September 02, 2008

9/2: Scrutinizing Sarah

As the media continues its feeding frenzy over Sarah Palin, liberal bloggers are engaging in a feeding frenzy of their own. The netroots are buzzing about the recent string of disclosures about Palin and are portraying her as a disastrous VP pick which highlights John McCain's impulsiveness and poor judgment. Liberal bloggers are devoting particular attention to the revelation that Palin was previously a member of the Alaskan Independence Party (AIP), an organization whose "primary goal is [to have] a vote on secession". Liberal bloggers believe that Palin's membership in this group is very damaging, as the founder of the organization has made disparaging remarks about the U.S. Liberal bloggers are also pushing the argument that Palin isn't the reformer that the McCain camp has made her out to be, noting that she employed a lobbying firm "to secure almost $27 million in federal earmarks for a town of 6,700 residents while she was its mayor" and initially supported the infamous "Bridge to Nowhere."

Conservative bloggers, on the other hand, remain excited about Palin. Like the McCain camp, they're accusing liberal bloggers of spreading scurrilous rumors about Palin and thereby forcing the Palins to reveal that their 17-year-old daughter Bristol Palin is pregnant. Liberal bloggers are denying that they spread these rumors and are arguing that the McCain camp is simply trying to deflect attention from its disastrous VP roll-out.

PALIN: This Is How McCain Made His First Important Decision?

Liberal bloggers are buzzing about the recent series of disclosures about Palin:

"ST. PAUL -- A series of disclosures about Gov. Sarah Palin, Senator John McCain's choice as running mate, called into question on Monday how thoroughly Mr. McCain had examined her background before putting her on the Republican presidential ticket.

On Monday morning, Ms. Palin and her husband, Todd, issued a statement saying that their 17-year-old unmarried daughter, Bristol, was five months pregnant and that she intended to marry the father.

Among other less attention-grabbing news of the day: it was learned that Ms. Palin now has a private lawyer in a legislative ethics investigation in Alaska into whether she abused her power in dismissing the state's public safety commissioner; that she was a member for two years in the 1990s of the Alaska Independence Party, which has at times sought a vote on whether the state should secede; and that Mr. Palin was arrested 22 years ago on a drunken-driving charge."

Liberal bloggers are portraying Palin as a disastrous VP pick that highlights McCain's impulsiveness and poor judgment:

• AMERICAblog's Joe Sudbay: "John McCain had six months to pick a running mate. This was the most important decision McCain has made so far. He had plenty of time to think it through and vet the potential picks. Instead, McCain made a rash, uninformed, impulsive choice. With each passing hour, the McCain campaign's claims of thorough vetting sound less and less plausible. [...] Reckless. Impulsive. Erratic. That's the kind of leadership McCain would give America. McCain is willing to gamble with our safety and security."
• Obsidian Wings' publius: "It's just unbelievable how cavalierly [McCain] decided to put her as the #2. [...] But of course the more substantive problem is that this type of 'act first, think later' impulsive recklessness is all too common with John McCain (see also Russia/Georgia, immediate aftermath of 9/11). And it's a striking contrast to [Barack] Obama's grueling intensive vetting process. Who's risky again?"
• Mother Jones' Kevin Drum: "It's now plainly obvious that neither McCain himself nor anyone on the McCain team knew the first thing about Palin before they put her on the ticket."
• The Washington Monthly's Steve Benen: "As ridiculous a choice as Palin is for national office, let's not lose sight of the real scandal here -- John McCain has the judgment of a small child. Tasked with the most important decision of his presidential campaign, McCain has managed to demonstrate incompetence, cynicism, and recklessness, all at the same time."
• Oliver Willis: "As Josh Marshall notes and the NY Times is now reporting, it is clear Sen. McCain used the same sort of judgment in bringing Sarah Palin into his campaign as he did when he voted for the Iraq War: None at all. It is just the latest bad decision and lack of judgment John McCain has demonstrated in both his public and private life, and the sort of impulse control he would exercise if God forbid he was elected president. The Obama campaign should just run an ad saying 'Barack Obama thinks before he makes important decisions'. It would be an excellent rebuttal to Bush, McCain, and the entire Republican apparatus."
• Daily Kos' DemFromCT: "This is a Tom Eagleton disaster for the GOP. The Democrats are defining her faster than she's defining herself. That's what happens when McCain scrimps on the vetting, and screws up the choice with what may well have been a last minute pick after the Obama speech. And, you know, it all reflects on him. He's the one running for President, but I don't think the American people really want that kind of undisciplined loose cannon in the White House. Moreover, his 'Country First' slogan should be 'Do Whatever To Win'."
• TPM's Josh Marshall: "A lot of attention is being given to Gov. Palin's daughter's situation. The much bigger deal is the expanding trooper-gate investigation, the fact that Palin lied in her Friday speech about her purported opposition to the Bridge to Nowhere, her apparent former membership in the secessionist Alaska Independence Party, and more. Individually, you can come to your own judgment about how consequential these stories are. What they show pretty clearly now -- in addition to the news that the McCain campaign is only now sending in a vetting team -- is that John McCain didn't do any serious vetting of Palin before he invited her to join his ticket and, he hopes, become Vice President of the United States. Fundamentally, of course, this is about John McCain. And the real issue here is what this slapdash decision says about his judgment."

