Sarah Palin II

See also Vice President (R) Sarah Palin

Geoffrey Dunn — Eating Her Own: Sarah Palin’s CPAC Assault on Karl Rove
(HuffPost) It should have come as no surprise to anyone who has watched Sarah Palin’s erratic and dysfunctional behavior over the past four-and-a-half years that when it comes to Republican Party loyalty, she has none.
Zero. She loves to eat her own.
Indeed, throughout most of her political career — from her first failed run for statewide office in Alaska in 2002, on through her ill-fated stint riding shotgun with John McCain in 2008, and, finally, to her slapstick and desultory bid for the presidency in the last election cycle — Palin’s principal enemies have been those figures in her own party who have in any way attempted to thwart her colossal personal ambitions.
Now add to that list GOP uber-strategist Karl Rove. Palin’s widely publicized speech at CPAC this past weekend — hailed by mainstream media pundits as her “re-emergence into the national spotlight” — was little more than a veiled assault on Rove and his recently established Conservative Victory Project. …
It was classic Palin. Only this time around, her appearance at CPAC served to remind Americans from across the political spectrum just how far Palin has fallen. She is a sad and emaciated caricature of the once-bright star that emerged on the Republican political horizon in the summer of 2008. She’s more vapid, more shallow, more narcissistic, more bitter, more insignificant, more delusional, and, almost impossibly, more mean spirited than ever before.
Karl Rove Mocks Sarah Palin Tenure As Governor
GOP uberconsultant Karl Rove lashed out at former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) on Sunday, mocking her decision to leave office early. Rove’s criticism was a response to comments Palin made at the Conservative Political Action Conference in which she suggested the poor performance of Rove-backed candidates in the 2012 elections indicates that Rove should get out of the political consulting business.
25 January
Sarah Palin’s Long Fox News Sign Off
(New York Magazine) In September 2008, Sarah Palin secretly met with Fox News Chairman and CEO Roger Ailes during her campaign tour through New York … A little over a year later, Palin was working for Ailes as the highest paid contributor at the network, earning $1 million a year. But her time in Ailes’s army proved almost as tumultuous as her stormy run as John McCain’s VP pick. And this afternoon both sides decided to walk away.
But having taken herself out of the presidential sweepstakes, her value to the network plummeted. Palin’s million-dollar appeal was always amplified by her flirtation with a presidential run. Ailes has said he hired her because she was “hot and got ratings.” But by the end, she was not hot and not rating, and had to fight for airtime. At the Republican National Convention in August, she was bumped from a prime-time interview slot and in Palin fashion, she took to Facebook to complain about it, once again breaching Fox protocol.

2012

31 July
Why Sarah Palin’s Reputation Has Plummeted as Bill Clinton’s Has Grown
by John Avlon
(The Daily Beast) Once the darling of conservatives, the former vice-presidential candidate is now seen as something of an embarrassment—even as the previously vilified 42nd president has grown in stature. The reassessments show the perils of hyper-partisanship, says John Avlon.

2011

The Tragedy of Sarah Palin
(The Atlantic June 2011) From the moment Sarah Palin’s acceptance speech electrified the Republican convention, she was seen as an unbending, hard-charging, red-meat ideologue—to which soon was added “thin-skinned” and “vindictive.” But a look at what Palin did while in office in Alaska—the only record she has—shows a very different politician: one who worked with Democrats to tame Big Oil and solve the great problem at the heart of the state’s politics. That Sarah Palin might have set the nation on a different course. What went wrong?
1 June
David Frum: Sarah Palin’s mysterious allure to middle class Republicans
(National Post) … They feel victimized, embittered, deeply mistrustful of every established institution except the military. And they are hungry for a candidate who pungently expresses their victimhood, bitterness and mistrust: Donald Trump? Herman Cain? Michele Bachmann? But of course, nobody does it better than the candidate who has made victimhood her core message: Sarah Palin.
27 May
Palin: Queen of Right-Wing Reaction
Liberals are tempted to rejoice in Palin’s candidacy. But as Michael Tomasky argues, we should all dread the effect of her torrent of lies and demagoguery on our politics.
(The Daily Beast) … while she may not be the nominee, she’s likely to have a huge impact on the race. The other Republican candidates are going to be extremely cautious about taking her on. Not only or even mainly because she’s a woman; more than that, because she has the largest following of any of them among the GOP base, by far. It’s a crucial point here that all the leading candidates have histories of apostasy: Mitt Romney on health care, Tim Pawlenty on carbon and the environment, Jon Huntsman on having worked for Obama (and even now Newt Gingrich, having thundered against Paul Ryan’s budget). Palin will tear into them, and they’ll probably be loath to tear back, because they want her voters after she drops out. So if she’s smart—and that she is, at least in this particular way—she should be able to set the terms of discourse by saying outrageous things and then watching as reporters ask the others whether they agree with her, and they say, out of mortal fear of the base, yes I do.
17 March
We have tried to ignore most of her antics over the past months, but this item defied our informal boycott.
Palin Jets to India and Israel This Weekend
Ms. Palin, who is considering whether to run for president in 2012, is scheduled to give a paid speech Saturday night at the Taj Palace Hotel in New Delhi as the keynote speaker for the “India Today Conclave.” Her speech is titled “My Vision for America.”
“On her first visit to India, Governor Palin shares her vision of the country she may aspire to lead, and of America’s place in the world,” the group’s Web site says of Ms. Palin.
After the address, Ms. Palin will travel to Tel Aviv, where she will hold a private meeting with Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu on Monday before heading back for another paid speech in Florida on Wednesday.
In a statement on her Web site Thursday, Ms. Palin said the Israel visit was part of an effort on her part to discuss the political change in the Middle East, North Africa and elsewhere. Ms. Palin is traveling with her husband, Todd, and a small number of staff members.
“I’m thankful to be able to travel to Israel on my way back to the U.S.,” Ms. Palin said. “As the world confronts sweeping changes and new realities, I look forward to meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu to discuss the key issues facing his country, our ally Israel.”

