Greta Van Susteren and Tucker Carlson have a knock down, drag out, hair pulling, slap fight over Sarah Palin. Don't forget your popcorn!

Van Sustern: You're a liar!

Carlson: No I'm not!

Van Susteren: Yes you are!

Carlson: Am not! Am not! Am not!

I think I will play this over an over today whenever I am feeling a little down. It cannot fail to put a huge smile on my face.

Professor Scharlott finally has the opportunity to publish his carefully researched article over at the Business Insider.

Courtesy of the Business Insider:

Three years ago, a sitting state governor and candidate for the vice-presidency of the United States, Sarah Palin, told a story about how she had given birth to her fifth child, Trig. 

Some details of this story quickly struck many observers as strange. As more information came to light, some observers came to suspect that, for unclear reasons, Palin had fabricated her pregnancy and lied about it--initially to her Alaska constituents and later to the country. 

Palin reacted angrily to this theory, and it was quickly dismissed as "nonsense" by much of the mainstream media and ignored during the 2008 Presidential campaign. Since then, attempts to settle the question once and for all have been met with silence or anger by those affiliated with Palin. 

Although Palin's supporters have successfully framed lingering questions about the Trig pregnancy as politically motivated attacks, the fact is that legitimate questions remain. And the one person who could instantly and forever put an end to the questions, Sarah Palin herself, has refused to address them. 

This article looks at some of the questions that remain about Palin's story. In my opinion, given that Sarah Palin was a vice-presidential candidate at the time she told this story--and is still often mentioned as a Presidential candidate--the world deserves a final, definitive answer to this question.

(To read the rest of this article please click the link at the top.)

Professor Scharlott left out a few portions that he considered might be too much for the average reader to absorb, including the different babies presented as Trig, but if you want to read the article in its entirety (Including a preponderance of foot notes) you can visit Scribd by clicking here.

Joe McGinniss really brought the babygate story out into the national spotlight so now is the perfect time to start writing about it and talking about it, to introduce the idea of the hoax to as many people as possible.

Personally THIS is what I have been working for, lo these many years, and I am beyond thrilled to see the story addressed by so many people, at so many different venues.

Wow, is September great or what?

Joe McGinniss defends his book against a rabid Piers Morgan.

Just click picture to watch video

Jesus I KNEW there was a reason I stopped watching CNN! It appears they have hitched themselves so firmly to the Tea Party's falling star, that they are now doing their dirty work for them!

The idea of Piers "phone tapping" Morgan calling Joe McGinniss out on "tabloid journalism" is the height of hypocrisy. 

Anyhow Joe has some interviews with much more reasonable, and professional, journalists coming up today and tomorrow.

Below is the schedule he sent for me to share with all of you.

Tuesday, September 20
“American Morning” 7:00 AM – 8:30 AM
“Inside Edition” 9:00 AM to 9:45 AM CBS-TV 
"Book TV” 2:00 PM to 2:45 PM C-SPAN
“Hardball with Chris Matthews” (between 5 and 6pm) MSNBC-TV 
The Alan Colmes Show 10: 15 PM Fox News Radio 
Wednesday, September 21 
“The View” TIME TK Hit Time (b/w 11am and 12pm)ABC-TV 
“The Joy Behar Show”4:40 PM to 5:00 PM Taping CNN HLN 
“The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell” TIME TK Hit Time (between 8 and 9 pm) MSNBC-TV 

(I will prove the rest of his schedule later.)


By the way for all of you who are currently reading "The Rogue" THIS would be the thread to express your opinions. By the way that is "express your opinions" NOT viciously attack Joe McGinniss!

A moment of levity as Gawker presents the "Best Butt-Related Excerpts From The Rogue.

Courtesy of Gawker:

After a bit of speed-reading, we've located two key butt-related excerpts for you. The first section concerns Sarah Palin's campaign for municipal office in Wasilla in the mid 90s: in which she stands accused of using her butt for political and personal gain. 

"Sarah also introduced innuendo about sexual harassment into the campaign. She encouraged gossip about [opponent John] Stein and [police chief Irl] Stambaugh acting inappropriately during an early-morning step-aerobics class that she occasionally attended. The two men, being less than svelte, had signed up for the class, along with the head of the department of public works, Jack Felton. 

"It was a small room," Stambaugh said, "and there were maybe twenty people in the class. Us big guys stood in the back so nobody would have to look at us, because, to tell you the truth, it wasn't a pretty sight. One day Sarah shows up. She goes right to the front and she puts on this incredible demonstration— three risers, double steps, I don't know what all, but it was a hell of a routine. Afterward, I complimented her on her incredible stamina." 

Before the next class, the instructor approached the three men. "Sarah Palin says she's uncomfortable," the instructor said, "because she thinks you guys are ogling her butt. She wants me to move you to the front of the room so you won't be able to watch her during class." 

The men agreed. But that didn't work either. "You guys are so big," the instructor said, "that when you're in the front of the room you block everybody's view of me." ...

A friend offered a different perspective. "One morning," she told me during the summer of 2010, "Sarah came back in her workout stuff— her outfits were very provocative— and she's singing, 'I like big butts and I cannot lie,' and she's dancing around the kitchen. Todd comes in from the garage, and Sarah starts going on about how the guys are checking her out at the workout place. The way she's saying it is totally antagonizing Todd, and he finally says, 'Well, why don't you put some fuckin' clothes on?'"

As you can see Palin has been using charges of sexist behavior against her opponents LONG before Joe McGinniss ever showed up next door.

And just what exactly was it about Sarah's hindquarters that she considered so irresistible anyhow?

Oh now, that's just wrong.

Somehow I think I will take these gentlemen at their word that they were NOT ogling Sister Sarah's derriere.

I think I will skip breakfast this morning.

As much as it pains me to say, I don't expect much from Levi Johnston's book. Update!

Some of you have been asking if I received an advance copy of Levi's book, the answer is no.

And considering the falling out that I had with Rex Butler and Tank Jones, I am not at all surprised.