PALIN II: God Damn America, Alaskan-Style

Liberal bloggers are devoting particular attention to the revelation that Palin was previously a member of the Alaskan Independence Party (AIP), an organization whose "primary goal is [to have] a vote on secession". Liberal bloggers are portraying Palin's relationship with this group as very damaging, particularly in light of the fact that the group's founder has made disparaging remarks about the U.S.:

• Mark Kleiman: "'I'm an Alaskan, not an American. I've got no use for America or her damned institutions.' That's from the late Joe Vogler, founder of the Alaskan Independence Party. It's not dredged up out of old news clips: it's prominently featured on the AIP website. Makes you wonder what the Governor of Alaska, who is now running to be understudy to the Chief Executive of those 'damned institutions,' was doing encouraging the delegates to this year's AIP convention to 'Keep up the good work.'"
• TAPPED's Adam Serwer: "Remember that Barack Obama caught a great deal of heat for having a pastor who was harshly critical of America. For some reason though, Republicans don't seem to have a problem with Palin being part of an organization that outright calls for secession from the Union, a la Nation of Islam circa the 1960s. [...] Shouldn't they be very concerned about Palin's direct ties to an organization that has 'no use for America or her damned institutions,' and in their own words puts Alaska, not 'country,' first?"
• Atrios: "Alaska First. Not quite the same as McCain's Country First."
• Daily Kos' georgia10: "Not only was Palin a member [of the AIP], but she and her husband attended the group's 1994 convention. It's unclear how much Palin's involvement with the AIP has influenced her political philosophy today. Now a member of the Republican party, [is] she still, as the Vice Chairman of the AIP put it, 'pretty well sympathetic to her former membership'?"
• Obsidian Wings' hilzoy: "Of these stories, Palin's past membership in the Alaskan Independence Party seems the most damaging to me. [...] This is a nutty organization. It is, moreover, an organization whose founder took his views, and the Party's, to imply that he was not an American. The McCain campaign has been more than willing to question Obama's patriotism on the basis of nothing at all. Yet when asked about Sarah Palin's past membership in a secessionist party, 'a McCain spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.'"

PALIN III: She's Better Than Your Typical Alaska Pol, But...

Liberal bloggers are also arguing that Palin isn't the reformer that the McCain camp is making her out to be, noting that she (1.) "employed a lobbying firm to secure almost $27 million in federal earmarks for a town of 6,700 residents while she was its mayor", (2.) "was for the Bridge to Nowhere before she was against it", and (3.) "serv[ed] as a director of an independent political group organized by the now embattled Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens":

