Her only qualifications to run for president of the 300 million people in the USA are that 1) she was the mayor of a small dinky town in Alaska, and 2) she is currently the governor of Alaska which is a tiny state with a population that is slightly larger then Mesa, Arizona, which is just a dinky suburb of Phoenix, Arizona.
Well she didn’t accidentally get on the ticket. McCain is such a jerk that they felt they needed a woman on the ticket, even better a hot babe on the ticket like Palin. Also McCain has alienated a large part of the Republican party so a hot babe who is also a Christian crackpot with the beliefs of Palin would also help his ticket.
Of course none of those reasons would be a good reason to hire an employee for a business, much less select the President of the United States, but that is how people elect their rulers.
Oprah, Leno, Letterman: What's Palin to do next?
Alaska governor juggling book, film, interview offers
by Michael R. Blood - Nov. 23, 2008 12:00 AM
Associated Press
ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Sarah Palin is juggling offers to write books, appear in films and sit on dozens of interview couches at a rate astonishing for most Hollywood stars, let alone a first-term governor.
Oprah wants her. So do Letterman and Leno.
The failed Republican vice presidential candidate crunched state budget numbers this past week in her 17th-floor office as tumbling oil prices hit Alaska's revenues. Her staff, meanwhile, fielded television requests seeking the 44-year-old Palin for late-night banter and Sunday-morning Washington policy. Agents from the William Morris Agency and elsewhere, have come knocking. There even has been an offer to host a TV show.
"Tomorrow, Governor Palin could do an interview with any news media on the planet," said her spokesman, Bill McAllister. "Tomorrow, she could probably sign any one of a dozen book deals. She could start talking to people about a documentary or a movie on her life. That's the level we are at here."
"Barbara Walters called me. George Stephanopoulos called me," McAllister said. "I've had multiple conversations with producers for Oprah, Letterman, Leno and The Daily Show."
Asked whether Winfrey was pursuing Palin for a sit-down, Michelle McIntyre, a spokeswoman for Winfrey's Chicago-based Harpo Productions Inc., said she was "unable to confirm any future plans" for the show.
Palin may have emerged from the campaign politically wounded, with questions about her preparedness for higher office and reports of an expensive wardrobe. But she has returned to Alaska with an expanded, if unofficial, title - international celebrity.
John McCain plucked Palin out of relative obscurity in late August and put her on the national GOP ticket. Now, she has to decide how and where to spend her time, which could have implications for her political future and her bank account, with possible land mines of legal and ethical rules.
Palin is considering about 800 requests for appearances from December through 2009, with 75 percent coming from out of state. A year ago, just a sprinkle of requests came from beyond Alaska's borders. They range from invitations to speak at The Chief Executives' Club of Boston to attend a 5-year-old's birthday party, from a prayer breakfast in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to a business conference in Britain.
Michael Steele, the former Maryland lieutenant governor who wants to be the next chairman of the Republican National Committee, is seeking face time.
She has invitations to make appearances in 20 foreign countries, typically with all expenses paid, McAllister said. She has more than 200 requests for media interviews, again from around the globe.
"She has to pace herself," suggested veteran Hollywood publicist Howard Bragman. "She wants a career made in a Crock-Pot, not a microwave."
In her two months on the national stage, Palin energized the Republican base but turned off moderates and independents, according to some surveys. Flubbed answers in national television interviews raised questions about her competence. She was embarrassed by the disclosure the RNC spent at least $150,000 for designer clothing, accessories and beauty services for her and her family.
The right book or movie deal could help Palin reintroduce herself to the nation, on terms she could dictate.
While books and movie deals could be worth millions of dollars, it's not clear if Palin would be able to legally earn it. State rules say she cannot accept outside employment for compensation. But there appears to be little in the way of precedent left by former governors to judge if book deals or lucrative speaking appearances amount to "employment."
Palin has sent unmistakable signals she is open to running for president in 2012, but to advance her political ambitions she must stay in the public eye in the lower 48 states. As with any celebrity, there is the risk of overexposure.
"She has to deal with the perception that she bobbled her debut," Claremont McKenna College political scientist John Pitney said. "She needs to stay home for a while. If she wants a future in national politics, her Number 1 job is doing a good job as governor."
Palin daughter's fiance's mother arrested
Dec. 19, 2008 08:46 AM
McClatchy Newspapers
WASILLA, Alaska - A 42-year-old Wasilla woman was arrested Thursday at her home by Alaska state troopers with a search warrant in an undercover drug investigation. Sherry L. Johnston was charged with six felony counts of misconduct involving a controlled substance.
Johnston is the mother of Levi Johnston, the Wasilla 18-year-old who received international attention in September when Gov. Sarah Palin and her husband, Todd, announced their teenage daughter was pregnant and he was the father. Bristol Palin, 18, is due on Saturday, according to a recent interview with the governor's father, Chuck Heath.
Troopers served the warrant at Johnston's home at the "conclusion of an undercover narcotics investigation," said a statement issued Thursday by the troopers as part of the normal daily summary of activity around the state.
Troopers charged Johnston with second-degree misconduct involving a controlled substance - generally manufacturing or delivering drugs - as well as fourth-degree misconduct involving controlled substances, or possession.
Troopers released no other information, including the kind or amount of drugs, because details could jeopardize an investigation, spokeswoman Megan Peters said.
Asked how long the investigation had proceeded before Johnston's arrest, Peters would only say "a while."
The Palmer District Attorney's office had no comment.
Sherry Johnston was arrested around noon and booked at Mat-Su Pretrial Facility, according to a booking officer there. She was released on a $5,000 unsecured bond.
No charging documents had been filed at Palmer courthouse by the end of the day, a clerk said.
Levi Johnston sat with Bristol and the rest of the Palin family in St. Paul, Minn., during Gov. Palin's speech to the Republican National Convention, and he joined the family on the stage afterward.
When asked about the arrest, Palin's spokesman, Bill McAllister, issued the following statement by e-mail: "This is not a state government matter. Therefore the governor's communications staff will not be providing comment or scheduling interview opportunities."
Johnston didn't come to the door of her home on Thursday afternoon. A teenage boy who answered the door said he couldn't provide any information.
Honest VP Canidate Palin didn't pull any strings in this dope bust of her in laws! Honest!!!!
Alaska drug case called 'anything but normal'
by Sean Cockerham - Jan. 5, 2009 12:00 AM
McClatchy Newspapers
ANCHORAGE, Alaska - An Alaska drug investigator and the union representing Alaska State Troopers are alleging political meddling in the Sherry Johnston drug case, including a delay in serving the search warrant until after the November election.
Johnston is the mother of Levi Johnston, who became nationally known in September when Gov. Sarah Palin and her husband, Todd, announced their teenage daughter, Bristol, was pregnant and Levi Johnston was the father. Palin was running for vice president while Sherry Johnston was under investigation.
Alaska Public Safety Commissioner Joe Masters and Col. Audie Holloway, the troopers director, dispute that there was anything irregular.
That's not what Kyle Young, a trooper drug investigator who was involved in the case, wrote in an e-mail last week to members of the Public Safety Employees Association.
Young wrote that after it became clear who Johnston is, "this case became anything but normal."
"It was not allowed to progress in a normal fashion, the search-warrant service WAS delayed because of the pending election and the Mat-Su Drug Unit and the case officer were not the ones calling the shots," Young wrote. Mat-Su refers to Alaska's Matanuska-Susitna Valley, an area north of Anchorage.
Sherry Johnston was arrested Dec. 18 on charges of selling the prescription painkiller OxyContin.
Young, speaking through union officials, declined to comment for this story.
Alaska troopers back off of Palin allegations
Jan. 6, 2009 12:02 PM
McClatchy Newspapers
ANCHORAGE, Alaska - The union representing state troopers has backed off allegations that a drug investigation of Sherry Johnston was slowed down last fall to shield the national candidacy of Gov. Sarah Palin.
An inquiry Monday by officials for the Public Safety Employees Association concluded that investigators did not delay a search warrant for political reasons, said union president Rob Cox. Charges of political meddling erupted last week because of misunderstandings between investigators working on the case and senior state public safety officials, Cox said.
The drug-selling case against Johnston - whose son, Levi, is the father of Palin's new grandson, Tripp - did draw unusual scrutiny from top public safety officials, Cox said. He said union and state officials hope to meet this week to sort out any misunderstandings and determine whether political considerations had any effect at all. "At this point, it really is a non-issue," Cox said.
Public Safety Commissioner Joe Masters issued a statement late Monday, repeating his assertion that the governor's office was never clued in to the drug investigation and that trooper leaders were only trying to assure that the case was handled like any other.
"Events nationally, and their affects (sic) locally, certainly may have influenced Ms. Johnston's behaviors and ultimately the timeline of the case," Masters said. "However, the accusations that political motives were behind the decision on how to manage this case are baseless."
A national flare-up of news coverage on the political meddling charge was triggered by the leak last week of an internal union e-mail written by a state trooper involved in the Johnston case. Trooper Kyle Young asserted that service of the search warrant against Johnston was delayed for political reasons, saying that after it was clear who the target was "this case became anything but normal."
Union officials backed up Young at first, saying they were confident and the handling of the case "smacked of political favoritism." The union said it had verified his allegations with the rest of the Mat-Su drug unit, including case officer Donna Anthony.
But on Monday, Cox said Young had played a secondary role in the case and turned out to be wrong about the warrant. Cox said Anthony told him Monday the search warrant against Johnston would not have been ready to serve before the election, regardless of the political climate.
Johnston was arrested Dec. 18, the day the warrant was served. At her arraignment in state court Monday she pleaded not guilty to six felony counts of possessing and selling OxyContin.
Even before last week, relations between the public safety union and the governor's office were raw. The two sides had sparred in recent months over removal of Walt Monegan as public safety commissioner and allegations that Palin pressured officials to fire a trooper who was her ex-brother-in-law.
Union officials stressed Monday that they had not gone out of their way to pick a fight over the Johnston case. Executive director John Cyr said Young never intended his e-mail to become political fodder.
"He was shocked when it leaked to the press," Cyr said, "and now I'm cleaning up the mess."
Young sent the e-mail to all the union members in the state.
The whole fracas started, Cox said, when Masters - appointed by Palin in September - issued a press release last week sternly correcting sworn trooper testimony regarding Secret Service protection in the Johnston case.
Masters said investigators wrongly asserted that Johnston was under federal protection during the campaign. Young responded - and the union agreed - that Masters was overreacting: Secret Service protection had indeed affected Levi's mother's behavior, even if she wasn't afforded direct protection. Young said the troopers on the case appeared to be getting smeared because of political pressure.
"It made the drug unit look pretty bad, and I don't think that was his intention," Cox said of Masters' original press release.
That's how there were misunderstandings on both sides, Cox said: Masters with his press release, and Young in his response to the press release.
Masters said in his statement Monday the administration hopes to work with the union to resolve such disputes. He ended on a frosty note: "We certainly would have been open to communications with the union regarding its perceptions of this case if it had come forward with its concerns."
Cry Baby Sarah Palin - Media treats Caroline Kennedy better cuz she has social class
SourcePalin: Media goes easy on Kennedy
Andy Barr Andy Barr – Thu Jan 8, 11:32 am ET
Gov. Sarah Palin (R-Alaska) believes Caroline Kennedy is getting softer press treatment in her pursuit of the New York Senate seat than Palin did as the GOP vice presidential nominee because of Kennedy’s social class.
“I’ve been interested to see how Caroline Kennedy will be handled and if she will be handled with kid gloves or if she will be under such a microscope,” Palin told conservative filmmaker John Ziegler during an interview Monday for his upcoming documentary film, “How Obama Got Elected.” Excerpts from the interview were posted on YouTube Wednesday evening.
“It’s going to be interesting to see how that plays out and I think that as we watch that we will perhaps be able to prove that there is a class issue here also that was such a factor in the scrutiny of my candidacy versus, say, the scrutiny of what her candidacy may be.”
Palin said she remains subject to unfair press coverage of her and her family.
“Is it political? Is it sexism?” she asked. “What is it that drives someone to believe the worst and perpetuate the worst in terms of gossip and lies?”
She observed that Katie Couric and Tina Fey have been “capitalizing on” and “exploiting” her.
“I did see that Tina Fey was named entertainer of the year and Katie Couric’s ratings have risen,” she said. “And I know that a lot of people are capitalizing on, oh I don’t know, perhaps some exploiting that was done via me, my family, my administration. That’s a little bit perplexing, but it also says a great deal about our society.”
The Alaska governor said that when she sees some of the coverage of her daughter Bristol especially “the momma grizzly rises up in me.”
Looking back on the Couric interviews, Palin said she knew things were not going well after their first session and asked the McCain campaign to pull the plug on the remaining sit downs but insisted the campaign made her go through with the rest.
“I knew it didn’t go well the first day, and then we gave her a couple of other segments after that. And my question to the campaign was, after it didn’t go well the first day, why were we going to go back for more?” she said. “Because of however it works in that upper echelon of power brokering in the media and with spokespersons, it was told to me that, yeah, we are going to go back for more. And going back for more was not a wise decision either.”
Palin criticized Couric for the way CBS “spliced it together,” saying that “so many of the topics brought up were not portrayed as accurately as they could have, should have, been.”
She also expressed frustration with Couric’s characterization of her since the interviews. After being shown a clip of Couric complaining to David Letterman that no post-election interviewer has asked Palin why she would not tell the CBS anchor what newspapers she reads, the Alaska governor responded: “Because, Katie, you’re not the center of everybody’s universe.”
Cry Baby Sarah Palin - Real Alaskans don't whine!!!!!
SourcePalin says she's been exploited by Couric, Fey
Jan. 9, 2009 07:08 AM
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin says CBS News anchor Katie Couric and comic actress Tina Fey have been "exploiting" her.
Palin also is questioning whether Caroline Kennedy is getting better treatment from the news media in her quest for a Senate seat than Palin herself received as Republican John McCain's running mate.
Palin reflected on her campaign for national office in an interview this week with conservative radio talk-show host and filmmaker John Ziegler. Clips are posted on YouTube. Palin gave Couric a rare interview at the beginning of her campaign, and Fey frequently impersonated Palin on "Saturday Night Live."
Palin says she thinks there may be a "class issue" involved in the news coverage of Kennedy and her own bid for office.
She said the media seem to have handled Kennedy with "kid gloves" - in contrast to the battering she says she and her family took during last year's presidential campaign.
She particularly singled out the Couric interview as what she felt was condescending, particularly a question about what books she reads and, "What do you guys do up there?"
Palin also complained about news reports suggesting that Trig Palin was not her son and said she was "frustrated" by rampant rumors about her and her family.
The governor said news organizations respected Barack Obama's declaration that his family was off-limits for coverage but did not accord her the same courtesy.
"I wasn't believed that Trig was really my son," she said. She called it a "sad state of affairs."
"What is the double-standard here," she asked. "Why would people choose to believe lies. What is it that drives people to believe the worst, perpetuate the worst?"
"When did we start accepting as hard news sources bloggers, anonymous bloggers especially?" she asked.
Palin rails against 'anonymous, pathetic bloggers'
Feb. 5, 2009 11:33 AM
Associated Press
NEW YORK - Former Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin is still mad at media coverage of her candidacy, particularly "anonymous, pathetic bloggers" who she says spread falsehoods about her.
The Alaska governor also says she's addicted to Carmex lip balm, grew up playing flute and trombone, and says sports taught her everything she knows. She shared those and other insights in the March issue of Esquire magazine, scheduled to hit newsstands Feb. 16.
In the interview, Palin, who rocketed to fame as John McCain's running mate in last year's election, reiterated her complaints about media coverage of the campaign. She said reporters continue to question whether her 9-month-old son, Trig, is actually the child of her 18-year old daughter Bristol from a secret previous pregnancy. "I'll tell you, yesterday the Anchorage Daily News, they called again to ask - double-, triple-, quadruple-check - who is Trig's real mom," Palin told Esquire. "And I thought, 'Okay, more indication of continued problems in the world of journalism.' "
Rumors that Bristol was Trig's mother swirled on the Internet shortly after McCain chose Palin as his running mate. But the mainstream media did not report the story until the McCain campaign announced that Bristol was pregnant, in part to tamp down the rumors about Trig. Bristol delivered a baby boy in December.
In the interview, Palin also reiterated her wish that she had had more input on strategy during the campaign.
"If I were giving advice to myself back on the day my candidacy was announced, I'd say, 'Tell the campaign that you'll be callin' some of the shots.' Don't just assume that they know you well enough to make all your decisions for ya," Palin said.
On other topics, Palin said she hunts and goes fishing to provide "good clean healthy protein" for her family. Mooseburger is the secret to a good chili recipe, she said.
"I don't know if you can get it commercially in New York," Palin said. "Come up here to my home, and I'll prepare it for ya."
Palin said she named Bristol in part for Bristol, Conn. - home of the sports network ESPN.
"When I was in high school, my desire was to be a sportscaster," she said. "Until I learned that you'd have to move to Bristol, Connecticut. It was far away. So instead, I had a daughter and named her Bristol."
Vote for Sarah Palin for 8 more years of war
Looks like Obama will give you 8 more years of war too!
Didn't the same two thirds of the population support George W. Bush's war in Afghanistan and Iraq? Give those idiots some time and when the freedom fighters in Afghanistan start killing Americans like the freedom fighters in Iraq are killing Americans Obama's support of the flawed Afghanistan war will fall just like George W. Bush support fell.Poll: Most back Obama's troop plan for Afghanistan
By Susan Page, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — Americans by 2-1 approve of President Obama's decision to send 17,000 additional U.S. troops to Afghanistan despite skepticism over whether they can succeed in stabilizing the security situation there within the next few years. A USA TODAY/Gallup Poll taken Friday through Sunday shows a reservoir of support for Obama's first major military decision as president. Two-thirds express approval of his order to expand the U.S. deployment to Afghanistan by 50%; one third disapprove.
Half of those surveyed say they'd support a decision to send another 13,000 troops, which would fulfill the request by U.S. commanders to nearly double the U.S. force in Afghanistan even as troops are being withdrawn from Iraq.
Even so, there is measurable opposition. One of four Americans says Obama should reduce the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan or withdraw them entirely. That opposition is stronger among Obama's fellow Democrats than among Republicans: 29% of Democrats, compared to 17% of Republicans.
The U.S.-led war in Afghanistan was launched a month after Sept. 11 attacks in 2001, targeting the al-Qaeda terrorists who planned the attacks and the fundamentalist Taliban regime that sheltered them. About 36,000 U.S. troops are now on duty there.
Americans are split over whether the United States will be able to establish a stable enough situation in Afghanistan within the next three years to allow most U.S. troops to be withdrawn. While 49% say they will, another 46% say they won't. Most of those predict a stalemate between the United States and the Taliban.
The survey of 1,013 adults, taken by landline and cellphone, has a margin of error of +/— 3 percentage points.
Afghan bomb kills 4 US troops; deadliest this year
By HEIDI VOGT, Associated Press Writer Heidi Vogt, Associated Press Writer
KABUL – A roadside bomb killed four U.S. troops patrolling in southern Afghanistan on Tuesday in the deadliest single attack on international forces this year. An Afghan civilian working with the Americans also died.
The troops were patrolling with Afghan forces when their vehicle struck a bomb Tuesday afternoon, the U.S. military said in a statement. The military did not release the attack's location pending the notification of relatives.
The previous deadliest attack against U.S. forces this year was an explosion in Zabul province in January that killed three troops.
Twenty-nine Americans troops have died in Afghanistan this year, far surpassing the eight U.S. forces killed in the first two months of 2008.
The U.S. is increasing troop levels in Afghanistan. A record 38,000 U.S. forces now operate in the country, many in Taliban strongholds in the dangerous south.
President Barack Obama last week announced the deployment of 17,000 more troops to Afghanistan, adding to the 38,000 American forces already fighting a strengthening insurgency. Taliban militants have increased attacks the last three years and now hold sway in large areas of countryside.
Taliban bombs once caused relatively few casualties among soldiers in armored vehicles, but more powerful charges now cause massive damage even to well protected Humvees.
In a separate incident in southern Helmand province on Monday, coalition and Afghan forces killed 16 militants when responding to gunfire from insurgents on their convoy, the U.S. said in another statement. There were no other reports of casualties, the statement said.
Afghan, Pakistani diplomats in US for 'rethink'
WASHINGTON (AFP) — The top diplomats of Pakistan and Afghanistan were opening talks in Washington Tuesday as US senators called for a rethink on billions of dollars sent to Islamabad for the "war on terror."
The talks come as part of a reassessment of US strategy by President Barack Obama, who plans to deploy another 17,000 US troops to Afghanistan and to put further focus on fighting extremism in Pakistan.
The foreign ministers of Afghanistan and Pakistan -- which have often been at loggerheads over the conflict -- will meet Tuesday ahead of a three-way session Thursday with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Clinton "looks forward to meeting with both ministers, hearing their views, and of course sharing our views on what we believe is going on, on the ground," State Department spokesman Robert Woods said.
Ahead of the meeting, a congressional watchdog faulted a lack of a "comprehensive plan" for fighting extremism in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) bordering Afghanistan.
The tribal areas have never been fully under Pakistani control and are believed to be the hideout for Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants forced out of Afghanistan following the 2001 US military offensive.
The Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, found the United States has spent 12.3 billion dollars since 2002 aiming to end the "terrorist threat" on Pakistan's border with Afghanistan.
"Despite six years of US and Pakistani government efforts, Al-Qaeda has regenerated its ability to attack the United States and continues to maintain a safe haven in Pakistan?s FATA," it said.
It found that more than 70 percent of the US assistance was military spending -- mostly funding for operations. The report said it did not include covert operations.
Senator Robert Menendez, who heads the Foreign Relations subcommittee on international assistance, said the report showed US aid to Pakistan was not working.
"It's clear that the strategy in place over the past seven years must be rethought if we are to improve our security," said Menendez, a member of Obama's Democratic Party.
"I look forward to working on a policy that focuses assistance on institutions that help ensure long-term stability and minimize the threat in Pakistan," he said.
Senator Tom Harkin said the previous administration of George W. Bush had "thrown billions of taxpayer dollars down a rabbit hole.
"This colossal foreign policy and national security failure is yet another legacy item of the Bush administration -- one that we will work to turn around with President Obama and the new Congress," he said.
A deputy to Pakistan's top Taliban commander on Monday declared a unilateral ceasefire in Bajaur, one of the seven federally administered tribal areas, after a months-long operation by Pakistani forces.
Islamabad says the offensive proves its commitment to crush the insurgents.
But Democratic Representative George Miller, who recently traveled to Afghanistan, said that Pakistan was not fully committed to fighting extremists, citing the role of the country's powerful intelligence agency.
"In Pakistan, we can no longer suffer the duplicity of that government in sort of fighting and not fighting and supporting and not supporting," Miller said.
He went to Afghanistan and Italy, the current chairman of the Group of Eight rich nations, with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Pelosi, one of Obama's key allies, flatly rejected comparisions between Afghanistan and Vietnam, where the US-allied southern government fell after years of troop buildups by Washington.
"This is not the beginning of an escalation," Pelosi said.
Obama plans to deploy some 17,000 extra troops to Afghanistan. Currently about 70,000 foreign troops -- 38,000 of them from the United States -- are stationed in the country.
The title says in 18 months all the troops will be out of Iraq, but thats a lie! The fine print says all the troops will be out by December 2011. Which means Obama won't have all of the troops out of Iraq for almost 3 years!
Of course given the nature of politicians change their stories on the fly (a polite way of saying they lie) who knows when the troops will really be out of Iraq? Will it really be in 2012 when Obama is running for re-election or will he pass it on to the next president in 2013.
Of course Obama has this new improved war in Afghanistan so how long will that go on? The Soviets got their butts kicked in Afghanistan and of course we will almost certainly get our buts kicked in Afghanistan!
If you ask me it looks like Obama just moved the Iraq war from the front burner of the stove to the back burner, while moving the Afghanistan war from the back burner to the front burner.
This sounds like a repeat of that Goldwater Johnson thing. Goldwater said he was going to kick some commie ass in Vietnam, and Johnson said he wouldn't. But then Johnson had the American Empire invade Vietnam anyhow?
Obama sounds like he is taking the path of Johnson!
Officials: Most troops out of Iraq in 18 months
By PAMELA HESS and ANNE GEARAN, Associated Press Writers Pamela Hess And Anne Gearan
WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama plans to order that all U.S. combat troops be withdrawn from Iraq by August 2010, administration officials said Tuesday, ending the war that defined his upstart presidential campaign three months later than he had promised.
Obama's plan would pull out all combat troops 19 months after his inauguration, although he had promised repeatedly during the 2008 campaign that he would withdraw them 16 months after taking office. That schedule, based on removing roughly one brigade a month, was predicated on commanders determining that it would not endanger U.S. troops left behind or Iraq's fragile security.
Pledging to end the war in 16 months helped to build enormous grass-roots support for Obama's White House bid.
The withdrawal plan — an announcement could come as early as this week — calls for leaving a large contingent of troops behind, between 30,000 and 50,000 troops, to advise and train Iraqi security forces and to protect U.S. interests.
Also staying beyond the 19 months would be intelligence and surveillance specialists and their equipment, including unmanned aircraft, according to two administration officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because the plan has not been made public.
The complete withdrawal of American forces will take place by December 2011, the period by which the U.S. agreed with Iraq to remove all troops.
A senior White House official said Tuesday that Obama is at least a day away from making a final decision. He further said an announcement on Wednesday was unlikely, but he said that Obama could discuss Iraq during a trip to North Carolina on Friday.
About 142,000 U.S. troops are in Iraq, roughly 14 brigades, about 11,000 more than the total in Iraq when President George W. Bush announced in January 2007 that he would "surge" the force to put down the insurgency. He sent an additional 21,000 combat troops to Baghdad and Anbar province.
Although the number of combat brigades has dropped from 20 to 14, the U.S. has increased the number of logistical and other support troops. A brigade is usually about 3,000 to 5,000 troops.
Obama's campaign promise to withdraw troops in 16 months was based on a military estimate on what would be an orderly pace of removing troops, given the logistical difficulties of removing so many people and tons of equipment, a U.S. military official said.
The 19-month strategy is a compromise between commanders and advisers who are worried that security gains could backslide in Iraq and those who think the bulk of U.S. combat work is long since done.
The White House considered at least two other options to withdraw combat forces — one that followed Obama's 16-month timeline and one that stretched withdrawal over 23 months, The Associated Press reported earlier this month.
Some U.S. commanders have spoken more optimistically in recent months about prospects for reducing the force.
Marine Maj. Gen. John Kelly, who just left his job overseeing U.S. operations in Anbar Province, said Tuesday that he saw violence drop to an almost "meaningless" level over the past year.
Kelly told reporters Tuesday that in the area that was the home ground of the Sunni insurgency, American combat forces don't have enough to do and most could have pulled out months ago.
"There is still a security issue there, but in the province I just left the (Iraqi) army and the police are more than handling the remnants of what used to be al-Qaida," Kelly said. "There's other parts of Iraq that aren't going quite as well but all of Iraq is doing pretty well."
According to officials, Obama had requested a range of options from his top military advisers, including one that would have withdrawn troops in 16 months. Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, had recently forwarded withdrawal alternatives to the White House for Obama's consideration.
In addition to the U.S. troops to be withdrawn, there is a sizable cadre of contractors who provide services to them who would pack their bags as well. There were 148,050 defense contractor personnel working in Iraq as of December, 39,262 of them U.S. citizens.
There are more than 200 U.S. military installations in Iraq. According to Army officials interviewed by the Government Accountability Office, it can take up to two months to shut down small outposts that hold up to 300 troops. Larger entrenched facilities, like Balad Air Base, could take up to 18 months to close, according to the GAO.
As of Monday, at least 4,250 members of the U.S. military had died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. More than 31,000 have been injured. An additional 35,841 have received medical air transport due to non-hostile incidents.
Congress has approved more than $657 billion so far for the Iraq war, according to a report last year from the Congressional Research Service.
Associated Press writers Jennifer Loven, Robert Burns, Lolita C. Baldor, Steven Hurst, Anne Flaherty, Richard Lardner and Pauline Jelinek contributed to this report.
Palin sister-in-law accused of breaking into home
Apr. 3, 2009 08:42 PM
Associated Press
ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Police say Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's sister-in-law is accused of breaking into the same home twice to steal money.
Deputy Wasilla Police Chief Greg Wood says 35-year-old Diana Palin was arrested Thursday after she was confronted by the homeowner in the governor's hometown of Wasilla. She faces two counts of felony burglary and misdemeanor counts of criminal trespass and theft.
Wood says tire tracks and shoe prints tied Palin to another break-in Tuesday in which $400 was taken. Police have not tied Palin to another burglary at the home last week.
Governor spokeswoman Meghan Stapleton says Palin is the half sister of the governor's husband and the family has no comment.
Diana Palin's husband says his wife has a court-appointed attorney.
Friends, foes cash in on Palin
Vogel Kenneth P. Vogel – Thu Apr 16, 5:35 am ET
Since the conclusion of the presidential election, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has largely avoided the political fundraising circuit. Nevertheless, the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee has emerged as an almost unparalleled fundraising force, with both foes and fans minting money off the mere mention of her name.
The candidates and causes that have climbed aboard the Palin gravy train include, but aren’t limited to, abortion rights foes and supporters, environmental groups and political committees supporting both Republican and Democratic candidates. It’s a testament not only to her star power but also to the strong feelings she generates among partisans.
For the most part, Palin herself is an unwitting participant in the burgeoning business.
“The only authorized thing out there at this point is SarahPAC. And the rest are just using her name and brand to draw attention and roll in the dollars,” said Meg Stapleton, a spokeswoman for SarahPAC, the committee Palin set up in January to raise money for her political staff, travels and contributions to like-minded candidates.
Aside from an early e-mailed solicitation from the group and a Thursday anti-abortion banquet in Indiana that the PAC will pay for Palin to attend, neither the governor nor her PAC has engaged in much fundraising this year because of her attempts to focus on Alaska’s legislative session.
