Talk About Thin Skin!

Look, I've always said Sarah Palin isn't going to run in 2012, and if she does, there's no way in hell she can get enough Independent votes, and moderate Republican votes for that matter, for her not to get stomped in the general election should she win the GOP primary. But Palin's main problem, besides being a mentally deficient, catty narcissist, is that she can't let any negative comment roll off her back without retaliating.

Newly hired Michele Bachmann adviser Ed Rollins told us what he thought of Palin in no uncertain terms. "Sarah has not been serious over the last couple of years," she was pulled from obscurity and given the gift of a VP nomination, and she quit as Governor of Alaska when not being in the spotlight didn't suit her. All of what he said was true.

If she were serious, she'd still be in office, wouldn't be working for Fox, wouldn't have starred in a reality series, wouldn't be horking in on someone else's reality TV time, and wouldn't be traipsing around on "vacation" in a billboard with wheels. If she were serious, her team wouldn't asking for Rollins to retract his statement either.

"Beltway political strategist Ed Rollins has a long, long track record of taking high profile jobs and promptly sticking his foot in his mouth," said Sarah PAC chief of staff Michael Glassner in an emailed statement. "To no one's surprise he has done it again, while also fueling a contrived narrative about the presidential race by the mainstream media. One would expect that his woodshed moment is coming and that a retraction will be issued soon."

Ok, here's Rollins' "correction":

Michele Bachmann adviser Ed Rollins' response to the sharp criticisms from Sarah Palin's world just now was to "let it go."

But he didn't go quietly, telling me, "I haven't lived in Washington D.C. in 15 years, and I've been taken to the woodshed by the big boys."

"As far as we're concerned, it's not" an ongoing fight, he insisted. "This was my one comment, which I shouldn't have made, at the end of the day this has nothing to do with Michele, Michele's campaign, or any of the rest of it. This was my transition from being an analyst to a political strategist, and I missed a step."

..."What's the retraction? I say she's serious?"

You see, Palin is so hypersensitive to anything anyone says about her in a negative light, she has to lash out, whether she does it personally or those hired by her do it. She just can't take Rollins' advice and "let it go." And it makes her look all the more petty and vindictive; not a couple of attributes becoming of a possible presidential candidate.

And good for Rollins in making a perfectly thought out statement. It wasn't an apology, nor was it a retraction, just a "maybe I shouldn't have said it" moment, but never taking back what he did say. But if Sarah is this thin-skinned now, what's going to happen if she decides to join the campaign trail? She'll never make it out of New Hampshire.

S#*! Sarah Palin Says (QWERTY Edition)

[Sigh.] I'd actually force myself to have the slightest bit of respect for Sarah Palin in this instance if she'd just admit she fucked up. But no. She brought up the whole "refudiate" story all over again in a feeble attempt to prove that it was just a typo.

"I pressed an F instead of a P and people freaked out," said Sarah, pointing out that her blunder was the second-most-searched word on Google trends.

Really, Sarah? Because when I look at my BlackBerry, the letter 'F' is about two thirds away from the letter 'P' on my keyboard. Oh, what's that you say?

In the clip from "Sarah Palin's Alaska"... it turns out that Palin claims she "pressed an 'f' instead of a 'd'" on the way to creating the word "refudiate." While the "f" and "d" keys are indeed closer to each other on a QWERTY keyboard, such an explanation would suggest that she was intending to spell the word "redudiate," which is also not a real word.

Once again... *sigh*... If you'll just admit that you melded the words "refute" and "repudiate" together in the excuse you call a brain, this would have been dropped long ago. Actually, it WAS dropped, but in your infinite wisdom, you decided to bring it up again to prove that you're never wrong when in actuality, you're often wrong (see Death Panels, Michelle Obama's anti-obesity campaign, the Bush Doctrine, abuse of power while governor of Alaska, etc.).

Real Americans?