• Ezra Klein: "Palin did not reject the system. Alaska is a pork-based economy. So when she was mayor of Wasilla, a town of 6,700 people, she employed Robertson, Monagle & Eastaugh, a powerful lobbying firm, to push Congress into appropriating almost $27 million in earmarks for her town. That's about $4,000 per person. When the $250 million Bridge to Nowhere was a possibility, she advocated for it. When Ted Stevens was the state's most powerful politician, she attached herself to him, directing his 527 group. Which is not say she doesn't have some reformist credentials: She does. But in a state as corrupt as Alaska, that's not the same as saying she's clean."
• Think Progress' Matthew Yglesias: "I was just speaking to a couple of GOP activists from North Dakota about Sarah Palin. These were very much the fabled 'base' people who are 'excited' by the Palin pick. Much like left-wing ideologues, it turns out, conservative activists have a real disliking of 'bad' Republicans. So these guys didn't know very much about Palin's record in office, but they knew she was a solid conservative who'd managed to take down an incumbent Republican and still hold the statehouse for the GOP. And this, basically, is Palin's qualification for office -- she's less corrupt than your average Alaska Republican. As best one can tell this is true. But the extent of Palin's distance from the Alaska Republican establishment can be easily overstated."
• Benen: "When McCain introduced Palin as his running mate, he touted her opposition to wasteful spending, including the infamous 'bridge to nowhere.' McCain, however, didn't know what he was talking about, because Palin actually supported the project, and kept the money allotted for it. As it turns out, the problem goes much further. Palin didn't seek or receive any pork-barrel projects from Congress immediately after she became mayor of the small Alaskan town, but before long, she was hiring well-connected lobbyists to help bring in nearly $27 million in earmarks over a four-year period. In other words, Palin was engaged in the exact same activities McCain points to as the problem with the political process. McCain, unknowingly, has been blasting his own running mate's conduct."
• Kleiman: "Remember how Sarah Palin was a 'reformer' and 'took on Ted Stevens,' proving that she's tough enough to take on [Vladimir] Putin? Not so much; turns out that not only did Palin accept Stevens's support when she ran for Governor in 2006 [but] she was an official of Stevens's 527 group. Bonus fun fact: McCain considers 527s 'clearly illegal.'"

PALIN IV: This Is Your Fault, Netroots

Conservative bloggers are joining the McCain camp in accusing liberal bloggers of pushing the story that Sarah Palin's youngest son is not her own, which (in their view) forced the Palin family to reveal that Palin's daughter Bristol is pregnant with her own child:

• Michelle Malkin: "Ever since John McCain announced his VP pick, the Daily Kos -- the self-declared 'New Center' of American politics -- has been an out-of-control incubator of deranged conspiracy theories and attacks on GOP Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's family. Will a single Kos Democrat stand up publicly and specifically denounce the madness on the left side of the Internet? Or do they agree with the Kos smear merchants that monitoring Palin family pregnancies and jeering about 17-year-old Bristol's situtation -- as Kos himself does here in this post now featured on the front page of the site -- is 'fair game'?"
• RedState's Ben Domenech: "The foul denizens of Obama's online base, who find the very idea of Sarah Palin as a strong feminist conservative mother absurd, engaged in the worst kind of putrid mudslinging over the past few days, suggesting in no uncertain terms that her daughter was the mother of Trig Palin. Of course, those of us who laughed at the baseless suggestions of the child-hating left (she's not fat enough! they shriek) now know that to be impossible. We also know that McCain himself knew of Bristol's pregnancy - which had to have made this past 48 hours all the more frustrating for the campaign. For all these reasons, it's good to have this announcement come now."
• Townhall's Hugh Hewitt: "This Reuters story caps off 72 hours of shame for the leftosphere and their pals in the MSM who trafficked in wretched rumor about Sarah Palin and her family. This led to the breach in the family's private life, and to an extent that should appal everyone."

RedState's Erick Erickson accuses the Obama camp of coordinating with liberal bloggers in pushing this story: "Several credible, reliable people have told me that Obama staffers have been forwarding out the story about Sarah Palin's youngest son not being her own. In fact, the New York Times vaguely referenced the story the other day. They would not do that if lowly bloggers were pushing the story. It had to be a connected Democrat. [...] The pattern is clear: Obama's campaign pushes information to Daily Kos. Daily Kos then spreads it and gets it into the media (probably because a lot of reporters are also diarists there). Given all the other ever changing statements from Obama, how exactly can we really believe his denials now, given his pattern and the connections?"

Meanwhile, conservative bloggers are directing much of their fire at The Atlantic's Andrew Sullivan, an Obama supporter (and a self-proclaimed conservative) who is perhaps the most prominent blogger to speculate about the possibility that Palin's youngest son is not her own. Hot Air's Allahpundit writes: "How important is Sullivan in 'mainstreaming' the most repulsive smears for big media consumption? The media knows his name and his credentials at TNR and The Atlantic and therefore assumes that if something filthy's being 'aired' at the Daily Dish, there must be something to it."

