Multiple Sources Debunk Politico's Palin Hit Piece

By Adrienne Ross - www.motivationtruth.com

There's something to be said for learning from the mistakes of others. Yet when it comes to Governor Palin, people can't seem to do that. After Michael Joseph Gross's Vanity Fair article that brought shame on him when, one after another, real sources debunked his anonymous sources, Jonathan Martin of Politico puts himself in the same boat with his hit piece.

His article, "Sarah Palin is wreaking havoc on the campaign trail, GOP sources say" makes all types of claims about the Governor, accusing her of being difficult to work with, unaccommodating, and totally unorganized--rude and incompetent basically. He cites "sources" to substantiate his claims. His hit piece has come crashing down on his head, and a retraction and apology are in order. Many are calling for just that.

He claims, for example, that she has rudely backed out of interviews with Mark Levin and Glenn Beck. Lies! In fact, Beck calls it an "out and out lie." Outraged, here's what he said about this "trash":

Mark Levin calls the piece "a flat out lie" and says "Sarah Palin never backed out of any interview with me." Listen:

Governor Palin responded this way:

Johnny, Johnny, Johnny...ya just made big mistake lying about Levin, Beck, Rush...U can lie about me, but taking on the Big Guns? Not smart

The hit piece also states that Governor Palin snubbed the Grassley and King campaigns in Iowa. Lies! My fellow blogger and truth seeker, Shane Vander Hart, contacted them himself. This is what Shane wrote (emphasis added):

Eric Woolson, spokesperson for Senator Chuck Grassley’s campaign, for the record said, that the anonymous source “does not represent the Senator’s views.” So evidently Senator Grassley was not displeased with any interaction they had with the Palin camp.

[...]

I have yet to contact the Iowa GOP and will follow-up, but I did talk with Jeff King with Congressman King’s campaign he said that they “didn’t have any inkling that we’d get her for a rally. We would love to have her though.” He said they did not expect that it would work out. He said nobody from their campaign talked with Martin and they certainly don’t have any complaints about Palin.

Click here to read Shane Vander Hart's full article, which Governor Palin retweeted yesterday.

Not only is Jonathan Martin's no-name sources lying, even the named sources debunk his claims.

Various other sources, including Big Journalism, also demand a retraction or blast this piece of crap that Politico calls journalism. C4P even received the following from Charlie Davis, CEO of the Southern Republican Leadership Conference (SRLC). It's an email they sent to Martin himself:

Hey Jonathan,

Hope you're doing well. Just read your article on Palin and wanted to add my two cents. (this wasn't requested by anybody and feel free to quote me if you'd like)

As you know the 2010 SRLC was the largest Republican Leadership Conference in 30 years, with more speakers, more press and more attendees than ever before. Governor Palin's staff was incredibly easy to deal with and very professional.

I interacted with every major GOP personality in the country leading up to the conference and can tell you first hand that the only thing different about Governor Palin was the intensity of the interest from the attendees, sponsors and even other speakers.

She's easily the most requested surrogate our party has and it's a shame that Republicans would rather gripe that they can't get more of her time instead of being appreciative of everything that she does do.

Charlie Davis
President and CEO
2010 Southern Republican Leadership Conference

Today, Governor Palin discussed the issue with Glenn Beck on his radio show. Her modus operandi is to call it as she sees it, so she called Martin a "punk."

Retrieved from C4P, who retrieved it from The Right Scoop, here you go:

This post is just a buffet of information gathered from my colleagues who care about truth and honesty, who are committed to holding people accountable for what they say and do. The behavior of some who fancy themselves professionals is deplorable. More than that, it's just plain stupid. These people simply never learn their lesson, nor do they learn from those who have tried the same tactics and failed--over and over again. Palin Derangement Syndrome, with its accompanying fear and desperation, have disabled all their reasoning capabilities.

Those of you who are not yet convinced that there is an all-out determination to destroy Governor Palin, no matter what, please open your eyes. If you really care about truth, embrace it, and work to expose and destroy its enemies everywhere they surface. Governor Palin would be the first to tell you that the words she speaks and the actions she exemplifies should be evaluated as others' are. However, the lies, the slander, and the attacks on her character are beyond the pale. What her character assassins are not willing to accept, however, is that none of it will cause her to wander off message, cower in fear, or retreat. It only fires her up even more--and fires up those of us who stand in her corner.

