Voices from the Flats – Sarah Palin’s Oil Regulation Lies
By Geoffrey Dunn
Sarah Palin has been busted for so many lies in the past year and a half, it’s become nearly impossible to keep track of them all. Whenever she opens her mouth, she simply cannot stop herself from engaging in duplicities, exaggerations and half-truths that not-so-coincidentally always distort the political record in her favor. It’s a pathology.
She did it again this week during a somewhat contentious interview with Bill O’Reilly in which she chastised her Fox News host out the gate: “I kind of have a big beef with you too though, Bill, if you don’t acknowledge that President Obama is wrong on his call for a need for energy policy.”
Perhaps the biggest joke being fobbed by Palin to the American public is that she is some sort of expert on energy issues. Sarah Palin isn’t an expert on anything — remember that this is a woman who didn’t know the difference between England and Great Britain as she began her not-so-celebrated run for the vice-presidency — and who quit her governorship after two-and-a-half years of failed leadership and being found guilty of “abuse of power” in the Last Frontier. It’s all smoke and mirrors. She is fed a series of talking points by her advisers before each of her punditry appearances and then dishes them out in what my friends in Alaska have dubbed “word salads” — without the dressing.
O’Reilly lied, too, of course, when he said, “I’m pleased to have you on the program tonight [as] there is not a governor in the United States who has more experience than you do dealing with the oil companies.” Sarah Palin? The half-governor? Uh, Alaska isn’t even the largest oil-producing state in the union. Texas is, followed by Alaska, California… and you didn’t guess it: North Dakota. Is anyone touting current North Dakota governor John Hoeven as a national expert in resource policy? And why does everyone — including Palin herself — keep pretending that she is still governor?
As Andrew Halcro, the bright and witty Anchorage based businessman who ran against Palin for governor in 2006, wrote me yesterday: “Listening to Sarah Palin lecture on the oil-and-gas industry is like listening to Bernie Madoff talk about safe investing; zero credibility.”
Remember, Halcro is someone from Palin’s own party in Alaska. Indeed, Palin’s mishandling of Alaska’s natural gas and oil reserves in the Last Frontier turned nearly all interested parties against her by the time of her resignation — from oil producers to environmentalists alike. Americans will recall her speech at the Republican National convention in which she claimed that “we began” to build a $40-billion natural gas pipeline “to help lead America to energy independence.”
Only there was and is no pipeline. It has never been built. If it’s ever built, it will be constructed not because of Palin but in spite of her.
Drill, baby, drill? Shill, baby, shill is more like it. Sarah Palin talks the talk, but she has never walked the walk in her life, especially when it comes to resource management. Not only did she quit her failed governorship, she also quit her appointed position to the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission after serving little more than a year. That’s two-for-two in the last decade alone. Sarah Palin a doer? Hardly.
Here’s one of Palin’s big laughers from the interview. When asked by O’Reilly is “how to stop” the oil leak, Palin responded:
The Dutch. They are known… and the Norwegian. They are known for — for dikes and for cleaning up water and for dealing with spills.
Got that, Bill? You betcha. Then there was the matter of her inflating her own resume again:
… as governor of Alaska, what I did in dealing with the oil companies and I’ll betcha 75% of my time was being taken up by energy issues here in this state. I had to set up our Petroleum Systems Integrity Office [PSIO] so that we could be there on the front lines making sure what the oil companies were telling us was legit when they were dealing with their corroded pipes that we find out and other lax maintenance issues.
Only Palin didn’t really “set up” the PSIO so much as reconfigure it as a photo-op session. A year earlier, her Republican predecessor, Frank Murkowski, had established the Arctic Pipeline Technology Team to “ensure the integrity of oil pipeline infrastructure and continued crude oil production.”
Most significantly, a journalist friend of mine in Anchorage who has covered resource issues in Alaska for more than a decade assured me yesterday:
Aside from conducting pretty thorough reviews of some fires that broke out at BP-operated facilities on the North Slope, PSIO never really did anything. The gap analysis concerning coverage that was promised was never written. It’s really hard to find any PSIO accomplishments at all…
I just this week received a massive dump of Palin’s emails through an Alaska Public Records Act request. It provides a fascinating glimpse of how Palin dealt with the oil industry. Writing on her infamous private Yahoo account on which she conducted state business, Palin expressed her desire to host a fish barbecue in Juneau during the spring of 2007 for representatives from TransCanada Corp., which she essentially selected to build the pipeline. Here, in her inimitable own words:
Cool! We should got it for whomever needs to have that get-together reception opportunity….I’ll let AGIA folks know the fish is a good opportunity to have folks over for informal gasoline chat….Tonight’s great for Todd and me–now these type of events can be quite informal and still be successful. There’s a Costco in Juneau, if you know what I mean. And my family is quite capable of setting out food and cleaning up afterwards.
The level of “expertise” is astonishing.
