Sarah Palin Movie: The Undefeated

Sarah Palin has commissioned a film to bolster her reputation. This is very intriguing on a number of levels.

Sarah Palin has commissioned a film to bolster her reputation.

RealClearPolitics (“Palin’s Secret Weapon: New Film to Premiere in June“):

Shortly after Republicans swept last November to a historic victory in which Sarah Palin was credited with playing a central role, the former Alaska governor pulled aside her close aide, Rebecca Mansour, to discuss a hush-hush assignment: Reach out to conservative filmmaker Stephen K. Bannon with a request. Ask him if he would make a series of videos extolling Palin’s governorship and laying to rest lingering questions about her controversial decision to resign from office with a year-and-a-half left in her first term. It was this abdication, Palin knew, that had made her damaged goods in the eyes of some Republicans who once were eager to get behind her potential 2012 presidential campaign.

The response was more positive than Palin could have hoped for. He’d make a feature-length movie, Bannon told Mansour, and he insisted upon taking complete control and financing it himself — to the tune of $1 million.

The fruits of that initial conversation are now complete. The result is a two-hour-long, sweeping epic, a rough cut of which Bannon screened privately for Sarah and Todd Palin last Wednesday in Arizona, where Alaska’s most famous couple has been rumored to have purchased a new home. When it premieres in Iowa next month, the film is poised to serve as a galvanizing prelude to Palin’s prospective presidential campaign — an unconventional reintroduction to the nation that she and her political team have spent months eagerly anticipating, even as Beltway Republicans have largely concluded that she won’t run.

Bannon, a former naval officer and ex-Goldman Sachs banker, sees his documentary as the first step in Palin’s effort to rebuild her image in the eyes of voters who may have soured on her, yet might reconsider if old caricatures begin to fade. The film will also appeal to staunch Palin supporters who have long celebrated her biting rhetoric and conservative populism yet know little about her record in Alaska and have perhaps written her off as presidential material.

[…]

Bannon originally titled his film “Take a Stand,” which was the campaign slogan for Palin’s 2006 gubernatorial run when she defeated incumbent Republican Frank Murkowski in the primary before cruising in the general election to become Alaska’s youngest — and first female — chief executive. But in order to give it a more triumphant punch, the filmmaker changed the title to “The Undefeated.”

Bannon acquired the audio rights to Palin’s 2009 bestseller, “Going Rogue,” and the former vice-presidential nominee’s voice guides the film through the various stages of her career in Alaska.

[…]

Rife with religious metaphor and unmistakable allusions to Palin as a Joan of Arc-like figure, “The Undefeated” echoes Palin’s “Going Rogue” in its tidy division of the world between the heroes who are on her side and the villains who seek to thwart her at every turn.

To convey Bannon’s view of the pathology behind Palin-hatred, the film begins with a fast-paced sequence of clips showing some of the prominent celebrities who have used sexist, derogatory and generally vicious language to describe her. Rosie O’Donnell, Matt Damon, Bill Maher, David Letterman, and Howard Stern all have brief cameos before comedian Louis C.K. goes off on a particularly ugly anti-Palin riff.

Much, much more discussion and commentary at the link.

This is very intriguing on a number of levels. First, it serves to reignite speculation, which many of us have long dismissed, that she’s actually going to run for president rather than simply keeping the notion alive to boost her career as a celebrity. Second, the stealth behind the project is an odd combination of cunning and creepy. Third, the selling of a politician as a religious cult figure strikes me as odd; then again, some thought the Obama campaign had more than a tinge of that.

I’m also a bit amused by the title, “The Undefeated.” First, of course, she lost in her most prominent campaign, that for the vice presidency. I happen to think no Republican would have won in 2008 and that her impact on the race was mixed; but it’s still odd to proclaim yourself undefeated after a major loss. Second, it’s also the name of a pretty good John Wayne-Rock Hudson picture from 1969. The plot involved a Confederate colonel who takes his band of soldiers down to Mexico after Lee’s surrender to fight with Emperor Maximillian. Presumably, the title was ironic, in that they lost twice.

FILED UNDER: 2012 Election, US Politics, , , , , , , , , ,
James Joyner
About James Joyner
James Joyner is Professor and Department Head of Security Studies at Marine Corps University's Command and Staff College. He's a former Army officer and Desert Storm veteran. Views expressed here are his own. Follow James on Twitter @DrJJoyner.

Comments

  1. john personna says:

    Windage and elevation, Mrs. Langdon; windage and elevation.

  2. john personna says:

    (lol, it’s a gun metaphor!)

  3. sam says:

    I’m also a bit amused by the title, “The Undefeated.”

    I’ll bet it will end up as “America Shrugged”.

  4. JKB says:

    She may have been on the losing side but there’s been no evidence that she has been defeated.

    This movie is further evidence that they have failed to impose upon her, her undoing, her overthrow, or her frustration by rendering null and void. In fact, she has proven very entrepreneurial turning every setback into a new opportunity.

  5. Alex Knapp says:

    I suppose you can’t be defeated if you quit!

  6. hey norm says:

    it was either “undefeated” or “not a quitter”. it was a tough decision between which lie to go with. but palin has a ton of experience with telling lies – so she was able to decide quickly.

  7. Rock says:

    Pass the popcorn! This should be a three-bagger at least.

  8. sam says:

    @JKB and all the other usual suspects

    This movie is further evidence that they have failed to impose upon her, her undoing, her overthrow, or her frustration by rendering null and void. In fact, she has proven very entrepreneurial turning every setback into a new opportunity.

    You guys just don’t get it. I have no doubt at all that among the thralls, this “movie” will go down as proof positive of her continued importance as whatever she decides she wants to be continually important as. But, and here’s the political fly in the Palin ointment, the low esteem she is held in by the nonthrall population (which is much, much larger than the thrall population) issues from the wide-spread perception that she is a hustler. That she is media-manipulator who spends all of her time fashioning an image — an image at odds with what we have come to know of her. If you really think that a movie such as the one descrived –than that which no greater media-manipulation can be imagined — is going to change that at-large perception of disingenuousness, you’re farther gone than I’d imagined.

  9. MarkedMan says:

    I’m really curious about how this will play out. It has always struck me that a fundamental difference between those calling themselves conservatives, and those calling themselves progressives or liberals is that the self identified conservatives seem to celebrate the trappings and projection of their ideals above all substance while the self identified progs/libs seem to distrust a too ostentatious display of ideals of any sort. Taking it a step further, there is a significant part of the conservative electorate that is attracted to people who seem (to me) obviously phony. My theory is that such a person (Falwell, Baker, and of course, Palin) has the benefit of being unable to be tripped up by the complications of reality, since they operate outside objective reality. So a more complex conservative icon, if there could be such a person, would have to make their case with qualifiers and appeals to reason, whereas the phonies can just state their positions as uncomplicated absolutes. Progs/Libs (myself included), on the other hand, tend to immediately distrust someone who presents an easy answer, perhaps too much so.

    I formulated this theory during Oliver North’s Senate campaign (I lived in MD, next door to his state of VA, at the time). He started out carefully explaining why he had felt it was his patriotic duty to lie to Congress. But after a few weeks on the trail he found that caused confusion in his supporters, so he simply switched to loudly declaring “I NEVER lied to Congress!” to loud applause. When TV showed clips of him standing in front of Congress admitting he had lied next to his new lily-white claims, well, it was just proof that the librul media was out to get him. All the more reason to vote for him.

  10. Jay Tea says:

    She was defeated when she ran for Lt. Governor. I wonder if that will be brought up.

    But until I see the movie’s theme song being sung by adoring schoolkids with a serious case of messiah worship, she hasn’t set the bar in that area.

    J.

  11. george says:

    She was elected to governor, and quit half way through. After that there’s nothing much to be said.

  12. ml says:

    It is not going to help her run for President in 2012. She didn’t finished her job as the Governor of Alaska and quit half way through during her first term.