Onward and upward...

(h/t Josh Painter, C4P, Shane Vander Hart, and Big Journalism)

Susannah Fleetwood On Why the Left is Fleeing Vanity Fair Hit Piece

By Adrienne Ross - www.motivationtruth.com


News Real Blog's Susannah Fleetwood drops the dime on why she thinks even the Left is avoiding the Vanity Fair hit piece on Governor Palin.

She writes:

So, why the mad dash away from this column by the leftist elites? It’s bashing Sarah Palin, so one would think that they would love it. Well, without much ado and mincing any words, I can tell you the four major reasons why so-called liberals can’t seem to distance themselves from this column fast enough.

The points include such things as Mr. Gross' poor writing, use of anonymous sources, blatant sexism, and verifiable inaccuracies. Add to this his strange obsession with Governor Palin's underwear, and there's no small wonder even Palin Derangement Syndrome sufferers don't want anything to do with this.

Fleetwood ends the article with this:

So, in conclusion, Michael Gross not only not only [sic] made a flaming ass out of himself, but he also totally humiliated the so-called liberal mainstream media. He managed to bring every caricature of an elitist, egotistical, out of touch, so-called liberal journalist to life. And the worst part was that he was incredibly sloppy with many of the facts–which in turn, discredits his entire piece. Credible leftist/progressive journalists and columnists can’t flee from his disaster of a column fast enough–and I don’t blame them.

However, sad to say, this isn’t the first time that Vanity Fair has written an outrageous, totally unsourced hit piece on a politician. During the 2008 campaign Todd Purdum wrote a totally unsourced hit piece in Vanity Fair about Bill Clinton, implying that he was openly dating while campaigning for Hillary in South Carolina. (Whatever you may think of Bill Clinton, I live in SC. If Bill Clinton was going out publicly clubbing and picking up women, someone, somewhere would have seen him. SC is a small state.) Furthermore, Purdum then wrote a totally unsourced hit piece on Sarah Palin a year later. Surprise, surprise. (Has anyone ever noticed that Vanity Fair has never written an unsourced hit piece on Barack Obama?)

But now, Vanity Fair’s chickens have come home to roost. They have gotten away with writing unsourced hit pieces for so long, that they got over-confident. This time, they gave Michael Gross carte blanche to pretty much write what ever he damn well pleased–muddled facts, sexism, stalkers, underwear and all. To tell the truth, I’m not at all surprised that some columnist, somewhere, would write something like this; however, I am surprised that any editor would actually go through with publishing it. Basically, Vanity Fair unintentionally gave Michael Gross just enough rope to hang himself, and Vanity Fair’s credibility in the process. Michael Gross’ column should serve as a cautionary tale for progressive journalists everywhere. Don’t let your love of all things Obama and your hatred of Sarah Palin get the best of you–or you will wind up proving Sarah Palin correct about the “lamestream media”.

Read the full article here.

(h/t Ian)

Two More Real Sources Debunk Vanity Fair's Ghost Sources

By Adrienne Ross - www.motivationtruth.com


It's time for Vanity Fair and Michael Gross to just come out and say that his article on Governor Palin is a complete hit piece designed to taint her reputation via anonymous sources. As I state here, it would be best if Gross made a full retraction like yesterday because his assertions are unraveling little by little.

Katrina Trinko reports in the National Review Online today:

While Vanity Fair writer Michael Joseph Gross has admitted he erred in saying that little Trig Palin was at one event (although VF has yet to correct — or note — the error in the online piece), he still hasn’t retracted any of the other inaccuracies in his Sarah Palin piece. And there are plenty.

Earlier today I spoke to long-time Palin friend (they’ve known each other since elementary school) Kristan Cole, who completely denies Gross’s characterization of her and Palin’s relationship in this passage:

People who know Kristan Cole and Kris Perry, her closest local friends and advisers of longest standing, say that the relationships have deteriorated. Her former aides Meg Stapleton and Ivy Frye are said to have parted with Palin on bad terms.