Watch Palin’s performance on O’Reilly closely. There is a deep inner anger boiling beneath the surface with every phrase she recites. Forget about the laughter of the Dutch and dikes. Her smiles are forced and contrived. Each response is uttered in odd, staccatoed cadences, as though someone has pulled the string on a talking doll. Palin’s currency in American politics is not her expertise on energy resources — it’s her inner rage. And those who share it with her tap into that common anger and see her as their leader. It is as ugly as it is dangerous.
Palin’s pretentions and duplicities would all be a joke if the potential political implications were not now so serious. Sarah Palin is clearly positioning herself for a run at the presidency in 2012. Anyone who thinks otherwise is simply fooling themselves. My sources in Wasilla have assured me that Palin fully believes that “God has opened the door for her.” With every Facebook lie she posts, with every Fox News distortion she spews, she is trying to reconstruct her tarnished image as an expert in resource production and foreign affairs. P.T. Barnum may have been right that there is a sucker born in America every minute. Sarah Palin is now their ring leader.
Award-winning writer and filmmaker Geoffrey Dunn’s book The Lies of Sarah Palin: The Untold Story Behind Her Relentless Quest for Power will be published by St. Martin’s Press.
RE: comments 34.1, 40.1, 45.1, 46.1, and 47
Slip a wooden tongue depressor between your teeth next time. It won’t help the brain, but it can protect the tongue.
It forever amazes me that there are such “housewives” in Alaska. For those of us in the real world, not surrounded with kids and laundry what we are noticing is how our “new” president lies. this man doesn’t know the truth! It has gotten so if someone speaks with him they had better wear a wire!! “to protect and defend”….that promise has already been broken. AZ is feeling pretty vulnerable. Hard to accept a government run by thugs and liars! Enjoy ladies and continue with the cookie baking…..duh.
Sarah Palin hates the very idea of America. She hasn’t the heart or brains (or historical knowledge) to understand that the crap falling out of her mouth has consequences. Even if she did, she wouldn’t care, for Sarah is all about Sarah.
I knew the racists in America would lose their minds when Obama was elected, but I didn’t predict the rise of the crazy white woman.
What does Sarah Palin have to be so angry about? Especially now. The woman owns a racehorse! She is NOT “of the people.” When they talk about her “mama bear” attitude, I want to scream. One, she kills bears. Two, her way of treating other people is anything BUT maternal. I do think she is very mentally ill.
Obama 2012!
You are truly nuts.
Can you imagine Sarah Palin being President and having this disaster happening on HER watch? Why, I’ll bet that it wouldn’t take the 60 days for her to quit the job! Because that is what she is…. a quitter.
She certainly wouldn’t have been able to secure $20 billion for the victims of this disaster from the BP like Obama has done.
Can you imagine this woman in charge of foreign policy? That is a scary, scary thought. A woman so limited in her knowledge about EVERYTHING that she lives with sound bites that her handlers give her without understanding anything she is given to say. I thought Reagan was a puppet acting like a president and G W Bush was even worse, but if you thought that Bush’s presidency was bad, Palin’s presidency would be a total disaster for everyone in this country except those that are interested in propping her up… more disaster capitalism.
If she didn’t know what the VP’s job was back in 2008, what makes anyone think this woman has any understanding of what the President’s job actually is? And my goodness, to have to hear that screechy voice for 4 (or more) years as well…we are all going to need padded cells if that ever happens.
It must be the brain freeze?
“… Palin’s currency in American politics is not her expertise on energy resources — it’s her inner rage. And those who share it with her tap into that common anger and see her as their leader. It is as ugly as it is dangerous.”
———————–
True, true, true.
And this is the real whatzername…
This is why and how she divides people…
We don’t need anymore of that.
The real hope and change lies in everyday people picking up their common work together- not divvying up into tinier and tinier camps , nursing their anger with bottles of distilled hatred and fear like the stuff she peddles…
Palin’s “inner rage” in her interview with Bill O’Reilly came from a simple source: O’Reilly was pointedly challenging her.
When Palin talks about “reloading,” she really means reloading her limbic system. She’s a classic study in the “fight or flight” mechanism; no disciplined intellect necessary. She flees the media because she’s an inadequate coward……and fights via aggressive ghost-written sniping from her Facebook (or when she gets caught on camera as she did with Billo).
If she does indeed try to run in 2012, she’ll be challenged by more objective and critical interviewers than Bill O’Reilly…..and she’ll be like a rabid dog on a chain, slinging froth…..a gibbering idiot operating on limbic system overload. Instead of an invitation and introduction to Ms. Thatcher, she needs a formal invitation and introduction to her own cerebral cortex. No joke.
Flight: little old Sarah from Wasilla debating Al Gore? I’ll get clobbered!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/10/sarah-palin-hedges-on-agr_n_387848.html
I appreciate all the hard work bloggers are doing in research. It is important
to keep voters in the lower 48 informed. All of us have a lot of work to do
before 2012. We must keep $arah and her family away from the White House.
We need to rein in her puppetmasters. She will keep dancing and “cashing”
as long as her strings are pulled by her masters.
Please make intelligent comments as we blog. We must not follow down the
same road as $arah and be petty and childish.
Bloggers, keep up your spirits and continue to work together.
