Sarah Palin

What Is Roger Ailes Doing On ABC’s This Week?

Posted by on January 31, 2010 at 12:34 pm. 12 Comments :

For some reason ABC News saw fit to invite Roger Ailes, CEO of Fox News, onto ABC’s This Week to participate in the panel discussion. I wonder what Barbara Walters and the show’s producers thought Ailes would contribute. I wonder if they knew, when they sent the invitation, that Ailes would spend most of his time lying. I wonder if they ever gave consideration to inviting Michael Moore or Keith Olbermann. And I wonder if, in retrospect, they think the segment contributed to honest discourse and served to inform their viewers.

It may be unprecedented to have a CEO of a news network appearing on air as an advocate for the Republican Party. Just imagine the outrage that would ensue if the NBC or CBS chief took to the airwaves espousing Democratic politics. Ailes must have studied hard for his appearance because it shows in the quantity of grade A lies he produced (Media Matters has video). For instance:

Ailes said that the White House tried to ban Fox News from the media pool. That never happened. Fox failed to submit a request in time, so they were left off a list. As soon as they notified the White House, they were put back on by communications director Anita Dunn.

Ailes endorsed Glenn Beck’s accuracy but for “one unfortunate thing which he apologized for.” That was presumably in reference to Beck calling the president a racist who “has a deep-seated hatred for white people.” Beck has never apologized for that. In fact he affirmed it on his radio show the following day. He has subsequently lost more than 80 advertisers.

Ailes reviewed the State of the Union speech as “pretty good” except that the President “did some dumb things like take on the Supreme Court. But the media saved him by blaming it all on Alito.” Maybe, if by media he means Fox News. It was his own network that repeatedly replayed Alito calling the the President a liar (ala Joe Wilson). And they weren’t doing it to blame Alito for anything, but to agree with him and to attack the President. Furthermore, it wasn’t dumb to criticize the Court for a disastrous ruling that gives corporations even more power to influence elections.

This appearance on ABC may reveal why Ailes is so rarely seen on TV. He is neither compelling nor persuasive. Even worse, he is laughably illogical. In one segment he said about Obama…

“He is enormously likable and I think despite what everybody says, people would like him to succeed. But he came in with a belief that the radical change he wanted, or what some people say is the radical change he wanted, would be widely accepted.”

First of all, to preface his remarks by saying “despite what everybody says…” Ailes is asserting that everybody is saying that they don’t want the President to succeed. That may be true for him and for “everybody” on his network, but not for the rest of the nation. The way Ailes puts it, people want Obama to succeed despite saying that they don’t. Secondly, Ailes is promulgating the falsehood that Obama has a “radical” agenda. That’s right out of Beck’s playbook. And finally, if Obama does advocate radical change, and people find him likable and want him to succeed, then isn’t that a mandate for radical change? Ailes’ logic is working against his argument.

There were a couple of enjoyable exchanges. In one, Paul Krugman flustered Ailes with a classic example of Fox News’ “deliberate disinformation.” During the campaign Obama addressed a question about health care by prefacing it with his own question, “Why don’t we have a European style health care system?” Then Obama explained why we do not, and should not, and went on to describe his own plan. But Fox News just played the truncated clip implying that Obama favored the European system. Ailes’ response to that was to change the subject.

In another segment, Walters brought up the newest Fox News contributor, Sarah Palin:

Walters: Do you think she has the qualifications to be president?
Ailes: Fox News is fair and balanced. We had Geraldine Ferraro on for ten years as the only woman the Democrats ever nominated. Now we have the only woman that the Republicans ever nominated. I’m not in politics. I’m in ratings. We’re winning.

Hmmm. What’s missing from that answer? Oh yeah. Whether or not Palin has the qualifications to be president. I suspect he dodged this one because he must remain fair and balanced toward the four potential Republican presidential candidates who are on his payroll: Palin, Huckabee, Santorum, and Gingrich.

As much as I would like to castigate ABC for giving Ailes a platform on their political panel, I can’t help thinking that it might actually serve the country better to have him on TV even more. There aren’t too many less appealing spokespeople for conservative hogwash than Ailes. However, if they are going to host him and his kind, they need to do a lot better job of balancing his propaganda and self-congratulatory bluster with serious liberals who can disinfect the studio with some truth.