  13. sam says:

    “But until I see the movie’s theme song being sung by adoring schoolkids with a serious case of messiah worship, she hasn’t set the bar in that area.”

    Dude, do you have any evidence that the Obama team had anything to do with that singing? In a way in which Her Nibs’s team is intimately involved in every paean to her? And you can bet that if the theme song is ever sung by schoolkids, there will be some official palinbot close by to make sure there is no stumbling over the lyrics.

  14. Rock says:

    Client #9 quit. (sex scandal)
    Gov. James E. McGreevey of New Jersey quit. (sex scandal)
    Gov. Palin of Alaska quit. (?)

  15. steve says:

    Told you she was going to run James. She has a more solid core of voters than anyone else in the primaries. Pointing out her problems and deficiencies is just looked at as personal attacks by her fans. Do you really think Miff is facile enough to cope with her?

    Steve

  16. jwest says:

    The movie should be interesting.

    For the life of me, I can’t imagine what it could say that we don’t already know. Sarah Palin quit being the governor of Alaska in order to write a book and get rich. I know this because I read OTB and James Joyner, Doug Mataconis and Stephen Taylor have told me so.

    Of course, she will probably try to spin some tale that lays out other reasons for her leaving, but there is no doubt that the OTB authors will be able to explain how she easily could have remained in office and how that would have been best for her, her family and the people of Alaska.

    That will seal her fate, as we all know how people hate being lied to.

  17. jwest says:

    How is this movie going to cover up the fact that Palin quit two government jobs?

    Aside from her departure as governor, she previously quit her well paid position as chairman of the Alaska Oil and Gas Commission. Sure, she’ll try to spin this too with some double-talk about how Alaska law prevented her from exposing corruption in her own party if she remained on the commission and continued taking the money, but who is going to believe that?

    Barack Obama was able to work with democrats in Chicago and even friends in the private sector like Tony Rezko without ever having to arbitrarily quitting.

  18. anjin-san says:

    “But until I see the movie’s theme song being sung by adoring schoolkids with a serious case of messiah worship

    You left out the part where the kids were using a teleprompter for the lyrics…

  19. Neil Hudelson says:

    “America Shrugged”.

    .

    Winner.

  20. Jay Tea says:

    jwest, resigning from that commission was Step One. It freed her to openly denounce what she saw while on that board.

    It ended with several very corrupt Republicans being exposed and turned out of office.

    To me, that is the very definition of the difference in the characters of Palin and Obama. Obama has NEVER taken a stand against corruption within his own party. He’s always “gone along to get along” — Rezko, Wright, slumlord Jarrett, Blagojevich… the list is quite long.

    I’m not surprised that the Party Of Obama can’t grasp someone willingly giving up power to achieve goals that don’t immediately benefit them. After all, Obama used every single job he ever had not to actually do the work, but to start jockeying for the next rung up the ladder. He spent nearly all his time in the Illinois legislature working on first a House race, then the Senate race, and his Senate tenure was spent campaigning for president.

    J.

  21. Moosebreath says:

    “Third, the selling of a politician as a religious cult figure strikes me as odd; then again, some thought the Obama campaign had more than a tinge of that.”

    Of course, there’s also Saint Ronnie, but he became sanctified after he was elected, and did not need selling anymore.

  22. jwest says:

    Jay Tea,

    “resigning from that commission was Step One. It freed her to openly denounce what she saw while on that board.”

    That’s your story.

    If that were really the case, Joyner, Mataconis and Taylor would have brought up this point in their articles. I’ll wait for them to tell me the real facts so that I know what to believe.

  23. anjin-san says:

    To me, that is the very definition of the difference in the characters of Palin and Obama. Obama has NEVER taken a stand against corruption within his own party

    Perhaps you could give us the details of the stand against corruption within the GOP taken by President Reagan. Bush 41 needed several pens to sign all the pardons for Reagan administration officials.

    Personally, I think Reagan was a man with a reasonable amount of character. The standard you are employing says otherwise.

  24. Chad S says:

    Has there been a bigger ego in US politics than Palin? She’s done basically nothing in politics, but she loves the glory & worship for just being her.

  25. Jay Tea says:

    anjin, is there any particular reason you feel the need to bring Reagan into a comparison of Palin vs. Obama instead of either attacking Palin or defending Obama?

    The cynic in me says it’s because you can’t bring yourself to say publicly what you know privately — that Obama’s utterly indefensible on this front — but I’m SURE you have a better reason than that.

    Unless, of course, you want to bring up pardons, and how many Bill Clinton sold…

    J.

  26. ponce says:

    I hope “Kate plus 8” makes an appearance in this epic.

    She had the best line in Palin’s “reality” show.

    When the Palins took her camping she yelled, “Why would anyone pretend that they’re homeless” and took her family back to the hotel.

  27. JKB says:

    Interesting, Palin resigns as governor when personal attacks make it impossible for her to accomplish the state’s business, even after a very productive administration up until she became the Left’s favorite target.

    Obama resigns as a senator when he won a higher office after spending the majority of time he was a senator off running for that next self-aggrandizing office, even with no significant accomplishments as senator. He was given a couple pieces of workaday legislation to put his name on and he did speak out against the policies he continued once he achieved office.

    But for some reason, Palin is the bad person since her departure was for the good of the state and not simply for more power. And yes, once out of office she was forced to, dare I say, find a way to support her family. Not being set up in a cushy party job as most of the combine is when they are on the sidelines. To do this, she parlayed her fame into a book and TV commentator deal since she had something to say that people wanted to hear. The horror.

  28. anjin-san says:

    Well Jay, is there any particular reason you feel the need to attack Obama for behavior that is consistent with pretty much every other modern President?

    I feel no need to defend Obama because you attack is bogus in the extreme, like just about everything you say about him.

    If Obama cured cancer next week, you would produce a long screed about how he has failed to help victims of Parkinson’s disease and that is simply more proof of how unready he really is.

    I keep trying to discern why guys like you and bithead hate Obama so much. Reasonable people like James and Doug may disagree with him, even disagree violently, but there is no irrational hatred and they will give him credit when it is due (most of the time, anyway).

    I think it goes back to the comment he made before the election about bitter people clinging to outdated beliefs. He has your number . You know he does, and you hate him for it.

  29. Jay Tea says:

    Anjin, I have NO idea who “bithead” is, except you don’t like him, either. That’s a pretty good character reference for me.

    And your “pretty much every other modern president” is a laughable excuse. McCain spent years as a productive Senator. Bush II did quite a few things as Governor. Bush I was a very loyal and effective Veep. Not one of them took office and immediately started running for the next one.

    Besides, Obama was Mr. Hope And Change. Guys like that do NOT get to play the “everyone else did it, so it’s OK” card.

    Tell me, anjin, do your arms ever get tired of flailing around, or are your guns seriously ripped from the workouts you give them?

    J.

  30. george says:

    I think the only people who want her to run are the Tea Party, and the Democrats.

    The problem with her quitting has nothing to do with Obama (other than it will help him immensely if she’s the Republican candidate), and everything to do with her quitting when the going got tough. Is it understandable in general? Probably, people quit their jobs for less. Is it something you want in a President? Not for most of us.

  31. anjin-san says:

    And your “pretty much every other modern president” is a laughable excuse

    You seem to be confused. We are talking about corruption, not experience. I can see why you suddenly want to muddy the waters, as your attack on Obama regarding corruption is easily shredded.

    Like I said, I am not defending Obama to you. Your entire argument was a joke, I am simply pointing that out. Here, let’s do it again:

    Besides, Obama was Mr. Hope And Change. Guys like that do NOT get to play the “everyone else did it, so it’s OK” card.

    And Reagan was Mr. Morning in America. Indeed. His administration was riddled by people who spent their mornings breaking the law. Afternoons & evenings too.