2010

3 June
Sarah Palin Blames Environmentalists For Gulf Oil Disaster
Her logic is that because environmentalists push for tougher drilling regulations onshore in places like the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (also known as ANWR) it forces oil companies to explore deeper offshore drilling which has more risks.
4 April
Discovery Channel Insider: Sarah Palin’s Show Is “a New All Time Low for Discovery”
Last week Discovery had its annual sales conference for ad buyers for all of its 13 networks. The presentation showcases all of their new shows across the different networks. … Apparently the ad buyers were not impressed. … “When the promo was over, people (employees and buyers) were rolling their eyes, snickering, and even laughing. People were laughing and it’s not even a comedy. No one took it seriously.”
4 April
How Sarah Palin Became a Brand
(NYT) Ms. Palin’s politics can border on the atavistic, but beyond her Tea Party theatrics, she has tunneled her own route into the public consciousness and gone into the Sarah Palin Across America business. And what a business it is.
9 March
Tasha Kheiriddin: Letting the left claim the cerebral high ground
(National Post) The Palin phenomenon builds on the same foundation as U.S. president George W. Bush: pro-America conservative Christian populism. Faith and gut instinct will show us the way, especially when dealing with radical Islam. Wishy-washy liberal intellectuals who would negotiate with terrorists are the problem; plain talk the answer. (To which I would counter: Showing zero tolerance for Muslim extremists is a good idea; fighting one brand of religious zealotry with a different brand is not. Reason has its place in this war, and ignorance is not bliss when terrorists are attempting to blow up your airplanes.)
10 February
Adam Daifallah: How do you solve a problem like Sarah Palin?
Despite her obvious difficulties with comprehension of basic issues, Palin continues to attract huge crowds and thousands of grassroots conservative activists with her folksy style and anti-Obama rhetoric. Those who love her can’t understand why everyone doesn’t; those who despise her can’t fathom why anyone could possibly find her appealing.
It’s almost painful to watch thoughtful Republican strategists on TV panels sit, ashen-faced, trying to defend Palin. They can barely contain their embarrassment when they are asked to comment after some of Palin’s lines from a speech or interview are played back to them.
7 February
Former Alaska governor slams president’s handling of economy, security
It’s revolution time, Palin tells ‘tea party’
(MSNBC) NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Sarah Palin declared “America is ready for another revolution” and repeatedly assailed President Barack Obama on Saturday before adoring “tea party” activists. They make up a seemingly natural constituency should she run for president.
14 November 2009
David Frum: Sarah’s Choice
A rising young governor from a state remote from America’s media is given a big national chance. The governor does not perform well, hideously badly in fact. But the governor learns from past mistakes, executing a shrewdly planned strategy to win a presidential nomination and then the Oval Office itself. That’s the story of Bill Clinton. As Sarah Palin planned her own comeback strategy, she could have learned a lot from it.
AP: Palin book goes after McCain camp but not Levi
The book, which has a first printing of 1.5 million copies, has been at or near the top of Amazon.com and other best-seller lists for weeks, ever since publisher HarperCollins announced it had been completed ahead of schedule and moved its release date up from next spring. The Associated Press was able to purchase a copy Thursday. While the book follows her life from her birth in Sandpoint, Idaho, to wondering about the next stop in her future, Palin, who received an advance of at least $1.25 million, saves her strongest words for run-ins with McCain staffers and her widely-panned interview with CBS anchor Katie Couric.
3 November
Sarah Palin’s Brutal Education
An Excerpt from “Sarah From Alaska” — a New Book Telling the Inside Story of Palin’s Campaign for VP
(CBSNews.com Exclusive) In “Sarah From Alaska,” Scott Conroy and Shushannah Walshe draw on their experiences as embedded campaign reporters, the many weeks they spent reporting in Alaska during Palin’s last days as governor, and exclusive interviews with almost 200 former McCain/Palin staffers, top political minds, friends, and foes in Alaska to tell the remarkable behind-the-scenes story of Palin’s political career and the events leading to her surprising resignation.
3 October
Palin’s persistent grassroots popularity chafes key Republican strategists
(CP) She’s poised to become the best-selling author in the United States, has a devoted base of conservative supporters and is considered a front-runner to lead the Republicans into the next election in 2012 – and yet key party strategists are tormented by the popularity of Sarah Palin.
3 October
Bill Maher Auditions Sarah Palin’s Writers (VIDEO)
It takes a special person to work with a special former governor. Bill Maher shows us who would have been the perfect writer to pair with Palin, and the titles they would have come up with. They’re all more apropos than Going Rogue.
9 September
Lynn Vincent, the other voice behind the Sarah Palin book
(CSM) By now, you’ve probably heard the news. Sarah Palin – prolific Facebook user, Twitter poet, and former Alaskan governor – is writing a book. The title is “Going Rogue: An American Life,” and if early buzz is any indication, sales of the 400-page tome, which hits shelves in November, will be through the roof.
As MSNBC’s Chris Matthews noted back in May, “She’s got this book deal, she obviously is not gonna write it.” Matthews was right. Palin had help.
Palin Lectures Not Selling, No One Wants To Book Her: NY Post
“The big lecture buyers in the US are paralyzed with fear about booking her, basically because they think she is a blithering idiot,” the source said. “They don’t want to tick people off.”
15 August
Maureen Dowd: Sarah’s Ghoulish Carousel
Consistency was long ago sent to a death panel in Palin world
Just as she was able to stir up the mob against Barack Obama on the trail, now she is fanning the flames against another Harvard smarty-pants — Dr. Zeke Emanuel, a White House health care adviser and the older brother of Rahmbo.