The only contact I have had with anybody connected to the book, was when the authors contacted me to ask for Sadie's phone number, which I thought was rather odd since they were working with her brother.

Anyhow here is a rather troubling excerpt from this book:

We hear his side of the story about her pregnancy and the birth of their son. Levi says that Bristol was inspired when she learned her mother was pregnant.

“I’m the one, Bristol said, who should be having a baby. Not Sarah. . . . Bristol looked at me. Let’s get pregnant.” Levi says Bristol didn’t stop talking about having a baby after her mother’s new son, Trig, arrived. “When she started talking about it, I asked her about birth control, but she assured me that everything was safe. I only half believed her.” 

Later, he writes, “Bristol got pregnant on purpose. She had finally come clean, admitted to me that she hadn’t been taking her birth control pills. We were having a baby, end of story.” 

Now I have NEVER spoken to Levi about Sarah's "pregnancy," and he has never given any hint to his mother or sister concerning what he knows, but if Tank Jones is to be believed (And there was a time when I still think he WAS telling the truth), he certainly knows something quite different than what is in this book.

But even if I did not have access to that kind of information it would be obvious that Levi was not telling the truth.

He claims that "Bristol didn't stop talking about having a baby after her mother's new son, Trig, arrived."

According to the official account of his birth, Tripp was born on December 27, 2008, and was originally supposed to have arrived ten days earlier. In order for that to have been a full term pregnancy, Bristol would have had to be pregnant no later than mid to late March 2008.

Trig was born on April 18, 2008.  Why would Bristol STILL have been trying to get pregnant after she supposedly was already pregnant?

And besides that according to Mercede and Sherry they were BOTH talking about getting pregnant, so Levi's story about being surprised simply does not ring true.

As I am sure most of you remember I had an author all ready to help Levi write a book in December of 2009, but when it came to actually signing a contract Rex and Tank got cold feet and backed out.

Part of me wonders if they realized that with my participation, THIS version of reality would never have made it into the book, therefore they needed to find co-authors who would not question Levi's version of events?

Well I still have Levi's book pre-ordered on my Nook, so I will sit down tomorrow and read through it before passing any final judgement.  However from what I have seen thus far, I fear that Levi may have kept the truth at arms length.

Update: I received my copy of the book and have already read almost a third of it.

It literally reads like Levi actually wrote it!  I did not expect it to be good, but this is a whole new level of bad!

I kid you not, the majority of it is actually about hunting and hockey!

I am sorry Levi, I wanted very much for you to vindicate yourself, but this is just embarrassing.  If you had just refused to let Tank and Rex take over your life you could have had so much.

If anybody reads it and has a different opinion feel free to share, but I can not imagine that being the case.

To be honest I am not sure I can even make myself finish reading this damn thing.

Joe McGinniss to appear on Piers Morgan tonight. Update!

This week Joe starts his media tour, and it appears that his first stop will be CNN and a sit down with Piers Morgan:

Palin author Joe McGinniss and more 
Author of controversial Sarah Palin book "The Rogue," Norway Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg and former Gov. Jennifer Granholm

As  a rule I tend to avoid CNN, but of course this time I will make an exception.

Joe sent me this e-mail to give me a heads up to where he will be making appearances:

I do Piers Morgan show on CNN Monday, with Colbert and Bill Maher down the line.Also next week, Chris Matthews, Lawrence O'Donnell plus daytime MSNBC.Also The View and Joy Behar. 

Joe tends to keep me in the loop, so I imagine he will firm up these dates and let me know in time to alert all of you.

By the way to the person who keeps sending me messages saying that Joe used me, let me  respond.

Why yes, yes he  did.

He used me to make contacts, to promote his book, and to bounce ideas off of.

But here is the thing, I used him as well.  I used him to reach out to sources that were afraid to go on the record with me. I used him to give me access to the deck of the house right next to the Palins where I got to sit, eat Yak burgers, and gloat. And I used him to get the babygate story out to a much wider audience.

Except that I don't think either one of us consider that "using" each other.  We both had an agenda, and did nothing to hide it from one another.

I believe that is called "cooperation."

Update: A lot of you have been sending me the Doonesbury strip from today, so I thought I would post it along with some quotes that show up on the website. (And before anybody asks me, no I don't know who the redheaded lady is.)

SAY WHAT?"Never hurts to rumormonger." — Sarah Palin, in an email musing on ways to prevent Alaska Senate President Lyda Green from being re-elected 

"Flippin' unbelievable. Wouldn't you think they'd be afraid of being proved wrong when they rumor around the building like that?" — Palin, in a subsequent email objecting to a (true) rumor that Bristol Palin was pregnant

Hypocrisy thy name is Palin!

Update 2: You have GOT to listen to this radio interview that Joe gives on the Leonard Lopate radio show!  He goes into MUCH more detail about Palin's fling with Glen Rice, and even says that Rice has a copy of "The Rogue" and called him to say that, "It's all good."

In other words the stories swirling around that Rice did NOT confirm the affair are bullshit.

McGinniss also says that he confirmed what is in the book with multiple sources ,and nothing was sourced to only one person. The Palin-bots can bitch and moan all they want, but Joe is no dummy and he had all of his ducks in a row before he sent his manuscript to the publisher.

Joe McGinniss puts it all on the line with "The Rogue."

"Stop reading this review! Stop it I say! The only truth is my truth, everything else is a lie!"

Now you are going to read a lot of reviews about The Rogue, that will be rife with spoilers and chock full of all of the best parts, like a movie preview that contains every important scene resulting in the actual viewing of the movie to be almost anti-climatic.

This review will NOT be one of those.

But I will tell you this.  Joe McGinniss does not hold back in this book. And in fact takes a rather stunning, and potentially reputation damaging risk.

And he does it for all of you.

Perhaps its best if I start at the beginning.

When Joe came to Alaska that summer in 2010, he asked to meet me for coffee on only his second day in our fair state.  We met at the Starbucks only about five minutes from my house, where we had a rather interesting conversation.

During that talk Joe asked me to explain why I continued to pursue Babygate.