But that hasn’t stopped others from seeking to fill their own coffers by pillorying her in direct mail, piggybacking on her stances and symbolism, hinting she might appear at their fundraisers and sometimes even falsely implying contributions will go directly to Palin.
With some groups, it’s not entirely clear what the overarching goal is other than to tap into the Palin cash pipeline.
“Sarah Palin’s Defense Fund,” for instance, was the name of one curious entity until a sternly worded letter from a Palin lawyer instructed the site’s proprietor to “remove all references to Gov. Sarah Palin and/or her likeness from your site pending written approval.” That prompted the proprietor to replace that fund with another called “Sarah's War Chest,” which seeks contributions “to encourage her to run in the upcoming elections.”
Last month, a different group called Americans in Contact PAC launched a high-tech, multistate campaign seeking contributions to help reelect Palin as Alaska governor in 2010, even though its own direct mail included puzzling fine print serving notice that all contributions “are only used in federal elections."
Stapleton said that Palin’s virtual absence from the fundraising scene has created a vacuum that others have used to their benefit. But she asserted that continued intense interest in the Alaska governor will enable her to be a successful fundraiser when she does hit the rubber chicken circuit, regardless of how many groups have tapped her name to raise money.
“If we find that other people have had a chance at the dollars first, that’s OK,” she said. “We’re not really concerned about diluting any message. It’s just we’re concerned about people thinking the dollars are going for her or her vision or her philosophy or values when it may just be going for a big-screen TV.”
Stapleton singled out an Americans in Contact PAC direct mailer that arrived at the Palin residence in Wasilla, Alaska.
“[Palin’s husband] Todd brought it to my house and said ‘you guys shouldn’t be doing this,’” Stapleton recalled. “And I said ‘Todd, that’s not from us.’ But it was quite tricky. And, gosh, I was fooled reading through it.”
That certainly wasn’t the intent of the mailer, said Gabriel S. Joseph III, the treasurer of Americans in Contact, which on its website lists its mission as an effort “to identify social and fiscal conservatives throughout America and engage them at the grass-roots level in the political process of elections and legislation at all levels of government.”
“This is just an independent, altruistic, committed effort to do our part to help Sarah Palin get reelected governor of Alaska. Period. End of line,” Joseph said, explaining that the PAC is paying a polling, data-mining and fundraising firm of which he is the president, ccAdvertising, to prospect for likely donors by making so-called artificial intelligence telephone calls to a database of “13 million identified conservatives from previous efforts.”
Between September and the end of last year — the period covered by the PAC’s only Federal Election Commission filings — Americans in Contact raised $73,000, contributed $1,750 to candidates and paid $28,000 to ccAdvertising for “PAC surveys” and phone and administrative services.
Joseph wouldn’t say how the PAC would spend the money raised from its Palin appeal (“Why would I want the enemy to know what’s going on?” he said). Instead, he explained that, generally speaking, “there is money spent in raising the money. But there is also money spent in accumulating the data of supporters for her that can then be generated and used in getting out the vote efforts and otherwise.”
More important, he said the data can be used “to identify more donors and more supporters potentially to build an army of supporters for Sarah Palin. Of Sarah Palin, not for Sarah Palin. Of Sarah Palin.”
Other conservative groups see Palin’s drawing power and pine for her to headline their fundraisers, with some reticent to take "no" for an answer.
“I can’t tell how many invitations I’ve seen with ‘Gov. Palin’ in 25-point font and ‘invited’ in 1-point font,” said Stapleton of SarahPAC.
The Palin pitch is proving irresistible for both sides of the abortion debate. The Susan B. Anthony List, a group that supports female politicians who oppose abortion rights, began seeing its paid membership spike soon after Republican presidential nominee John McCain tapped Palin — a vigorous abortion rights opponent — to be his running mate, said its political director Joy Yearout.
“It’s invigorated us in ways that we could never have anticipated,” she said.
The group used Palin in fundraising e-mails during the campaign, and it’s continued raising money through a passive appeal on a free social networking site it established called “Team Sarah” that boasts 65,000 members, said Yearout.
Palin appears to be just as effective for groups supporting abortion rights.
An anonymous viral e-mail asking abortion rights supporters to contribute to Planned Parenthood “in Sarah Palin’s name” generated more than $1 million in contributions in the month after the Republican convention, according to spokesman Tait Sye.
And NARAL Pro-Choice America used direct mail and e-mail solicitations targeting Palin to boost its fundraising “significantly” in 2008, said spokesman Ted Miller.
“Although she has taken a somewhat lower profile now, if she chooses to reemerge and take on a more public profile in either attacking President Obama or pushing anti-choice policies, our members will respond in kind,” Miller said.
Another group that saw its fundraising soar by opposing Palin was the Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund, which raised more than $1 million to air an ad in swing states blasting Palin for supporting aerial wolf hunting.
The ad, which was reshot after the election to feature Ashley Judd, continues to boost the group’s membership and fundraising, said fund president Rodger Schlickeisen.
“In this age, when a lot of the donors out there look at this administration and this Congress and incorrectly conclude that [on] environment and conservation [issues], their worries are over, it is very beneficial to us to be able to point to Alaska and Palin,” he said.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee apparently agrees, since it sent out a pair of fundraising appeals blasting Palin last month after the Republican House and Senate campaign committees prematurely announced that Palin would be headlining their June fundraiser.
“They have her. We have you,” read an e-mailed DCCC solicitation with Palin’s picture.
Another DCCC plea for cash, this one from Democratic consultant and commentator James Carville, suggested Palin should “get back on that bridge to nowhere.”
It hardly mattered that Palin ended up backing out of the GOP dinner, said Christian Heinze, whose blog “GOP 12” obsessively tracks every mention, movement and statement of prospective 2012 Republican presidential candidates.
“She’s becoming the new Rush Limbaugh,” Heinze said. “I get e-mails from people all the time saying ‘when is Sarah Palin going to go away?’ But neither side wants her to go away. She’s benefitting both of them. They seem to be getting pretty equitable bang for the buck off of her.”
GOP says Alaska Gov. Palin will attend fundraiser
By BEN EVANS, Associated Press Writer Ben Evans, Associated Press Writer – 26 mins ago
WASHINGTON – Republicans said Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin will attend a major congressional fundraiser Monday night, ending a will-she-or-won't-she mystery that has overshadowed the event and frustrated the GOP. Republican officials involved in organizing the event said Palin, the party's 2008 vice presidential nominee, had accepted an invitation to attend without a speaking role. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.
But just hours before the dinner, there was still some confusion.
Fred Malek, a Palin friend and finance chairman of John McCain's 2008 presidential campaign, said she would attend and "be recognized and I think it will be well-received by all attendees and be a real plus for the committees."
But a spokeswoman for Palin's political committee, Meghan Stapleton, said in an e-mail: "Not confirming."
The last-minute uncertainty is the latest twist in an unusual public flap between Palin and congressional leaders who run the GOP's fundraising committees, and who had originally asked the telegenic, potential 2012 presidential candidate to headline the event.
In March, organizers replaced Palin as the keynote speaker with former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., after she wavered over accepting the invitation for the annual Senate-House dinner.
She hadn't been expected to attend until last week, when her advisers approached organizers saying she would be near Washington and would like to come.
Republican officials involved in the discussions said Palin was invited to sit at a head table but told she would not be given a chance to speak for fear that she might overshadow Gingrich.
Palin balked at that arrangement but as late as Monday had not made clear whether she would attend, the officials said. Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, made a personal appeal over the weekend for her to attend.
Late Monday afternoon, the officials said Palin's aides had informed organizers that she and her husband, Todd Palin, would attend. They are slated to sit at Cornyn's table, the officials said.
Palin catapulted to fame last year as presidential candidate John McCain's running mate and is widely believed to be eyeing a presidential bid in 2012.
In March, Cornyn's committee and its House counterpart, the National Republican Congressional Committee, put out a news release saying she would be the keynote speaker at the dinner, which is one of the party's largest fundraisers. Palin's representatives said later that the governor never confirmed that she would speak and wanted to make sure the event did not interfere with state business.
Gingrich also has been mentioned as a possible presidential candidate in 2012, and the confusion over the fundraiser comes as Palin is denying an allegation that she borrowed heavily from an article he co-wrote in a recent speech.
Responding to an accusation from a blogger on the Huffington Post Web site, Palin's attorney said the governor gave Gingrich proper credit when she used some of his material about former President Ronald Reagan.
Sarah Palin: Letterman owes women an apology
Jun. 12, 2009 07:26 AM
Associated Press
NEW YORK -- Sarah Palin says David Letterman owes an apology to young women across the country for his joke about her daughter.
The Alaska governor appeared on NBC's "Today" show Friday, continuing a feud with the CBS "Late Show" funnyman over his joke earlier this week that Palin's daughter got "knocked up" by New York Yankee third baseman Alex Rodriguez during their recent trip to New York.
Palin also said she doesn't believe she should be automatically considered the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012. Asked by Matt Lauer whether Letterman owed her daughter an apology, the former vice presidential candidate broadened it.
"I would like to see him apologize to young women across the country for contributing to kind of that thread that is throughout our culture that makes it sound like it is OK to talk about young girls in that way, where it's kind of OK, accepted and funny to talk about statutory rape," she said. "It's not cool. It's not funny."
Letterman has said his joke was about Palin's 18-year-old daughter Bristol, who is an unwed mother (no name was used). Problem was, the Alaska governor was traveling with 14-year-old Willow. Palin said it took Letterman time to think of the "convenient excuse" that he was talking about Bristol instead of Willow.
Letterman said on his show Wednesday that he would "never, ever make jokes about raping or having sex of any description with a 14-year-old girl." He said he was guilty of poor taste.
Palin said Friday that it was time for people to rise up against Letterman's form of humor.
"No wonder young girls especially have such low self-esteem in America when we think it's funny for a so-called comedian to get away with such a remark as he did," she said. "I don't think that's acceptable."
She said there was a double standard where the media treats President Barack Obama's family as generally off-limits while her family was the target of jokes during last fall's presidential campaign and beyond.
Palin denied that it was also in bad taste for her spokeswoman, Meghan Stapleton, to say Thursday that Palin would not appear on Letterman's "Late Show" because "it would be wise to keep Willow away from David Letterman."
"Maybe he couldn't be trusted because Willow has had enough of this type of comments and maybe Willow would want to react to him in a way that maybe would catch him off-guard," she said. "That's one way to interpret such a comment."
The controversy may wind up giving both Palin and Letterman attention at a time both could use it. Palin is considered a potential future candidate for national office, and standing up for her family could make her a hero to her fans. Letterman is in the second week of his new competition with NBC's Conan O'Brien, and the two are running neck-and-neck in the ratings.
On his show Thursday, Letterman joked that Palin had called to invite him on a hunting trip - the punch line no doubt a reference to former Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shooting a friend while hunting.
His other references to the controversy were more oblique. When guest Denzel Washington said he would get in trouble with Obama for making a joke about the president's big ears, Letterman clearly had something else on his mind.
"You aren't in the kind of trouble I'm in," he said.
Asked if her run for the vice presidency last year with Sen. John McCain effectively puts her in the position of front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012, Palin replied, "Oh, heck no."
"Not necessarily me. I don't think I need any kind of title in order to effect change," she said.
Asked if she should have the right of first refusal of the party's nod, Palin said: "Nobody's entitled to that right of approval. There's no entitlement accepted, I believe, in our party. You have to walk the walk, not just talk the talk. ... Your accomplishments have to speak for themselves."
Could Palin flap be Letterman's Hugh Grant?
By DAVID BAUDER, AP Television Writer David Bauder, Ap Television Writer – 1 hr 27 mins ago
NEW YORK – Sarah Palin would no doubt be horrified by the idea, but there's a chance she could become the same boon to David Letterman's career that Hugh Grant was to Jay Leno's.
Grant's 1995 appearance on NBC's "Tonight" show after a prostitution arrest, where Leno famously asked "what were you thinking?," was seen in retrospect as a turning point in the late-night race. It drew a huge audience and propelled Leno to the top of the ratings, a spot he would not relinquish.
Letterman did not court last week's battle with Palin, who called him "perverted" for making a joke about her daughter getting "knocked up" by New York Yankee Alex Rodriguez, and he said in retrospect the remark was in poor taste.
Palin rebuffed his invitations to appear on the show, but that might not matter. The story had the effect of turning the attention to Letterman at a critical time, during the second week of his new competition with Leno's replacement, Conan O'Brien.
"It will be interesting to see if that can be maintained or whether it is one of those temporary things," said Robert Thompson, director of the Center for the Study of Popular Television at Syracuse University.
The final numbers won't be out until later in the week, but there's a strong chance that Letterman could average more viewers than the "Tonight" show in the second week of O'Brien's new 11:35 p.m. job. That hasn't happened since 2005, and the timing is significant: some of Leno's old fans may be more amenable to searching for a new late-night habit during the transition period.
It's difficult to tell whether Letterman received a boost this week because of people interested in what he was going to say about Palin. Strong guests like Julia Roberts and Denzel Washington were a boost, too.
Letterman has referenced the NBC transition in a handful of jokes over the past two weeks, many of them poking fun of himself as much as his rival.
"Conan O'Brien, of course, is the new host of the `Tonight' show,'" Letterman said a week ago. "Did they even look at my audition tape?"
On a top 10 list of Signs it's Time for Kim Jong-Il to retire, was No. 2: "Republic already named his successor, Conan Jong-Il. Topping the list of Surprising Facts about Sonia Sotomayor was: "Demonstrated impeccable judgment by watching Conan."
Despite the competition, no doubt it's hard for Letterman to exhibit the same animosity toward O'Brien as he did toward Leno. O'Brien has openly acknowledged his debt to Letterman, and his subversive anti-talk show style is more reminiscent of what Letterman did in the 1980s than what Letterman is doing today.
Letterman maintains his biting sarcasm, but at age 62 he has evolved into more of a traditional talk show host than his rivals. Thompson said he believes Letterman is more topical than ever, in part a recognition of Jon Stewart's success at Comedy Central. The Letterman of two decades ago attracted attention for dropping watermelons from the roof of a building or wearing a Velcro suit; now he gets it for charged interviews with John McCain or Joaquin Phoenix.
When Letterman did a brief filmed skit last week tied to Washington's new movie, "The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3" it seemed like a quaint throwback; O'Brien does such pre-filmed segments all the time.
"David Letterman's biggest problem is he was brilliant in going against the grain," he said. "David Letterman is now the grain. He's his own toughest act to follow. So that's why it is smart that he has tried to change the game."
Letterman, who went through a life-changing heart surgery and became a father in the past decade, seems committed to the new competition. It was revealed this week that he had agreed to a contract extension that will keep him on the "Late Show" into 2012, and there's no indication that he's looking toward retirement.
His longevity, however, may be his biggest handicap in getting back to the top.
"By and large, late-night comedy is a young wise-guy's business," Thompson said.
The fans who thought he was fabulously hip in the 1980s now have their own teen-agers looking to make their own late-night TV habits. Letterman has a love-him-or-hate him personality, and a transition by one of his competitors isn't likely to change the minds of viewers who made them up years ago. He jokes about all politicians but it's becoming clearer where his sympathies lie — something that Palin and her supporters sensed in their criticisms. NBC has touted O'Brien's show as the fun place to be in late-night, particularly for younger viewers, with the implication that Letterman is a cranky old man.
It would be foolish to count him out.
Palin may have inadvertently given Letterman a platform at a time when it is most valuable; the next few weeks will show how he's been able to use it.
Palin reimburses Alaska $8K for 9 family trips
Jun. 23, 2009 07:37 PM
Associated Press
ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Gov. Sarah Palin has paid more than $8,100 to reimburse Alaska for the costs associated with nine trips taken with her children.
Palin's attorney, Thomas Van Flein, says the governor paid $8,143.62 to the state on June 19 for the nine trips, some with more than one of her five children, taken between January 2007 and February of this year. The payment was due Tuesday.
An ethics complaint had alleged Palin abused her power by charging the state when her children traveled with her. The Alaska Personnel Board found no wrongdoing, but Palin agreed to reimburse the state for trips found to be of questionable state interest. Van Flein and state administrative director Linda Perez sent The Associated Press copies of the check and other documents of the transaction.
The board's investigator, Timothy Petumenos, said in his report that state rules give little guidance to determine ethical standards for travel by the governor's family. But he interpreted the law to require that the state pay only if the first family serves an important state interest.
Van Flein noted that Palin had followed historical practices on first family travel and that her travel requests were processed by the same administrators who processed requests for predecessors, Frank Murkowski and Tony Knowles.
“No one challenged Gov. Murkowski's or Governor Knowles' travel practices,” Van Flein said in an e-mail. “The rules were, and are, being changed in midstream for Governor Palin. However, as noted in the agreement at the time the Governor wants to exceed minimum legal standards.'”
Anchorage resident Frank Gwartney, a Democrat, filed the complaint in late October. It closely followed a report by The Associated Press that Palin charged the state more than $21,000 for her three daughters' commercial flights, including events where they weren't invited, and later ordered their expense forms amended to specify official state business.
Palin was the Republican vice presidential candidate when the complaint was filed and after the February settlement she called the grievance “an obvious political weapon.”
As part of the settlement, the Alaska Department of Law was asked to develop specific rules clarifying when the state should pay for a governor's family travel. That effort is under way, with the goal to have a final draft by the end of the year, according to Judy Bockmon, an assistant attorney general.
Also on Tuesday, the governor's office announced the 15th dismissal of an ethics complaint against Palin or one of her staff. It alleged Kris Perry — director of the governor's Anchorage office — worked on state time to benefit Palin's interests during and after her vice presidential run.
The governor's office said the complaint was filed even after Perry obtained an opinion from Perez, her ethics supervisor.
“It is outrageous to file an ethics complaint against a state employee who sought and obtained ethics guidance in advance,” Mike Nizich, Palin's chief of staff, said in a statement. “This is not about ethics. This is not about holding the governor or state employees accountable. This is pure harassment.”
Palin: I'd come out ahead in run against Obama
Jun. 30, 2009 01:22 PM
Associated Press
ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin says she'd come out ahead if she went one-on-one with fellow jogger President Barack Obama in a long run, according to an interview published online Tuesday.
"I betcha I'd have more endurance," she told Runner's World magazine. "My one claim to fame in my own little internal running circle is a sub-four marathon. What I lacked in physical strength or skill, I made up for in determination and endurance."
Palin, a 45-year-old former beauty queen who became the first woman and youngest person to be elected Alaska's governor, is featured in the August issue of the magazine for jogging aficionados. She was dubbed the country's "hottest" governor when she stole the show as U.S. Sen. John McCain's presidential running mate in 2008. In the interview, she talks about her fondness for running, which is perhaps why the mother of five who gave birth to a baby boy last year is able to keep trim. The magazine on Tuesday published an extended version on its Web site.
Palin said running wasn't just a body thing and that it helps keep her emotionally and mentally in shape.
"I feel so crappy if I go more than a few days without running. No matter how rotten I feel before or during a run, it's always worth it to me afterward. Sweat is my sanity," Palin tells the magazine.
She said one of her biggest frustrations while campaigning with McCain was that the senator's staff didn't carve out time for Palin to get in a run. But she recounted one memorable run at McCain's ranch in which she fell coming down a hill. The incident happened a few days before the debate with now Vice President Joe Biden.
"I was so stinkin' embarrassed that a golf cart full of Secret Service guys had to pull up beside me. My hands just got torn up, and I was dripping blood. In the debate, you could see a big ugly Band-Aid on my right hand," Palin said.
The governor also pointed out an advantage to running: When she's out, she's just another hockey mom in running shoes.
"When I run, I'm totally incognito because I'm not wearing a trough full of makeup. I can go running through a mob of tourists and they don't recognize me," Palin said.
And for her running soundtrack, Palin said she likes to crank up classic rock n' roll, usually Van Halen and AC/DC, then keep it mellow with a little country music. She wraps up with Amy Grant songs.
The August issue with Palin's interview goes on sale July 7.
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin will resign from office July 26
Jul. 3, 2009 02:13 PM
Associated Press .
WASILLA, Alaska — Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin made a surprise announcement Friday that she is resigning from office at the end of the month without explaining why she plans to step down, raising speculation that she would focus on a run for the White House in the 2012 race.
The former Republican vice presidential candidate hastily called a news conference Friday morning at her home in suburban Wasilla, giving such short notice that only a few reporters actually made it to the announcement. State troopers blocked late-arriving media outside her home, and her spokesman, Dave Murrow, finally emerged to confirm that Palin will step down July 26. He refused to give details about the governor's future plans.
“Once I decided not to run for re-election, I also felt that to embrace the conventional Lame Duck status in this particular climate would just be another dose of politics as usual, something I campaigned against and will always oppose,” Palin said in a statement released by her office. Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell will be inaugurated at the governor's picnic in Fairbanks at the end of the month, Murrow said.
Palin was first elected in 2006 on a populist platform. But her popularity has waned as she waged in partisan politics following her return from the presidential campaign. Her term would have ended in 2010.
Palin said she planned to make a “positive change outside government,” without elaborating. She also expressed frustration with her current role as governor.
“I cannot stand here as your governor and allow the millions of dollars and all that time go to waste just so I can hold the title of governor,” Palin said.
Later, on Twitter, she promised supporters more details: “We'll soon attach info on decision to not seek re-election ... this is in Alaska's best interest, my family's happy ... it is good. Stay tuned”
Palin's decision even took Parnell by surprise. He said he was told on Wednesday evening, and was not aware that any presidential ambitions were behind the move.
Palin emerged from relative obscurity nearly a year ago when she was tapped as then Republican presidential candidate John McCain's running mate.
She was a controversial figure from the start, with comedian Tina Fey famously imitating her elaborate hairstyle and folksy “You betcha!” on “Saturday Night Live.”
Most recently, she led a public spat with “Late Show” host David Letterman over a joke he made about one of her daughters being “knocked up” by New York Yankees baseball player Alex Rodriguez during the governor's recent visit to New York. Palin's 18-year-old daughter, Bristol, is an unwed, teenage mother.
Letterman later apologized for the joke.
Palin's family and the ridicule they endure being in the public eye was part of her decision. She complained that her 14-month-old son, Trig, who was diagnosed with Down's syndrome, had been “mocked and ridiculed by some mean-spirited adults recently.” She didn't elaborate.
Palin campaigned on ethics reform in the 2006 election, defeating incumbent Gov. Frank Murkowski in the Republican primary and a former two-term Democratic governor, Tony Knowles, in the general election.
She enjoyed an extended honeymoon with lawmakers and voters alike. Her popularity was in the 80 percentile range, even though that fell after the bruising, partisan presidential campaign.
Palin's delivery of two weeks' notice rattles a Republican Party plagued with setbacks in recent weeks, including extramarital affairs disclosed by two other 2012 presidential prospects, Nevada Sen. John Ensign and South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford.
Ensign, a member of the Christian ministry Promise Keepers, stepped down from the Senate Republican leadership last month after admitting he had an affair for much of last year with a woman on his campaign staff who was married to one of his Senate aides. Ensign later disclosed he had helped the woman's husband get two jobs during the affair.
A government watchdog group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, wants the Senate ethics committee and the Federal Election Commission to investigate.
Just days after news of Ensign's affair broke, Sanford admitted an affair with a woman in Argentina. Some lawmakers are now calling for his resignation. Before the admission, Sanford had been missing from the state for five days visiting his lover. He had slipped his security detail, lied to his staff about where he was and failed to transfer power to the lieutenant governor in case of a state emergency.
Sanford admitted he also saw the mistress during a state-funded trip to Argentina last year. He promised to reimburse the state for part of the trip's costs. The state Commerce Department said the trip itinerary originally included only Brazil, but the governor requested economic development meetings in Argentina.
The GOP troubles seem to have left two prominent 2012 prospects, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and 2008 presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, unscathed, however.
Even for a nonconformist, Palin resignation defies political logic
by Rachel D'Oro - Jul. 4, 2009 08:35 AM
Associated Press .
Even for a nonconformist, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has defied political logic with her sudden, stunning announcement to leave office more than a year early.
Supporters and critics alike say the former GOP vice presidential candidate's resignation, announced Friday afternoon and effective July 26, is an inexplicable move for a high profile Republican widely seen as a contender for a White House run in 2012. A half-term governor campaigning for president?
“If she is thinking that leaving her term 16 months early is going to help her prepare to maybe go on to bigger and better things on the political stage, I think she's sadly mistaken. You just can't quit,” said Andrew Halcro, a Palin critic who lost the 2006 gubernatorial race to her.
Palin's abrupt announcement Friday rattled the Republican Party but left open the possibility of a presidential run. She and her staff are keeping mum on her future plans.
Palin's spokesman, David Murrow, said the governor didn't say anything to him about this being her “political finale.”
“She's looking forward to serving the public outside the governor's chair,” he said.
And Pam Pryor, a spokeswoman for Palin's political action committee, said the group continues to accept donations on its Web site, which saw an uptick in contributions Friday afternoon.
The announcement caught even current and former Palin advisers by surprise. Former members of Sen. John McCain's 2008 presidential campaign team, now dispersed across the country, traded perplexed e-mails and phone calls about the vice presidential nominee's decision to step down.
In a hastily arranged news conference at her home in Wasilla, a suburb of Anchorage, Palin said she had decided against running for re-election as Alaska's governor, and believed it was best to leave office even though she had 1.5 years left to her term. Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell will take her place.
“Many just accept that lame duck status, and they hit that road,” Palin said. “They draw a paycheck. They kind of milk it. And I'm not going to put Alaskans through that.”
Palin has proven formidable among the party's base. But the last week brought a highly critical piece in Vanity Fair magazine, with unnamed campaign aides questioning if Palin was really prepared for the presidency.
The backbiting continued with follow-up articles elsewhere recounting the nasty infighting that plagued her failed bid. Her advisers sniped with other Republicans, underscoring the deeply divided GOP looking for its next standard bearer.
Meghan Stapleton, Palin's personal spokeswoman, shot down speculation that ranged wildly from Palin dropping out of politics altogether to eyeing runs against fellow Alaska Republicans Rep. Don Young and Sen. Lisa Murkowski. Palin's comment about serving outside government refers to the present, she said.
Stapleton, however, said it's too early to say whether Palin would seek the presidency. In the meantime, the governor will continue to work to bring “positive change as a citizen without a title right now,” she said.
“Her vision is what's best for Alaska, which translates into what's best for America,” Stapleton said.
Murkowski, whose father was the governor when he lost to Palin in the 2006 Republican primary, was dismissive of the announcement.
“I am deeply disappointed that the governor has decided to abandon the state and her constituents before her term has concluded,” she said in a one-sentence statement.
At the news conference, Palin alluded to how she could help change the country and help military members — an indication that she didn't think her time on the national stage was over.
On her Twitter page Friday evening, Palin wrote that she was remembering America's service members on the eve of Fourth of July.
“Thinking of our vets who kept us free & our troops keeping us free today: THANK YOU!” she wrote on the social-networking Web site. Palin's decision not to seek re-election is a familiar one for those considering a presidential campaign. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney chose not to seek another term as he geared up for an unsuccessful 2008 presidential bid. Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty has announced he won't seek another term, giving him plenty of free time ahead of a potential 2012 bid. But Romney completed his term and Pawlenty plans to finish his.
Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics, said the announcement left many confused. “I think it eliminates her from serious consideration for the presidency in 2012,” he said.
Palin, 45, also has the potential to make far more money in the private sector than the $125,000 or so she has been making as governor. She already had a deal with publisher HarperCollins to produce her memoirs, with publication planned for next spring. Terms of the deal have not been disclosed. Six-figure book deals are common for high-profile political figures.
Palin emerged from relative obscurity nearly a year ago when she was tapped as then Republican presidential candidate McCain's running mate.
She was a controversial figure from the start and soon became the butt of talk-show jokes. Comedian Tina Fey famously imitated her elaborate updo and folksy “You betcha!” on “Saturday Night Live.” In Alaska, she saw her popularity wane this year after returning from the presidential campaign. She's become a polarizing figure, and multiple ethics complaints have been filed against her with the state personnel board.
All but two of the 15 complaints have been dismissed with no findings of wrongdoing, although one complaint led to Palin's agreement to reimburse the state about $8,100 for costs associated with trips taken with her children. The state says it has spent nearly $300,000 to investigate the complaints, and Palin says she has racked up more than $500,000 in legal fees fighting them.
Analysis: Palin's resignation hurts her future
by Philip Elliott - Jul. 4, 2009 11:41 AM
Associated Press .
WASHINGTON - Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's abrupt and unscripted holiday resignation is an odd way to launch a potential presidential bid and certainly no help for a party battered by scandal and fighting for relevancy.
Yet from a folksy figure who catapulted from obscure governor to conservative darling and vice presidential nominee, it's merely the latest move in a political drama that has left Republican elders scratching their heads.
No one is sure why Palin took such an unusual path. All points suggest a strategy designed to maintain her political viability with an eye toward a 2012 presidential bid. Barring a personal surprise or scandal, little else makes sense. Even in explaining her exit from the governor's office during the middle of her first term, former aides to Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and current allies criticized Palin for what they said was a typically erratic and seemingly irrational act. McCain, who named Palin his running mate in 2008, issued a terse statement wishing her well.
"If this is her launching pad for 2012, it's a curious move," said John Weaver, a former senior strategist for McCain's presidential bids. "Policy is politics, and she has no real accomplishments as governor."
Some party officials, including some once close to Palin, wondered whether she departed in advance of a brewing controversy, an assertion her camp denied. During the presidential campaign, McCain officials fretted about six or seven areas of personal and professional concern, according to a former official who helped investigate Palin's background after her rocky rollout.
This official, who spoke only on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal matters, said the governor's explanations for many subjects never fully passed muster, but the stretched-thin campaign was forced to accept them during the final march toward November.
While the straight-talking former small-town mayor didn't indicate what she would do after she leaves office this month, Palin's rambling exit statement offered clues about her political ambitions.
She says she wants to help Republicans win. That means she's could raise money and earn favors for another campaign.
She says she wants to travel. That means she could to find her way into high-value political centers such as Manchester, N.H., and Des Moines, Iowa.
