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Saturday, November 14, 2009
Sarah Palin in: Who Cares Who's Coming to Dinner
As I was signing into my email, a story caught my eye. Sarah Palin, former Vice President candidate and former Governor of Alaska (I'm sure she is former a lot of other stuff as well), has invited some guy named Levi Johnston to dinner.
I have to admit that I was curious. Not really curious over who Levi is or why he would be spending thanksgiving with her Formerness. No I was curious about how on Earth this could be considered news.
Turns out that Levi Johnston is the father of Mrs. Former Governor's grandchild. They seem to be having some sort of public estrangement and She Who is Former is trying to patch things up. I'm sure if I catch it on Oprah I will cry. But why would we care about this anymore than I care about anything else that comes on to that horrifically boring (though admittedly commercially successful) television show?
They say that President Obama is the celebrity politician, but they are wrong. Sarah Palin is the one that they are treating as a celebrity with endless intrusions into her personal life. I am puzzled for why Levi was interviewed by Vanity Fair or Playgirl. It's like he was someone of real interest, such as Paris Hilton, or something.
In case you have missed it, part of my point here is that Sarah Palin is a former public official. Any legitimacy the press may have in digging into a politicians family (which I think extends only as far as looking for corruption) surely ends when that politician no longer holds office.
That is to say, why should anyone give a flying donkey where Levi Johnston decides to eat turkey?
Posted by Hugh MacIntyre on November 14, 2009 | Permalink
Comments
Why do you care enough about it to write about it? Answer that, if you can, and you will have your answer.
Posted by: Fred | 2009-11-14 9:26:42 AM
Yes, yes. Of course I agree, who cares indeed.
"Any legitimacy the press may have in digging into a politicians family (which I think extends only as far as looking for corruption) surely ends when that politician no longer holds office."
But does this really apply to a former office holder currently on a giant self-promotion tour for her book who is considered a (the?) top contender for the GOP presidential nomination in 2012?
Posted by: Kalim Kassam | 2009-11-14 9:57:50 AM
American Politics: Business as usual.
Posted by: Doug Gilchrist | 2009-11-14 10:14:43 AM
top contender for the GOP presidential nomination in 2012?
Posted by: Kalim Kassam | 2009-11-14 9:57:50 AM
My prediction is she will be lamer in 2012 than she is right now. She is only still the medias vaniila flavored whatever because of her appearance, and nothing new. Could enough people forget her head is as empty as could be, long enough to elect her president of anything? I sure hope not.
Posted by: Lightning Rod of Controversy | 2009-11-14 11:22:06 AM
With allies like these, who needs enemies?
Posted by: SUZANNE | 2009-11-14 1:00:57 PM
I love that Lightning Rod took only one paragraph to ridicule Palin's intellect. Funny, Lightning but you don't strike me as a member of Mensa in your own right! I'm going to let the woman make her case before trashing her. The media tried to do this same crap to Reagan in the 1970's. They tried to portray him as not up to the office of president. Reagan was able to prove them wrong. He was helped by the public speaking skills that he improved on while in Hollywood. The woman has the right to make her case. I'm open to any candidate who wants to challenge Obama. What I want to see over the next four years is candidates rise to the challenge. I don't expect all of them to have all the answers immediately. However, I want to see if they can grow into the role of a superior choice for president. That means that I want to know more about Palin's governing economic philosophy. I want to learn more about Huckabee's ideas(besides his fair tax)particularly on shrinking the government. I want to learn what a Tim Pawlenty has learned about governing from his experience in Minnesota and how it applies to downsizing the federal government. I want concrete answers from Ron Paul about how he will hunt down and kill terrorists(I already know his economic goals). That's right! I wanted them killed! I don't want a citizen's arrest or them being sued. I want them killed and anyone who aided them wiped out. i want someone who will end Obama's socialist(european social democrat economic policies) reign, kill terrorists and their enablers(not coddle them), protect gun rights, stay tough on criminals(no midnight basketball or any other program that operates on the principle that criminals are victims of an uncaring society)and protect the unborn. My vote will go to the one that can best achieve these goals.
Posted by: Davis | 2009-11-14 3:10:25 PM
Reagan was up to his job??????
he proclaimed that trees CAUSED air pollution and that ketchup was a vegetable.
