Going through Alaska Governor Sarah Palin's very self-serving press release from Thursday, a lot of us came up with a series of blanks. Part of Gov. Palin's recent modus operandi is to dismiss questions about her veracity, authenticity and mendacity. Typically, she picks a straw man, sets it up, and pokes weird sticks at it and into it. Then she moves on to the next strange tidbit.Palin herself has helped fuel speculation into several stories by simply refusing to provide innocent, timely information, or by creating an adversarial relationship with press members, either by her own actions, or through the actions of subordinates, such as Meg Stapleton, Ed O'Callaghan, or Bill McAllister.
Anchorage Daily News publisher Patrick Dougherty illustrates this in his response to the Palin press release, at his well-hidden personal niche, the ADN Editor's Blog. As Gryphen at the Immoral Minority has observed, though, Dougherty's response is at odds with statements issued by the ADN last year, when they denied anything of the sort, of efforts being assiduously pursued then by reporter Lisa Demer, as possibly occurring. As usual, Dougherty is too busy
But Dougherty does raise a number of good points about how much bullshit the press has had to put up with from the Palin administration from the second half of 2008 until now - especially since August 29th, the day Palin stopped blinking and started looking for God's doors to open up for her.
Looking through her press release, some in the mainstream press, alternative press and electronic press (ie - bloggers) have written essays about where they might fit into Palin's list of accusations. I guess I should do the same, especially since I found out yesterday that I received a national award from a real magazine, based on one early article I wrote about Gov. Palin.
Here are my responses to some of the governor's claims:
The governor’s interview came as news organizations pursued erroneous and often outrageous leads on a variety of non-issues.
She is probably right. I had to deal with calls from two national tabloids about an alleged fight between Todd and Levi on Saturday night, after, supposedly, Levi and Bristol had attempted to move out. I have no idea whether that happened or not, so told the people that, and didn't write about it now, except to illustrate the kind of bullshit I have to deal with, defending her.
There are other examples. For instance, yesterday, when a national blog tried to turn the Wasilla High School bomb scare lockdown into a story, I wrote there:
Sorry, Lisa, but this is sort of a BS story. Wasilla, Colony an Palmer High Schools all seem to get something like this about once every year or so. Dwight Probasco is a good friend of mine. I taught an evening course at WHS for 14 years.
Why is this even up here?
Just this week, false stories in the media surfaced alleging improper influence by the Palin administration or the governor herself.
Not at Progressive Alaska.
In one case, a state union alleged that the administration delayed serving an arrest warrant on the mother of Levi Johnston, the father of the governor’s grandson. The union admitted within 48 hours that the allegation was not true.
Progressive Alaska commented on this story by questioning whether the story was all that Sean Cockerham seemed to be making out of it. My story was called "More Weirdness at the Anchorage Daily News?"
In another case, an irresponsible talk show host in Anchorage alleged in a newspaper column that the governor must have intervened to get a job for her future son-in-law, circumventing eligibility rules for the position. Again, the allegation was immediately discredited by proof that the governor did not influence Levi’s employment.
Progressive Alaska covered the story's coverage. I certainly agree with Palin that Dan Fagan is an "irresponsible talk show host." From the beginning of this blog, I've been critical of his racism, his lies abut the George Bush record, and his shilling for corporate interests. The way the ADN My comments in PA's coverage, and my quote from Diane Benson, in retrospect, were as accurate as anything written then about this incident.
Meanwhile, bloggers, the Atlantic magazine and even the Anchorage Daily News continue to give credence to the sensational allegation that the governor’s child, Trig, is not hers.
I can't recount the number of times I have commented at national blogs about this. Essentially, I say that Cathy Baldwin-Johnson helped save MY son's life and was my wife's doctor for a long time. I stick up for CBJ every time I have an opportunity. Like every doctor I've spoken with about Palin's questionable travel in the days and hours before her youngest child's birth, I question Palin's wisdom, but question her motives in those decisions, even more.
“As a public official, I expect criticism and I expect to be held accountable for how I govern,” Gov. Palin said. “But the personal, salacious nature of recent reporting, and often the refusal of the media to correct obvious mistakes, unfortunately discredits too many in journalism today, making it difficult for many Americans to believe what they see in the media.”
Palin's absurd conclusion to her rant shows how unprepared she still is for the obvious fact that the mainstream American press treats presidential-level contenders - ALL OF THEM - like competitors in a hybrid version of American Idol and Survivor. Her accommodation Monday of John Ziegler, one of the chief purveyors of distortions she pretends to lament shows how out of her league Gov. Palin continues to be. I doubt that will change.
images - AP, Alaska Report, Darkblack