Apparently, “people who know” was code for “strangers who speculate.” “[It’s] absolutely not true. I don’t know where they get this stuff from, honestly,” said Cole about whether her relationship with Palin had deteriorated. On the contrary, she affectionately described the care the Palins had shown her throughout the summer, after she had broken her hip while running a 12K race. “She [Palin] was really concerned. Both her and Todd kept in contact with me, to check on me and see how everything was going. No matter where they were.”

Trinko goes on to refer to my Conservatives4Palin article where I shared what Palin friend, and former employee, Ivy Frye, told me:

I didn't leave on "bad terms." I've known the Palins for many years and I respect them personally and professionally. Our relationship is not "deteriorated." In fact, I just waved campaign signs with Todd and Sarah last week, and went 4-wheeling with Willow and Piper. Gross' 8 page hit piece is a complete work of fiction from beginning to end. And the media elite wonder why we call them "lame stream."

But that's not all. Joining Kristan Cole and Ivy Frye is Meghan Stapleton who was a long time Palin aide and spokesperson until February when she resigned to spend more time with her little girl. Here's what Trinko writes:

Meghan Stapleton (noted in the quote above as being on “bad terms” with Palin) e-mails me that the assertion is completely false. Her statement:

After years of working for Governor Sarah Palin and living with her for weeks at a time, I don’t recognize the person described in this latest VF hit piece. This is just nonsense and despicable. The Palins and I also remain close – not a difficult fact to check.

There's more in the article that exposes Gross' gross bag of lies and poor "journalism." Read the full piece here. For other articles that totally refute the Vanity Fair article with real stories by real people, go here, here, here, and here.

Can we believe anything this guy has said? Not a chance. I'll tell you this, too: with the state of "journalism" these days, each of us must seek the truth for ourselves because we simply cannot trust the lamestream media.

(h/t Whitney)

Another Vanity Fair Lie Bites the Dust

By Adrienne Ross - www.motivationtruth.com


The Vanity Fair hit piece is just crumbling to pieces, isn't it? It was debunked here, blown out of the water here, and it ain't over yet.

You may recall that the author, Michael Joseph Gross, wrote that Governor Palin was a terrible tipper and treated bellhops horribly. He wrote:

Palin does not always treat those ordinary people well, however—it depends on who is watching. Of the many famous people who have stayed at the Hyatt in Wichita (Cher, Reba McEntire, Neil Young), Sarah Palin ranks as the all-time worst tipper: $5 for seven bags. But the bellhops had it good in Kansas, compared with the bellman at another midwestern hotel who waited up until past midnight for Palin and her entourage to check in—and then got no tip at all for 10 bags. He was stiffed again at checkout time. The same went for the maids who cleaned Palin’s rooms in both places—no tip whatsoever.

This information, of course, came from...you guessed it, anonymous sources.

But read what Jackie Sic had to say in her article, "We All have a Bellhop Story":

On the morning of May 14th, I attended the “Celebration of Life” Breakfast which was hosted by the Susan B. Anthony List (www.sba-list.org). Sarah Palin was the keynote speaker and the event was held in Washington, D.C. at the Ronald Reagan Building with over 600 people in attendance. It was at this event I had the privilege of meeting Sarah Palin for the first time. I found her to be warm, genuine, sincere, and I felt she was truly interested in my family and me. While this part of my story serves to let you know when and why I was in Washington, D.C., the rest of my story is a small and unexpected moment that over the last few days has taken on new meaning.

I’m sure that by now you’ve either heard about or read the most recent Vanity Fair article on Sarah Palin. (I refuse to link to Vanity Fair, so if you have not seen it, just use your favorite internet search engine.) In fact, this article has been a dominating news story in the blogosphere due to its outrageous and unsubstantiated accusations. One part of the article allegedly details Governor Palin’s treatment of bellhops in a Wichita, Kansas hotel, citing that she was a poor tipper and had a bad temper. Now, let me tie these two seemingly unrelated stories together.