She can run for the WH all she wants. The White male Republican vote alone will not be enough to elect her, unless they steal the election again – she doesn’t have the minority votes,GLT vote – she has alienated the remaining groups that needs to get her elected. Her drooling fanbase will realize all they got is a dummy, and they are props..
In that same interview, I got the feeling she doesn’t distinguish between Holland and Norway (it’s one big country with blondes!). Let’s not forget that she also thought that ‘Africa’ was a country.
Palin is only smarter than those who support her.
And…obama is only as smart as the teleprompter and the speech written by some thug…..
Sarah should have realized if she kept mouthing off about Obama –
“he doens’t call me baaaaaack.” –
inferring she knew how to stop the gusher that someone would ask her how she would do it.
But Sarah has no foresight, and she relies too much on her prescripted interviews with Palinphiles.
I just love her deer in the headlights look, she is so good at it.
I just had a wonderful vision (sadly, I’m not clairvoyant), Bill O’Reilly has finally become disgusted with Palin; he knows that she knows nothing and is anything BUT qualified to be president. He is still a staunch right winger but he has trouble kowtowing to Palin’s delicate ego. Palin begins to realize this and says that she’ll never go on his show again. Problem for Palin is that her FOX contract requires her to go on any of its shows, his being one. She tries the old bus throw, letting O’Reilly join the “lamestream” media under its wheels, and thinks, as usual, that she’ll win this bout but Bill has a few tricks up his sleeve like air time and a loyal audience.
She is a medium sized toad with an streak of cruelty trying to play in a really big point with really big toads who are fully of capable of sitting on her either till she drowns or whines uncle.
I don’t think she is capable of playing second fiddle and kissing ringsand she has to if she wants to keep movin’ on up.
I can’t help but remember the classic line from George Costanza to Jerry Seinfeld (episode: “The Beard”) … “It’s not a lie, if you believe it.”
I think that Palin does believe her lies and that is what makes her dangerous.
I still remain somewhat skeptical that she’ll run for President. I suspect what Gryphen said is true – she has to give at least one speech a month to pay people off to keep quiet. As she goes along, that group can only get bigger, because she can’t seem to tell the truth or act responsibly or ethically.
How do you run for President and give paid speeches? Would her advisors be willing to pay people off on a continual basis? Could she pay them out through campaign finances or her PAC? My guess is that would be illegal.
But if she gives the impression that she’ll run, the dimwits who love her will continue to pay money to hear her speak, buy books with her name on it, etc. No political future and the interest in her will dwindle as the next “celebrity” comes along.
I really, really don’t trust this woman. Am I being too subtle with it (guffaws). But seriously–I see her as exactly this dangerous and I KNOW that people here do too. Nevertheless, I can’t seem to stop myself!
Can you talk about how psychopathic fraudsters use affinity groups (religious, political, or social entities in which all members share common values or beliefs) to pull off their schemes?
Hare: We refer to these schemes as affinity fraud. They rely on the fact that members of an affinity group typically are very trusting of others who profess to share their values, beliefs, and interests. Those who are most adept at perpetrating affinity fraud are psychopaths who gain entry into the group by developing an acquaintance with a member who then introduces the fraudster as “one of us.” The result is a “fox in the henhouse,” with predictable results. Religious groups, are particularly vulnerable; belief in the inherent goodness of others and uncritical acceptance of professions of faith are tailor-made for an enterprising psychopath. Sadly, even after being victimized, many members of a group will refuse to face the truth, continuing to believe that the scamster is basically good at heart or that there must be a reason why he or she took advantage of the group. Even sophisticated members of financial and business groups – such as investment clubs – often are no match for the charm and seduction of a good-looking, well-dressed, and apparently well-connected psychopath. A suspicious view of newcomers might help but is no guarantee of immunity to infiltration by someone intent on doing the group harm. Even organizations that by their very nature are extremely cynical and suspicious – such as intelligence agencies and criminal gangs – cannot protect themselves completely from those who misrepresent their credentials, connections, and intentions.
Are most psychopaths in organizations exposed or do they remain or go on to greater positions?
Babiak: With one exception, all of the psychopaths that we have studied are still in positions of authority in their companies. In some cases, they have risen within the ranks, and in others, they have solid positions from which they continue to use their organizations for personal gain. The one psychopath we studied who was fired ended up leaving with a sizeable financial package and a company car. He was hired by a competitor at a significantly greater salary. Unfortunately, in their effort to rid themselves of problems and to avoid embarrassment in front of corporate or financial communities, some organizations will cover up their messes and even write favorable letters of recommendation thus facilitating psychopaths’ devious journeys up corporate ladders.
Since the publication of “Snakes in Suits,” we have received an increased number of calls from executives, entrepreneurs, and principals who now suspect that someone on their staff – or even an equity partner – is a corporate psychopath. We see that awareness of the problem has increased, as has the willingness to take action to remove or otherwise deal with the problem person.
How does a fraud examiner identify possible psychopaths after they’re hired? I imagine it’s a sensitive issue to put the psychopath label on anybody, but how should a fraud examiner proceed to prevent a possible fraud or should they even try? Is it ever possible to discern the potential for fraud in a suspected psychopath?