Bachmann, Blackburn Out Of Tea Party Conference. Is Palin Next?

Posted by on January 28, 2010 at 2:56 pm. 3 Comments :

The upcoming Tea Party National Conference has been reeling from reports of infighting amongst the rival Tea Bagger groups. Much of the controversy concerns the convention’s steep ($549.00) entry fee and allegations of financial improprieties on the part of the organizers. The convention has already lost a number of sponsors.

Well now their problems are multiplying as two of their featured speakers have canceled on them. Reps. Marsha Blackburn and Michele Bachmann have advised the Tea Party Nation, who are organizing the event, that they will be unable to attend. According to a press release from the Tea Party Nationalists, the cancellation was precipitated by congressional ethics rules:

“Due to a review of the for profit status of the event, the [ethics] committee could not authorize them to speak as the use of any proceeds from the event had not yet been established.”

That explanation is suspicious at best. First of all, the assertion that the Ethics Committee “could not authorize” the appearance doesn’t jibe with the committee’s function. It sounds more like the representatives are laying off blame on the committee to evade their own responsibility for ducking out of a shady booking. Secondly, a GOP aide cited last week’s Supreme Court decision in Citizen’s United vs. FEC as the reason for ditching the affair. That’s patently absurd. If anything, the decision broadened the ability to associate with groups that contribute to campaigns, but in truth, the decision didn’t even address groups like the Tea Party Nation. So it appears the their actual reasons for canceling are likely different than their official ones.

With the departure of Blackburn and Bachmann, Sarah Palin is the convention’s only star attraction (unless you count the editor of WorldNetDaily or Judge Roy “Ten Commandments” Moore). And her participation is perhaps tenuous as well. Some Tea Party activists are unhappy with her role in the dubious affair and are calling on her quit (the one thing she’s good at). There is a very real fear that Palin will speak before a sparsely populated house. In fact, the Tea Party Nation web site currently has this announcement posted in all caps:

THE FIRST NATIONAL TEA PARTY CONVENTION IS SOLD OUT BUT TICKETS TO THE BANQUET WITH GOV. PALIN ARE STILL AVAILABLE!!!!!

Apparently Palin isn’t the draw that her public relations agency would have us believe. Faced with the embarrassing prospect of a low turnout, combined with the pressure from fellow Tea Baggers to withdraw, Palin may come down with a bad cold next week. That would leave the organizers in a bit of bind. And since Palin was forced to promise that her reported $100,000.00 speaking fee would not benefit her personally, forgoing it wouldn’t hurt her and wouldn’t dissuade her from walking away.

Assuming the gig goes off as planned, Andrew Breitbart is scheduled to introducing Palin. The timing couldn’t be better for planting the Godfather of pimp and possible felon, James O’Keefe, on the stage with the Queen Tea Bagger. Breitbart has also been approached as a replacement for Blackburn.

All in all, this seems like an event that is not to be missed – that is if you can’t get tickets to the Blue Collar Comedy Tour. Hey, maybe they could get Larry the Cable Guy to fill in for Palin.

Palin Responds: Greta Van Susteren asked Palin if she still intends to speak at the Tea Party Conference.

“Oh, you betcha I’m going to be there. I’m going to speak there because there are people traveling from many miles away to hear what that tea party movement is all about and what that message is that should be received by our politicians in Washington. I’m honored to get to be there.”

And the hundred grand doesn’t hurt either.

SOTU: Cue The Silly Arguments And Sound Bites

Posted by on January 27, 2010 at 11:27 pm. NO Comments :

Tonight the President delivered a rather typical State of the Union speech. That is not a judgment as to its content, but recognition that most State of the Union speeches have the same political goals. The President covered the territory that he regards as his priorities and exhibited the requisite measure of empathy for the difficulties many Americans are enduring. He also balanced his resolve to continue fighting for his health care and jobs programs, with a nod to his trademark (and pointless) affinity for bipartisanship.