She took a forum, Facebook, and with one catchy phrase, several footnotes and a zesty disregard for facts, managed to hijack the health care debate from Mr. Obama. Sarahcuda … has successfully caricatured the White House health care effort, making it sound like the plot of the 1976 sci-fi movie “Logan’s Run,” about a post-apocalyptic society with limited resources where you can live only until age 30, when you must take part in an extermination ceremony called “Carousel” or flee the city. Painting the Giacometti-esque Emanuel as a creepy Dr. Death, Palin attacked him on her Facebook page a week ago, complaining that his “Orwellian thinking” could lead to a “death panel” with bureaucrats deciding whether to pull the plug on less hardy Americans.
26 July
Palin’s Formal Farewell Includes Parting Shots
(AP) — Sarah Palin stepped down Sunday as Alaska governor to write a book and build a right-of-center coalition, but she left her long-term political plans unclear and refused to address speculation she would seek a 2012 presidential bid. In a fiery campaign-style speech, Palin said she was stepping down to take her political battles to a larger if unspecified stage and avoid an unproductive, lame duck status. ”With this decision, now, I will be able to fight even harder for you, for what is right, and for truth. And I have never felt that you need a title to do that,” Palin said to raucous applause from about 5,000 people gathered at Pioneer Park in Fairbanks.
William Shatner Makes Palin’s Speech Into Poetry (VIDEO) Wonderful – and it makes sense.
And this comment on the NYT Lede: “Once again, the liberal media having their fun at Sarah’s expense. Most of the people in real America don’t need lofty rhetoric, perfect grammar or rigid syntax to understand truth when they hear it. Although she really should get a teleprompter, a speechwriter and a basic education, because she sounds like an absolute idiot.”
20 July
Unkind but clever – and a vast improvement!
Vanity Fair edits Palin’s Resignation Speech
If you watched Sarah Palin’s resignation speech, you know one thing: her high-priced speechwriters moved back to the Beltway long ago. Just how poorly constructed was the governor’s holiday-weekend address? We asked V.F.’s red-pencil-wielding executive literary editor, Wayne Lawson, together with representatives from the research and copy departments, to whip it into publishable shape. Here is the colorful result.
13 July
Sarah Palin’s Constitutional Train Wreck
(HuffPost) For some reason, nothing seems simple in Alaska. It would seem with the governor’s resignation, the Lieutenant Governor, Sean Parnell, could simply take his seat. The appointed third-in-line would then slip into Sean’s chair and we could get back to business. Sorry. According to both parties, Alaska sits on the edge of a constitutional crisis because of the “chain of command vacuum” created by the governor’s abrupt resignation.
Palin’s Route to Resignation: Missteps and Ignored Advice
In late March, a senior official from the Republican Governors Association headed for Alaska on a secret mission. Sarah Palin was beset by such political and personal turmoil that some powerful supporters determined an intervention was needed to pull her governorship, and her national future, back from the brink.
7 July
The relentless Maureen Dowd: Sarah’s Secret Diary
No one understands me. It’s like I’m speaking some Eskimo dialect or something. Andrea Mitchell follows me all the way to Kanakanak Beach and I get a French manicure and set up this huge photo op for her, even though she spooked the salmon.
11 June
Frank Rich: She Broke the G.O.P. and Now She Owns It
She is not just the party’s biggest star and most charismatic television performer; she is its only star and charismatic performer. Most important, she stands for a genuine movement: a dwindling white nonurban America that is aflame with grievances and awash in self-pity as the country hurtles into the 21st century and leaves it behind. Palin gives this movement a major party brand and political plausibility that its open-throated media auxiliary, exemplified by Glenn Beck, cannot. She loves the spotlight, can raise millions of dollars and has no discernible reason to go fishing now except for self-promotional photo ops.
6 July
The Myth of How the Media Destroyed Palin Greg Mitchell backs up his argument with good analysis of pre-election polls
5 July
Even the Economist joins in the analysis game (and cannot resist pointing to the Vanity Fair piece), but with considerably more dignity and less scathing commentary than the North American media. And then, there’s Maureen Dowd on Sarah’s Folly
RJ Eskow: Is Sarah Palin the First Post-Modern Politician?
(HuffPost) Palin’s vision of politics is so profoundly radical that even performing the duties of office becomes unimportant. The job you sought is no longer the point. It’s all about the performance. It’s politics as Conceptual Art.
4 July
Palin cites ‘higher calling’ for leaving governor’s seat — in a statement posted on Palin’s Facebook account, she suggested that she had bigger plans and a national agenda she planned to push after she resigns at the end of the month. Palin hammers media, hints at national ambitions.
3 July
She never ceases to surprise – and on the eve of The Fourth.
Palin announces resignation
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin announced Friday that she was resigning her office later this month, a stunning decision that could free her to run for president more easily but also raises questions about her political standing at home. … the decision to suddenly quit her post will also reinforce some of the very questions about Palin that were raised in the lengthy Vanity Fair story this week – whether she’s overly erratic and prone to ignore her own political advisers. Two of own GOP allies were told this week that Palin would announce that she was definitely not running for re-election, but the move to outright leave office has caught many of her supporters by surprise.
read the statement. As Gail Collins puts it “Truly, Sarah Palin has come a long way. When she ran for vice president, she frequently became disjointed and garbled when she departed from her prepared remarks. Now the prepared remarks are incoherent, too.”
Our discovery of Politics Daily on the very day of Sarah Palin’s announcement makes our self-appointed task as guardians of informed (or not so informed) commentary more exciting – and more time-consuming. Jill Lawrence: Palin’s Puzzling Move Once Again Roils 2012 Field and Walter Shapiro: What the Sarah Palin Bombshell Means are great for starters.

