Michael Steele and Bill Maher on Sarah Palin

“She thought that Sputnik was so expensive in 1957 that it caused the Soviet Union to collapse in 1991.”

“No, no, no, no”

“It’s just so colossally crazy, anyway I gotta move on.”

“Please, please do.”

WATCH IT HERE

Michele Bachmann and Sarah Palin: America’s Historians

“It didn’t matter the color of their skin, it didn’t matter their language, it didn’t matter their economic status. Once you got here, we were all the same. Isn’t that remarkable?”

“We also know that the very founders that wrote those documents worked tirelessly until slavery was no more in the United States”.

“I think it is high time that we recognize the contribution of our forbearers who worked tirelessly–men like John Quincy Adams, who would not rest until slavery was extinguished in the country”

That’s congresswomen Michele Bachmann on speaking on January 21 to an anti-tax group in Iowa.

Wikipedia reminds us that:
The Founding Fathers of the United States were political leaders and statesmen who participated in establishing the American Independence by signing the Declaration of Independence, taking part in the American War for Independence, establishing the United States Constitution, or by some other key contribution. Within the large group known as the “Founding Fathers”, there are two key subsets: the “Signers of the Declaration of Independence” (who signed the United States Declaration of Independence in 1776) and the “Framers of the Constitution” (who were delegates to the Federal Convention and took part in framing or drafting the proposed Constitution of the United States).

Most historians define the “Founding Fathers” to mean a larger group, including not only the Signers and the Framers but also all those who, whether as politicians, jurists, statesmen, soldiers, diplomats, or ordinary citizens, took part in winning American independence and creating the United States of America.American historian Richard B. Morris, in his 1973 book Seven Who Shaped Our Destiny: The Founding Fathers as Revolutionaries, identified the following seven figures as the key Founding Fathers:

Benjamin Franklin born October 18, 1785 died December 1, 1788
George Washington born April 30, 1789 died March 4, 1797
John Adams born March 4, 1797 – died March 4, 1801
Thomas Jefferson born March 4, 1801 – died March 4, 1809
John Jay born September 26, 1789 – died June 29, 1795
James Madison born March 4, 1809 – died March 4, 1817
Alexander Hamiltonborn September 11, 1789 – born January 31, 1795

What Mrs. Bachmann seems blissfully unaware of is that The Emancipation Proclamation wasn’t made until 1862. The adoption of the 13th Amendment didn’t take place until 1865. James Madison lived longer than any founder, but he died 1836. She also seems unaware of the fact that George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison actually owned slaves as did some of the other founding fathers. More importantly as you can see above, all were looonnnng dead when slavery was abolished.

“That was another one of those WTF moments, when he so often repeated this Sputnik moment that he would aspire Americans to celebrate. And he needs to remember that what happened back then with the former communist USSR and their victory in that race to space, yes, they won, but they also incurred so much debt at the time that it resulted in the inevitable collapse of the Soviet Union.

So I listened to that Sputnik moment talk over and over again, and I think, No, we don’t need one of those. You know what we need is a “spudnut” moment. And here’s where I’m going with this, Greta. And you’re a good one because you’re one of those reporters who actually gets out there in the communities, find these hard-working people and find solutions to the problems that Americans face.

Well, the spudnut shop in Richland, Washington — it’s a bakery, it’s a little coffee shop that’s so successful, 60-some years, generation to generation, a family-owned business not looking for government to bail them out and to make their decisions for them. It’s just hard-working, patriotic Americans in this shop.

We need more spudnut moments in America. And I wish that President Obama would understand, in that heartland of America, what it is that really results in the solutions that we need to get this economy back on the right track. It’s a shop like that.”

And that was former VP candidate Sarah Palin somewhere in another Galaxy called Fox criticizing the President’s SOTU address by attempting to point out that our President of The United States doesn’t know his history.

Mediate Columnist Tommy Christopher points out the obvious problems with Mrs. Palin’s understanding of history and analogy best:

The Soviet Union’s launch of a satellite that was only slightly more advanced than Balloon Boy 1 is not the model of success to which the President’s speech urges us to aspire, but rather, the flood of research, innovation, and achievement that it spurred in a then-complacent American psyche. The negative consequences of Sputnik to the Soviet Union, then, would only serve to reinforce what the President said.

