We've Moved

Todd is now blogging at a new location - RealClearThinker.com.

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Dressing Sarah

Sarah moves on.

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin insisted in an interview with the Tribune on Thursday that she did not accept $150,000 worth of designer clothes from the Republican Party and "that is not who we are."

"That whole thing is just, bad!" she said. "Oh, if people only knew how frugal we are.

Chris Matthews says he thinks his job his to help the Obama administration 'crackle.' I wonder if he feels the same responsibility to Governor Palin.

"It's kind of painful to be criticized for something when all the facts are not out there and are not reported," said Palin, saying the clothes are not worth $150,000 and were bought for the Republican National Convention. Still, she has been wearing pricey clothes at campaign events this fall. She said they will be given back, auctioned off or sent to charity. Most of them, she said, haven't even left the belly of her campaign plane.

Thrust into the national spotlight as John McCain's running mate in late August from relative obscurity as governor of Alaska, Palin has found herself under the microscope ever since, accused of being inexperienced, a drag on the ticket and, most recently, the recipient of racks of expensive clothes.

Less than two weeks before Election Day, she will deliver her first major policy speech Friday, calling for full funding of special education, a subject that has suddenly become extremely personal. And that's not just because of the arrival of Trig, her 6-month-old son with Down syndrome. It's because families with children who have disabilities have been flocking to her campaign stops, looking to Palin and her family for inspiration.

Dirty Tracks

Barack's image will suffer gravely once his questionable associations become more widely known. The Obamafia - Wright, Pfleger, Rezko, Ayers, etc - call into question Barack's judgment and his patriotism.

Is someone trying to slander Sarah Palin to offer some protection to Barack - making it seem that she's unpatriotic so when he is attacked, those attacks will be discarded by voters as more of the same?


I'm not sure why it would be such a big deal if Sarah had been a member of the party back when she was 30, but it would be a big deal if someone was trying to make it look like she was when she wasn't. This ad, also, seems without impact.

But the question remains, what was Sarah's affiliation with the party, and should we care.

CBS News has a story that says her husband was a member for some years:

From 1994 to 2002, records show, he was a registered member of the Alaskan Independence Party, whose primary aim is to seek a vote on whether Alaska should remain a state.

AIP officials say Palin's involvement was limited to attendance at the party's 1994 convention in Wasilla. Doyle Holmes, a hardware store owner who co-chaired the party in 1994, said the convention featured the usual debate over how explicitly to present the independence plank, but he could not recall Palin taking a strong stand. "There's one group that wants [secession] left in the platform and another that wants to tone it down a bit," he said. "Things can get pretty hot."

The Jawa Report has investigated extensively whether the above web ad was secretly created and posted by Democratic Activists.

Sometimes rumors and lies get spread organically with no need from direction. But sometimes what may seem to be an organic bottom up grassroots movement, may actually be led from the top and may be professionally organized.

We believe at least one such campaign to discredit Sarah Palin is currently underway. It seems highly likely that others are as well. We've done the initial work, but now it's time for the professionals to take over and ask the tough questions.

Jake Tapper reported on his ABC News blog a couple of weeks back that Sarah has never been registered as anything other than a Republican.

Gail Fenumiai, director of the Alaska Division of Elections, tells ABC News that regardless of the impression given to members of the Alaskan Independence Party, "Gov. Sarah Palin first registered to vote in the state in May 1982 as a Republican, and she has not changed her party affiliate with the Division of Elections since that time."

Sarah would have been 18 in 1982, so that date makes sense. The welcome to the Alaska Independence Party in the above video was reportedly recorded as a greeting to convention goers - the sort of PR thing that governors do to promote convention business.

All in a day's work in the fight for power in America.

Fatherhood

Controversial skit on SNL this weekend shows the liberal attitude toward Alaska and bitter Americans, suggesting that Todd Palin had sex with his daughters. Would they dare do a similar sketch on Barack?

She For Real?

While Sarah Palin selection as a running mate appears to represent a brilliant tactical stroke for the McCain campaign, what if she is really unqualified to be so close to the presidency? Will we accept the risk in exchange for protecting the country against the inexperience, and liberalism, of Barack Obama?

Don't get me wrong, on paper her credentials are better than Barack's resume in my book. Liberals are comfortable with Barack being inexperienced because he's thoughtful and articulate, and in the world of the educated elite, thoughtful and articulate is what it's all about. They don't mind that he's never been a leader, is untested, and has used his elected positions as stepping stones, and they forgive his alliances with distasteful characters - all because he's thoughtful and articulate.

Conservatives have more respect for life experience credentials than academic ones. That's our bias. Give me the gal who hunts, fishes, has a good outside shot and competes for Miss Alaska, has five kids while getting herself from PTA to the governor's seat by attacking the dug in political machinery of her own party - I'll take her any day over the law professor. But those are the cover stories of the candidates - what's the real deal on Palin?

Consider the story of one of Governor Palin's former trusted advisors, John Bitney.

Bitney grew up with the governor, often telling the story of being in the same band class. He served as her Issues Coordinator during her successful gubernatorial campaign in 2006, spokesman for her transition team after the election and on December 1, 2006 he was named her Legislative Liaison.

What if she's a joke? What if she hasn't handled power well?

Bitney was respected as a hard worker by people who knew him and worked with him. In six months, Bitney guided the governor's policies through the legislature, including her hallmark legislation; AGIA.

But John Bitney made the fatal employment mistake; he got on the bad side of Todd Palin.

In June of 2007, it became known that Bitney was dating the soon to be ex-wife of Todd Palin's good friend. Palin reportedly began demanding that Bitney be fired.

What if she's not bothered to take a professional approach to running the government, but instead, has taken a townie approach - turning power over to her husband and high school friends without learning how to master the system?

After a short time, Bitney realized that he couldn't remain in the governor's office due to the constant pressure and he worked out a deal with Chief of Staff Mike Tibbles to take a transfer to another department.

What if the woman who fought the entrenched power structure has spent her 18 months in office learning to imitate the ones she ousted?

On July 3, Bitney was in the process of driving his vehicle back to Juneau when he couldn't get his state issued Blackberry to work. When he arrived in Tok he called his office and was told that his Blackberry had been turned off and that his name had been removed from the state employee directory.

His call was then transferred into Tibbles who told him the proposal they talked about was a no deal and the governor ordered him fired immediately. John Bitney was never given a reason why he was fired and never given a chance to make a graceful exit.

That's the rap on Palin from the opposition.

It is scary to think about a guy being elected President on the strength of being thoughtful and articulate. It's also scary to think of McCain's second in command being a lightweight who has not made the effort to weild power effectively, but instead, is happy to be the very capable face of power.

We shall enjoy the new election process, upended by McCain's selection. And I will continue to investigate the realities behind the near perfect picture that Sarah Palin is - and report to you here.

Listen in as Kevin Whalen (Pundit Review) and I recap Barack's amazing foreign policy week, and ask the question: Doesn't the phrase "Barack's amazing foreign policy week" mean this is a great period for the campaign of John McCain?