Babiak: In business situations, it is rarely useful to label someone a psychopath; organizations can only respond to the overt behaviors of fraudsters and others. Suspecting that a client (or even a coworker) has psychopathic traits can help sensitize an examiner to search out and investigate subtle forms of lying and deceit. If the client is highly psychopathic, the odds are that some form of corporate misbehavior, perhaps fraud, is underway, but hidden from view. If inconsistencies and improprieties begin to surface, it is important that the examiner’s focus remain on the facts of each case, as the psychopath will try to distract him or her through flattery, misdirection, questioning the examiner’s competence or authority to investigate, and so forth.
The little woman comes across as a barely coherent, self-aggrandizing, self-promoting, narcissistic, grandstanding, huckster. I think that just about covers it.
Are you guys just fat and ugly? are you jealous? how could anyone be so very nasty? I think they woman up there must be pretty damn ugly and very very fat….those long winters could make a person look like a big fat bear….
Here’s another link and blurb (’cause we all need to take a psychic shower after an $P onslaught):
http://www.aftermath-surviving-psychopathy.org/
Psychopathy is a personality disorder signified by a pattern of lying, exploitiveness, heedlessness, arrogance, sexual promiscuity, low self-control, and lack of empathy and remorse. Those who are affected may appear normal thus increasing their ability to effectively prey on others.
People severely affected with psychopathy have a false belief in their own superiority, a sense of entitlement and a complete disregard for social norms. They therefore leave a long trail of victims and survivors over the course of living their lives. Their victims include strangers, friends, lovers, co-workers and family members.
Unable to love, feel remorse or show any trace of guilt, they survive by charming, conning and manipulating others. Because they are impulsive and do things that hurt other people, psychopathic individuals are also called “antisocial” by mental health professionals.
http://www.magicreal.com.au/filmandtv.php?film=4
I wonder how much money it would take to tempt this filmmaker to follow Sarah Palin around–or would he recognize her for what she is and run away with his camera?
Great article Mr. Dunn. I like the fact that you mentioned her inner rage as this was the thing I really noticed in that interview, apart from her ignorance that is. She was barely in control. I really don’t think she gives a rat’s a$$ about policies. She’ll say whatever she thinks will go down well with her groupies.
I think the reason for her rage is that PO won’t acknowledge her. She really expected him to give her a call because she is the “energy expert.” The fact that he continues to ignore her, enrages her even further, with the result that she utters even more ridiculous tripe in an attempt to get him to notice her.
She is the scorned woman and she can’t handle it with dignity. I love that picture of her at the Alfalfa dinner as she approaches PO, and Joe Lieberman heads her off at the pass. 🙂
i think you hit the nail on the head. and i REALLY hope that PO does not change in this respect. just keep on ignoring her. hahaha
Do you have a link to that?
There is definitely a cause and effect of lying. Satan is the father of lies. The bible teaches against it. It’s one of the 10 commandments. It hurts people. It destroys lives.
Once a liar becomes familiar with continual lying, they are no longer convicted, pricked in their consciences and lying is second nature to them. But it wounds their loved ones, children, spouses, families, friends, community, and trickles all the way down affecting everything it touches.
The worst part is waking up some morning and realizing all the lies propagated out of their mouth and heart is way beyond their control and they have to live a very huge lie, live a very tormented life worrying if they’ll be exposed and/or become increasingly paranoid. They basically have given themselves over to a life similar to a fugitive.
No to mention if and that’s a big IF she were elected (I think a lot of people who didn’t vote for McCain, also DIDN’T vote for her), anyway IF she were elected she would quit, we all know that. [end of run-on sentence]
I cannot believe Americans can be that stupid to ever vote for this shallow, ignorant person but then I did live through 8 years of W so I do know it can happen. Still I’m thinking the Democratic women can be a lot more agressive and point out $P’s lack of everything easier and more often than Republican women have done — see if I was a Republican woman (or a size 2 – both completely unrealistic) and I had to back someone who quit everything, grabbed in money without doing the work, couldn’t talk straight to save her soul and had the depth of an oil slick in a parking lot I’d be outraged but Republican women have to smile and sigh adoringly. I think in their hearts many Republicans know she should never be near real power and just as they sent checks to McCain and cheered at rallies they either didn’t vote or voted Dem. Just enough of them did so to totally sink McCain and enough will do that should $P ever run. She might run but part of me really doesn’t see her getting that far — she’s never finished anything yet and running for national office is grueling, I don’t care how many bendy straws they give you and it’s not a 3 month deal of sleepless nights and a multitude of cities it’s more like 2 years — and $P will see herself tired, looking old and getting misquoted or quoted when she didn’t think anyone else was around and realize she was practically printing her own money before. However it will be nice if her backers lose their millions backing her – my Mom always said an idiot and his/her money were soon parted — and that’s my opinion of anyone who spends $$ on her or contributes to her wealth.
