Wingnuts of the world unite. You have nothing to lose but election … after election … after election.
That’s the lesson from the far right’s stinging defeat in yet another Republican congressional district this week. Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffmanharangued GOP Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava into dropping out – hailed as a huge victory for Real Republicans – and then the clueless teabagger-cum-carpetbagger went on to lose the upstate New York seat to a little-known Democrat.
Brilliant strategy.
But it’s one we’ve seen from Republicans over and over again, thanks to the shadowy anti-tax group Club for Growth. Its first scalp was right here in Michigan – moderate former U.S. Rep. Joe Schwarz (R-Battle Creek), who was ousted by preacher Tim Walberg in the 2006 primary.
For the extreme right, victory was sweet. And short-lived.
Sarah Palin spoke on Friday night to attendees at a $30-a-ticket fundraiser for the Wisconsin Right to Life Education Fund. No cameras were allowed.
During the summer’s debate over health care reform, right-wing activists and lawmakers latched onto former Alaska governor Sarah Palin’s false claim that President Obama and congressional Democrats were proposing government “death panels” that would “pull the plug on grandma.” While Republican leaders largely abandoned this myth, Palin revived it on Friday during a speech at a Wisconsin Right to Life fundraising banquet. In her remarks, Palin “repeatedly suggested that liberal social policies could lead to de facto euthanasia.” The speech was closed to the press and audience members were not allowed to bring cell phones, cameras, or any recording devices, but a few reporters still managed to sneak in. Politico reports that Friday’s speech was less than inspiring:
Palin had remarks prepared but frequently wandered off-script to make a point, offering audience members a casual “awesome” or “bogus” in discussing otherwise weighty topics.
As in: “It is so bogus that society is sending a message right now and has been for probably the last 40 years that a woman isn’t strong enough or smart enough to be able to pursue an education, a career and her rights and still let her baby live.”
Other Palin touchstones included: praise for the military, jeers for the “the liberal media” and a general manner of speaking that often veered into rhetorical culs-de-sac.
While she drew applause during her remarks, Palin’s extemporaneous and frequently discursive style was such that she never truly roused a true-believing crowd as passionate about the issue at hand as she. Not once during her address did they rise to their feet.
Sarah Palin is going on a three-week tour this month, promoting her new book “Going Rogue.”
Sadly, she’s skipping us namby-pamby, latte-slurping, plastic-bag-recycling, no-declawing-our-cats, liberal fruit bats here in California. Which, when you think about it, isn’t very rogue at all.
No stops are planned in such big population areas as Seattle and Philadelphia either, where voters tend to be Democrats. Unless her book sales depend on voter registration percentages, that just doesn’t compute, since there’s easily more conservatives who would buy her book two at a time in the Bay Area and Los Angeles than places like Grand Rapids, Mich.
Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin will be the Republican speaker at the Gridiron Club’s Winter Dinner on Dec. 5, the club announced Friday.
Gridiron Club President Dick Cooper told club members earlier this afternoon that Palin accepted an invitation to speak at the black-tie affair, according to a member of the club’s executive committee.
Meg Stapleton, a spokeswoman for Palin, confirmed that Palin planned to address the dinner in an e-mail to POLITICO: “The Governor was honored to accept the invitation.”
Also speaking at the dinner will be Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), whom the club invited to represent his party at the event.
U.S. Rep. Bill Owens (D-NY) (L) poses for photographers with Speaker of the House Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) (R) as (2nd L to 5th L) Owens' granddaughter Caroline Antonipillai, wife Jane, son Brendan and daughter Jenna look on during a mock swearing in November 6, 2009 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. Owens won the special election for seat that was vacated by John McHugh.
ALBANY – Despite the national attention lavished on New York’s 23rd Congressional District, Democrats won a surprise victory because of local concerns over jobs, the trashing of an assemblywoman by outsiders and Republican feuding, experts said.
Democrat Bill Owens wooed voters with talk of dairy farms and small businesses, the analysts noted, while Conservative Doug Hoffman touted endorsements from right-wing media personalities such as Fox’s Glenn Beck and former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. Others suggested Hoffman’s vague positions on improvements to the St. Lawrence Seaway, Fort Drum Army base and other regional assets also hurt him.