She says the media are against her. That suggests she's casting herself as a victim again, a move right out of her campaign playbook.
She says she wants to better serve Alaska by stepping down as its governor. That means she's going to again buck the system and try to wrap herself in the cloak of change that helped Barack Obama win the White House.
She says she wants to protect her family. That means she could run as a family values candidate.
And, for good measure, she referenced President Abraham Lincoln and his role of making her home state part of the Union - a quiet claim to Obama's model for leadership.
Not a bad platform amid a Republican Party without a clear leader. Fighting among factions inside the GOP have pitted radio personality Rush Limbaugh against Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele; potential 2012 candidates against Washington; and out-of-power lawmakers against each other. All are struggling to cobble together unified opposition to the White House.
Palin tried to put herself above that mess. The former basketball star borrowed a sports metaphor to explain the decision.
"A good point guard drives through a full court press, protecting the ball, keeping her eye on the basket - and she knows exactly when to pass the ball so that the team can win. And I'm doing that," Palin said during a sometimes breathless 17-minute statement at her lakefront home in Wasilla, Alaska.
It's not obvious that going back into the locker room is her best play.
"A good point guard wouldn't walk off the court midgame and expect a better contract two or three years down the road," said Weaver, who left McCain's side before Palin was chosen as his party's No. 2. "She's not going to be a help for Republicans. ... I think people would be playing with fire (to count on her to help the GOP)."
But politics is an unpredictable game,
Despite the misstep, Palin enjoys an ability to connect with voters that cannot be taught. She drew larger crowds than McCain and became an overnight celebrity whose star power has stayed. She would have tremendous sway in Iowa, where the nation's first caucuses are held, and in South Carolina, where social conservatives drive the nominating process.
"She has national base of social conservatives she can count on for anything," said Rich Killion, an adviser to former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, another likely 2012 candidate. "But I can't get over how she convinces a general election audience how quitting on her constituents is a good thing,"
Sarah Palin bailing out to cut damages?
Alaska observers say Palin had gone fishin' on job
Posted 7/6/2009 9:07 AM ET
By Mark Thiessen, Associated Press Writer
JUNEAU, Alaska — As surprised fans and critics of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin traded guesses behind her decision to resign more than a year before her term ends, the former vice presidential candidate offered few hints at her political future, except to say she'd gone fishing.
Palin has stayed out of the public eye since she made the announcement Friday, but said in a Twitter update Sunday she was looking forward to joining her family as they commercially fish in Bristol Bay. But to many Alaskans, Palin has been off the job for awhile already, acting as a disengaged presence around the state Capitol since she returned from the presidential campaign trail last year.
"She had a surprising amount of disinterest in state government after November," said state Rep. Les Gara, D-Anchorage. "This state has a lot of problems, and she showed a complete lack of interest in solving them."
In Alaska, Palin has become a polarizing figure and the focus of multiple ethics complaints filed against her with the state personnel board. She has taken a beating from Senate Democrats over many of her recent appointments, including an attorney general candidate who became the first Cabinet appointment ever rejected by the Alaska Legislature.
But with all the thorny issues enveloping her in Alaska, Palin's quitting may be more about something simpler: cutting her losses.
Things weren't likely to improve, if she stayed in office. She faces a potential veto override of nearly $29 million in federal stimulus funds for energy efficiency programs, money she had rejected in fear that it could bind the state to federal building mandates.
"The drumbeat of adverse news coverage from Alaska would likely have continued and intensified had she remained governor," said Juneau economist and longtime Alaska political watcher Gregg Erickson. "It would have become an increasing liability to her national campaign."
A day after abruptly announcing she would soon give up her job as governor, Palin indicated on a social networking site that she would take on a larger, national role, citing a "higher calling" to unite the country along conservative lines. In the last few months, Palin had laid the groundwork for a possible presidential run, establishing a political action committee.
Erickson said that while Palin has received an adulatory reception from social conservatives in the Lower 48 states, in Alaska she's become a lightning rod for criticism and controversy.
It's easier to govern in Alaska when oil prices are high, but they are down from last year's historic highs and the budget is much tighter. And this year, Palin's signature project, getting a natural gas pipeline, moves into a critical phase: whether North Slope leaseholders will commit to shipping gas in the pipeline, which is still at least a decade away.
Palin has said stepping down as governor was about doing the right thing for Alaska -- not wanting to be a lame duck governor if she knew she wasn't running for re-election in 2010. She also has hinted that her decision was a strategic move aimed at gearing up for a run for president.
But many political observers in Alaska say it was obvious her heart wasn't in the job.
Palin no longer delivered bagels to lawmakers. She limited her access to the media, and when she did hold news conferences, and she relied on notes and her commissioners for backup. One legislator quipped after her state of the state address in January that the only eye contact she made in the legislative chamber was with the television camera.
State Sen. Gene Therriault, R-North Pole, says it's an unfair rap on Palin, one that was used by critics against her two predecessors.
"The detractors will always use that as a criticism because it's hard to evaluate. It's not surprising it's being used against the governor," he said. "It's an easy criticism to level, because you're never asked, 'Where's the proof?'"
Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell, who will be sworn into office July 26, told Fox News Sunday that Palin had spoken to him about "the concern she had for the cost of all the ethics investigations and the like, the way that that weighed on her with respect to her inability to just move forward Alaska's agenda on behalf of Alaskans in the current context of the environment."
Erickson, the Juneau political watcher, said the governor's resignation makes sense.
"Politically, I see it as a smart move. With the complete breakdown of her alliance with Democrats that marked her first two years as governor, she has no ability to move her policies forward in legislation. Indeed, her Alaska agenda, the gas pipeline in particular, is likely to fare much better with her out of the picture," Erickson said.
Palin has also faced growing criticism within the Republican party.
Last week, Vanity Fair magazine published a highly critical piece on Palin, with unnamed John McCain campaign aides questioning if Palin was ever really prepared for the presidency.
Republican pundits open fire on Sarah Palin
By Mark Z. Barabak
July 13, 2009
Since announcing her resignation, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has been pummeled by critics who have called her incoherent, a quitter, a joke and a "political train wreck." And those were fellow Republicans talking.
Palin has been a polarizing figure from the moment she stepped off the tundra into the bright lights last summer as John McCain's surprise vice presidential running mate. Some of that hostility could be expected, given the hyper-partisanship of today's politics.
What is remarkable is the contempt Palin has engendered within her own party and the fact that so many of her GOP detractors are willing, even eager, to express it publicly -- even with Palin an early front-runner for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination.
Some admit their preference that she stay in Alaska and forget about any national ambitions.
"I am of the strong opinion that, at present day, she is not ready to be the leading voice of the GOP," said Todd Harris, a party strategist who likened Palin to the hopelessly dated "Miami Vice" -- something once cool that people regard years later with puzzlement and laughter. "It's not even that she hasn't paid her dues. I personally don't think she's ready to be commander in chief."
Others suggest a delayed response to last year's shaky campaign performance, now that the race is over and Republicans feel free to speak their minds.
"I can't tell you one thing she brought to the ticket," said Stuart K. Spencer, who has been advising GOP candidates for more than 40 years. "McCain wanted to shock and surprise people, and he did -- in a bad way."
It is more than cruel sport, this picking apart of Alaska's departing chief executive. The sniping reflects a serious split within the Republican Party between its professional ranks and some of its most ardent followers, which threatens not only to undermine Palin's White House ambitions -- if, indeed, she harbors them -- but to complicate the party's search for a way back to power in Washington.
Consider a USA Today/Gallup poll released last week. About 7 in 10 Republicans said they would be likely to vote for Palin if she ran for president. Other surveys place Palin in a statistical dead heat with Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee, the former governors of Massachusetts and Arkansas, respectively, who sought the White House in 2008 and give every indication that they will try again in 2012.
Although any presidential poll taken this far out has to be taken with a sea's worth of salt, that is not the reason so many Republican strategists and party insiders dismiss Palin.
"People at the grass roots see a charismatic personality who is popular with other people at the grass roots. But their horizon only goes so far as people who think like them," said Mike Murphy. The veteran GOP ad man eviscerated Palin -- a "political train wreck," "an awful choice" for vice president, her resignation an "astonishing self-immolation" -- in a column published Thursday in the New York Daily News.
"Professional operatives keep their eye on a broader horizon and understand, without independents and swing voters, she can't win," Murphy said. "She's a stone-cold loser in a general election."
That, of course, is debatable and subject to any number of developments over the next few years. A Palin spokeswoman did not respond to requests for comment.
In an interview Sunday in the Washington Times, Palin said she planned to write a book and campaign for candidates nationwide, regardless of party affiliation, who shared her views on limited government, national defense and energy independence.
But the reaction to her resignation from Republican candidates around the country has been telling. Asked if they planned to invite Palin to visit and campaign on their behalf, several of those facing tough races -- the ones who need to do more than turn out the party faithful or collect their contributions -- were not rushing out the welcome mat.
"I don't generally need people from outside my district to do a fundraiser," Rep. Frank R. Wolf, a Republican from the Democratic-leaning suburbs of northern Virginia, told the Hill newspaper.
"There's others that I would have come in and campaign, and most of them would be my colleagues in the House," Rep. Lee Terry (R-Neb.) said in the same piece.
Whatever one thinks of Palin, there is no question she has been subjected to a level of internal sniping -- friendly fire seems like a misnomer -- that is extraordinary.
The Republican criticism of Palin, 45, began during McCain's presidential run, privately at first, then breaking into the open during the last troubled days of the Arizona senator's campaign. Finger-pointing and back-stabbing are hardly unusual in politics, especially on the losing side. But like so many things Palin-related -- the crowds, the adoration, the antipathy -- the verbal strafing seems of a whole other magnitude. (How many other losing vice presidential candidates would merit a 10,000-word exegesis in Vanity Fair, which depicted Alaska's governor as a narcissistic, one-woman demolition derby?)
Some blame sexism, though again there is sharp disagreement between Palin's supporters and detractors. Some think the former beauty queen has always been hurt by her looks, whereas others think her appearance has helped her considerably. "If Sarah Palin looked like Golda Meir, would we even be talking about her today?" Murphy asked.
Others see a knee-jerk reaction from the political establishment, which will always frown on any populist outsider (think Ross Perot, Pat Buchanan, Howard Dean), much less a governor who quits midterm and shows up on TV in hip waders.
"The fact that she is a woman who's extremely attractive and dynamic and charismatic throws them for a loop," said Bay Buchanan, who strategized for her brother's two insurgent presidential campaigns. "Once they sense the first little sign of weakness, that's when they go in for the kill."
No one knows where the future will take Palin, not even the governor herself. Her reemergence on the national scene and the scathing response from so many of her party peers underscore one thing, however: Republicans may hold dear their memories of the late Ronald Reagan. But his famous 11th commandment -- "Thou shalt not speak ill of any fellow Republican" -- was laid to rest a long time ago.
mark.barabak@latimes.com
No wonder she resigned as governor! She is rolling in money running for President in 2012.
Palin's PAC reports raising more than $730,000
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A report says Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's political action committee raised nearly $733,000 in its first five months.
A report filed Monday with the Federal Election Committee shows receipts totaled $732,867.70 in the period between Jan. 1 and June 30.
The former GOP vice presidential candidate launched the committee, SarahPAC, in late January, saying the goal was to help support candidates for federal and state office.
The report says SarahPAC made total disbursements of more than $276,000 and reported nearly $457,000 cash on hand.
Earlier this month, Palin announced she will resign as governor effective July 26, fueling speculation she will seek the presidency in 2012.
If Sarah Palin and John McCain had been elected we would have blamed these 5,000 deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan on them. But instead the blood of the deaths falls on the hands of Obama.
When Sarah Palin is elected President in 2012 you can count on more war deaths in Iraq, Afghanistan and perhaps other strange places like Iran and North Korea. Kill baby kill!
As wars' death toll nears 5,000, Dover shows quiet dignity
By Rick Hampson, USA TODAY
DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. — Tonight, as always, the passengers stop talking when the van makes a sharp left on the tarmac and rolls toward the rear hatch of the C-17 transport. Now they see its cargo: two gleaming, 7-foot-long aluminum cases, each covered with an American flag.
Aaron Fairbairn, 20, and Justin Casillas, 19, who met at Army basic training last year in Georgia and died together this Fourth of July in Afghanistan, rest side by side on a lonely runway under a nearly full moon.
Aaron's half-brother, Beau Beck, is in the van with other members of the two privates' families. They have traveled across the continent to witness one of war's rawest moments — the return of the fallen to native soil.
Since hearing the news, Beck has half-believed there had been a mistake, that Aaron wasn't really killed in a Taliban attack. But now, seeing the cases, he almost gasps. This was the kid to whom he'd spoken on the phone 72 hours ago.
"At first you don't want to believe it," he said. "You think, 'It's not true, it's not true.' But that sight made it true. It was final."
The nation is approaching a combined total of 5,000 military deaths in Iraq, where the pace of U.S. casualties is declining, and in Afghanistan, where it is rising. All the remains have come through this air base, site of the nation's largest mortuary.
Since April, journalists have been permitted to cover what the military calls "dignified transfers" of bodies from incoming flights to the mortuary. And, in a less-publicized change at the same time, the government began to pay for relatives' travel here for such arrivals.
News organizations' interest or ability to cover routine transfers quickly faded; only the Associated Press regularly assigns a photographer.
But relatives — who previously were not encouraged by the military to attend the arrivals and rarely did — now are coming to more than 70% of them.
On one level, the families' presence has changed nothing.
Each transfer is carried out with the same exacting choreography, regardless of who's watching. But in feel, if not form, their presence changes everything.
His brother's homecoming was the toughest sight of Beau Beck's 32 years, but he's glad he was there.
"There was this overwhelming sense of honor and respect. You didn't have to know those two kids on the flight line to feel that," Beck says.
The blue van pulls up behind the transport plane, 25 feet off the tail. To the left, through the tinted windows, the soldiers' relatives can see a few journalists standing on the tarmac.
Because the families will watch while standing on the other side of the van, the journalists can't see them.
Fairbairn's mother and sister would decline to discuss the transfer, and efforts to reach Casilla's relatives for comment were unsuccessful. Beau Beck later agreed to talk, explaining, "It was terrible, but it was amazing."
'The Dover Test'
During the Vietnam War, images of flag-draped cases arriving at Dover (and Travis Air Force Base in California, until 2001 the military's other domestic mortuary) symbolized the war's terrible cost.
After Vietnam, American leaders contemplating military action began referring to "the Dover Test:" How would Americans react to those grim sights on the air and in print?
During the Gulf War, the first Bush administration prohibited news media coverage of returning casualties, supposedly in the interest of privacy. When the policy continued during the Iraq war, critics cried coverup.In 2004, Joe Biden, then a senator from Delaware, said the fallen "are essentially snuck back into the country under the cover of night, so no one can see that their casket has arrived."
This year the Obama administration re-opened the arrivals to journalists, provided families approve. (About seven in 10 have.)
Defense Secretary Robert Gates had expressed concern that if the news media covered transfers at Dover, relatives would feel compelled to attend — a financial hardship for some who lived far away. So his department decided to pay and help arrange travel, food and lodging for up to three people per family.
Beck was surprised by the offer, which he and his family quickly accepted.
To his right tonight on the tarmac is a white truck, waiting to move the transfer cases to the base mortuary. Beck thinks it looks like a bread truck.
Seven members of an Army ceremonial unit — six bearers and a team leader — march past him and up a ramp into the hold of the huge steel-gray aircraft.
They're joined by a chaplain, an Air Force colonel and an Army brigadier general from the Pentagon, Francis Mahon.
Mahon is director of the Army's Quadrennial Defense Review — a big-picture guy, who works far from the battlefield.
He's there because the Army chief of staff has ordered that a general officer be present for the arrival of every soldier's remains.
"This reminds you there are lives at the end of decisions," Mahon says. "Everything you do affects a soldier."
In 30 years in the Army, Mahon has seen a lot of pomp — 21-gun salutes, Taps, flag presentations. This is different.
It's not a ceremony, in military terminology, but a "dignified transfer."
The remains are not in coffins but "cases." They are escorted not by an honor guard, but a "carry team."
Everything is functional — no speeches, music or dress blues. The carry team wears camouflage fatigues, combat boots, black berets and, in one concession to ceremony, white gloves.
That, Beck thinks, is what makes this so powerful — it's so real.
'America cares deeply'
In the cargo hold, a chaplain, Maj. Klavens Noel, reads a prayer over the bodies of Fairbairn and Casillas, which have come from Afghanistan via Kuwait and Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany.
The families cannot hear but see heads bent in prayer as Noel begins: "Almighty God, we thank you for the freedom we enjoy in our nation as we welcome Privates Casillas and Fairbairn home this evening. We pray that they may rest in peace. We pray for their family members, that they may find comfort in knowing that America cares deeply. We pray for their comrades on the battlefield ..."
Time to move the cases. First is Casillas, a former high school football lineman from Dunnigan, Calif., who always played bigger than his 175 pounds, and played hurt if he had to.
Friends and former teachers recall the teen's patriotism — he hung a flag in his room — and passion for the military.
A month before he left for Afghanistan, he dropped by his high school. His coach, Roy Perkins, said he thought it was good to see someone achieve what he'd always wanted.
Packed with ice, his case weighs about 400 pounds. The team leader calls, "Ready, lift" and the team members, facing each other, grasp the case. On "Ready, up" they straighten, lifting it. On "Ready, face," three soldiers do a left face, the other three a right face. Now all are facing toward the tail and out into the night, toward the bread truck, whose doors are open, waiting.
On "Ready, step" the team moves forward toward the ramp.
On the ground, the colonel says "Present, arms!" His voice is low, crisp. Each military servicemember slowly lifts a right arm in salute — three seconds up — and holds it as the team carries the case 46 steps across the tarmac to the truck.
Their pace is exaggeratedly — almost agonizingly — slow.
The families stand behind a rope line, like outside a nightclub. They've been told not to try to come forward to touch the case. But they never take their eyes off it.
This is the moment in the transfer when knees buckle and hearts flutter, when children wail and mothers scream. Tonight, there are racking sobs — "the sounds that ring in my nights," says David Sparks, a military chaplain standing with the families.
Most of the relatives, he says, arrive on the flight line still in shock: "Someone's come to the door and told them something, but they don't really believe it until they see for themselves." They haven't even begun to grieve, so he doesn't go much beyond a greeting, a hug and, 'I'm so very sorry.' "
As the carry team approaches the truck, they stop, march in place, turn toward each other and, on the command, "Ready, step!" push the case forward into the truck and onto its metal rollers, which make a clanging sound as the case moves forward.
At the command, "Order, arms" salutes are lowered — three seconds down.
The team takes six steps back, does an about face and marches back to the plane for the second case — Aaron's.
'Always with a smile'
Aaron Fairbairn joined the Army because he wanted to make a difference, because he wanted to learn a skill and because he didn't really have any better options.
"He was just a nice kid — hard-working, fun-loving, always with a smile," Beck says. Because he was 12 years older and Aaron's biological father was "out of the picture," Beck says he felt as much like the kid's dad as his brother.
Aaron had drifted a bit after high school, working at a pizza shop and a car dealership. When Aaron told him he planned to enlist, Beck was surprised and unenthusiastic: It was wartime.
"He wasn't gung-ho," Beck recalls. "He was a pretty peaceful kid. He didn't want to fight unless he had to. He just wanted to do his job. ... He'd do what you told him to do, and he wouldn't show a lot of emotion."
Aaron left for Afghanistan in March and wound up at a combat post in the eastern province of Paktika. Except for one mission early on, he told his family that military life consisted mostly of post duty, watching videos they'd sent him and working out. He was never athletic but had bulked up to 155 pounds from his induction weight of 115, and boasted of bench-pressing 275 pounds.
Beck got a call from Aaron late Friday afternoon, July 3. Things were quiet; the action was down south, in Helmand province, where the Marines were on the march. If anything, he was a little bored.
Later that day, the Taliban attacked.
Saturday morning, an Army chaplain and sergeant were on his mother's porch in Aberdeen, Wash. When she saw them standing there, Shelley Masters thought that because it was Independence Day, maybe they were there to raise funds or something.
That night she, Beau and her 21-year-old daughter, Sascha, took the red-eye to Philadelphia.
Final salute
When the last case is placed in the bread truck, Senior Airman Joseph Holton must close the truck's door — given its symbolism, the most sensitive part of the ritual.
Transfer detail team members are selected by their predecessors, after watching them perform a test drill. Holton and another airman were chosen from a group of 40.
He must make unnaturally slow movements look natural, even though the tendency is to speed up — especially with the families and the news media watching, and his adrenaline pumping.
So as he walks, Holton later explains, he paces himself by counting in his head. He times his steps to his breathing — inhale on heel down, exhale on heel up. He moves so deliberately as to seem to extend time itself.
Without appearing to, Holton must brace for the unforeseen, such as a gust of wind that could blow the door shut.
He tries to block out anything that might distract him from the precise execution of his otherwise workaday task, including the families. Recently, a mother fell to the tarmac, pounding the ground and screaming, "Don't close the doors!"
Holton tries not to look, but he sees the relatives when he does a left face to close the left door and a right face to close the right door.
Finally, the doors are closed. When the driver turns the ignition, the colonel orders, "Present arms" to signal a final salute. The truck rolls forward. At "Order arms" the salutes are lowered.
The truck rolls slowly off to the mortuary, where the bodies will be scanned for explosives, checked for personal effects, positively identified, autopsied, embalmed, dressed in a blue Class A dress uniform bearing the Purple Heart, Bronze Star, Combat Infantry Badge and airborne wings, and placed in a steel casket.
Back on the tarmac, Aaron Fairbairn's mother, brother and sister form a tight circle, hugging and sobbing. Their soldier is home.
Toll of Iraq, Afghanistan wars
Milestones in the combined U.S. death tolls for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan:
| Death Milestones Deaths/Date | Iraq death toll | Afghanistan death toll |
| 1,000 July 24, 2004 | 909 | 91 |
| 2,000 Aug. 8, 2005 | 1,832 | 171 |
| 3,000 Oct. 4, 2006 | 2,729 | 271 |
| 4,000 Aug. 5, 2007 | 3,654 | 348 |
| 4,996 July 17, 2009 | 4,328 | 668 |
AP NewsBreak: Palin implicated in ethics probe
By RACHEL D'ORO, Associated Press Writer Rachel D'oro, Associated Press Writer
ANCHORAGE, Alaska – An independent investigator has found evidence that Gov. Sarah Palin may have violated ethics laws by accepting private donations to pay her legal debts, in the latest legal distraction for the former vice presidential candidate as she prepares to leave office this week.
The report obtained by The Associated Press says Palin is securing unwarranted benefits and receiving improper gifts through the Alaska Fund Trust, set up by supporters.
An investigator for the state Personnel Board says in his July 14 report that there is probable cause to believe Palin used or attempted to use her official position for personal gain because she authorized the creation of the trust as the "official" legal defense fund.
The practical effect of the ruling on Palin will be more financial than anything else. The report recommends that Palin refuse to accept payment from the defense fund, and that the complaint be resolved without a formal hearing before the Alaska Personnel Board.
The fund aims to help Palin pay off debts stemming from multiple ethics complaints against her, most of which have been dismissed. Palin says she owes more than $500,000 in legal fees, and she cited the mounting toll of the ethics probes as one of the reasons she is leaving office.
A call seeking comment from her lawyer and an e-mail to her spokeswoman were not immediately returned.
Palin's friends and supporters created the Alaska Fund Trust in April, limiting donations to $150 per person. Organizers declined to say how much it has raised, and had hoped to raise about $500,000. A Webathon last month brought in about $130,000 in pledges.
In his report, attorney Thomas Daniel said his interpretation of the ethics act is consistent with common sense.
An ordinary citizen facing legal charges is not likely to be able to generate donations to a legal defense fund, he wrote. "In contrast, Governor Palin is able to generate donations because of the fact that she is a public official and a public figure. Were it not for the fact that she is governor and a national political figure, it is unlikely that many citizens would donate money to her legal defense fund."
The ethics complaint was filed by Eagle River resident Kim Chatman shortly after the fund was created, alleging Palin was misusing her official position and accepting improper gifts.
Palin was given a copy of the investigator's report a week ago, Chatman said Tuesday.
"It's an absolute shame that she would continue to keep the Alaska Fund Trust Web site up and running," Chatman told the AP.
At least 19 ethics complaints have been filed against Palin, most of them after she was named the running mate for GOP presidential candidate John McCain. Most of those have been dismissed, and Palin's office usually sends a news release with the announcement.
"She's not acknowledging the fact that the ethics complaint was credible," Chatman said. "When ethics complaints are dismissed, she's quick to publicly respond but this one, she's sitting on."
Palin exits national stage, faces questions
by Matthew Daly - Jul. 25, 2009 09:10 AM
Associated Press
ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Gov. Sarah Palin gained fame - and to some infamy - since she embarked on a vice-presidential bid less than a year ago.
Her surprising departure from Alaska's top office is gaining her something else: questions over her motives and next big move.
She leaves office Sunday with her political future clouded by ethics probes, mounting legal bills and dwindling popularity. A new Washington Post-ABC poll puts her favorability rating at 40 percent, with 53 percent giving her an unfavorable rating. The Republican governor also faces an array of queries about why she is quitting more than year before her term ends and what she plans to do after she steps down.
Palin has said little about any major moves, but has hinted that she has a bigger role in mind. She is scheduled to speak Aug. 8 at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California, and has said she plans to write a book, campaign for political candidates from coast to coast and build a right-of-center coalition.
Above all, Palin plans to continue speaking her mind on the social networking site Twitter.
"Ain't gonna shut my mouth / I know there's got to be a few hundred million more like me / just trying to keep it free," Palin said in a recent Tweet, quoting the song "Rollin'," by the country duo Big & Rich.
Such folksy offerings endear Palin to millions of fans, including more than 100,000 who follow her on Twitter. But are they enough to launch a political movement?
Political scientist Jerry McBeath said the answer isn't clear.
"In the context of 305 million Americans, 100,000 is not a lot of followers," he said.
McBeath, chairman of the political science department at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, said Palin "needs to do something beyond tweeting - or twittering, whatever it is - to establish a continuous national presence."
A more conventional politician would write a syndicated column or host a radio or TV show, McBeath said, but added: "I don't know if Sarah Palin wants that."
"I think she believes she has something to say that is of value to voters who share her views and believes that part of her calling is to continue" speaking out on Twitter, he said.
Spokeswoman Meghan Stapleton disputed the notion that Palin is running for president or has media deals lined up.
"I cannot express enough there is no plan after July 26. There is absolutely no plan," she told The Associated Press earlier this month. "The decision (to quit) was made in the vacuum of what was best for Alaska, and now I'm accepting all the options, but there is nothing planned," Stapleton said.
Palin's biggest legacy may be putting Alaska on the national stage, said Larry Persily, a former journalist and Palin staffer who now works for a Republican state legislator.
"Before if you played a word game and someone said Alaska, you might say oil or even whales," he said. "Now you say Alaska: 'Palin.' "
Alaska's first female governor arrived at the state Capitol in 2006 on an ethics reform platform after defeating two former governors in the primary and general elections. Her prior political experience consisted of terms as Wasilla's mayor and councilwoman and a stint as head of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission.
Unknown on the national stage until McCain tapped her as his running mate, Palin infused excitement into the Republican's presidential bid. But she also became the butt of talk-show jokes and Democratic criticism, targeted at news that the Republican Party had spent $150,000 or more on a designer wardrobe and what some considered poor performances by the Alaska governor in television interviews.
Now, 2 1/2years later, former state Senate President Lyda Green, a one-time Palin ally who is now a leading critic, said Palin's tenure is likely to have a negative effect on the state.
"There are going be some things that the Legislature will have to go in and redo," she said, including the likely review of a ballyhooed deal to bring a natural gas pipeline to the state.
"I had high hopes going in and have been, like many other people, very disappointed in what the impact has been for the state, unfortunately," said Green, who like Palin is a Republican from Wasilla, 43 miles north of Anchorage.
Green called Palin a narcissist whose actions "are very much toward herself and her goals and what she sees for her future."
But Palin's future goals remain unclear.
"I think she's trying to figure out what her calling is," McBeath said. "Initially she wanted to be governor, and then vice president, and now who knows?"
Stapleton said the answer will emerge in coming weeks:
"On July 27, we'll sit down and say, OK, here are your options. How do you now want to effect that positive change for Alaska from outside the role as governor?' "
Palin steps down as Alaska governor
Jul. 26, 2009 05:02 PM
Associated Press
FAIRBANKS, Alaska - 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.
Her first order of business as a private citizen is to speak Aug. 8 at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California. She also wants to campaign for political candidates from coast to coast, and continue to speak her mind on the social networking site Twitter.
Free speech was a theme of her farewell speech at a crowded picnic in Fairbanks, as the outgoing governor scolded “some seemingly hell bent on tearing down our nation” and warned Americans to “be wary of accepting government largess. It doesn't come free.”
She also took aim at the media, saying her replacement, Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell, “has a very nice family too, so leave his kids alone!” And she told television cameras: “How about, in honor of the American soldier, you quit makin' things up?”
She didn't elaborate, but Palin said when she announced her resignation July 3 that she was tired of the media focus on her family and felt she had been unfairly treated by reporters.
Friend and foe alike have speculated that Palin may host a radio or TV show, launch a lucrative speaking career or seek higher office in Washington.
Palin hasn't ruled out any of those options, and her political action committee, SarahPAC, has raised more than $1 million, said Meghan Stapleton, a spokeswoman for the committee and the Palin family.
Stapleton said Palin is still deciding what her future will be. “I cannot express enough there is no plan after July 26. There is absolutely no plan,” she told The Associated Press.
Palin's surprise announcement she was stepping down 17 months before the end of her first term pushed her favorability rating down to 40 percent, according to a Washington Post-ABC poll. Fifty-three percent of those polled gave her an unfavorable rating.
Last summer, almost six in 10 Americans viewed her favorably. The latest poll was taken from July 15-18.
