Palin Smears Debunked

Out with the new, in with the old -- Sarah Palin has stopped wearing her expensive wardrobe in favor of items from her own suitcase.  It's ok, it's ok.  She's still smokin'.

On a related note, Michelle Obama claims that she shops J. Crew and gets "good stuff online."  Fine.  Now, if the press cared as much about Michelle Obama as they do Sarah Palin, they would recall some reporters from Alaska and have them go through every archive photo of Michelle Obama and verify that everything she wears comes from J. Crew, Land's End, Eddie Bauer, or other shopping mall-variety mail order outfitters.

ADDED:  A sense of humor, too -- check out Sarah in blue jeans rockin' to Gretchen Wilson's Redneck Woman:

h/t Malkin

Peggy Noonan doesn't "get" Sarah Palin -- Noonan is upset and confounded, because after carefully examining Sarah Palin's words, she can't get a clear picture of Palin's core philosophy, or understand what her basic motivation is.  Sounds like a cross between an Ivy League college lecture and a method acting lesson, doesn't it?  Lori Byrd is upset by Noonan's column:

Sarah Palin has done things Peggy Noonan could not dream of doing in her lifetime and I am not talking about shooting guns and looking hot in a bikini. I am talking about taking on her state's corrupt GOP machine and getting things done in the good 'ole boys' world, whether it be negotiating an oil pipeline or returning tax money to the people of her state. Noonan doesn't even have the stuff it takes to stand up to her MSNBC buddies particularly convincingly. Noonan is a person of words. Big, fancy, impressive words. She just doesn't understand that actions speak louder than words and Sarah Palin is all about action.

"OUT OF CONTROL!!" -- that's the new mainstream media narrative describing McCain-Palin supporters.  Jim Treacher notes, "They've taken barely substantiated (if not outright unsubstantiated) reports about a few yahoos at a few rallies and whipped them up into Kristallnacht '08. All while ignoring pesky little details like, I dunno, firebombings and death threats and such from the other side. Is that really a sign of strength? Of confidence in a big, big win this Nov. 4?"

Profane, hate-laced, vitriolic, out-of-control rhetoric against the Bush Administration and Republicans in general has been a staple of the loony Left for the last eight years: 

Only a complete idiot could look at the egregious double standard of reporting employed by the press and fail to immediately see the truth:

Funny that when the President of the United States is burned in effigy.  Or when his [advisers] are depicted as evil in any number of ways. Or conservatives in general are mocked, demonized, routinely referred to as fascists or authoritarian lovers, or mindless robots - or it is even suggested that Bush, Cheney, and conservatives be rounded up and shot - none of this seems to make quite the same impression on our Guardians of Civility in Politics in the press.

This is absolutely shameless. ALL Americans are mad at the moment. But to characterize crowds that attend McCain/Palin rallies as "mobs" by taking something that one or two fools shout out totally out of context is a deliberate attempt to scare undecided and swing voters into rejecting the GOP candidate. It is a despicable tactic and they should be called out on it.

Jim Treacher of course is right.  If the press really thought that Obama had this election in the bag, and that he would win by 7 to 10 percentage points and a 100 electoral vote blowout, then they would not be working so hard to create a completely false and potentially damaging narrative for the sole purpose of derailing the McCain campaign.

So far in this election, the press at large has been totally disinterested in objective reporting, and has chosen instead to shape the national dialog by creating an Obama-friendly narrative that completely omits critical details and over-emphasizes purely trivial ones.

And they wonder why confidence in their work is at an all-time low.

What happened to Charles Gibson? -- Because the cordial, affable, almost likable Gibson-bot that interviewed Barack Obama can IN NO WAY be the cold, adversarial, hostile, condescending preener with his smart glasses perched patronizingly on the end of his nose, who interviewed Sarah Palin just a month ago.  No 'gotcha' questions.  No quotes taken out of context.  Just a nice friendly chat. 

What, you don't believe me?

Brutally Honest wondered when they were going to consummate the relationship.  Heh.