    And I must point out that Obama is not the one pointing out that Reagan, and all other Presidents, have some pretty serious corruption issues. I am. So your argument that he is somehow “playing the everyone else does it too” card fails to clear even the lowest of bars.

    You & bithead should hang out for sure. Peas in a pod.

  32. ponce says:

    Here’s the description of the latest movie made by this guy:

    A call to action by Dick Morris to take back our country…

    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1753485/

    I doubt this movie will cannonball Sarah the Quitter to the front of the pack.

  33. jukeboxgrad says:

    As I have been saying for a long time: Palin will run, and she will win the nomination.

    What’s remarkable is the way she’s being ignored. Yesterday Rich Lowry posted an article (“The Republican Field: Is This It?”) that mentioned all these names:

    Romney
    Pawlenty
    Huntsman
    Bachmann
    Gingrich
    Cain
    Santorum
    Christie
    Paul Ryan
    Huckabee
    Daniels
    Jeb Bush
    Mike Pence
    John Thune

    Ron Paul should have been mentioned, but we understand why he wasn’t. And Trump should have been mentioned, since he’s hinted strongly that he’s back in the race. But I think it’s pretty startling that Palin wasn’t mentioned.

    The great thing about what Palin is going to do is that she’s not only going to create the most lopsided result since Nixon-McGovern. She’s also going to split the GOP in half. The GOP is about to go to war with itself. GWB did a lot of damage to the GOP, but it’s nothing compared with what Palin is about to do.

    And in the unlikely event that the GOP doesn’t nominate her, she’ll run anyway.

  34. anjin-san says:

    About 10 years ago, I watched a Madonna tour documentary. The first five minutes or so consisted of people who worked for Madonna talking about how much ass she was kicking and how she totally rocked.

    I was surprised at how bad the actual concert footage was. I expected that she would put on a pretty tight show. Instead it was overblown and contrived. Madonna herself came across as a PTA mom trying desperately to convince people she was a still a 22 year old hottie.

    And what, after all, is Madonna? A reasonably good pop singer who became a huge star because she is a marketing genius. In later years, in spite of being one of the most famous women in the world, she was reduced to flashing the photographers to get people to continue to pay attention to her.

    Madonna and Palin are similar creatures.

  35. ponce says:

    As I have been saying for a long time: Palin will run, and she will win the nomination.

    Yeah, right.

    I think we need a wager:

    All the pundits predicting thatt Palin is the big bad threat to win the White House should be forced to wear a propeller beanie whenever they appear in public if Palin gets in the race and gets crushed..

  36. steve says:

    “But for some reason, Palin is the bad person since her departure was for the good of the state and not simply for more power”

    She quit when oil prices dropped. When it gets tougher to govern Alaska. You could govern Alaska with oil at $140. Also, leaving office when people got mean does not bode well for national office. What do other governors do when the other party is mean to them? Politics is rough. These claims will not wash except with her fans. After having a lot of time to prepare, she still does not interview outside of her comfort zone.

    Steve

  37. michael reynolds says:

    I heard they’ve had to cut some scenes in order to get it down to an R rating.

  38. Wiley Stoner says:

    I laugh at the though of Palin going against the wisdom available to all, here at OTB Why would anyone waste the time and effort necessary to make a surely failed run for the Presidency if the sages who blog and comment here have such staunch opinions which indicate the foolishness of such an act. Based upon what Doug writes and what Anjin comments, I am personally shocked Palin would even consider a run. The lies that will be told about her by those who post here will be famous. Maybe you Obamites could just buy some small island where you could install Obama as King. Thereby allowing you to kiss whatever part of him turns you on. He is a left wing radical, by his own admission, who lied his way into office. Funny thing is he continues to lie. Palin will tell us the truth. Bank on it.

  39. jwest says:

    Speaking of an “R” rating, I hear Doug’s primary source for information, Ed Schultz, called Laura Ingraham a “right wing slut” on this show last night.

    With class like that, I’m surprised the democrats aren’t running him for office.

  40. jukeboxgrad says:

    ponce:

    All the pundits predicting thatt Palin is the big bad threat to win the White House

    Hopefully you realize that’s not what I was saying. I don’t know any remotely serious pundits who are saying that, either. But a lot of GOP voters think that, so that’s why I’m predicting that she’ll be nominated. And then the election will resemble Nixon-McGovern, i.e., lopsided. Do I really have to say in which direction? Not even her most delusional fans think she would win 49 states.

  41. jukeboxgrad says:

    Jay Tea:

    until I see the movie’s theme song being sung by adoring schoolkids with a serious case of messiah worship, she hasn’t set the bar in that area.

    If you’re saying that the bar has already been set pretty high, I think you’re right. After all, there’s the billboard that was erected for “Our Leader.” And there was a book written about “The Messiah: The Chosen One.” And there were a bunch of “adoring schoolkids” who were taught to worship a cardboard figure.

    Of course none if that is surprising, given that the man said this:

    I feel like God wants me to run for President. I can’t explain it, but I sense my country is going to need me. Something is going to happen… I know it won’t be easy on me or my family, but God wants me to do it.

    Yup, the bar for “messiah worship” is already pretty high.

  42. hey norm says:

    @ Reynolds….
    I hope this film has a version of the Omen’s sheet of glass scene.

  43. jwest says:

    Jukeboxgrad is right.

    Palin would only win 45 states, tops.

  44. jukeboxgrad says:

    Palin would only win 45 states, tops.

    I think you actually believe that Palin could “win 45 states.” And I think there are plenty of other people like you. This makes me happy. Keep hope alive.

  45. jukeboxgrad says:

    JKB:

    Palin resigns as governor when personal attacks make it impossible for her to accomplish the state’s business

    I see this claim often. Usually it is also claimed that Palin was spending lots of her own money to defend herself. Have you ever seen any detailed proof to support that? Because I haven’t. Therefore I’m inclined not to trust the claim, given Palin’s track record as a proven liar (link, link).

  46. hey norm says:

    she abandoned her post, and abdicated her responsibilities.
    the facts in evidence are beyond dispute.
    no amount of propaganda can change that.
    some, however, will refuse to accept it.
    http://pileusblog.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/teaparty1.jpg

  47. KaJo says:

    I can’t wait until Michael Moore or some other reality-based documentarian takes the Palin propaganda film and does a split-screen presentation comparing Palin’s actual recorded statements vs. the whitewashing in her film.

  48. jwest says:

    Norm & Jukeboxgrad,

    It sound as though you two better make a movie to combat what will surely be fairly convincing argument from Palin’s side.

    If the general public watches her side of the story, they may get the impression that some in the media were being less-than-truthful with them, and you know how upset the unwashed masses become when that happens.

  49. hey norm says:

    jwest…
    i’m sure she will make up a good story that you will find convincing, because that’s what liars do; make up stories. then she will refuse to take any hard questions about said story because that’s what cowards do; avoid tough questions. then she will either lose, or quit, because that’s what losers and quitters do. i just hope that, as an un-washed mass, you don’t get too upset. we wouldn’t want that.

  50. steve says:

    “The lies that will be told about her by those who post here will be famous.”

    Perfect example. Anything negative said about Palin is a lie. This is why she is the favorite to win the primary. Her true fans are unshakeable. In the primary debates, when Mitt or Tim say anything bad about her those will also be lies. If the race remains fragmented, her solid core will carry her to the primary victory.

    Steve

  51. jwest says:

    KaJo,

    You exhibit the qualities OTB is looking for in guest authors for articles here.

    Michael Moore is an excellent choice for the rebuttal movie. No one on the left has built a reputation for accuracy and facts in documentaries like he has. I would suggest he start the film with the infamous shopping trip that Palin took prior to the convention.

    Remember when she and her snowbilly family ran wild through the most expensive stores, grabbing top of the line clothes and putting all of it on the credit card of the RNC? He might need to reenact it, but the facts seem clear.