You know that is one of those conversations that I am always hesitant to engage in with people, because I am never sure how they will respond. But Joe asked, so I carefully laid out my case.

Looking back on it now I believe that Joe was just trying to figure out if I was crazy or not. (Later I learned that a number of journalists and authors had been warned to steer clear of me.) Apparently Joe determined that I was not only NOT crazy, but that my questions concerning Palin's birth story with Trig were more than valid.

However he also informed me that if I expected him to pursue that topic I needed to find him people willing to talk about it, preferably with documentation or eyewitness accounts to share.

I want you to know that I did my level best.  I made phone calls, I sent e-mails, and I even went out to Wasilla to meet some of these people face to face.

But I failed.

Even after Joe left Alaska he said "Jesse I need something more than what I found up there."  So I tried some more, and  essentially ran off people who had once claimed repeatedly to be willing to talk to "the right journalist or author."  (If freaking Joe McGinniss was not "the right author" who in the hell were they waiting to interview them?)

But as you know I kept digging.  Sadly some of my more explosive posts on the topic occurred AFTER Joe had already submitted his manuscript. And still they did not really represent what could be considered concrete proof that she had faked that pregnancy.

So when I received my copy of Joe's book I did not expect much about babygate to be addressed. (I would be proven wrong about that.)

Essentially Joe decided to write a book that is more or less two books in one.

One book is all about Sarah Palin, and her upbringing, politics, and the celebrity status that she enjoys today. The other book is about Joe's experiences as the "most hated neighbor in America."

All through the book Joe weaves back and forth between these two narratives, using the incidents that happened to him in 2010 to illustrate what makes people so afraid to speak out about the Palins, and then revisiting Sarah's life story to better understand why she and Todd react to perceived adversity the way that they do. As well as how a lack of consequences in the past reinforced their vindictive natures today.

In the hands of a less gifted writer this could have been a confusing mishmash of conflicting timelines and seemingly unrelated pieces of information, but Joe knits the two narratives together almost seamlessly.

Essentially we learn, just like we did in Geoffrey Dunn's book, that Sarah Palin uses people up like tissue paper and casts them aside with virtually NO thought to how they might be affected by her callousness. And if anybody dares to challenge her right to treat them like garbage, Todd steps in and essentially intimidates them into accepting their fate without argument.

The level of anger that has built up over the years from taking this abuse, can best be illustrated by the rather unbelievable number of guns offered to Joe while he is staying next door to the Palins. (I cannot help but wonder if at least a few of these friendly Wassilians were not harboring a secret fantasy that Joe WOULD actually feel the need to use one of these firearms and forever remove the Palin plague from their lives forever. I know that seems harsh, but I have spoken to several of their neighbors who feel a great deal of animosity toward that family, and I do not see it as being out of the realm of possibilities.)

Despite the fear that Palin seems to instill in people, Joe manages to conduct a number of "on the record" interviews, with the participants agreeing to allow Joe to use their full names in his book. These include Wasilla resident Catherine Mormile, ex-Wasilla Mayor John Stein, Rev. Howard Bess, and Palin's former Head of Security Gary Wheeler. (More on Gary later.)

As most of us would expect the book also contains a number of interviews with people who would rather NOT be named in the book. However it is a hard case to make that THEIR anonymous information is any more damaging than the information provided by those willing to stick their necks out.

Essentially the information, whether anonymous or with names firmly attached, harmoniously blends together like colors sharing the same palette, to paint a picture of Sarah Palin that is clearly defined and altogether disturbing.

In one of my favorite interviews in the book Joe manages to get one of Palin's so called "friends" to speak to him, though oddly she also demands anonymity.

This person claims to have known Sarah for fifteen years, though it appears that she has really only had minimal contact with Palin mostly consisting of attending the same aerobics class and through a "Christmas ornament exchange" that Palin stopped attending several years ago. This interviewee did not have any real conversations with Sister Sarah, and in fact barely knows the woman, but hey at least ONE person does not hate the Palin family in Wasilla! (Though this poor woman laments the fact that she never received a card from Sarah when her father died, she also insists that Joe write down that Palin always "deals with stress with grace and dignity." Poor little Zombie rat!)

Anyhow you will read more about all of that in the many reviews still to be written about "The Rogue," as well as from Joe himself during his numerous upcoming interviews this week and next. So lets' move on to the reason that you all really wanted to read MY review.

What does Joe address concerning "babygate?" As it turns out, far more than any of us could have expected.

Throughout Chapter Nineteen Joe does not actually SAY that he does not believe Palin's version of events, but through quotes from Andrew Sullivan buoyed up by the suspicions of those that know her that she pulled a fast one, he leaves little doubt that he finds the whole thing virtually impossible to swallow.

At one point Joe addresses the fact that her flight to and from Dallas was the ONLY ONE ON WHICH HER SECURITY STAFF DID NOT ACCOMPANY HER. And in case you are a little slow on the uptake as to the reason why that was the case, her Head of Security Gary Wheeler lays out what would have transpired if he HAD flown with her: "if he'd been there and her water had broken at 4:00 AM on April 17, he would have whisked her to a Dallas hospital as soon as possible, and certainly wouldn't have let her fly to Alaska twelve hours later!" Of course he wouldn't. No reasonable person who cared about the Governor's well being would.

All in all when you see Palin's version of events presented in black and white, in an actual book written by a well known and highly regarded author, it quite literally defies all logic.

I am of the opinion that if anybody who was NOT a dyed in the wool Palin-bot were to read that chapter they would throw the book down in disgust afterward and proclaim, "The bitch lied!"

Which brings me to what I perceive as the heroism of Joe McGinniss.

Joe did not HAVE to address the pregnancy issue in his book, and doing so opens him up to a barrage of attacks from the mainstream media as well as what remains of  Palin's ardent supporters.  Leaving it out would certainly not have hurt sales, considering the rather salacious tidbits that are contained within its pages, and it is doubtful that including it will result in that many more sales either

In Frank Bailey's book he made excuses for why Palin did not appear pregnant.

Nick Broomfield, though he interviewed me for over an hour on the topic, seems to have avoided it completely.