Even in twisting the meaning of the President’s analogy, though, Palin twists history to suit the view from her front porch. While it’s tough to pinpoint a single reason for the dissolution of the USSR, the space program isn’t one of them, at least not in the substantive way that Palin imagines. The Cold War arms race is the factor that most closely tracks here, and while the Sputnik 1 launch was a shot across the bow in that war, it was a drop in the arms race bucket.

Palin then goes on to suggest that what America needs is a “Spudnut moment,” explaining that there’s this successful small business in Washington state, and that America needs to do…what? Have lots of successful small businesses? Stop preventing successful businesses like The Spudnut Shop from being successful? Palin never really explains how this is supposed to work, but I think the equation goes something like this: “Sputnik moment” + “Something that sounds like Sputnik but isn’t”=WIN!

Still, a closer look at the story of Spudnuts reveals that the shining example she uses, The Spudnuts Shop in Richland, Washington, is part of a larger story that reinforces much of what President Obama said.

The Spudnuts Shop is, indeed, a successful small business, as attested to by recent profiles on Food Network’s Unwrapped and the Travel Channel’s Donut Paradise. In a way, they’re also the embodiment of the innovative spirit that President Obama is trying to rekindle. The shop’s founders saw the early potential of the Pelton Brothers’ innovative use of potato flour in doughnut-making, and got in on the ground floor with a franchise back in 1948. Spudnuts became something of a craze, eventually growing to over 600 locations in the US and elsewhere.

However, the good times didn’t last forever, and the Richland Spudnuts Shop is one of only about 40 surviving Spudnuts locations. The Pelton brothers sold the company in 1975, at which time those who had paid for franchises could no longer get the original Spudnuts recipe. The parent company went out of business a few years later, but a handful of owner-operated shops continue to use the Spudnut name.

The success of the Richland Spudnuts Shop, by all accounts, is due to the consistently hard work and exceptional service of its employees, as much as to the spud-rific goodness of its doughnuts. There was no “Spudnuts moment” for the Richland shop; there were 60 Spudnuts years (and counting).

These are just two of the people that believe they are qualified to be the next President of The United States and one of them sits in Congress right now making decisions on our behalf.

TLC and Ann Coulter Help to Highlight Sarah Palin’s True Character

This week former VP candidate Sarah Palin’s eight episode campaign commercial series on TLC will come to end. The two hour finale is set for Sunday evening and should tie up any loose ends as to what we know about Sarah Palin.

There’s been a lot of commentary and discussion in the political and entertainment world as to just how well Sarah Palin presented herself to America with this experiment. Most have come to the conclusion that Sarah did a great job of showcasing who she is and it turns out she’s nothing like she’s presented herself over the last several years both to Alaskans and those in the lower 48.

Hunter becomes the hunted as Palin critics say she can’t shoot:

Not only did this week’s show portray field-sports in an ugly light, say critics; it also fuelled scepticism about whether she actually knows one end of a rifle from another.

Ms Palin took no fewer than five shots to hit the beast which wandered on to the hillside where she was eating blueberries with her 72-year-old father, Chuck Snr. However it was her lousy field-craft, rather than wonky shooting, which raised the most questions about whether she really ought to call herself a “lifelong hunter”.

The Conservative blogosphere, usually a forum for cheerleading on behalf the Palin cause, was awash yesterday with suggestions that her outdoorsy image is an elaborate charade.

“I turned on Sarah Palin’s Alaska and she just shot four maybe even five times at a caribou and missed,” noted a typical comment on the Fox News host Sean Hannity’s website. “Needless to say I’m not impressed with her ability to handle a firearm let alone aim it and hit.”

Among the basic items of protocol blithely ignored by Palin as she set off into the wilderness in a Rambo-style headband was her failure to take practice shots, or check the sights of the rifle, which duly turned out to be off-kilter. She failed to carry her own weapon, relying on her elderly father and his companion, Steve, to lug it around. When a beast eventually wandered into range, Ms Palin left Chuck Snr to load the rifle, and discharge spent bullet casings.

“What a joke,” wrote one viewer on Palin’s Facebook page. “I was a fan before the show. No one who is a true hunter lets others carry their rifle or can’t load their own shells. Sarah, you are a phony.”