    Naturally, the Palin people might try to bring up the New York Times Magazine article where the author actually picked up the phone and called the stylist who claims to have done the shopping without Palin’s knowledge or approval, but Moore would be able to counter that story.

    Keep up the good thinking! Hey, are you a lawyer or a professor?

  52. jukeboxgrad says:

    jwest:

    what will surely be fairly convincing argument from Palin’s side

    I’m sure the movie will be considered quite convincing by all the people (like you) who are already convinced (I see that norm just said something similar). For everyone else, probably not. It will probably help convince them that Palin is all about propaganda and self-promotion.

    If the general public watches her side of the story, they may get the impression that some in the media were being less-than-truthful with them

    It would be great if you could show me some examples of how “some in the media were being less-than-truthful” with regard to statements they made about Palin. I’ll be waiting patiently. Just like I’m waiting patiently for someone to address the proof I presented regarding her history of lying.

    Palin has a distinct track record of “being less-than-truthful”, and I’m sure her movie will extend that record. Which means that for people (unlike you) who are actually paying attention and thinking clearly, the movie will help them see what’s already obvious: she’s a liar.

    And Democrats won’t have to put much effort into ripping the movie (and her) apart, because the other R candidates are going to do that. But that’s OK, because she’ll win the nomination anyway.

    New York Times Magazine article

    Citation, please.

  53. Jib says:

    @JKB Palin did not quit because liberals were mean to her. Alaskans dont give a damn about what ever the liberals in the rest of the country would say about her.

    Palin governed Alaska as a political moderate. She had formed a coalition of reform republicans and democrats and took power from a very corrupt republican establishment. One of the reasons Alaska is in such good shape fiscally today is that she raised taxes on oil companies. Let me repeat that: SHE RAISED TAXES ON THE OIL COMPANIES AS PART OF A BI-PARTISAN DEAL WITH DEMOCRATS.

    The Palin who became the darling of the tea party was nothing like the Palin who governed Alaska. We she returned, she had to either go back to being a moderate and working in a bi-partisan coalition, or be total froze out, spurned by her coalition and the Alaska establishment republicans who despise her. So she quit.

    But man you know she is running. I predict she will wait pretty late to actually declare, she does not have the stomach or the skills for a long grueling primary campaign. She will try to swoop in late and try to take the nomination by denying any other candidate enough delegates and setting up an open convention where she could be everyone second ballot choice. The changes in the republican primary rules this election actually make this possible if unlikely. I think she will fail but If she does succeed, then it will make the republican convention the most exciting convention since the democrats in 1968

  54. jwest says:

    Jukeboxgrad,

    I made a mistake. The article wasn’t in the NY Times Magazine, it was New York Magazine.

    http://nymag.com/daily/fashion/2009/11/sarah_palins_stylist_outs_hers.html

    Luckily, it only appeared in the “style” section a year after the initial story was run continuously on every network and appeared in hundreds of newspaper and internet articles, so the facts never interfered with story that was too good to check.

    This isn’t going to change the minds of any liberals, but there are a number of voting independents who have this odd sense of fairness that kicks in when someone is slandered. We’ll need to see how this and other revelations affect them.

  55. Mary says:

    Your going to have the LSM and Google, Bing ( bias pro lib anti-palin search engines ) blocking and controlling online content. There is also a new Obozo administration communications campaign czar who will run interference for Obozo to help cover up and defend his lies. Of course the FCC is on board supporting these criminal activities.

  56. jwest says:

    Mary,

    I think everyone here agrees that Obama will use Chicago thug tactics against whoever runs on the republican ticket. As political observers, we all know Obama never won an election prior to 2008 without relying on unethically unsealing divorce and child custody court papers, a form of opposition research so disgusting and reprehensible only the lowest bottom-feeders would use it.

    This is what makes Palin the perfect candidate. In their lunatic zeal, liberals over reached on every topic concerning her and made it easy to show how they distorted and lied at every opportunity. As each fallacy is exposed, Obama will be pressed further into the corner.

    With the economy in shambles, gas prices going through the roof, endless wars and bumbling, incompetent foreign policy, Obama only has his quickly fading personal approval to rely on. By election time, he’ll be lucky to win Rhode Island.

  57. ponce says:

    With the economy in shambles, gas prices going through the roof, endless wars and bumbling, incompetent foreign policy, Obama only has his quickly fading personal approval to rely on.

    Meanwhile, back on planet earth, Gallup has Obama’s approval rating at 53% today, the highest its been since 2009: http://www.gallup.com/poll/113980/Gallup-Daily-Obama-Job-Approval.aspx

  58. hey norm says:

    Obozo…hahaha…that sure is funny Mary. Did you stay up all night thinking that up? Shucks that cracks me up.

  59. michael reynolds says:

    Support for Palin isn’t about ideology, it’s about IQ. Her supporters are invariably stupid.

  60. jwest says:

    Jukeboxgrad,

    I thought I first saw the article in the NY Times. Here’s the link to the original:

    http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/19/fashion/19stylist.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&ref=fashion

  61. anjin-san says:

    Support for Palin isn’t about ideology, it’s about IQ

    Of course for the conservative dogmatist who does not want to support a smarty pants, know-it-all brainac like Palin, we have… Michelle Bachmann.

  62. Wiley Stoner says:

    Reynold, what would you bet Palins IQ is somewhat higher than yours? I guess it is pretty hard to realize a former governor who is a woman is better at everything than you are. That is the problem most libs have with Palin. She is prettier, smarter, more accomplished, more articulate, and truthful then they are. She has a plan, it has nothing to do with hope and change. It has a lot to do with proven tactics. She believes in individual responsiblity and the ability of the
    American people in general. That is something the libs do not have. I cannot wait for her to debate the teleprompter of the United States. I wonder when you turned anti American Reynolds. Was it when bullies took away your lunch money in grade school?

  63. Hey Norm says:

    Anjin…
    As Bill Maher said: Bachmann is for Republicans who think Palin is too intelligent.

  64. jukeboxgrad says:

    jwest:

    the Palin people might try to bring up the New York Times Magazine article where the author actually picked up the phone and called the stylist who claims to have done the shopping without Palin’s knowledge or approval … I made a mistake. The article wasn’t in the NY Times Magazine, it was New York Magazine.

    That’s not the only mistake you made. The article you cited doesn’t say what you claim it said. Specifically, it doesn’t say “the stylist … claims to have done the shopping without Palin’s knowledge or approval.” All it says is this:

    Kline said what Palin writes in her book, Going Rogue, about the wardrobe scandal is true: Palin herself didn’t have the idea to hire a stylist, many clothes were never worn, all items were returned, and the Palin family didn’t go on any shopping sprees themselves.

    You seem to have trouble grasping that those claims are different from the claim you made. So please show us the part of the article where “the stylist … claims to have done the shopping without Palin’s knowledge or approval.”

    And the article doesn’t just fail to say what you claim it says. It says something that directly contradicts what you said. The article says this:

    Palin didn’t technically hire a team — she just hired one woman, Lisa A. Kline, a 47-year-old Manhattan-dwelling mother of three who specializes in dressing news anchors and corporate types.

    The article specifically says that Palin hired Kline. Which means that Kline was obviously not working “without Palin’s knowledge or approval.” Are you a liar or just an idiot? Maybe both.

    And the fact remains that over $150,000 was spent on clothing for Palin and her family. And Palin has implicitly admitted (“many clothes were never worn”) that most of it ended up being worn. And I have seen no evidence to support the claim that “all items were returned.” Given Palin’s record as a liar, there’s no reason to take that claim seriously.

    And I’m still waiting for you to show an example where “the media were being less-than-truthful” regarding Palin.

    liberals over reached on every topic concerning her and made it easy to show how they distorted and lied at every opportunity

    Still waiting for you to show a single example that doesn’t involve you claiming an article says something that it doesn’t say.