Nearly 20 ethics complaints had been filed against Palin, and the outgoing governor cited the resulting investigation's financial toll — both on her and the state — for stepping down. An independent investigator looking into the complaints found evidence she may have violated ethics laws by trading on her position as she sought money for lawyer fees, according to a report obtained recently by The Associated Press.
Parnell, 46, of Anchorage, was sworn in Sunday as the state's new governor and has promised to push many of Palin's initiatives, including controversial terms to build a natural gas pipeline.
Palin received a warm welcome Sunday, both during her speech and as she served food at Pioneer Park in downtown Fairbanks, where thousands gathered on a hot day.
Among those present was Donna Michaels, 57, of Fairbanks, who wore a red T-shirt that said: “Palintologist.”
The T-shirt defined a Palintologist as “someone who studies Palin and shares her conservative values, Maverick attitude and American style.”
Michaels also held a poster board sign showing the front page of the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner when Palin announced she would resign. Michaels altered the banner headline “Palin steps down,” replacing the last word with “up.”
“She's really not stepping down. She's stepping up to do something bigger and better,” said Michaels, who attended the picnic with her daughter and two granddaughters, one of whom who wore Sarah Palin-style eyeglasses.
Larry Landry, 51, of Fairbanks held up a red, white and blue sign that that read, “Quitting: the new American value.” The other side read: “Thanks for the laughs.”
Landry, a registered independent, said he respected Palin when she ran for governor in 2006, but she changed during last year's presidential campaign.
“She turned into a vicious vixen,” he said. “She descended into ugly, divisive politics.”
Alaska's first female governor arrived at the state Capitol in December 2006 on an ethics reform platform after defeating two former governors in the primary and general elections. Her prior political experience consisted of terms as Wasilla's mayor and councilwoman and a stint as head of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission.
Unknown on the national stage until Republican John McCain tapped her as his running mate, Palin infused excitement into the Republican's presidential bid. But she also became the butt of talk-show jokes and Democratic criticism, especially after the Republican Party spent $150,000 or more on a designer wardrobe for Palin.
Former state House Speaker John Harris, a Republican with sometimes chilly relations with Palin, said he thinks Palin will run for president in 2012, although he has no inside information.
Stapleton said the answer will emerge in the coming weeks. On Monday, “we'll sit down and say, OK, here are your options. How do you now want to effect that positive change for Alaska from outside the role as governor?” Stapleton said.
Even if Palin is a jerk everyonce in a while she says something I agree with!
Palin says Obama's health care plan is evil
Aug. 8, 2009 12:00 AM
ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin called President Barack Obama's health plan “downright evil” Friday in her first online comments since leaving office, saying in a Facebook posting that he would create a “death panel” that would deny care to the neediest Americans.
“The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama's 'death panel' so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their level of productivity in society,' whether they are worthy of health care,” the former Republican vice presidential candidate wrote.
“Such a system is downright evil,” Palin wrote on her page, which has nearly 700,000 supporters. She encouraged her supporters to be engaged in the debate. The claim that the Democratic health care bills would encourage euthanasia has been circulating on the Internet for weeks and has been echoed by some Republican leaders. Democrats from Obama on down have dismissed it as a distortion. The nonpartisan group FactCheck.org, a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania says the claim is false.
The allegation appears to be based on a provision of the House bill that would require Medicare to pay for end-of-life counseling sessions, on a voluntary basis, for beneficiaries who want the service. Medicare already covers hospice care. And legislation passed by Congress in 1990 requires that patients be asked if they have a living will.
Obama addressed the controversy during a July 28 AARP-sponsored town hall.
“Nobody is going to be forcing you to make a set of decisions on end-of-life care based on some bureaucratic law in Washington,” he said.
An e-mail sent to Palin's spokeswoman to confirm authorship of the Facebook posting was not immediately returned Friday. There was no immediate reply to phone messages left late Friday with the White House and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office seeking comment on Palin's remarks.
Republican criticism has also included claims that the reform plans will lead to rationing, or the government determining which medical procedures a patient can have.
However, millions of Americans already face rationing, as insurance companies rule on procedures they will cover. Denying coverage for certain procedures might increase under proposals to have a government-appointed agency identify medicines and procedures best suited for various conditions.
Palin resigned as Alaska governor on July 26 with nearly 18 months left in her term. She cited not only the numerous ethics complaints that had been filed against her also her wish not to be a lame duck after the first-term governor decided not to seek re-election next year.
Palin, popular with conservatives in the Republican party, has said she wants to build a right-of-center coalition, and there is speculation she will seek the presidency in 2012. In the two weeks since she resigned, Palin has made only one public appearance, giving a Second Amendment rights speech last Saturday before a gun owners group in Anchorage.
Palin or her aides post notes on her Facebook account about once or twice a week, usually to set out policy statements, issue news releases or refute rumors circulating on the Internet.
Palin also has been largely silent before Friday's Facebook post. She was a voracious user of the social networking site Twitter, and promised to keep her supporters updated with a new private account after she left office. But that hasn't happened, leaving some of her fans begging for updates in the past two weeks.
Judge says Gov. Sarah Palin public records ain't public!
Judge rules in Palin e-mail case
By RACHEL D'ORO, Associated Press Writer Rachel D'oro, Associated Press Writer – 2 hrs 32 mins ago
ANCHORAGE, Alaska – A judge ruled Wednesday that the Alaska governor's office can use private e-mail accounts to conduct state business, as former Gov. Sarah Palin sometimes did.
Superior Court Judge Jack W. Smith said in his ruling that there is no provision in Alaska state law that prohibits the use of private e-mail accounts when conducting state business.
The case stemmed from a lawsuit filed by Anchorage resident Andree McLeod, who contended such use of private e-mails denies citizens the right to inspect public records.
"I'm stunned," she said after the decision. "I'm stunned that something as simple as no private e-mails should be used for state business has become such a complicated issue."
State lawyers argued that McLeod misinterpreted current state law, and that if the practice is to be changed, it is up to Alaska lawmakers do it.
Smith agreed with the state's premise that public records are defined as those preserved for their informational value, or to document a public agency's operation or organization, and that current open records law doesn't specifically deal with private e-mails.
Mike Mitchell, an assistant attorney general, called the ruling a "very well-reasoned decision" that the state's open records law does not go as far as plaintiffs claimed.
"They raised some valid policy concerns in dealing with the 21st century concerns," he said. "Certainly some review of current law is appropriate, but that's a matter for the Legislature and the legislative process rather than the court."
A bill introduced in the state House earlier this year addresses the issue. It would require a public officer to take or withhold official action through an e-mail system operated and maintained by the state.
McLeod's attorney, Don Mitchell, said it was too early to say if he would appeal.
Palin occasionally had used private e-mail accounts to conduct state business, and her Yahoo accounts were hacked last fall when she was the Republican vice presidential candidate. The hacking showed that the use of private e-mail accounts could make state business vulnerable to being exposed.
It was not widely known that Palin and her staff were using private e-mail accounts until McLeod filed the first of several open records requests that yielded some of the e-mail traffic. Alaska officials redacted much in the e-mails, citing privacy reasons.
McLeod sued to preserve the records so they will be available for her open records request to review the e-mails.
Palin resigned as governor last month.
Palin says Obama brushes off reform concerns
Aug. 12, 2009 10:24 PM
Associated Press
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin claims President Barack Obama is making light of concerns over what she has called “death panels” determining or denying care in the Democratic health care proposal.
Palin makes the claim in a Facebook posting Wednesday evening.
Obama on Tuesday said the Democratic health care legislation would not create “death panels” to deny care to frail seniors — or “basically pull the plug on grandma because we decided that it's too expensive to let her live anymore,” as the president put it.
Rather, Obama contends the provision that led to such talk would only authorize Medicare to pay doctors for counseling patients about end-of-life care if they want it.
But Palin, the former Republican vice presidential candidate, says the provision reads otherwise and will lead to health care rationing.
"a fan recently paid $63,500 to have dinner with [Sarah Palin]" - If Sarah Palin gets elected President I am sure that $63,500 will be paid back many times in handouts of pork from the Federal government!
Palin finishes memoir, 'Going Rogue,' out Nov. 17
By HILLEL ITALIE, AP National Writer Hillel Italie, Ap National Writer – Mon Sep 28, 8:00 pm ET
NEW YORK – That was fast.
Sarah Palin, the former Alaska governor and Republican vice presidential candidate, has finished her memoir just four months after the book deal was announced, and the release date has been moved up from the spring to Nov. 17, her publisher said.
"Governor Palin has been unbelievably conscientious and hands-on at every stage, investing herself deeply and passionately in this project," said Jonathan Burnham, publisher of Harper. "It's her words, her life, and it's all there in full and fascinating detail."
Palin's book, her first, will be 400 pages, said Burnham, who called the fall "the best possible time for a major book of this kind."
The book now has a title, one fitting for a public figure known for the unexpected — "Going Rogue: An American Life."
Harper, an imprint of HarperCollins, has commissioned a huge first printing of 1.5 million copies. Sen. Ted Kennedy's "True Compass," published by Twelve soon after his Aug. 25 death, also had a 1.5 million first printing.
As with the Kennedy book, the digital edition of Palin's memoir will not be released at the same time as the hardcover. "Going Rogue" will not be available as an e-book until Dec. 26 because "we want to maximize hardcover sales over the holidays," Harper spokeswoman Tina Andreadis said Monday.
Publishers have been concerned that e-books, rapidly becoming more popular, might take away sales from hardcover editions, which are more expensive.
Palin, who abruptly resigned as Alaska governor over the summer with more than a year left in her first term, has been an object of fascination since Sen. John McCain, the Republican presidential candidate in 2008, chose her as his running mate, making an instant celebrity out of a once-obscure public official.
During last year's campaign, pundits questioned whether Palin hurt McCain's presidential bid by "going rogue," or defying his campaign's control.
Although Democrat Barack Obama easily won the election and Palin was criticized even by some Republicans for being inexperienced, she remains a favorite among conservatives and is a rumored contender for 2012. Interest in her is so high that a fan recently paid $63,500 to have dinner with her, part of an Internet auction for a charity that aids wounded veterans.
Palin, 45, spent weeks in San Diego shortly after leaving office and worked on the manuscript with collaborator Lynn Vincent, a person close to her said. She was joined in San Diego by her family and her top aide, Meghan Stapleton, then spent several days in New York working around the clock with editors at Harper, said the person, who wasn't authorized to comment and asked not to be identified.
(This version CORRECTS ADDS background on what going rogue means; corrects Palin spent days, not weeks, with Harper editors. Moving on general news and entertainment services.)
Todd Palin resigns from oil job
By RACHEL D'ORO, Associated Press Writer Rachel D'oro, Associated Press Writer
ANCHORAGE, Alaska – The husband of former GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin has quit his oil field job on the North Slope.
Todd Palin's resignation as a production operator for oil giant BP PLC comes almost two months after his wife stepped down as Alaska governor and shortly before the release of her highly anticipated memoir.
BP spokesman Steve Rinehart says Todd Palin's resignation was effective Sept. 18.
Meghan Stapleton, Sarah Palin's personal spokeswoman, says Todd Palin hopes to return to his union job and for now is spending time with his family.
State financial disclosures show Todd Palin earned nearly $34,472 working part-time last year for BP and about $51,679 in the family's commercial fishing business.
Dad of Palin's grandson Levi Johnston to pose for 'Playgirl'
Oct. 8, 2009 07:16 AM
Associated Press
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Levi Johnston is going for the ultimate exposure — the 19-year-old father of Sarah Palin's grandchild will pose nude for Playgirl, his attorney said Wednesday.
To get ready for his close-up, Johnston is training three hours a day, six nights a week at an Anchorage gym with a local body builder.
A formal agreement hasn't been reached with the online magazine, but the photo shoot is a "foregone conclusion," said Johnston's attorney, Rex Butler.
Johnston fathered a son with Bristol, the 18-year-old daughter of Sarah Palin, the former Republican vice presidential candidate who resigned as Alaska's governor in July.
Publication of the photographs could be a source of embarrassment for Palin, often mentioned as a possible 2012 presidential candidate. Her memoir, "Going Rogue," will be published next month and pre-sales already have made it a national best seller.
Just after Sen. John McCain chose Palin as his running mate in August 2008, Johnston was thrust into the national spotlight when Palin abruptly announced her unwed daughter was pregnant and the couple would marry.
The couple broke up after the birth of their son, Tripp, in December. The relationship between the Palins and Johnston since then has often been strained, mostly over visitation issues.
Palin's representatives did not respond to a request for comment on the Playgirl job.
Johnston also has been marketing himself for a possible modeling or acting career, spending time in New York and Los Angeles. His first TV commercial, hawking Wonderful brand pistachios, debuted this week.
No date has been set for the Playgirl photo shoot, but Butler expects the world will get a gander of the finished product by the end of the year. Playgirl approached Johnston about posing in the buff, Butler said.
Playgirl spokesman Vincent Stevens couldn't immediately be reached for comment.
"We told him he would have to do what actors and actresses do," Butler said. "They get in the gym."
Johnston has been working out with Marvin Jones, a former Mr. Alaska competitor who has put the teenager on a low-carb, high-protein diet.
Watch out Sarah, Obama is going to use tax dollars to outspend you
Obama is using our tax dollars to get re-elected in 2012. Watch out Sarah Palin, Obama and the Democrats going to out spend you using taxpayer dolars!AP IMPACT: Obama's travels carry a touch of blue
Posted 10/13/2009 10:08 AM ET
By Philip Elliott, Associated Press Writer
PITTSBURGH — For President Barack Obama, it's almost as if the election campaign never ended. Just look at his travel schedule. The same states that Obama targeted to win the White House are seeing an awful lot of the president, Vice President Joe Biden and top Cabinet officials. Only this year, the taxpayers are footing the multimillion-dollar tab for the trips, and Obama officials are delivering wheelbarrows of economic stimulus money -- also compliments of taxpayers.
An Associated Press review of administration travel records shows that three of every four official trips Obama and his key lieutenants made in his first seven months in office were to the 28 states Obama won. Add trips to Missouri and Montana -- both of which Obama narrowly lost -- and almost 80 percent of the administration's official domestic travel has been concentrated in states likely to be key to Obama's re-election effort in 2012.
While similar data hasn't been compiled for previous administrations, new presidents traditionally have used official travel to shore up -- and add to -- their political base. Just look at President George W. Bush.
"When we were trying to build support for key policy initiatives, it made sense for President Bush to travel to states with persuadable citizens," says Scott Stanzel, a former White House spokesman who was the press secretary for Bush's 2004 re-election bid. "That meant visits to 'purple states' where people weren't as likely to already support or oppose the president's plans."
For Obama, the key policy initiative early on was a $787 billion economic stimulus package. While aimed at the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, it also gave the new administration a chance to reap political benefits traditionally reserved for lawmakers touting pork-barrel projects back home.
Though insisting that the stimulus legislation include no such "earmarked" congressional projects, Obama, Biden and the Cabinet spent months traveling the country to announce billions of dollars in new federal job-creating money that was going for bridge construction and green-energy projects, and for extended unemployment benefits.
Biden in particular has been the bearer of stimulus good news, making nearly two dozen trips to 14 states to tout the legislation and its impact on local communities.
The vice president has made five stimulus trips just to Pennsylvania, a must-win state in 2008 that never faded from Obama's political planning meetings. All told, administration officials have been to the Keystone state more than three dozen times since January.
Obama spoke last month to the nation's largest labor organization in a packed Pittsburgh ballroom. Days before, Biden was at a Labor Day parade there and praised the reliably Democratic union members. Obama was back a week later, this time to meet with the leaders of the world's 20 largest economies, whom he had invited to the one-time steel city that the White House sees as a barometer of its political standing.
Yes, the White House loves Pittsburgh -- and places like it in states that will play a key role in 2012. When Obama visits cities like Cleveland and Columbus, or Detroit and Denver, he gets wall-to-wall coverage in the local press from the time Air Force One lands until it departs, and his poll numbers in the area generally tick upward.
In August, for example, Obama went to Elkhart, Ind., to announce $2.4 billion in stimulus grants for production of electric and hybrid cars. Indiana and Michigan -- the two states benefiting the most -- both backed Obama in 2008 and will be important politically to him next time.
Colorado, which has shifted from Republican-leaning to Democrat-friendly in recent years, had seen Obama officials 35 times through early August, including Obama's Feb. 17 trip to Denver to sign the stimulus bill into law. Virginia, which gave Obama a surprise victory in 2008 and has one of this year's two governor's races, has gotten 17 visits. Combined, those states have received $8.9 billion from the stimulus bill.
The White House defended the travel as necessary to promote the administration's agenda for the country.
"President Obama and key members of his team have traveled to communities large and small ... to discuss the encouraging impact of the Recovery Act and to reinforce this president's commitment to creating the kind of jobs that will lay a new foundation for America's long-term economic strength," deputy press secretary Josh Earnest said in a statement.
Earnest said Obama plans to travel this week to Louisiana and Texas, states that Republican Sen. John McCain won in the 2008 election.
Sometimes, the administration's travel has been political as well as personal.
Before joining the Cabinet, many of Obama's appointees were popular figures in their home states -- four secretaries most recently were governors, four were members of Congress and Biden was a longtime senator. When they go home to announce a new grant or see a program firsthand, the administration has a spokesman who already has standing.
Energy Secretary Steven Chu, for example, has made California his top destination; the Nobel Prize-winning physicist taught at the University of California, Berkeley, until he joined the administration. Similarly, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shawn Donovan has made New York and Connecticut his top destinations; he was New York's housing chief before being tapped in December.
The AP review of travel costs -- some agencies refused to provide costs for security reasons -- documented that the taxpayers have paid at least $1.4 million for trips by top administration officials this year, and that doesn't include any costs for trips by Obama and Biden.
It also doesn't include travel costs by the secretaries of Homeland Security, Labor and Justice, whose departments declined to release tallies. Nor does it include the cost of security agents who travel everywhere with officials in the presidential line of succession, or the military aides who are always at their sides. It does, however, reflect the props needed at events, such as sound equipment, oversized U.S. flags, microphones and room rental.
Costs vary widely from trip to trip, and from official to official:
_Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood spent $747 to attend a Pullman Porters event in Philadelphia; he took Amtrak for the one-day trip.
_Commerce Secretary Gary Locke spent $8,013 to address the National Conference of State Legislatures, also in Philadelphia, also a one-day trip.
_Interior Secretary Ken Salazar spent $13,194 to meet with the families of Flight 93, the hijacked United Airlines plane that crashed into a Pennsylvania field on Sept. 11, 2001; he returned to Washington that night.
Travel costs, provided voluntarily by the Cabinet agencies at the White House's urging, depend in large degree on the number of staff who accompany high-level officials. For instance, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson took a two-day trip to Tampa, Fla., that cost $10,408, with more than $9,200 attributed to traveling staff. While there, she spoke to the National Association of Black Journalists and announced $95 million in stimulus grants.
When Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack made a two-day trip to New Hampshire in July, taxpayers picked up the $6,742 tab for the secretary, two aides and a dairy expert. Of that total, $4,467 went to staff costs.
___
Associated Press writers Devlin Barrett, Dina Cappiello, Kevin Freking, H. Josef Hebert, Kimberly Hefling, Henry C. Jackson, Libby Quaid, Eileen Sullivan, Erica Werner and Hope Yen in Washington and Holly Ramer in Concord, N.H., contributed to this report.
Government! It's all about $ money $. As Frank Zappa said "We are only in it for the money!"
October 29, 2009
Palin paid $1.25 million for book by time she left office
Oct. 28, 2009 12:00 AM
Associated Press
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Former GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin reported Tuesday that she has received at least $1.25 million for her hugely anticipated upcoming memoir “Going Rogue.”
A disclosure statement released Tuesday discusses Palin's finances from Jan. 1 to July 26, when she resigned as Alaska governor. Palin says she received the money from publisher HarperCollins for the book.
The document only provides a partial picture of the book deal because it doesn't cover the three months she has been out of office. Palin doesn't elaborate on her book compensation, describing the $1.25 million figure only as a “retainer” that appears to be a reference to her lucrative advance. Her personal spokeswoman, Meghan Stapleton, declined to provide more details of the book deal.
“The Governor has complied with Alaska disclosure law by her filing,” she said in an e-mail Tuesday. “Now, as a private citizen, her business dealings, including her publishing agreement, are confidential.”
It's likely Palin will make more money when it's all said and done. “Going Rogue” catapulted to No. 1 on Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.com after HarperCollins announced in late September it had moved up the release date of 1.5 million copies from spring to Nov. 17.
Palin will appear on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” the day before the release of her book, which is currently listed at No. 6 on Amazon.com and No. 11 on Barnes & Noble.com.
Palin has mostly been out of the public eye while working with the ghostwriter of her memoir.
Since resigning, she's made only a few public appearances including a September speech before investors in Hong Kong. She also attended the welcome-home ceremony in Fairbanks for soldiers, including her son Track, and appeared at a gun rights event in Anchorage. She's maintained a larger presence on Facebook, posting occasional messages to almost 950,000 fans, the latest posted Monday night announcing her support of conservative candidates in New Jersey and Virginia.
In the disclosure filed with the Alaska Public Offices Commission, Palin also reported collecting $73,000 as governor in 2009 as well as $6,370.80 in per diem during her final months in office. Her annual salary as governor was $125,000.
The documents also spell out the long list of gifts that Palin received in the final months of her term, including one from former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani that would make any baseball fan jealous: $4,250 worth of tickets to a Yankees game for Palin, her husband and their daughter Willow. Other gifts listed include a $550 knife set made with snowmobile parts, women's hunting gear valued at $469.95 and travel and lodging to many locations.
In the same time period, Palin's husband Todd earned nearly $34,100 working as a production operator for oil giant BP PLC in Alaska's Prudhoe Bay oil field — a job he quit in September. The disclosure says he also made about $32,260 in the family's commercial fishing business, $3,500 in snowmobile race winnings and a $3,252 snowmobile discount from racing sponsor Arctic Cat.
Palin listed her attorney among debts of more than $1,000, noting “legal fees to fight false allegations while governor.” Palin has said her family racked up more than $500,000 in legal fees stemming from multiple ethics complaints filed against her, almost all of which were dismissed.
The disclosure lists checks totaling $5,750 that Palin has received from individuals from outside Alaska, including two dating from her time last year as the running mate of Republican presidential nominee John McCain.
“Checks have not been cashed,” a handwritten note says in the disclosure. “They've either been, or will be, returned via volunteers assisting with mail and communications.”
It's unclear what Palin meant by the word retainer to describe her upfront book payment. Trena Keating, a literary agent in New York, didn't want to speculate on Palin's arrangement, but said book advances generally are broken down into multiple payments, usually upon signing, upon delivery of an acceptable manuscript and upon publishing, with a wide spectrum of variations possible.
Palin 'not really into the drama'
by Andy Barr - Nov. 12, 2009 01:50 PM
POLITICO.COM
Sarah Palin says she would like to bury the hatchet with Levi Johnston, the father of her grandchild, because she is “not really into the drama.”
According to excerpts of Palin’s interview with Oprah Winfrey set to air Monday, the former Alaska Republican governor said that Johnston “needs to know that he is loved, and he has the most beautiful child and this can all work out for good.” Asked if Johnston will be invited to Thanksgiving, Palin said “it’s lovely to think that he would ever even consider such a thing. Because of course ... he is a part of the family, and you want to bring him in the fold and kind of under your wing.”
“We don’t have to keep going down this road of controversy and drama all the time,” Palin said. “We’re not really into the drama. We don’t really like that. We’re more productive. We have other things to concentrate on.”
In recent months, the Alaska governor has taken numerous swipes at Johnston following media appearances in which he has attacked Palin.
During a late October interview on CBS’s “Early Show” Johnston accused Palin of referring to Trig, her son with Down syndrome, as her “retarded baby.” Johnston also insisted that if he “really wanted to hurt” Palin, he could do so “very easily.”
Following the interview, Palin said in a statement that Johnston wanted to “propagate lies” and slammed the young father for his decision to model for Playgirl magazine.
“Consider the source of the most recent attention-getting lies — those who would sell their body for money reflect a desperate need for attention and are likely to say and do anything for even more attention,” Palin said.
The former governor also said during her sit down with Winfrey that neither she nor the presidential campaign of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) thought her awkward September 2008 interview with CBS’s Katie Couric was a “defining moment.”
“The campaign said, 'Right on. Good. You’re showing your independence,'” Palin said. “This is what America needs to see and it was a good interview. And of course I'm thinking, 'If you thought that was a good interview, I don’t know what a bad interview is,' because I knew it was a bad interview.”
Palin book goes after McCain camp but not Levi
Nov. 13, 2009 06:48 AM
Associated Press
NEW YORK - Sarah Palin's new memoir describes heart-wrenching anguish about her teen daughter's pregnancy playing out before a national audience. But the 413-page tome doesn't contain a single reference to the father of her granddaughter, soon-to-be Playgirl model Levi Johnston.
In "Going Rogue," which will be released Tuesday, Palin also laments about everyone in her entourage being forced to wear fancy clothes she couldn't afford - preferring simpler, cheaper garb. But it's as if Johnston, who was among those hastily spiffed up to appear at the 2008 Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn., had never left Wasilla.
The tactic does appear to have merit; Johnston, who has sparred repeatedly with his former mother-in-law-to-be, continues to warn that she should leave him alone, or he might dish some serious dirt that "will hurt her." While the book - which contains 68 color photos but no index - stays away from Johnston, the former vice presidential candidate digs in when it comes to those who ran Sen. John McCain's campaign.
Confirming that there was substantial tension between her advisers and McCain's, Palin bitterly details how she was prevented from delivering a concession speech on election night, how she'd been kept "bottled up" from reporters during the campaign and prevented in many ways from just being herself. She also contends she was prepped to give non-answers during her debate with Joe Biden.
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 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.
She describes Couric as condescending, biased and "badgering." She contends the anchor chose "gotcha" moments while leaving the candidate's more substantive remarks on the cutting room floor.
Palin takes another dig at Couric while asserting her expertise on energy matters. She writes that she was shocked Couric had asked her which newspapers and magazines she read; given what she called Couric's lack of knowledge about energy issues, Palin wondered whether she should have asked the news anchor what she read.
The closest Palin comes to naming names occurs in the passages about chief McCain campaign strategist Steve Schmidt. Quoting another campaign official, she writes that Schmidt felt she wasn't preparing enough on policy matters and even wondered if she was suffering from postpartum depression following the April 2008 birth of her son Trig, who has Down Syndrome.
She says Schmidt also was upset if anyone in her personal circle tried to correct - without approval from the McCain camp - what they perceived to be incorrect portrayals of Palin's record as Alaska governor.
Palin comes across as particularly upset about being stuck with $50,000 in legal bills that she says were directly related to the legal vetting process for the VP slot. She says nobody ever informed her that she would have to personally take care of expenses related to the selection process, and jokes that if she'd known she was going to get stuck with the bill, she would have given shorter responses.
According to the book, Palin asked officials at the Republican National Committee and what was left of the McCain campaign if they would help her financially. She says she was told that if McCain had won, the bills would have been paid, but since he lost, the bills were her responsibility.
Trevor Potter, the McCain campaign's general counsel, told the AP the campaign never asked Palin to pay a legal bill.
"To my knowledge, the campaign never billed Gov. Palin for any legal expenses related to her vetting and I am not aware of her ever asking the campaign to pay legal expenses that her own lawyers incurred for the vetting process," Potter said.
If Palin's lawyer billed her for work related to her vetting, the McCain campaign never knew about it, Potter said.
Written with Lynn Vincent, "Going Rogue" is folksy in tone and homespun. For example, Palin says her efforts to award a license for a massive natural gas transmission line was turning a pipe dream into a pipeline. She writes in awe about how the McCain campaign had hired a New York stylist who also had worked with Couric. Taken aback by the fussing, she wondered who was paying for the $150,000 worth of clothes the campaign gave to her and her family. Also, Palin did not like the forced makeover and said she wondered at the time if she and her clan came across as "that" unpresentable.
Family members were told the costs were being taken care of, or were "part of the convention." The designer clothing, hairstyling and accessories later grew into a controversy.
Palin shares behind-the-scene moments when the nation learned her teen daughter Bristol was pregnant, how she rewrote the statement prepared for her by the McCain campaign - only to watch in horror as a TV news anchor read the original McCain camp statement, which, in Palin's view, glamorized and endorsed her daughter's situation.
She writes that the incident made it clear to her that McCain headquarters was in charge of her message. She said when she tried to find out what the McCain camp would and would not allow her to say, Schmidt told her to simply "stick with the script."
Palin laments that she wasn't allowed to bring up loads of family members to the stage while McCain gave his election night concession speech, having found out minutes earlier that she wouldn't be permitted to give her own speech.
Interviews with Oprah Winfrey and Barbara Walters will be televised next week in conjunction with the book's release. Her tour begins next week in Grand Rapids, Mich., and will skip major cities in favor of smaller localities.
In limited excerpts of the prerecorded Winfrey interview, Palin says Johnston is still part of the family. Johnston was quoted as saying that any attempts at reconciliation are fake.
Palin in book: McCain aides kept me 'bottled up'
By Kathy Kiely, USA TODAY
The wall of carefully cultivated secrecy around Sarah Palin's book tumbled Thursday, exposing tensions between the former Republican vice presidential candidate and aides to John McCain, the party's standard bearer.
In the memoir, Going Rogue, Palin describes friction between her camp and McCain's. The book is scheduled to go on sale Tuesday but the Associated Press said it was able to purchase a copy.
Palin writes of being "bottled up" from the news media and of having to pay a $50,000 tab for the background check that the McCain campaign ran on her before McCain tapped the Alaska governor as his vice presidential pick, the AP reported.
McCain's campaign adamantly denied billing Palin for the background check. "To my knowledge, the campaign did not receive any bill from Gov. Palin for legal expenses connected to her vetting, nor did the campaign ask her to pay any vetting-related expenses," Trevor Potter, a lawyer for the McCain presidential campaign, told USA TODAY.