The Awl, a website which collated reactions to the episode, noted that, while being passed the firearm, Ms Palin immediately moved her finger inside its trigger guard, a breach of basic safety rules. After missing the caribou several times, she then appeared to panic and shot at the beast while it was still moving, a technique usually avoided by all but the very best marksmen.

On leaving her hunting camp one morning, Ms Palin pointed to the horizon and declared “Let’s go west.” There followed an awkward pause. “That’s east,” noted her father.

The cognoscenti was meanwhile perturbed that the fact that Palin seemed scared by her weapon, a small gun described by Chuck Snr as a “varmint rifle”. Several times during the episode, she anxiously asked: “Does it kick?”

Even Chuck Snr’s handling of his weapons drew criticism. “I was surprised to see him using the gun as a walking stick,” noted one user on the Free Republic website.

“I do like the woman but think she needs some serious range time. I had the impression it was her first time firing a rifle.”

What Palin’s show says about us

From the opening credits, Palin’s not actually leading, as the show’s stirring theme song (Follow Me There) suggests. Instead, she’s tucked far under the wings of professional guides, friends, or family members — in a curious subtext, almost all males.

They instruct and coddle her along, at one point literally hauling Palin uphill on the end of a rope. Even post-production editing can’t hide a glaring, city-slicker klutziness.

Most of the show’s escapades bear scant resemblance to the activities of most outdoors-oriented Alaskans. In fact, about half of the Palins’ “adventures” are guided trips aimed at mass-market tourists. You won’t find many Alaskans on those theme park rides, which require no skills beyond a pulse and the ability to open your wallet.

Of course, there are sequences that feature Palin tagging along with working Alaskans. However, posing for hands-on scenes guided by loggers or commercial fishermen (including her husband, who’s obviously a top notch outdoorsman) doesn’t help. Alaskans would be a lot more impressed if she proved she could gut a caribou or set a gill net on her own — skills at which many bush-wise Alaskan women excel — and still keep those immaculately manicured French nails intact.

The caribou hunt episode provides a centerpiece of the series’ excesses, as well as Palin’s ineptitude. According to script, it’s Palin’s turn to replenish the family’s dwindling freezer with wild meat — from an Alaska point of view, all good. But the logistics of the trip defy common sense. Instead of hunting within reasonable distance of home, her party flies 600-plus miles to a remote camp in multiple chartered aircraft. This isn’t subsistence but the sort of experiential safari popular among high-end, non-resident sport hunters. For all that, Palin ends up with a skinny juvenile cow caribou. Boned out, we’re talking maybe 100 pounds of meat, at a staggering cost per pound.

Faced with that hapless animal, this darling of Second Amendment supporters nervously asks her dad whether the small-caliber rifle kicks. Then, even more astoundingly, her father repeatedly works the bolt and loads for her as she misses shot after shot before scoring a kill on the seventh round — enough bullets for a decent hunter to take down at least five animals. (Given Palin’s infamous tweet “Don’t retreat, reload,” we can infer she plans to keep her dad close by.) Later, Palin blames the scope, but any marksman would recognize the flinching, the unsteady aim and poor shot selection — and the glaring ethical fault of both shooter and gun owner if the rifle wasn’t properly sighted. Instead of some frontier passion play, we’re rendered a dark comedy of errors.

When Sarah Palin took us on a hunting/camping trip with her dad Chuck Heath on the latest episode of Sarah Palin’s Alaska, she said hunting was necessary to “fill her freezer!”:

“For many people in remote areas of Alaska, there’s no grocery store nearby, we just got to get out and hunt,” enthused Sarah.

HollywoodLife.com researched the logistics and cost of Palin’s hunting trip which resulted in a bagged caribou, and discovered that it was a mighty expensive way to feed the Palin family, at $42,400 for the trip.

The grand total to charter a Dehavilland Dash plane from Era Alaska to travel round trip from Wasilla’s Palmer airport to Deadhorse, Alaska was $37,600. In Deadhorse, the Palins switched to a 6 seat Cessna C207 Skywagon which they flew into the Kavik River Camp, at $1200 for the round trip, according to Lori Goodman, director of sales and marketing of Era Alaska, the company which chartered the planes for the Palins. Once in Kavik, the Palins spent two nights at the Kavik River Camp at $250 a person per night, for a $750 total.