Was this what caused it all? It Came from Wasilla
(Vanity Fair/August 2009) Whatever her political future, the emergence of Sarah Palin raises questions that will not soon go away. What does it say about the nature of modern American politics that a public official who often seems proud of what she does not know is not only accepted but applauded? What does her prominence say about the importance of having (or lacking) a record of achievement in public life? Why did so many skilled veterans of the Republican Party—long regarded as the more adroit team in presidential politics—keep loyally working for her election even after they privately realized she was casual about the truth and totally unfit for the vice-presidency? Perhaps most painful, how could John McCain, one of the cagiest survivors in contemporary politics—with a fine appreciation of life’s injustices and absurdities, a love for the sweep of history, and an overdeveloped sense of his own integrity and honor—ever have picked a person whose utter shortage of qualification for her proposed job all but disqualified him for his?
This piece has stirred up major name-calling amongst Republican insiders and commentators of all hues, to the delight of the media. David Frum: Republicans need protection from Palin is a reasoned version of many other comments; Politico goes overboard on the sniping between Bill Kristol and Steve Schmidt over leaked e-mails – and to whom they were leaked. All in all, this does not portray the Republican campaign ‘team’ as a well-bonded group!
Douglas MacKinnon, Former press secretary to Sen. Bob Dole: Palin, Vanity Fair, Envy, and Hate “Why do so many alleged feminists and female members of the mainstream media openly and gleefully despise Palin?” – his answer to the question shows a singular lack of understanding of what feminists admire in other women (like intellect).
13 May
The New Testament of Sarah Palin: Spring 2010
(HuffPost) Harper Collins just signed the Governor of Alaska to a book deal. In a time tight budgets and economic chaos, they managed to find a great sum to trade for the memoirs of a girl from Wasilla, Alaska. The book is due next spring. It was reported she was getting an $11 million advance. She denied the amount. It flies in the face of having a legal defense fund.
1 May
Sarah Palin Shoots Down Energy Efficiency
Most recently, she made headlines for her take on accepting Alaska’s portion of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 — commonly called the stimulus plan. Andrew Sullivan of the Atlantic does a nice job of running down her waffling statements. … of the $930 million allocated for Alaska, she only rejected the $28.6 million slated for energy efficiency measures. (NYT) Gov. Palin on Energy Money: No, Thanks
24 April
Times Online Sarah Palin’s hopes of running for the White House in 2012 hit by family feud
Trailer Park tendencies keep getting in the way of Palin family values
(National Post) Since the family stepped into the public spotlight, the scenario has not played out the way it was supposed to, creating reams of bad publicity for the image-conscious Palin. It is not by chance that much of the bad press has come courtesy of that American invitation to disaster, the television interview. (Whatever happened to “No comment?”)