To his credit Geoffrey Dunn addresses the "Wild Ride" head on but carefully avoids slanting his coverage one way or the other.

So WHY did Joe take the risk, when so many before him had avoided it like the plague?

My opinion?  He did it for his friend Andrew Sullivan. I'd like to think he did it for me. I KNOW he did it for you. And he did it because it was the right thing to do and SOMEBODY had to do it!

And because Joe took such a risk with his reputation, with his career, and, let's face it, with the sales of his book, he has very graciously teed up this subject in such a way that it is now positioned perfectly for Fred to come in with his book, focused solely on "babygate" and the media's malpractice in not covering it, and knock it right out of the ball park.

In my opinion heroism like that needs to be rewarded, so if you have not ordered your copy of The Rogue, please do so now.  I seriously doubt that you will be disappointed.

The Wild Ride, Palin-bots, and the importance of reading comprehension.

"Good job helping with the smoke and mirrors, there Frank!"

Somebody alerted me today that there was some a NEW revisionist history being discussed over at the Sea O'Pee, excerpted from a  new Sarah Palin fanzine written by somebody named Frank Aquila.

I took a deep breath and took the plunge, where I discovered this:

Within days of my research of Governor Palin, and my consideration of other possible candidates as choices for the McCain ticket, Trig Palin was born on April 18, 2008. Sarah had been in Texas as the keynote speaker at an energy conference. She began to experience labor pains, but continued to finish her important speech. She contacted her current doctor, who had also delivered her daughter Piper. Sarah caught an Alaska Airlines flight from Dallas to Anchorage, with a stop in Seattle, where she was examined by doctors before returning to Alaska to deliver Trig. Sarah would later say, ”I am not a glutton for pain and punishment. I would have never wanted to travel had I been fully engaged in labor.” Either way, Sarah has always taken the unconventional road and, even if she does not admit it herself, she is one tough lady.

"What?" I began thinking.   "Is this some new attempt to rewrite history by the Sarah in anticipation that Joe and Fred's book  will bring her whole crazy story out to be examined by a new, heretofore unaware, audience?"

And then I got excited, because that would mean they were in a panic, and making a really stupid mistake by changing a very well known story after all of these years. As well as introducing new medical personnel who we could then attempt to contact in order to question their involvement. Of course we would fail to locate this "doctor" because, as we all know, Sarah was not pregnant and had no need to see doctor during that flight.

But then I began to wonder if even Sarah Palin would make a mistake this careless. After all of this time it did not make much sense.

And then I suddenly realized where Aquila had come up with his new version of events.

Actually it was not new at all. It was, in fact, from the earliest known version of the incident which we now refer to as the "Wild Ride."

Journey with me now to the wayback machine, to an ADN story from April 22, 2008.

Palin kept in close contact with Baldwin-Johnson. The contractions slowed to one or two an hour, "which is not active labor," the doctor said. 

"Things were already settling down when she talked to me," Baldwin-Johnson said. Palin did not ask for a medical OK to fly, the doctor said. 

"I don't think it was unreasonable for her to continue to travel back," Baldwin-Johnson said. 

So the Palins flew on Alaska Airlines from Dallas to Anchorage, stopping in Seattle and checking with the doctor along the way. 

"I am not a glutton for pain and punishment. I would have never wanted to travel had I been fully engaged in labor," Palin said. After four kids, the governor said, she knew what labor felt like, and she wasn't in labor. 

Sound familiar?  Except, as anybody with reading skills can discern, the article refers to Palin checking with Baldwin-Johnston, "the doctor" in this scenario, and NOT a Seattle based doctor during her layover.

Clearly THIS is the story that Aquila used as his "research" into Palin's delivery of Trig.

Only his lack of reading comprehension, possibly combined with his difficulty imagining anybody NOT checking in with a Seattle doctor if they were in labor, inspired him to create an entirely new scenario where Palin visited a medical professional before continuing on to Anchorage, and from there all the way to the Mat-Su Regional Hospital, where the "birth" took place.

But just to be clear the ONLY doctor that Sarah Palin was able to manipulate into putting their medical career in jeopardy to help her to fake this birth was Catherine Baldwin-Johnson. A woman who traded away every ounce of her integrity, and now lives the life of a virtual hermit, in service to a woman who abandoned her to her fate without even a glance backward once she had served her purpose.

As one time friend Catherine Mormile describes in "The Rogue:"She recruits those who feel worthless and powerless and uses them as tools. Lyda Green and I call them Zombie rats."

Pretty much sums it up, don't you think.

And this Frank Aquila is just the most recent Zombie rat, in a long line of Zombie rats,  to attempt to provide cover for a woman who would not even bother to piss on him if he were being consumed by flames right in front of her.

Gryphen's Sarah Palin checklist. A work in progress.

When Sarah Palin burst on the scene as John McCain's VP candidate and started fanning the flames of racism against Barack Obama, as well as making incredibly dangerous and fraudulent claims against our future President, I made a mental list of priorities that I wanted to help accomplish. (By the way this list evolved over time and now includes subjects that I was not even aware were coming down the pike in 2008.)

1) Stop John McCain and Sarah Palin from making it to the White House.

2) Reveal the truth behind the fantasy that Sarah Palin is a good and effective Governor.

3) Get her out of office!

4) Reveal the pathetic and controversial truth about Sarah Palin's personal mythology.

5) Provide a platform for those who know truthful stories about Palin, yet are afraid to report them to the press.

6) Direct focus on Palin, and her family's, attempts to grift money from her ignorant supporters, and report on how frivolously she spends that money.

7) Help journalists, authors, documentary makers, and anybody willing to tell the truth about Sarah Palin, make contact with sources willing to tell of their experiences with the Grizzled Mama.

8) Reveal to the widest segment of the American public possible, one of the BIGGEST, and most egregious, hoaxes ever perpetrated on them by a politician in our country's history. Babygate!

9) Draw back the cloak of secrecy that shields those that supported, and used Sarah Palin for their own nefarious reasons, to reveal them to the American public.