The revelations from Palin's book came amid a public relations campaign for its launch. Both Palin and Oprah Winfrey used the Internet to tout an interview the daytime talk show host taped Wednesday with Palin before a studio audience in Chicago. It is scheduled to air on Monday.
On her Facebook page, Palin said she had a "great conversation" with Winfrey, a booster of Barack Obama's presidential campaign. In excerpts provided by Winfrey's Harpo Studios on Thursday, Palin expresses a desire to reconcile with Levi Johnston, the father of her first grandchild. "He is part of the family, and you want to bring him in the fold," she said of Johnston, who fathered a son out of wedlock with daughter Bristol. The couple didn't go through with plans to marry.
Palin also told Winfrey that she flubbed foreign policy questions in a campaign interview with CBS anchor Katie Couric. "I knew it was a bad interview," Palin said.
The AP reported that Palin was more critical of Couric in her book, describing the television reporter as "badgering" and intent on pressing "a partisan agenda."
Book publisher HarperCollins has ordered a 1.5 million first printing. Advance orders have put it near the top of online retailer Amazon.com's best-seller list for weeks.
Palin resigned as Alaska governor in July but has not given up on politics. She founded a political action committee, SarahPAC, and has put together a book tour with all the marks of a campaign. Palin plans to travel through such battleground states as Ohio, Florida and Pennsylvania by bus. The tour starts Wednesday in Grand Rapids, Mich.
There's symbolism to the first stop: Local GOP activist Chuck Yob, a well-connected party leader, said he personally invited Palin to campaign in Grand Rapids after McCain decided a month before the election to give up trying to win Michigan. Yob said Palin briefly considered doing so.
Shirley Cooper, 73, a retired music teacher from Holland, Mich., said she plans to be at Palin's first book signing because she admires "everything she's doing and stands for." But Cooper said she's worried about Palin's political future. "I don't know if she is ready ... with everybody picking on her."
Contributing: Fredreka Schouten and Andrew M. Seaman
FACT CHECK: Palin's book goes rogue on some facts
Sarah Palin - its not a LIE, it's what was supposed to have happened!Hey when politicians and government nannies make statements about history they are making statements on what was supposed to have happened, not what actually happened. They would never get elected or if they stuck with what they actually did as opposed to what they claimed to have done.
So if you keep that in mind Sarah Palin isn't telling any lies in her new book "Going Rogue". Sarah Palin is telling the truth as it is supposed to have happened, not what actually occured. You and I call that lying, but politicians and elected officials don't consider it lying.
I'm a Libertarians so I always have thought that Obama would screw us just as bad as Bush did or just as bad as McCain/Palin would have screwed us. Government is the problem, not the solution. The only solution is to get rid of 99.99% of government.
FACT CHECK: Palin's book goes rogue on some facts
By CALVIN WOODWARD, Associated Press Writer Calvin Woodward, Associated Press Writer
Sat Nov 14, 11:18 am ET
WASHINGTON – Sarah Palin's new book reprises familiar claims from the 2008 presidential campaign that haven't become any truer over time.
Ignoring substantial parts of her record if not the facts, she depicts herself as a frugal traveler on the taxpayer's dime, a reformer without ties to powerful interests and a politician roguishly indifferent to high ambition.
Palin goes adrift, at times, on more contemporary issues, too. She criticizes President Barack Obama for pushing through a bailout package that actually was achieved by his Republican predecessor George W. Bush — a package she seemed to support at the time.
A look at some of her statements in "Going Rogue," obtained by The Associated Press in advance of its release Tuesday:
PALIN: Says she made frugality a point when traveling on state business as Alaska governor, asking "only" for reasonably priced rooms and not "often" going for the "high-end, robe-and-slippers" hotels.
THE FACTS: Although travel records indicate she usually opted for less-pricey hotels while governor, Palin and daughter Bristol stayed five days and four nights at the $707.29-per-night Essex House luxury hotel (robes and slippers come standard) overlooking New York City's Central Park for a five-hour women's leadership conference in October 2007. With air fare, the cost to Alaska was well over $3,000. Event organizers said Palin asked if she could bring her daughter. The governor billed her state more than $20,000 for her children's travel, including to events where they had not been invited, and in some cases later amended expense reports to specify that they had been on official business.
PALIN: Boasts that she ran her campaign for governor on small donations, mostly from first-time givers, and turned back large checks from big donors if her campaign perceived a conflict of interest.
THE FACTS: Of the roughly $1.3 million she raised for her primary and general election campaigns for governor, more than half came from people and political action committees giving at least $500, according to an AP analysis of her campaign finance reports. The maximum that individual donors could give was $1,000; $2,000 for a PAC.
Of the rest, about $76,000 came from Republican Party committees.
She accepted $1,000 each from a state senator and his wife in the weeks after the two Republican lawmakers' offices were raided by the FBI as part of an investigation into a powerful Alaska oilfield services company. After AP reported those donations during the presidential campaign, she said she would give a comparative sum to charity after the general election in 2010, a date set by state election laws.
PALIN: Rails against taxpayer-financed bailouts, which she attributes to Obama. She recounts telling daughter Bristol that to succeed in business, "you'll have to be brave enough to fail."
THE FACTS: Palin is blurring the lines between Obama's stimulus plan — a $787 billion package of tax cuts, state aid, social programs and government contracts — and the federal bailout that Republican presidential candidate John McCain voted for and President George W. Bush signed.
Palin's views on bailouts appeared to evolve as McCain's vice presidential running mate. In September 2008, she said "taxpayers cannot be looked to as the bailout, as the solution, to the problems on Wall Street." A week later, she said "ultimately what the bailout does is help those who are concerned about the health care reform that is needed to help shore up our economy."
During the vice presidential debate in October, Palin praised McCain for being "instrumental in bringing folks together" to pass the $700 billion bailout. After that, she said "it is a time of crisis and government did have to step in."
PALIN: Says Ronald Reagan faced an even worse recession than the one that appears to be ending now, and "showed us how to get out of one. If you want real job growth, cut capital gains taxes and slay the death tax once and for all."
THE FACTS: The estate tax, which some call the death tax, was not repealed under Reagan and capital gains taxes are lower now than when Reagan was president.
Economists overwhelmingly say the current recession is far worse. The recession Reagan faced lasted for 16 months; this one is in its 23rd month. The recession of the early 1980s did not have a financial meltdown. Unemployment peaked at 10.8 percent, worse than the October 2009 high of 10.2 percent, but the jobless rate is still expected to climb.
PALIN: She says her team overseeing the development of a natural gas pipeline set up an open, competitive bidding process that allowed any company to compete for the right to build a 1,715-mile pipeline to bring natural gas from Alaska to the Lower 48.
THE FACTS: Palin characterized the pipeline deal the same way before an AP investigation found her team crafted terms that favored only a few independent pipeline companies and ultimately benefited a company with ties to her administration, TransCanada Corp. Despite promises and legal guidance not to talk directly with potential bidders during the process, Palin had meetings or phone calls with nearly every major candidate, including TransCanada.
PALIN: Criticizes an aide to her predecessor, Gov. Frank Murkowski, for a conflict of interest because the aide represented the state in negotiations over a gas pipeline and then left to work as a handsomely paid lobbyist for ExxonMobil. Palin asserts her administration ended all such arrangements, shoving a wedge in the revolving door between special interests and the state capital.
THE FACTS: Palin ignores her own "revolving door" issue in office; the leader of her own pipeline team was a former lobbyist for a subsidiary of TransCanada, the company that ended up winning the rights to build the pipeline.
PALIN: Writes about a city councilman in Wasilla, Alaska, who owned a garbage truck company and tried to push through an ordinance requiring residents of new subdivisions to pay for trash removal instead of taking it to the dump for free — this to illustrate conflicts of interest she stood against as a public servant.
THE FACTS: As Wasilla mayor, Palin pressed for a special zoning exception so she could sell her family's $327,000 house, then did not keep a promise to remove a potential fire hazard on the property.
She asked the city council to loosen rules for snow machine races when she and her husband owned a snow machine store, and cast a tie-breaking vote to exempt taxes on aircraft when her father-in-law owned one. But she stepped away from the table in 1997 when the council considered a grant for the Iron Dog snow machine race in which her husband competes.
PALIN: Says Obama has admitted that the climate change policy he seeks will cause people's electricity bills to "skyrocket."
THE FACTS: She correctly quotes a comment attributed to Obama in January 2008, when he told San Francisco Chronicle editors that under his cap-and-trade climate proposal, "electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket" as utilities are forced to retrofit coal burning power plants to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
Obama has argued since then that climate legislation can blunt the cost to consumers. Democratic legislation now before Congress calls for a variety of measures aimed at mitigating consumer costs. Several studies predict average household costs probably would be $100 to $145 a year.
PALIN: Welcomes last year's Supreme Court decision deciding punitive damages for victims of the nation's largest oil spill tragedy, the Exxon Valdez disaster, stating it had taken 20 years to achieve victory. As governor, she says, she'd had the state argue in favor of the victims, and she says the court's ruling went "in favor of the people." Finally, she writes, Alaskans could recover some of their losses.
THE FACTS: That response is at odds with her reaction at the time to the ruling, which resolved the long-running case by reducing punitive damages for victims to $500 million from $2.5 billion. Environmentalists and plaintiffs' lawyers decried the ruling as a slap at the victims and Palin herself said she was "extremely disappointed." She said the justices had gutted a jury decision favoring higher damage awards, the Anchorage Daily News reported. "It's tragic that so many Alaska fishermen and their families have had their lives put on hold waiting for this decision," she said, noting many had died "while waiting for justice."
PALIN: Describing her resistance to federal stimulus money, Palin describes Alaska as a practical, libertarian haven of independent Americans who don't want "help" from government busybodies.
THE FACTS: Alaska is also one of the states most dependent on federal subsidies, receiving much more assistance from Washington than it pays in federal taxes. A study for the nonpartisan Tax Foundation found that in 2005, the state received $1.84 for every dollar it sent to Washington.
PALIN: Says she tried to talk about national security and energy independence in her interview with Vogue magazine but the interviewer wanted her to pivot from hydropower to high fashion.
THE FACTS are somewhat in dispute. Vogue contributing editor Rebecca Johnson said Palin did not go on about hydropower. "She just kept talking about drilling for oil."
PALIN: "Was it ambition? I didn't think so. Ambition drives; purpose beckons." Throughout the book, Palin cites altruistic reasons for running for office, and for leaving early as Alaska governor.
THE FACTS: Few politicians own up to wanting high office for the power and prestige of it, and in this respect, Palin fits the conventional mold. But "Going Rogue" has all the characteristics of a pre-campaign manifesto, the requisite autobiography of the future candidate.
AP writers Matt Apuzzo, Sharon Theimer, Tom Raum, Rita Beamish, Beth Fouhy, H. Josef Hebert, Justin D. Pritchard, Garance Burke, Dan Joling and Lewis Shaine contributed to this report.
Palin's book is less autobiography and more campaign speech
SourceCuriously, Palin pulls punches in 'Rogue'
by Mark Kennedy - Nov. 17, 2009 12:00 AM
Associated Press
There should be a feeling of palpable glee running through Sarah Palin's memoir, "Going Rogue: An American Life" (HarperCollins, 413 pages, $28.99). Finally, she gets to talk, unfiltered and unedited.
This is, after all, a politician convinced that the media twist her words, who says she's been parodied and mocked by establishment elites, and who complains that she was muzzled by her own party.
"Going Rogue" offers Palin a chance to answer back, without pesky interference from the likes of Katie Couric or GOP handlers. It is, to steal Nancy Reagan's memoir title, "My Turn."
Then why is there so little bloodletting, why no mustn't-miss gory bits? Palin's book, written with an assist from Lynn Vincent, is less the revealing autobiography of a straight-shooting maverick and more a lengthy campaign speech - more lipstick, less pit bull.
The book can be roughly divided into two halves: the years before she was asked to join Arizona Sen. John McCain's presidential-campaign ticket in the summer of 2008 and the time since.
The second half is the more lively: It has her take on the designer-clothes embarrassment, the vice-presidential debate with then-Delaware Sen. Joe Biden, and the "campaign professionals" she blames for losing the White House.
From the beginning, Palin seems determined to prove she has always been mavericky and never a mental lightweight. She says her nose was always in a book while growing up, and the first big word she learned to spell was "different." She casually mentions that Mount McKinley rises to 20,320 feet, and she quotes Plato, Thomas Paine, Lou Holtz, Pearl S. Buck, Thomas Sowell and Mark Twain. She says she was riveted by Watergate at age 10.
Her five children make adorable cameos, and her husband, Todd, arrives with great promise - he "roared" into her life in a Mustang - then largely disappears. He never becomes flesh and blood, only a remote repository of manly goodness. Ronald Reagan is more of a presence here, constantly evoked and cherished.
Other things missing: No dissection or prognosis of the wars in Afghanistan or Iraq, no Iran, Israel, China or Russia. No race relations, Hurricane Katrina or Bush policies. McCain emerges unsullied, Dick Cheney is mentioned only in passing, and Hillary Clinton gets an open invitation for coffee.
More often than not, Palin spends chunks of time reciting campaign pabulum. Not surprisingly, Palin, like a former beauty contestant, considers America's most precious resource to be our children. Oh, and the Constitution.
There are a few moments of candor, such as her initial, fleeting reaction in New Orleans to discovering she was pregnant with her fifth baby - "I'm out of town. No one knows I'm pregnant. No one would ever have to know" before snapping out of it to choose to have the child.
But just as quickly, the curtain falls back down. Of finding out that her unwed 17-year-old daughter, Bristol, was pregnant, she writes that the family prayed and then made preparations for baby's arrival. That's about it, except for saying that, with God's help, good would come from it all.
Other than a few smarmy asides directed at Democrats and the media, Palin reserves most of her attacks for McCain's advisers, with their emphasis on packaging. She says she was told to stick to a script and spout non-answers, which remain unanswered in her book. She says she preferred her "simpler style" because she did not need "to spin."
Of her future, she's coy:
"I always tell my kids that God doesn't drive parked cars, so we'll talk about getting on the next road and gearing up for hard work to travel down it to reach new goals," she writes at the end, ever folksy, ever optimistic, weirdly ungrammatical.
Palin rules out 2012 run, but keeps door open
Nov. 17, 2009 06:50 AM
Associated Press
NEW YORK - Sarah Palin said in an interview broadcast Tuesday that a 2012 presidential bid is "not on my radar," but wouldn't rule out playing some role in the next presidential election.
"My ambition, if you will, my desire is to help our country in whatever role that may be, and I cannot predict what that will be, what doors will be open in the year 2012," she told Barbara Walters.
When asked whether she'd play a major role, the former Republican vice presidential candidate replied that "if people will have me, I will." Palin is making the rounds to promote her new book, "Going Rogue," which came out Tuesday. On Monday, she appeared on "The Oprah Winfrey Show."
Palin said she's gotten plenty of offers during the past few months, including to open up her family for a reality show, that she has rejected. She also said she wasn't sure whether a talk show would be best for her family.
"I'd probably rather write than talk," she told Walters.
The former Alaska governor said she'd rate President Barack Obama's performance a 4 out of 10. She criticized the president for his handling of the economy and for "dithering" on national security questions.
"There are a lot of decisions being made that I - and probably the majority of Americans - are not impressed with right now," she said on ABC.
Palin also discussed David Letterman, whom she criticized for a sexually suggestive jokes made at the expense of her teenage daughter in June. Letterman eventually apologized to Palin.
Palin told Walter she has ruled out an appearance on Letterman's late night TV show. "I don't think that I'd want to boost his ratings," she said. "I do want him to sell my book, though I hope he keeps it up."
The title of Palin's book refers to a phrase John McCain's campaign used to describe his vice presidential running mate going off message. In the book, she criticizes the people who ran McCain's campaign and says she wished she had been allowed to speak more freely. But she told Walters the outcome probably would not have been different if she had.
"The economy tanked," she said. "(The) electorate was ready, sincerely, for change."
During her interview with Winfrey, which was taped last week, Palin said that it's heartbreaking to see the road that Levi Johnston, the father of her grandson, has taken and that the soon-to-be Playgirl model hasn't seen his baby in a while.
The new memoir doesn't mention Johnston, who has sparred repeatedly with his former mother-in-law-to-be. When Winfrey asked about Johnston, Palin said she didn't think "a national television show is the place to discuss some of the things he's doing and saying."
But Palin went on to say she finds it "a bit heartbreaking to see the road that he is on right now" and that "it's not a healthy place to be."
Palin also said Johnston remains a member of the family and that they can work out any troubles. She said she prays for him and that he has an "open invitation" to Thanksgiving dinner.
Winfrey began the interview by asking Palin if she felt snubbed at not getting an invitation to "The Oprah Winfrey Show" last year. Winfrey said she didn't have any candidates on her Chicago-based show during the campaign because of her support for President Barack Obama.
Palin said she didn't feel snubbed and told Winfrey, "No offense to you, but it wasn't the center of my universe."
Palin saga merits thoughtful research
by Richard Cohen - Nov. 17, 2009 12:00 AM
Washington Post Writers Group
I saw the other day that George W. Bush is raising money for his proposed policy institute at Southern Methodist University. I did some research and found out that there are something like 3,000 policy institutes, most of them hosting convocations about nothing much and issuing papers no one reads.
I suggest therefore that Bush use his money to do something truly different and constructive - establish the Institute for the Study of Sarah Palin. My check is in the mail.
This is Palin Week - days of interviews relating to the publication of her book, "Going Rogue." She will appear virtually everywhere, making her usual good impression, and there will be more talk about how she might run for president. Someone will point out that she is even scheduled to soon go to Iowa - and you know what that means.
On the other hand, someone else will point out that the very week Palin is promoting her book, the current president is abroad attending meetings in Asia, including a visit with our Chinese bankers. Could those who fault Barack Obama for being callow and inexperienced imagine Palin meeting with the Chinese or, for that matter, conducting a protracted policy review about Afghanistan? As for Pakistan, South Korea, North Korea, the Middle East and, of course, the perplexing Georgian-Abkhazian conflict - I don't think she is quite up to it all, some of those nations not being close to Alaska at all.
This being the case, the Institute for the Study of Sarah Palin should look into how she was chosen by John McCain as his vice-presidential running mate.
A further area of study ought to deal with the mindset of McCain's former campaign aides who continue to criticize Palin for not turning out to be the mute puppet they had so hoped she would be.
The Institute for the Study of Sarah Palin might conclude that she represents the exact moment important Republicans gave up on democracy. She was clearly seen as an empty vessel who could be controlled by her intellectual betters.
I suppose, too, that the Institute for the Study of Sarah Palin would issue oodles of papers on our celebrity age and how she, after all, is just another one.
Finally, the Institute for the Study of Sarah Palin will mull what she represents. She has a phenomenal favorability rating among Republicans - 76 percent - who have a quite irrational belief that she would not make such a bad president. What they mean is that she will act out their resentments - take an ax to the people and institutions they hate. The Palin Movement is fueled by high-octane vile, and it is worth watching for these reasons alone.
It may be asking too much of Bush to put his money into something useful instead of the standard presidential monument of self-aggrandizement. This, though, is his chance: Study Sarah Palin. If she's a comer, then we're all a goner.
Palin angered by 'sexist' Newsweek cover
For the second time since Sarah Palin stepped into the national political spotlight, a photo of the former Republican vice-presidential candidate featured on the cover of Newsweek magazine is sparking controversy. Palin herself blasted the "out-of-context" cover as "sexist" on her Facebook page.
Originally published in the August 2009 issue of Runners World, the photo features the former Alaska governor in short runner's shorts. It was part of a multi-photograph slideshow that accompanied an article about Palin and her love for the sport titled, "I'm A Runner." In her Facebook post late last night, Palin took issue with Newsweek using a photo from an article about health and fitness to promote an analysis piece contemplating her relevance as a political figure:
"The choice of photo for the cover of this week's Newsweek is unfortunate. When it comes to Sarah Palin, this "news" magazine has relished focusing on the irrelevant rather than the relevant. The Runner's World magazine one-page profile for which this photo was taken was all about health and fitness -- a subject to which I am devoted and which is critically important to this nation. The out-of-context Newsweek approach is sexist and oh-so-expected by now. If anyone can learn anything from it: it shows why you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, gender, or color of skin. The media will do anything to draw attention -- even if out of context.
The reaction to the Newsweek cover has predictably sparked outrage from conservative supporters of Palin and kudos from liberals who oppose her. CBN commentator David Brady called the cover "a new low" for the "biased" magazine, adding that Newsweek has a history of portraying liberal women as "heroes for the next generation," while portraying conservative women like Palin as "nuts and dopey." Meanwhile, documentary photographer Nina Berman hailed the cover as "brilliant" and "shrewd" for using a "propped photo where Palin is an obvious participant ... to show how far out she is willing to travel on the road of self promotion" while "shield[ing] themselves from what would have been the inevitable criticism if they had dolled her up themselves and posed her the same way."
The current cover flap isn't the first time Newsweek has generated controversy with a photograph of Palin. The October 13, 2008, issue featured an extreme close-up of Palin that seemed to be devoid of the high-tech retouching often employed by magazines. Conservatives claimed this highlighted some of Palin's supposed "flaws," like wrinkles around her eyes.
Newsweek Editor Jon Meacham told Yahoo! News that the photo choice was simply the "most interesting image available":
"We chose the most interesting image available to us to illustrate the theme of the cover, which is what we always try to do. We apply the same test to photographs of any public figure, male or female: does the image convey what we are saying? That is a gender-neutral standard."
Palin and her fans irked by cover shot in shorts
by Jocelyn Noveck - Nov. 18, 2009 07:58 PM
Associated Press
NEW YORK - Of all the adjectives one might use to describe Newsweek's current Sarah Palin cover, "unflattering" probably isn't one of them.
But Palin says the cover's posed shot of her in running gear, including short black shorts - a photo originally taken for Runner's World magazine - was out of context and sexist. And even some who aren't fans say she has a point.
The photo in question shows a smiling Palin, who on Wednesday launched her national book tour, standing near a folded American flag draped over a chair, hand on her hip. She's wearing a long-sleeved red athletic top, running shoes, and the aforementioned shorts.
It's a far cry from the photo Newsweek used on its cover a year ago, a close-up in sharp detail, which many of her supporters criticized as unflattering because it showed her skin pores and a few wrinkles.
This time, it's just the former Alaska governor looking trim and fit. But Palin expressed her dismay on her Facebook page. "The out-of-context Newsweek approach is sexist and oh-so-expected by now," she wrote her fans on the site, who now number over a million. She also accused the magazine of "focusing on the irrelevant rather than the relevant" in its coverage of her.
Over 3,000 fans responded.
"Sarah, don't worry about it," wrote one, David Pearl. "They are just jealous they do not look that good in shorts and are not as smart. Just consider it free publicity to help sell the book."
"It was a cheap shot, and that's all they have!" wrote another, Deborah Ann Stroscheim. "They are just trying to sell the mag."
Few would dispute that last part. "The main consideration for covers is, what will draw attention?" said Kenny Irby of the Poynter Institute, a journalism think tank in St. Petersburg, Fla. "There's no question that people will pay a lot of attention to this cover."
The issue, Irby said, is one of context. The photo is accompanied by the headline: "How Do You Solve a Problem Like Sarah? She's Bad News for the GOP - And For Everybody Else, Too." And that leads to a whole different interpretation, Irby noted, than if you were looking at it in Runner's World, where it originally ran in August.
"The image is not sexist," said Irby, who specializes in visual journalism. "The words are more damaging and questionable. The powerful pairing is the issue. Why did they use this photo - where half the frame is her legs - when they had thousands to choose from?" In his own opinion, Irby said, "It's a pretty underhanded shot at her credibility."
Newsweek issued an official statement Tuesday defending the photo choice.
"We chose the most interesting image available to us to illustrate the theme of the cover, which is what we always try to do," said the statement, from editor Jon Meacham. "We apply the same test to photographs of any public figure, male or female: does the image convey what we are saying? That is a gender-neutral standard."
But was Palin right to charge that the photo was unfairly used out of context - a perfect image for a running magazine, but inappropriate for a news weekly? "I think she's got a point," said media ethicist Kelly McBride, also at Poynter.
On the other hand, McBride added, "If I were posing in running gear and I were as controversial as Sarah Palin, I would stipulate the boundaries on that."
To Newsweek managing editor Daniel Klaidman, Palin, as a public figure, must have known that the photo could be used elsewhere.
"If you're going to be in the arena, you've got to know that when you pose for a magazine that picture might appear elsewhere," Klaidman said in a telephone interview. "She's a public figure. We cover her."
Also, he pointed out, the photo is consistent with the image that Palin likes to portray. "She's cultivated this persona: Outdoorsy, folksy," he said of the former vice presidential candidate, who's spoken to the media dressed in fishing waders. "It's authentic, but she also knows it plays to her base."
In any case, Christi Lowell, a Palin friend on Facebook from Chicago, wondered why Palin would have posed for a photo like that anyway.
"It wasn't totally right of her to pose for that photo in the first place," Lowell, 39, noted in a telephone interview.
"And the photo IS attractive," noted Lowell, a housewares company sales manager. "It's also motivating. She's in shape! Just like President Obama." (Who, it must be said, appeared on the cover of The Washingtonian not long ago shirtless, in a bathing suit - a paparazzi shot from a Hawaii vacation.)
But, Lowell said, it would have been better for Newsweek to use a different shot. "What's wrong is that the article was about politics," Lowell said.
"Couldn't they have just put her in a suit?"
Sarah Palin to stop at Tempe Costco for book signing
by Luci Scott - Nov. 17, 2009 11:00 AM
The Arizona Republic
Former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin will sign her book on Dec. 1 at Costco in Tempe.
Palin will sign 1,000 copies of the memoir "Going Rogue: An American Life" from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
"This is exclusive to Costco members; you must be a card holder," said warehouse manager Mary Magel.
The line will form on the tire center side of the building, on the southeastern corner of Priest Drive and Elliot Road, and people need to show a receipt that they bought the book at any Costco. Autograph seekers also can buy books in line.
"People will be able to take photos of her, but not with her," Magel said.
Palin will sign the book but no other memorabilia, and she won't personalize the autograph with the book owner's name.
Costco is selling the book for $15.79.
Palin was the running mate of Republican presidential nominee John McCain; she recently resigned as governor of Alaska. In the book, she criticizes the McCain campaign.
Magel thinks the Tempe Costco was chosen because it's close to Sky Harbor Airport; Palin is leaving the state immediately after 2 p.m. for another engagement.
"The arrangements were made through her publicist; we just got the e-mail that says 'You are lucky,' " Magel said.
See Sarah Run
Susan Estrich Susan Estrich – Wed Nov 18, 3:00 am ET
Creators Syndicate –
I really hate defending Sarah Palin. I mean, I don't agree with her on anything. Seeing a woman at her level saying and doing some of the things she says and does is like nails screeching against a blackboard for me. And while she ultimately helps Democrats in any partisan contest, her brand of polarizing politics and efforts to annihilate the moderate wing of the Republican Party ultimately aren't very good for her own party (not my problem) or the country (everyone's problem).
And while I'm at it, it drives me crazy when she goes around blaming the McCain campaign for her mistakes instead of taking responsibility. The list goes on.
The problem is that the media can't seem to figure out that she deserves to be treated like Dick Armey or Newt Gingrich or Dick Cheney. Disagree with her. Point out that she's wrong more often than she's right, and that she doesn't know what she's talking about on key issues. Call her a quitter, by all means, and a sore sport and a bad loser. Ask her hard questions, or even medium-hard questions, and see if she can answer. Push her on whether she's more interested in fame and glory than making change happen.
Just don't put her on the cover in running shorts.
I'm talking, of course, about the Newsweek cover, which took a picture Palin posed for as part of a spread in Runner's World magazine about how she loves running and used it to turn her into a pinup girl. She is not a girl, and she is not a pinup.
Palin criticized the cover as "sexist and oh-so-expected." She's right. But too many liberals are being quoted praising it. How soon they forget. Calling Gov. Palin the "Caribou Barbie" and "Governor Gidget" actually pushed her numbers higher among women. It's both sexist and stupid. It was only when Palin fell on her face with Katie Couric that many women felt free to abandon her.
The irony is that the cover, far from skewering Palin, as was its clear intent, helps her. The picture overwhelms the caption — "How Do You Solve A Problem Like Sarah? She's Bad News for the GOP and Everyone Else, Too" — and reduces it to a hit piece. It makes Palin a heroine to the people who hate the liberal media, reinforcing the view that the media are biased against conservatives. It makes women like me horrendously uncomfortable, because sexism is not OK under any circumstances. And it makes non-political, moderate women (you know, the kind who decide every election) more sympathetic to a woman who, on most issues (not just abortion, but health care, for instance, and stem cell research), is on the opposite side of them.
Oh, yes, and for sure it will sell books. Magazines, too. Everybody wins except women, who are still eye candy, even if they get to the point of being their party's nominee for vice president. That's the message, and it applies to all of us. It's not a liberal versus conservative issue: I've seen just as bad and worse done to Hillary. It's about sexism and powerful women and how they can be trivialized. And this is why, once again, I have to defend Sarah Palin.
To find out more about Susan Estrich and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.
You can always count on elected officials and politicians to be liars and hypocrites!
McCain: Palin attacks 'vicious'
by Andy Barr - Nov. 25, 2009 10:23 AM
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said Tuesday night that the attacks on Sarah Palin, his former vice presidential running mate, are unlike anything he has ever seen.
"I'm entertained and sometimes a little angry when I see this constant, vicious attacks by people on the left," McCain said of Palin during an interview with Fox News' Greta Van Susteren.
"'I've never seen anything like it in all the years that I've been in politics," McCain continued, "the viciousness and the personalization of the attacks on Sarah Palin."
McCain did not mention that some of the harshest attacks against the former Alaska governor have come from former members of his own presidential campaign – who he has defended to some extent – but did said that he is "very proud" of Palin.
"I'm proud of the job she's doing. And I believe that she will play a major role in the politics in America. Americans like her," McCain said, "whether the New York Times and others happen to like that or not."
Asked about media circus that follows Palin everywhere she goes, McCain said, "I think it's fantastic."