The 25 Most Devastating Quotes About Sarah Palin: Memorable Jokes,
SNL Lines, and Conservative Attacks on Palin

Poll: Majority Of Republicans Want Party To Be More Like Palin
Republicans, back in the minority, have also rediscovered an appreciation for fiscal conservatism after the profligate Bush years, and may not take too kindly to Palin’s latest project: a road to nowhere that could ultimately cost up to $2 billion. More

28 January 2009

Alaska Governor Sarah Palin Wins 2008 Rubber Dodo Award
Palin Has Sought to Remove Endangered Species Act Protection for the Polar Bear, Suppressed and Lied About State Global Warming Studies, and Denied That Global Warming Is Caused by Greenhouse Gas Emissions
TUCSON, Ariz.— The Center for Biological Diversity today awarded Alaska Governor Sarah Palin the 2008 Rubber Dodo Award. Last year’s award, which inaugurated the prize, went to Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne for setting a new record in refusing to add imperiled plants and animals to the endangered species list. This year’s award goes to Governor Palin for fighting Kempthorne’s designation of the polar bear as a threatened species. More
12 January
Palin has had enough, blasts media for reporting ‘non-issues’
Since leaving the campaign trail, she’s remained besieged. There’ve been stories about the arrest of her daughter’s boyfriend’s mother for selling prescription drugs. There’ve been references to the academic record of the boyfriend, Levi Johnston, and daughter Bristol in the wake of the birth of the couple’s first child that prompted Palin to phone and e-mail news outlets to object to descriptions of Levi as a high school dropout. Then there were stories about Levi’s electrical apprenticeship, which Palin had cited in her denunciation of media coverage, which led to Levi’s resignation because he didn’t qualify for the position without a high school diploma.
Finally, on Monday, a video was posted on YouTube leading to an item in Politico saying Palin had accused the media of going easy on Caroline Kennedy.

9 December 2008
Palin urges Obama to seek closer ties with Canada
(CTV.ca News Staff)  Just a few days after signing a historic agreement that will see a Canadian company build a massive pipeline to flow natural gas from Alaska to Alberta, Gov. Sarah Palin says she is working to strengthen relations with Canada, and Barack Obama should too. Nice sentiment, but we don’t imagine Obama fancies Mrs Palin as a Foreign Policy advisor anymore than we do.
14 November
The Wild Wordsmith of Wasilla Dick Cavett on “the serial syntax-killer from Wasilla High”
11 November
Palin Defends Herself in Fox Interview
In her first national television interview since the election, Gov. Sarah Palin delivered a lengthy post-mortem of the presidential campaign, criticizing the media, her campaign handlers and the aides who anonymously leaked damaging characterizations about her to the press. [When will this annoying woman go away?]

