Motley Moose – Archive

Since 2008 – Progress Through Politics

If At First You Don't Succeed, Fail, Fail Again.

Being Sarah Palin becomes a more and more awkward thing to imagine as the reality of her situation becomes more painfully evident.  Even before she meanderingly announced that she was tired of being a United States Governor and then started threatening press and bloggers with legal action (oh, we’ll get to that…) she was having a bad week.

Mudflats lays it out for us:


a CBS piece detailing several leaked emails in which she asked the McCain campaign to lie about Todd Palin’s 7-year membership in a secessionist party. McCain strategist Steve Schmidt responded to her request saying that Todd was a member, and it was a secessionist party and he wasn’t going to create an issue in the media if it didn’t exist already, nor would he lie for her.

The statement you are suggesting be released would be inaccurate. The inaccuracy would bring greater media attention to this matter and be a distraction. According to your staff there have been no media inquiries into this and you received no questions about it during your interviews. If you are asked about it you should smile and say many Alaskans who love their country join the party because it speaks to a tradition of political independence. Todd loves his country.

We will not put out a statement and inflame this and create a situation where john has to adress this.”

Wow, that’s embarrassing.  Your former runningmate’s lackies having to tell you off for asking them to get the Senator to lie for you about your husband belonging to a radical secessionist group.

So to make it all better – aside from just quitting – we have our legal beagles threaten local and national commentators!  Sure, that’s bound to work!

Over at HuffPo AKMuckraker has this

Today (Palin Attorney) Van Flein issued a four page letter regarding the reporting of these rumors and it was sent by SarahPAC spokeswoman Meghan Stapleton to media outlets across the state.

Van Flein’s letter threatening legal action specifically pointed the finger at Alaska blogger Shannyn Moore as “most notably” claiming as “fact” that Palin resigned under federal investigation.

Van Flein, asked why he singled out Moore, said it’s because she went on national television and talked about it. Moore was on with MSNBC’s David Shuster on Friday, the day Palin said she will resign.

“There is a scandal rumor here that there is a criminal investigation into some activities and that’s been rumored for about, I don’t know, probably six weeks or two months,” Moore told him.

Palin’s ‘legal team’ didn’t like this spurious reporting of rumors as, um, rumors so you better watch out, Shannyn (and the other folks who put up 37,200 links to “Palin Housegate” on the Internet)!

In solidarity with my friend and fellow Alaskan blogger, may I be the next to report to the team of Palin-Van Flein, and to the entire blogosphere at large:

THERE ARE RUMORS.

There. I said it.

Sue me.

The funny thing about intimidation, soon-to-be-ex-governor Palin, is that it only works until the other person doesn’t fold their cards.  After that you better have something good in your hand.

OK, I call.

It sure seems to me, too, that there are rumors about whether the Palin’s got an illicit advantage when building their house.

Now let’s see your cards.


Categories: Uncategorized.

/ 37 Comments

37 comments

  1. Peter Jukes

    …and of course there have already been a dozen or so ethics investigations. The FBI denied any active investigation, but that only covers the FBI, and does not preclude a ‘deal’ having been done: Palin steps down as investigation is closed.

    Like most people on the planet, I have no idea what goes on in Palin’s head, but the legal defense mounted by Van Klein is not closing things down one whit. For starters it misrepresents the Mayor of Wasilla’s powers, and by going into details about procurement during Palin’s tenure there, only pumps out more smoke . Of course further Rumo(u)rs™ include Todd’s membership of the AIP (which is given a lame explanation in the email correspondence with Schmidt) which probably has incurred investigations of its.

    Other Rumo(u)rs™ could be of a sexual nature or over health issues. Personally I doubt the ‘spending time with my book advance’ theory, or the Platform to launch a nomination bid in the lower 48, as these would have been best served by staying in office. Also, the impromptu urgency of the announcement, and the tremulous ‘moose in headlights’ look of Palin as she delivered her speech, suggested something bad and major.

    Either way, all of these Rumo(u)rs™ could be cleared up with a proper explanation by Palin of her decision, forced or otherwise. While this remains unforthcoming, it’s no surprise that bloggers and other terrible librul types will continue to speculate.

    Fortunately, the US has much more enlightened libel laws, especially when it comes to figures who willingly put themselves in the public spotlight. One of the things I most admire about your libel laws is that you have to prove ‘malice’ in libel. I think most the malice to Palin’s career comes from her own semi suicidal actions. I also think that the discovery process over Palin’s financial dealingsin Wasilla is not something she or Todd would welcome. So it is pure ‘scare fluff’

    As for insults to a public figure, didn’t Obama have to suffer in silence the accusation that he was ‘palling around with terrorists’. In the UK we also have the defence of low common abuse – you can call someone an idiot or a wanker, without damages except to your own vocabulary.

    Therefore, as a fellow Moose, I have no problem in calling Sarah Palin, the Quitter from Wasilla, also known as Bible Spice and Moosalini, a scarily narcisstic, irrational and probably dangerous public figure.

    If anyone has a problem with that, sue me too.  

  2. rfahey22

    I agree with those who are saying that this will scuttle her presidential ambitions, at least for the short term.  A person who quits after a half-term as governor of a very small state, population-wise, is not fit to be president.  My guess is that it’s a cash grab while she’s still relatively popular among certain people.  Any scandals/investigations would just be icing on the cake.  

    What’s more disturbing to me is that anyone could think of this as a good, and even praiseworthy, attempt to further her political career.  Palin strikes me as the closest thing to a reality-television candidate that we’ve had yet (though Samuel Wurzelbacher would take that title if he ever ran for office) – someone who obviously wasn’t ready for prime time, force fed to the masses by the political machine behind her, and who could do no wrong to her core demographic simply because they are more interested in following her strange path through life than in dealing with the consequences of her decisions.  The only way that it makes sense to me is that her fans either believe that government has no effect on their daily lives, or they have so little faith in government that a politician’s qualifications, or lack thereof, don’t matter to them, since in either case the government will be wasteful and ineffectual.  Either way, it’s a dangerous mindset for voters to have.  

  5. Chris Blask

    Democrats want to talk about it, Republicans don’t.

    For all the guessing about how this could spin positively in the direction of a political career, I have to call this theory DOA.  I bet free beer all around that we never see her in an elected position ever again.  

    Nope, my guess is that it will turn out to be a simple matter of not enough fun and not enough money, both of which she can have by the cartfull as soon as she clears the state house doors.  She gets called names by (me) her opponents for running away from her commitments, but that just makes her more the hero to her Real American supporters.

    (BTW, did anyone ever really believe that the top of a winning presidential ticket could be married to a “former” secessionist?)

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