Report: Sarah Palin quits bus tour halfway through, retreats to Alaska

The quitter has done it again…

Raw Story

 Amid diminishing media interest, Sarah Palin has quit her high-profile bus tour halfway through and returned to Alaska with her family, according to RealClearPolitics.

The move puts a damper on widespread speculations that Palin’s “One Nation” bus tour, which launched on Memorial Day, was a potential precursor to a potential White House bid for 2012. Palin never made it to her scheduled stops in the key primary states of Iowa and New Hampshire.

RealClearPolitics, which originally broke the story about the bus tour, reported Wednesday on Palin’s “extended hiatus.” The remaining legs of her trip, according to Scott Conroy, are “in limbo” as “Palin and her family have reverted to the friendly confines of summertime Alaska.”

The “One Nation” tour launched with intense media interest, as reporters initially followed Palin and her family on the road, diligently trying to decipher the former half-term Alaska governor and ex-GOP vice presidential nominee’s 2012 intentions. But after being ignored and mislead and denied interviews or access, reporters’ attention fizzled.

Palin has been remarkably coy about her plans for 2012, declining to rule out a presidential run but refusing to come any closer than saying she has “fire in the belly.”

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MSNBC anchor: Palin’s bus tour ‘a breach of a federal law’

In my opinion, Sarah Palin is a breach of federal law!

Raw Story

MSNBC anchor Martin Bashir says Sarah Palin’s creative display of the American flag on the bus for her national tour could amount to a “breach of a federal law.”

“In fact, the whole thing could be in breach of a federal law because the United States Flag Code establishes important rules for the use and display of the stars and stripes, the flag of the United States,” Bashir said Tuesday on his program. “Under standards of respect and etiquette, it’s made clear that the flag of the United States should never be used for any advertising purpose whatsoever. Yet that’s precisely what Sarah Palin is doing.”

The U.S. flag code emphasizes that it “does not impose penalties” for misuse of the flag, but simply serves as a “guide for all handling and display of the Stars and Stripes.”

Bashir scolded Palin for co-opting the American flag in a manner that, he said, has “nothing to do with the presidency and everything to do with filling her pockets.”

Watch the video of Bashir’s remarks, via MSNBC.

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Sarah Palin: David Gregory Asked Newt Gingrich ‘Racist-Tinged’ Question (VIDEO)

Did Sarah Palin forget that David Gregory was simply asking Newt Gingrich about his “racist-tinged” statement in Georgia?  

 The Huffington Post

During an appearance on Fox News’ “Hannity” on Wednesday night, Sarah Palin suggested that David Gregory, host of NBC’s “Meet the Press,” asked a “racist-tinged question” in pressing presidential candidate Newt Gingrich on an eyebrow-raising characterization of President Barack Obama he made last week.

The former House Speaker criticized the president as “the most successful food stamp president in modern American history” while speaking in Georgia. Here’s an excerpt of the exchange that went down between Gingrich and Gregory after a clip was played of the remarks:

GREGORY: First of all, you gave a speech in Georgia with language a lot of people think could be coded racially-tinged language, calling the president, the first black president, a food stamp president.

GINGRICH: Oh, come on, David.

GREGORY: What did you mean? What was the point?

GINGRICH: That’s, that’s bizarre. That — this kind of automatic reference to racism, this is the president of the United States. The president of the United States has to be held accountable. Now, the idea that — and what I said is factually true. Forty-seven million Americans are on food stamps. One out of every six Americans is on food stamps. And to hide behind the charge of racism? I have — I have never said anything about President Obama which is racist.

GREGORY: Well, what did you mean?

GINGRICH: Well, it’s very simple. He has policies — and I used a very direct analogy. He follows the same destructive political model that destroyed the city of Detroit. I follow the model that Rick Perry and others have used to create more jobs in Texas. You know, Texas two out of the last four years created more jobs than the other 49 states combined. I’m suggesting we know how to create jobs. Ronald Reagan did it. I was part of that. We know how to create jobs. We did it when I was speaker. And, and the way you create jobs is you have lower taxes, you have less regulation, you have litigation reform. When the New York Stock Exchange puts its headquarters at Amsterdam, Holland and, by the way, follows 40 other companies in the last year; when General Electric pays zero in taxes; there’s something fundamentally wrong with the current system. The Obama system of the National Labor Relations Board basically breaking the law to try to punish Boeing and to threaten every right-to-work state. The Environmental Protection Agency trying to control the entire American economy by bureaucratic fiat. The Obama system’s going to lead us down the path to Detroit and destruction. I think we need a brand-new path. It’s a path of job creation. And one of the central themes of this campaign is going to be paychecks vs. food stamps.

“Well, talk about racism, that was a racist-tinge question from David Gregory,” said Palin of the exchange. “He made it sound like if you’re black you’re on food stamps and the president is referring to you as being on food stamps. I think that’s racist. And, you know, enough is enough of this calling out, this racism, these false charges.”