10) Help to make sure that another potentially dangerous politician, like Sarah Palin, George Bush, or John Edwards never gets close to the White House again. (I only include Edwards because his adultery could have made him a very easy person to blackmail into supporting policies that could have done our country great harm.)

So let's see how I've done.

1) After her defeat I received a lot of heartfelt thanks from many of the visitors here.

But in my opinion it was mostly undeserved.

I did only a small part in getting the truth out about Sarah Palin, John McCain, and the Republican party.

Others like Katie Couric, Keith Olbermann, Charlie Gibson, and even Tine Fey deserve FAR more credit than I do.  Of course ultimately the real thanks should go to Sarah Palin herself for being such an incredibly unqualified, and gaffe prone candidate.

(Half-check mark for me.)

2) I helped to found the Alaskans for Truth, and used my blog and networking, to get the truth out about Troopergate, the per-diems she paid herself to stay in her own house, the free travel vouchers she got on behalf of family members, the cronyism that riddled her administration, etc., etc., etc., to my fellow Alaskans.

(Check mark!)

3) I don't actually know how much I helped to accomplish this, but she's out! (Check mark!)

4) I don't believe there are too many people who are now unaware that the idyllic life that the Palins paint for themselves is pure mooseshit. Check mark!

5) I helped Mercede start her blog, wrote posts containing information from anonymous sources about the Palins that they could not get published in other places, helped Shailey get her story out in the National Enquirer, on this blog, and later on her own blog, tried to help Levi get his book written two years ago when it would have made a huge impact, and have maintained a blogroll linking to blogs ("Sarah Palin's Least Favorite Blogs") that have done some truly ground breaking work on getting the truth out about Klondike Kardashian. (Check mark!)

6) From SarahPAC, to "Sarah Palin's Alaska", to Dancing with the Stars, and even to Palin's 2012 Political Prick Tease, I have tried to rake away the Palin bullshit to lay bare what is REALLY taking place as often as possible.

(Half check mark. I could have done better.)

7) I have provided support to Geoffrey Dunn, Nick Broomfield, Joe McGinniss,  as well as others, and I have helped them as much as I could to make contact with people living in Wasilla, and around Alaska, that have stories to tell about the REAL Sarah Palin. I have certainly not provided ALL of their sources, and in fact all of them have made very impressive contacts of their own, but I did what I could. Some truths remain unrevealed.

(Half check mark.)


8) Most of this work has taken place right here on this blog, or on one of the blogs in the IM blogroll, but with Joe's book we are finally seeing the bizarre story reaching a much larger audience, and hopefully with the release of Fred's book , a much larger audience still.

(Pending check mark I hope to give myself soon.)

9) The Koch brothers, Fox News, the Dominionists, and the Republican party have all had their hands up the back of Sarah Palins blouse working her like a ventriloquist dummy voicing on their behalf crazy inflammatory things like "death panels," or "palling around with terrorists.'" Or ginning up racial hatred toward Barack Obama or the Muslim community.  This is clearly a work in progress, but I believe that we have made some significant connections between Palin and her puppeteers that have caused them some serious blowback and have forced them to abandon her in order to move on to less controversial marionettes.  However now that we know how they operate we can remain vigilant and help to identify the NEXT empty vessel that they fill up with their rhetorical poison.

Looking at you Rick Perry!

(Half check mark.)

10) This has ALWAYS been my ultimate goal, even while I am recognizing the possible futility of ever making it a reality.

Sarah Palin was chosen to be McCain's VP for the most superficial reasons imaginable.  She was attractive, she had faked having a Down Syndrome child to cement her pro-life position, she had hacked various polls to make herself seem popular in Alaska, and she was considered a Christian.

And that my friends was the whole package.

The fact that this occurred should have sent an electric shock of realization to the American population that candidates for the most important political positions in our country were being selected by shadowy figures who have determined that we are so simple minded that we could be seduced by a horribly unqualified pretty face, trained to read talking points off of cue cards.

If this had worked, and it came much closer to working than I think most of us want to admit, it would have furthered a continuing change in the political realities of our country that could have proved devastating.

This change has been orchestrated by the Republican party and started with Ronald Reagan, an actor who played the President, to George W. Bush, a simpleton who played a cowboy playing a President, to a Sarah Palin, a telegenic spokes model who played a Governor, who could have been groomed to play the President, once John McCain kicked the bucket served out his term and she ran in 2012. (Insert scream of horror here.)

Ultimately THIS is what the American voting population needs to be educated about, and Sarah Palin is the perfect example to illustrate that lesson. After reading what Frank Bailey, Geoffrey Dunn, and Joe McGinniss have written, it is clear that the information is now available for any of those who want to really understand how completely broken the political system is in this country.

Now all we have to do is help to encourage people to read the information that is now available, and the information that is still coming, about Sarah Palin, and then use that to vet the shiny new politicians that are just over the next horizon.

That sounds simple, right?  Yeah right.

Well I am not giving up.  After coming this far, there is NO WAY I am just walking away now.

Are you with me?

If you are then I perhaps someday this item will have a check mark as well. But not yet.

Apparently Brad Hanson wishes that somebody would have told HIM that he denied having an affair with Sarah Palin!

As I am sure most of you are aware, after the revelations in Joe's book came out once again revealing that the conservative Christian, Sister Sarah had knocked boots with Todd Palin's ex-partner Brad Hanson, the Palin camp issued this denial:

In a statement released through Palin allies, Hanson again denied the allegation. 

"This is the same old story that went around in 2008. It is a complete and outright lie," Hanson said. "Todd and Sarah Palin have been good friends for many years, and in fact we still own property together. We sold a former joint business venture for business reasons, nothing more. These attacks are shameful and those making them seem to be out only to destroy good people and make money doing so."

When this came out I thought it was interesting, because my understanding was that when the National Enquirer first broke the story Hanson stayed mum on the topic, and refused to be interviewed.Why would he come forward now?

Well, perhaps he didn't.

Once again according to the National Enquirer, it appears that Mr. Hanson was unaware that he made an official statement:

BUT did Hanson actually say and approve that statement? 