The Arizona Republic is a member of the Politico Network.
Sarah Palin wants to flush the First Admendment down the toilet and force the Christian god on America!
Palin says nation should rededicate itself to God
by Mike Baker - Dec. 4, 2009 02:21 PM
Associated Press
RALEIGH, N.C. - Sarah Palin says the United States should rededicate itself to seeking God's will, arguing that a humble spirit could help leaders get more answers on issues such as health care, energy and national security.
In a video released Friday by the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, the 2008 Republican candidate for vice president said it's important for leaders to acknowledge they don't have all the answers.
"No one person has all the right answers," Palin said. "It takes a united nation, and it does take godly counsel, and it takes prayer and answers to prayer - and a collective humble heart of a nation seeking God's hand of protection and his blessings of prosperity. I think if we can get back to that, our country will be a safer, more prosperous and healthier nation."
The former Alaska governor referred to an Abraham Lincoln proclamation that declared a day of national humiliation, fasting, and prayer. She said the United States has been "touched by God" because the nation's early leaders dedicated the country to God.
"If we could get back to that - that humbleness, with that kind of contrite spirit - I think that we would be able to be provided more of the answers to so many of the great challenges that we're facing," Palin said. "And these are huge challenges, whether we're talking about health care, whether we're talking about energy independence, whether we're talking about national security measures."
Parts of Palin's interview with the Billy Graham group have been released since she traveled a couple weeks ago to meet the aging religious leader at his western North Carolina home, where they dined and prayed. Franklin Graham, who now leads the Charlotte-based association his father founded, said he has been impressed by Palin's commitment to faith, family and country.
In the videos, Palin talked about some of the "shots" she takes in the media and in politics.
"God strengthens me through the challenges," Palin said, adding that she believes in a line from the Bible she paraphrased as: "What the enemy seeks to destroy you with, no, God is going to turn it around for good."
"God has so blessed me in really manifesting that promise over and over and over in my life," she said.
Billy Graham, 91, has been a counsel to presidents and politicians for decades, though he now remains largely secluded due to deteriorating health. Palin was visiting North Carolina last month as part of a book tour for her new memoir, "Going Rogue."
Palin cuts short vacation after McCain visor flap
by Mark Thiessen - Dec. 18, 2009 02:21 PM
Associated Press .
ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin said she cut short her Hawaii vacation because of paparazzi, who photographed her wearing a sun visor with the name of John McCain blacked out.
The pictures were circulated widely on the Internet with speculation the redaction was a slight against McCain, but Palin said she meant no disrespect to her former GOP running mate.
"In an attempt to go incognito,' I Sharpied the logo out on my sun visor so photographers would be less likely to recognize me and bother my kids or other vacationers," Palin said in a statement. "I am so sorry if people took this silly incident the wrong way. I adore John McCain, support him 100 percent and will do everything I can to support his re-election," the former Alaska governor said.
Other photographs of the Palins relaxing on the beach showed up on celebrity Web sites such as http://www.tmz.com.
"Todd and I have since cut our vacation short because the incognito attempts didn't work and fellow vacationers were bothered for the two days we spent in the sun. So much for trying to go incognito," she said.
She was even more pointed in a message to her Twitter followers Thursday night upon returning home to Alaska, where a fresh 18 inches of snow had fallen: "So cut sunny vacation short (thanks, desperate paparazzi)."
Palin's visit to the islands comes a week ahead of President Barack Obama's expected vacation on Oahu, where he was born, spent many of his childhood years and attended high school.
Palin is no stranger to the Aloha State.
According to a biography - "Sarah" by Kaylene Johnson - Palin and three friends went to the University of Hawaii at Hilo after graduation from high school in Alaska in 1982. But they left after a few weeks because of the constant rain there, the book said.
Palin, then known as Sarah Louise Heath, and a friend traveled to Honolulu and enrolled at Hawaii Pacific College, a private, nonsectarian school now known as Hawaii Pacific University. She attended as a freshman during the fall of 1982.
From HPU, Palin transferred to North Idaho College, a two-year school in Coeur d'Alene, and eventually graduated from the University of Idaho in 1987.
--
Associated Press Writer Jaymes Song in Honolulu contributed to this
Custody battle launched over Palin's grandson
Dec. 29, 2009 07:26 AM
Associated Press .
ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Sarah Palin's oldest daughter appears to have lost her bid to keep a bitter legal dispute with her 1-year-old son's father confidential.
An Alaska judge last week denied Bristol Palin's request to keep the legal proceedings of her custody dispute with Levi Johnston closed.
Palin, 18, filed a petition in early November seeking sole custody of her son, Tripp, and child support payments. She had argued that the scrutiny the case could attract would turn it into a "media circus" that potentially could cause her son embarrassment as he grows older.
"In this day and age of the internet, media stories remain available for years, even decades, after they are first published, and anything printed in the media (whether it is true or not) will be available to Tripp when he is old enough to read," she said in an affidavit. [Hey Tripp, if it's the year 2025 and your reading this I want to says hello to you!]
Levi Johnston, who is seeking joint custody, has pushed for open court proceedings, saying he "just wants a simple case on the merits."
"I do not feel protected against Sarah Palin in a closed proceeding," Johnston said in an affidavit. "I hope that if it is open she will stay out of it. Bristol's attorney is her attorney."
Bristol Palin said that her mother, who resigned as Alaska governor in July, would not be involved in the case other than as "grandmother."
Palin's petition also seeks a visitation schedule for Johnston, who she says has exercised "sporadic visitation rights."
Relations between the Palins and Johnston and his family have frequently been strained since the couple broke off their engagement after their son was born in late December 2008.
Johnston denies in court documents that he has avoided his responsibilities.
Sarah Palin announced her daughter's pregnancy days after being named the running mate of Republican presidential candidate John McCain.
Bristol Palin's custody petition calls Johnston's recent nude photo shoot with Playgirl magazine "risque."
The document also notes that Levi's mother, Sherry Johnston, should not be allowed unsupervised visits with the baby following her drug arrest. Sherry Johnston, who is serving out most of her three-year sentence under home confinement, was sentenced last month on a guilty plea to one count of possession with intent to deliver the painkiller OxyContin.
Palin's custody petition also suggested Levi Johnston may have his own issues with substance abuse, saying he made statements about seeking "weed" on Twitter.
Johnston denies making such a statement, saying the Twitter account "is a fraud" and that he doesn't have an account on the popular online social networking site.
In a motion opposing closed proceedings, Levi Johnston's attorney, Rex Butler, argued that Bristol Palin had not shown what sort of evidence could stigmatize the child.
"This case presents a custody case with similar facts that attend open cases every day in the Alaska court system," Butler wrote.
Sarah Palin's Tea Party gig raises eyebrows
by Kenneth P. Vogel - Jan. 8, 2010 03:45 PM
POLITICO.COM
Sarah Palin's plan to deliver the keynote address – for a fee – at next month's first-ever National Tea Party Convention is getting renewed attention in light of her rejection Thursday of an invitation to speak at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference.
The decision to blow off CPAC – traditionally seen as the year's must-attend event for the conservative establishment – in favor of a little-known convention is prompting some soul-searching among CPAC supporters, and is being interpreted as a calculated play by the former Alaska governor to cast herself as the potential 2012 GOP presidential candidate of the high-energy, anti-establishment Tea Party movement.
But it's also renewed questions about her political judgment and brought scrutiny on the Tea Party Convention, which kicks off two weeks before CPAC's Feb. 18 start date and has cast itself to some degree as a more homegrown, grassroots alternative to the traditional conservative conference.
"It's a missed opportunity for her, for sure," said GOP operative Brad Blakeman. "CPAC is an established mainstay of conservatism that those seeking to be active in 2010, 2012 and beyond should take advantage of to be seen and heard, while the tea parties are a manifestation of frustration that is loosely organized and hasn't proven itself at the polls."
Palin has committed to speaking at April's Southern Republican Leadership Conference in New Orleans, considered a must-attend for prospective candidates for the 2012 Republican nomination.
Still, the CPAC snub combined with the Tea Party commitment were clearly intended to send a message, asserted Erick Erickson, founder of the influential conservative blog RedState.com, which is owned by a publishing firm that is co-sponsoring CPAC. "I get why she did it," he said. "It is a purposeful decision on her part to try to claim a segment of the conservative movement as her own."
Though he said it's caused some conservatives to question whether CPAC is losing relevance as new conservative activists affiliate more with the Tea Party than establishment conservative and Republican groups, Erickson predicted that CPAC is "going to draw a lot more people and a wider range of both conservative voices and conservative age groups" than the Tea Party convention.
In 2009, CPAC, which is held in Washington and includes a presidential straw poll, drew an estimated 9,000 attendees, while the National Tea Party Convention, set to begin Feb. 4 in Nashville, had 600 tickets, some of which are still available.
"She could have done both," Erickson said, "but I think she should be doing CPAC because she would have a more expanded reach. The people surrounding the governor need to go some good discernment as to who are her friends and who want to ride her coattails to greater personal success."
Palin's representatives confirmed Friday that she is still planning to attend the Tea Party Convention, but they ignored questions about whether it part of a broader effort to position her within the conservative movement.
The Tea Party Convention is being organized by Tea Party Nation, a for-profit company that runs a social networking website for activists, but is not considered a leading group in the Tea Party movement. It's paying for Palin's fee (reported to be in the low six figures) and other overhead by selling tickets (at $560 a pop) and by offering sponsorships, in some cases for $50,000 each.
Tea Party Nation is hoping to turn a profit from its convention so that it can "funnel money back into conservative causes" through a 527 group it plans to set up to get involved in campaigns, according to Judson Phillips, the group's president.
Though he wouldn't comment on Palin's CPAC snub, he previously told POLITICO that his group's ability to land Palin to keynote the convention demonstrates "that the Tea Party movement is having an impact in politics and that she recognizes its impact and that she wants to be a part of it. It's going to be a hugely important event for her and for us, in the Tea Party movement."
But some Tea Party activists and organizers have questioned whether Tea Party Nation can pull off a successful convention, and also whether its plans are consistent with the goals of the grassroots movement, which exploded onto the scene last year when conservatives mobilized in opposition to the ambitious big-spending initiatives backed by President Obama and congressional Democrats.
Anthony Shreeve, an East Tennessee local Tea Party organizer who resigned from the convention's steering committee after a disagreement over its finances, blasted the steep ticket price and expressed concerns that Palin might compromise herself by attending.
"She thinks she's coming to endorse the Tea Party movement, but most Tea Party people won't be there because they can't afford it," he said. "The Tea Party movement is a grassroots movement; it's not a business," he added, asserting the convention "could potentially harm the movement, because it's a premature national initiative that doesn't have the support of the majority of we the people."
And a Tea Party source familiar with the convention's fundraising and planning efforts questioned whether it was wise to prominently feature Palin at an event purporting to be driven by grassroots activists.
Plus, the source said the convention's sponsorship requests exceeded the norm for such an event, adding "I understand completely asking sponsors to chip in, but 50 grand is just way beyond."
Though the convention lists nine sponsors on its website, some of the groups that have played leading roles in organizing the Tea Party movement are notably absent, including the Dick Armey-led FreedomWorks and Americans for Prosperity.
Asked why they didn't sponsor the event, FreedomWorks representatives didn't comment, while Americans for Prosperity president Tim Phillips issued a statement saying "while we're not an official sponsor, AFP supports efforts to continue strengthening the tea party movement as a grassroots force. AFP will certainly have activists and staff there."
The Arizona Republic is a member of the Politico Network.
No Way! Sarah Palin ain't a Tea Party member
Sarah Palin a Tea Party member? No way!
Sarah Palin even if she is a conservative
is part of the tax and spend group that
steals our money and gives it to special
intrest groups. Sarah Palin is a hypocrite
for trying to be associated with the
atnti-government Tea Party folks!
Hmmm ... so its OK for Republics to lie about what they will give voters if they are elected. But it's wrong for Democrats to lie about what they will give voters if they are elected. Go figure!
Palin criticizes Obama, says he 'over-promised'
by Andy Barr - Jan. 26, 2010 10:18 AM
POLITICO.COM .
Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is attacking Barack Obama for having "over-promised" as a candidate and not listening to the American people as president.
In a post on her Facebook page Monday night, the former Republican vice presidential candidate pointed to recent GOP wins in the Massachusetts special Senate election a week ago and in earlier gubernatorial contests in Virginia and New Jersey as proof that Americans oppose the Democratic president's agenda.
"From the tea parties to the town halls to the Massachusetts Miracle, Americans have tried to make their opposition to Washington's big government agenda loud and clear. But the president has decided that this current discontent isn't his fault, it's ours," Palin wrote, chiding Obama for his frequent media appearances.
"He seems to think we just don't understand what's going on because he hasn't had the chance – in his 411 speeches and 158 interviews last year – to adequately explain his policies to us," Palin wrote. "Instead of sensibly telling the American people, 'I'm listening,' the president is saying, 'Listen up, people!' This approach is precisely the reason people are upset with Washington."
Palin also dinged Obama for recently bringing back his former campaign manager, David Plouffe, to help run some of this fall's key campaigns, writing that "Americans aren't looking for more political strategists."
"The president's former campaign adviser is now calling on supporters to 'get on the same page,' but what's on that page?" Palin asked. "He claims that the president is 'resolved' to 'keep fighting for' his agenda, but we've already seen what that government-growth agenda involves, and frankly the hype doesn't give us much hope."
Critiquing the president's first year in office, Palin declared that "candidate Obama over-promised; President Obama has under-delivered."
"Candidate Obama promised us that his economic stimulus package would be targeted and pork-free, but President Obama signed a stimulus bill loaded with pork and goodies for corporate cronies," Palin wrote. "Candidate Obama railed against Wall Street greed, but President Obama cozied up to bankers as he extended and expanded their bailouts."
The Arizona Republic is a member of the Politico Network.
Palin e-mails suggest husband's role in governing
Feb. 5, 2010 01:31 PM
Associated Press
JUNEAU, Alaska - E-mails obtained by the Associated Press suggest Todd Palin was intimately involved in decisions related to state government when his wife was governor of Alaska.
The e-mails show Todd Palin was included in messages on a wide range of government and political issues. Aides to then-Gov. Sarah Palin regularly sought Todd Palin's advice on such things as state board appointments.
In one e-mail, Todd Palin advocates having an Alaska newspaper removed from a press release list after Sarah Palin complained about an editor's fairness.
The e-mails, released to AP after a public records request, were accompanied by a 19-page list detailing those withheld, citing executive privilege, privacy or other reasons.
Sarah Palin cabins not noted in tax assessments
Feb. 4, 2010 08:20 PM
Associated Press
ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Records show that Sarah Palin hasn't paid any property taxes on cabins that have been built on two backcountry plots partially owned by the former Alaska governor.
It's unclear how long ago the structures were built, but records show that there are no tax assessments for the workshop, sauna and house-sized cabins spotted Thursday in an aerial survey.
Property taxes totaling $156.13 were paid on the land in 2009 — but that bill did not include anything for the structures because the local assessor didn't know about the new construction nearly 100 miles north of Anchorage.
The issue has attracted the attention of local tax officials who conducted a scheduled aerial survey of the properties on Thursday. The area is accessible only by floatplane, snowmobile or four-wheeler.
Dave Dunivan, the assessor for the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, said such a survey had not been done in five years, before construction started on the cabins.
Palin's attorney, Thomas Van Flein, said it is not the responsibility of property owners to report structures that go up on their land.
"It is the borough's job," he said in an e-mail. "The property taxes on this parcel are fully paid and have never been delinquent."
Dunivan, however, said owners are required by state law to report any omissions or errors in their tax assessments. Often, the borough learns of new structures in remote areas when neighbors report them. Dunivan said no one has called the borough on the Palin lots, among many in the region to add structures, the flyover survey found.
"Typically, if there are errors, we hear from owners," he said. "If there are omissions, we don't. Every once in a while we do have someone call us about omissions, but not often."
The properties are located along Safari Lake — an undeveloped area located near Denali State Park — and owned by Palin, her husband Todd and a family friend, Scott Richter. According to borough records, the tax assessments are sent to Richter's post office box in Big Lake.
There is no phone listing in Alaska for Richter and he could not be reached Thursday.
The matter first appeared Wednesday on an Alaska political blog site, Mudflats, which has been critical of Palin, the 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate.
Palin resigned as governor last summer and has since written a best-selling memoir. She signed on as a Fox News commentator last month.
Dunivan said a photo of a large cabin posted on the site — and later reported on the Huffington Post Web site — is one of the structures spotted in the flyover.
"This is another blatant attempt to manufacture a story about the Palins following more defamatory swipes," Palin's spokeswoman Meghan Stapleton said in an e-mail to The Associated Press.
Van Flein said work is still being done on the cabins, but both are usable. He said construction began on one of the cabins in 2006, but he didn't know when construction started on the second one.
The two parcels of land, separated by one lot, total 25 acres and had a combined value of $30,000 in 2007 through 2009, according to assessment records. Dunivan said the data collected in Thursday's survey will be calculated into 2010 assessment notices being mailed out at the end of the month.
It's too soon to estimate how much the structures will increase the taxes due , Dunivan said.
The cabins are the size of large homes rather than the average backcountry cabin, but square footage estimates were not immediately available.
Local real estate broker, Claus Steigler, said most cabins in the area are closer to the 500-square-foot range. Because they are in a hard to reach area, they generally sell for only $40,000 to $60,000, including the land.
One large log cabin reachable by road is listed at $229,000, but it's still on the market after two years, Steigler said.
Records show that cabins on Sarah Palin's Alaska properties weren't noted in tax assessments
RACHEL D'ORO Associated Press Writer
February 5, 2010 | 6:39 a.m.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Records show that Sarah Palin hasn't paid any property taxes on cabins that have been built on two backcountry plots partially owned by the former Alaska governor.
There are no tax assessments for the two-story, house-sized cabins, a workshop and a sauna spotted Thursday in an aerial survey. Property taxes totaling $156.13 were paid on the land in 2009 — but that bill did not include anything for the structures because the local assessor didn't know about the new construction nearly 100 miles north of Anchorage.
The issue has attracted the attention of local tax officials who conducted the scheduled aerial survey of properties in the area on Thursday. The area is accessible only by floatplane, snowmobile or four-wheeler.
Dave Dunivan, the assessor for the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, said such a survey had not been done there in five years, before construction started on the cabins.
Palin's attorney, Thomas Van Flein, said it is not the responsibility of property owners to report structures that go up on their land.
"It is the borough's job," he said in an e-mail. "The property taxes on this parcel are fully paid and have never been delinquent."
Dunivan, however, said owners are required by state law to report any omissions or errors in their tax assessments. Often, the borough learns of new structures in remote areas when neighbors report them. Dunivan said no one has called the borough on the Palin lots, among many in the region to add structures, the flyover survey found.
"Typically, if there are errors, we hear from owners," he said. "If there are omissions, we don't. Every once in a while we do have someone call us about omissions, but not often."
The properties are located along Safari Lake — an undeveloped area located near Denali State Park — and owned by Palin, her husband Todd and a family friend, Scott Richter. According to borough records, the tax assessments are sent to Richter's post office box in Big Lake.
There is no phone listing in Alaska for Richter and he could not be reached Thursday.
The matter first appeared Wednesday on an Alaska political blog site, Mudflats, which has been critical of Palin, the 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate. Palin resigned as governor last summer and has since written a best-selling memoir. She signed on as a Fox News commentator last month.
"This is another blatant attempt to manufacture a story about the Palins following more defamatory swipes," Palin's spokeswoman Meghan Stapleton said in an e-mail to The Associated Press.
Dunivan said a photo of a large cabin posted on the Mudflats site — and later reported on the Huffington Post Web site — is one of the structures spotted in the flyover.
Van Flein said work is still being done on the cabins, but both are usable. He said construction began on one of the cabins in 2006, but he didn't know when construction started on the second one.
The two parcels of land, separated by one lot, total 25 acres and had a combined value of $30,000 in 2007 through 2009, according to assessment records. Dunivan said the data collected in Thursday's survey will be calculated into 2010 assessment notices being mailed out at the end of the month.
It's too soon to estimate how much the structures will increase the taxes due, Dunivan said.
The cabins are the size of large homes rather than the average backcountry cabin, but square footage estimates were not immediately available.
Local real estate broker, Claus Steigler, said most cabins in the area are closer to the 500-square-foot range. Because they are in a hard to reach area, they generally sell for only $40,000 to $60,000, including the land.
One large log cabin reachable by road is listed at $229,000, but it's still on the market after two years, Steigler said.
Sarah Palin ain't a Tea Party candidate, she is preaching the same old krap of vote the Democrats out and replace them with Republicans. For the Tea Party to win anything the need to string ALL the existing Democrat and Republican tyrants from light poles and start over will 99 percent less government rulers.
She also encouraged "tea party"-aligned candidates to compete in GOP primaries - to fix things the Tea Party members need to gun down the existing government rulers, no get them voted out of office.
"Palin criticized Obama for continuing to blame George W. Bush for the country's woes" - what rubbish! Obamas policies are just the same old Bush policies being run by a Black Democrat, nothing has changed from the Bush policies.
"Her fee was $100,000 for the appearance at the for-profit event" - those Tea Party members seem misguided. $100K could have bought 100 AK-47 rifles!
"Admission was $549 for access to the entire three-day gathering or $349 just to hear Palin's speech" - with prices like that the Tea Party sound like the special interest groups that run things now!
Palin tells 'tea party': It's revolution time
by Liz Sidot - Feb. 6, 2010 10:45 PM
Associated Press
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.
"This movement is about the people," the 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee said as the crowd roared. "Government is supposed to be working for the people."
Palin note Democrats' electoral losses since Obama took office a year ago with talk of hope and promises of change and asked: "How's that hope-y, change-y stuff workin' out for you?"
Her audience waved flags and erupted in cheers during multiple standing ovations as Palin gave the keynote address at the first national convention of the "tea party" coalition. It's an anti-establishment, grass-roots network motivated by anger over the growth of government, budget-busting spending and Obama's policies.
Filled with Palin's trademark folksy jokes, the speech amounted to a 45-minute pep talk for the coalition and promotion of its principles. The speech also was rife with criticism for Obama and Democrats who control Congress, but delivered with a light touch. But, aside from broad conservative principles like lower taxes and a strong national defense, the speech was short on Palin's own policy ideas that typically indicate someone is seriously laying the groundwork to run for the White House.
Indeed, Republican observers say she's seemingly done more lately to establish herself as a political celebrity focused on publicity rather than a political candidate focused on policy.
Catering to her crowd, Palin talked of limited government, strict adherence to the Constitution, and the "God-given right" of freedom. She said the "fresh, young and fragile" movement is the future of American politics because it's "a ground-up call to action" to both major political parties to change how they do business. "You've got both party machines running scared," she said.
Palin suggested that the party should remain leaderless and cautioned against allowing the movement to be defined by any one person. "This is about the people" and "it's a lot bigger than any charismatic guy with a teleprompter," she said, jabbing at Obama.
"Let us not get bogged down in the small squabbles. Let us get caught up in the big ideas," she said, though she offered few of her own.
The former Alaska governor, who resigned from office last summer before completing her first term, didn't indicate whether her political future would extend beyond cable news punditry and paid speeches to an actual presidential candidacy.
All she offered was a smile when a moderator asking her questions used the phrase "President Palin." That prompted most in the audience to stand up and chant "Run, Sarah, run!"
But, given the plethora of attacks that Palin leveled at Obama, she seemed like she was already running against him. And, perhaps, as an independent.
She talked little about the Republican Party , going so far as to suggest that she should apologize to the party for her inability to get her husband to register with the GOP. She also encouraged "tea party"-aligned candidates to compete in GOP primaries, saying: "Contested primaries aren't civil war; they're democracy at work and that's beautiful."
Palin criticized Obama for continuing to blame George W. Bush for the country's woes instead of blaming what she called the Democrat's own big-government, big-spending agenda that has made the country less secure. She called his policies out of date and said they were "running out of time," suggesting big GOP wins in the fall mid-term elections.
She also ribbed him for Democratic losses in New Jersey and Virginia governor's races last fall and in a Massachusetts Senate race last month, saying: "When you're 0-3 you'd better stop lecturing and start listening."
On foreign policy and national security, Palin said he had "misguided thinking" and a pre-Sept. 11 mindset, saying: "We need a commander in chief" not a professor of law.
"Foreign policy can't be managed through the politics of personality," she said.
She assailed the $787 billion stimulus plan — "Did you feel very stimulated?" she asked — and said the administration's deficit spending was "immoral" and "generational theft."
Her fee was $100,000 for the appearance at the for-profit event. But she said she would not keep the money, instead giving it back to "the cause." She didn't elaborate.
Admission was $549 for access to the entire three-day gathering or $349 just to hear Palin's speech after a dinner of lobster and steak at the sprawling Gaylord Opryland resort. The cost led to criticism from even some activists that it runs counter to the coalition's image and could preclude people from attending.
It's just one of several "tea party" appearances Palin plans in the coming weeks. She will speak at a rally in Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid's hometown of Searchlight, Nev., to kick off the Tea Party Express III tour. In April, she heads to Boston for "tea party" gathering there around the one-year anniversary of the coalition that began last spring.
How silly! They are picking on her because she makes notes on the back of her hand. The problem is she is a government tyrant, not that she writes notes on the back of her hand. Palin may think she is a Tea Bagger, but she is just another tax and spend government tyrant.
Palin's Palm Holds the Answers
by Mike Krumbolt
Remember those quizzes you had on the state capitals back in junior high? Oh, the pressure! The temptation to write "Pierre, Olympia, Dover, Albany" on the inside of your hand was overwhelming, wasn't it? But you resisted. Maybe Sarah Palin should have done the same.
The former vice presidential candidate seems to have been caught using curious crib notes during an interview this past weekend at the high-profile Tea Party Convention in Nashville. While speaking about her top political priorities, Ms. Palin gazed at her hand in a rather suspicious manner.
Later, Web researchers zoomed in on her left palm and found the following words scrawled in black ink: "Energy, Budget cuts (with "budget" crossed out), Tax, Lift American Spirits." In an ironic twist during the speech, Ms. Palin worked in a jab against President Obama's often-mocked use of TelePrompTers. You can watch the clip below or check out a close-up here.
Following the flap, the Web went wild. Andrea Mitchell of MSNBC mocked Ms. Palin by relying on her own crib notes to recap highlights from Palin's appearance. Her keynote speech, it should be noted, had the crowd on its feet. "Run, Sarah, run," the crowd chanted (as in "please run for president in 2012").
But palm-gate wasn't the only bit of news sparked by Palin. Her defense of Rush Limbaugh's use of the word "retards" raised eyebrows, as well. On Fox News Sunday, the anti "r-word" crusader contended that Limbaugh had used the word in the context of political humor and satire. Earlier in the week, the difference between her angry reaction to White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel's use of the "slur" and a more restrained response to Limbaugh's made from some awkward fallout. Web searches on "sarah palin on fox news" and "palin limbaugh" have both surged as the controversy swirled.
Sarah's husband, Todd Palin, has also been back in the news. The self-proclaimed former "first dude" of Alaska was revealed to be quite active in state business. According to recently uncovered emails, Todd Palin was "involved in a judicial appointment, monitored contract negotiations with public employee unions, received background checks on a corporate CEO, added his approval or disapproval to state board appointments and passed financial information marked 'confidential' from his oil company employer to a state attorney."
Levi Johnston bares all for 'Playgirl' cover
Come on Sarah if Levi Johnson can pose for Playgirl you can pose for Playboy! If you posed for Playboy it would prove you don't have to be ugly to be a government tyrant! Maybe you could pose with Kyrsten Sinema a hot government tyrant in the Arizona House of Representatives
Levi Johnston bares all for 'Playgirl' cover
by Rachel D'Oro - Feb. 9, 2010 07:18 PM
Associated Press
ANCHORAGE, Alaska - The teen father of Sarah Palin's grandson is featured on the cover of the upcoming print version of Playgirl magazine - sporting nothing but a sultry gaze.
The photos of Levi Johnston - the 19-year-old former fiance of Palin's daughter - were a huge hit last fall on the magazine's Web site. The publisher expects the same results with other photos from the same shoot running in the newly resurrected print version available on newsstands Feb. 22.
Johnston fathered a son with ex-fiance Bristol, the 19-year-old daughter of the former Republican vice presidential candidate who resigned as Alaska's governor last summer. The young couple broke up after the birth of their son, Tripp, in late 2008.
The upcoming Playgirl print spread includes an interview with Johnston, who discussed his strained relationship with the Palins, said Daniel Nardicio, a spokesman for the magazine. An hour-long behind-the-scenes look at the photo shoot also will be available on cable-on-demand programming from Friday to March 11.
Bristol Palin, who is in a child custody battle with Johnston, has called the Playboy shoot "risque" in her legal petition. Claiming he made more than $105,000 last year from media interviews and modeling assignments, she is seeking $1,750 a month in child support and $18,350 in back child support.
Palin's spokewoman, Meghan Stapleton, did not respond to requests for comment Tuesday.
Johnston initially agreed to do frontal nudity when negotiations began for the fall shoot, according to Nardicio.
Johnston backed away from baring all after he was criticized for taking the job and some called Playgirl a magazine for gay men.
Nardicio said he considers the magazine appealing to both men and women, although the audience is predominantly male.
Some people believed posing nude was a mistake for Johnston, according to his attorney, Rex Butler, who disagreed.
"I think it was the right decision," he said, adding that other media opportunities were in the works but not finalized.
Ultimately, Johnston was strategically posed, revealing only his backside.
"There are a lot of sexy and suggestive shots," Nardicio said.
"The cover is a good shot. I didn't know how handsome that young man is," Butler said.
Two rounds of photos have already run on the Playgirl Web site. At their peak, the photos were drawing hits from about 800 paying consumers daily. Nardicio said 70 percent of the consumers used male names and the rest used women's names.
"Due to the popularity of that shoot, people wanted a print version" and helped fuel a decision to bring back the print version, Nardicio said.