Analysts said the state Conservative Party’s influence over the GOP’s future direction would be diminished because while Hoffman drove moderate Republican Assemb. Dierdre Scozzafava from the field, he couldn’t clinch the House seat.
Barbara Walters will sit down with former Vice Presidential candidate and Alaska Governor Sarah Palin for a five-part series of ABC News interviews to begin airing on "Good Morning America" Nov. 17, 2009.
West Allis — Less than two weeks before the release of her memoir “Going Rogue,” former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was on message during a Friday night speech to anti-abortion activists at State Fair Park.
“Let’s simplify, we’re pro children,” Palin told thousands of people who attended a $30-a-ticket fund-raiser for the Wisconsin Right to Life Education Fund.
In a personal and passionate speech, Palin lauded the state’s anti-abortion movement for legislative advances achieved over time.
"Sarah From Alaska" by Scott Conroy and Shushannah Walshe.
There are only so many hours in the day, and we want to help you. So here’s the first in an occasional series rounding up what you need to know about big politics books you want to read, if only you could find the time.
In between election returns, we read “Sarah From Alaska” by Scott Conroy and Shushannah Walshe, two reporters who covered last year’s presidential race. It’s out now from PublicAffairs Books (with the teasing subtitle, “The Sudden Rise and Brutal Education of a New Conservative Superstar”). We found enough in it to sustain a week of cocktail conversations.
Here are the highlights:
— Getting the news from Fox: Sarah Palin learned from Fox News that she and John McCain wouldn’t win last year’s presidential election. When she heard anchor Brit Hume announce that Barack Obama had won Ohio, “Palin swallowed a mouthful of air. ‘Oh, well, that’s it,’ she said.”
— No concession on the concession: Palin wanted to give a concession speech, but that was nixed by McCain and his aides. It had been written by former Bush speechwriter Matthew Scully, and would have had her say, “when a black citizen prepares to fill the office of Washington and Lincoln, that is a shining moment in our history that can be lost on no one.” And Palin would have offered her own lavish praise for Obama and his “beautiful family,” McCain and the “honor of a lifetime” that he had given her, and a shout-out to a boy with Down syndrome who she had met on the campaign trail. McCain and his staff were adamantly opposed, though the authors offer no real explanation beyond the general friction between the McCain and Palin camps by the end of the campaign.
— The awkward goodbye with McCain: McCain and Palin parted ways that night after she saw him getting into a Chevy Suburban outside the Arizona hotel where the campaign had gathered on election night. The conversation went like this: “‘John? Is that you?’ Palin asked. Cindy [McCain] was already in the car, and the senator had just given a final hug to his press secretary and personal aide, Brooke Buchanan. He spun around. ‘Oh, hey. How are you, Sarah?’ ‘Are you leaving?’ ‘Yup, we’re out of here.’ Palin paused. ‘Okay, well, good night.’ ‘Yes, good night. We’re headed back to the house.’ The now former running mates exchanged final pat-on-the-back hugs and a muffled thank you or two.”
Former Alaska governor and 2008 GOP presidential candidate Sarah Palin will be speaking at an event hosted by the group Wisconsin Right to Life this evening.
It is a closed event – which generally means no press. Amid apparent worries that the ex-governor’s words will be aired publicly despite that restriction, however, Wisconsin Right to Life and/or Palin’s handlers are taking the notion of “closed” to a whole new level.
Check out this list of prohibited items at the event, which was spotted by CBS News Political Director Steve Chaggaris. All bags, by the way, “will be searched”:
• No exit and re-entry allowed
• No cell phones
• No recording devices
• No video or still cameras
• No laptops
• No photos or recording allowed
• No literature distribution
• No posters or banners
• No strollers or car seats
• No carry-in food or beverages
Tickets for the event at the Wisconsin Exposition Center outside of Milwaukee, which go for $30, appear to still be available.
The restrictions are “bizarre,” according to Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chair Mike Tate.
“You know, for someone who claims to be a rogue and isn’t afraid of what other people think it really is sort of hypocritical to not let the media, the press cover your event,” he told Wisconsin Radio Network.
In Sarah From Alaska, two campaign reporters share the behind-the-scenes story of Sarah Palin’s rise to national stardom and surprising resignation.