POSTED BY JHW22

There are a thousand things I take issue with when it comes to Sarah Palin. Maybe a million. But what's got me thinking today is this "real Americans" crap she spews as if she somehow gets to define what that means. She never really comes right out and says what she thinks a "real American" is or what her declaration means. Is she defining the term in order to say some people don't belong here or something? I don't get it. I don't get the purpose of this other than to be divisive and arrogant and politicizing.

I hate that we are a country that actually fights over who is more patriotic, spiritual, moral. What? No single party loves the flag or Constitution more than an other (although it could be argued that the self-appointed Constitution defenders are trying to warp and misrepresent it but that's another post).

But it's this subtle thing Palin does that pits her view of what makes someone a "real American" versus the fact that the Constitution defines the true meaning rather well (although I think those who want to repeal the 14th amendment actually have a problem with section four, but again, that's another post). Forget that there are people in this country who are not yet legal citizens who care a great deal about this country and support it, defend it, etc., she is consistently calling into question actual Americans' place in this country.

Aside from her views on what liberty and freedom mean, let's just look at one theme she promotes:

Alaskans do things no other Americans do thus they are "real Americans". I watched her show the other night, it was actually a lot of fun for a Palin-despiser to watch. There were moments that people who know the truth about her could find telling and humorous. I am not sure how many times she contradicted herself right there on TV for the world to see. But the moments that irked me were the moments I may turn into a drinking game. I think I'll take a swig every time she implies that only Alaskans [insert hobby, skill, family value here]. You would think, after watching last week's camping episode, that ONLY Alaskans camp. Only Alaskans camp where bears are wild. Only Alaskans camp in the rain. The only difference between millions of Americans who have done any and/or all of those things is we don't choose to go camping somewhere that requires an air-taxi. But then again, I imagine most "real Alaskans" don't NEED to take an air-taxi to go camping. Looking at that state, reading about it, hell, even watching her show, I get the impression you can get to a camping site just by heading to the outskirts of town.

Apparently, only Alaskans (or maybe it's only Palins) treat camping as a family bonding experience. Apparently, people from other states have never learned the precious arts of pitching a tent, lighting a fire and roasting marshmallows while fishing along the bank of a river. You may want to tell companies like REI that they should pull up and relocate all their stores to Alaska because, according to Palin, that's an Alaska thing.

And don't get her started on New Yorkers. Boy, those New York elite don't know the first thing about family bonding or camping or cold weather. They are too wealthy, all of those New Yorkers, to know what it means to hunt for your food. Then again, neither does Palin -- there is a Super Target in Wasilla after all.

At the root of all this is a question I ask myself over and over. Shouldn't a "real American" value all of the states? Shouldn't there be more pride in America as a whole rather than pitting one state against another? Shouldn't we cherish what a vast and amazing country we live in? We have so much history and shared experiences. We also have so many opportunities to learn new things, share unfamiliar traditions, celebrate people's experiences that are different from ours.

Perhaps my view comes from the fact that I, like many Americans, have lived in more than one state. I have lived on the east coast, the west coast and the southwest. My experiences of this country have been formed in red states and blue states and purple states. I have known hunters and tree huggers, atheists and Christians, Hungarians and Brazilians, liberals and conservatives. My view of "real America" is one of many. You know, e pluribus unum. I believe in that.

As beautiful as Alaska is. As much as I think it has a lot to offer those of us who have never gone there, I think Palin is doing her home state a disservice. By pitting states against one another, she is insulting the precious things other states have to offer. While doing that, she also caricatures Alaskans based on her image (which by watching her show you can see is a false image at that). And in the meantime, she is dividing all Americans among some imaginary line that only she defines. Her dog whistles of creating others out of fellow Americans is one of her platforms. And as she continues down the path of wanting to play a significant role in this country, I hope more Americans get tired of her loyalty to one state at the disrespect of the others.

Sarah Palin has this idea that Alaskans are misunderstood or under-appreciated and she thinks she is on some mission to change that. But if she wants to be President of the United States, she needs to find some ounce of genuine curiosity in her and go on a LISTENING tour of all the states. She needs to stop trying to compare others as worse than Alaska or just like Alaska and start seeing other states, other Americans as valuable and real. But she won't. She will continue on book tours and self-promotion tours and anti-Obama tours and raising money tours. She wants to judge Americans as real or not real. But all she's doing is making a real problem.