My husband and I both voted for W for his second term as we hoped he would clean up the mess that he was making with the wars. So much for wishful, magical thinking. And now Obama is trying to cleanup mess after mess that resulted from at least 30 years of deferred maintenance. Don’t worry, be happy and don’t sweat the little stuff like safety regulations and reality checks.
The other excuse for voting for W, was that he had Cheney to guide him. So what if W was a little dim. I am hopeful that enough of us have learned from our mistakes. People are keeping quiet that don’t agreed with the T-Pottiers. If enough of us are brave enough to ask around, most people are going to say that Palin scares the H out of them or she is dumber than a box of rocks. And she has her base of followers but it isn’t large enough to get her elected. It seems that Fox News is finally letting her twist in the wind. She attracts an audience like situation comedies. I would love to see Roseanne Barr star in a show called Simple Sarah about a post menopausal, former beauty queen and has been politician’s return to the hunter gatherer life in Wasilla. Ah, ha, ha, haaaaah!
If Palin did run for president, what of it?
Why would she have any better luck than Huckabee or Pat Robertson or Pat Buchanan?
Yeah, she would have better luck than Huck, Pat, or Buch because she looks more attractive to old, white repub, male voters. Hmmmm, well to most of ’em anyway if one discounts that wide stance demographic.
Sorry, “thin white shirt, shorts…”
now these type of events can be quite informal and still be successful. There’s a Costco in Juneau, if you know what I mean. And my family is quite capable of setting out food and cleaning up afterwards.
Event planning, Sarah-style!
Not surprising, given her turnout at the Belmont. Did she not realize that the horses were cleaned up and prepped for this event? That the grooms are competing for prize money for the best prepped horse in the race?
That’s standard at ALL race tracks by the way. For almost every race! Grooms take PRIDE in their charges going out looking good.
Sarah didn’t even bother to try. Flipflops, black bra, thin white short, cut-off shorts, rhinestone baseball cap…
When she does go for the 2012 ticket, she’s going to have to go on Meet the Press, and other things of that sort. Not to mention debates, with a person who knows how to debate. I know, her drooling fan base won’t care that she doesn’t know anything and refuses to learn, but hopefully ENOUGH angry people will vote and will not vote for HER.
Tacky. Tawdry. Trashy. That’s THE $arah Palin way!
“There’s a Costco in Juneau, if you know what I mean.”
I have no earthly idea what she means. Not that this is new.
What the Costco comment means to me is you can buy large quantities of buffet type food that tastes good and that no one is really going to need to put out very much effort to except the persons grilling the salmon. Who needs a chef at the gov’s mansion when you’ve got carryout if ya know what I mean……
I think someone else got it….the State must have an account so her little off the record BBQ would still be paid for by the State.
The other thing about this stupid barbeque is, who would invite a bunch of big-wigs to a get-together for THAT night? How egocentric she is to expect everyone to drop their plans and come to her for a command performance at a moment’s notice. The sheer gall of it is appalling.
Grandma Griz, has the dike plugged the hole yet?
I would be surprised is Palin does not (officially) launch a bid for the WH. Her constant snipes at Obama, her charade of knowledge and her use of Thatcher as a photo prop all point to her desire for the ultimate stardom of the Presidency. She has successfully disarmed the MSM by playing victim; few will challenge her now. FOX promotes her to an audience that buys every bottle of snake oil she sells. Now if Bill O’Reilly and company wake up to the fact that she is, in no way, qualified to be their President then maybe she’ll go away. We can only pray that that will happen. Or does no one at FOX respect their country enough to expose this charlatan?
As far as her fraudulent claim of being an energy expert…? She was appointed to the energy commission as a political favor and served briefly as the only member not required to know anything about energy issues. She quit after a year. It would be wonderful to have some of the other board members (from that time) comment on her expertise.
The part of her interview with BOR was the part where she was saying something about in the future needing to rely on Venezuela. Um, didn’t western Alaska ALREADY have to rely on Hugo Chavez during Palin’s regime?
FOX viewers don’t buy EVERY bottle of snake oi….where is the next episode of American Stories?
First off, I am from Ohio and I will never vote for Palin…not sure what others will do…Second…I knew all along she was setting herself up for 2012 with two books (like Obama) speaking engagements (money to back herself) and picking so-called winners in the GOP, and all the face time that a human can stand.
I just hope that what was done to Obama on the campaign trail is done to Palin, read her word salad back to her, make her prove that what she said was either true or force the lie.
Make her answer the hard questions and see if she can talk the talk and really debate.
No, Obama is not a closed fisted fighter but the main stream media is and believe me they will remember and what they do not report, viral media will.
There are those who will have copied every salad word she has posted on her facebook page and serve it back to her with plenty of dressing and every video with her face and mouth in action (we know her better now).
I always told my children that if they kept lying, that their mouth would get their face into trouble, as someone someday would punch their lights out.
They may not literally punch her lights out but someone will say “lights out” the party is over Sarah.
