November 16-25
For 10 days it might as well have been Palin Planet.
Millions saw Sarah’s duel of icy-nicey with Oprah — but it was much more interesting to leave the People magazine stuff behind and hear Palin talking policy and ideas with Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly, and Greta Van Susteren.
We’ll get to that, but first an esoteric bit of knowledge to impress your friends:
The reason Palin’s accent sounds somewhat Minnesota is that she grew up in a region of Alaska originally populated by over 200 families who moved north in 1935 from Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan.
This according to three University of Wisconsin linguists in an article titled “Dialect, Perceiving Dialect, and New Dialect Formation: Sarah Palin’s Speech,” which appears in the December issue of the Journal of English Linguistics.
According to the University of Wisconsin’s Badger-Herald, “The study specifically analyzed Palin’s use of colloquial words and phrases, which were perceived as informal by many.” Reporters were very concerned about her colloquialisms, “g-dropping,” and vernacular such as “darn,” heck,” and “you betcha.”
Funny that no one seems to notice Obama’s affected ‘hoodspeak, “g-dropping,” and use of the word “sucker” to describe pardoned turkeys and executed flies.
November 17
The media are miffed at Sarah. Not only is her book stupid and dumb, but she and Missouri’s College of the Ozarks have made her December 2 convocation address a private affair. The nerve!
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Newsbusters reports: “Four Days After Airing Fake Photos of Sarah Palin, MSNBC ‘Fact Checks’ Former Governor.”
November 18
Fans line up a day in advance for Palin’s first stop — Grand Rapids — on the Going Rogue book tour. She signs books for 3 ½ hours.
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The New York Times runs a surprisingly frank and fair interview with the RNC-hired stylist who dressed Palin and her family for the 2008 campaign. The interview affirms that Palin did not indulge in shopping sprees (how could she have had the time?), that much of the expense involved providing choices and many items were returned, and that the bottom line included a hefty fee of nearly $55,000 for the designer herself — a Manhattan mother of three who did not feel the expenditure to be out of line for a campaign.
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The Chicago Tribune reports that the Palin interview gave Oprah her highest ratings in two years. Guess that’s reason enough for Oprah grinning gritting and bearing it.
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The Los Angeles Times website appears to have made a personal crusade of Palin pushback, posting at least half a dozen hit pieces about her each day — even more than the Huffington Post. Never have so many smart people gone to such great lengths to prove how dumb someone is. But if they’re so smart, why should it matter? Why is the cool and popular crowd so fixated on putting down a certain little nobody from nowhere? Inquiring minds already know.
November 19
Book signing: 1200 at Fort Wayne, Indiana.
This was the week when America — whether pro or con — revolved around Palin, you betcha. Each day filled with hundreds of articles, thousands of blogs, and millions of words about Palin. Christian Science Monitor: “Obama in Asia? Health care reform? Nope. It’s Sarah Palin week.”
November 20
Fox News reports: “Dems Seek Fundraising Boost in War With Palin“:
President Obama’s political arm, Organizing for America, has sent a fundraising e-mail seeking to raise $500,000 in the next week to stop a “dangerous” Palin from derailing the Democrats’ effort to overhaul health care.
Although the Democratic National Committee dismisses Palin as an ignorant non-factor, it’s invested way more time and effort this week attacking Palin than selling Obama, who was on another overseas publicity trip of his own.
See also the Los Angeles Times: “Obama now pleading for money to fight Sarah Palin.” Pleading? Wow.
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Martha Stewart — apparently on the OfA mailing list — when asked at an autism fundraiser what she thinks of Palin, comes up with a mind-bending pair of adjectives: “boring” and “dangerous.” At the same time or on alternate days?
November 21
The New York Times weighs in: “Republicans Eye the Tiger of Populism“:
Whatever else it said about America, her return brought into focus a big question for Republicans as they watched the intense reactions she generated: To what extent should they try to energize their electoral prospects by hitching themselves to the powerful but volatile strain of populism — characterized by anti-elitism and deep skepticism of government — that Ms. Palin has come to embody?
The renewed potency of populist conservatism has been on display since the summer, when health care town hall meetings became a forum for frustrated voters, angry at President Obama and Congressional Democrats over the issue of government expansion, and also at Republicans suspected of not fighting aggressively enough.
But even as conservatives exult in Mr. Obama’s declining job approval ratings, the drive for ideological purity inspired by the populists of the right has left many elected Republicans nervous and concerned.
You betcha!
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Saturday Night Live looks on the lighter side, offering an apocalyptic vision of Palin winning the 2012 election.
November 22
“Palin Freezing Out CBS, Disappointing No One”
From the National Journal’s headline you might not guess that Katie Couric’s producers have had two requests for interviews with Palin declined. Which I guess means that those doing the inviting were by definition disappointed.
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Sarah Palin dines with Rev. Billy Graham. His son Franklin invited her when he learned she would be swinging through North Carolina on the Going Rogue tour.
The elder Graham had never met Palin, who stopped at Fort Bragg on Monday to promote her memoir, Going Rogue: An American Life.
Franklin Graham got to know Palin early this year in Alaska. She accompanied him as Samaritan’s Purse, a Boone-based international relief agency he heads, delivered 44,000 pounds of groceries to Alaskan families who had been hit by a harsh winter in villages along the frozen Yukon River.
The Atlanta Journal and Constitution reports that they prayed together:
“I, like many people, have been impressed with her strong commitment to her faith, to family and love of country,” he said in a statement. “I appreciated hearing her speak of her own spiritual journey and her life in Alaska.”
November 23
Thousands at Fort Bragg, where the Army had spent previous weeks barring media coverage then relenting, but making it clear that Palin was there as a private citizen, not a political figure. Meanwhile, 2,000 line up in Roanoke, thousands in Birmingham.