Via ThinkProgress comes video of what Palin had to say.

WATCH:

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Sarah Palin Thanks George W. Bush, But Not Obama In Speech Following Osama Bin Laden’s Death (VIDEO)

How tasteless and classless can Sarah Palin be? 

Or is this her way of getting  into the news, similar to Donald Trump’s strategy, say something idiotic and get noticed by the media? 

Huffington Post

In delivering a speech in Colorado on Monday night, Sarah Palin reacted to the death of Osama bin Laden and the path taken by the country to achieve the accomplishment.

According to multiple reports, Palin acknowledged President Barack Obama in her remarks, though not by name. She did, however, offer her thanks and appreciation to his predecessor George W. Bush.

“Yesterday was a testament to the military’s dedication in relentlessly hunting down the enemy during many years of war,” Palin said. “And we thank our president. We thank president Bush.”

The AP reports:

About 1,000 people gathered to hear Palin’s previously scheduled tribute to the armed forces applauded several times through Palin’s remarks. Many nodded along when she talked about Pakistan and cheered when she said, “We should demand answers to our questions.”

Palin said that the mission targeting bin Laden raises “many serious questions.”

“How was the most wanted man in the world able to live in relative comfort out in the open?” she asked. “Perhaps some of the Pakistani leaders were helping him.”

Continued here…

Watch…

 

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The Washington Post: More ‘birther’ nonsense from Donald Trump and Sarah Palin

The Fact Checker – WaPo

“I just say very simply, why doesn’t he show his birth certificate? Why has he spent over $2 million in legal fees to keep this quiet and to keep this silent?”

— Donald Trump, April 10, 2011

“More power to him [Trump]. He’s not just throwing stones from the sidelines, he’s digging in, he’s paying for researchers to find out why President Obama would have spent $2 million to not show his birth certificate.”

— Former Alaska governor Sarah Palin, April 9, 2011 

The controversy over the circumstances of President Obama’s birth has erupted once again, courtesy of Donald Trump’s sudden desire to test the presidential waters. He has appeared on numerous television shows and written a letter to the editor of the New York Times, spouting all sorts of Four-Pinocchio innuendo that had long ago been debunked by my colleagues at PolitiFact and FactCheck.org. Their fine work does not need to be repeated, and below we provide links to their articles to address many of the issues Trump has raised.

The charge that Obama has spent $2 million to keep this issue quiet is a relatively new one. (Trump has also said Obama spent “millions of dollars trying to get away from this.”) Sarah Palin also echoed the claim over the weekend when she congratulated Trump for hiring investigators to look into this issue.

(Note to the former governor: The Fact Checker dealt with The Donald in a previous life as a financial reporter for New York Newsday. We wouldn’t bet he has actually hired anyone unless he presented us with the canceled check.)

Let’s examine this latest claim about Obama and his circumstances of his birth…

The Facts

Barack Hussein Obama II was born on Aug. 4, 1961, at 7:24 p.m. in Honolulu. His parents were Stanley Ann Dunham and Barack Hussein Obama. The birth was reported by the state’s two main newspapers about a week or so later, based on information received from the State Department of Health, as thus: “Mr. and Mrs. Barack H. Obama, 6085 Kalanianaole Highway, son, Aug. 4.”

The above information is extremely controversial to some people, though it requires a highly imagined sense of conspiracy to believe fake birth notices would be placed in newspapers decades ago on the extremely unlikely possibility that the baby would become president of the United States.

Although the Obama presidential campaign posted on its Web site a copy of the birth certificate that would be good enough for him to get a passport (it includes an embosed seal and official signature), the myth persists that he has never produced the actual birth certificate — i.e., the original document held in the state’s files. Generally, however, you don’t get that kind of document when you request a copy of your birth certificate, since birth certificates evolve over time.

A state official has stated that such a document exists, and Obama appears to believe that there is no need to give in to conspiracy theorists by requesting its release. (A more cynical view might be that the president thinks the controversy helps rev up his base and has the added benefit of tying the Republican Party to an extreme right-wing fringe that would never be satisfied with any document that was released.)

Continue reading “The Facts” here…

 

Other ‘Birther’ myths debunked

In his letter to the New York Times, Trump raised other questions that have already been answered by either PolitiCact or FactCheck.org. The New York Times did not provide an annotated guide to this hooey, so here are the relevant links. 

“His grandmother from Kenya stated, on tape, that he was born in Kenya and she was there to watch the birth.” False: On the tape, there was initial misunderstanding but then she said he was born in Hawaii. 

“His family in Honolulu is fighting over which hospital in Hawaii he was born in — they just don’t know.” Another myth with no basis in fact. 

“He has not been able to produce a ‘birth certificate’ but merely a totally unsigned ‘certificate of live birth’ — which is totally different and of very little significance.” Wrong: It is signed and has full legal significance. 