PALIN V: The Netroots Push Back

The netroots are pushing back against allegations that they promoted the story that Sarah Palin's youngest son is not her own:

• BooMan: "Let me disclose something. Bloggers and progressive activists talk to each other and strategize together. We didn't want to touch the Sarah Palin pregnancy story with a 10-foot pole and the overwhelming consensus was to strongly discourage anyone that was running with the rumors. These rumors were started in the spring by Republicans in Alaska and not by the progressive blogosphere. We stifled the story as much as we could without deleting people's diaries."
• AMERICAblog's John Aravosis: "The thing is, I never pushed this story, nor did Markos [Moulitsas], nor did Josh Marshall. We're three of the top 'liberal' blogs, and we never touched it. So, sorry to disapppoint. [...] John McCain's first major decision as our possible future president and commander in chief, the selection of the person who would take over our country should he leave office, has been an unmitigated disaster. It's understandable that he's trying to deflect the blame. And rather sad."
• MyDD's Jerome Armstrong: "Does anyone consider Andrew Sullivan a 'liberal blogger' that's on our side? Is there any other 'liberal blogger' that is promoting this non-story other than Andrew Sullivan? I know there was a stupid diary that was on DailyKos but other than that shouted-down diary, its only Sullivan hyping this up for the media to say that Obama supporters are pushing this nonsense."
• MyDD's Josh Orton: "There's only one of two possibilities here: First, liberal blogs have become SO POWERFUL that a single non-frontpage DKos diary about a pregnancy rumor forced, within 1.5 days, a presidential campaign to announce the teenage-pregnancy of the VP candidate's daughter. -OR- This rumor was already circulating among traditional news types, and the McCain campaign actively flacked the DKos diary around to reporters as 'proof' of how vicious and scurrilous the left is. And then conveniently let hang the (completely false) notion that Obama staffers fanned the flames of a negative story during a hurricane."
• Marshall: "The McCain campaign is lashing out at 'liberal bloggers' for this story coming to light and even perhaps the Obama campaign. I think we can chalk that down as another intemperate falsehood emanating from their campaign. [...] In an ideal world, the daughter's life would be her own business. But in the world we live in the best for all concerned would be to give it a respectful airing on day one or two and take it off the table rather than have it come out in some more jagged and painful way. We don't care about Palin's daughter. Her life is her own. She's not running for anything. What this does show is much more confirmation of what Republican operatives and pols are saying loquaciously off-the-record: that they don't think there was any real vetting of Palin. Acting out from the McCain camp will not change that."

PALIN VI: A Silver Lining For Palin?

Several conservative bloggers believe that the news of Bristol Palin's pregnancy may actually turn out to be a positive development for the McCain/Palin ticket:

• Townhall's Amanda Carpenter: "Once the expected 'hypocrisy' attacks subside, along the lines of 'how could a conservative women raise her daughter to do such a thing' this is going to offer an array of opportunities for the McCain-Palin ticket to demostrate their commitment to family. This makes Palin relatable. It demonstrates the family's commitment to life. Bristol is planning to marry the father, offering a Jamie Lynn Spears-on-steroids PR opportunity. And every time Barack Obama tries to break through the media coverage, the GOP will be able remind everyone how Obama said he wouldn't ever want his daughters 'punished with a baby.'"
• Townhall's Mike Gallagher: "Sarah Palin continues to be a great American story. She is a tough, compelling, amazing story. And what she is experiencing with her daughter is something plenty of American families have experienced and can relate to. [...] A young girl gets pregnant, and makes good decisions. Having a baby is most definitely a 'family value.' Getting married is the ultimate 'family value.' And every aspect of this story reminds Americans of Barack Obama and Joe Biden's pro-abortion stance, even when it comes to late term abortions. So Democrats, have at it. Make hay out of this story. Bring it on. You'll be helping the McCain/Palin ticket more than you can ever realize."
• Hewitt: "The show and e-mails today confirmed that the response to the Palin family news today has been overwhelmingly positive among the base of the GOP and, I suspect, all sorts of Americans of all political stripes who understand and applaud a family's decision to draw close and support with unconditional love for all concerned."

A few conservative bloggers wish that the news of Bristol Palin's pregnancy had been revealed earlier:

• Power Line's John Hinderaker: "Assuming that Palin and McCain really did know about the pregnancy and didn't mention it until now, I think it was a serious mistake. The time to bring it up was when Palin and her family were first introduced. Bristol was there, and it wouldn't have been difficult to refer to her fiance, say that she is getting married in October or whatever, and that she will have a baby next winter. Sarah Palin could have added that this wasn't how she and her husband planned it, but they like their new son-in-law and are totally supportive of their daughter. Handled that way, it would have been a non-story. By keeping it secret (assuming they really did know), they made it a time bomb that could only go off at an inopportune time. Like the first day of the convention."
• NRO's Jay Nordlinger: "I wish that the news about Palin's daughter had been released the first day -- the day Palin was announced. I wish it had been part of the general news about her and her family -- the introduction. Why? Because the dribbling out of the news a few days later...makes the ticket look somehow sneaky. Deceptive. The news taints the whole Palin roll-out, just a bit. It takes the bloom off the rose, just a bit. Plus, many people don't believe that the McCain team knew about the pregnancy, in advance. And, frankly, I don't blame them."

