Salon.com > Sarah Palin http://www.salon.com Fri, 03 May 2013 15:08:37 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 Tea Partyers want Sarah Palin to run for Senate http://www.salon.com/2013/05/01/tea_partiers_want_sarah_palin_to_run_for_senate/ http://www.salon.com/2013/05/01/tea_partiers_want_sarah_palin_to_run_for_senate/#comments Wed, 01 May 2013 13:10:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13286513 A group of Tea Partyers is hoping Sarah Palin will challenge Democratic Sen. Mark Begich in 2014, when he is up for reelection. "We know that, with Sarah in the Senate, conservatives across America can rest a little easier at night knowing that she's at the watch," said Todd Cefaratti of the Tea Party Leadership Fund, in a fundraising email to supporters.

"You and I both know that Sarah Palin is a fighter who will stand up to Harry Reid and his pals in the Senate to protect our Constitution in issues like amnesty, gun control and our nation's crushing debt," Cefaratti wrote.

But the Los Angeles Times, which obtained the email, reports that Palin might not have the "clear path" to victory that the Tea Party Leadership Fund says she does. A February PPP poll had Begich's approval rating at 49 percent, and winning in a potential match-up against Palin by a margin of 54-37 percent.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/05/01/tea_partiers_want_sarah_palin_to_run_for_senate/feed/ 29 Sarah Palin slams Correspondents’ Dinner as “pathetic” http://www.salon.com/2013/04/28/sarah_palin_slams_correspondents_dinner_as_pathetic/ http://www.salon.com/2013/04/28/sarah_palin_slams_correspondents_dinner_as_pathetic/#comments Sun, 28 Apr 2013 15:23:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13284135 Sarah Palin is no fan of the White House Correspondents' Dinner: The former Alaska governor took to Facebook and Twitter to mock the "DC assclowns" who attended the festivities."Yuk it up media and pols," she wrote on her Facebook page. "While America is buried in taxes and a fight for our rights, the permanent political class in DC dresses up and has a prom to make fun of themselves. No need for that, we get the real joke."

Palin also tweeted:

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/04/28/sarah_palin_slams_correspondents_dinner_as_pathetic/feed/ 72 Secrets of the conservative media machine http://www.salon.com/2013/04/23/secrets_of_the_conservative_media_machine/ http://www.salon.com/2013/04/23/secrets_of_the_conservative_media_machine/#comments Tue, 23 Apr 2013 16:21:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13273210 To borrow a Sarah Palin aphorism, after their election defeat in 2008, conservatives didn’t retreat, they “reloaded.” Instead of finding new solutions to public policy problems or seriously reevaluating Bush’s failures, conservatives focused almost solely on new ways to communicate their old ideas. To do so, they looked to their natural allies in corporate marketing for inspiration -- and they looked to the Left for imitation. The result has been a recent and profound turnaround that has allowed the Right the bury Obama’s message and dominate the political debate.

Historical right-wing domination of the media

Traditionally, conservatives have almost always dominated direct mail solicitations, retained the best pollsters money could buy and paid for the most celebrated advertising makers. Message discipline is the first lesson for any Republican politician. Talk radio? unquestionably controlled by conservatives.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/04/23/secrets_of_the_conservative_media_machine/feed/ 28 Sarah Palin thinks she’s Margaret Thatcher http://www.salon.com/2013/04/08/sarah_palin_thinks_shes_margaret_thatcher/ http://www.salon.com/2013/04/08/sarah_palin_thinks_shes_margaret_thatcher/#comments Mon, 08 Apr 2013 21:26:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13265186 Here's how a former half-term governor described Margaret Thatcher in National Review today. Sound familiar?

She was at heart a populist taking on the Conservative party’s old guard, who disdainfully referred to her as “That Woman.” The disdain was mutual. She referred to them as “the not so grand grandees.” As Thatcher later said, “It didn’t matter what they called me as long as I got the job done. I mean, to me they were ‘Those Grandees.’ They just don’t know what life is like. They haven’t been through it. And eventually if they didn’t help our cause, they had to go. But it didn’t bother me too much that they were patronizing like that. Frankly, the people, who are the true gentlemen, deal with others for what they are, not who their father was. Let’s face it: Maybe it took ‘That Woman’ to get things done, and the real reason why they said it was because they knew they just hadn’t got it within them to see things through.”

