Palin on Goofiness.

Welcome to the second installment of dissecting the Palin Wasilla interview. It’s kind of like eating junk food. If you consume too much at once, it can wreak havoc with your innards. So, now that I’ve digested that heaping pile of mental pork rinds, I’m ready for the next batch. (deep breath)

The theme for this helping? “Goofiness.” Are there other things we could be talking about? Yes. But Palin keeps bringing this stuff up.

Here are Palin’s thoughts about her perceived unfair treatment by the media.

Regarding information regarding my record that is now out there, much of it that was based on misinformation was a very very frustrating thing to have to go through when the record was never corrected. We would try to correct the record and too many in the media chose not to make those corrections or clarifications, and then I felt too often we were a bit defenseless in so many things that were reported wrongly that could have so easily been corrected just based on facts and…

Q: What kinds of things are you talking about?

Oh, like um, oh some of the goofy things like who was Trig’s mom…uh, you know and well, I’m Trig’s mom, and do you want to see my medical records to prove that…and days would go by before uh mainstream media would even try to correct that, that yeah, OK, it’s proven that she is actually Trig’s mom.

OK, I’m going to talk a bit about this since Sarah brought it up first. To answer your question Governor, yes. A big enough deal was made out of this issue, right or wrong, that YES people did want to “see your medical records to prove that.” Wouldn’t Palin’s life have been simpler and less “frustrating” if she had done this? These rumors started the first week of her candidacy….back in the beginning of September and have been a huge distraction and topic of discussion ever since.

Even Obama released his birth certificate, just to prove once and for all that he was born in Hawaii, and was eligible for the presidency. Seems silly to have to do this? Yes. Did it answer people’s questions and fears? Yes. Did it put the issue to rest once and for all? No. Because people were still unconvinced, the birth certificate was made public from the hospital in Hawaii where he was born. Done. Rumors put to rest.

Despite the comment above (in bold), Palin has never released medical records that “prove” anything. She released a doctor’s note summarizing her medical records. But let’s just say that’s good enough for us, and we believe that she is Trig’s mother. She released the doctor’s letter less than 12 hours before the polls opened on Election Day. So….how, then, did “days go by before the mainstream media would even try to correct that” and say “OK, it’s proven she’s Trig’s mom.” There were no days to go by, and nothing released that actually proved anything. So, why is she bringing this up? (shrug)

Wouldn’t you think that by now, she would have actually released her medical records, and Trig’s birth certificate, just to settle the question? The longer this goes on, the more bizarre it gets.

And take a look at what Palin is wearing in the video.

Palin’s father, Chuck Heath, said his daughter spent the day Saturday trying to figure out what belongs to the RNC.

“She was just frantically … trying to sort stuff out,” Heath said. “That’s the problem, you know, the kids lose underwear, and everything has to be accounted for.

“Nothing goes right back to normal,” he said.

Heath dismissed the clothes controversy as “ridiculous,” and said his daughter told him the only clothing or accessories she had personally purchased in the last four months was a pair of shoes.

And yet, there she is in her new designer duds. You can be reasonably assured that if it’s sleek, shiny and black, Palin didn’t own it before she left. Maybe she’s just getting one more use out of the rental gear before it’s all shipped back to the RNC. Wouldn’t you think after all the bad press over the wardrobe, that when she dressed for the interview she would have left the Neiman Marcus stuff in the closet? (shrug)

As much as babies and clothing are the least of our worries, for some reason, Palin won’t let us forget them, and continues to be her own worst enemy whenever she opens her mouth to the very media she accuses of being the problem.

(Still more to come on this interview….had enough pork rinds for now…..ugh.)

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Destination Alaska. They’re Heee-eere.

Alaska State Senate President, and Wasilla Republican Lyda Green

Our sleepy, uneventful state in the upper left corner of the continent has suddenly, strangely, become the center of the political universe. Tourist season is technically over, but media season has now begun, and has brought with it a host of outsiders.

First, is the belated McCain vetting team, that landed yesterday, presumably to fan out across the state, talking to Republican party officials, Palin insiders, and critics, to do some fact finding, damage control, and bargaining. Will Lyda Green, the State Senate President, fellow Wasilla Republican, and harsh Palin critic suddenly stop talking and become the next ambassador to Palau?

Then there’s progressive talk show icon Ed Schulz. He’s hosting a town hall meeting at the University of Alaska in Anchorage. A thousand Alaskans will cough up between $25 and $100 to stand before the microphone and tell the world exactly what they think of Sarah Palin. The show will be played back on September 15th. Should be interesting. And yes, I’ve got my tickets.

