular."

Green is no longer a Palin supporter, obviously. She has seen the light.

Purdum lists several things that McCain could have, should have, learned about Palin had the vetting process been more than a quick lunch and a walk around Wasilla. For Palin "no political principle or personal relationship is more sacred than her own ambition."

• Sarah Palin will use you to get what she wants, and then forget she ever knew you. One of her chief supporters was former Wasilla Mayor John Stein, who mentored her while she was on the city council. Palin turned against him in her bid to become mayor. And as mayor, she "fired the police chief, eased out the museum director and the city planner, and fired and then rehired the librarian..." Now, as mayor she was allowed to hire and fire whomever she chose, but she blamed the firings on budget concerns not a personal, conservative agenda.
• Another example of Palin's do anything, use anybody approach to her career, was that, while on the state's Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, she charged that a "fellow commissioner, Randy Ruedrich, the chair of the Alaska Republican Party, was conducting political business on state time." Ruedrich resigned. But when Palin was running for governor in 2006, it was discovered that she was guilty of exactly the same thing. Do as I say, but don't get caught if you don't. Eh, Sarah?
• During her run for governor, Palin formed a team to support her made up almost entirely of friends from Wasilla. These friends now suggest that her debate prep even back then left a lot to be desired. She apparently seemed uninterested in prepping for the debate would get mad if anyone suggested what she was doing was wrong. Palin, herself, remarked to Andrew Halcro, who was running against her for governor, "Andrew, I watch you at these debates with no notes, no papers, and yet when asked questions, you spout off facts, figures, and policies, and I'm amazed. But then I look out into the audience and i ask myself, Does any of this really matter?"

It does, Sarah. It does. Which is why you're a quitter.

More to come.

The Vanity Fair piece is HERE.

Good! Bye.

I was reading a Vanity Fair article online just last Friday. It was an, shall we say, evisceration of Sarah Palin; all unflattering, all the time.

I. Was. In. Heaven.

I printed the article and was reading it and commenting and outlining and preparing it for a blog rant; I love a good blog rant, you know. But then, bitch up and quits!

I like to think I scared her with my SSIS--Send Sarah Into a Snowbank--almost as much as she scares me.

But I'll continue with my post and add more as the story breaks. I was thinking about putting up her resignation/basketball medley press conference, but it was as incoherent and rambling as nearly all things Palin, so we'll just let that be.

The Vanity Fair piece, by Todd S. Purdum, tells the tale of Sarah before, during and after, her unsuccessful, horribly unsuccessful, shot at being veep to Gramps McCain. A lot of folks working on the McCain campaign have taken aim at Sarah Palin, as have I, like she was an Alaskan wolf and they were tailing her from a helicopter. The words they used to describe her: "diva" and "whack job" and, my personal favorite, "Little Shop of Horrors."

The article was written, obviously, before she decided to toss her political career in the crapper, take her toys, and go home, but it is quite telling as to who she is, how she works, and what she does if she doesn't get her way.

For example:

• She created SarahPAC to put forth her agenda of gun rights and abortion control, her real American agenda, when her chief fundraiser, Becki Donatelli suddenly quit, leaving the PAC without a clear direction. It's a nice little PAC egg for any future campaigns, although that seems slim now.
• She formed the Alaska Fund Trust whose sole purpose was to raise money to pay for her legal expenses stemming from a variety of ethics charges levied against before and after the McCain McDisaster. I will say, in all fairness, some of the claims were trifling and stupid, but some were not. Sarah Palin is not a uniter, but a divider; it's love for some, hate for others where she's concerned.
• Walter Hickel, a two-term governor of Alaska, worked to get her into the governor's mansion. He was co-chair of her gubernatorial campaign because he thought she also supported his idea of a natural gas pipeline to the Port of Valdez to make it available for sale worldwide. As soon as she was elected she dumped the pipeline idea. Hickel now says, "I don't give a damn what she does."
• As we've all suspected all along, McCain spent less than two hours with Palin before choosing her to be a Heartbeat Away. It was a decision he, apparently, instantly regretted. She didn't even tell him of her unwed, teenaged daughter's pregnancy during the Lite Vetting Process.
• She pandered to those Americans with no insurance by saying she and her husband, Todd, had no insurance when they first married, and didn't have it until he joined the union at British Petroleum. But Todd, yes, her husband Todd, says that wasn't true; they had catastrophic insurance, which isn't the same as no insurance.
• When McCain chose her as his running mate, Palin felt she was losing support in Alaska. She asked Steve Schmidt, McCain's chief strategist, to conduct a poll in Alaska to see how her numbers were doing, but then the economic meltdown occurred and McCain suspended his campaign. The Palin poll was never done. Sarah Palin subsequently became very difficult to work with; she even refused to face, speak to, or participate in a mock debate set up to prepare her for her first televised debate with Joe Biden.
• After the debate though, which was not a total disaster, she suddenly became emboldened, even crossing the McCain campaign strategy of pulling "out of active competition in Michigan."
• She became the diva who ignored McCain's chief advisers, who were forced to send messages to Palin via a third party. She would not speak to anyone in his camp for the remainder of the campaign.
• And, as for that election night concession speech? McCain staff members now say that when they went to load John McCain's speech into the teleprompter, there was another speech already in there. Sarah Palin's speech. When she was informed that Vice Presidential candidates don't give the concession speech, she asked, "Are those John's wishes?" When told they were, she refused to listen, following McCain on his walk to the podium to ask why she couldn't give one.

She was already plotting her next step on the backs of the failed McCain campaign.

More to come. Stay tuned.

The Vanity Fair article is HERE.