On the “Early Show” on CBS, authors Scott Conroy and Shushannah Walshe said Tuesday there was a “remarkable internal war” at the end of the campaign between Palin and McCain’s teams when the VP candidate was told she could not deliver a concession speech. “Governor Palin tried to create some confusion” so that she would be able to speak, but she ultimately failed. “It really turned into an all-out civil war,” Walshe said. On election night, Palin went back out onstage to take pictures with her family and McCain’s staff was so terrified that she would give a speech after all that they turned out the lights on her.
According to a copy of the book obtained by Huffington Post, when senior McCain aide Carla Eudy heard the news, she immediately called campaign manager Steve Schmidt, who barked, “Take the set down. Unplug it.”
The McCain staff didn’t believe Palin’s claim that she just wanted to take pictures with her family on stage – to one aide, it sounded like a “dubious cover story.”
The Daily Beast has obtained the speeches Sarah Palin planned to deliver on Election Night 2008—win or lose. Read the words the McCain camp didn’t want her to say.
"Sarah from Alaska: The Sudden Rise and Brutal Education of a New Conservative Superstar."
One year ago Wednesday, the McCain/Palin ticket suffered a resounding electoral defeat. But for Sarah Palin, it was still only the beginning of her reign as the most talked about Republican in America—a title she can rightfully claim to this day, as her very name continues to elicit emotions ranging from abhorrence to adoration.
In Sarah from Alaska we uncover new stories and insights into Palin’s ascent from Wasilla to the governor’s mansion and bring to light how her unhappy return to Alaska led to her abrupt resignation in July. In addition, we go behind the scenes of Palin’s 2008 vice presidential run, where we illustrate how internal tensions led to an all-out civil war on election night in Phoenix. We reveal the minute by minute details of how Palin turned her back on top campaign staffers and fought behind the scenes to deliver a concession speech that had been written for her in advance. John McCain and his senior aides blocked her from doing so, leading to a dramatic showdown between the candidates and their staffs that has remained untold until now.
Wingnuts of the world unite. You have nothing to lose but election ... after election ... after election. That's the lesson from the far right's stinging defeat in yet another Republican congressional district this week. Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman harangued GOP Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava into dropping out - hailed as a huge victor […]
During the summer’s debate over health care reform, right-wing activists and lawmakers latched onto former Alaska governor Sarah Palin’s false claim that President Obama and congressional Democrats were proposing government “death panels” that would “pull the plug on grandma.” While Republican leaders largely abandoned this myth, Palin revived it on Friday d […]
Sarah Palin is going on a three-week tour this month, promoting her new book “Going Rogue.” Sadly, she’s skipping us namby-pamby, latte-slurping, plastic-bag-recycling, no-declawing-our-cats, liberal fruit bats here in California. Which, when you think about it, isn’t very rogue at all. No stops are planned in such big population area […]
Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin will be the Republican speaker at the Gridiron Club's Winter Dinner on Dec. 5, the club announced Friday. Gridiron Club President Dick Cooper told club members earlier this afternoon that Palin accepted an invitation to speak at the black-tie affair, according to a member of the club's executive committee. Meg Staplet […]
ALBANY - Despite the national attention lavished on New York's 23rd Congressional District, Democrats won a surprise victory because of local concerns over jobs, the trashing of an assemblywoman by outsiders and Republican feuding, experts said. Democrat Bill Owens wooed voters with talk of dairy farms and small businesses, the analysts noted, while Con […]
West Allis — Less than two weeks before the release of her memoir “Going Rogue,” former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was on message during a Friday night speech to anti-abortion activists at State Fair Park. “Let’s simplify, we’re pro children,” Palin told thousands of people who attended a $30-a-ticket fund-raiser for the Wisc […]
There are only so many hours in the day, and we want to help you. So here’s the first in an occasional series rounding up what you need to know about big politics books you want to read, if only you could find the time. In between election returns, we read “Sarah From Alaska” by Scott Conroy and Shushannah Walshe, two reporters who covered last year’s presid […]
Former Alaska governor and 2008 GOP presidential candidate Sarah Palin will be speaking at an event hosted by the group Wisconsin Right to Life this evening. It is a closed event – which generally means no press. Amid apparent worries that the ex-governor's words will be aired publicly despite that restriction, however, Wisconsin Right to Life and/or Pa […]