Next, are the folks from The Nation magazine. They know exactly what the McCain team is up to, and they will be doing damage control on the damage control, and reporting as much as possible on the back room dealings that are sure to be happening very soon.

And of course, the ultimate vetting team, The National Enquirer, is already here. Who knows, they may have even been here first. We don’t know. They work in mysterious ways. After the Edwards debacle, in which the Enquirer scooped the entire Main Stream Media, and gave themselves a peculiar sort of political ‘cred’, people will be listening closely to what they have to say. These are the folks who have no hesitation getting down in the dirt and asking all those questions that make the main stream media, and most bloggers cringe. It’s hard to draw the line between what’s off-limits and what can be used legitimately to illustrate judgment, and decision making ability. To the Enquirer, nothing is off-limits. They will be busy people… The newest rumors starting to get teeth involve Track Palin and 3 friends being arrested for vandalizing several school buses. Troopers showed up. And yes, this is Mike Wooten’s area. Bus-gate. And despite the admission that Bristol is pregnant, rumors that Trig is not Sarah’s baby persist.

Not used to being in the spotlight, or feeling like anyone is particularly interested in what we have to say, I’m sure there will be many Alaskans perfectly pleased to spill their guts to whoever asks a question. The media will have a field day. Whatever happens with the election, Alaskans will be talking about this for years.

Helpful hint: If any of the media wants to stay under the radar, they’d better not show up in suits, ties, or makeup. Dead giveaway.

Palin’s Future Son-in-Law Heads to GOP Convention?

Here are the headlines right now on the Anchorage Daily News website: (God, I love Alaska)

• Bristol Palin’s Boyfriend Heads to Convention
• FBI taped more than 100 Stevens Calls (Indicted Senator Ted Stevens that is)
• Palin Leaps to National Stage and Ever-Increasing Scrutiny
• Electronic Scarecrows Haze Ravens from Utility Equipment (Hey…it’s news.)

Yes, that first headline is right, apparently.  It took me a while to get my palms off my face so I could check it out, but it’s true.  I know we’re not supposed to interfere with the personal lives of candidates’ children.  I know that many people, including myself, feel sorry for Bristol and the fact that she was hurled out in front of the nation with nothing to cover her secret expanding midsection except a baby and a giant blanket.  I even heard Barack Obama ask us all to drop it.  But, inviting the boyfriend to come to the convention in the middle of all this?  Who has brought this, and him, right into the most glaring of bright lights, in front of the hugest of audiences?  How to create a distracting, embarrassing spectacle with one plane ticket. The mind reels….I think.   It’s been reeling since Friday, so it’s hard to tell any more.

And for those of you who have wondered what you’ll do with yourselves when the Palin fiasco is over (and there are more and more media outlets speculating that it will be long before November), take heart.  Read that second headline up at the top of the page.  Ted Stevens will be the methedone for your Palin addiction.  Trust me.

Breaking News: Palin Says Teen Daughter is Pregnant

The story has broken and we now know which version of “Babygate” is true.  Palin’s unwed 17-year old daughter is pregnant. 

Palin, who arrived in St. Paul today to accept the Republican nomination for vice president, sent out a joint statement with her husband, Todd.

“Our beautiful daughter Bristol came to us with news that as parents we knew would make her grow up faster than we had ever planned,” they said. “We’re proud of Bristol’s decision to have her baby and even prouder to become grandparents. As Bristol faces the responsibilities of adulthood, she knows she has our unconditional love and support.

“Bristol and the young man she will marry are going to realize very quickly the difficulties of raising a child, which is why they will have the love and support of our entire family. We ask the media to respect our daughter and Levi’s privacy as has always been the tradition of children of candidates,” the Palin family statement concluded.

This confirms three very important things:

1. Trig is Palin’s baby, and the strange strange circumstances of his birth (delivering a speech in Texas while in labor, and taking the prolonged two-pronged commercial airline flight during a high-risk pregnancy without notifying the flight crew, then driving past two hospitals in Anchorage to deliver in a facility an hour drive away with no neonatal ICU) are apparently true.  Todd Palin’s reason for making those potentially life and death decisions about his wife and unborn son?  “You can’t have a fish-picker from Texas.” 
2. The fact that Palin had a 16-year old who got pregnant out of wedlock was presumably unknown by the McCain people.  After all, he only met her twice, and probably never met any of her children.  And it was obviously too much of a bother to vet the candidate and at the very least know in advance what kind of sensational and unwanted headlines might follow.  AND, Palin didn’t volunteer this information.
3. Our Republican Vice Presidential candidate is a person of questionable judgment. I don’t think there are many out there who would disagree with this statement at this point.