He purposely, and purposefully funded and trained Saudi's and other islamic fighters, which are now the modern day islamic threat, Al quaeda
He dergulated banks....look around you today.
He cut and ran from lebanon once the barricks were destroyed, and allowed Hassan Nasrallah, and the Hezzbollah to become the world wide power they are today only, second to al quaeda in regards to how many Americans they have killed.
REFUSED FEDERAL FUNDING FOR AIDS RESEARCH, until he was shamed into funding it.
He gutted federal funding for college students to spend more money on defense.
Fired all the air traffic controllers.
he laid a wreath at the tomb of an unknown german SS soldier from WW2, but declined to visit a nearby concentration camp.
eliminated federal funding for planned parenthood. about the same time, infant mortality rates in america began to skyrocket... i believe this was due to the fact that planned parenthood provided the only source of pre-natal medical care in poor neighborhoods (they aren't JUST an abortion provider). in 1980, the USA had the second lowest infant mortality rate in the world. today, they are ranked 39th.
reduced federal funding for inexpensive social programs like head start by 90%. the kids who grew up without these during the 80's went on to become the crack kingpins of the 90's.
encouraged americans to hate poor people with his speeches about "fur coat-wearing welfare queens picking up their food stamps in limousines". this claim was later debunked as an out-and-out lie.
nearly got us all killed when he made his famous "open mic" gaffe, saying "i've just signed a bill outlawing russia. we begin bombing in 5 minutes." russia was listening and immediately jumped to their version of def-con 2. we haven't been that close to nuclear annihilation since the cuban missile crisis.
began the tradition of doubling the national debt during republican administrations. national debt when he took office stood at $900 billion. when he left, it was $2.1 Trillion
There numerous more Reagan atrocities, he was a fucken monster, and I don't really care what the history channel told you to believe he was. He was movie star idiot, that probably has truly started us down a road to annihilation, if not hundreds of years of constant war. You Davis need to seriously wake up about everything.
Sarah Palin is numb, The woman couldn't run a donut shop efficiently, and you don't have to be a member of mensa to understand this, you only have to be half as intellegent as a she is.
Posted by: Lightning Rod of Controversy | 2009-11-14 6:12:20 PM
How could I be so stupid and forget how much Reagan escalated the drug war to an unprecedented level. I hope his head is Satans butt plug. he was one of the worst things the earth has ever seen. "let him eat satans jellybeans"
Posted by: Lightning Rod of Controversy | 2009-11-14 6:23:31 PM
Iran Contra was Ronald reagan, how many more should I mention before you realize Davis that Ronald Reagan was an Idiot, just like people accuse him of, which lead you foolishly to defend him, when no one mentioned him.
The USA never says we lost, or speaks of the dark times which causes people to reflect in a way where they won't make the same mistakes twice. The germans teach their young about ww2 honestly, so as to evolve with a message of truth. Americans are screwed up in this regard and take loss after loss, and mistake after mistake, then twist it into what they want into a memory that sits right with their ideals and then celebrate it. It is very delusional, and damaging. I have never seen a nation more dishonest with itself, but it does help me to understand why they repeat their mistakes, and how through media and television their dimentia ends up here.