After the “Celebration of Life Breakfast,” my family and I returned to our hotel, the Renaissance Washington, in order to change into casual clothes for some sightseeing. I decided to don a pair of jeans and my “Team Sarah” (www.teamsarah.org) t-shirt. We went back down to the lobby to find a tourist map and I somehow became separated from my husband and my son. I decided to stay put in the large lobby, figuring we would eventually spot each other and commence with the sightseeing.

Before reuniting with my family, two bellhops approached me, pointed at my shirt, and asked me about it. I explained to them that I was a supporter of Sarah Palin and was in town to hear her speak. I also told them that I was very involved in a website called “Team Sarah.” They both became very excited and extended their hands. At that point, I realized they wanted to shake my hand because I was associated with Sarah Palin in a small way. These bellhops enthusiastically started telling me in broken English about their recent encounter with Sarah Palin, as she had been a guest at the same hotel. These two hard-working gentlemen adored her. I then asked a very simple question, “Was she nice to you?” Their response was, “Oh yes, very nice.” About that time, I was reunited with my family. I let these gentlemen know that I was delighted to have met them and thanked them for sharing their story with me.

All this time I’ve thought that my “big story” from that trip was getting to meet with Sarah Palin; however a three minute encounter with two bellhops in a hotel lobby has become meaningful as well.

Michael Joseph Gross, author of the Vanity Fair article, expects people to believe that he approached this assignment with an open mind and journalistic integrity. He expects us to accept his vicious characterization of Sarah Palin as truth—simply because he says so. He even expects that the vast majority of people will now believe the worst about her. The only problem is that he obviously didn’t expect that many of us have had our own experiences with her, and we will not exchange those experiences—or those of others we’ve personally talked to, like these bellhops—for the claims of anonymous sources.

People are coming forward because they are sick of the libel, the slander, and the politics of personal destruction directed at decent people like Governor Palin. Enough is enough.

Yep, another lie bites the dust.

Vanity Fair Author Blown Out of the Water

By Adrienne Ross - www.motivationtruth.com


I called out Michael Joseph Gross for his hit piece on Governor Palin in my article, "Vanity Fair's 'Gross' Hit Piece on Gov. Palin." Included in that post was a quote from a friend of the Palins debunking his lies and multiple links to Liberals who blasted Gross' article.

The Vanity Fair piece continues to lose credibility, not that it ever had any to begin with. The article begins with a description of Governor Palin and her husband Todd backstage at the "Winning America Back" conference, which I attended in May in Missouri. He writes about Piper getting "the signal to do her job" and that "a woman, perhaps a nanny, whisks [Trig] away." It appears Gross opens with this scene to paint a picture of a woman who uses her children as props. Unfortunately, he got his information wrong. No, he lied. No surprise there.

Dr. Gina Loudon tells the true story:

Unfortunately for Mr. Gross, it happens that I shared the stage with Sarah Palin at that event. I announced my BUYcott of Arizona that day, and I remember it well.

As I stood backstage with the Palins I remember a reporter asking me if I were “Trig’s Nanny” with a hint of something I didn’t trust in his eyes. I coldly retorted, “no, I am Samuel’s mother.” He looked confused, and had more questions to follow. In his VF story, he said that no one is willing to speak about Sarah “on the record” unless they are paid by her, or afraid. I was one of the people you interviewed Mr. Gross. I am not paid, or afraid. But since you opted not to print what I told you, here is the rest of the story:Since the first time the Governor saw my son Samuel (who also has Down syndrome), she bolts across the room to greet him every time she sees him. She nuzzles him like a mother who loves children with Down syndrome does. I remember commenting to my husband that she always “does the mama smell” of Samuel, that only moms understand.

All of the Palin children circle around Samuel the moment they can get close, but Piper, in particular, cannot seem to get enough of him. She literally plays with him (Gross does say she played with “the children” in his story) from the moment she sees him, until the moment she is pressed to let go of him. It is so sweet, and it speaks to the parenting in her life. She has obviously been taught a real, tangible love for “special children” by her parents, and it shines when she lights up at the sight of a baby with Down syndrome. This is not an ordinary reaction in children. Most children step away, look curious, or frightened, or confused. Not the Palin children, and especially not little Piper.