So, in the first three days, she’s lied about saying “Thanks but no thanks” on the bridge to nowhere, and withheld information from the campaign she’s supposedly trying to help, that could be devastating to McCain.  At the very least, it sure doesn’t help.  What’s next?

As I said before, this may be the tip of our Alaskan iceberg.  There are ‘gates’ a-plenty out there that are just waiting for some pretty basic investigation to reveal their secrets.

Sarah Palin’s Vetting Problem.

On my first post that surreal morning when I awoke to the news of Sarah Palin’s unlikely choice as VP candidate, before I had even made a cup of coffee, or rubbed the sleep out of my eyes, I said, “Didn’t McCain hire a fact checker?”  Was she vetted….at all?

It’s been over 48 hours, and now….seriously…was she vetted at all?  The possibility that the answer is no, is almost inconceivable.  But we Alaskans have found out that background checks are sometimes optional when hiring important government officials.  Just look at Palin’s unlikely and inappropriate choice of Chuck Koppto replace Dept. of Public Safety Chief, Walt Monegan, the center of the “Troopergate” controversy.

As soon as Kopp appeared before the public….literally on day one, something smelled fishy.  The revelation of a previous sexual harassment charge and subsequent reprimand and reassignment reared its ugly head. And Alaskans were left asking ourselves, “Didn’t Palin vet this guy?”  If she did, obviously not well enough.  Kopp’s explanation, after his now iconic denial, “I am not a sex harasser!” was that no one had asked him, so he didn’t volunteer the information…figuring that everyone already knew.

So, is it possible that since no one askedSarah Palin if she was in the middle of an ongoing ethics investigation, she just didn’t feel obligated to volunteer that information?  I mean, no one ASKed her if she was, or what the investigation might find, or if there were any other skeletons in her closet that might come out and start dancing in front of the national media.   I mean all you’d have to do is read the Anchorage Daily News and there it all is.  They obviously knew and it didn’t bother THEM…so….why mention it?  And sitting in the private jet, flying out to accept the nomination, did she think “Oooo.  It’ll sound really good if I said I stopped that Bridge to Nowhere!  I’ll say THAT. No one will check, I bet.”

Because, now, a scant two days after the nomination, the “gates” are already starting to swing open:  Troopergate, Bridgegate, and now Babygate.  Babygate?  I’ve stayed away from this one because, frankly, I don’t know anything for sure, and I don’t want to speculate about the smarmiest of ‘gates’ yet.  I’ll leave that to the professionals at the National Enquirer.  The rumors, though,  say one of two things:  either Sarah’s new baby is actually NOT her baby at all, but her 17-year old daughter Bristol’s baby, or the new baby is hers, but Bristol, a senior in high school is now pregnant.  Ugh, either way.

If the first case is true, then the grandma governor has been perpetrating a blatant lie on her constituents, and now the world.  If the second is true, then what 44-year old woman in her right mind would have travelled so late in her pregnancy and after her water broke and labor had begun, delivered a speech in Texas, boarded an Alaska Airlines flight with a stop-over in Seattle and bypassed the two main Anchorage Hospitals that are minutes from the airport to deliver in the local hospital near her home, almost an hour away by car.  In either case, bad judgement.

But now the cleanup crew has started.  Palin’s praise of the Obama energy plan that was on her website?  Scrubbed.  Photos on the website during the time period she was supposedly to have been pregnant? Allegedly scrubbed too.  John McCain’s organized vetting team?  Supposedly on their way to Alaska right now.  (Note to McCain staffers:  Vet FIRST…it works out better that way.)  The National Enquirer?  Supposedly all over this already. Photos of the pregnant (or not) Palin are circulating everywhere. One thing is certain, the rumor mill has started, and there’s no getting this toothpaste back in the tube.

And if it’s true that Palin did not undergo a vetting process, then what are we all to think of a presidential candidate, the oldest ever, with a history of cancer, choosing a running mate he had spoken to only once before offering her the nomination, and not even vetting this candidate?  If this is true, then the choice was not ‘bold’ or ‘exciting’ or ‘a maverick choosing a maverick’.  It demonstrates not just poor judgement, but recklessness.

Keep watching because the Palin onion is going to be peeled in the national media in the coming weeks, layer by agonizing layer.  Welcome to Veepgate.

UPDATE:  Press releases of Palin’s response to Obama’s energy plan still available HERE (Hat tip to Clever Else)