    Here’s the link to the original

    The NYT version of the article and the nymag version say basically the same thing, but there are a few interesting contradictions (not just between the articles, but within them).

    From nymag:

    Palin didn’t technically hire a team — she just hired one woman, Lisa A. Kline

    From NYT:

    As for her [Kline’s] fee of $54,900, reported in campaign filings, it also covered an assistant and some expenses.

    Kline plus “an assistant” is not “one woman.”

    From NYT:

    It was a “trumped up controversy,” she [Palin] writes. “I never asked the New York stylists to purchase clothes … ” All true, Ms. Kline said.

    Huh? What? How does that make sense? One or both articles report that Palin hired Kline. What was the purpose of hiring her if not “to purchase clothes?”

    Also notice what Palin’s campaign said, at the time:

    Palin did not authorize the expenditures made on behalf of the vice presidential campaign. The Governor was not consulted about these immaterial and inconsequential decisions

    According to the article you cited, Palin hired Kline. So how is that consistent with “did not authorize” and “was not consulted?” Is it Palin’s normal practice to hire people and then disavow them after they are caught doing what she asked them to do?

    It’s also interesting that in Going Rogue (p. 230), Palin said this:

    Nicolle had had a hand in hiring a team of stylists

    Huh? What? I thought it was just one. Now it’s “a team” again? I thought only the lamestream media was claiming it was “a team.”

    And according to the article you cited, Kline was hired by Palin, not Nicolle Wallace. Why is Palin trying to blame it on Wallace?

    Hopefully you can help clear up these little mysteries.

  65. Hey Norm says:

    Stoner….
    I love seeing Palin debate. Watching her regurgitate meaningless euphemisms, because she has no idea what the question means, turns me on.

  66. anjin-san says:

    As Bill Maher said: Bachmann is for Republicans who think Palin is too intelligent

    Boy it would be refreshing to see the GOP put forth an intelligent woman who is not very attractive. When you add up the Barbie doll candidates, the trophy wives, and the Fox newswomen/Playboy bunnies, well, it tells us a lot about how conservatives view women.

    It’s a shame someone like Gretchen Carlson has to pretend she is stupid in order to have a job.

  67. Hey Norm says:

    Cmon…Gretchen is NOT pretending.

  68. michael reynolds says:

    Wiley:

    Reynold, what would you bet Palins IQ is somewhat higher than yours?

    Actually, since I know my IQ I’d bet you, say, ten grand. Is that enough? Can you cover it? I can raise that if you can match it.

  69. michael reynolds says:

    As a matter of fact I’ll bet you she isn’t within 30 points.

  70. jwest says:

    Jukeboxgrad,

    Here are a few lines from the NY Times article. From these, your reading comprehension tells you that Sarah Palin hired Kline. I weep for your teacher’s failed efforts at giving you an education.

    Ms. Kline declined to detail how she came to be Ms. Palin’s stylist. It has been widely reported, including in “Going Rogue,” that the plum assignment resulted from a relationship with Nicolle Wallace, a former “CBS Evening News” political analyst who became a senior aide to the McCain campaign.

    “The campaign advisers realized the kids, everybody, needed to be dressed,” Ms. Kline said. “This was a family that was about to stand before the world, and they just came with their everyday-life clothes.”

    Neiman Marcus opened for Ms. Kline and her assistant at 7 a.m. on Wednesday, she said, and the two split up and spent a rushed 90 minutes or so gathering what they needed. Ms. Palin and her family were not there; nor was anyone from the campaign.
    Ms. Kline said she does not recall who asked her to expand her styling to the entire Palin family or who set up the appointment at Neiman Marcus

    Is your hatred for Palin so overwhelming that you can’t process facts?

  71. jwest says:

    Michael,

    “As a matter of fact I’ll bet you she isn’t within 30 points.”

    By making a statement like that, it’s evident that if Palin isn’t within 30 points of you, it’s because she’s that much higher than you.

    (sheesh)

  72. Hey Norm says:

    Cmon JWest and Wiley…$10G’s for 30 points???
    Time to put up or shut up I would say.
    What’s it goin’ to be???

  73. hey norm says:

    hahahaha….98. Ninety friggin’ eight. 2 points less than a hundred.
    i never use this kind of internet slang but – LMFAO!!!

    http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_sarah_palin's_IQ

  74. jwest says:

    Norm,

    Even someone as dull as you should know how useless it is to bet on something that no one could prove. However, I would be willing to put up 10 times that amount if Michael wants to arrange a demonstration of how he bend steel bars with his mind.

  75. Hey Norm says:

    98 JWest…98.

  76. jwest says:

    Norm…Norm…poor dumb naïve Norm,

    I wish everyone had to post their picture along with their comments. I’ve got a mental image of what someone who believes everything printed on the internet looks like, but I would just like to confirm it so that I don’t mistakenly assume someone’s an idiot just by the way he looks.

    But, just for fun, let’s assume you’re right. Sarah Palin, with an I.Q. of 98, rose to become governor of Alaska, took down corrupt, entrenched politicians, outwitted major oil companies and was tapped to run for vice president. Just imagine what someone like Michael could do. He’s probably doing cold fusion experiments in his bathtub right now.

    Don’t feel bad, Norm. The democrat party was built on people like you.

  77. James Joyner says:

    @hey norm and @jwest: 98 is, essentially, a median IQ. The test is normed at 100. My offhand guess would have been between 100 and 110.

    I’m a bit dubious of extrapolation from SAT to IQ, since the SAT is taken almost exclusively by those who aspire to college. But my impression is that Palin is of average or very slightly above average intelligence along with, if there’s a way to measure such a thing, much higher than average emotional intelligence.

  78. Thoughtful Voter says:

    Losing + Quitting = Undefeated

    Only in a sad fictional reality fueled by delusions of competency.

  79. CB says:

    i used to appreciate OTB for its diverse and intelligent comments section, and could always find a challenging point of view on almost every topic. but to see what is being spewed, the hyperbole and vitriol, the baseless claims and namecalling…its getting depressing around here lately

  80. Hey Norm says:

    I’m embarrassed if my needling of Palin’s IQ was taken seriously by anyone. Really?
    Actually my default position on Palin – that besides being a quitter and a coward, she is a pathological liar – would imply she posesses an above average intelligence.

  81. G.A.Phillips says:

    I suppose you can’t be defeated if you quit!

    That’s how we do it in a game of magic:)

  82. michael reynolds says:

    I’d have guessed she’s right around the 100 mark, maybe as high as 115, but not higher.

  83. Barry says:

    JKB says:

    “Interesting, Palin resigns as governor when personal attacks make it impossible for her to accomplish the state’s business, even after a very productive administration up until she became the Left’s favorite target.”

    As has already been pointed out, nobody has furnished evidence of this.

    Second, if the Left could push out such a popular, honest and tough GOP governor, why not just go after all GOP governors?

  84. jukeboxgrad says:

    jwest:

    Here are a few lines from the NY Times article

    The picture that emerges from that article, and all the other available articles and statements, is not that complicated. It goes something like this: some people in the McCain campaign (Nicolle Wallace et al) realized that Palin and her family needed some new clothes. Wallace realized this before Palin did. This is why nymag said “Palin herself didn’t have the idea to hire a stylist.” That doesn’t mean Palin didn’t like the idea, or agree to go along with the idea. It just means that the idea originated with someone else.

    Palin must have thought it was a good idea, because she went ahead and hired Kline (that’s why nymag said “she [Palin] just hired one woman, Lisa A. Kline”). And how did Palin hear about Kline? Apparently because Wallace knew about Kline. That’s why NYT said “the plum assignment resulted from a relationship with Nicolle Wallace.” That doesn’t mean Wallace hired Kline. It means the “assignment resulted from” Kline and Wallace knowing each other. Apparently Wallace mentioned Kline, and then Palin hired Kline.