Bev You are right,that is one reason I* liked the man he would not go dirty,Plus remember the Governor of NM said he told him what a question was when he had not been paying close enough attention.Showed me for the most part he is a fair minded person.I may not have even thought anything about palin except for her attack at the GOP convention.That was when I first contributed to any campaign. I really really do not like a bully ,liar and a fraud.Nuff said
I think you’re mostly right, with the exception of collection money to back her campaign. I don’t believe she’ll spend one penny of her own money on a campaign. She will only use her SarahPAC money or new money collected for that purpose. The book money and speaking fees are for her and her alone IMHO.
Excellent post, Mr. Dunn.
“Whenever she opens her mouth, she simply cannot stop herself from engaging in duplicities, exaggerations and half-truths that not-so-coincidentally always distort the political record in her favor.”
————————————————————
Palin: (don’t “demonize” BP)
Bachmann: (BP escrow account is “redistribution of wealth)
Newt Gingrich: (BP escrow account is “socialism)
Joe Barton: (apologizes to BP; calls escrow fund PO’s “shakedown)
With the current GOP outrage that PO is exercising “socialistic” means in a “shakedown” of BP to set up a $20 Billion compensation fund for Gulf residents, it’s interesting that the same moral outrage is not being applied to ex-Gov. Palin’s signing into law an oil rebate check to Alaskans in 2008 (or, indeed, why no outrage on the whole Permanent Fund program in Alaska).
In 2008, Palin signed into law a $1,200 rebate for all qualifying Alaskan residents. The rebate was derived from the state’s multibillion-dollar oil revenue surplus that year ON TOP of the yearly Permanent Fund checks. In addition, the 2008 dividend was a record high amount.
How can the GOP look benignly on distributing the oil revenue profits to Alaskan citizens in a routine year, yet demonstrate such moral outrage to distributing oil revenue profits to citizens affected by a catastrophe directly (and probably criminally) caused by the oil industry in the Gulf?
Ms. Palin, the GOP’s vaunted “energy expert,” needs to explain the subtle differences in these two situations because I’m sure as hell not seeing anything but hypocrisy from her and the rest of the GOP.
Is their desire to sabotage PO’s presidency so primitive that they would sacrifice the Gulf and its residents to score political points? Or are they simply the paid puppets of the oil industry? (short answer: both)
Read the August 2008 ADN link below. The irony of where the “idea” for the rebate originated will blow your mind and sensibilities with respect to how the GOP are currently framing BP’s compensation fund for the Gulf:
————————————————-
“It was Palin, after all, who last month proposed that lawmakers pay out a $1,200 resource rebate as a way for the state to share some of its multibillion-dollar oil revenue surplus with Alaska residents.
The idea for a people’s payment, however, originated in January with Haines Republican Rep. Bill Thomas, a commercial fisherman who suggested a $1,000 rebate, saying he was moved by a legally blind and diabetic friend forced to cut firewood for lack of money to buy heating fuel.” (snip)
“This year’s dividend already was expected to be a big one — a record, in fact — at more than $2,000. With the rebate added on, the check likely will tally more than $3,200.”
http://www.adn.com/2008/08/08/487182/legislature-passes-1200-rebate.html
Palins have 5 kids, each qualified for the $1200 resource rebate, plus 2 parents equals $8400. Nice work. My elderly neighbors probably spend more on heating than the Palins yet got significantly less to combat the costs. There was a more equalizing suggestion out there, but the Palin administration wouldn’t consider it.
I have to comment about the the photo posted with this piece. To me, Sarah looks very, very much like Lyda Green in this shot. Lyda is one of Sarah’s (many) arch-nemeses, and a former State Senator from Wasilla. They cannot stand each other.
Seriously – the face, the hair, the expression, all look a lot like Lyda. That comparison would probably make Sister Sarah want to gouge her own eyes out with her rhinestone-encrusted flag lapel pin. It’s worth a try, anyway…. 😉
Someone commented on HuffPo that she was going from the “sexy librarian look to the female impersonator look.” Take away the eye makeup, tattooed lips and long hair, there isn’t much left, since we know she doesn’t have a good voice or brain.
Palin can lie all day, everyday. She seems to be doing so already.
Come to think of it, that doesn’t make it much different than any other politician.
It’s the people who refuse to call her bluff, who swallow her lies whole, that worry me.
Surely there’s a better reason for their neglect of duty than they feel a stir in their crotch.
A downer, but it is wise to know that more than 50 million people died in WWII. I don’t think that Sarah has any idea of numbers of anything.
This is not play time. Really.
Quyana Mr. Dunn!
Well said.
The 75% of the time spent on energy issues spew IS a lie.
Remember troopergate (before the VP nomination) And all those other ethics complaints? It IS $carah’s “reasoning” for trashing a oath of office.
So she quits cause all her time was spent on ethics complaints… But on Faux News she said credits herself as some sort of energy expert.
I can’t wait for your book to be released Geoffrey !!!
