Kick 'er When She's Up, Kick 'er When She's Down

When it comes to mainstream media reportage on Gov. Palin, the Don Henley classic "Dirty Laundry" could not be more apropos. The closing lyric to Don Henley's "Dirty Laundry" is,

We can do the innuendo, we can dance and sing
When it's said and done, we haven't told you a thing
We all know that crap is king, give us dirty laundry

For most of the media "crap is king," when writing stories about Gov. Palin. Editorializing in news stories is the principal reason why we refer to the "lamestream" media as such. A blatant example of this is an AFP article written by Andrew Gully, headlined "Palin accuses Obama of being in bed with big oil".

Obama and Big Oil

The headline implies that Gov. Palin is making a false accusation. Gov. Palin stated the facts on the Chris Wallace Show, and on Twitter. BP did in fact make a $77K donation to the Obama campaign, which is indeed the largest donation of the $3.5 million the company has made to federal candidates in the past 20 years.

According to Cassandra LaRussa, who wrote, "BP Enjoys Lobbying Strength, Close Ties to Lawmakers as Federal Investigation Looms," on Open Secrets, only ConocoPhilips has lobbied more extensively than BP. This connection could explain Obama's interest in Alaska's gas pipelines.

Gov. Palin correctly indicated a strong correlation between BP's lobbying and donations to candidate Obama, and his administration's slow response to the Horizon Deepwater tragedy.

Three Lies in One Paragraph

In his closing paragraphs, Gully wrote,

"Palin, who quit the Alaska governorship after serving less than half of one term, famously promoted the slogan "Drill, baby, drill!" that rallied supporters while dismissing possible environmental impact of off-shore drilling."

Lie No. 1 Figures Don't Lie, but Liars can Figure

Truth: Gov. Palin served almost two thirds of her term, not "less than half"




The "quit the governorship" meme is a typical Alinsky-esque Obama talking point. Gov. Palin served 31 months out of the four years (48-months), which is 64.58% of her term. Even if we accept the notion that Gov. Palin "quit," 64.58% is 14.58% more than half. We do not expect reporters to do differential equations, but accurate simple arithmetic is not too much to ask. The clause; therefore, about "serving less than half of one term" is pure, unadulterated baloney.

Lie No. 2 - The "Quitter" Meme

Truth: Palin Administration's Agenda was Accomplished when She Left Office

Most importantly, her administration accomplished every goal on its agenda within those 31 months. I challenge anyone to find a governor of any state in our lifetimes who accomplished what she has in 31 months.

The number, size, scale, scope, and frequency of accomplishments of the Palin-Parnell administration from 2006 through 2008 and 2009 is a record that cannot be beat.

Frivolous Ethics Complaints and FOIA Requests

Any news person who follows Gov. Palin knows or should know why she left office after 31 months: a barrage of frivolous ethics complaints and FOIA requests tied up her entire administration and ground work to a halt. Gov. Palin was personally liable for defending against these complaints and had incurred over $500K in legal bills. Had she stayed in office, bankruptcy was a distinct possibility. The state had incurred over $2 million dollars in defending against these cases, and those costs were climbing. "Clinging to power" would have been a losing proposition for Alaska, its taxpayers, Gov. Palin and her family.

Transformational Leadership and Succession Planning



Leaving office as she did was not "quitting." It was the right thing to do under the circumstances. Gov. Palin is also an astute Transformational Leader and followed a key aspect of John Kotter's 8-Step Change Model to the letter:

"Create plans to replace key leaders of change as they move on. This will help ensure that their legacy is not lost or forgotten."

Gov. Palin's successor, Gov. Parnell is ensuring that Gov. Palin's agenda continues on. While Gov. Palin is a Transformational Leader, Gov. Parnell is more Transactional. She could not have picked a more perfect successor. It was this decision, made when Gov. Palin was a candidate that led to her being able to leave office and still have her agenda continue on. It is why, we at US 4 Palin support Sean Parnell for Alaska's Governor with Eddie Burke as his Lieutenant Governor.

Moving on When the Mission is Accomplished is a Trait of Transformational Leaders

From ChangingMinds.org:

Finally, Transformational Leaders, by definition, seek to transform. When the organization does not need transforming and people are happy as they are, then such a leader will be frustrated. Like wartime leaders, however, given the right situation they come into their own and can be personally responsible for saving entire companies.

Having achieved her mission, there would have been little point to Gov. Palin staying in office any longer than she did. As she said in her own farewell address, "only dead fish go with the flow." Her departure was also well-planned, and its timing could not have been more Providential.

When one closely analyzes her departure, staying in office would have been the real "quit," as Gov. Palin would have short-circuited her own future impact and relegated herself back to obscurity.

More Impact Without a Title

In her farewell address, Gov. Palin said she could have more impact without at title than with one. A cursory review of her accomplishments 10 months on supports her statement. Using Facebook and Twitter, she shaped the political debate on key issues such as Obamacare and cap-and-tax. She authored a best-seller, which was Number 1 for six weeks, and had a major book signing tour. Gov. Palin's second book is coming out this November 23. Her endorsements carry heavy weight as evidenced by the anger of non-endorsed candidates, and their supporters. She is a consultant on Fox News, has a special series with them, and is working on a Learning Channel series about her state. Gov. Palin is electrifying crowds of thousands in venues nationwide. People routinely travel thousands of miles, spend thousands of dollars, and endure extremely long wait times just to have a few seconds bonding time with her. Most only get to see her from afar.



Gov. Palin went from nearly being driven to bankruptcy to being a millionaire in mere months. With her Reagan-esque optimism, Gov. Palin turned bitter lemons into sweet, delicious lemonade. Gov. Palin throughout her life has demonstrated an uncanny ability to turn adversity about on its head and emerge stronger than before.

Lie No. 3: "Dismissing possible Environmental Impacts

Truth: Gov. Palin is a Steward to the Environment

The third lie Gully told in that paragraph was "dismissing possible environmental impact of off-shore drilling." Gov. Palin never did such a thing. In her most recent interview with Chris Wallace as covered by both Adrienne Ross and myself, Gov. Palin explained how she took on the big oil companies such as BP. She explained how her administration went after Exxon-Mobil to hold it accountable for the Exxon Valdez oil spill, which affected her husband's fishing business. Her handling of Exxon Valdez spill, which brought tremendous strife upon the state of Alaska is very well documented in Going Rogue: An American Life.

Conclusion

We expect this kind of trash reportage from amateur hate bloggers. Professional journalists should know better. Even if they don't particularly like Gov. Palin, their job is to accurately and truthfully document her record. Purposely understating the length of her term, using loaded words to describe her departure from office, diminishing her accomplishments, and printing blatant falsehoods about her environmental stewardship is nothing less than politically motivated, sexist slinging of the bull at a wall and hoping some of it sticks.

"We all know that crap is king. Give us dirty laundry."