But this is the part that stood out for me:

“Unfortunately, too many of our citizens have lost faith that our biggest institutions – our corporations, our media, and yes, our government – still reflect these same values. […] The more that TV pundits reduce serious debates into silly arguments, and big issues into sound bites, our citizens turn away. No wonder there’s so much cynicism out there. No wonder there’s so much disappointment.”

And with that the silly arguments and sound bites ensued. It hardly mattered what the President said because the reactions from the TV pundits were as predictable as the sunrise. Charles Krauthammer didn’t think the speech was presidential. Chris Matthews forgot for an hour that the President was black. And Sarah Palin – oh hell, I couldn’t really figure out what she was trying to say. Her run-on gibberish mentioned something about him being condescending toward Republicans, but it was impossible to translate into English.

I can, however, empathize with the President’s frustration with the media. But it may be naive to expect much to change. Fox News is not likely to abandon their mission now that they have successfully created the world’s first Pavlovian network. Their viewers have been carefully trained to salivate when the bell rings. Just this afternoon Glenn Beck exhorted his audience to avoid the speech altogether:

“You don’t even have to watch the State of the Union. I’ll watch it for you.”

See how easy it is to understand the world when you have people like Glenn Beck to do all the messy work of actually having to be conscious? And talk about your silly arguments…Beck’s certainly got that covered.

Fox News Poll: Obama Beats All Republicans In 2012

Posted by on January 22, 2010 at 10:54 am. 6 Comments :

All it takes is a fluke victory in Massachusetts for Fox News pundits predict the demise of the Democratic Party. In the days since Scott Brown won the special election for the Senate the conservative press has been unreservedly giddy. They have proclaimed the end of everything from health care to the Obama presidency. The only problem is that nobody told the voters.

A poll from that bastion of socialist twaddle, Fox News, shows that Barack Obama is preferred over every Republican they surveyed against him.

By 47 percent to 35 percent Obama bests former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney. The president has an even wider edge over former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin (55 percent to 31 percent), and former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich (53 percent to 29 percent).

On top of that, the Tea Bagger phenomenon is turning out to be the biggest bubble since the tulip mania. As I wrote in The Tea Party Delusion, the popularity of the movement is largely a mirage created by the media (i.e. Fox News). Almost half the country doesn’t even know they exist. In this new poll from Fox, they match Obama against a generic candidate from the Tea Party and Obama wins by more than two to one (48% to 23%). Even amongst Republicans a majority (54%) reject the Baggers.

Perhaps the rumors of the President’s demise are highly exaggerated. The significance of these results in a poll from an overtly hostile source cannot be understated. By the same token, the lesson of the Massachusetts race is that overconfidence is a dangerous extravagance.

The 2012 election is still 34 months away and the stable of potential opponents have a not-so-secret weapon: Fox News. Yes, the network that commissioned this poll actually employs four prospective GOP candidates. In addition to the two surveyed here, Palin and Gingrich, they also have Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum on the payroll. It is unprecedented that a so-called news enterprise would actually employ so many electoral adversaries from the same party, or for that matter, any party. You have to wonder if Romney, Tim Pawlenty, and Bobby Jindal feel left out.

The association with Fox could prove valuable over the next two and a half years. The Fox Farm Team will have an opportunity to rack up a lot of free practice time on the air. That exposure, along with the rest of Fox’s advocacy for the rightist agenda, is an expensive asset that will only be afforded to members of the team.

Fox Nation HitlerAnd the coaching staff at Fox is already preparing the field. Fox Nation took the occasion of Brown’s victory to promote a video that portrays Democrats as despondent Nazis being berated by their leader, Adolf Hitler.

In the run up to the 2008 election, and in the year that followed, there were many complaints about the right-wing’s hyperbolic attempts to associate the President with Hitler, Stalin, or Marx, and despite the documented evidence of it, Fox always tried to dismiss it as overzealous opponents. But this video is unambiguously making the Nazi correlation and it is prominently featured on the Fox Nation web site. And it’s not the first time:

Fox Nation Hitler

The campaign for 2012 is clearly in progress and Fox is implementing their most aggressive and dirtiest game plan. But according to their own poll it isn’t yet having much of an effect. The operative word there is “yet.” If there is one thing that Rupert Murdoch, Roger Ailes, et al have in abundance it is patience. This is just the bottom of the second inning and they have plenty of pine tar left to apply extra spin to the ball.