Finally, the Deltana Outfitters flew them individually on a Piper Supercub airplane from Kavik into their hunting spot at a cost of $350 per hour for three hours each way, for a total of $2100, according to Deltana.

The grand Palin total to bag a caribou and get it back to the Palin homestead added up to $42,400, or $141.33 per lb. of caribou meat. Sarah shot and killed a female cow which may have weighed up to 300 lbs.

Just to put this is perspective, the Palins could have filled their freezer with ribeye steak at $10.99 a lb. from Alaska’s Mr. Prime Beef, which is based in Anchorage and ships anywhere in the state.

She Can’t Fish Or Shoot A Gun, Ctd

Sarah Palin’s attempt to cast herself as a true Alaskan, in love with the outdoors, fishing, hunting, is, of course, a lie. Her first ever appearance in the Alaskan press, long before she was governor or even Mayor, was in the Anchorage Daily News. It tells you all you need to know about a woman who wanted to be a beauty queen rather than the wife of a fisherman in the boondocks:

Sarah Palin, a commercial fisherman from Wasilla, told her husband on Tuesday she was driving to Anchorage to shop at Costco. Instead, she headed straight for Ivana. And there, at J.C. Penney’s cosmetic department, was Ivana, the former Mrs. Donald Trump, sitting at a table next to a photograph of herself. She wore a light-colored pantsuit and pink fingernail polish. Her blonde hair was coiffed in a bouffant French twist. ”We want to see Ivana,” said Palin, who admittedly smells like salmon for a large part of the summer, ”because we are so desperate in Alaska for any semblance of glamour and culture.”

Desperate for glamour and culture. That’s not exactly Palin’s message today, is it? But what she realized between then and now is that she could use Alaska as a means for her to gain “glamour and culture.” Notice how she admits she smells of salmon and wants to get past it to something Trump-like. Well, she has now, but only by exploiting the mythology of where she was born. How many beautiful clothes can she now buy with TLC’s moolah? More than she could steal from the RNC. Levi got her exactly:

“She says she goes hunting and lives off animal meat – I’ve never seen it,” said Mr Johnston, 19. “I’ve never seen her touch a fishing pole. “She had a gun in her bedroom and one day she asked me to show her how to shoot it. I asked her what kind of gun it was, and she said she didn’t know, because it was in a box under her bed.”

Levi’s Vindication: The Self-Exposure Of Sarah Palin

From the opening credits, Palin’s not actually leading, as the show’s stirring theme song (Follow Me There) suggests. Instead, she’s tucked far under the wings of professional guides, friends, or family members — in a curious subtext, almost all males.

They instruct and coddle her along, at one point literally hauling Palin uphill on the end of a rope. Even post-production editing can’t hide a glaring, city-slicker klutziness.

Sarah Palin Breaks the Law and Has No Common Sense

In Sarah Palin’s Alaska, her TLC TV show, the children are clearly unrestrained in moving vehicles — in clear noncompliance with the statutes of the state of Alaska. The reality of her show is that Sarah Palin is a lawbreaker. What she so contemptuously shows is that she and her family are above the law. She has demonstrated values that are illegal, nonsensical and reckless.

Alaska law says that a driver may not transport children under 16 in a motor vehicle unless the child is properly secured according to state child passenger safety law. Children who are not yet one year old or who do not yet weigh 20 lbs must be properly secured in a federally approved rear-facing car seat.

It is quite clear that from 4.12 onwards that Piper is jumping up and down in the RV while the vehicle is in motion, so she cannot be safely belted up. From 11.07 Trig is also seen standing on the sofa seat without a seatbelt.

There is no doubt that Palin has disregarded state law — and it is a primary offense. Glaringly, arrogantly, and unapologetically. She can argue, if she wants, that seat belt laws are burdensome and intrusive — but maybe she should have changed the laws before she quit as governor! Aren’t commonsense conservatives all about the rule of law? Does this mean because I don’t like speed limits I can do 125 mph in school zones? Or I won’t pay taxes because I don’t support endless wars?

As far as I am concerned she has been caught red handed. But it’s not the first time. Fellow reader, mxm, pulled this little excerpt from the September 7, 2008 edition of the Washington Post:

WASILLA, Alaska — One Friday in June, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin joined the chief of the state prison system on a tour of the Point MacKenzie Correctional Farm, a 90-minute drive north of Anchorage. It was a routine visit but for the presence of the governor’s infant son, Trig.