A bit o/t, I finished The Man who Sold the World – Ronald Reagan & the Betrayal of Main Street America
One paragraph I had to highlight was regarding the 2008 McCain/Palin campaign:
snip] By his (McCain) side was the most cynical and irresponsible choice for vice president in the history of the republic, the ethically challenged Chrisian ideologue who introduced herselt to the nation by arrogantly mocking the press for daring to examine her past. As she did so, the crowd roared and the celebrity loving press anointed her a star. [end snip
snip] At long last, we may dare to hope that the retrograde politics of John McCain, Sarah Palin, and their legions of followers in the cultural backwaters of America – the pandering and the shallowness and the contempt for progress that oozed forth from the convention stage – was the last hoarse utterand of Reaganism. [end snip
You have to wonder if this is why Meg Stapleton jumped ship – she saw the iceberg dead ahead…
“she saw the iceberg dead ahead…” If this is the case, her vision is 20/900. Can anyone believe she stayed on as long as she did? She had a great career in journalism.
Stapletongue is ‘persona non-grata’ in Alaska now! She has NO CREDIBILITY.
amen
Sometimes the lies you tell are less frightening than the loneliness you might feel if you stopped telling them. ~Brock Clarke, An Arsonist’s Guide to Writers’ Homes in New England, 2007
Repetition does not transform a lie into a truth. ~Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882 – 1945), radio address, October 26, 1939
A half truth is a whole lie. ~Yiddish Proverb
We tell lies when we are afraid… afraid of what we don’t know, afraid of what others will think, afraid of what will be found out about us. But every time we tell a lie, the thing that we fear grows stronger. ~Tad Williams
When a man lies, he murders some part of the world. ~Rospo Pallenberg and John Boorman, Excalibur, based on Le Morte d’Arthur by Thomas Malory
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I sincerely wish $P understood the meanings of the above quotes… if she were able to, she’d apologize profusely and profoundly for spreading utter bs, STFU, and save this nation a *whole* lot of further grief.
As it is, though, she remains clueless. She couldn’t even get straight a ‘favorite’ quote (of hers) from one of her all-time fav sports inspirations/heroes, “John Wooden” (as printed in _Going Rogue_): “Our land is everything to us…I will tell you one of the things we remember on our land. We remember our grandfathers paid for it – with their lives.”
Chit, she even grossly untruths about the quotes she *does* take to heart! I doubt she’ll ever acknowlege she’s *ever* untruthed to anyone; she didn’t apologize to John Wooden Legs, either.
Here’s a quote that seems to sum up her relationship with the truth: “Honesty pays, but it don’t seem to pay enough to suit some people.” (Frank McKinney “Kin” Hubbard) beth.
Nice post.
Add this quote:
“A closed mouth gathers no foot.”
Go read some of Robert D. Hare’s work.
She knows what to say but she doesn’t FEEL it. She can pantomime things, but that’s about it.
“Snakes in Suits” is a good book to read to understand plenty about Sarah Palin.
there’s only one reason she’s donating money from her PAC to Ohio – it’s how the rethuglicans stole 2004 with their Diebold voting machines. And everyone knows as goes Ohio so goes the nation. She’s the most dangerous liar in America today
One thing that has been bothering me about SP’s claim to expertise and her ability to “wrangle” with the oil companies and hold them accountable, etc, ad nauseum, is her claim that she set up the PSIO, because when she was elected, nobody was doing that job. We were just letting the oil companies do whatever they wanted. weell…Not so much.
Cut from the website for the State of Alaska’s Joint Pipeline Office:
JPO’s Vision: To work proactively with Alaska’s oil and gas industry to safely operate, protect the environment, and continue transporting oil and gas in compliance with legal requirements.
http://www.jpo.doi.gov/
Cut from the website for the State Petroleum Systems Integrity Office:
“The mission of the PSIO is to maximize the safe and stable flow of oil and gas resources to market by ensuring appropriate oversight and maintenance of oil and gas equipment, facilities, and infrastructure.”
http://www.dog.dnr.state.ak.us/oil/programs/psio/psio_main.html
Call me crazy, but I am not seeing much differance.
Except the JPO is a joint State/Federal office that includes personnel from State Environmental Conservation, State Dept Natural resources, Federal BLM, Federal Coast Guard, and Federal Fish and Wildlife. The JPO has been in existence for decades.
I used to work there. The environmental engineers and other experts are outstanding, dedicated, educated people, firmly committed to the safety of the people working in the oil industry here, and to the protection of the environment.
And they were doing this work long before SP realized there was anything happening outside Wasilla.
“Palin’s currency in American politics is not her expertise on energy resources — it’s her inner rage. And those who share it with her tap into that common anger and see her as their leader. It is as ugly as it is dangerous.”
Oh, well put, Mr. Dunn!
Isn’t Andrew Halcro the effete young chap, the limo driver?
No comedian will get rich or famous off interpreting what Andy says. SP did give us Tina Fey.
Halcro has a great post on Palin/Tea Party/Alaska on his site. I loved Tina Fey way before I heard of Paylin, but she did give Tina a wider audience.
Good writers are people worth listening to when they know their subjects well. I think Dunn is dead-on when he says Sarah is intent upon running in 2012. I also believe his warning is worth heeding.