As she continues:

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/04/08/sarah_palin_thinks_shes_margaret_thatcher/feed/ 93 Sarah Palin uses video railing against consultants to raise money for consultants http://www.salon.com/2013/03/29/sarah_palin_uses_video_railing_against_consultants_to_raise_money_for_consultants/ http://www.salon.com/2013/03/29/sarah_palin_uses_video_railing_against_consultants_to_raise_money_for_consultants/#comments Fri, 29 Mar 2013 16:33:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13255719 Sarah Palin relaunched her political action committee on Thursday, the adorably named SarahPAC, with a rousing video slamming "the big consultants, the big money men, and the big bad media" fueling our elections. But as John Alvon at the Daily Beast reports, Palin is using SarahPAC to raise a political war chest ahead of the 2014 elections -- money she will spend, handsomely, on conservative political consultants.

Alvon went through SarahPAC’s Federal Election Commission filings; his findings may surprise you. (Or not. It is Sarah Palin we're talking about, after all):

Seen through the lens of the invaluable Center for Responsive Politics, Palin’s PAC spent $5.1 million in the last election cycle (more than it raised in that time period, raising some questions about Palin’s claims of fiscal responsibility).

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/03/29/sarah_palin_uses_video_railing_against_consultants_to_raise_money_for_consultants/feed/ 19 Sarah Palin is “loaded” for 2014 http://www.salon.com/2013/03/28/sarah_palin_is_loaded_for_2014/ http://www.salon.com/2013/03/28/sarah_palin_is_loaded_for_2014/#comments Thu, 28 Mar 2013 15:02:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13254800 Sarah Palin's super PAC released a two-minute ad, complete with a growling bear, that promises she's "loaded" and ready to back conservatives in 2014, complete with a guest appearance by Sen. Ted Cruz, who says he couldn't have been elected in 2012 without Palin's help.

Watch:

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/03/28/sarah_palin_is_loaded_for_2014/feed/ 8 Must-see morning clip: Jon Stewart mocks Trump, Palin, Bachmann at CPAC http://www.salon.com/2013/03/27/must_see_morning_clip_jon_stewart_mocks_trump_palin_bachmann_at_cpac/ http://www.salon.com/2013/03/27/must_see_morning_clip_jon_stewart_mocks_trump_palin_bachmann_at_cpac/#comments Wed, 27 Mar 2013 13:13:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13253354 Making up for its brief hiatus last week, "The Daily Show" has been catching up on CPAC coverage, last night focusing on GOP all-stars like Michele Bachmann, Donald Trump and Sarah Palin, and the (not) new direction they're leading the Republican party in.

Of Palin, Stewart opined: "I know where Sarah Palin came from. Someone cast a spell on a YouTube comment and it came to life":

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/03/27/must_see_morning_clip_jon_stewart_mocks_trump_palin_bachmann_at_cpac/feed/ 2 Does Tina Fey still have Sarah Palin down? You betcha! http://www.salon.com/2013/03/21/is_tina_feys_palin_impersonation_still_hilarious_you_betcha_partner/ http://www.salon.com/2013/03/21/is_tina_feys_palin_impersonation_still_hilarious_you_betcha_partner/#comments Thu, 21 Mar 2013 16:18:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13248008 Pajiba

On last night’s "Inside the Actors Studio," Tina Fey was generous enough to bring back her Sarah Palin impression, and given how absolutely fantastic she was, either she knew it was coming, or she’s very quick on her feet.

“What is your view on same-sex marriage?”

“Well, the Bible says it’s gross.”

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/03/21/is_tina_feys_palin_impersonation_still_hilarious_you_betcha_partner/feed/ 14 CPAC’s 10 craziest moments http://www.salon.com/2013/03/18/cpacs_10_craziest_moments_partner/ http://www.salon.com/2013/03/18/cpacs_10_craziest_moments_partner/#comments Mon, 18 Mar 2013 13:02:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13244423 AlterNet At the Conservative Political Action Conference, the large annual gathering of right-wing activists and followers, people say a lot of crazy things -- too many, in fact, for me to cram into a single story. So I’ve picked a random 10 -- random insofar as they were among those I came across both in my own time at this enormous conference in Oxon Hill, Md., at the Gaylord National Harbor Convention Center just outside of Washington, D.C., and in reading the work of my fellow journalists and muckrakers. The conference took place March 14 - 16.