9 November
Sarah Palin: heroine or has-been?
(Times Online) John McCain is already the forgotten man of politics. He said after losing the election last week: “I’ve got nine racks of ribs and I will be cooking them up.” At 72, his White House hopes are over and he can look forward to spending many weekends with his barbecue.
The Vietnam war hero’s legacy may be to bequeath the Republican party a confident and brash new leader. Sarah Palin, his vice-presidential candidate, has emerged as the early front runner for the presidential nomination in 2012.
It will not be an easy run, however. Some McCain officials are determined to ensure that the 44-year-old Alaskan governor never ventures again beyond the frozen tundra. They have ridiculed the moose-hunting mother of five as a “whack job” who went “rogue”. She calls them “jerks”.
The Perils of ‘Populist chic’
Finita la commedia. Many things ended on Tuesday evening when Barack Obama was elected the 44th president of the United States, and depending on how you voted you are either celebrating or mourning this weekend. But no matter what our political affiliations, we should all — Republicans and Democrats alike — be toasting the return of Governor Sarah Palin to Juneau, Alaska.
… “populist chic” is just the inversion of “radical chic,” and is no less absurd, comical or ominous. Traditional conservatives were always suspicious of populism, and they were right to be. They saw elites as a fact of political life, even of democratic life. What matters in democracy is that those elites acquire their positions through talent and experience, and that they be educated to serve the public good. But it also matters that they own up to their elite status and defend the need for elites. They must be friends of democracy while protecting it, and themselves, from the leveling and vulgarization all democracy tends toward. (From the Wall Street Journal, no less! Unfortunately, the link will die for the peons who are non-subscribers)
Palin Returns to a Different Alaska
ANCHORAGE — Gov. Sarah Palin has returned to Alaska fully recast and amplified.
Alaska, too, has been recast and amplified in the 10 weeks since Ms. Palin soared to national prominence as the Republican nominee for vice president, and the process has not necessarily been all positive.
Oil prices, which provide the bulk of state revenue, were well over $100 a barrel in late August when Ms. Palin left to campaign with Senator John McCain. Now they are slumming south of $60 a barrel, below the level required to balance the state budget.
Palin Returns to Snow and Cold of Home
tanding on the icy tarmac on a subfreezing night, Ms. Palin said she had learned much about America in her time on the campaign trail with Senator John McCain. She promised to work to expand development of Alaska’s oil and gas resources and also to be a voice for families, like her own, that have children with special needs. She said she would “reach out” to Senator Barack Obama, the president-elect, on these issues and more.
5 November
What happens to Sarah Palin now?
(Reuters) “She clearly has a future in national politics,” said Republican strategist Scott Reed. “She has to work to rebuild the parts of her image that became a caricature. But she’s extremely popular with the grassroots.”
Republican strategist Tony Fabrizio said Palin is not the frontrunner for the Republican nomination in 2012. “She needs to go back home and face all of the stuff that’s been raked up in the presidential race. Voters in Alaska found out a lot of stuff about Sarah Palin that they didn’t know about Sarah Palin. She’s got to go back and get herself re-elected,” Fabrizio said.
McCain Aides Blame Palin, Not Themselves
(Newsmax) John McCain took full responsibility for the GOP loss Tuesday night, but there was plenty of grumbling by his top aides Wednesday morning that vice presidential pick Sarah Palin caused his defeat.
Palin Didn’t Know Africa Is A Continent, Says Fox News Reporter
Now that the 2008 election is over, reporters are spilling all the juciest, and previously off the record, gossip from the campaign trail. Much of it is about the infighting between Palin and McCain’s staff, as Newsweek‘s treasure trove of post-election gossip reveals. However, perhaps one of the most astounding and previously unknown tidbits about Sarah Palin has to do with her already dubious grasp of geography. According to Fox News Chief Political Correspondent Carl Cameron, there was great concern within the McCain campaign that Palin lacked “a degree of knowledgeability necessary to be a running mate, a vice president, a heartbeat away from the presidency,” in part because she didn’t know which countries were in NAFTA, and she “didn’t understand that Africa was a continent, rather than a series, a country just in itself.”

On Wednesday Night, September 3rd, after watching Sarah Palin’s speech to the RNC, I wrote an impassioned rant which mysteriously was wiped off this site in mid-October. Almost everything I said was later echoed – often even more fiercely – by the elite liberal media commentators at home and abroad. I was offended that the McCain team felt that this moose-killing hockey Mom with her anti-choice stance, coldbloodedly using her family and in particular, her Down Syndrome baby as props, would appeal to the intelligent women who had supported Hillary Clinton. I knew, even before receiving a message from a family member in Asia, that Sarah Palin would be regarded by people around the world as a sad reflection of the worst characteristics of Americans – isolationist, rigidly righteous and ignorant. Yes, she had delivered a good speech (crafted by others, no doubt) with verve, but surely that was not a justification for the rapture with which she was greeted by her Republican fans. Sadly, I have been proven right, as became evident in her disastrous early encounters with Charlie Gibson and Katie Couric [CBS Evening News Anchor Katie Couric Interviews Alaska’s Governor On The Ailing Economy: One-On-One With Sarah Palin] and subsequent pronouncements on foreign affairs, climate change and medical research.

Saturday Night Live: Palin-Couric interviews
Tina did it again It’s getting harder and harder to know which is the real Sarah Palin.
As was proven when we were treated to both of them on SNL
And then there was the McCain/Palin(Fey) appearance on QVC  – not quite as good

Don’t Speak for me, Sarah Palin – Brilliant!

Montreal duo who pranked Palin tell their story
The Masked Avengers (Justiciers Masqués) were flown to New York City for an appearance on CBS’s morning show to talk about their weekend phone conversation with Palin that made international headlines.
Thanks to CBC Radio, we have discovered a wonderful blog round-up site, Voices Without Votes (clever title too) with some biting comments about the ‘Palin-Sarkozy’ conversation.