    And then Kline spent a lot of money on a lot of clothes, and then Palin and her family wore most of those clothes.

    What about this simple story do you find hard to understand? Now let’s return to the false claim you made. You said this:

    the Palin people might try to bring up the New York Times Magazine article where the author actually picked up the phone and called the stylist who claims to have done the shopping without Palin’s knowledge or approval

    I highlighted some important words. I challenged you to prove that those words are true. Let’s look at how you responded to that challenge. You presented this text:

    Ms. Kline declined to detail how she came to be Ms. Palin’s stylist. It has been widely reported, including in “Going Rogue,” that the plum assignment resulted from a relationship with Nicolle Wallace, a former “CBS Evening News” political analyst who became a senior aide to the McCain campaign.

    How does that text establish that Kline was working “without Palin’s knowledge or approval?” It doesn’t. It only explains why Palin hired Kline and not someone else: because Kline and Wallace had “a relationship,” which means that Wallace probably mentioned Kline to Palin.

    And then you mentioned this text:

    “The campaign advisers realized the kids, everybody, needed to be dressed,” Ms. Kline said.

    How does that text establish that Kline was working “without Palin’s knowledge or approval?” It doesn’t. Just because “the campaign advisers realized the kids, everybody, needed to be dressed,” that doesn’t mean that Palin herself also didn’t realize that, or that Kline was working “without Palin’s knowledge or approval.” It’s probably fair to say that what “the campaign advisers realized” was “realized” by them before it was “realized” by Palin, but we know that Palin picked up the ball and ran with it. How do we know? Because according to the article you cited, Palin hired Kline (“she [Palin] just hired one woman, Lisa A. Kline”). You are conveniently ignoring that statement, because it blows your claim out of the water.

    And then you mentioned this text:

    Ms. Palin and her family were not there; nor was anyone from the campaign.

    So what? Who cares? I never said that Palin was “there,” and I don’t know anyone else who made that claim. So you should stop beating that straw man. And Palin not being there certainly does not establish that Kline was working “without Palin’s knowledge or approval.”

    And then you mentioned this text:

    Ms. Kline said she does not recall who asked her to expand her styling to the entire Palin family

    So what? Who cares? Kline saying “she does not recall who asked her to expand her styling to the entire Palin family” is not Kline saying that Palin didn’t ask her. So it’s possible that Palin is the one who asked her “to expand her styling to the entire Palin family,” and Kline is having a convenient memory lapse for the purpose of protecting Palin (and Kline has an incentive to do that, because she is sending a message to potential future clients, about how she can be expected to protect them, too). It’s also possible that it was Kline’s own idea. It’s also possible that Wallace asked her. So what? The fact remains that Kline was hired by Palin, which is sufficient to falsify your claim that Kline was working “without Palin’s knowledge or approval.”

    Meanwhile, you’ve ignored all the questions I asked you. Why did Palin say “I never asked the New York stylists to purchase clothes?” According to the article you cited, Palin hired Kline. What was Kline hired for, if not to purchase clothes?

    And I’m still waiting for you to show an example where “the media were being less-than-truthful” regarding Palin.

    By the way, this story is important because it’s a perfect example (one of many) of how Palin consistently avoids taking responsibility for her own behavior, and instead always finds a way to blame someone else.

    It’s also a nice example of how Palinists like you eat up and then regurgitate the crap she dishes out. It’s hard to tell if you’re not bright enough to realize that it’s crap, or if you’re so dishonest that you don’t care. Like I said, maybe both.

  85. jwest says:

    Jukeboxgrad,

    Let’s examine the logic of your first point, just to set the stage.

    You contend that Palin hired the stylist. I, on the other hand, say that Nicolle Wallace was probably responsible for it. We both seem to agree that the McCain campaign was the instigator, wanting Palin well dressed and realizing that she either didn’t bring what clothes she had or that she didn’t own the type of clothes they wanted to see her in.

    Now, what do you suppose is the more logical scenario?

    A. The campaign tells Palin to buy some new clothes, paid for by the campaign, then Palin looks into her Rolodex and finds the number for a New York fashion stylist that she’s been dying to try.

    B. The campaign tells Wallace that Palin needs to have new clothes. Knowing that she would go to the nearest Target if left to her own devises, Wallace, having lived and worked in New York, calls a fashion stylist she knew or knew of, cuts a deal (as is the business of political consultants) to get a piece of whatever the campaign spends through her, and sets the stylist loose to purchase clothes.

    Which one sounds like the more likely way this happened?

  86. jwest says:

    James,

    Just by coincidence, I had Obama pegged about 107. I don’t think anyone could argue that he is above average, but just slightly so.

  87. An Interested Party says:

    But for some reason, Palin is the bad person since her departure was for the good of the state and not simply for more power of her bank account.

    Happy to be of help…

    Your going to have the LSM and Google, Bing ( bias pro lib anti-palin search engines ) blocking and controlling online content. There is also a new Obozo administration communications campaign czar who will run interference for Obozo to help cover up and defend his lies. Of course the FCC is on board supporting these criminal activities.

    Yes, of course, it’s all part of the grand liberal conspiracy… *shiver*

    As political observers, we all know Obama never won an election prior to 2008 without relying on unethically unsealing divorce and child custody court papers, a form of opposition research so disgusting and reprehensible only the lowest bottom-feeders would use it.

    Obviously he learned well from bottom-feeders like Lee Atwater and Karl Rove…

    I cannot wait for her to debate the teleprompter of the United States.

    Oh, you aren’t the only one, Zels…

    It’s hard to tell if you’re not bright enough to realize that it’s crap, or if you’re so dishonest that you don’t care. Like I said, maybe both.

    Well, remember, you are talking about a person who has made the bold claim that the president will be lucky to win Rhode Island…

  88. jwest says:

    AIP,

    You seem to forget that a few weeks after being plucked off the streets of Wasilla, Palin decisively beat our current vice president in a debate.

    By the time she faces the stammering poseur without his teleprompter, he’ll probably forget how many states there are or what year it is.

  89. michael reynolds says:

    I’ll bet Obama is in the 125 to 140 range and gets extra mileage with impressive ability to focus. I’d put Bill Clinton in that same category, both Bushes 10-15 points lower — Jeb’s the smart one in that family.

    People who are not themselves intelligent have a very hard time recognizing intelligence. Hence the laughable notion that Palin is of anything much above average. People tend to over-estimate their own intelligence, see Palin as “like them,” and reach the wrong conclusion.

    And to show I’m not partisan, I’d guess Rush Limbaugh can bank a 120 or better, which is quite intelligent. (Of course Hannity is an imbecile. He’s a Labrador Retriever.) Romney is certainly above average, as is Gingrich (though less than he thinks, and IQ does not equal wisdom.)

    I’ll tell you I think is smart as hell: Stephen Colbert. He’s amazingly fast.

  90. sam says:

    John Cole pulled some suggested titles out of the comments to his piece on Sarah’s new flic:

    From Here to Inanity
    Citizen Vain
    Red Yawn
    The Aleutianist
    The Scum Also Rises
    Lost in Translation II
    We’re Just Not That Into You
    Chariots of Liar
    Also Too: Electric Boogaloo
    Brainspotting
    Mentl
    From Within Sight of Russia With Love
    Not-Hur
    The Devil Wears Mukluks
    Swindler’s List
    Juneau II: Post Partum
    Mooseferatu
    Dopey’s Choice
    John McCain’s a Series of Unfortunate Events
    The Lyin’, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
    Driving Miss Crazy
    Grizzly Madams
    Inarticulate Proposal
    Mother, Uggs and Greed
    Despicable Her
    Chariots of Bile
    Jackass 4
    Brain Simple
    The Lying Game
    The Woman Who Knew Too Little
    True Grift
    Clueless
    Fahrenheit All of Them
    They Call Me Sister Fibs
    The Incredible Sulk
    The Iquitarod
    The Big Shill
    12 Million Angry White Men
    Legends of the Fail
    Something Wicked This Way Comes

    Head over and add your’s. He also reports that #palinfilmnames is on fire on twitter.