Palin held her baby in her arms as the warden drove a short distance around the facility, said corrections director Joe Schmidt, who sat next to Palin. A few days later, the governor got a warning from her public safety commissioner that someone had complained that she did not strap Trig into a car seat for the ride.
Palin dismissed the complaint as petty, and the commissioner, whom she appointed, took no formal action. But the incident shows the degree to which family and politics are bound together in Palin’s career.

So we come to conclusion that Sarah Palin’s show doesn’t necessarily show her behaving in the manner of an experienced fisher, hunter, hiker or grizzly-mama or even law abiding citizen but instead as someone who’s rather uncomfortable in those settings, nor does it appear much experience. Wasn’t a surprise here, but anyway……now others know too. But we also have other ways to judge Mrs. Palin’s true character and cojones. Does she really walk the walk of not only a special need’s mother but also that of an advocate for those with special needs?

An issue that has been recently overlooked is that another conservative commentator has publicly used the word retard to criticize a reporter they disagreed with this past week. The GOP’s own verbal agitator Ann Coulter posted the insult Dec 30th on her twitter while encouraging people to watch Republican Christopher Barron be interviewed by a “retarded” MSNBC host.

“Great video: head of GOProud interviewed by retarded person on MSNBC,” Coulter wrote, providing a link to this interview, in which Barron of Republican gay rights group GOProud defends the group’s conservative credentials to Cenk Uygur, after invitees of the Conservative Political Action Conference boycotted the event over the inclusion of Barron’s organization.

As Business Insider points out, Coulter’s use of the “r-word” — which she leveled at Uygur after he questioned Barron’s decision to identify as Republican — may put former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, whose youngest child, Trig, has Down Syndrome, in a tight spot.

Palin called for Rahm Emanuel to be fired earlier this year after he addressed a group of people as “f*cking retards.”

“I would ask the president to show decency in this process by eliminating one member of that inner circle, Mr. Rahm Emanuel, and not allow Rahm’s continued indecent tactics to cloud efforts,” Palin said.

Following Rahm’s comment, Rush Limbaugh also fired off an attack using the word, an action that earned him a (much less passionate) rebuke.

Yet so far not a word from Mrs. Sarah Palin. Wasn’t even mentioned during her recent radio spot on Laura Ingraham’s radio show. Not a word. Laura didn’t ask and Sarah didn’t bring it up. Wonder why?

Can we assume that Palin hasn’t heard about this?

Or do we assume that again Sarah Palin only has criticisms for those on the other side?

Should we assume that Sarah Palin might be afraid to counter someone like Rush Limbaugh or Ann Coulter because she’s afraid of their power?

Should we assume that Sarah Palin thinks Ann Coulter used this word as satire, therefore making it ok by Sarah’s standards?

What about when she criticized Down Syndrome actress Andrea Friedman’s portrayal of an independent woman with Down Syndrome on the show The Family Guy?

Was that only because her character’s mother was also portrayed as the Governor of Alaska so Sarah thought they were really making fun of her?

Why does Ann Coulter get pass?

Why does Sarah Palin talk about the joy of having Trig, but never what it is like to raise him?

Just what does it take to raise a special needs child Sarah?

Does she know?

Why does Rush Limbaugh get a pass?

Why was it so easy for Sarah Palin to leave town for five days immediately after Trig had surgery?
That she has gone so far as to use and thereby abuse a child with Down Syndrome whose interests are clearly in seclusion, careful nurturing and care, and constant parental attention, tells you a huge amount. So does this:

Her young son, Trig, was to have an operation — routine but still worrisome — on the Friday before [mid-term] Election Day, and so the mother was loath to commit to anything. Trig’s procedure went well. That evening, Palin’s political adviser, Andrew Davis, pulled an all-nighter arranging for her to make a Saturday drop-in on behalf of John Raese, the West Virginia senatorial candidate who was trailing the Democratic nominee, Joe Manchin, the popular governor. Raese’s wife, Elizabeth, had issued a personal plea to Palin to save the day.

Yes, she left her two-year-old with Down Syndrome after a “worrisome” operation to campaign half the world away the next day, to save a far right candidate who lost. But she didn’t leave Trig behind on a late-night stop in her red-state tour to promote her last book.