Sarah Palin Unites America In Opposition To Sarah Palin

Posted by on January 19, 2010 at 5:33 pm. 11 Comments :

Despite the drooling fanaticism of Tea Baggers and Glenn Beck disciples, America’s best known quitter, Sarah Palin, is not as well loved as she thought she was. A new poll by CBS shows her support as a presidential candidate to be nearly non-existent.

“Specifically, 71 percent say they do not want the former Republican vice presidential nominee to run for president, while 21 percent say they do want her to run.”

That’s an unusually lopsided result. There are very few polls taken in these highly divisive times that produce such unity. The poll internals reveal that it isn’t just Democrats (at 88%) who are cool to Palin. A majority of Republicans (56%) oppose her candidacy. And the same is true for independents (65%). Even conservatives (58%) don’t want Sarah Palin to run for president. What’s worse is that this dismal showing is actually a decline from previous polling, even though she has been an persistent presence in the media since ditching her job in Alaska, embarking on a nationwide book tour, and hooking up with Fox News. Apparently tweets and Facebook postings have not endeared her to the country.

In addition to this bad news for Palin, the Tea Parties took a hit in this poll as well. The poll confirms prior surveys that show how flaccid the so-called movement really is. I called it the Tea Party Delusion, because majorities of respondents have no opinion, or haven’t even heard of the Baggers. This poll has that number at 69%, including 61% of conservatives.

None of this seems to be fazing Palin or those or seek to bask in her black-light glow. She currently has appearances scheduled for Republican gatherings in Eugene, OR and North Little Rock, AR. She will also grace the Daytona 500 in Florida and a wine wholesalers convention in Las Vegas, NV. And of course there is her highly anticipated keynote speech at the first annual(?) Tea Party conference in Nashville, TN. She stands to make several hundred thousand dollars from these gigs. This doesn’t leave much time for her to fulfill her duties for Fox News, but I’m sure they will be accommodating.

The one part of this poll that I take issue with is the number for Democrats who don’t want Palin to run in 2012. Every Democrat I talk to is fervently praying for a Palin candidacy. Personally, I’m pulling for Palin/Steele. I can’t think of anything that would be more fun, except maybe Beck/Joe the Plumber.

Sarah Palin And The Birth Of The Tea Party Media

Posted by on January 14, 2010 at 3:20 pm. 4 Comments :

It’s official. America’s most ludicrous, harebrained, unbalanced, politically naive collection of cantankerous, hateful, rightist zealots (Tea Baggers), has spawned its own media association to bring to journalism the same type of biased, counter-factual, willfully ignorant, propaganda pioneered by the AstroTurf lobbyists, evangelists, and politicos who brewed up the Tea Parties in the first place.

[inhale…exhale]

The National Tea Party Convention, where it will cost “average” citizen activists $549.00 to attend and to witness yet another vapid lecture by keynote speaker Sarah Palin, has released a list of those who will be issued press credentials to cover the affair. It is an admirably diverse group that spans the political spectrum from ultra-conservatism to uber-cultist, Patriopathic™ dementia:

  • Fox News
  • The Wall Street Journal
  • Breitbart.com
  • Townhall.com
  • WorldNetDaily.com

And that’s it. This coalition of partisan blowhards forms the cornerstone of what I will henceforth call the Tea Party Media Association. The founding members include two Rupert Murdoch mouthpieces. Murdoch, of course, also employs Palin, the confab’s star attraction. The other three credentialed news manglers are notorious purveyors of right-wing disinformation. And WND’s boss, Joseph Farah, is also a speaker at the convention.

The event was originally off limits to the media, but with the addition of Palin as the celebrity draw, the conventioneers have reconsidered. It may have something to do with Palin’s insatiable lust for self-promotion. Or perhaps they just need to find ways to recoup the reported $100,000.00 speaking fee Palin gouged from them.