  91. jwest says:

    Jukeboxgrad,

    Here’s another pop quiz.

    Kline refuses to say who hired her and that she doesn’t remember who asked her to expand her services to the family. Assuming she’s not suffering from late-stage Alzheimer’s, which is the more probable reason.

    A. She’s a typical New York Palin fan who would lie, cheat, steal and die for Sarah.

    B. She’s a typical New York fashion stylist who knows that if she gives up Nicolle Wallace or anyone else in the campaign who hired her and took a cut of what she spent, she would never get another client.

    Take your time, the grade on this test goes into your permanent record.

  92. sam says:

    “You seem to forget that a few weeks after being plucked off the streets of Wasilla, Palin decisively beat our current vice president in a debate.”

    She set off little starbursts in your living room, too?

  93. anjin-san says:

    I think after “They Call Me Sister Fibs” you can wrap this shoot. Brilliant.

  94. Davebo says:

    Jay Tea says:
    Wednesday, May 25, 2011 at 12:23
    Anjin, I have NO idea who “bithead” is

    Stop Jay,

    You had me at “I have no idea”.

    You really didn’t need to lie about the rest. And if you could give Eric a reach around that would save us a lot of comment space.

  95. jwest says:

    Michael,

    You’re so generous when you’re being nonpartisan.

    So, in your opinion (as an exceptionally high IQ person), you would put Rush Limbaugh at around 120, maybe a bit more.

    Doesn’t that make you feel underpaid? Rush is knocking down 60 million a year talking 15 hours a week, every word recorded, scrutinized, fact checked and compared to every other statement he’s made in over 20 years, all without a script or teleprompter. If he can do that, why is someone of superior intellegence such as you wasting time writing?

  96. Davebo says:

    Welcome to your political party James…

    Jay Tea, JWest and whatever Bithead is calling himself these days.

    Feeling comfy?? These aren’t the right wing fringe anymore, they’re your base. And sadly, you know it.

    But hey, it’s a paycheck right?

  97. michael reynolds says:

    If he can do that, why is someone of superior intellegence such as you wasting time writing?

    Are you under the impression that IQ corresponds to earning? I suspect the physicists running the Large Hadron Collider would argue with that notion.

  98. jukeboxgrad says:

    jwest:

    You contend that Palin hired the stylist.

    No, it’s not something I “contend.” It’s something stated outright in the article you cited:

    However, Palin didn’t technically hire a team — she just hired one woman, Lisa A. Kline, a 47-year-old Manhattan-dwelling mother of three who specializes in dressing news anchors and corporate types.

    What about the simple English words “she” and “hired” are you having trouble grasping? And if you want to claim that this statement in the article is not credible, then why did you cite an article that’s not credible? And why should we treat any of the statements in any of these articles as credible?

    You’re giving us a nice demonstration of how you ignore all inconvenient facts.

    I, on the other hand, say that Nicolle Wallace was probably responsible for it.

    If you think that Wallace hired the stylist you need to explain why the article you cited said that Palin hired the stylist. I notice that you haven’t lifted a finger to offer any such explanation.

    We both seem to agree that the McCain campaign was the instigator

    I don’t know of anyone who ever claimed otherwise. Saying “the McCain campaign was the instigator” is quite different from saying that Kline was working “without Palin’s knowledge or approval.”

    what do you suppose is the more logical scenario?

    Your A and B is a nice example of “the fallacy of exhaustive hypotheses” (link). Your A and B are not the only two choices. I already offered a different scenario (Palin hired Kline after Wallace suggested that Palin do so) that is much more plausible than either your A or B, and fits the known facts much better than your A and B.

    But in your usual style, you completely ignore the scenario I described, just like you ignore every fact and question you find inconvenient.

    Which one sounds like the more likely way this happened?

    What you’re doing now is called backpedaling. You didn’t just say you thought that the Wallace-hired-Kline scenario was “more likely.” You treated that scenario as a proven fact, when you said that Kline was working “without Palin’s knowledge or approval.”

    And by the way, you didn’t just claim that Kline was working “without Palin’s knowledge or approval.” You claimed that Kline said this. Trouble is, Kline didn’t say that. The various chunks of text you cited don’t come within a mile of Kline saying that. That’s why you’re backpedaling now and talking about what is allegedly “more likely.”

    Consider these two statements:

    A) Kline was working “without Palin’s knowledge or approval.”

    B) We know that Kline was working “without Palin’s knowledge or approval” because Kline said so.

    B is an even bigger lie than A. You said B.

    Kline refuses to say who hired her

    If “Kline refuses to say who hired her” then please explain why the article you cited says that Palin hired her.

    She’s a typical New York fashion stylist who knows that if she gives up Nicolle Wallace or anyone else in the campaign who hired her and took a cut of what she spent, she would never get another client

    Duh. Kline has an incentive to avoid making Wallace look bad, but she also has an incentive to avoid making Palin look bad. Every potential future client, regardless of their politics, will want to see that Kline is someone who tries to protect everyone she works with and for.

  99. jukeboxgrad says:

    jwest:

    I had Obama pegged about 107. I don’t think anyone could argue that he is above average

    Naturally. That’s why Jim Lindgren said this about Obama:

    Barack Obama is smart enough and writes well enough to be a tenured law professor at any law school in the country.

    Anyone unclear about Lindgren’s conservative credentials should just read some of his posts at volokh.com.

  100. jukeboxgrad says:

    And that’s why multiple conservative scholars have raved about Obama’s academic achievements (link, link).

    You already know all this. So thanks for yet another nice demonstration of how you ignore all inconvenient facts.

  101. jukeboxgrad says:

    jwest:

    You seem to forget that a few weeks after being plucked off the streets of Wasilla, Palin decisively beat our current vice president in a debate.

    Naturally. That’s why all known polls (including a Fox poll), with the exception of a focus group run by GOP hack Frank Luntz, reported that Biden won (link, link).

  102. jukeboxgrad says:

    Another link.

    You’re a terrific illustration of someone who routinely invents his own facts.

  103. jukeboxgrad says:

    jwest:

    Rush is knocking down 60 million a year talking 15 hours a week, every word recorded, scrutinized, fact checked and compared to every other statement he’s made in over 20 years, all without a script or teleprompter.

    Yes. And the result is that he is frequently caught making shit up (link, link). His success proves that there are lot of people, like you, who can’t tell the difference between truth and fiction and/or don’t care about the difference.

  104. Derrick says:

    C’mon jukeboxgrad! You are going to scare our local source of entertainment and made up facts away.

  105. jukeboxgrad says:

    I respect your concern, but I’ve learned from years of experience that the most entertaining ones rarely get scared away. They just get more entertaining.

  106. jwest says:

    Jukeboxgrad,

    Quantity (as in number of words written) is no substitute for quality. Try to condense what little thoughts have.

    Granted, I did cite the wrong article initially. Had you been an astute reader, you would have notice that the New York Magazine article was written as a recap of the NY Times Magazine article. What that means is that Amy Odell at NYM didn’t speak to Kline and had no independent knowledge of the situation. The hints you should look for are that she refers to the NY Times Mag and links to it.

    As Odell is apparently as slow as you, she also read into the NY Times Mag article something that wasn’t there.

  107. Chad S says:

    So, is the movie being called “True Quit?”

  108. bob says:

    The flim is suppose to help her image,but remember you can’t polish a turd.

  109. jukeboxgrad says:

    jwest:

    the New York Magazine article was written as a recap of the NY Times Magazine article.

    OK, fine, let’s ignore the former and just look at the latter.

    As Odell is apparently as slow as you, she also read into the NY Times Mag article something that wasn’t there.