Why is Sarah Silent on this?

Reviewing 2010 Biggest Lies and Liars

Take a look back at the crazy year we’ve had in 2010. One can only begin to fantasize the lunacy 2011 will bring. Seems though some of 2010’s would be awfully hard to top, but something tells me the insanity will continue.

Some of 2010’s Outrageous Political Lies:

“The government is trying to now close the Lincoln Memorial for any kind of large gatherings.” ~ Glenn Beck on Monday, June 28th, 2010 in comments on his radio program

“We researched to find out if anybody on Fox News had ever said you’re going to jail if you don’t buy health insurance. Nobody’s ever said it.” ~ Bill O’Reilly on Tuesday, April 13th, 2010 in a segment on the Fox News show The O’Reilly Factor

“Since January 2008 the private sector has lost nearly 8 million jobs while local, state and federal governments added 590,000.” ~ Tim Pawlenty on Monday, December 13th, 2010 in an op-ed in the “Wall Street Journal”

Those who fail to buy health insurance under “Obamacare” face the threat of jail time. ~ Bob Marshall on Monday, December 13th, 2010 in a news release

You must list all your guns on your 2010 tax return. ~ Chain e-mail on Sunday, November 1st, 2009 in an e-mail circulated to many people.

“Democrats are poised now to cause this largest tax increase in U.S. history.” ~ Sarah Palin on Sunday, August 1st, 2010 in an interview on “Fox News Sunday”

“I never considered myself a maverick.” ~ John McCain on Saturday, April 3rd, 2010 in a comment on Newsweek magazine’s Web site

People “can’t go fishing anymore because of Obama.” ~ Rush Limbaugh on Tuesday, March 9th, 2010 in his talk show

The cap-and-trade bill before Congress “prevents you from selling your home without the permission of the EPA administrator.” ~ Chain e-mail on Thursday, October 7th, 2010 in e-mail and blog postings

“Social Security, like I told you, is out of money. This year it is borrowing from the general treasury.” ~ Michele Bachmann on Friday, June 11th, 2010

“The stimulus has not created one private sector job.” ~ Rick Scott on Friday, September 3rd, 2010 in a meeting with reporters in Tallahassee

“Scientists have shown us (that) the greater possibilities, the real science movement, has been with adult stem cell research. It has not been with embryonic.” ~ Scott Walker on Tuesday, October 12th, 2010 in a news conference with reporters

And 2010’s Biggest Liars

Sarah Palin: Winner Of The 2010 Glenn Beck Misinformer Of The Year Award
selecting the 2010 winner of the Glenn Beck Honorary Award for Excellence in Misinformation, Media Matters weighed the vigor and meticulous detail the 2009 recipient, Glenn Beck, brought to the craft.

PolitiFact’s Lie of the Year: ‘A government takeover of health care’
Frank Luntz, a consultant famous for his phraseology, urged GOP leaders to call it a “government takeover.” “Takeovers are like coups,” Luntz wrote in a 28-page memo. “They both lead to dictators and a loss of freedom.”

The line stuck. By the time the health care bill was headed toward passage in early 2010, Obama and congressional Democrats had sanded down their program, dropping the “public option” concept that was derided as too much government intrusion. The law passed in March, with new regulations, but no government-run plan.

15 Whoppers Beck Did Not Get Fired For In 2010In 2010, Glenn Beck repeatedly made up facts on Fox News show — a barrage of lies that would force any credible news outlet to fire him. Media Matters counts down 15 of the most notable fibs that Beck told this year on Fox News, culminating with the biggest lie of all.

Sarah Palin Calls for America to Stand by ‘Ally’ North Korea

From CBS News:

We’re not having a lot of faith that the White House is going to come out with a strong enough policy to sanction what it is that North Korea is going to do,” Palin told Beck.

It’s unclear whether she referenced the correct Korea and simply misused the term “sanction” — which, as stated, means to approve or validate, or if she meant to say South Korea, the U.S. ally, in reference to any actions that nation may take in retaliation to past or future attacks from the North.

One might even have missed that gaffe, had she not said just seconds later: “Obviously, we gotta stand with our North Korean allies.”

Upon hearing that, Beck immediately butted-in to correct the possible 2012 Republican presidential candidate, quickly interjecting, “South Korea.”

