Sarah Louise Palin ( born February 11, 1964) served as the ninth Governor of Alaska, from 2006 to 2009. As the Republican Party nominee for Vice President in the 2008 presidential election alongside Arizona Senator John McCain, she was the first Alaskan on the national ticket of a major party and first Republican woman nominated for the vice presidency. Her book Going Rogue has sold more than two million copies. Since January 2010, she has provided political commentary for Fox News, and hosted a television show, Sarah Palin's Alaska. Five million viewers tuned in for the first episode, a record for TLC. She was elected to Wasilla City Council in 1992 and became mayor of Wasilla in 1996. In 2003, after an unsuccessful run for lieutenant governor, she was appointed Chairman of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, responsible for overseeing the state's oil and gas fields for safety and efficiency. The youngest person and first woman to be elected Governor of Alaska, Palin held the office from December 2006 until her resignation in July 2009. She has since endorsed and campaigned for the Tea Party movement, as well as several candidates in the 2010 midterm elections.
On May 27, 2008, Chris Kelly (Huffington Post) had this to say about Sarah Palin: "Sarah Palin keeps showing up on short lists of John McCain vice presidents. She doesn't have a weird thing growing on the side of her head, so she brings that to the ticket as balance. She also has a few other obvious things going for her: She's the Governor of Alaska. (A state that's 22 years younger than John McCain. Shows he can adjust to new things.) She's a lady. (Take that, Hillary. Or Obama, for slighting Hillary.) She's what they call Nice Looking for a Politician. (Don't look at me like that. I didn't say it. For one thing, Nice Looking for a Politician is what they say about anyone prettier than Haley Barbour. For another, I think Sarah Palin looks like an anchorwoman on a newscast no one wants to watch. And even if she didn't, I'm not shallow like that. I vote for the candidate with the most flag pins.) Over the weekend, the Anchorage Daily News discovered a whole new reason Governor Palin is the perfect person to be the next Dick Cheney: She can look you in eye and tell you black is white."
Nov 7, 2008: America Magazines Election Blog: Sarah Palin & The GOP's Future
Palin has been the focus of many post-mortems, most of it unfair. The only time the GOP was excited, or McCain led in the polls, was in the immediate aftermath of her selection as Veep and her debut speech at the Republican National Convention. She was spunky, attractive, could connect with the base and, even more importantly, she could caress the camera. Her convention speech was electrifying. And, the sight of a mother with five children, especially her “perfect” infant with Down’s Syndrome, was heart-warming to all but the nastiest of snobs.
Now, it turns out, Palin didn’t know Africa was a continent. And her experience as a governor was not only brief but exceptional: Alaska is not a typical state. When other governors have to balance budgets carefully, weighing the effects of a reduction in services versus a rise in taxes, Palin gets to decide how much of the state’s oil revenue should be distributed back to the citizens. The state has no income tax, no sales tax and no property tax. Palin has had little exposure to a broad swath of national policy issues because of Alaska’s differentness, but a stint as head of the Republican Governor’s Association would fill-in that deficit.
Palin’s performance in her first interview with Charlie Gibson was tenuous at best. Her follow-up with Katie Couric was a disaster. I do blame her handlers for most of this..........
Palin has been the focus of many post-mortems, most of it unfair. The only time the GOP was excited, or McCain led in the polls, was in the immediate aftermath of her selection as Veep and her debut speech at the Republican National Convention. She was spunky, attractive, could connect with the base and, even more importantly, she could caress the camera. Her convention speech was electrifying. And, the sight of a mother with five children, especially her “perfect” infant with Down’s Syndrome, was heart-warming to all but the nastiest of snobs.
Now, it turns out, Palin didn’t know Africa was a continent. And her experience as a governor was not only brief but exceptional: Alaska is not a typical state. When other governors have to balance budgets carefully, weighing the effects of a reduction in services versus a rise in taxes, Palin gets to decide how much of the state’s oil revenue should be distributed back to the citizens. The state has no income tax, no sales tax and no property tax. Palin has had little exposure to a broad swath of national policy issues because of Alaska’s differentness, but a stint as head of the Republican Governor’s Association would fill-in that deficit.