I was a fan of Molly Ivins. She repeatedly told anyone who would listen that G.W. Bush, aka the Scrub, was a “what-you-see-is-what-you-get” kind of guy. She tried to warn us that he really was a shallow and callow as he appeared to be; that there was nothing below the surface of his fake country-boy facade and nothing between his ears.
As time went by, most of us understood what she meant, but we never ever thought he could win against a sitting Vice President with the credentials and intellect that Gore presented. Boy, were we wrong. Granted, the Supreme Court was an active player in ensuring he got into office and Gore failed to fight for a recount, but, really, I think everyone who knew Bush to be a patsy and Cheney to be a player was stunned to see Bush get into office. We were equally stunned when, after all the manure he spread and the harm he had inflicted, that he got re-elected. Even with a non-charismatic Kerry, we thought no one in their right mind would vote for him. Once again, there were election irregularities, and once again, the Democrat conceded without much of a fight.
That scenario could indeed be repeated in 2012 because, let’s face it, as much as most of us love President Obama, he isn’t a bare knuckles kind of fighter and he needs to be when faced with the Barracuda. The problems with touchscreen voting machines in South Carolina that pushed Alvin Greene into the Senate race are not limited to the south. Those machines are quite easily manipulated and no one in power seems eager or able to fix that.
Sarah might just be the new horticultural product of the Republican Party. Instead of a scrub, she seems like poison ivy. She taints and poisons everything and everyone she touches, but she persists. The only way to root her out is to go deep into her roots and apply lots of withering truth on her tenacious vines.
I fear it is going to be an ugly fight. Hopefully, her fellow Republicans will do the job for us. If not, we will need everything Dunn and McGinnis can expose. I hope our fellow citizens listen to them and not ignore their message as so many did when Ivins tried to warn us. She was a known as humorist, though she wrote about deadly serious stuff. Perhaps that worked against her in getting us to trust her predictions.
Dunn and McGinnis are known as serious researchers and analysts. Hopefully, this time, the country will take heed before we wind up with a President Palin.
Good post. But it is “Shrub” not “Scrub” (although the latter is funny too. Also.).
Scrub shrub!
Hah!
Serious question- why can’t government do something about those corruptable voting machines? Sure, if that’s how you won the election, you don’t want questions, but if you made it honestly, as I think the Dems did, or mostly did, why not get rid of them, get at lest 2 new suppliers, and fix them in such a way that every single one has a verifiable paper trail and that is checked a) in close cases b) where counts, such as mail-in vs machine differ greatly and c) a random 20%, or more if there’s a history of questions in the state. And since a president doesn’t take power till January, not declare anyone elected for at least 3 weeks while this is verified. And make court judgement mandatory is there is evidence of trouble.
I see why the Republicans won’t do this, but why not the Dems?
Now that our local metromess congressman, the very don of dumbassery, Joe Barton has spoken on behalf of the wealthy and powerfull being victimized, she won’t have to trouble her jumbled brain for the choice of a running mate in 2012.
What an embarrassment he is. Rick Perry, Louie Goehmert (sp), Joe Barton–we need change in 2010 & 2012.. We have needed it for a long time but it is hard to vote these Repubs out.
Sorry about being late with this but every state has useless(for regular folks) politicians. I must say with that wad of oil on Perry’s head, you would be well advised to keep him away from the Gulf. One disastrous oil mess is enough. Good luck to you.
Well written. Hope her ambitions are finished well before she tries to run that tarnished image for 2012. She’s the last thing this country and world needs.
Her level of “expertise” is indeed astonishing. I would say it is non-existent. Her hubris makes up for her lack of anything that could make her viable….so much so that she doesn’t even realize how ridiculous and ignorant she really is.
Lies, word salad, ridiculous tweets, facebook manifestos, and grifting. That is her reality and sadly, her bots buy into it all.
Thanks for keeping tabs on her and I do look forward to your book (books?). 🙂
Hubris and the lack of self realization. are her secret weapons.
She doesn’t really understand how stupid she really is. I think must realize she’s lacking in facts, by the way she’s always trying to inject words into really long sentences, but it contributes to her look even dumber.
My son, who is nine, watched that video and grabbed the Palin bobble-head doll I keep on the shelf. He started doing his own parody, and I had to get it on tape.
can’t wait to see him on his own show on Comedy Central in 10-15 years!
Thanks for great insight into Sarah Palin. I can’t wait for the book. It should be very interesting reading.
My husband dismissed Sarah Palin and can’t understand why some of us are still paying attention to her. I would like nothing better than to let her fade into obscurity, but until she stops appearing on TV and giving speeches that are then in the news, I don’t think we can afford to just ignore her, hoping that she will go away.
I agree 100%.
She craves attention so badly that if the media start ignoring her, she’ll go on Oprah to tell the story of how she faked Trig’s pregnancy. That’s how much she needs attention. Maybe that’s why she’s worried the story will get out; she doesn’t want anyone making $$$ off of it but her.
i agree. i wish i could stop paying attention but then i think that would be much worse than paying attention.
Is she smiling at the little Dutch boy?
Nah, the Dutch dikes. Maybe the Norwegian ones. beth.