The rise of the Tea Party Media is not entirely unexpected. It isn’t much more than an extension of the Conventional Media. Whenever there is an exploitable incident the press reverts to its native pack mentality and relies on its basest instincts rather than reason, which is more difficult to convey in sound bites. So whether it involves a celebrity death, a high-speed police chase, or a political dust-up, the media will behave with precision predictability and flood the zone with shallow reporting and analysis.

But the Tea Party Media takes this behavior to new extremes. It is a closed loop of directed storytelling wherein the various participants borrow from, and feed to, one another. What shows up as wild speculation on Breitbart.com is regurgitated as an outrage by Glenn Beck. Then the Wall Street Journal reports that “some” in the media are saying it. Thereafter, the rest of the press sources the Wall Street Journal without doing any research of their own. Finally, Breitbart uses the these media references to certify his original fabrication.

In order to sustain this process it is critical to control media access. That is why the Tea Baggers convention is only permitting the most reliably partisan hacks to cover it. They are palpably afraid of honest observers gaining access. The Tea Party movement itself is cracking from within as rival factions battle for control and authenticity. The Tea Party Express hate the Tea Party Patriots who hate the Tea Party Nation. While most of these groups hate the Democrats, some also hate the Republicans, and everybody seems to hate RNC Chair, Michael Steele. Part of the effort to limit press availability is to suppress reporting of these squabbles and present a united front.

Fox Tea Party

Without a doubt, Fox News is the dominant presence in the Tea Party Media. They brazenly promoted the Tax Day Tea Parties and last fall’s 9/12 rally in Washington, DC. They even re-branded them as FNC events. They already had the Tea Bag King (Glenn Back) on the payroll and now they have hired the Queen Tea Bagger as a commentator. Fox will have to compete for Palin’s time as she continues on her book tour and makes room in her schedule for any speaking engagement that will shell out the big bucks.

Amongst Palin’s upcoming engagements is an appearance at the annual meeting of the Wine and Spirits Wholesalers Association. It apparently didn’t matter whether their keynoter had any knowledge of the beverage industry. It could also make for some confusion as reports are sure surface that Palin is speaking at a “Whine” convention and people will automatically assume it’s the Tea Baggers. Not to worry, though. The Tea Party Media will set everything straight for the audience of delusional malcontents it serves and everyone will arrive safely at their appointed indoctrination destination.

Fair And Balanced Fox News Swallows Sarah Palin Whole

Posted by on January 11, 2010 at 4:58 pm. 6 Comments :

Sarah Palin has taken the first preliminary steps in preparation for quitting Fox News – by joining Fox News. Adding Palin to their team as a contributor, Fox is proving that they are not afraid to lower their already submerged collective IQ. The announcement this morning came in a press release from Fox Executive VP of programming, Bill Shine, who gushed:

“Governor Palin has captivated everyone on both sides of the political spectrum and we are excited to add her dynamic voice to the FOX News lineup.”

It would be interesting to learn what Shine thinks the definition of “captivated” is. To be sure both sides of the political spectrum have strong feelings about Palin. On the right, Tea Baggers worship her, but many conservatives (including some who managed her VP campaign) regard her as ill-informed and embarrassing. On the left, Palin has inspired a virtually unanimous response that is a unique combination of disgust and amusement. In either case, Shine’s definition of “captivated” stretch’s the boundaries of reason. And his definitions of “dynamic” and “news” don’t hold up very well either. But at least he’s striving to cover both sides of the Fox spectrum: the Right and the Far-Right.

None of this hinders Palin’s ambition to be the savior of America’s forgotten and embattled white, Christian, majority. She believes that her place on the Republican ticket was where God wanted her to be and therefore, God must now want her to be on Fox News. That’s an odd assignment for someone who has spent the last two years bashing the press from the safety of her Twitter stream. Palin has still never held a press conference, but now she wants to become the press. She wants to become that which she previously sought to avoid.

Palin: I like being able to answer these tough questions without the filter, even, of the mainstream media kind of telling viewers what they’ve just heard.