Palin Prank-Called By “Sarkozy”
Republican Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin was prank called today by a comedy duo from Quebec, who convinced the Alaska governor that she was speaking to French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
AP reports: Obama’s campaign spokesman Robert Gibbs, commenting on the prank, said: “I’m glad we check out our calls before we hand the phone to Barack Obama.”
Palin Punk’d By Prank Call
Foreign relations never were her strong suit, so perhaps it’s understandable that Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin actually appeared to believe that French President Nicholas Sarkozy would call her out of the blue to talk about “unting” and “Joe le plumber.”
Perhaps her first hint that it was actually a crank call should have been “Sarkozy’s” admission that “from my ‘ouse, I can see Belgium.” Listen to the audio HERE.
It’s Official: Palin Ignores Sunday Talk Shows
(Mediabistro) This Sunday, November 2, is the final Sunday before Tuesday’s highly anticipated presidential election. Gov. Sarah Palin has thus far opted not to participate in what has become a campaign ritual: Interviews on the various Sunday talk show programs.
It should be noted: The last vice presidential candidate to avoid NBC’s “Meet the Press” — long a ratings and gravitas champ among its competitors was … Dan Quayle.
Eagleburger Blisters Palin: “Of Course” She’s Not Ready
A former Republican Secretary of State and one of John McCain’s most prominent supporters offered a stunningly frank and remarkably bleak assessment of Sarah Palin’s capacity to handle the presidency should such a scenario arise.
Growing Doubts on Palin Take a Toll, Poll Finds
All told, 59 percent of voters surveyed said Ms. Palin was not prepared for the job. Nearly a third of voters polled said the vice-presidential selection would be a major factor influencing their vote for president, and those voters broadly favor Senator Barack Obama, the Democratic nominee.
27 October

How John McCain came to pick Sarah Palin.
(The New Yorker) … Palin was wooing a number of well-connected Washington conservative thinkers. In a stroke of luck, Palin did not have to go to the capital to meet these members of “the permanent political establishment”; they came to Alaska. Shortly after taking office, Palin received two memos from Paulette Simpson, the Alaska Federation of Republican Women leader, noting that two prominent conservative magazines—The Weekly Standard, owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation, and National Review, founded by William F. Buckley, Jr.—were planning luxury cruises to Alaska in the summer of 2007, which would make stops in Juneau. Writers and editors from these publications had been enlisted to deliver lectures to politically minded vacationers.
On June 18, 2007, the first group disembarked in Juneau from the Holland America Line’s M.S. Oosterdam, and went to the governor’s mansion, a white wooden Colonial house with six two-story columns, for lunch. The contingent featured three of The Weekly Standard ’s top writers: William Kristol, the magazine’s Washington-based editor, who is also an Op-Ed columnist for the Times and a regular commentator on “Fox News Sunday”; Fred Barnes, the magazine’s executive editor and the co-host of “The Beltway Boys,” a political talk show on Fox News; and Michael Gerson, the former chief speechwriter for President Bush and a Washington Post columnist. (Read the entire article)
26 October
In Case You Weren’t Scared Enough: Palin on “Fruit Fly Research”
“Where does a lot of that earmark money end up, anyway? […] You’ve heard about, um, these — some of these pet projects they really don’t make a whole lot of sense, and sometimes these dollars they go to projects having little or nothing to do with the public good. Things like fruit fly research in Paris, France. I kid you not!”
It’s hard to know where to begin deconstructing this statement. This was a speech on autism, and Palin’s critics have pounced on the fact that a recent study of Drosophila fruit flies showed that a protein called neurexin is essential for proper neurological function — a discovery with clear implications for autism research. Watch the clip. Listen to the tone of her voice as she sneers the words “fruit fly research.” Check out the disdain and incredulity on her face. How would science, basic or applied, fare under President Palin?
Bitter infighting over ‘diva’ Palin in McCain campaign: report
(AFP) The Politico.com website cited four Republicans close to Palin as saying she had grown frustrated by advice given to her by campaign handlers, whom her supporters blame for a series of public relations gaffes.
The report said Palin was now increasingly willing to disregard orders from advisors, suggesting the Republican running mate was in the initial stages of forging her own identity for a future tilt at the White House. [For another opinion, see: Palin the GOP’s future? Don’t bet on it]
A Makeover With an Ugly Gloss
(Maureen Dowd, NYT) While presenting herself as an I’m-just-like-you hockey mom frugal enough to put the Alaska state plane up for sale on eBay, Palin made her big speech at the convention wearing a $2,500 cream silk Valentino jacket that the McCain staff had gotten her at Saks.
25 October
Palin: Obama’s Tax Plans Could Mean Nightmare Communist State
(HuffPost) Sarah Palin had a few memorable moments during her campaign stop in Des Moines, Iowa, on Saturday. But the most eye-opening of them all came, it would appear, when the Alaska Governor somehow drew a connection between Barack Obama’s tax policy and an encroaching, nightmarish, communist government. The Illinois Democrat, she hysterically suggested, would, through his proposals, create a country “where the people are not free.”