Palin’s performance in her first interview with Charlie Gibson was tenuous at best. Her follow-up with Katie Couric was a disaster. I do blame her handlers for most of this..........
June 27, 2009: In a week that saw Sarah Palin’s youngest child attacked by Alaska’s official Democrat National Committee blogger in an attempt to raise money to fund more personal attacks on the Governor, Palin finds herself pretty busy. She was on a “secret trip” to a foreign land. First stop was visiting the troops participating in Northern Edge 2009, Alaska’s largest military training exercise. Governor Palin and her husband first met with Lt. Gen. Dana T. Atkins, Alaskan Command Commander, 11th Air Force; and Rear Admiral Mark A. Vance, USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74) Strike Group Commander, before heading out to the USS John C. Stennis. (SOURCE: A Time For Choosing)
June 13, 2013: Sarah Palin has been hired back by Fox News as a paid contributor. Her first appearance will be on "Fox and Friends" next Monday morning.
.............On his HBO TV show, Bill "Im Just a Comedian so I cant be Held Responsible for Anything I say" Maher made some derogatory comments about Sarah Palin's special needs child, Trig. Palin took to twitter and among the few comments directed to Bill Maher wrote: "Hey bully, on behalf of all kids whom you hatefully mock in order to make yourself feel big, I hope one flattens your lily white wimpy a#*".
.............On his HBO TV show, Bill "Im Just a Comedian so I cant be Held Responsible for Anything I say" Maher made some derogatory comments about Sarah Palin's special needs child, Trig. Palin took to twitter and among the few comments directed to Bill Maher wrote: "Hey bully, on behalf of all kids whom you hatefully mock in order to make yourself feel big, I hope one flattens your lily white wimpy a#*".
June 14, 2013: .Jeb Golonkin, at The Week, writes that Fox News hiring Sarah Palin again shows that conservative media (like Fox News) only care for the money and not about conservatism. He also blames John McCain's defeat largely on Palin. If Golonkin isn't writing reverse-psychology propaganda, then I have to disagree with his assertion. I assume it has to do with the meaning of "conservatism" vs "Republican" (which are not always the same). John McCain lost John McCain's election bid. He gained momentum and charged the conservative base when nominating Palin as VP. She recharged it so much so that liberal media went ballistic and made every effort they could to show her as a fool. Their efforts only succeeded with the liberals who already disliked conservatism and Republicans to begin with (and I suppose a list of moderate leaning Republicans). Since Fox made the announcement yesterday the left has begun sharpening their spears and have started the attack against her. That's to be expected I suppose but the benchmark of the liberal success will be set by the first that addresses issue of substance against Palin as opposed to ad nauseum shallow rhetoric..............
Aug 19, 2013: Sarah Palin may be considering a run for the Senate against Alaska Sen Mark Begish in 2014. Bill Kristol, on ABC's Sunday show, "This Week," said of Palin:
“I think the best two weeks for the McCain campaign against Obama in 2008 were the two weeks after he picked Sarah Palin. And then she had a little bit of a rough patch — she was mishandled, I think, by the McCain people............I think her stepping down as governor of Alaska was a big problem. People don’t like to see a candidate, a governor, an executive — absent some medical reason or whatever — to just leave office early. She had been a good governor, incidentally, of Alaska until then. So, that, I think, is something she has to recover from in terms of being a serious leader in the party. Still has a lot of loyalty. She can still shape the debate. She still has a great political touch...................I think the way Palin would possibly resurrect herself, if that’s the right word or rehabilitate herself, I guess is a better way of putting it — run for Senate in Alaska in 2014. I’m not urging that. I’m just saying, if I were her adviser, I would say, take on the incumbent, you have to win a primary, then you have to beat an incumbent Democrat, it’s not easy. But if she did that, suddenly, imagine that, Sarah Palin, freshman Senator in 2015 in Washington, having beaten an incumbent, that’d be pretty interesting."