Of course, her new job as a pundit, even, will be telling viewers what they’ve kind of just heard, also. Except that she will be bringing to punditry a thorough lack of knowledge or insight. In other words, she’ll fit right in at Fox. And she will be even more sequestered from tough questions than ever. As a Fox News contributor she will likely not be appearing on other networks to face challenges to the positions she will take on Fox. Her colleagues on Fox are also unlikely to make things difficult for her by engaging in substantive debate. She will have free reign to pontificate in her uniquely ignorant fashion. I can’t wait for the segments she does with fellow former beauty queen, Gretchen Carlson.

So what does Fox get from this? On the surface they appear to be snapping up a cultural phenomenon with a vast legion of disciples who will flock to Fox News to clutch dearly to her every word. But in truth they are just getting another right-wing evangelist to add to their collection of partisan bloviators. Exactly how many Sarah Palin fans are not already watching Fox? Probably not enough to populate a tea party in a pantry. So the best case scenario is that Fox will succeed in attracting viewers they already have. Beyond that they will solidify their reputation as an illegitimate source for news and as an activist PR platform for Republican orthodoxy.

Palin is joining fellow Republican 2012 presidential hopefuls Mike Huckabee, Newt Gingrich, and Rick Santorum on the Fox roster. When Mitt Romney and Tim Pawlenty sign up we can declare Fox the official farm team for the GOP. In the meantime, Palin will be the star rookie seeking to raise her profile by sucking up to Murdoch’s media dominion:

Palin: I am thrilled to be joining the great talent and management team at FOX News. It’s wonderful to be part of a place that so values fair and balanced news.

You betcha! The fair and balanced home of Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly, Gretchen Carlson, Neil Cavuto, Karl Rove, Ann Coulter, Steve Doocy, etc. Somehow I think the truly thrilling part of this for Palin is the paycheck. Having Palin on Fox News has always been a good fit for both her and Fox. Neither have an interest in, or reputation for, honesty or accuracy. And both have profited from exploiting controversy and sex.

Congratulations Sarah!

Update: Fox EVP Shine adds more humor to this story by admitting that Palin is a lightening rod for controversy and that that is exactly what Fox is looking for:

“She is one of the most talked about and politically polarizing figures in the country,” said Bill Shine, the network’s executive vice president of programming. “First off, we hope she brings that.”

Then he addresses the concern about Palin’s propensity for false statements, which he dismisses because he is going to make sure that Palin is well coached:

“Along the way, we’ll talk to her and have conversations and I’m sure everything will be fine,” he said, adding that the expectations that Palin will utter something controversial will likely drive viewership. “In the end, that’s probably going to help us in that that’s what people will want to watch.”

The best part is that Shine admits that people are going to tune in specifically to see Palin screw up. It’s the “crash on the freeway” school of television programming. I guess Shine has some experience in this area because I’m still convinced that half of Glenn Beck’s audience are liberals waiting for his brain to implode.

Sarah Palin: Pitiful, Sniveling, Coward Of The Year

Posted by on December 24, 2009 at 4:52 pm. 23 Comments :

Having already won the coveted “Lie of the Year” award from PolitiFact, it is time that we recognize Sarah Palin for the truly superlative accomplishment of her brief public tenure. It is an achievement for which she has no peer. She has masterfully positioned herself as the undisputed champion in this highly specialized calling.

Congratulations Sarah Palin, for being this year’s most “Pitiful, Sniveling, Coward.”

The path to victory for Palin was characterized by her trademarked apprehension of, and disdain for, the press. Palin’s fear of the media is an all-consuming neurosis. She has exhibited these tendencies beginning with her initial introduction to the national stage. After being tapped by John McCain as his vice-presidential running mate, Palin immediately ducked for cover.

Free Sarah PalinFrom the earliest days of the campaign, Palin sought the refuge of friendly inquisitors like Sean Hannity and Greta Van Susteren. Needless to say, Fox News had a virtually exclusive relationship with Palin. That was smart strategy on the part of Palin and her handlers with the McCain staff. On the rare occasions that she strayed from the protective cocoon of Fox she was stymied by brain twisters like “What do you read?” Nevertheless, she pretends to have an interest in being accessible. At least that’s what she told Carl Cameron of Fox News:

Palin, 10/3/08: “I look forward to speaking to the media more and more everyday and providing whatever access the media would want. My life is certainly an open book.”