When ENQUIRER reporter ALAN BUTTERFIELD went to speak to Hanson yesterday at his home in Alaska, Hanson seemed surprised that an official statement had been issued on his behalf. 

Butterfield said Hanson appeared perplexed and confused when asked about the statement. 

After being asked several times if he had released the statement, Hanson finally told Butterfield: “I think so,” and then he added, “Let me know what you think about it.”

Well THAT us rather interesting isn't it? He "thinks" he released a statement? How does one NOT know that they contacted the AP and told them flat out that there was no affair?

Another thing that confused me is WHY Palins would bother having Brad Hanson release statement in the first place, when HIS sexual tryst with Palin was barely creating a ripple next to the tsunami of the revelation that she had hooked up with basketball start Glen Rice?

But now it makes sense.  Glen Rice is a famous, successful athlete who cannot be intimidated.  Hanson is living under Pain's thumb Wasilla.  If she says he made a statement denying the affair, then by GOD he made a statement denying the affair!

One other thing that is driven home in Joe's book time and time again, is how terrified so MANY people living in Wasilla remain of the Palins and their vindictive nature.

My guess is that Hanson, as he did in the past, will refuse to say any more on this topic.

But let me just let all of you know that THIS affair is probably the worst kept secret in the Valley, and I have heard it repeated by more people, often with NO prompting, than any other scandalous information about Sarah Palin. With the possible exception of the fact that she was a horrible mother.

On Hardball it's Palin-bots and ex-Palin-bots on parade attempting to minimize the impact of the McGinniss book.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Clearly Shushannah Walshe is still shotgunning Palin brand Kool-aid, but Frank Bailey serves as a fairly effective counterpoint right up until Mathews hits too close to home with the Domionist talk forcing Bailey to make the attempt to change the subject.

By the way just imagine how much better Bailey's book might have been if he had not been so  worried about protecting himself from possible legal action? If that had happened it might have been Joe McGinniss commenting on HIS book instead of the other way around.

Professor Scharlott offers a $10,000 reward for PROOF that Sarah Palin gave birth to Trig Paxson Van Palin.

$10,000 reward poster

For immediate release: 

$10,000 REWARD OFFERED FOR PROOF SARAH PALIN GAVE BIRTH TO SON TRIG 

NEWPORT, KY (September X, 2011) – A journalism professor at Northern Kentucky University has posted a flier on the Internet offering a $10,000 reward to anybody who can provide verifiable and irrefutable proof that Sarah Palin is the birth mother of Trig, the boy she claims she delivered on April 18, 2008. 

The flier shows two pictures of Palin, one taken 23 days before the alleged birth, the other five days before April 18, 2008. The pictures show a seemingly impossible change in the progress of Palin's pregnancy in that 18-day span. 

Over the last three years, numerous Internet sites have made the argument that Palin must have faked the birth. Circumstantial evidence supporting their theory includes the fact that no hospital has verified the birth, Palin waited until her seventh month to claim she was pregnant and often appeared remarkably slender for a 44-year-old mother having her fifth child, and Palin has never released Trig's birth certificate. Palin supporters have said that pictures can be deceiving, and that it is absurd to think she faked the birth. 

Brad Scharlott, an associate professor of journalism, has read rumors online for years, and is now offering the $10,000 reward because he wishes to find the truth about the controversy. 

"The circumstantial evidence that Sarah Palin pulled off a pregnancy hoax, possibly to enhance her political standing, seems overwhelming," Scharlott said, but added that he is still open to the possibility that Palin did give birth to Trig, and would gladly give the reward money to anyone who provides proof. 

The flier says that acceptable proof would include, but not necessarily be limited to, medical records, a birth certificate, or notarized statements from hospital personnel involved in the delivery. 

For full details on how to claim the reward, the flier can be found at Scribd.com: http://www.scribd.com/doc/65089616/10-000-reward-poster or seen below. 

How is THAT for upping the ante?

You know $10,000 might even be enough to tempt somebody VERY close to the Mama Grizzly!

Bristol, Willow, Track, Todd are you paying attention?

More tidbits from "The Rogue."

Here are a few of the juicier portions courtesy of Joe McGinniss interview on Slate.com:

The juiciest quotes and stories in The Rogue come from anonymous sources, but McGinniss says he nixed "90 percent of the anecdotes I heard," sticking to the ones he could confirm. 

McGinniss reports that the Palins told the original owner (Of the house that Joe rented) that they were going to cut a path through her property. "Todd told her, very plainly, that Sarah was mayor and they could do whatever they wanted, and it would be a mistake for her to try and stop them." The Palins even put up a fence with the ugly back side facing the neighbor's house. 

One friend recalls that Sarah wasn't much in the kitchen when she married Todd. "She can't cook shit. She couldn't do grilled cheese. She'd burn water." John Bitney, the husband of a woman who took care of Palin's kids, notes that when Todd was out, "I'd walk into that kitchen and Bristol and Willow would be sitting there with a burnt pot of Kraft Mac and cheese on the stove and they'd be trying to open one of those Ramen noodle packs, and Sarah would be up in her bedroom with the door closed saying she didn't want to be disturbed." 

On the governor's own diet: "One day she came in with Oreos, bread, bags of fast food, and she ate everything and then disappeared and came out of the bathroom later with blurry eyes, her hair up, and her knuckles red." 

Another friend says that Track Palin joined the army on the advice of his father: "You're gonna do this because you owe us. This is gonna look good for us and you're gonna do it." The state trooper who drove Track and Sarah to the enlistment office tells McGinniss that "there was quite a lot of emotion in the back seat of that car, but patriotism was not one of the emotions." (Joe also confirms Mercede's version of Track's enrollment as having been done to get him out of the way while Sarah was the Governor of Alaska.)

In high school, a classmate claims, Palin liked to sleep in the nude, because "she said it wasn't healthy for girls to sleep with clothes on." Later on, Palin's rivals in her first mayoral race claim she spread rumors of them acting luridly in a step-aerobics class, telling the instructor that she felt uncomfortable because they were "ogling her butt." 