The magazine officially returned to newsstands in December with a special that was already planned. Johnston, however, is the first cover in the regular editions to be published quarterly. Nardicio said 112,000 copies are being printed for the Johnston edition.
Sarah Palin lashes out at 'Family Guy'
Feb. 16, 2010 06:35 PM
Associated Press
JUNEAU, Alaska - Sarah Palin is lashing out at the portrayal of a character with Down syndrome on the Fox animated comedy "Family Guy."
In a Facebook posting headlined "Fox Hollywood - What a Disappointment," the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee and current Fox News contributor said Sunday night's episode felt like "another kick in the gut." Palin's youngest son, Trig, has Down syndrome.
The episode features the character Chris falling for a girl with Down syndrome. On a date, he asks what her parents do.
She replies: "My dad's an accountant, and my mom is the former governor of Alaska."
Palin resigned as Alaska governor last summer.
Palin's oldest daughter, Bristol, also was quoted on her mother's Facebook page, calling the show's writers "heartless jerks."
"When you're the son or daughter of a public figure, you have to develop thick skin. My siblings and I all have that, but insults directed at our youngest brother hurt too much for us to remain silent," she is quoted as saying.
"If the writers of a particularly pathetic cartoon show thought they were being clever in mocking my brother and my family yesterday, they failed," Bristol Palin added in the Monday posting. "All they proved is that they're heartless jerks."
Palin wrote that she'd asked her daughter what she thought of the show and Bristol's reply was "a much more restrained and gracious statement than I want to make about an issue that begs the question: When is enough enough?"
This isn't the first time Palin has spoken out over an attack, real or perceived, on her family. Last year, she condemned a joke David Letterman made about her daughter, for which he later apologized.
A "Family Guy" publicist didn't immediately return an e-mail seeking comment.
There ain't a dimes difference between the Democratic party and the Republic party. The only party that is really for smaller government is the Libertarian party.
So if your fed up with the current tax and spend American police state register to vote as a Libertarian. And vote Libertarian.
Sarah Palin is no more for smaller government and less taxes then her running mate John McCain. And of course there ain't a dimes difference between McCain and Obama. The longer Obama stays in office the more Obama seems like a clone of George W. Bush.
Sarah Palin to 'tea party' activists: Pick a side
by Andy Barr - Feb. 17, 2010 10:15 AM
POLITICO.COM
Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin urged "tea party" activists on Tuesday night to "start picking a party."
In remarks to a fundraising dinner for the Arkansas Republican Party reported by CBS News, Palin praised the anti-tax tea party activists for their independence, but urged the "grand movement" to start thinking about joining one of the two political parties. [Yea! You can pick the tax and spend Republican Party that is for a bigger better police state, or you can pick the tax and spend Democratic Party that is for a bigger better police state! - Some choice!]
"Now the smart thing will be for independents who are such a part of this tea party movement to, I guess, kind of start picking a party," she said.
Palin suggested the grassroots activists consider "Which party reflects how that smaller, smarter government steps to be taken? Which party will best fit you?" [Neither party is the answer! Both parties are the problem. The Democrats and Republicans both support bigger government and higher taxes - if you really want change vote Libertarian!]
"And then because the Tea Party movement is not a party, and we have a two-party system, they're going to have to pick a party and run one or the other: 'R' or 'D,'" she said. [As a Libertarian it seems like the Tea Party members are just a bunch of angry Republicans and Democrats who are unhappy with their parties. They certainly don't seem like Libertarians!]
Palin was speaking Tuesday as Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele was meeting with 50 tea party leaders in Washington.
After a more than four hour meeting, Steele and the grassroots organizers agreed to keep a dialogue open and meet on regional levels. The tea partiers would not, however, commit to supporting GOP candidates or to holding off from savaging Republican candidates in primaries.
Palin has been making an aggressive play of late to situate herself as a leader of the movement, recently speaking to the first ever National Tea Party Convention in Nashville.
The Arkansas Republican Party said it hoped to raise $400,000 off of the event, according to the Associated Press.
Palin's claim family sought medical care in Canada prompts scrutiny, ridicule
By Lee-Anne Goodman (CP)
WASHINGTON — Sarah Palin's weekend admission that her family once travelled to Canada to receive treatment under the public health-care system she's so often demonized prompted skepticism and ridicule Monday among her critics in the United States.
"My first five years of life we spent in Skagway, Alaska, right there by Whitehorse," the former Alaska governor said Saturday night during a speech in Calgary.
"Believe it or not - this was in the '60s - we used to hustle on over the border for health care that we would receive in Whitehorse. I remember my brother, he burned his ankle in some little kid accident thing, and my parents had to put him on a train and rush him over to Whitehorse and I think, isn't that kind of ironic now. Zooming over the border, getting health care from Canada."
Always a popular whipping girl among liberal blogs and news sites, Palin was swiftly derided for the comments Monday as the news reverberated through and beyond the U.S. capital.
A headline on the New York media blog Gawker.com read: "Sarah Palin Supports Government-Run Health Care, Inadvertently Uses 'Ironic' Correctly."
Sam Stein of the Huffington Post suggested Palin was a hypocrite.
"The irony, one guesses, is that Palin now views Canada's health-care system as revolting, with its government-run administration and 'death-panel'-like rationing," Stein wrote.
"Clearly, however, she and her family once found it more alluring than, at the very least, the coverage available in rural Alaska."
There were also doubts about the veracity of her story.
In a 2007 report in the Skagway News, Palin said her family travelled south from the town by ferry to Juneau, Alaska, so that her brother could get treatment after burning his foot when jumping through a fire.
"All these years later, that's still what people have to rely on here in some instances," said Palin, who was Alaska governor at the time and pledging to improve the town's ferry system.
One Alaska-based political blog, The Mudflats, wondered - tongue firmly planted in cheek - whether Palin's brother suffered a burned foot on more than one occasion and she was simply mixing up two different but extremely similar incidents.
"Or perhaps the story was simply tweaked to tell people what they want to hear, while utilizing the perennial 'I'm one of you' meme - a great way to 'connect to the audience' while skirting those pesky things known as 'facts,"' the blog reads.
An email to Palin officials requesting more information about her family's voyages to Whitehorse for medical treatment wasn't immediately answered on Monday.
The remarks come in the midst of a furious push by top Democrats on Capitol Hill to meet a deadline imposed by President Barack Obama to get a health-care bill signed into law in the next two weeks.
The self-styled hockey mom, who is being coy about whether she's considering a run for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, has frequently vilified the Democrats for their health-care overhaul, characterizing it as socialism and accusing Obama of conspiring to do away with the elderly and the disabled with so-called "death panels."
In November, Palin told Canadian comedian Mary Walsh - in character as Marg Delahunty during an episode of "This Hour Has 22 Minutes" - that Canada should dismantle its public health-care system and let private enterprise take over.
Republicans battling against health-care reform have long claimed that Canadians flood the U.S. to get health care because of waiting lists north of the border.
But Palin's experience, if accurate, reflects what some studies suggest is a more common trend: Americans travelling abroad to get cheaper care.
A report last spring by Deloitte Center for Health Solutions said 750,000 Americans travelled abroad for medical care in 2007, and forecast that number would rise to six million by 2010. That trend far outpaces the number of Canadians coming to the U.S. for medical treatment.
Hmmm ... Sarah Palin claims to support an open government - But she doesn't like dumpster divers who dig up information on her. What a hypocrite!
Palin rips 'Dumpster divers,' speech critics
Jun. 26, 2010 10:54 AM
Associated Press
TURLOCK, Calif. - Sarah Palin leveled criticism at California's attorney general and others raising questions about her visit to a cash-strapped university, telling supporters that students had better things to do than dive through Dumpsters to find out how much she earns speaking.
The former Alaska governor's headline address Friday night at the 50th anniversary celebration at California State University, Stanislaus has drawn criticism and scrutiny since it was first announced. It also attracted sizable donations for the public school.
Officials have refused to divulge the terms of her contract or her speaking fee, and some details only came to light after students fished part of what appeared to be Palin's contract from a rubbish bin.
"Students who spent their valuable, precious time diving through dumpsters before this event in order to silence someone ... what a wasted resource," she told the crowd dining in the campus cafeteria.
"A suggestion for those Dumpster divers: Instead of trying to tell people to sit down and shut up ... spend some time telling people like our president to finally stand up," she said.
The material recovered by the students, which detailed perks such as first-class airfare for two and deluxe hotel accommodations, prompted California Attorney General Jerry Brown to launch an investigation into the finances of the university's foundation arm and allegations that the nonprofit violated public disclosure laws.
"Jerry Brown and friends, come on. This is California," Palin retorted. "Do you not have anything else to do?"
The California Democrat said Palin was wrong to politicize the inquiry, which he said would be objective.
"I don't think she understands the process," he said Friday. "It's about the operation of the foundation to see if they handled things professionally."
Officials say the university foundation that organized the fundraiser is legally exempt from public records requirements.
Friday's sold-out dinner will bring in more than $200,000, making the gala the most successful fundraiser in the university's history, said university foundation board president Matt Swanson.
"We're not here to make a political statement, we're here to make money," Swanson said.
The funds will help pay for scholarships and a variety of pressing campus needs, which the foundation will determine after consulting with university officials, officials said.
In preparation for the 2008 Republican vice-presidential candidate's arrival, workers transformed the dining hall into a glitzy gala hall, draped with crimson tablecloths, festooned with orchids and surrounded by chain-link fences.
"We cannot believe the stuff that has gone on with our campus over Sarah Palin's visit," said Alicia Lewis, 26, who was one of the team that retrieved the paperwork from a trash container in April. "Now they're fencing the campus off? It's outrageous."
University spokeswoman Eve Hightower said the extensive fencing and extra security were standard procedure for large campus events and said the university had remained open to students going to class.
Last month, CSU Stanislaus released dozens of documents in response to California Public Records Act requests from The Associated Press and the open-government group Californians Aware.
The paperwork included e-mails documenting the university's efforts to limit public fallout over Palin's visit, but it did not include information about her contract. Palin has commanded fees as high as $100,000.
About 100 protesters stood outside on the campus's leafy grounds raising up a Sarah Palin-shaped pinata and signs lettered "Spill, Baby, Spill" and "Open The Books," and chanting about school budget cuts.
"I was expecting quite a few protests," said Palin, who was accompanied by her daughter Willow. "It's been nothing but absolute loveliness here in this part of California, in spite of some of the hoopla around this dinner." The rural university, like dozens of other public colleges, has had to cut some classes and cancel several scholarships as a result of California's ongoing financial woes.
A group of about 30 Palin supporters from local tea party chapters also came to campus Friday afternoon, waving large American flags and carrying placards that read "Support Free Speech."
Palin has endorsed former Hewlett-Packard Co. chief executive Carly Fiorina in her bid to unseat Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer, but a Fiorina spokeswoman said Palin would not be making any stops on behalf of the campaign.
Obama, Palin, Rush Limbaugh and George W. Bush are cousins
Obama, Palin are cousins, genealogists sayObama, Palin are cousins, genealogists say
by Natasha Lennard - Oct. 13, 2010 10:15 AM
It's a plot twist worthy of Dickens: Fierce political rivals in the midst of a contentious battle discover they are, in fact, related.
No, really. On Wednesday, Ancestry.com — the world's largest online family history resource — revealed that Barack Obama and Sarah Palin are actually cousins.
The relationship is, however, distant. Obama and Palin are 10th cousins through a common ancestor named John Smith — who settled in Massachusetts in the mid-17th century. And there's more: Palin isn't Obama's only surprising relative. In the course of its research, the genealogy company also discovered that POTUS shares an ancestor with his vociferous critic (and newly discovered 10th cousin once removed), Rush Limbaugh, and is 11th cousins with George W. Bush. (In case you are wondering: Bush and Palin are also 11th cousins, according to the site.)
Researchers at Ancestry.com used historical records and documents to glean these findings.
At first glance, it seems that if such a broad spectrum of political figures are related to each other from a similar distance (10th or 11th cousins), such a connection could be shared by just about any two people with any early ancestors in this country at all. POLITICO spoke with Anastasia Tyler, a genealogist with Ancestry.com, to find out the significance of these far-reaching family tree branches.
"If you think about it, the president and Sarah Palin share an ancestor in the mid-1600s. That's not that long ago. Sure, a number of people with American roots will also share this ancestor, but not everybody," Tyler told POLITICO.
Don't look too deeply: Ancestry.com was hardly trying to make a big point. "We were looking at political main players as just another way to show how family history is interesting," she said. (Last year, in fact, the site noted that POTUS had links to billionaire Warren Buffett as well.)
The takeaway? "Obama has a very diverse family tree," she said, "just like America."
Sarah Palin: 'Engaged' in family talks about 2012 White House bid
By Spencer Platt, Getty Images
The guessing game of whether Sarah Palin will run for president in 2012 will no doubt kick into a higher gear when The New York Times Magazine posts on the Internet a profile of her today.
The 2008 vice presidential nominee reportedly tells writer Robert Draper that she's weighing a White House bid and "engaged in the internal deliberations candidly" with her family. The piece on the ex-Alaska governor's organization was previewed by Politico's Mike Allen and will be in Sunday's NYT Magazine.
In the story, Palin discusses how she'll have to prove her record, saying it's "a hurdle I would have to cross, that some other potential candidates wouldn't have to cross right out of the chute."
She goes on to explain her frustration at what she says is "the warped and perverted description of my record and what I've accomplished over the last two decades."
Palin has been criticized by some Republicans, including Bush political strategist Karl Rove. He recently told a British newspaper that he wasn't sure how Palin's new reality show about Alaska "fits in the American calculus of 'that helps me see you in the Oval Office.' "
Palin hasn't been shy about knocking what she calls the "lamestream" media.
But she told our colleague Gary Strauss, who wrote a cover story last week about her TLC show, that she did her homework on Draper and agreed to chat with him after she got positive reports.
"Word back to me was he seemed (like) a decent and professional reporter. So I cold-called him when I had some time and chatted with him on the phone outdoors in the sun to see if he needed any clarification," Palin told Strauss by e-mail.
Caribou Barbie can kick Obama's butt? Lets hope they both lose! We don't need either one of them as our master!
Palin says she could defeat Obama in 2012
Posted 11/17/2010 10:47 PM ET
WASHINGTON (AP) — Sarah Palin says she could defeat President Barack Obama if she seeks the White House in 2012. In an excerpt of an ABC News interview released Wednesday, the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee says she's considering a presidential run. When asked directly if she thought she could defeat Obama, the former Alaska governor replied, "I believe so."
An Associated Press-GfK poll earlier this month found Palin the most polarizing of the potential 2012 Republican presidential candidates. The poll says 46 percent of Americans view her favorably, 49 percent unfavorably, and 5 percent don't know enough about her to form an opinion.
Yet among adults who identify themselves as Republicans or GOP-leaning independents, 79 percent view her favorably.
New Sarah Palin book goes on the attack
By Susan Page, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — Is she running?
The debate over whether former Alaska governor Sarah Palin will follow her 2008 debut in national politics with a bid for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012 has been catnip for pundits, fueled by her Twitter feeds, Facebook postings and venture into reality television with Sarah Palin's Alaska on TLC.
Now, the second book.
America by Heart: Reflections on Family, Faith, and Flag, officially published today, is a tribute to the service of veterans, the value of families, the rightness of the Tea Party, the joys of hunting and more — all delivered in Palin's distinctive voice. Her 2009 memoir, Going Rogue: An American Life, sold more than 2 million copies.
Whether she ultimately runs for president or not, the new volume is a classic of the wannabe-presidential genre. Since Jimmy Carter's Why Not the Best? in 1975, politicians interested in the White House have used books to introduce themselves, cultivate supporters, outline political philosophies and defuse potential problems.
Other potential 2012 GOP candidates also are recent authors. Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney's offering, No Apology: The Case for American Greatness, was published in March.
In January, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty will be promoting Courage to Stand: An American Story. In it, his publisher says, "Pawlenty opens up about his deepest beliefs and shares his vision for a better America."
In her 272-page book, Palin:
•Bashes President Obama, who presumably will be running for re-election in 2012.
"Some find the words of the Founders too limiting for their bloated vision of government," she writes at one point, citing an interview Obama gave in 2001 as Exhibit A. She says the president doesn't embrace the theory of American exceptionalism — a view she calls "appalling" — and that he betrays "a stark lack of faith in the American people."
•Takes a swipe at Michelle Obama for her comment during the 2008 campaign that "for the first time in my adult lifetime, I am really proud of my country." Republican presidential nominee John McCain, who propelled Palin's career by picking her as his running mate, generally ignored the remark.
Palin apparently doesn't share that reluctance. The comment "shouldn't surprise us since both of them spent almost two decades in the pews of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright's church listening to his rants against America and white people," she says.
•Salts passages with references to historians and economists, perhaps a counter to the Saturday Night Liveportrayal of her as uninformed and gaffe-prone. "If you pay attention while you're listening to C-SPAN or reading American history you're sure to come across (Alexis de) Tocqueville," she writes at one point. "He literally wrote the book on American exceptionalism." At another, she cites the views of University of Chicago economist Luigi Zingales.
"I don't claim to be a scholar of ancient Greek philosophy, but Plato is supposed to have said, 'Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle,' " she says in her penultimate chapter, which ends: "Thanks, Plato."
•Defends the Tea Party movement against accusations of racism and extremism.
"These people aren't an angry mob — they're Americans," she writes. "Why do some feel the need to demonize them?"
Beyond the book, the book tour is laced with political possibility. Palin launches a 16-stop cross-country expedition today with two stops in Iowa, which hosts the opening presidential caucuses, as well as a visit to South Carolina, which holds an early primary.
A Quinnipiac University poll released Monday reflects Palin's strengths and weaknesses. Among Republicans, she led the prospective field, edging Romney, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee and former House speaker Newt Gingrich.
Among Americans overall, however, she was viewed more negatively than any of those rivals. The survey of 2,424 registered voters, taken Nov. 8-15, has an margin of error of +/–2 percentage points.
The Palin puzzle: Just what is she running for?
By Robin Abcarian, Los Angeles Times
November 22, 2010|6:45 p.m.
As Sarah Palin begins a book tour Tuesday in Phoenix that will take her to the early presidential voting states of Iowa and South Carolina, the former Alaska governor seems to have set her sights on something grander than mere wealth and fame.
After all, in two short years, she has become a political star, a publishing star and now a television star. So what's left to conquer?
Well, maybe the White House.
In a rare newspaper interview, Palin confirmed to the New York Times Magazine that she is discussing with her family whether she should run for president. During a segment on the special "Barbara Walters' 10 Most Fascinating People," scheduled to air Dec. 9, she told Walters she believed she could beat President Obama.
Which leaves the political world engaged in one of its favorite sports: guessing what Sarah Palin will do next.
"I think that when she says that she is considering a run for the White House, everyone should take her seriously," said Nicolle Wallace, President George W. Bush's communications director and a senior advisor on the McCain-Palin campaign. "She is the most important person on the Republican stage right now."
But Republican strategist Mark McKinnon, who helped Palin prepare for her debate with Joe Biden, was skeptical. "I think the idea of a Sarah Palin candidacy is more attractive than the reality of one," he said. "Right now she's got all the fame, money and influence one could possibly ever wish for with no accountability. Why throw all that away for the misery of a campaign?"
But in politics, he added, "ambition often overrides common sense."
As the midterm election fades into memory and Republicans gear up for a wide-open 2012 presidential campaign, Palin will have to decide in a matter of months whether she will seek the GOP nomination.
She made a well-received speech at an annual GOP fundraiser in September in Iowa. But Republicans there said she has not begun to reach out to the state's Republicans, as have other GOP presidential aspirants, including Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Arkanas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who won Iowa's Republican presidential caucuses in 2008.
Although Palin is scheduled to appear at a book signing in Des Moines on Saturday, she has not contacted or made plans to visit party officials, activists or donors.
Former First Lady Barbara Bush might have been channeling the Republican establishment when she dismissed Palin in an interview with Larry King that aired Monday. In response to a question about Palin, Bush replied, "I sat next to her once. Thought she was beautiful. And I think she's very happy in Alaska, and I hope she'll stay there."
David Frum, the conservative writer, has dubbed such Republican pushback "Operation: Stop Palin."
"The people who give the party money and make the party work are fearful of two things," Frum said. "They are fearful of the kind of president she would be. They are also fearful that if she should lose, she would lose so badly that she would turn what should be a pretty good year for Republicans down ballot into a calamity."
That fear is rooted in experience. Some Republicans blame Palin for Democrats hanging onto the Senate in the midterm election. Only six of her 10 Senate picks won. High-profile losses in Nevada ( Sharron Angle) and Delaware ( Christine O'Donnell) will haunt Republicans for some time. In the House, Palin had better luck: 37 of 52 candidates she endorsed won, helping Republicans regain control.
Critics have said that Palin's eight-part hit reality show on TLC, "Sarah Palin's Alaska," for which she reportedly is earning $250,000 an episode, seems like an extended campaign video, although with unusually candid moments. (Meanwhile, her eldest daughter, Bristol, competed Monday in the finale of this season's "Dancing with the Stars." Despite modest scores from the show's professional judges, Bristol survived week after week, some of the show's fans contend, because of an orchestrated campaign by her mother's supporters.)
"It's a very curious path to the Oval Office, if that's her ambition," said Wallace, who used her experience with Palin as fodder for "Eighteen Acres," a bestselling novel about the first female president. "She is speaking to this moment of American culture better than anyone including the American president. People want to see what you look like in your shorts at your computer. Perhaps her greatest calling is being an exhibitionist. It's working for her. She's raking in millions and her popularity is high."
Indeed, Palin can dominate the news cycle with a simple tweet, something she did regularly before the midterm election. But as recently as last week, she was making waves. O n Thursday, she tweeted, "This publishing world is LEAKING out-of-context excerpts of my book w/out my permission? Isn't that illegal?"
She was instantly mocked. "That last tweet [by Palin] sums up in 140 characters why this person should never be allowed any authority over any police force ever," Frum tweeted.
Yet on Saturday, a federal judge in New York ordered the website Gawker to take down the unauthorized excerpts it had posted of Palin's second book, "America by Heart." Like her first book, "Going Rogue," "America by Heart" is expected to be a major bestseller. And like her 2009 book tour, she will visit red states such as Texas, Arizona and Oklahoma, or swing states like Ohio and Indiana, but avoid the blue states of California, New York and Illinois.
"People no doubt are excited about Sarah Palin," said Bob Vander Plaats, a "tea party"-backed conservative who lost a bid for the Republican nomination for Iowa governor in June after Palin endorsed his primary opponent, Terry Brandstad. "I am not sure they are so excited about her running for president. She needs to convince the people of Iowa she could do it."
robin.abcarian@latimes.com
Sarah Palin: 'We Gotta Stand With Our North Korean Allies'
Liberals Seize on Palin's Gaffe on Glenn Beck Show
By HUMA KHAN
Nov. 25, 2010
When asked by Beck how she would handle a situation like the one that was developing in North Korea, Palin responded: "This is stemming from, I think, a greater problem when we're all sitting around asking, 'Oh no, what are we going to do,' and we're not having a lot of faith that the White House is going to come out with a strong enough policy to sanction what it is that North Korea is going to do."
It is unclear whether Palin is talking about sanctions against North Korea, or U.S. sanctioning -- i.e. approving or supporting -- its actions.
Palin continued: "Obviously, we gotta stand with our North Korean allies," when Beck interrupted and corrected her to say "South Korea."
"And we're also bound by prudence to stand with our South Korean allies, yes," she responded.
Palin's gaffe immediately caught fire on the blogosphere. Liberals jumped to show her response as evidence of Palin's lack of foreign policy expertise. Conservatives came to her defense, pointing to her response immediately before the gaffe where she discusses sanctions.
Palin has yet to address the incident.
This is not the first time that Palin, on a whirlwind book tour of her new book "America by Heart: Reflections on Family, Faith and Flag," has taken heat for her words.
Last month, Palin endorsed West Virginia GOP candidate John Raese on Twitter but got his state wrong.
Other Palin gaffes, however, have changed the modern lexicon. The New Oxford American Dictionary made her term "refudiate" the official 2010 word of the year. Palin's use of the word -- seemingly a mix of refute and repudiate -- launched critics into a frenzy when she first posted it on her Twitter page over the summer.
The quasi leader of the Tea Party movement has emerged as a powerful force in the conservative movement, and she is making her presence known.
From appearing on Dancing with the Stars to cheer on her daughter, Bristol, to her multiple appearances on Fox News and 16-city book tour, Palin's actions have fueled much speculation about a possible presidential run in 2012.
Sarah Palin calls North Korea a U.S. ally on Glenn Beck's show
Palin gets confused between North and South Korea
By MOLLY MULDOON, IrishCentral.com Staff Writer
Published Friday, November 26, 2010, 5:27
Sarah Palin's most recent blunder came when she accidentally announced her support for North Korea.
The former running mate of John McCain, made the remarks in a recent interview with conservative pundit Glenn Beck.
When Palin was asked how she would handle the Korean conflict as a prospective president she responded: “Well, North Korea… this is stemming from, I think, a greater problem when we’re all sitting around asking, ‘Oh no, what are we going to do’, and we’re not having a lot of faith that the White House isn’t going to come out with a strong enough policy to sanction what it is that North Korea’s going to do.
“So it speaks to a bigger picture here, and it certainly scares me in terms of national security policy.
“Obviously, we’ve gotta stand with our North Korean allies – we’re bound to, by treaty…
Beck, moved in to correct the former Alaskan governor by saying “South Korea” to which she simply replied “yeah” and continued : “Yeah, and we’re also bound by prudence to stand with our South Korean allies.
“And, in order to… remind North Korea we’re not gonna reward bad behavior and we’re not gonna walk away. And we do need to press China to do more to increase pressure on North Korea.”
Palin, was doing the media circuit to publicize her new book “America by Heart” which hit the book shelves earlier this week.
Palin Hauls in Nearly $500k In Just Over a Month
Time.com
By JAY NEWTON-SMALL Jay Newton-small – 49 mins ago
Sarah Palin raised $469,000 between Oct. 13 and Nov. 22 bringing her total for the cycle to just under $4.5 million, Tim Crawford, SarahPAC's treasurer, told TIME exclusively. Crawford attributed the surge of funds to energy surrounding the midterm elections, Palin's endorsements and her TLC reality show Sarah Palin's Alaska. Her second book, America By Heart, came out Nov. 23.
The PAC spent $64,000 buying advance copies of her books, "just as we did last year" with her first book, Going Rogue, Crawford said. "They're a great fundraising tool for us." Palin is in the midst of a two-week cross-country book tour.
Overall the PAC spent $581,000 between Oct. 13 and Nov. 22. A larger percentage than normal was spent on contributions to political candidates, $244,000, as Palin tried to help her 81 endorsed candidates over the Nov. 2 finish line. Fifty-five of them won.
All of the $469,000 was raised online or through direct mail. The former Alaska governor has had only two fundraisers for her PAC this year - the last one this past summer - compared to Mitt Romney's nine. Crawford expects to file his report to the Federal Election Commission this afternoon.
More parents naming babies after Palin girls
by Karin Tanabe - Dec. 3, 2010 10:07 AM
POLITICO.COM
The power of the Palins: Turns out it's not limited to nabbing invitations to rumba on "Dancing With the Stars." The famous Alaskan clan also influenced what new parents named their babies this year.
According to BabyCenter, a global interactive parenting network, the names Bristol, Willow and Piper (the names of the three Palin daughters) saw a big surge in popularity in 2010.
"Piper is No.101 on the list, up 12 percent from last year. One more point and it would have been on our Top 100," BabyCenter's editor in chief, Linda Murray, told POLITICO in an interview. "She is the breakout star of the three names."
While the name Bristol, the most obscure of the three, is much lower on the list at No. 532, it jumped 18 percentage points from its position last year. And Willow had almost as big a leap, landing at No. 245 with a 16-point rise. (The name Willow could have also had a helping hand from Willow Smith, the tiny, hair-whipping, singing offspring of Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith.)
BabyCenter doesn't wait for the Social Security Administration to put out its list of popular newborn names in mid-2011; it uses its own database of names submitted by new parents.
"Seventy-eight percent of moms in the U.S. are registered with us," said Murray. "There are over 350,000 names on that list, and they are statistically accurate and diverse." BabyCenter has been compiling its list of most-popular names for 10 years, and Murray told POLITICO that it does compare its list with the Social Security Administration's list and it generally holds up, even the spellings.
While the Palin girls made waves with their unique names, the Palin men did not make the same splash this year. "I think her boy names are so unique," said Murray of Track and Trig, the Palin boys. "They are well below the 5,000 mark on our list." Even Todd, a relatively common name, had a decline in popularity -- moving from No. 12,077 to No. 12,946.
But what about Mama Grizzly herself? Her name fell 23 points in popularity, a phenomenon that Murray says is very normal: "It's not so unusual that Sarah is on the decline. We often find that the celebrity name is less interesting than what they name their children. We don't see a lot of Oprahs, Mariahs, Madonnas or Baracks."
Murray said that when Obama was first elected, his daughters' names, Sasha and Malia, rose significantly, as did other presidents' daughters' names. "Chelsea Clinton's name was very popular," said Murray. "Jenna was popular during the Bush years ... until she had those problems in high school. It does reflect a person's popularity."
Besides the Palins, who else has a name that's all the rage? "We did look more carefully for a tea party effect," said Murray. "We saw Glenn [as in Glenn Beck] on the rise, but there were not enough names there for a big tea party effect." The name Glenn rose 14 points, to No. 953, and Carly (as in Fiorina) rose 21 points.
Murray said that the tea party also did not seem to inspire a spike in patriotic names, like Liberty or America. She said that those types of names grow more popular during "war years." Instead, names in 2010 proved to be more tied to the national economy than to flag waving.
"We did see a bunch of names that felt related to the economy, like Fortune and Cashton, which sounded money related to us," said Murray, who added that one rapidly rising boy's name is Bentley, as in the luxurious cars. "I think sometimes in economic downturns, people are inspired to give their kids names that will bring them riches." (Bentley was also the name of one of the children featured on the popular MTV show "Teen Mom.")