For something she claims to look forward to, she sure did avoid it like the plague. Palin’s fear is palpable. She runs from the press like a Tea Bagger from a library (the Teadiots really hate that “socialist” style distribution of elitist books containing “information”). Throughout the campaign, and to this day more than a year later, Palin has declined to appear on any of the Sunday news programs. Not even Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace. She has not held a single press conference. And in a fit of uncharacteristic candor, she even admitted that she resigned her governorship to avoid further press scrutiny. Quitting, of course, is just another manifestation of her renowned chicken-heartedness.

So how does a media-phobe like Palin conduct herself in a public sphere that demands access and fresh bones on which to chew? By hiding behind a curtain of social media, an online version of a one-way mirror. Palin tweets and posts updates on her Facebook account as a means to communicate with her legion of fans. The problem is that the press seems to regard this as an appropriate method of interaction and they faithfully regurgitate every keystroke as if it were newsworthy. It isn’t.

The media seems to be oblivious to the absurdity of reporting Palin’s tweets. First of all, they don’t even know if they are from Palin or her ghostwriter. Secondly, there is no opportunity to question her about her comments. These postings are nothing more (and actually something much less) than press releases. Why do newsrooms on television and in print feel the least bit obligated to pass them on? And when they do so, why don’t bother to at least fact-check them?

By cowering behind an Internet firewall, Palin can shoot spitballs at the press and quickly duck back into her shelter. For that she deserves to be the Pitiful, Sniveling, Coward Of The Year. But what award do we give the news media? They present an even bigger problem by letting Palin get away with her cheap shots and cheesy antics. In some respects you can hardly blame Palin. She must know deep down that she’s a woefully unprepared dimwit who was elevated to national prominence by a fluke of political desperation. She has to behave this way now or risk further embarrassment. But the press has no such excuse.

So far this month, Palin has criticized Nancy Pelosi, Eugene Robinson, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Al Gore, and of course, President Obama, from the safety of her Facebook page. This sort of attack plan assures that she is shielded from return fire. It is a sterile battlefield that she controls and from which she need not worry about pesky rebuttals or corrections. She also took a couple of swipes at the press who still, for some reason, obediently yield to her siren’s call.

If the media is to preserve whatever crumbs of credibility they are clinging to, they need to start exhibiting signs of life. They need to start acting like professionals. And that means that they need to ignore Sarah Palin. If Palin will not stand before them and engage in a substantive dialogue, then let her tweet to her followers and enjoy her fame the same way other celebrities like Ashton Kutcher and Lindsay Lohan do. Let her sign books at church picnics. Let her go on Dancing with the Stars. But don’t under any circumstances patronize her contempt for the practice of journalism. Don’t be played for suckers. Don’t be seduced by the short-term attention rush you get from recounting Sarah’s latest online insipidness. That’s not reporting. That’s just repeating. And the public deserves more than that from the press.

Palin’s tweets, books and fluff pieces on Fox do nothing to contribute to the public’s understanding of her or her positions. If she persists in ignoring the media, then the media must ignore her back. When she wants to behave like an adult public figure and political leader who will address the issues of the day, then the press can pay her some attention. Until then, who cares? Twitter is not proxy for honest, informative discourse. Facebook doesn’t replace old fashioned newsgathering. If Palin won’t or can’t interact with news people, then she isn’t news. Walk away. Don’t look back. You’re not missing anything.

Dick Cheney: Human Events’ Conservative Of The Year.

Posted by on December 21, 2009 at 7:20 pm. 2 Comments :

Award season is in full swing, and the latest recipient of a year-end tribute is former Vice-President Dick Cheney. Human Events magazine has named Cheney “Conservative of the Year.”

Dick Cheney - The End Is Near

To be sure, this commendation lacks stature. After all, last year’s winner was Sarah Palin. Chosen to pen Palin’s accolades was the professional conservative controversialist, Ann Coulter. In her attempt to praise Palin, Coulter wrote such back-handed compliments as…

[1] Who cares if Palin was qualified to be President? [2] Palin was a kick in the pants, she energized conservatives, and she made liberal heads explode. [3] Perhaps Palin’s year is 2012, but I would recommend that she take a little more time to become older and wiser.