I will also report a little tidbit from MY reading concerning Sarah and Todd's sex life, which just as Levi reported two years ago, is virtually non-existent. Joe also includes a quote that I have heard attributed to Todd numerous times of "Well I know I had sex at least four times, because I have four kids."

And that was BEFORE Sarah's "pregnancy" with Trig.

I have paged ahead a little to see what awaits me, and though Joe does not DEFINITIVELY state that Palin faked her pregnancy, he gives the bizarre circumstances surrounding the "delivery" at Mat-Su Hospital and the fact that people close to her have serious doubts, PLENTY of space in the book.

In other words there is no way this will NOT keep coming up as a topic of discussion on talk shows and during interviews.

Let me close this post out by offering up today's Doonesbury comic.

And by also providing a link to the Mike Tyson interview about Palin and Glen Rice that everyone is discussing. But let me warn you that THIS is quite raunchy! So if you have any doubts about not being offended, DO NOT click the link!

In case I have been too vague in the past let me just say definitely that YES you need to buy and read this book!

McGinniss is a very gifted writer, and even if this were NOT about Sarah Palin it would still be a fascinating book to read. But since it IS about her, that just makes it all the more satisfying.

Caption contest!

I am exhausted from staying up late and reading Joe's book (I'm currently on Chapter ten!), so this is all that I have the energy for right now.

I would tell you to keep it clean, but after what we have learned about Sister Sarah recently what's the point?

However if it gets TOO x-rated I will still reject your comment. After all this is my blog, NOT a middle school boys locker room. (Despite what some of you may think.)

Never ones to let an opportunity to grift go by, Palin-bots use Joe McGinniss book as excuse to plea for more donations to SarahPAC. While also encouraging Todd Palin to commit assault and battery.

This comes from the site of Stacy McCain, the same little racist cockroach that helped to make up ridiculous stuff about me back when I did the "Splitsville" post, and threatened to out Audrey if she did not stop blogging, so I do NOT encourage anybody to click this link unless they have a strong stomach and a stiff drink at the ready.

Now get ready to witness the puffed out chest and bow legged strutting of perhaps the most pathetic little mama's boy on the internet.


Joe McGinniss deserves The Mother of All Ass-Whuppings, and Todd Palin ought to give him exactly what he deserves. 

So I’m asking readers to go make a $25 donation to SarahPAC to help defray Todd’s legal expenses when he shows up at McGinniss’s first book signing and pounds that scurvy worm into a bloody pulp.Please give $25 to SarahPAC, so that we can bail Todd Palin out on that assault charge — and then fly him to the next Joe McGinniss book signing to deliver yet another brutal ass-whupping. 

Lather, rinse, repeat. 

Just give $25 to SarahPAC, you see, and we’ll cover Todd Palin’s legal expenses and fly him to wherever Joe McGinniss appears in public, turning McGinniss’s book tour into a nationwide beatdown tour. 

After McGinniss gets out of the hospital from his first ass-whupping, he’ll probably get a restraining order against Todd. Still, Random House will be forced to hire armed security to protect Creepy Joe because, hey, what’s a restraining order to an insulted husband who’s got thousands of loyal supporters donating $25 each to cover his legal expenses?

I don't think that ANY of us are surprised that the Palin-bots response to somebody telling the truth about Sarah Palin is to threaten the source of that truth with violence. After all we have seen that time, and time again.

Little Stacy even goes so far as to make up imaginary news stories that might be printed if his violent little boy fantasy were to play out:

New York Post, Oct. 6, 2011 
PAPA GRIZZLY 
Author of Palin Smear Book Hospitalized,Todd Charged After ‘Brutal’ NY Assault 

Joe McGinniss underwent emergency surgery Wednesday night after police say the author was beaten senseless by Republican presidential candidate Sarah Palin’s husband Todd at a Manhattan party where McGinniss was signing copies of his new book about the former Alaska governor. 

“It was one of the most brutal attacks I’ve ever seen,” said Venona Wineglass, who was waiting in line to get her copy of the controversial anti-Palin book signed at the Upper West Side reception when, she said, Todd “came out of nowhere” and began punching McGinniss. “He was just like bam, bam, bam, and it took three guards to pull him off.” 

While police charged Todd Palin with assault and resisting arrest, his wife was campaigning in South Carolina, two weeks after officially announcing her GOP presidential candidacy. Her campaign spokesman refused comment on the McGinniss incident, while the candidate — currently a distant third in polls, behind Rick Perry and Mitt Romney — told a rally in Spartanburg, S.C., that she wants to “focus on the issues important to ordinary Americans and not be distracted by the lamestream media.”Surgeons at St. Lukes Roosevelt Hospital expect McGinniss to be able to continue his book tour despite his injuries . . . 

Does anybody else imagine that this fucktard is using his special velvet tipped tweezers to rub one out as he types out his violence riddled homoerotic fantasies?

What is sort of surprising is that he would encourage Todd Palin to commit a crime that might get him locked up in a local jail somewhere far from the apron strings of his wife, or the protection of his Alaska friends.

Can any of you imagine what would happen to Todd Palin in jail? Somehow I think that he would emerge with a whole new respect for what Glen Rice did to Sarah back in '87.

Now I do understand why little Stacy has this hero worship thing going for Todd.

I mean Todd IS from Alaska, and people in the lower forty-eight are inordinately impressed with that.

And sadly for little Stacy he DOES look like this...

..so probably anybody who is NOT a chain smoking, asthmatic, with bad teeth probably seems like a God to the pathetic little cockroach.

However Stacy's little fantasy will of course remain unfulfilled as everybody who knows the Palins knows that Todd is a pathetic bullying cuckold who has spent many years hiding behind his wife's skirts.

Simply put he will not do a damn thing!  Not unless Sarah can hire somebody to ghostwrite some balls for him that is!

I know it is hard to learn that your hero has feet of clay, but hey little man that's not the worst of it.

Your heroine also has boobs of water!

Well I know what I'll be doing for the rest of this evening.