Posted by: Lightning Rod of Controversy | 2009-11-14 6:41:47 PM
Top 10 Dumbest Sarah Palin Quotes
"As Putin rears his head and comes into the air space of the United States of America, where– where do they go? It's Alaska. It's just right over the border." --Sarah Palin, explaining why Alaska's proximity to Russia gives her foreign policy experience, interview with CBS's Katie Couric, Sept. 24, 2008
"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." –-Sarah Palin, in a message posted on Facebook about Obama's health care plan, Aug. 7, 2009
"Who calls a shot like that? Who makes a decision like that? It's a disturbing trend." –Sarah Palin, pushing a conspiracy theory that "In God We Trust" had been moved to the edge of coins because of the Obama administration (the change was made by the Bush administration in 2007 and was later reversed by Congress, before Obama took office), West Allis, Wisconsin, Nov. 6, 2009
. "We believe that the best of America is not all in Washington, D.C. ... We believe that the best of America is in these small towns that we get to visit, and in these wonderful little pockets of what I call the real America, being here with all of you hard working very patriotic, um, very, um, pro-America areas of this great nation." --Sarah Palin, speaking at a fundraiser in Greensoboro, N.C., Oct. 16, 2008
"Ohh, good, thank you, yes." --Sarah Palin, after a notorious Canadian prank caller complimented her on the documentary about her life, Hustler's "Nailin Paylin," Nov. 1, 2008
Well, let's see. There's ― of course in the great history of America there have been rulings that there's never going to be absolute consensus by every American, and there are those issues, again, like Roe v. Wade, where I believe are best held on a state level and addressed there. So, you know, going through the history of America, there would be others but ―" --Sarah Palin, unable to name a Supreme Court decision she disagreed with other than Roe vs. Wade, interview with Katie Couric, CBS News, Oct. 1, 2008
"All of 'em, any of 'em that have been in front of me over all these years." --Sarah Palin, unable to name a single newspaper or magazine she reads, interview with Katie Couric, CBS News, Oct. 1, 2008
"[T]hey're in charge of the U.S. Senate so if they want to they can really get in there with the senators and make a lot of good policy changes that will make life better for Brandon and his family and his classroom." --Sarah Palin, getting the vice president's constitutional role wrong after being asked by a third grader what the vice president does, interview with NBC affiliate KUSA in Colorado, Oct. 21, 2008
They are also building schools for the Afghan children so that there is hope and opportunity in our neighboring country of Afghanistan." --Sarah Palin, speaking at a fundraiser in San Francisco, Oct. 5, 2008
"I think on a national level your Department of Law there in the White House would look at some of the things that we've been charged with and automatically throw them out." --Sarah Palin, referring to a department that does not exist while attempting to explain why as president she wouldn't be subjected to the same ethics investigations that compelled her to resign as governor of Alaska, ABC News interview, July 7, 2009
Posted by: Lightning Rod of Controversy | 2009-11-14 7:27:36 PM
protect gun rights, STAY TOUGH ON CRIMINALS (no midnight basketball or any other program that operates on the principle that criminals are victims of an uncaring society)AND PROTRECT THE UNBORN
Posted by: Davis | 2009-11-14 3:10:25 PM
I think davis is the lighting rod.
Posted by: Lightning Rod of Controversy | 2009-11-14 7:46:11 PM
Yes, Reagan was all that. I was in a rig camp when he got elected. Even the rig pigs could see something wasn't right about that guy. He did seem to be able to keep Trudeau in his place. He managed to get permission to test cruise missiles over Canadian air space.
He was in the right place, at the right time, for the fall of the Soviet Union. To this day, I believe we were better off with an identifiable enemy. Now, all the KGB honchos are living over here, running huge organized crime syndicates.
Posted by: dp | 2009-11-14 8:25:25 PM
Fred, I care that other people care about this story and that is what my post was about. It is about the utter silliness of people caring about Levi Johnston.
Kalim, if I went on a book tour and some talk shows it wouldn't make it fair for the press to snope into my family.
A possible run for President or Senate or whatever does lend itself to more legitimacy, but not a lot. Does the press or should the press be doing this for every likely candidate for a major public office? No they only do it with Palin because it is sensational, nothing to do with her political ambitions.
Posted by: Hugh MacIntyre | 2009-11-15 3:48:18 AM
"I want concrete answers from Ron Paul about how he will hunt down and kill terrorists(I already know his economic goals). That's right! I wanted them killed! I don't want a citizen's arrest or them being sued. I want them killed and anyone who aided them wiped out."
Ron Paul would end the wars America is involved in, all of them, from what I have heard, and restrict foreign relation to trade. You know, a "mind our own business" approach. As to who aides the terrorists, look directly at your government.
Posted by: Steve Bottrell | 2009-11-15 3:50:28 AM
If Sarah Palin had been anything but upfront about her family issues, and then lectured other people about their families, it would be fair game.
Posted by: Hugh MacIntyre | 2009-11-15 3:59:03 AM
Ya but did you see how good-look'n levi's piece is, in Playgirl. MMMMMMM
Posted by: Cruising | 2009-11-15 6:55:25 AM
Hugh,
"Kalim, if I went on a book tour and some talk shows it wouldn't make it fair for the press to snope [sic] into my family."
It does if the book you write discusses your family. Sarah Palin quit being governor of Alaska because state law would not allow her to cash in on her fame and write this book. She quit being a politician because she wanted to become a celebrity writer. She is being treated just as any celebrity would be treated.