Presented, in no particular order, are 10 statements worthy, at least, of an eyeroll.

1. Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana: Torture is funny. A featured speaker on CPAC's main stage, Jindal chose to make light this way of the barrage of political rhetoric CPAC attendees signed up to subject themselves to:

If the choice was to hear 70 political speeches or to gowaterboarding, well, I’d have to think about that.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/03/18/cpacs_10_craziest_moments_partner/feed/ 14 Palin at CPAC: “Mr. President, you lie!” http://www.salon.com/2013/03/16/palin_at_cpac_mr_president_you_lie/ http://www.salon.com/2013/03/16/palin_at_cpac_mr_president_you_lie/#comments Sat, 16 Mar 2013 16:47:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13243458 In her big CPAC speech on Saturday, Sarah Palin threw out her usual snappy one-liners (like giving Margaret Thatcher an "Amen Sistah!") and crowd-pleasing gags (like when she pulled out a giant cup of soda and took a dig at Michael Bloomberg: "Bloomberg's not around, my Big Gulp's safe.").

On gun control, Palin was of course against it, arguing that saying that "that chunk of metal did the crime, is like saying that fork made me fat." She added: "Background checks: A dandy idea Mr. President, should have started with yours!"

"We don't have leadership coming out of Washington, we have reality television," she continued, saying that "they're being too scripted, too calculated. They're talking about rebuilding the party, how about rebuilding the middle class?"

"We're not here to re-brand a party, we're here to rebuild a country," Palin added.

On Obama, Palin said: "Barack Obama promised the most transparent administration ever: Barack Obama, you lie!" And no Palin speech these days is complete without a teleprompter joke: "Mr. President: We admit it. You won. Accept it. Now step away from the teleprompter and do your job."

She wrapped up the speech with: "If we the people have one message to send to Washington, it's this: Get over yourself."

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/03/16/palin_at_cpac_mr_president_you_lie/feed/ 27 Paul Ryan and the problem with losing http://www.salon.com/2013/03/13/paul_ryan_and_the_problem_with_losing/ http://www.salon.com/2013/03/13/paul_ryan_and_the_problem_with_losing/#comments Wed, 13 Mar 2013 16:54:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13227267 What was most striking about the unveiling of Paul Ryan's latest budget blueprint on Tuesday was how familiar it felt. Here was the chairman of the House Budget Committee for the third time in three years offering a dramatic reimagining of the size and scope of the federal government, with plans for deep tax cuts slanted heavily toward the rich, the voucherization of Medicare, and a thinning of the safety net. In the spring of 2011 and 2012, Ryan put forward similar plans, which his House Republican colleagues quickly pushed through the chamber only to watch them die in the Senate. And now, with a few politically cynical tweaks, the annual ritual is once again being observed.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/03/13/paul_ryan_and_the_problem_with_losing/feed/ 23 Palin writing book about the “War on Christmas” http://www.salon.com/2013/03/12/palin_writing_book_about_the_war_on_christmas/ http://www.salon.com/2013/03/12/palin_writing_book_about_the_war_on_christmas/#comments Tue, 12 Mar 2013 13:23:00 +0000 http://www.railrode.net/?p=13226412 Just in time for the holidays, Sarah Palin will release a book defending Christmas from the "politically correct Scrooges" who are waging the
"War on Christmas."

The book, called "A Happy Holiday IS a Merry Christmas," will be released through HarperCollins in November.

"Amidst the fragility of this politically correct era, it is imperative that we stand up for our beliefs before the element of faith in a glorious and traditional holiday like Christmas is marginalized and ignored," Palin said in a statement released through HarperCollins, the Associated Press reports. "This will be a fun, festive, thought provoking book, which will encourage all to see what is possible when we unite in defense of our faith and ignore the politically correct Scrooges who would rather take Christ out of Christmas."