Palin replied with an almost reflexive, “yeah,” but corrected herself in the next remark: “And we’re also bound by prudence to stand with our South Korean allies, yes.”

Content on the website for Glenn Beck’s radio show is members-only, but the audio has been posted on Youtube.

Sarah Palin desacrates the American Flag Again

Sarah Palin seems to have never heard about the Flag Code:

Flag Code. Subsection 8, part (g): “The flag should never have placed upon it, nor on any part of it, nor attached to it any mark, insignia, letter, word, figure, design, picture, or drawing of any nature.”

First she wrapped herself in it while running for Mayor of Wasilla

Then she draped it over a chair and leaned on it while posing for Runners World Magazine

Flag Code. Subsection 8, part (b): The flag should never touch anything beneath it, such as the ground, the floor, water, or merchandise.

Now she’s written her name on it while signing autographs in Nevada at a Tea Party Rally.

“Do you love your freedom? If you love your freedom, thank the vets. Any of you here serving in uniform, past or present, raise your hand. We’re going to thank you for our freedom. God bless you guys!” ~ Sarah Palin 02/07/10

Sarah Palin bankrupts campaign with demands for private jets and hotel suites

Once upon a time good old fiscal conservative and mama grizzly travel to Georgia to endorse and campaign for the woman seeking to be the GOP candidate for Georgia’s next Governor. Well that woman Karen Handel lost her bid to be the state’s GOP nominee, but the race wasn’t all she lost.

While there was speculation from the very beginning if an endorsement from Sarah Palin would help or hurt the candidate, Palin came to Georgia anyway.

What Karen Handel’s supporters didn’t realize at the time was the good money they donated to her campaign would be used to put Sarah Palin and her family in luxury hotel suites and cruising around in private jets funded by their donations.

Certainly neither Karen or her supporters realized at the time that not only would Mrs. Palin’s visit to Georgia not provide the boost her campaign needed but that it would also bleed that campaign dry. But that is exactly what happened and Handel is said to now be $28,000 in the whole thanks to Sarah Palin.

From the Atlanta Journal Constitution:

Karen Handel, the former secretary of state whom Deal beat in the Aug. 10 Republican runoff, spent more than $100,000 to bring Sarah Palin to town to campaign on her behalf.

But it came at a high cost. Handel’s campaign spent more than $100,000 for the visit by Palin, the former governor of Alaska and 2008 GOP vice presidential candidate.

Handel’s campaign paid an Ohio jet charter service nearly $92,000 and her latest campaign finance report shows it was for the Palin event. Handel also paid an additional $13,000 in expenses to the InterContinental Hotel in Buckhead for the event.

Handel’s quarterly report shows her campaign committee to be $28,000 in debt, with another $55,000 in outstanding expenses.

Liar Liar Alaskan GOP Candidate Joe Miller’s Pants are on Fire

It’s bad enough Joe Miller has been is arrogant enough to post on Twitter things like needing to buy furniture for his new senate office, as if he has already won the job of Senator from Alaska but now we find out even more about Joe. Seems he has as questionable a record as that of former Governor and VP candidate Sarah Palin and the other less than truthful candidates Mrs. Palin has endorsed.

From The AP:

Statements from Miller’s Twitter feed late Wednesday, when he was in Washington, D.C. fundraising, said he thinks he’ll “do some house hunting.” He also says he figures he should pick out office furniture and expressed appreciation for the welcome he’d received – including from those he called future colleagues.The campaign of U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski labeled this “hubris.” The tweets later disappeared. Miller spokesman Randy DeSoto said Thursday that they came from a volunteer who will no longer have access to the account. DeSoto said the tweets were deleted because the campaign considered them inappropriate.

Turns out that Joe isn’t just arrogant but seems he has a sketchy memory and trouble meeting deadlines as well. Joe could learn a thing or two about the Internet too, like once it is out there someone is going to make a copy.

For someone who thinks they’ve already been anointed with the title of Senator before the ballots have even been cast, you would think good ol’ Joe Miller would have followed the rules of the game.