After an event in Nashville, the Governor went to the trouble of making a special call to me to thank me and tell me how much Piper enjoyed “loving on” my Samuel. During the event where the Governor and I spoke in Independence, the Palins stood backstage for a long while as others took the stage. Sarah pulled me aside to ask me how blessed I felt to be the mother of someone chosen and special, like Samuel. She held both of my hands and confided her fears and love for her little Trig, and the miracle of all he has taught her. She glowed as she explained how he greets each morning with a smile, and we talked about the gentle touch of a child with Down syndrome that feels almost like the wing of an angel. I would love to tell you more about the depth of her love, concern, and compassion for her child, but she deserves my confidence. She spoke from a tender, mother’s heart, one that Mr. Gross wouldn’t know if it slapped him with a silicon spatula in a moose stew pot!

After I explained which children were Todd and Sarah’s, and which were mine and my husband’s, Mr. Gross moved into a sinister line of questioning. I let him know that I was surprised that he believed the baloney written about her during her 2008 race with John McCain. I told of my work on Governor Palin’s “advance team” and that I was there when the whole St. Louis “story” about her alleged expensive taste became more important to some writers than her stellar performance in the debate. I told him the Governor I know was always polite, always a lady, even behind the scenes in her darkest moments. I remember one night after a day of campaign season attacks when she came back to the hotel afterward. She held Trig in one arm, and cuddled Piper with the other. She was patient with her other children when they were asking about exploring the hotel. She kissed her husband who, though tired, glowed with pride in his bride (he spent hours earlier in the day hanging out and smal -talking with the advance team while her plane was running behind schedule), and she was careful to stop and say hello to all her staff and advance team despite the fact that she must have been exhausted after battling the press all day. I remember that night because I could not understand where she was getting all her energy, joy, and warmth after such a wicked day.

I told Mr. Gross that the Palin family is so real, it is unreal. What you saw in front of the cameras is precisely what you saw behind the scenes. I have known a lot of politicians. The interesting thing about the Palins is how grounded they are, despite their astonishing success. Mr. Gross says he talked to her hairdressers, makeup artists, waiters, and clerks at the Independence, Mo., event, and he tells of scandal, self absorption, and power slinging.But he never mentions talking to me, or to others I heard echoing the sentiments I offered to him. One of the most endearing components of the Palin family is their ability to point out, and laugh at their flaws. The Palins were gracious enough to let Mr. Gross follow them for months backstage, behind the scenes, and in their private moments around their staff and friends and family, and this is how he thanks them?

[...]

I do agree with you on one thing, Mr. Gross. You said that “Her talk of leading with ‘a servant’s heart’ is a dog-whistle for the born-again. Her dig at health-care reform as an expression of Democratic ambitions to “build a Utopia in the United States is practically a trumpet call (because the Kingdom of God is not of this earth), and perfection can be achieved only in the life to come.

But it is Palin’s persistent encouragement of the prayer warriors that most clearly reveals her worldview: she is good, her opponents are evil, and the war is on.” Agreed. She is good, her opponents are evil, and the war is on!

One more thing among your errors: “the boy” in the excerpted quote above, was not Trig Palin. That was my Samuel, also a beautiful boy with Down syndrome. No “nanny whisk(ed) the boy away.” I am his mother. I took my son, Samuel from Sarah before she went on stage. I told Mr. Gross that fact, but he didn’t let that divert him from his pathetic narrative.

That is not journalism. That is just gross.

All I can say is "Wow." She blew him clear out of the water. Anonymous sources versus this real account by a real person with a real name. I say it all the time, and so say I again: "A person with an experience is never at the mercy of a person with an argument"--or a bag of lies. Please read all of Dr. Loudon's post here at Big Journalism.

So what was Mr. Gross to do after Dr. Loudon's article?

Via the Associated Press:

A writer for Vanity Fair has acknowledged a case of mistaken identity in an unflattering article about Sarah Palin in the magazine's October issue.

In the article, Michael Joseph Gross describes Palin's youngest son, Trig, being pushed in a stroller before the start of a May rally in the Kansas City suburb of Independence. But the boy in the stroller was not Trig — but another child with Down syndrome.