According to the publisher, the book will also push for "preserving Jesus Christ in Christmas - whether in public displays, school concerts (or) pageants."

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/03/12/palin_writing_book_about_the_war_on_christmas/feed/ 48 Report: Dick Morris officially out at Fox http://www.salon.com/2013/02/06/report_dick_morris_officially_out_at_fox/ http://www.salon.com/2013/02/06/report_dick_morris_officially_out_at_fox/#comments Wed, 06 Feb 2013 04:29:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13192048 Politico is reporting this evening that Dick Morris is out at Fox News, where he has been a prominent political analyst since 1998.

Morris and fellow Fox analyst Karl Rove exemplified the closed loop of the conservative media during the presidential election. After Rove's on-air meltdown when Fox News called Ohio and the election for President Obama, and following Morris' prediction that Mitt Romney would win in a landslide, Fox boss Roger Ailes required producers to get special permission to book the once-prominent pundits.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/02/06/report_dick_morris_officially_out_at_fox/feed/ 18 Study: Palin made $15.85 per word at Fox News http://www.salon.com/2013/01/28/study_palin_made_15_85_per_word_at_fox_news/ http://www.salon.com/2013/01/28/study_palin_made_15_85_per_word_at_fox_news/#comments Mon, 28 Jan 2013 17:58:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13184027 During her tenure at Fox News, Sarah Palin was paid an average of about $15.85 per word, according to an analysis by Smart Politics. Palin, who was a Fox News contributor for three years before parting ways with the network on Friday, was paid a reported $1 million per year.

From Smart Politics:

A Smart Politics review of the more than 150 FOX broadcasts in which Sarah Palin appeared as a paid commentator from 2010 through 2012 finds that she spoke 189,221 words on air during this span, for an average pay rate of $15.85 per word.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/01/28/study_palin_made_15_85_per_word_at_fox_news/feed/ 16 Sarah Palin is gone, almost forgotten http://www.salon.com/2013/01/27/sarah_palin_is_gone_almost_forgotten/ http://www.salon.com/2013/01/27/sarah_palin_is_gone_almost_forgotten/#comments Sun, 27 Jan 2013 15:48:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13183299 Is our long national nightmare finally over?

Sarah Palin held the world rapt as a vice presidential candidate. After she lost she was still a state governor with millions of adoring fans. When she quit there were books and reality tv shows and she could keep the press titillated with threats of a presidential run. Then there were her infallibly gracious television appearances.

Now that Fox News has cut off the conservative semi-celebrity, those appearances won't be nearly as frequent. Palin will have to gulp the media oxygen wherever she can find it. The day after Fox let her go, Palin gave an interview to Stephen K. Bannon, the filmmaker who directed the worshipful Palin biography "The Undefeated." It's posted at Breitbart.com. What does she tell the wildly conservative site? "We can't just preach to the choir; the message of liberty and true hope must be understood by a larger audience."

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/01/27/sarah_palin_is_gone_almost_forgotten/feed/ 42 The best reactions to Sarah Palin’s split with Fox News http://www.salon.com/2013/01/25/the_best_reactions_to_sarah_palins_split_with_fox_news/ http://www.salon.com/2013/01/25/the_best_reactions_to_sarah_palins_split_with_fox_news/#comments Fri, 25 Jan 2013 22:49:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13182460 On Friday, Fox News announced that it has "parted ways" with Sarah Palin and will not renew her contract as a contributor.

The New York Times reports:

It was unclear whether the parting was Ms. Palin’s choice. Bill Shine, an executive vice president at Fox, said in a statement, “We have thoroughly enjoyed our association with Governor Palin. We wish her the best in her future endeavors.”

As of last week, Ms. Palin remained in negotiations with Fox News about a new contract. Her original contract with the network started in January 2010 and ended this month.

Twitter, as expected, was delighted:

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2013/01/25/the_best_reactions_to_sarah_palins_split_with_fox_news/feed/ 89 Sarah Palin: TIME is irrelevant – after all, I was on “Person of the Year” list too http://www.salon.com/2012/12/20/sarah_palin_time_is_irrelevant_after_all_i_was_person_of_the_year_too/ http://www.salon.com/2012/12/20/sarah_palin_time_is_irrelevant_after_all_i_was_person_of_the_year_too/#comments Thu, 20 Dec 2012 14:07:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13150712 On Fox News last night, Sarah Palin admitted some skepticism about the relevancy of TIME magazine, which named President Obama as "Person of the Year," because, she said, she was also on that list.