From Think Progress:

Sarah Palin-backed Republican Senate candidate Joe Miller (R-AK), who defeated incumbent Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) in the primary in August, skyrocketed to power partially by demanding more transparency and ethics in Washington. In his 12-point campaign promise, Miller says he will “end czar layer of government” that “clouds transparency in government.” Miller’s campaign endorsement page features Alaskans praising him for having higher ethics and a greater commitment to transparency.

However, ThinkProgress contacted the Senate Ethics Committee and the Senate Office of Public Records yesterday and discovered that Miller has not filed a personal finance disclosure as a candidate for the U.S. Senate, as required by law. According to Title I of the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 and Senate Rule 41.1, candidates for U.S. Senate must file a disclosure form within 30 days of raising or spending $5,000. According to the Federal Elections Committee, Miller raised well over $5,000 as early as April of this year. Asked again today by ThinkProgress if Miller has filed his personal finance disclosure, or has contacted the Senate Office of Public Records with any request for an extension to file, a staffer with the Office responded:

“We haven’t received anything from him. He hasn’t sent us anything.”

According to law, “failure to file or report information required to be reported by section 102 of the Act may subject” Miller — a Yale Law School graduate — to a “civil penalty of not more than $50,000 and to disciplinary action by the Select Committee on Ethics and/or any other appropriate authority.” As of today, Miller is at least five months late with his disclosures.

Say it aint so Joe! For someone claiming higher ethnic standards and a commitment to transparency you’d thikn he’d actually behave ethically and file the necessary financial disclosure. Could it be that Joe doesn’t want us to know something about his finances? Or maybe where the money being filtered into his campaign is coming from?

Could this be what Joe Miller doesn’t want anyone else to see?

Lately, a lot of Alaskans have been in an uproar over Joe Miller fudging his finances in order to obtain indigent hunting and fishing permits for himself and his wife in 1995. Of course, your Legal Eagle is also upset that Joe the moose-poaching divorce lawyer either flat-out lied about his income to get a $5 hunting and fishing permit, OR that he was seriously disingenuous in his application.

Even if Mr. Miller complied with the letter of the law, he certainly did not comply with the spirit of it. I am also very curious as to how la familia Miller was able to qualify for a $92,000 mortgage in 1994, which is the same year that the Millers reported an income of less than $8,200.00 in order to get indigent hunting and fishing permits. The cost of these indigent permits? $5. For residents who didn’t meet the income guidelines, the cost was $55. For non-residents, the cost was $300.

However, I see a more serious issue, and one that is both a clear and obvious violation of the law. Joe Miller was not a resident of the State of Alaska when he applied for and received an indigent resident hunting permit. Let me break it down for you, Mudpuppies…

In Alaska, we take fish and game very seriously. In fact, we take it so seriously that we put it right in the Constitution:

“Wherever occurring in their natural state, fish, wildlife, and waters are reserved to the people for common use.” Article VII, Section 3, Alaska Constitution.

This makes Joe Miller’s actions all the more egregious.

Joe Miller’s first lie? Residency status (cost savings: $245). Joe Miller’s second lie? Income (cost savings: $50). Is this how Joe intends to balance the budget, by lying and cheating? He’s quite the fiscal conservative!

But Joe Miller’s campaign responded to the questions about his income and the licenses and were told this:

Miller campaign spokesman Randy Desoto said the family met the guidelines for the 1995 licenses. He said Miller had been a full-time law student at Yale on a merit scholarship the previous years and his wife was taking care of their children, with family expenses paid through loans.

But the Alaskan website Mudflats was able to confirm today that Joe Miller’s claims of attending Yale on a merit scholarship doesn’t quite pass the smell test either.

No word about how he managed to zip back and forth from Anchorage to New Haven, Connecticut while earning less than $8200 that year. But, we have to admit that that merit scholarship to Yale is pretty impressive. I guess they were just trying to explain that he didn’t have enough money for law school when he and his wife supposedly earned the right to apply for hunting/fishing licenses for the poor. Yale actually recognized the young man’s brilliance and potential and offered to pay for his law school education. Wow.

Only one problem.

Yale Law School does not offer merit-based scholarships.

Jan Conroy at Yale verified that this morning on the phone with Shannyn Moore, and also noted, “We live in interesting times.” Indeed.

No word yet from Joe but certainly all of these things are just an accident right? Oh wait, I know it isn’t by accident at all, Joe will just tell us it’s the lamestream media and we should just ignore the truth about his record, right?