The mother of the child, conservative activist Gina Loudon, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch she thought Gross might have been confused during the rally and that she tried to explain she was the boy's mother, not Palin. She says he "just ignored facts."

Gross says in a written statement Friday sent to The Associated Press that he regrets the error.

The Vanity Fair article was a bunch of bull from beginning to end. It would serve the author well to admit it and get it over with, rather than having to issue retractions little by little.

(h/t C4P)

Vanity Fair's "Gross" Hit Piece on Gov. Palin

By Adrienne Ross - www.motivationtruth.com

The Vanity Fair hit piece about Governor Palin has gotten a lot of play today. I'm almost speechless at how absolutely disgusting this article is. I understand now why a friend warned I would need to be prayed up before reading it and said she had trouble sleeping after she read it.

Michael Joseph Gross depicted the Governor as a vengeful individual who creates fear in the people of Alaska, a mother who is not as loving as she appears, a religious fanatic who somehow doubles as a fake Christian, a bad wife, a horrible tipper, an angry woman--basically a complete monster. His sources are anonymous people with anonymous relationships to the Governor who were trembling in fear as they gave him the low-down. Mr. Gross--aptly named--expects us to believe that these people were terrified that talking to him would bring upon them the dreaded Palin Vendetta but chose to give him the goods nonetheless. He even makes the point that Governor Palin's triflin' ways are the reason for "deteriorated" relationships, including relationships with people who were in her employ. He lies! One such person he mentions is Ivy Frye, whom he stated left on "bad terms." That's news to Ivy, however, who told me the following:

I didn't leave on "bad terms." I've known the Palins for many years and I respect them personally and professionally. Our relationship is not "deteriorated." In fact, I just waved campaign signs with Todd and Sarah last week, and went 4-wheeling with Willow and Piper. Gross' 8 page hit piece is a complete work of fiction from beginning to end. And the media elite wonder why we call them "lame stream."

So where did he get his information? Obviously, his ghost sources are providing him with bad information. Why, then, would we believe anything he/they/his imagination have to say?

This article is actually filled with lies that nobody who has ever met the real Governor Palin--or anyone with an ounce of discernment--would ever embrace, but facts don't seem to matter to loons who are obsessed with running her into the ground. Isn't it something how these things seem to get uglier and uglier as she does more and more damage to the Liberal agenda? It's no surprise that after this latest round of endorsees' victories, this comes out. The latest, of course, is the "miracle on ice," Joe Miller's defeat of Lisa Murkowski in the battle for the U.S. Senate.

We're all getting tired of the shenanigans. When the lamestream media descended upon Alaska looking for dirt...what, minutes after John McCain announced Governor Palin as his running mate, they found nothing. She was the maverick, anti-corruption, hard-working mother they said she was. She had climbed the ladder rung by rung--with no scandal. Those they concocted proved false. Yet it hasn't stopped, has it? Trooper-Gate, Baby-Gate, Diva-Gate, Clothing-Gate, Ethics Complaints-Gate, Federal Investigation-Gate, Divorce-Gate, Visor-Gate, Tour Bus-Gate, Boob-Gate, Eye Roll-Gate. Did I leave any out? These people are sick, and each of their gates come up empty. They are so threatened by a common sense conservative woman who brings a message of personal responsibility, Constitutional preservation, national security, energy independence, fiscal sanity, pro-life feminism, and faith in God. They hate her for it--and they hide behind anonymous sources. How very convenient. And like I said, we, the people, are getting tired of it--and not just people on the Right, either. Conservatives4Palin posted several articles today linking to people on the Left who blasted this ridiculous piece of trash put out by Vanity Fair. Read them for yourself.