A few other names of interest before we reveal the big winners for 2010: Michelle (as in Obama) was up 10 percentage points, while Sasha fell 15 points and Malia dropped a whopping 51 points.
BabyCenter also looked at the Supreme Court, with Elena (as in Kagan) rising 22 points and Sonia (as in Sotomayor) falling 24 points. But Palin family baby daddy/nemesis Levi Johnston beat them all, making the Top 100 at No. 74 for boys.
And now for the big winners of 2010: Taking the top slot for girls was Sophia, while Aiden (like the sensitive furniture maker from "Sex and the City") was king of the boys' names.
Palin alleges attacks by WikiLeaks supporters
by Meredith Shiner - Dec. 8, 2010 06:01 PM
POLITICO.COM
Sarah Palin on Wednesday said her PAC's website and her personal credit card information were the targets of cyber sabotauge by hackers who support the Wikileaks project. The hacking was first reported by ABC News.
Hackers operating under the banner "Operation Payback" claimed via Twitter on Wednesday that their efforts were responsible for temporarily disabling the websites of credit card giants Visa and MasterCard . The two companies were targeted after they took steps this week to block customers from using their networks to transfer funds to Wikileaks.
Palin presumably drew Wikileaks supporters' ire after she strongly criticized the group for releasing hundreds of secret U.S. diplomatic cables, a leak the Obama administration characterized as doing major damage to the country's national security. Last week, Palin took to Twitter to blast Obama for not doing more to stop the leaks and to demand that Congress act to "defeat WikiLeaks."
A Palin aide did not immediately respond to a request for comment. However, SarahPAC aide Rebecca Mansour posted a Twitter message today after the ABC report was published, saying: "Supposed WikiLeaks 'champions of free speech' attack Palin simple because she exercised hers. They're total frauds."
And Palin told ABC News via e-mail, "This is what happens when you exercise the First Amendment and speak against his [Wikileaks founder Julian Assange's] sick, un-American espionage efforts."
Operation Payback used Twitter to galvanize support for the attacks on Visa and Mastercard, prompting Twitter to suspend an anonymously authored account tied to the group.
The Arizona Republic is a member of the Politico Network.
Sarah Palin only has 5 Secret Service agents?
Bomb, bomb, bomb, Iran
Palin: It's time to get tough with Iran
By Sarah Palin
Iran continues to defy the international community in its drive to acquire nuclear weapons. Arab leaders in the region rightly fear a nuclear-armed Iran. We suspected this before, but now we know for sure because of leaked diplomatic cables. King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia "frequently exhorted the U.S. to attack Iran to put an end to its nuclear weapons program," according to these communications. Officials from Jordan said the Iranian nuclear program should be stopped by any means necessary. Officials from the United Arab Emirates and Egypt saw Iran as evil, an "existential threat" and a sponsor of terrorism. If Iran isn't stopped from obtaining nuclear weapons, it could trigger a regional nuclear arms race in which these countries would seek their own nuclear weapons to protect themselves.
That wouldn't be the only catastrophic consequence for American interests in the Middle East. Our credibility and reputation would suffer a serious blow if Iran succeeds in producing its own nuclear weapons after we've been claiming for years that such an event could not and would not be tolerated. A nuclear-armed and violently anti-American Iran would be an enormous threat to us and to our allies. Israel in particular would face the gravest threat to its existence since its creation. Iran's leaders have repeatedly called for Israel's destruction, and Iran already possesses missiles that can reach Israel. Once these missiles are armed with nuclear warheads, nothing could stop the mullahs from launching a second Holocaust. It's only a matter of time before Iran develops missiles that could reach U.S. territory.
Even without nuclear weapons, Iran has provided arms used to kill American soldiers and Marines in Iraq and Afghanistan. Iran is also the biggest state sponsor of terrorism in the world. It has shielded al-Qaeda leaders, including one of Osama bin Laden's sons. Imagine how much worse it would be for us if this regime acquired nuclear weapons.
Toughen up
President Obama once said a nuclear-armed Iran would be "unacceptable." Yet, Iran's nuclear progress still continues unchecked. Russia continues to support Iran's Bushehr nuclear reactors. It also continues to sell arms to Iran — despite the Obama administration's much-touted "reset" policy with Russia. The administration trumpets the United Nations sanctions passed earlier this year, but those sanctions are not the "crippling" ones we were promised. Much more can be done, such as banning insurance for shipments to Iran, banning all military sales to Iran, ending all trade credits, banning all financial dealings with Iranian banks, limiting Iran's access to international capital markets and banking services, closing air space and waters to Iran's national air and shipping lines, and, especially, ending Iran's ability to import refined petroleum. These would be truly "crippling" sanctions. They would work if implemented.
Some have said the Israelis should undertake military action on their own if they are convinced the Iranian program is approaching the point of no return. But Iran's nuclear weapons program is not just Israel's problem; it is the world's problem. I agree with the former British prime minister Tony Blair, who said recently that the West must be willing to use force "if necessary" if that is the only alternative.
Standing with the people
But we also need to encourage a positive vision for Iran. Iran is not condemned to live under the totalitarian inheritance of the Ayatollah Khomeini forever. There is an alternative — an Iran where human rights are respected, where women are not subjugated, where terrorist groups are not supported and neighbors are not threatened. A peaceful, democratic Iran should be everyone's goal. There are many hopeful signs inside Iran that reveal the Iranian people's desire for this peaceful, democratic future. We must encourage their voices.
When the brave people of Iran take to the streets in defiance of their unelected dictatorship, they must know that we in the free world stand with them. When the women of Iran rise up to demand their rights, they must know that we women of the free world who enjoy the rights won for us by our suffragist foremothers stand with our sisters there. When Iranians demand freedom of religion, freedom of conscience and freedom to simply live their lives as they choose without persecution, we in the free world must stand with them.
We can start by supporting them with diplomacy and things such as radio broadcasting, just as we did with those who suffered under the former Soviet Empire. Most of all, we should support them with confidence in the rightness of the ideals of liberty and justice.
Just as Ronald Reagan once denounced an "evil empire" and looked forward to a time when communism was left on the "ash heap of history," we should look forward to a future where the twisted ideology and aggressive will to dominate of Khomeini and his successors are consigned to history's dustbin.
Former Alaska governor Sarah Palin was the Republican vice presidential candidate in 2008.
Bristol Palin buys 5-bedroom house in Arizona
by John Faherty - Dec. 24, 2010 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic
Bristol Palin, 20-year-old daughter of Sarah Palin, has bought a home in Maricopa, an outlying Valley suburb in Pinal County.
Aside from the celebrity buyer, the political family and Dancing With the Stars, the purchase of the five-bedroom house represents a typical real-estate saga in Arizona.
Public records show the home was built in 2006 and bought for $329,560. It went into foreclosure in January of this year.
The home was then purchased in May for $137,200 by Michael and Cynthia Smith, a couple from North Dakota, as an investment.
They fixed it up and put it back on the market.
Bristol Palin bought it this month for $172,000 in cash.
Sarah Palin has been a frequent visitor to Arizona since she ran for vice president on a ticket with Sen. John McCain in 2008.
The Arizona Republic could not reach Bristol Palin to ask whether she plans to become a young snowbird or a full-time Arizonan.
"I'm not sure why she wanted to buy that home, but we are real happy for her," said Michael Smith, 55.
"She seems like a nice girl. We're excited for her."
Are they stonewalling us on these public records requests?
I have written software to extract emails from the default Unix and Linux files which they are stored in and it was a trivial task. It didn't take me more then an hour to write a PERL program to extract all the emails.Perhaps the Alaska system is a third party system that is bit more complex then the standard Unix stuff but I really can't see how it can take years to write a simple computer program to to extract all of Sarah Palin's emails.
If you ask me they are covering things up and dragging their feet.
Release of Sarah Palin's e-mail records remains in limbo
By Richard Mauer
The Anchorage Daily News
The governor has come and gone, another has assumed the office and then has been elected in his own right, and activist Andree McLeod, four journalists and an author are still waiting for the state to release the public record of Sarah Palin's e-mails.
On Nov. 30, one of former Attorney General Dan Sullivan's last official acts before becoming Natural Resources commissioner was to authorize a 14th delay for the governor's office to provide the e-mails. Now, with delays number 15 and 16 pending, there may be an end in sight: May 31, 2011, according to a work plan announced by the governor's office this week.
McLeod filed her request for the file of official e-mails of then-Gov. Palin and her husband and adviser, Todd, on Oct. 1, 2008, just about a month after Republican presidential candidate John McCain picked Palin as his running mate. Most of the others made their requests around the same time.
Palin quit in July, 2009 and may now be contemplating a presidential run.
One of the journalists, David Corn of Mother Jones magazine, has written that he had hoped to have at least some of the e-mails in time for the November 2008 election. Now he's wondering whether they'll be available before the 2012 presidential election.
McLeod asked the state for every e-mail written by or received by Palin on her state e-mail account and all e-mails in any private account maintained by Palin and her husband that related to state business.
McLeod has accused the administrations of Palin and her former lieutenant governor and now successor, Sean Parnell, of abuse of power "with these delay tactics."
To read the complete article, visit www.adn.com.
14th official delay keeps Palin e-mail requests in limbo
By RICHARD MAUER
rmauer@adn.com
Published: December 28th, 2010 10:13 PM
Last Modified: December 28th, 2010 10:20 PM
On Nov. 30, one of former Attorney General Dan Sullivan's last official acts before becoming Natural Resources commissioner was to authorize a 14th delay for the governor's office to provide the e-mails. Now, with delays number 15 and 16 pending, there may be an end in sight: May 31, 2011, according to a work plan announced by the governor's office this week.
McLeod filed her request for the file of official e-mails of then-Gov. Palin and her husband and adviser, Todd, on Oct. 1, 2008, just about a month after Republican presidential candidate John McCain picked Palin as his running mate. Most of the others made their requests around the same time.
Palin quit in July, 2009 and may now be contemplating a presidential run.
One of the journalists, David Corn of Mother Jones magazine, has written that he had hoped to have at least some of the e-mails in time for the November 2008 election. Now he's wondering whether they'll be available before the 2012 presidential election.
McLeod asked the state for every e-mail written by or received by Palin on her state e-mail account and all e-mails in any private account maintained by Palin and her husband that related to state business.
McLeod has accused the administrations of Palin and her former lieutenant governor and now successor, Sean Parnell, of abuse of power "with these delay tactics."
"Who does Sean Parnell protect and defend by keeping these official e-mail documents secret?" McLeod wrote to Sullivan, objecting to the proposed 14th delay. "Who does he serve? Ex-governor Sarah Palin, or the people of Alaska?"
But state officials say they are doing the best they can with an enormous quantity of data stored in antiquated electronic databases. Each e-mail, once retrieved, must be scrutinized for private or otherwise non-releasable information, they say.
A 26,553-PAGE BOOK
There's no doubt that some portion of the tens of thousands of e-mails sent, received, or copied by Palin and her husband are public records subject to disclosure under state law. Linda Perez, administrative director for the governor's office, has told the requesters that officials have identified 26,553 printed pages of e-mails responsive to the requests.
So far, about 7,400 of those pages have been reviewed by state lawyers for advice on non-releasable content, she said. She didn't say how many pages passed the legal test in whole or in part.
But in any event, she said, they will have to be reviewed again by someone in the governor's office. And that second review won't begin until the lawyers are finished, she said. Under the work plan Perez announced Monday, the lawyers would finish by March 31 and the second review would take another 60 days.
Think of it as a 26,553-page book being passed around the capitol and the Department of Law in Anchorage that would be roughly equivalent -- in volume, anyway -- to reading "War and Peace" 19 times.
"We do not yet know how many records the Governor's Office will redact, withhold, or release because, while the Department of Law provides advice on whether records include privileged or confidential information, the Governor's Office decides whether to redact, withhold, or release its records," Perez told Corn in an e-mail Dec. 17.
In her latest message to the requesters, Perez said the remainder of the review will cost the Department of Law $120,000 -- the salary of one assistant attorney general devoting full time to the effort, plus a former assistant attorney general under contract. And that cost doesn't include the final review in the governor's office.
After initially telling the requesters they'd have to pay research and other fees amounting to as much as $15 million each, the governor's office now only expects to charge them for copying -- about 10 cents a page.
Bill Dedman, a Connecticut-based investigative reporter for msnbc.com and one of those who has asked for the records, said responding to those requests is an obligation of government, not much different than installing a stop sign.
"Distributing public records is part of what the government does," he said.
'WE WERE JUST NOT READY FOR THE NEW WORLD'
The search for the Palin e-mails began when McCain surprised nearly everyone and picked the young Alaska governor as the Republican vice presidential nominee. She was not quite two years into her own term and Alaskans were still learning about her governing style and ability. The nation knew nothing.
"In the week or two after she got famous, it was only natural that we started asking for her e-mail," Dedman said. "These are government e-mails, public e-mails, and then after the stories were written about her and her staff using private Yahoo accounts to conduct state business, that obviously ratcheted up the interest -- what was there in those?"
The state has fulfilled some requests. An NBC producer's request for Todd Palin's e-mails to or from the governor and seven members of her staff returned about 2,500 pages of documents and squarely revealed the quasi-official role of "the First Dude" in state policy, personnel decisions and political strategy.
It was also a test case for the much larger records requests to come. Deputy Attorney General Craig Tillery said the state had a relatively new archival system, but it was a failure for the task. Searches were difficult and each e-mail had to be opened individually, printed, then read by an attorney who would suggest whether the document was a public record. In some, portions were blanked out -- redacted -- then photocopied and finally delivered to Dedman.
Dedman said a document management company volunteered to scan the paper printouts back into electronic format and place it on the Internet so it could be searched by anyone.
"Rube Goldberg could not provide a better system," he said.
The governor's office saved the largest requests for last. Dedman, Corn, McLeod, Mark Thiessen of the Associated Press in Anchorage, Alan Suderman, formerly of the Juneau Empire, and California writer Geoffrey Dunn had requests similar enough that the state has been dealing with them as a group.
Tillery said the state was caught completely off guard by the massive requests.
"It was not something we or the division or the tech guys were prepared for," he said. It took over a year just to find the correct e-mails and print them out, he said.
The chief "tech guy," director Anand Dubey of the state's Enterprise Technology Services, said it was his job to make the Zantaz archive system work when he took over about three years ago.
"I was the lucky director who discovered it doesn't work -- it's a sinking feeling, man," Dubey said. "It was one of those sad situations -- we were just not ready for the new world, and then with Gov. Palin, people just got very interested in her. If it weren't for Gov. Palin, we wouldn't be experiencing anything like this."
Running a search was so complicated, it had to be done by technical staff, he said. A replacement system now being implemented, made by Symantec, will improve the situation because authorized users will be able to conduct their own e-mail archive searches. But paper copies will still have to be printed until the state gets software that will allow electronic redacting, he said.
That's a far cry from just a few years ago, when a public record often consisted of a file folder on someone's desk that could be photocopied in a few minutes and handed over, Dubey said.
"Now you could search for e-mails belonging to 16,000 to 20,000 state employees. And each state employee would have thousands of e-mails," he said.
'FIRM WORK PLAN' REQUIRED
McLeod, the citizen activist and a one-time Palin ally before they fell out, is also pursuing the Yahoo accounts that Palin and her staff used to avoid the state's e-mail system. Though the Parnell administration has issued orders against the use of outside mail accounts for state business, McLeod went to the courts to try to get the practice banned permanently because it put public records beyond the reach of the public.
Arguments are scheduled before the Alaska Supreme Court in January on an appeal she brought seeking a judgment that such accounts violate the state public records law. A Superior Court judge ruled that while it's possible that a public record could be created in an outside account, it was beyond the court's authority to declare the practice illegal -- that would be up to the Legislature. McLeod is seeking to overturn that ruling.
As the e-mail requests drag on, Sullivan, the outgoing attorney general, added a wrinkle in his approval of the 14th delay last month: He told Perez, the administrator in the governor's office, that any additional extension requests "must be accompanied by a firm work plan that will explain when the review will be completed and, in light of resource constraints, how the review will be accomplished."
Perez replied with a request for a 15th delay, through Dec. 31, to come up with a plan. With submission of the work plan came delay number 16, to May 31.
David Jones, one of the attorneys in the Department of Law who's been reviewing the e-mails, helped estimate how much time it will take for the lawyers to finish. It hasn't been easy, he said.
"Everything about this process has proven difficult for me to predict because every time I think I have a handle on how much longer I think we have to go, it goes beyond that," Jones said.
Find Richard Mauer online at adn.com/contact/rmauer or call 257-4345.
What Palin's show says about us
By Nick Jans
Sarah Palin's Alaska, a TLC miniseries, has been quite a spectacle.
We've watched Mama Grizzly mush a dog sled across a glacier; stalk caribou on the tundra; paddle raging white water; and match her frontierswoman sturdiness against Kate Gosselin's urban diva shtick. In the lulls between action, the ex-governor gushed about family values and her love for Alaska, and threw political elbows. Love or loathe her, this series seems a huge success at projecting the essence of Sarah to the world. And without that myth, what's left?
However, thousands of Alaskans hold a different view. Those of us who've actually lived off the land are less than impressed by Palin's televised exploits and, more important, by what they tell us about her. Tentative, physically inept, and betraying an even more awkward unfamiliarity with the land and lifestyle that's supposedly her birthright, Palin deconstructs her own myth before our eyes.
To be sure, packaging and style have often trumped substance in American democracy. From the days of literal stump speeches and catchy but empty political slogans such as "Tippecanoe and Tyler, too!" politicians have vaulted into power on the shoulders of charisma and sound bite, projected to the widest possible audience by the best available media. Indeed, Barack Obama's own ascendance had less to do with his scant political résumé than his ability to light up a teleprompter. You could argue that Palin's mercurial, tweet-propelled rise is just the latest manifestation of a time-honored tradition. However, Sarah Palin's Alaska seems to have ushered in a new and troubling era in our democracy: the point where a burgeoning cultural fascination with reality TV and celebrity worship intersected mainstream politics, and the three merged into one.
Since orchestrated reality is about all anyone can expect from Palin — who is uniquely unavailable in unfiltered form to the "lamestream media" — we have no choice but to glean what we can from the offered narrative. Palin is presented as the embodiment of The Great Land itself — tough, unpretentious and aw-shucks alluring. But as she ushers us from bear viewing to bonking halibut, the Palin that emerges just doesn't live up to her backdrop. You don't have to be a mountain man to see past the thin veil of smoke and mirrors.
Guided 'adventures'
From the opening credits, Palin's not actually leading, as the show's stirring theme song (Follow Me There) suggests. Instead, she's tucked far under the wings of professional guides, friends, or family members — in a curious subtext, almost all males.
They instruct and coddle her along, at one point literally hauling Palin uphill on the end of a rope. Even post-production editing can't hide a glaring, city-slicker klutziness.
Most of the show's escapades bear scant resemblance to the activities of most outdoors-oriented Alaskans. In fact, about half of the Palins' "adventures" are guided trips aimed at mass-market tourists. You won't find many Alaskans on those theme park rides, which require no skills beyond a pulse and the ability to open your wallet.
Of course, there are sequences that feature Palin tagging along with working Alaskans. However, posing for hands-on scenes guided by loggers or commercial fishermen (including her husband, who's obviously a top notch outdoorsman) doesn't help. Alaskans would be a lot more impressed if she proved she could gut a caribou or set a gill net on her own — skills at which many bush-wise Alaskan women excel — and still keep those immaculately manicured French nails intact.
The caribou hunt episode provides a centerpiece of the series' excesses, as well as Palin's ineptitude. According to script, it's Palin's turn to replenish the family's dwindling freezer with wild meat — from an Alaska point of view, all good. But the logistics of the trip defy common sense. Instead of hunting within reasonable distance of home, her party flies 600-plus miles to a remote camp in multiple chartered aircraft. This isn't subsistence but the sort of experiential safari popular among high-end, non-resident sport hunters. For all that, Palin ends up with a skinny juvenile cow caribou. Boned out, we're talking maybe 100 pounds of meat, at a staggering cost per pound.
Faced with that hapless animal, this darling of Second Amendment supporters nervously asks her dad whether the small-caliber rifle kicks. Then, even more astoundingly, her father repeatedly works the bolt and loads for her as she misses shot after shot before scoring a kill on the seventh round — enough bullets for a decent hunter to take down at least five animals. (Given Palin's infamous tweet "Don't retreat, reload," we can infer she plans to keep her dad close by.) Later, Palin blames the scope, but any marksman would recognize the flinching, the unsteady aim and poor shot selection — and the glaring ethical fault of both shooter and gun owner if the rifle wasn't properly sighted. Instead of some frontier passion play, we're rendered a dark comedy of errors.
Why it matters
This would all be laughable, harmless television if that's where this story ended. Yet this show and its veneered presentation of Palin is sadly emblematic of American politics today.
Sarah Palin's Alaska is just back story rather than substance. But when our candidates can also produce poll-tested commercials, trot out ghost-written websites and deliver telepromptered speeches — all financed by unlimited special interest money — Americans are essentially casting votes for fictional characters. This is not an indictment of one Sarah Palin. It's an indictment of the system.
How's that for reality?
Alaska writer Nick Jans' latest book, The Glacier Wolf, is available at nickjans.com. He is a member of USA TODAY's Board of Contributors.
Tucson Gabrielle Giffords event was a scripted rally to get Obama reelected in 2012?
I was also annoyed by the number of speakers who read long passages from the Bible at this government event where in theory we are supposed to have separation of church and state!
Some question pep rally atmosphere at Obama speech
AP
By GILLIAN FLACCUS and BOB CHRISTIE, Associated Press
Thu Jan 13, 6:46 pm ET
TUCSON, Ariz. – What was billed as a memorial for victims of the Arizona shooting rampage turned into a rollicking rally, leaving some conservative commentators wondering whether President Barack Obama's speech was a scripted political event. Not so, insisted the White House and host University of Arizona.
Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs said Thursday he and other aides didn't expect the president's remarks at the school's basketball arena to receive as much rousing applause as it did. Gibbs said the crowd's response, at times cheering and shouting, was understandable.
"I think part of the grieving process is celebrating the lives of those that were lost, and celebrating the miracles of those that survived," he said.
The university said it did the planning with minimal input from the White House. The school paid for the event, including $60,000 for 10,000 T-shirts bearing the words "Together We Thrive." The shirts were handed out for free. T-shirts. The money will not come student tuition, fees or tax dollars. [duh! Well where is is coming from? Perhaps the reelect Obama in 2012 fund?]
Well before Obama arrived, the atmosphere had become celebratory. People lined up for hours, and when the doors finally opened about two hours before the start, a huge cheer went up and the crowd surged into the arena.
With the exception of elected officials, victims and their families, first responders and medical professionals, the capacity crowd of about 14,000 was admitted on a first-come, first-served basis Wednesday, university spokeswoman Jennifer Fitzenberger said.
But the choreographed nature of the event was too much for some.
"Can't the Democrat political stage managers give it a break just once?," conservative commentator Michelle Malkin wrote in a column on her website, then questioned the lack of White House interaction with the university.
"Given the Obama White House's meticulous attention to stage prop details, however, I would say the odds of involvement by Axelrod/Plouffe & Co. are high."
David Plouffe is a presidential adviser who was the architect of Obama's presidential campaign; David Axelrod has been his political strategist and just left the White House to advise the Obama's re-election campaign.
Rich Lowry of the National Review wrote that "the pep-rally atmosphere was inappropriate and disconcerting," although he admired the president's speech.
To observers, the crowed was spontaneous.
They cheered when the two trauma surgeons who treated Rep. Gabrielle Giffords entered and were shown on the overhead screen. As the camera would focus on other individuals thrust into the spotlight after the shooting, the crowd would go wild, whether it was the first responders, the woman who grabbed the alleged gunman's ammunition, the intern who helped Giffords. In some cases, the person would wave to the camera.
Despite the celebrations in the rafters, the mood below where the families of the victims, the president and other officials sat was far more somber.
Obama frequently bowed his head, resting his chin on his clasped hands. First lady Michelle Obama wiped tears from her eyes. Families of the victims held each other close as speakers shared personal memories of their loved ones.
The president himself appeared taken aback at the sustained applause he received after his remarks. He waved quickly to the crowd as he left the stage, stood with his head down as the crowd continued to cheer, then reached for his wife, and kissed her several times on the cheek.
___
Christie reported from Phoenix. Associated Press writer Julie Pace in Washington and Tucson contributed to this report.
Sarah Palin chasing the legendary Mr. T
January 14, 2011 | 5:00 am
Sarah Palin provokes love and hate. Now both fans and frenemies can always have a dose of Sarah within reach. It's a novelty. It's a talking keychain. It's "Sarah Palin in Your Pocket."
The gizmo is the brainchild of a New Orleans company, which earlier brought the world "Mr. T in Your Pocket" and other talking keychains. It's got 11 of Palin's sound bites, from "I’ll betcha!" to "You can see Russia from Alaska" to "We eat, therefore we hunt."
Entrepreneur Steve Winn attributes the popularity of the Palin device to a triumph of style over substance. "Its the rhythm, the cadence, the cartoony up and down of her voice," Winn said. "I don’t know how to describe it. I'ts beautiful. It's enchanting!"
Winn's Emanation Inc. has sold about 35,000 of the keychains online and through retailers like Urban Outfitters, he said. It will take some doing to overtake his all-time biggest seller, "Mr. T in Your Pocket." That keychain, about a decade on the market, features classic T-isms like "Pity The Fool" and "Quit Your Jibba Jabba!"
Winn considers the Palin sound bites fair game for commercial use, thrown into the public domain during news events. Palin could not be reached. But we suspect her response to that might not be a hearty, "You betcha!"
--James Rainey
Arizona shooting victim blames Palin
SourceArizona shooting victim blames Palin, others
by Kendra Marr - Jan. 14, 2011 11:31 AM
POLITICO.COM
A wounded survivor of the Tucson shooting that critically injured Rep. Gabrielle Giffords is blaming Sarah Palin, House Speaker John Boehner, Fox TV host Glenn Beck, and former Nevada GOP Senate candidate Sharron Angle for the tragedy.
"It looks like Palin, Beck, Sharron Angle and the rest got their first target," Eric Fuller said in an interview with Democracy NOW.
"Their wish for Second Amendment activism has been fulfilled -- senseless hatred leading to murder, lunatic fringe anarchism, subscribed to by John Boehner, mainstream rebels with vengeance for all, even 9-year-old girls," he added, referring to the death of Christina Taylor Green.
Fuller, a 63-year-old veteran, had campaigned for Giffords during her re-election and was at the supermarket for her "Congress on Your Corner" event.
He was shot in the knee and the back in the tragedy that left six people dead and 13 wounded.
"I was in shock, and I just wandered out into the parking lot," Fuller recalled. "And a woman was pushing a cart full of groceries out there. And I said to her, 'I've been shot.' And she just looked at me like I was crazy." [Well if he is blaming the shooting on Palin, he probably is crazy!]
Earlier this week, in an interview with CBS News, Fuller didn't go as far to point fingers. Instead, he called the shooter, Jared Loughner, a "madman."
"I hadn't ever had any kind of trauma experience at that level before," he told CBS. "And I didn't know -- I didn't quite know how to react. I felt like we were in for more, and possibly to be given a coup de grace by this madman that was so vigorously exercising his Second Amendment rights."
The Arizona Republic is a member of the Politico Netwo
Palin trademark application refused -- for now
Diane Bartz – Fri Feb 4, 6:26 pm ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin's bid to trademark her name and that of her daughter, Bristol, ran into trouble at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office because the application forms were unsigned, government records show.
Applications to trademark the names Sarah Palin and Bristol Palin, both for "motivational speaking services," were filed on November 5 by the Palins' longtime family attorney, Thomas Van Flein, but were quickly slapped down by a trademark examiner.
"Registration is refused because the applied-for mark, SARAH PALIN, consists of a name identifying a particular living individual whose consent to register the mark is not of record," the patent agency said in an office action.
"Please note this refusal will be withdrawn if applicant provides written consent from the individual identified in the applied-for mark," the patent office said.
The office also said Palin's application failed to show that her name had been used in commerce and could also be rejected on those grounds.
Bristol Palin's application also will need to be redone, according to a similar office action filed in her case.
The applications will be fixed, and the trademarks are likely to be granted, said attorney John Tiemessen, now handling the trademark process for Palin.
"We're working on it," Tiemessen told Reuters.
Tiemessen is with the law firm Clapp, Peterson, Tiemessen, Thorsness, Johnson, LLC.
Palin, the Republican nominee for vice president in 2008, has become one of the most recognizable names in U.S. politics and a darling of the conservative Tea Party movement that helped sweep Republicans to a majority in the House of Representatives during the 2010 elections.
Her daughter, Bristol, became a fan sensation as a contestant on the popular ABC show "Dancing with the Stars."
An unwed, single mom as a teenager, Bristol has also increasingly made a name for herself giving talks about teen pregnancy and abstinence from sex.
Both women also have staked out careers on the lecture circuit, as their trademark applications attest.
The governor seeks to register her name in conjunction with "providing motivational speaking services in the field of politics, culture, business and values," her application says.
It also cites her services in "providing a website featuring information about political issues."
Her daughter seeks to trademark in connection with her role as a motivational speaker "in the field of life choices."
Legal experts said it is relatively unusual for politicians to formally trademark their names because they are generally not associated with commercially valuable products or services. Trademarking a name is more common for celebrities in the fields of entertainment, fashion or sports.
"There's difference between being famous and being a brand," said Claudia Ray, a partner in the New York-based firm Kirkland & Ellis LLP, which specializes in trademark law.
"Sarah is somebody who is now out of government and pursuing other activities, in particular, speaking engagements ... and it looks like she's looking to protect her name with those activities."
Jim Vana, a partner with the Seattle trademark law firm Perkins Coie, said safeguarding exclusive rights to one's own name is just part of the story.
"It helps to turn your fame and recognition into a brand that you can use to promote business services," he said.
(Additional reporting by Steve Gorman; Editing by Jerry Norton)
More articles on Sarah Palin.