Of all the photos of Sarah Palin out there, Newsweek chose this one -- yet photos like this connect big-time with red state America.

Liberals of course are outraged by such photos.  Snooty LA Times blogger Elizabeth Snead quipped: “Hey, is that even the right way to hold a rifle? Can’t you shoot your foot off like that?”

Knowledgable readers quickly zoomed in for the kill:

Is that a right way to hold a rifle? No. But it is an appropriate way to hold a breech loading shotgun. Which that is. Reporters often wonder how those rural hicks always can spot them. It’s comments like that. It’s ok to wikipedia things. That doesn’t make you a stupid rural hick. In fact, having your facts right might make you seem less of an arrogant, erudite reporter who doesn’t even know what she doesn’t know.

Posted by: ASB | October 08, 2008 at 05:29 PM

...

The longarm appears to be a shotgun and side by side which breaks open. It is not possible to shoot the gun with the action open. Many hunters do carry a shotgun broken open like that over their shoulder.

I suggest before you ask a question if that is the correct way to hold a gun talk to people at a gun shop or range or hunter shop.

Posted by: Tasha | October 08, 2008 at 05:42 PM

Heh.  (h/t Michelle Malkin)

MSNBC dug up a 20 year old broadcast of Sarah Palin from Anchorage TV -- click here to watch it.

"Have things really reached the point where ANY criticism of Obama is racist?" -- If you're the Associated Press, the answer apparently is YES. 

By claiming that Democrat Barack Obama is "palling around with terrorists" and doesn't see the U.S. like other Americans, vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin targeted key goals for a faltering campaign.

And though she may have scored a political hit each time, her attack was unsubstantiated and carried a racially tinged subtext that John McCain himself may come to regret. (emphasis added)

For some time now, I've been concerned that Obama worshipers in the mainstream press and the entertainment industry will interpret an electoral victory as a mandate to ham-fistedly bludgeon all critics of Obama as "racists."  This could be very dangerous if it morphs into public law; otherwise, it will wear thin on the American public very quickly, and it could backfire on Obama big-time. 

But accusing Palin of unsubstantiated attacks?  These guys are really grasping at straws.  When the press attempts to direct the nation's dialog with outright lies, we are definitely in trouble.

WizBang's Kim Priestap has a good reaction roundup.

VP Debate moderator Gwen Ifill is in the tank for Barack Obama -- but don't you dare insinuate that her personal beliefs might affect her professional objectivity.  Ifill authored a book entitled The Breakthrough: Politics and Race In The Age of Obama, that will hit bookstore shelves Jan. 20, 2009.  If Obama wins, Ifill stands to make a lot of money from the sale of this book.  She also recently authored "The Obamas: Portrait Of An American Family" for Essence magazine.

To her credit, Ifill did an outstanding job moderating the 2004 VP debate.  We're stuck with her, so we can only hope that she does her job and is equally tough on both Joe Biden and Sarah Palin.

Sarah Palin's popularity is taking a tumble -- from a mind-boggling 80% approval rating, down to a fantastic 68% approval rating.  The mainstream media is trying to tie Palin's plunge to the so-called "Troopergate" scandal, but read this:

Palin still has overwhelming support among Alaska Republicans. But many Democrats and independents, who gave her positive marks just a month ago, have changed their view.

"My problem is not with Sarah Palin the governor," said Ron Zandman-Zeman, 60, a recently retired schoolteacher from Anchorage. "She was doing the job she was elected to do. I don't think she can do the job she wants to be elected to do. And that's why I'm here." (emphasis added)

This is news?  Now that she is on the Republican presidential ticket, Democrats no longer support her!  They'll be voting for Obama/Biden!  SHOCKA!!! 

Today, for the first time, Sarah Palin fielded questions from the press -- While visiting New York City, she stopped at several locations related to the 9/11 attacks.  After delivering a brief statement in front of a firehouse that lost many of its firefighters in the World Trade Center collapse, Palin kept the microphone open and answered questions.  Video from ABCNews is here.