Besides, if she wanted her family to be off limits, she could tell that to Oprah or anyone else she uses to help hawk her book. But she hasn't done that. She has not only answered the questions, but has gone on the attack and said negative things about Levi. She continues to be quite happy to talk about him - so long as it can help sell a few books.
"If Sarah Palin had been anything but upfront about her family issues, and then lectured other people about their families, it would be fair game."
Levi Johnston became a public figure when Sarah Palin trotted him out in a suit at the RNC to pretend that he and Bristol were a soon-to-be happy family. She, like pretty much every politician, used her family as a political prop. She created the interest in him and he has decided he wants to cash in. Her complicity in making her family a prop to get votes made this "fair game". If she wanted to have the standing to say "leave my family alone" she should have left them there as well.
Posted by: Fact Check | 2009-11-15 9:21:39 AM
That's right, Fact Check. She opened the door, and Levi stepped through it.
Palin's connection to federal politics will always be arm's length. She probably sees herself as the heir to Rush Limbaugh's dynasty, not the Bush dynasty. She was never a serious candidate, and there's no way she's part of the republican re-building strategy.
Posted by: dp | 2009-11-15 11:58:47 AM
Sarah Palin is to the Republicans as "Lying Jackel" is to Iffy and the LPC.
Posted by: The LS from Sk | 2009-11-15 12:43:13 PM
It would be worth your reading a book by Nick Davies called Flat Earth News. Why should Ms Palin's dinner arrangments be of any concern? No reason, but it'll be in the media because her office will have released a pre-formatted press release that can very quickly be rewritten (if needed) to fit in a variety of news formats. It will be provided free of charge to media contacts. So, from the media POV, it's cheap, and it's easy to use. It goes in, therefore. That's it.
BB
Posted by: SEO GB | 2009-11-16 7:11:32 AM
AMERICANS GETTING ORGANIZED!
A majority of Americans agreed with President Obama in 2008, that the interests of the community are more important than are the interests of the individual. As a result, a new union organizing movement has begun, creating the Community Voters Union (CVU).
Using the popular Card Check Program, community organizers forming the CVU will bring voters into a union, simplifying their community life. When 1% of people in a region sign the CVU card checks given them at shopping malls, places of employment as well as door-to-door, the CVU will officially form. They will be responsible for voting the interests of the community. Voters need never go to the polls again. Union leaders voting the community’s interests block big-money right wing attempts to sway voters. Dues from each voter will pay the costs of this welcomed voter service. The Community Union Councils gather periodically to decide who will hold elected offices as well as new legislation and enforcement procedures. The voters in community will never again have to worry about making those choices. The President encourages voters to take advantage of the CVU so the voting process is more orderly and predictable. Because of his enormous popularity, people are rushing to obtain voting cards to sign up. CVU will usher into American Politics a glorious new day of certainty and peace in voting. Right-wing extremist critics claim the first card checks will have only names from the graveyards to establish CVU supremacy. They claim CVU is patterned after the USSR soviets, regional community voting blocs that transmit community interests to one central presidium or parliament. They are partially correct, in that the American Congress will be changed to a parliament and the Constitution set aside as a historical document only. However, only community interests are important, which assigns to the CVU the control over what was once called “private property” and bank accounts in each of the regions they control. This will assure Americans that the wealth will be spread around, as the President was so well credited in his campaign. There will no longer be term limits assigned to the office of President, only that he receives a periodic vote of confidence from the CVU. Succession falls to the choice of the President when the need arises. This, most Americans agree, is how an orderly government works. For thousands of years, orderly government rested with a sovereign, a chief of state, where family members were trained to take the reins when the need arose, so we can look to having one of Obama’s daughters rise to that leadership position. (Is this really an absurdity? claysamerica.com)
Posted by: Clay Barham | 2009-11-16 10:01:10 AM
Sarah Palin represents the average American.
Both the Democratic and Republican Parties are far to the left of the average American, who have made pocketbook issues (the economy, stupid) their No. 1 issue.
Global warming is the No. 1 issue among 17% of the US electorate, while the economy is somewhere around 56%.
The average American also believes the person best qualified to spend his money is himself. The statists in Washington believe they know better how to spend everybody else's money.
It's pretty simple, really.
Posted by: set you free | 2009-11-16 11:11:22 AM
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