“There are no records in Hawaii that a Barack Hussein Obama was born there.” Wrong again, there is plenty of evidence. 

“As far as the two notices placed in newspapers, many things could have happened, but some feel the grandparents put an ad in order to show that he was a citizen of the U.S.” Oops, the information was provided by the State Department of Health — not the grandparents.

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Sarah Palin: Bristol Googled Information On The Economy For Me

Sarah Palin finally answered questions from mainstream reporters on Thursday at a Long Island, NY. country club.   She even appeared to be “forthcoming” in her answers…

Huffington Post

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin reportedly tasked her oldest daughter, Bristol, with taking to Google to mine a little data on the economy in preparation for her appearance Thursday in Long Island, New York.

The Los Angeles Times reports:

Palin was accompanied by her daughter, Bristol, whom she described as her “entourage.” She said she had asked Bristol, in their hotel room Wednesday night, to Google information about the economy in preparation for the appearance in a country club ballroom.

In a rare event in which she took questions from attendees, Palin also addressed her controversial use of “death panels” during the fiery health care debate in 2009 and speculation that she’s gearing up for a White House run in 2012.

She also took the opportunity to mock First Lady Michelle Obama for her recently announced initiative to encourage childhood breastfeeding.

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Sarah Palin Bats Michelle Obama Breastfeeding Initiative

The hypocrisy of Sarah Palin is mind-boggling…

Huffington Post

Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin took a shot Thursday at First Lady Michelle Obama’s breastfeeding initiative during an appearance before a gathering of business officials in Long Island.

“No wonder Michelle Obama’s telling everybody, ‘you’d better breastfeed your baby.’ Yeah, you’d better, because the price of milk is so high right now!” Palin told the crowd in a rare event in which she answered questions from the crowd.

Palin’s comments build on ones made earlier this week by Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), another potential 2012 presidential contender, who claimed the first lady’s effort to provide federally subsidized breast pumps as part of her larger mission to reduce childhood obesity amounted to a “nanny state” overreach.  

“For them, government is the answer to every problem,” Bachmann said of Obama’s plan. “To think that government has to go out and buy my breast pump for my babies? You wanna talk about the nanny state, I think you just got a new definition.”

Palin has also jabbed First Lady Obama for her childhood health program in the past. Last year, she blasted the initiative for infringing on the nation’s “God-given rights.” She later mocked it on her TV show, defiantly saying she planned to feed her family s’mores to protest Obama.

Now contrast the above with this article…

FLASHBACK: Palin Proclaimed Oct. 2007 “Breastfeeding Awareness Month”

Fox News contributor Sarah Palin joined her colleagues today with an apparent swipe at First Lady Michelle Obama’s support of women who choose to breastfeed. Politico’s Ben Smith reported:

Palin knocks breastfeeding initiative

Sarah Palin, who has made a frequent target of First Lady Michelle Obama, poked fun at her attempts to encourage breastfeeding in her Long Island appearance today.

“No wonder Michelle Obama is telling everybody ‘you’d better breastfeed your baby,'” Palin said, after suggesting that increases in prices for commodities and gasoline since 2009 are the consequence of her husband’s policies. “Yeah, you’d better, because the price of milk is so high right now.”

Obama supported including breast pumps under a tax exemption that covers medical equipment. Rep. Michele Bachmann has also criticized the push as a feature of the “nanny state.”

The perceived dig is quite a turnaround from the position Palin had as governor of Alaska, when she declared October 2007 “Breastfeeding Awareness Month” and issued a proclamation that said, “government and community organizations have a vested interest in protecting and promoting breastfeeding as a means of preventing infant malnutrition, morbidity, and mortality.”

From a 2007 news release (via nexis):

Gov. Sarah Palin, R-Alaska, has issued the following proclamation:

WHEREAS, breastfeeding is recognized as an unequalled means of providing food for infants.

WHEREAS, throughout their lives, breastfeeding can offer children protection against serious health conditions, including obesity, diabetes, and high blood pressure. Breastfeeding also saves lives by reducing the incidence of life-threatening cancers in women and preventing premature death in infants.

WHEREAS, breastfeeding forms the most basic bond between mother and baby and is a foundation for lifelong health and wellness.

WHEREAS, government and community organizations have a vested interest in protecting and promoting breastfeeding as a means of preventing infant malnutrition, morbidity, and mortality.

WHEREAS, during October, organizations throughout our state will promote the importance of breastfeeding. This year, in conjunction with World Breastfeeding Week – October 1 through October 7 – the State of Alaska will support networks that encourage and promote breastfeeding in all communities.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, Sarah Palin, Governor of the State of Alaska, do hereby proclaim October 2007 as:

Breastfeeding Awareness Month

in Alaska, and encourage all residents to recognize and support the important contributions breastfeeding makes in improving the quality of life for all Alaskans

 

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