It just arrived at my front door a few minutes ago from Crown Publishing courtesy of Fed Ex.

And yes I peeked at chapter nineteen and it does indeed address babygate.

Update: I am barely into Chapter One and I am already reading about Todd bullying somebody.

It is Catherine Taylor the lady who rented Joe the house next door to the Palins for that summer.

I met Catherine at the house when Joe first moved in. She was very, very sweet.

Before she even knew who I was she leaned in close and said "You know what? I don't think she had that baby."

That made Joe laugh uproariously and he said  to her, "Do you know who you are talking to?

After we explained who I was she offered to sit down for an interview with me, but something made her get cold feet and it never happened. That is too bad, I imagine she had tons of information that I would have loved to post.

The fact that Todd bullied her pisses me off!

Jimmy Kimmel asks "Would you sleep with Sarah Palin?"

That is hysterical!

I loved the guy that said he would sleep with her, but not vote for her.

This kind of goes hand in hand with this article from the New York Daily News which claims that Palin is now nothing more than an x-rated punchline. (Seriously? Was she ever REALLY anything more than that?):

The allegation about Rice, of course, is just one more swinging strike against Palin, who has become the world's most famous hypocrite/talk-show host/Presidential wannabe in a land of tarnished political souls on both sides of the aisle. Palin was a non-running joke before this material surfaced. She is now an X-rated punch line. 

If Joe McGinniss's book does nothing else (And I am quite confident it will do quite a lot more), just the fact alone that it has now made it completely impossible for Palin to get the support from her base to even start a fake temporary political campaign, should make Americans everywhere feel forever in his debt.

Joe McGinniss's interview on the Today Show, and "Todd Palin's" written, not in person, response. Update!

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

And here is Todd's ghostwritten response:

"This is a man who has been relentlessly stalking my family to the point of moving in right next door to us to harass us and spy on us. He traffics in innuendo and falsehoods. A few years ago he interviewed members of Sarah's administration for a magazine article, and afterwards they said that he was the most disingenuous and intellectual dishonest writer they'd ever dealt with. He's spent the last year interviewing marginal figures with an axe to grind in order to churn out a hit piece to satisfy his own creepy obsession with my wife. I'd ask that people consider these facts when evaluating his latest lies." 

"I'd ask the fathers and husbands of America to consider our privacy when one summer day I found this guy on the deck of the rental property, just 18 feet away next door to us, staring like a creep at my wife while she mowed the lawn in her shorts, unbeknownst to her that he was prying. As well as our teenage daughters while they tried to enjoy our traditional Alaskan summer days outdoors. Joe's son told the media he advised his dad not to move from the East Coast to become our next door neighbor, but said his dad 'was just waiting for Todd to be out of the picture.' Sarah has never spoken to this intruder into our lives, our friends and family don't speak to him, so we have no idea where he would come up with content for his book. He was on our doorstep one day trying to make conversation with our son until Track cut the conversation short after discerning Joe's odd behavior, and I spoke to him one time when I saw him 18 feet away, just to find out who he was. He took that conversation and reported it to the media as me 'threatening' him."

Well this is clearly the work of somebody who is NOT Todd Palin.

The opportunity to write THIS kind of statement is exactly why Sarah made those "creepy" references about Joe when he first moved in next door. The idea was to create a meme that he was a pervert, and possible pedophile, in order to lay the groundwork to dismiss his book out of hand when it was finally published.

And if the book had come out only a few months after Palin's Facebook post, that might have worked like a charm.

The question is now with EVERYTHING that has been revealed about Palin in articles, books, Nick's movie, and the blogs, and how similar it all is, will that actually be enough to discredit McGinniss and keep his book from selling?

I think the answer to that is no.

By the way here is today's Doonesbury strip.

Update: Okay since everybody is asking for it, THIS is what Joe McGinniss would have seen if he had actually been staring at Sarah Palin in her shorts.

Feel free to "ogle" away.

Sarah Palin reporting on Glen Rice's basketball team for KTUU three months after they did the nasty.

Courtesy of Deadspin:

Just about three months after her alleged one-night stand with Michigan star player Glen Rice, Sarah Palin (then Sarah Heath) reported on a Wolverines game for Anchorage's KTUU-TV. In the clip above, she's reporting on Michigan's 80-67 loss against Purdue on March 3, 1988 in to clinch the Big Ten championship game. Her alleged former lover had just 11 points and shot 5 for 16 from the field in the game, so he goes unmentioned. 

Okay this might just be the result of knowing that Palin and Rice bumped uglies, but does EVERYTHING she says in this sportscast seem packed with sexual innuendo to anybody else?

Sarah Palin tells Todd to get his ass up and go earn his keep!

"Kill me. Please God just kill me now."

Here is Todd Palin's response to the allegations made in Joe McGinniss's book, courtesy of the Sea O'Pee:

This is a man who has been relentlessly stalking my family to the point of moving in right next door to us to harass us and spy on us to satisfy his creepy obsession with my wife. His book is full of disgusting lies, innuendo, and smears. Even The New York Times called this book ‘dated, petty,’ and that it ‘chases caustic, unsubstantiated gossip.’ 

"Innuendo?" Okay who do you suppose wrote this for him?

Oh, it was THIS Palin panty sniffer.

So let me get this straight. Todd does not even have the balls to step in front of the cameras and defend his wife's "honor, " and instead he resorts to using some OTHER guy's Twitter account?

Oh he IS a manly man isn't he?

I can just hear how the conversation went at the Palin compound:

"TAWD!! That frickin Joe McGinniss is talking about all of the things we paid and threatened all of our neighbors to keep their big mouths shut about!  He is doing the worst possible thing anybody can do to me.  HE IS TELLING THE TRUTH! Get out from behind that couch and go make it stop. And I mean right the hell now!  Oh and after you are done go get us another refrigerator. I cannot believe that with what these damn things cost they can't even take a couple of canned peas to the ice maker without completely falling apart!"

Gee I wonder who will write Todd's response to Joe McGinniss tomorrow on the Today Show?