* Even CNN's Peter Hamby is Effectively Calling the Vanity Fair Hit Piece a Lie

* Even Pro-Abortion Far-Left Feminists Are Defending Governor Palin Against the Vanity Fair Hit Piece

* Democrat Party Hack Ravi Somaiya Admits He Lied and Governor Palin is Now Immune from the Left

* Even Shannyn Moore's Extremist Friends Are Calling the Vanity Fair Piece "Slanderous"

* Even Liberals Ben Smith, Dave Weigel, and Kirsten Powers Defend Palin and Cast Doubt on Vanity Fair Hit Piece

* Even the Liberal Amanda Coyne from the Liberal Alaska Dispatch Finds a Lie in the Vanity Fair Hit Piece

It's clear that no matter what side of the political aisle some people sit on, they are growing weary of the outrageous anti-Palin lies published by the foolish and believed by only by those who are more foolish. In light of this, Ian Lazaran issued the following challenge:

I have a challenge for Ben Smith, Dave Weigel, Kirsten Powers, race-baiter Charles Blow, Amanda Coyne, Monika Bauerlein, and Shakesville. All of you are very liberal and all of you have denounced in some manner today's Vanity Fair hit piece. However, you have denounced the hit piece in limited mediums such as twitter and blog posts. The questions that you have raised about the piece are being ignored by your extreme left-wing friends. I challenge each of you to go on MSNBC or any left-wing network and raise the same issues you have on twitter and blog posts. If you want to prove that you aren't a total far-left hack, you would take up this challenge and show that you are willing to deviate from left-wing orthodoxy in a substantive manner. It's too easy to claim you are "reasonable" by putting something up on twitter or a blog post. If you really want to prove that you are reasonable, go on MSNBC and defend Palin the same way you did today.

Yes, go.

A final note about the anonymous sources: we didn't respect this approach when the media quoted anonymous McCain staffers after the 2008 election, and we respect it even less now. So I'll end with this by Rich Crowther, who puts the anonymous nonsense in its proper perspective:

This, of course, is something which appears lost on Michael Joseph Gross, for it seems that he was too busy interviewing anonymous people who admire Governor Palin; anonymous Republican leaders who privately dismiss her; an anonymous bellman; anonymous maids; an anonymous onetime gubernatorial aide to Palin; various anonymous aides/close aides/ campaign aides; an anonymous close friend of Governor Palin; one anonymous person with firsthand knowledge of the situation; anonymous others who have worked with Palin; an anonymous leading member of Wasilla’s Church on the Rock; independent Democrat bloggers who have produced some of the most robust reporting about Governor Palin (like the stories they fabricated about a federal investigation and an impending divorce, their conspiracies about the parentage of two of the Palin children and their investigation into the shape of Trig Palin’s ears); anonymous strongest supporters; anonymous insiders; anonymous rumor-mongerers around town; one anonymous person who has been a frequent houseguest of the Palins; some anonymous people who say that Todd Palin is henpecked; anonymous general consensus in town; anonymous eavesdroppers; an anonymous high-school classmate; an anonymous source; and one anonymous woman in Wasilla.

[...]

Of course, readers will have noted that Mr Gross did interview one other anonymous person, a local Republican who delivered 90 minutes of praise for Palin… though not a word of that praise has been reported.

Governor Palin cuts to the chase and tweets the following:

When yellow journalism gets ratcheted up for a period of time over an individual or an issue it makes u wonder what's up? What's the threat?

Good question, Governor.

This Vanity Fair piece is a piece of trash, and no self-respecting individual would believe a word Michael Gross has to say. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it. Feel free to quote me. The name is Adrienne Ross.

60 Minutes: Vote Sarah Palin Most Influential Conservative

In an unscientific poll conducted by 60 Minutes and Vanity Fair, Governor Palin is currently ranked as the fourth most influential conservative voice in the United States. Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, and former Vice President Cheney have the number one through three ranks respectively. Talk show host, Sean Hannity is fifth, ranking behind Governor Palin (60 Minutes Poll, 2009).

Governor Palin's ranking is fantastic considering that she does not have a nationally syndicated talk show on either radio or TV; and has not held high federal office. From the foregoing, we see that she is ranked more influential than Sean Hannity who has nationally syndicated talk shows on both radio and TV!

Governor Palin's core communications methods are her Facebook and Twitter accounts.

But...let's not settle for No. 4. Get her to Number 1! Get on and vote!

References:

The 60 Minutes/Vanity Fair Poll. (2009, November 30). CBS. Retrieved November 30, 2009 from: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/11/24/60minutes/main5761182_page7.shtml?tag=contentMain;contentBody