AmSpec Blog's Robert Stacy McCain is one conservative blogger who's very critical of Bristol Palin's conduct: "Since the McCain campaign has released a statement declaring that 17-year-old Bristol Palin now faces 'the responsibilities of adulthood,' might I be so bold as to suggest that they arrange a press conference where Bristol can attempt to address the horrible embarrassment she's caused her parents? Excuse my paternal (and political) indignation but I am in no mood for pleas that the media respect anyone's privacy at this point. I don't think it an exaggeration to say that this girl (and her boyfriend) have caused a crisis of global significance, and if her parents are serious about 'the responsibilities of adulthood,' Bristol ought to face the consequences, including about 45 minutes in front of the klieg lights while reporters shout stupid questions. It's not Bristol's fault her mother was picked as the GOP running mate, but she certainly should have understood how her personal behavior would reflect on her family."

PALIN VII: So You Agree That It's Her Decision?

Liberal bloggers are criticizing the McCain camp for telling reporters that Bristol Palin "made the decision on her own to keep the baby":

• Ann Friedman: "John McCain and Sarah Palin don't believe women have a right to choose. It's absolutely absurd for the campaign to emphasize the fact that Bristol 'made this decision,' and then push for policies that take away that choice."
• Yglesias: "Why shouldn't ever woman continue to enjoy the choices that Bristol Palin has? And more to the point, if women shouldn't be allowed to choose then why does McCain's campaign think it's important to emphasize her agency in this process? By his own lights, McCain should be totally indifferent to whether Bristol chose this course of action or was pressured into it by her mother. McCain's view is that he should make the choice for her and for every other pregnant woman in the country."
• Atrios: "What does it mean when the candidates who want to coerce every pregnant woman into having the baby release a statement designed to reassure us that this particular woman wasn't coerced."

While many liberal bloggers believe it's wrong to talk about Bristol Palin, a few bloggers are pointing to her pregnancy as an example of the ineffectiveness of abstinence-only sex education:

• Moulitsas: "Maybe one more abstinence-only supporting politicians will realize the limits of such an approach. Teens will do what they will do. It's obvious Bristol would've been better served with a discussion about safe sex. Instead, she's now facing a shotgun wedding to the baby's father."
• While acknowledging that Bristol Palin is entitled to "privacy", Atrios adds: "But policy matters. And the consequences of being against contraception distribution and pro-abstinence only education are rather obvious."

THOUGHT OF THE DAY: Will McCain Ruin Palin?

The Atlantic's Ross Douthat posts an interesting email from a reader:

"If I were as big a Palin fan as you have admitted to being, I'd be pretty upset with John McCain right now. [James] Fallows put it best this morning; there's just no way anyone, even someone of considerable intellect and political skill, can come out looking good after being slingshot into the international spotlight so quickly. The intricacies of national and international politics are just way too overwhelming, it takes months to years of careful study to be able to operate on that big a stage without making huge, potentially game changing gaffes.

John McCain just took one of the Republican party's top prospects (if not the top prospect) and shot her into a situation in which she (or anyone) is all but bound to fail, all for his own selfish hope that it might help him win this election.

I'm about as big an Obama fan as you are for Palin, and if John Kerry had tapped him as his running mate following Obama's 04 convention speech, I'd have been furious."

LEST WE FORGET: Man Pinned Under Blankets For Three Days

From The Onion:

"MOLINE, TX -- Crushed under the weight of a sudden and unexpected emotional collapse Friday, local resident Sam Cartwright spent 72 hours completely immobilized beneath the covers of his bed. 'I don't know how long I was unconscious for,' said Cartwright, who managed to stay alive by eating from a box of Ritz crackers that was within arm's reach. 'I couldn't move. There were so many times that I wanted to just give up and die.' Cartwright was eventually freed from the blankets when his friend Rob brought over a six-pack and told him to 'forget that bitch.'"

Posted by Ian Faerstein at September 2, 2008 02:19 PM