22 October
Republicans reportedly spend $150,000 on Palin clothing and grooming
The latest revelations underscored the increasing weight, by some measures, that Palin has become to McCain. Polls show her as a prime factor for many voters in hesitating to embrace McCain, with many saying she does not appear to be prepared to step into the presidency, if need be.
Is Palin A 2012 Contender or Pretender?
21 October
Palin Claims Vice President “In Charge Of The U.S. Senate” and background story
The Palin Problem
Yes, she won the debate by not imploding. But governing requires knowledge, and mindless populism is just that—mindless.
(The Newsweek cover story) Palin is on the ticket because she connects with everyday Americans. It is not shocking to learn that politics played a big role in the making of a presidential team (ticket-balancing to attract different constituencies has been with us at least since Andrew Jackson ran with John C. Calhoun, a man he later said he would like to kill). But that honest explanation of the rationale for her candidacy—not her preparedness for office, but her personality and nascent maverickism in Alaska—raises an important question, not only about this election but about democratic leadership. Do we want leaders who are everyday folks, or do we want leaders who understand everyday folks? Therein lies an enormous difference, one that could decide the presidential election and, if McCain and Palin were to win, shape the governance of the nation.
… it seems only reasonable and patriotic to hold candidates for high office to high standards. Elitism in this sense is not about educational or class credentials, not about where you went to school or whether you use “summer” as a verb. It is, rather, about the pursuit of excellence no matter where you started out in life. Jackson, Lincoln, Truman, Eisenhower, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan and Clinton were born to ordinary families, but they spent their lives doing extraordinary things, demonstrating an interest in, and a curiosity about, the world around them. This is much less evident in Palin’s case.
1 October
Palin On Whether Global Warming Is Man-Made: ‘Kinda Doesn’t Matter’
It does, however, “matter” whether Palin acknowledges the full contribution of humans to climate change. Palin is a “champion” for climate-unfriendly policies such as increased use of oil and coal, which will exacerbate the contributions of humans to the warming planet.
12 September
With Sarah Palin at the plate, Charlie Gibson throws hard
It began with a few softballs, but Charlie Gibson delivered.
During the first of three interviews with Sarah Palin, Gibson pressed the GOP VP candidate on national security, Russia and whether she believes U.S. soldiers are “on a task” from God.”
11 September
Sarah Palin’s Charlie Gibson ABC Interview: Video And Transcript
GIBSON: Do you agree with the Bush doctrine? PALIN: In what respect, Charlie? GIBSON: The Bush — well, what do you — what do you interpret it to be? PALIN: His world view. GIBSON: No, the Bush doctrine, enunciated September 2002, before the Iraq war. PALIN: I believe that what President Bush has attempted to do is rid this world of Islamic extremism, terrorists who are hell bent on destroying our nation. There have been blunders along the way, though. There have been mistakes made. And with new leadership, and that’s the beauty of American elections, of course, and democracy, is with new leadership comes opportunity to do things better. GIBSON: The Bush doctrine, as I understand it, is that we have the right of anticipatory self-defense, that we have the right to a preemptive strike against any other country that we think is going to attack us. Do you agree with that?
PALIN: Charlie, if there is legitimate and enough intelligence that tells us that a strike is imminent against American people, we have every right to defend our country. In fact, the president has the obligation, the duty to defend.
9 September
Twenty Questions for Sarah Palin
Dear Sarah,
As I write these words, Charles Gibson of ABC News is undoubtedly preparing a bag of softballs–or rather marshmallows–for his forthcoming interview with you. Before the campaign is over, I would dearly love to see you field any or all of the following hardballs. James Heffernan on the Huffington Post
5 September
Heather Mallick’s take on Sarah Palin – too strong for Fox news  which seems somehow to have missed the other piece, the one Ms Mallick wrote for The Guardian
29 August
Sarah Palin McCain’s VP Pick, Sources Say
DENVER — John McCain tapped little-known Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to be his vice presidential running mate on Friday in a startling selection on the eve of the Republican National Convention.
Two senior campaign officials disclosed McCain’s decision a few hours before the Republican presidential nominee-to-be and his newly-minted running mate appeared at a rally in swing-state Ohio.Palin, like McCain, is a conservative with a maverick streak who has shown a willingness to clash with others in her own party. A self-styled hockey mom and political reformer, she has been governor of her state less than two years.
Palin’s selection shocked numerous Republican officials.