    That’s hysterically funny, since the one “[reading] into the NY Times Mag article something that wasn’t there” is you. Let’s recall, once again, what you said:

    the Palin people might try to bring up the New York Times Magazine article where the author actually picked up the phone and called the stylist who claims to have done the shopping without Palin’s knowledge or approval

    Now let’s look at what’s in the NYT article:

    Ms. Kline declined to detail how she came to be Ms. Palin’s stylist. … Kline said she does not recall who asked her to expand her styling to the entire Palin family

    There are essentially three possibilities:

    A) Kline was following instructions issued by Wallace
    B) Kline was following instructions issued by Palin
    C) Some combination of both A and B

    When you say “the stylist … claims to have done the shopping without Palin’s knowledge or approval,” you are asserting that the correct answer is A. But where did Kline say that? She didn’t. By saying “declined to detail” and “does not recall,” she is indicating that she is not going to tell us whether A, B or C is the correct answer. The article mentions speculation about how Kline and Wallace knew each other, but this definitely doesn’t establish that Palin had no role in hiring Kline, or didn’t approve of hiring Kline.

    Kline is obviously interested in protecting the one or more people who issued instructions to her. She is not telling us who did issue instructions, or who did not issue instructions. So when you claim that Kline claimed that she did “the shopping without Palin’s knowledge or approval,” you’re simply making shit up. The question you’re claiming Kline answered is a question she specifically “declined” to answer.

    And let’s look at something else in that article:

    Back at the Hilton Minneapolis, Ms. Kline and her assistant set up their purchases on racks in Ms. Palin’s suite. One by one, they did a run-through with each family member. “Oh, God, it was just staying focused,” she recalled. “Get each person their outfit, get the clothing tailored right there in the room. The clothes literally went from the sewing machine onto their bodies. It was, ‘O.K., this is good, let’s go, next!’ ”

    She described the candidate as a size 4 or 6… “She was very, very sweet,” Ms. Kline said. “… She definitely had an opinion about the clothes, but it was a gentle opinion. If she didn’t like something, it was, ‘Oh, I don’t think so.’ ”

    Let’s assume that Wallace hired Kline “without Palin’s knowledge or approval.” And let’s further assume that Kline then spent $150,000 on clothes “without Palin’s knowledge or approval.” Trouble is, the next thing that happened is that Kline “did a run-through with each family member.” Palin was there, obviously. What was she thinking? That this pile of clothes that cost $150,000 hadn’t cost $150,000? That the clothes had been borrowed from the local Salvation Army store? That Santa Claus had stopped by? Did she ask? Apparently not. Either because she already knew, or because she didn’t care.

    No one disputes the fact that Palin and her family accepted those clothes, and wore most of those clothes. Even if the shopping itself had been done “without Palin’s knowledge or approval,” how does Palin accepting the clothes not amount to approval of the fact that the shopping had been done? If this shopping was something that didn’t earn her “approval,” then why didn’t she say so right then and there? Was Wallace holding a gun to her head forcing her to accept all this? If so, she should have called 911.

  110. G.A.Phillips says:

    I’ll bet Obama is in the 125 to 140 range and gets extra mileage with impressive ability to focus.

    focus, I don’t see it but I can understand, it’s a right brained thing. I guess after actually thinking about it for the first time without sarcastic intent I should cut him some slack on the teleprompter. lol that sucks, well I guess I can stick up for a fellow lefty, this once.

  111. michael reynolds says:

    GA:

    On behalf of my lefty daughter and lefty mother-in-law, I thank you.

  112. jukeboxgrad says:

    Wow, this is priceless. There’s a Palinist named section9 who posts here sometimes. About a day ago he wrote something quite awesome, but he didn’t post it here. He posted it on a thread at conservatives4palin.com. A little later, what he wrote got noticed at firedoglake, and triggered quite a bit of mockery. Then c4p apparently noticed that FDL was mocking the comment, so c4p took it down.

    I know the comment was really there, because I saw it myself (at c4p, before they took it down). The FDL post doesn’t show the name of the author, but when I saw the comment at c4p I noticed that the author was section9.

    Until they took it down, the comment was really easy to notice, because it was the highest rated comment in the thread, which has hundreds of comments. And attached to the comment were a bunch of comments praising it lavishly. Those comments have now been taken down, too.

    I think the comment was so popular because it so vividly expresses the Palinist weltanschauung.

    I don’t know what’s funnier: the comment itself, or the fact that c4p was embarrassed by it and decided to take it down, even though it was the most popular comment.

    Anyway, the c4p thread is here. The FDL post is here.

    The FDL post quotes the section9 comment in full (I know it’s the whole thing, since I also saw the original). But it’s so spectacular I think it should be here, too. I’ve restored some formatting (italics) that was in the original but got lost in the FDL version.

    It’s below the line. Enjoy! It’s as good as anything I’ve ever seen in The Onion. Poe’s Law strikes again. I also like the tag FDL gave it: “SNOWTRASHAPOCALYPSE.”

    =================================================================
    Some things on my mind at this hour:

    1. This is a masterstroke. Everyone has been caught off guard. The Lefties are totally flummoxed. They expected to dominate the news with Bailey and the Caller story, now its SARAH IS COMING.

    2. Washington will be in complete turmoil. They thought they might get Sarah to reconsider. and stay out. She’s not. She’s coming in. The Donor Class now knows that she will be in the game. This frustrates Mittens, TPaw, and most of all, the Bush Family.

    3. This tells me something else: Palin has her TO&E almost ramped and ready. There is more behind the scenes than we know. State by state websites are probably ramped up, using O4P as the skeletal front. The fundraising machine is probably amped and ready. The FEC papers are filled out and ready to file.

    4. Her position papers, some of them genuinely radical, are ready to go.

    5. Everyone, and I do mean everyone, prepare for genuine, on the ground, protracted infantry warfare. This will be All Eastern Front, All The Time.

    Expect this to be an extremely long and protracted effort that will take up the next 18 months of our lives. The Country is Worth It.

    Remember, people gave their lives so we could bang away on a computers and vote our consciences. McCain spent five years in a box so we could do this stuff.

    Do not forget who made the next 18 months possible. Men who laid down their lives at places like Gettysburg, Chancellorsville, Belleau Wood, Midway, Peleileu, the Chosin Resevoir, Khe Sanh, and Fallujah, made it possible for us to fight for the life of our country.

    Oh, and don’t forget to seek God’s guidance and fortification in prayer. I intend to do that. Haven’t done much of it lately. That’s a part of my life that needs to change. Sarah’s example is a good one.

    The road ahead for Palin, her family, her team, and for us, is a long and bitter one. But there have been tougher, blacker days. Mr. Churchill spoke to the King’s Subjects for the first time as Prime Minister on May 19, 1940 on the BBC. The British Expeditionary Force had just been unceremoniously expelled from the Continent, courtesy of the Panzertruppen. France was well on its way to becoming a German satrapy. And all of England would come under the ferocious assault of the Deutches Luftwaffe within a month.

    Chruchill was stern in his address. He did not mince words. He told his fellow subjects of the enormity of the task at hand, and of the apparent imminence of invasion of the British Isles. Having made his speech, he finished with a peroration that has come down to the ages and I believe applies here:

    “Today is Trinity Sunday. Centuries ago words were written to be a call and a spur to the faithful servants of Truth and Justice: ‘Arm yourselves, and be ye men of valour, and be in readiness for the conflict; for it is better for us to perish in battle than to look upon the outrage of our nation and our altar. As the will of God is in Heaven, even so let it be.’ ”

  113. george says:

    Are you under the impression that IQ corresponds to earning? I suspect the physicists running the Large Hadron Collider would argue with that notion.

    You’re just jealous because you haven’t made 400 million off of your brains, like Mike Tyson did. its well known that actors and professional athletes have some of the highest IQ’s around, which is why so many of them make 10+ million a year.