Pretty much the only positive thing Coulter could find to say about Palin was that she was a “genius at annoying all the right people.” While annoying people is a subject that Coulter has some familiarity with, it still begs the question, with friends like Coulter, who needs enemas?

Cheney fared little better with regard to the selection of his advocate. The honor of fluffing Cheney fell to former United Nations Ambassador, John Bolton. Bolton begins his plaudits by enumerating a list of things Cheney is NOT doing:

He is not running for President or any other office. He has not formed a PAC or a D.C. lobbying firm. He is not dishing on former colleagues, not spreading gossip, not settling scores.

Those, however, all sound like things that last year’s honoree, Palin, IS doing, and about which Bolton apparently disapproves. It’s rather telling that Human Events had to settle for someone they admit is so completely out of the political limelight. It speaks to the absence of credible leaders warming up in the conservative bullpen. The rest of the article makes a case very similar to the one Coulter made for Palin. It is basically an argument that Cheney was an effective thorn in the new administration’s side. To conservatives, that is what constitutes qualification for a prestigious award. Not setting policy, or advancing ideas, or accumulating support, but by being a nuisance. Bolton does end on a positive note by summing up Cheney’s attributes as a loyal public servant, saying he is…

“…a very experienced, very dedicated patriot, giving his fellow citizens his best analysis on how to keep them and their country safe.”

I’m not so sure that having Cheney’s “best analysis” is particularly comforting. I mean, this is the guy under who’s watch the nation suffered its worst act of terrorism ever. It’s the guy who led America into an unnecessary war justified by lies. And it’s the guy who has consistently been the herald of doom and worse, a virtual advance man for Al Qaeda. By repeatedly proclaiming his view that our country is less safe under President Obama, and therefore more vulnerable, Cheney and his cohorts are effectively inviting another terrorist attack. How does announcing to our enemies that he believes our nation is becoming weaker make us safer? Does he even care? Or is he just pasting a big bull’s eye on America and hoping for an “I told you so” moment?

In any case, I give you Richard Bruce Cheney – Human Events’ Conservative of the Year. I suppose it’s the best they could do.

Sarah Palin Wins ‘Lie Of The Year’ Award

Posted by on December 19, 2009 at 1:57 pm. 5 Comments :

Congratulations are in order for Sarah Palin. PolitiFact has bestowed upon her the great honor of being the author of the “Lie Of The Year.” Granted, she was competing vigorously for the award by submitting the most entries for consideration. It was inevitable that one of her numerous and extravagant deceits would capture this venerated commendation.

The falsehood specifically singled out for this acclaim was Palin’s classic confounding of an otherwise non-controversial component of the health care bill that permitted reimbursement for end-of-life counseling. These were simply discussions with your doctor on what measures you would want taken in the event you were gravely ill and unable articulate your desires. But Palin turned these prudent consultations into “Death Panels.”

Palin: 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. Such a system is downright evil.

Yes indeed. That would be downright evil – if it existed. And for inventing this dastardly conspiracy out of thin air, Palin has earned the distinction of having spewed the year’s biggest whopper. She had to beat some formidable competition including Glenn Beck and the inimitable Orly Taitz. But Sarah came through.

For sheer volume, however, I still think Glenn Beck is the unparalleled champion. PolitiFact doesn’t seem to have this as a category, but if they did Beck would have to be the odds on favorite. Here is just a sampling of his fibbery:

  • Obama is creating a Nazi-like civilian force.
  • Van Jones is a convicted felon.
  • ACORN is receiving billions of dollars.
  • Eco-terrorists bombed radio tower in Washington.
  • 1.7 million Tea Baggers at 9/12 rally.
  • UAW workers earn average $154.00 per hour.
  • Carbon dioxide not a dangerous pollutant.
  • Anita Dunn worships Mao.
  • Obama threatened to close Nebraska military base.

Perhaps PolitiFact will create a Lifetime Liars Achievement Award. They could call it the Becky.