“I think the best two weeks for the McCain campaign against Obama in 2008 were the two weeks after he picked Sarah Palin. And then she had a little bit of a rough patch — she was mishandled, I think, by the McCain people............I think her stepping down as governor of Alaska was a big problem. People don’t like to see a candidate, a governor, an executive — absent some medical reason or whatever — to just leave office early. She had been a good governor, incidentally, of Alaska until then. So, that, I think, is something she has to recover from in terms of being a serious leader in the party. Still has a lot of loyalty. She can still shape the debate. She still has a great political touch...................I think the way Palin would possibly resurrect herself, if that’s the right word or rehabilitate herself, I guess is a better way of putting it — run for Senate in Alaska in 2014. I’m not urging that. I’m just saying, if I were her adviser, I would say, take on the incumbent, you have to win a primary, then you have to beat an incumbent Democrat, it’s not easy. But if she did that, suddenly, imagine that, Sarah Palin, freshman Senator in 2015 in Washington, having beaten an incumbent, that’d be pretty interesting."
Dec 19, 2013: Sarah Palin joined Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal in defense of “Duck Dynasty” patriarch Phil Robertson. They also criticized A&E for indefinitely suspending Robertson from the show for remarks he’s made to GQ Magazine........
Dec 28, 2013:.Denver Post television critic Joanne Ostrow seemed a bit disheartened about A&E's decision on Duck Dynasty. in fact she wrote: "So who were the winners and losers in this sad episode? A&E, which seized the moment to attract more viewers (fans and hate-watchers, both), proved that money is the first priority in TV programming. The network wins the craven capitalism prize. Sarah Palin and other politicians who piled on, claiming Christianity as an excuse for hate speech, win the hypocrisy award. I’m no theologian, but vile bigoted comments would seem to qualify as unchristian." I think she was right on A&E priorities and she is also right about not being a theologian. Robertson, nor anyone else ever implied Christianity was an excuse for hate speech, nor did anyone, including Robertson, use it that way. I think Ostrow needs to actually read the GQ article. ................................................ Joy Reid tried to be an apologetics expert on MSNBC this week. She failed miserably. On a segment she attempted to bash Sarah Palin, she claimed Palin was being a hypocrite for wanting to keep Christ in Christmas while having a Christmas tree. She cited part of Jeremiah Chapter 10 as proof: “For the practices of the peoples are worthless; they cut a tree out of the forest, and a craftsman shapes it with his chisel. They adorn it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so it will not totter. Like a scare crow in a cucumber field, their idols cannot speak; they must be carried because they cannot walk. Do not fear them; they can do no harm nor can they do any good." Unless Sarah Palin has joined some kind of Tree Worshipping cult, Reid really missed the pint of the verse by a very long shot. And an extremely long shot at that.
.Jan 2, 2014: Governor Sarah Palin joined Bill Hemmer and Elizabeth Hasselbeck for Fox’s New Year’s Eve Special. Among her resolutions is to “eat more meat,” follow former UCLA basketball coach John Wooden’s Pyramid of Success and to make the federal government as irrelevant in our daily lives as possible!
Jan 9, 2014: Politicus USA published an article yesterday by Jason Easley titled: "Roger Ailes Claims That Democrats and the Left Want Sarah Palin Dead." Roger Ailes spoke about Sarah Palin to the Hollywood Reporter and said: "I’m not a defender of everything she says. I don’t hear everything she says. But I know she represents a certain group of people who rose up against their own party, which you rarely see. I probably hired her back, if you really want to get to the bottom of it, to give her a chance to say her piece and piss off the people that wanted her dead." Clearly, in context, anyone can tell that the expression was figurative and not literal. Easely, however, wrotes: "Let’s be clear. When Ailes referred to people in America who she pisses off and who want her dead, he was talking about the left and Democrats." He then spends the next few paragraphs pontificating about how Sarah Palin (and people like her) are such "uninformed, racist, vile excuses for human beings" and makes it clear that no one really wants Sarah Palin dead and blames Sarah Palin who has "has created a myth that the left wants her dead." For the record, Easely created the myth and then wrote an entire article explaining why the myth isn't true.