Sarah's Show Sinks in Viewership

Episode two of the Palin reality show averaged just 3 million viewers, down 40% from the previous week.

Perhaps more troubling are the viewer demographics. The show averaged just 885,000 viewers in the advertiser-friendly 18-49 demo, and the median age of the show's viewer is a whopping 57 years old. According to The Live Feed's James Hibberd, that's 15 years older than TLC's median age of 42.

The series premiere's voyeurs must have included tons of enemies, curiosity seekers those attracted to side show freaks. A 40% drop from week one to week two? Let's see what next week brings.

A Casual Observation

While I'm on the subject of Sarah Palin, you know, because there's nothing more important than that, there's one remark that struck me as odd during her narcissistic TLC reality show that practically no one has mentioned. At least I haven't heard anyone take note of it. And I only say "one thing" because I could not stomach actually watching the broadcast; my observation is just coming from video news clips because the "lamestream media" is obsessed with all things Palin.

There is a scene in the backyard of the Palin compound where Palin and the First Dude are chatting and commenting on the 14 foot fence that has been erected to block out a neighbor's view. That neighbor is supposedly a reporter who moved into the rental next door while he is in Alaska writing a book on Palin.

What struck me as the height of hypocrisy was Sarah suggesting to Todd that perhaps they should drill a hole in the fence so she can peer in and see what he's doing. She says this in front of cameras with absolutely no sense of irony. They're pissed off at the supposed spy next door, but now want to do the spying, all played out to delightful mischievous underscoring in front of 5 million viewers according to TLC. I wonder what the drop off in viewership will be next week?

To Celebrity or Not To Celebrity, That is the Question, Also, Too - UPDATED

POSTED BY JHW22

I think Shannyn Moore rocks. She is a sensible, fair and calm journalist who may be one of the people who actually gets through to Americans who are enamored by Sarah Palin. This week, she shares a little diddy in the Huffington Post and at her blog about my new hero, Kathleen Gustafson. Kathleen had the cojones to show up where Sarah Palin was filming her TLC teevee show about Alaska and call her out on her poor governing. She had a chance to say, to Palin's face,

"You're not a leader, you're a climber!"

She also accused Palin of being a celebrity, to which both Sarah and her daughter took great mocking offense. Sarah Palin a celebirty? In what respect, Kathleen? Oh, yeah, the respect that she's FILMING A TV SHOW! And perhaps because she HAS A TV STUDIO IN HER HOUSE (the house that's next door to her regular, non-celebrity house).

But I guess my favorite part of the whole exchange is when Palin says she's helping America by helping to elect good people who understand the Constitution. See, I do that, also, too. And I don't need to be a celebrity to do it. She is lazy and opportunistic and pretends she is working for America as she rakes in the cash. Thanks to people like Shannyn Moore and Kathleen Gustafson, perhaps more people will start to see that.

Oh, and my least favorite part of the exchange was when she showed complete disdain for Ms. Gustafson when Ms. Gustafson said she was a teacher. Yes, we know Sarah hates learning. But to despise a teacher just for being a teacher? Really? That's just stupid.

UPDATE: Sarah has since posted a Facebook defense blaming the lamestream media for misinterpreting her reaction to the teacher as an eye roll. My husband posted a comment to her post telling her what he saw (disrespect) and it was deleted.

Set Your DVRs!

TLC President Eileen O'Neill told reporters at the annual Television Correspondents Association press tour that "Sarah Palin's Alaska," the TLC series that was announced in March, will debut on November 14 at 9 PM.

...The announcement of the series in March had created a stir, since TLC is owned by the Discovery Network, which is known for its nature shows, and Palin is no friend of the environmental movement.

O'Neill told reporters that "the early selects are looking great."

"It's become clear it takes a special individual to thrive in Alaska," she said.

The initial run is slated for eight episodes. I can't for "Episode Five: Special Individuals Make Wasilla the Crystal Meth Capital of Alaska."