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USA Today reports: “Poll: Most Iowa Republicans like Palin for 2012.”
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Los Angeles Times: “Sarah Palin vs. Barack Obama: The approval gap silently shrinks to a few points.” The actual url reads: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2009/11/not-that-it-matters-politically-because-shes-a-republican-idiot-and-hes-a-democrat-geniusbut-sarah-palins-poll-numbers-are-c.html
Maybe she is dangerous.
November 24
Going Rogue sells 700,000 copies in the first week. Harper Collins announces they will increase printing from 1.5 to 2.5 million copies. Fox News reports: “Few nonfiction books have debuted so well. In 2004, Bill Clinton’s My Life sold more than 900,000 copies in its first week.”
November 25
Two thousand people line up in Ocala, Florida, while Orlando fans start lining up at midnight.
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Palin will deliver the keynote address to the First National Tea Party Convention at the Opryland Hotel in Nashville Feb. 4-6. Michelle Bachman has been booked as one of the breakfast speakers.
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Fox News reports: “Palin Motivates Mothers to Launch Their Own Political Campaigns“:
Sarah Palin is keeping a tight lid on her political ambitions for 2012, but her influence on other would-be politicians can by seen by the growing number of women she has inspired to seek public office.
Patricia Sullivan, a mother of four who is running in the Republican primary to take on Democratic Rep. Alan Grayson in Florida’s 8th Congressional District, says Palin’s authenticity and rejection of Washington elitism inspired her to launch her own political run.
“She is real America,” Sullivan said in an interview Wednesday with FoxNews.com. “She’s brought more recognition to the fact that moms can do it all.”
November 26
The Palins enjoy Thanksgiving dinner with family in Richland at the home of Sarah’s aunt. Palin’s mother’s family stretches back three generations in the Tri-Cities area.
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Sarah begins the day participating in the annual 5K Turkey Trot, but leaves the race early as her presence created a crowd problem.
November 28
The Seattle Times reports on Palin’s Tri-Cities book signing: “Welcome to Sarah Palin country, 220 miles and a world of politics away from Seattle.”
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Palin is drawing support from gay conservatives:
GayPatriot: “Sarah Palin & the Need to Communicate the Gipper’s Vision.”
Hillbuzz (two Chicago gays worth bookmarking): “When monsters emerge, heroes rise. Let’s all hope Sarah Palin answers that call” and “Sarah Palin keeps gay men from dating in Chicago.” (Also noteworthy: “Help Us Dick Cheney, You Are Our Only Hope, Thank you, former president George W. Bush and former First Lady Laura Bush” and “Speaker of the House Bachman?“)
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Colorado Springs Gazette: “Is Palin the new Dobson?“:
Focus on the Family founder James Dobson has masterfully combined conservative Christianity and GOP politics for decades.
His influence in rallying evangelicals on issues like gay marriage and abortion is unprecedented, and GOP presidential candidates have long courted his endorsement, especially because his radio show has such a broad reach.
But Dobson is giving up the show in February, leading to speculation as to who will be the new voice of the evangelical-Republican movement. Many names have been mentioned — among them American Values president Gary Bauer — but none seem likely to fire up the evangelical base the way Dobson has.
Except, maybe, Sarah Palin.
November 30
Great recap from the Weekly Standard: “Media on Palin: ‘War of the Worlds, II‘”
December 1
“Sarah Palin Stars as Heroine in New Children’s Book”: Help! Mom! Radicals are Ruining My Country!
“I used Palin because I wanted to point out that there is nothing wrong with standing up for your values regardless of who attacks you,” [Author Katharine] DeBrecht told Foxnews.com. “The book also shows that “Marxus” and his radicals are basically killing the American Dream in their grab for power. I want to tell kids that they can achieve their dreams by working hard and not relying on the government to help them.”
December 2
Palin graces Barbara Walters’ annual “Most Fascinating People” list, along with Adam Lambert, Kate Gosselin, Fox News’ Glenn Beck, Lady Gaga, and more.
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Still drawing big crowds: 1,500 fans turn out in Roswell, New Mexico.
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Palin signed as keynote speaker for the International Bowl Expo 2010, June 27 to July 1 at the Las Vegas Hilton and Las Vegas Convention Center.
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Palin lauds Obama’s Afghanistan decision via her Facebook page.
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Going Rogue sales hit a million — just two weeks after publication.
December 3
Palin posts: “Mr. President: Boycott Copenhagen; Investigate Your Climate Change ‘Experts'”:
The president’s decision to attend the international climate conference in Copenhagen needs to be reconsidered in light of the unfolding Climategate scandal. The leaked e-mails involved in Climategate expose the unscientific behavior of leading climate scientists who deliberately destroyed records to block information requests, manipulated data to “hide the decline” in global temperatures, and conspired to silence the critics of man-made global warming. I support Senator James Inhofe’s call for a full investigation into this scandal. Because it involves many of the same personalities and entities behind the Copenhagen conference, Climategate calls into question many of the proposals being pushed there, including anything that would lead to a cap and tax plan.
Policy should be based on sound science, not snake oil.
Read more at Facebook.
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In an interview with Rusty Humphries, Palin asserts the right of “birthers” to ask for Obama’s birth certificate.
Palin responds to the ensuing media frenzy via Facebook:
Voters have every right to ask candidates for information if they so choose. I’ve pointed out that it was seemingly fair game during the 2008 election for many on the left to badger my doctor and lawyer for proof that Trig is in fact my child. Conspiracy-minded reporters and voters had a right to ask… which they have repeatedly. But at no point – not during the campaign, and not during recent interviews – have I asked the president to produce his birth certificate or suggested that he was not born in the United States.
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