"I think there's some irrelevancy there, to tell you the truth," Palin told Greta Van Susteren. "I mean consider their list of the most influential people in the country and the world, some who have made that list -- yours truly! That ought to tell you something right there regarding the credence that we should give TIME magazine and their list of people."

The comments about TIME are around the 4:20 mark:

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/12/20/sarah_palin_time_is_irrelevant_after_all_i_was_person_of_the_year_too/feed/ 20 McCain’s obscene hypocrisy http://www.salon.com/2012/11/19/mccains_obscene_hypocrisy/ http://www.salon.com/2012/11/19/mccains_obscene_hypocrisy/#comments Mon, 19 Nov 2012 17:45:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13102916 Feministing Shockingly, old white male senators are attacking a woman of color in a powerful position. The men in question are Sens. Lindsey Graham and John McCain. And the woman they’re attacking is U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice. John “I’m still bitter about losing to Obama” McCain said Rice is “not qualified” to become secretary of state and described her comments on Benghazi as “not being very bright.” Lindsey “Republicans are not generating enough angry white guys“ Graham said he was “dead-set on making sure” Rice doesn’t become secretary of state and called her response “so disconnected to reality I don’t trust her ... And the reason I don’t trust her is because I think she knew better, and if she didn’t know better she shouldn’t be the voice of America.”

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/11/19/mccains_obscene_hypocrisy/feed/ 67 Why Sarah Palin should endorse Obama http://www.salon.com/2012/11/05/why_sarah_palin_should_endorse_obama/ http://www.salon.com/2012/11/05/why_sarah_palin_should_endorse_obama/#comments Mon, 05 Nov 2012 20:38:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13063155 Sarah Palin has said a lot of outrageous things about President Obama.  She tapped into the racist lexicon to accuse him of a “shuck and jive” regarding Libya; she urged Mitt Romney to specifically use words like “incompetent, dangerous, socialist” to describe him;  and she accused him of using Hurricane Sandy as photo op.

But if Sarah Palin were paying attention to the needs and best interests of her home state of Alaska, it would not be outrageous for her to endorse President Obama for reelection.  In fact, it would be entirely sensible and sane.  Ironically, most red states that vote for Republican leaders fare better economically under Democrats.  In fact, under President Obama, Alaska has fared even better than most.

Alaska received more stimulus dollars per capita than any other state in the nation.  For instance, as of August of 2010 (when the bulk of stimulus spending had been dispatched), Alaska had an unemployment rate of 7.9 percent (two points below the national average) but received $3,145 per person in federal stimulus dollars.  But Florida, with an unemployment rate at 11.4 percent got just $914 in per capita stimulus spending.  And, incidentally, Alaska is not a poor state — with oil revenues that make up 88 percent of the state’s general fund.

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]]> http://www.salon.com/2012/11/05/why_sarah_palin_should_endorse_obama/feed/ 10 Palin slams Obama’s “shuck and jive” http://www.salon.com/2012/10/24/sarah_palin_slams_obamas_shuck_and_jive_shtick/ http://www.salon.com/2012/10/24/sarah_palin_slams_obamas_shuck_and_jive_shtick/#comments Wed, 24 Oct 2012 18:12:00 +0000 http://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13050872 Sarah Palin has weighed in on the Sept. 11 Benghazi attack through Facebook, an online venue where both former half-term governors and everyone else can air their opinions:

 …Why the dissembling about the cause of the murder of our ambassador on the anniversary of the worst terrorist attacks on American soil? We deserve answers to this. President Obama's shuck and jive shtick with these Benghazi lies must end.

Now the investigation can proceed. Or maybe we can spend a day talking about her. The Romney campaign must be thrilled.

Palin has a built-in advantage when she deploys loaded language: She can always plausibly plead ignorance. In case she didn’t know what “shuck and jive” means, this is from Urban Dictionary’s definition:

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