The Mudflats

The second-to-last chapter.  There is light at the end of this long long tunnel.  It reminds me of the escape scene from Shawshank Redemption.  Only I’m not yet to the other end of the pipe…

Page 341
Everyone wanted her to run for Senate against Lisa Murkowski who was vulnerable because she got the job through nepotism because her father gave it to her when he left the seat to become governor before he lost to Palin. (Yes, the word “incestuous” comes to mind.)

“As always” she polled the family and everyone was on board except for Track who said no because he wanted to retain her as his team’s hockey manager. “At that point in his life, having an involved mom was more important to him – and to her – than having a mom with a powerful position in Washington D.C.” (So, what happened in 2008?)

Page 342
Some radio guy accused her of lying about Track telling her not to run. Why would she lie, because if anything, telling the truth would just invite even more criticism from the haters. He didn’t understand that “there is no greater service than mothering.” (Where the hell did I put that Pepto Bismol…)

The day she flew home to Alaska, everything was different. She was the same old gal, but everyone else had turned against her because she and John McCain had run against someone “who inspired worshipful loyalty from his supporters.”

This is a comment from Sarah Palin’s Facebook page.

[From Patricia B***]  I finished reading your book last night. The way I see it is; this is a war between good & evil. Your an angel and Obama is the devil .

There were ethics complaints and record requests “that required hours of work to process.” (Surely not HOURS!?)

Page 343
Reporters decided to abandon journalism “in favor of tabloidizing my family, my record, and me.”

Once again, she asked Track what to do. He had been deployed in Iraq as an infantryman for nine months, but now he sounded beat. “My oldest son would once again weigh in on my political future.” (Coming later)

Anonymous McCain staffers were leaking lies to FOX News reporter Carl Cameron who repeated them without asking her for her side of the story. (A FOX reporter under the bus?! Wow.) There were stories that she had nabbed all the clothes and the RNC had to fly to Alaska to get them back. In reality she had been “ordered” (emphasis hers) to pack up the clothes, all fourteen suitcases of them and stuff them into the belly of the plane and fly it back to Wasilla. (And she’s such a good soldier, always taking orders and doing just what she’s told.)

Page 344
Then they flew people up to inventory it all. Then they Fedexed 30 boxes and 14 empty suitcases (why didn’t they just leave the clothes in the suitcases?) back to the RNC.

**********ALERT!! Mudflats Mention!!**********

I am delighted to tell you, that … yes, the name of this blog and no other was mentioned in Going Rogue, on page 344. Read it and believe.

“The media’s constant pelting reminded me of the time we kids used to go out in the canoe with Dad near the Knik mudflats early mornings before school.”

Yes, I know it’s not the blog itself, but it’s close. The way I figure it, she could have said “near the Knik River” or left that part out entirely, but perhaps…just perhaps…she had “mudlfats” on her mind for some reason… (raising one eyebrow and nodding at you in a knowing way)

Anyway, they went duck hunting…buckshot rained down on her head…bla bla bla.

The national people criticized her for not going to their fancy events. The locals criticized her for not being in Juneau.  “There’s a pothole that needs repairing on the Seward Highway! If she’s gone, who will fix it?”  (Raising hand “Ooo!  Pick me! Pick me!  The State Department of Transportation! … Was that a trick question?)  Those DemocRAT lawmakers were just a bunch of whiners who wanted mama around.  It was completely absurd.

Page 345
No matter how many times she told everyone that Alaska came first, nobody would believe her!

Turkey Gate – The local media had turned against her. The cameraman who had previously been friendly set up the camera to “capture turkeys being decapitated behind me.”

(The turkeys were NOT being decaptiated. They were being bled out into the cone of death. Get it straight.)

Her deputy press secretary was appalled! (Where were her press people when this was actually happening?)

Oh, what the heck. It’s almost Thanksgiving, so let’s travel back in time to last year….

(Wouldn’t you think that the ex-sport reporter/ex-journalist/ex-TV personality who reminds us about how journalism savvy she is at every turn, and was so careful about “hitting her mark” for the cameras during the VP debate would have noticed where she was standing? Just sayin.)

Page 346
Target – The Associated Press. A reporter said that she had to rely on notes and her commissioners to answer questions at a press conference. What a set up! And the same reporter asks her how she handled a tough week and Palin answered “A lousy week? Really?” Says Track got back from Iraq alive. Trig’s heart is doing well and the holes are closing up and he won’t need surgery, thank God. Todd is fine. Daughters are fine. Everything is fine! Life is rosy! Everything is wonderful. This lousy week was GREAT! Meanwhile the nasty fact-checkin’ national media were “sniffing around for tabloid stuff.” (You’ve been TABLOIDIZED!  see page 343)

Page 347
Target – Authors of the book ‘Sarah from Alaska’. Talks about Piper getting ambushed on the way home from school by reporters. Remember those reporters from the plane Mommy? The ones that Nicolle Wallace said didn’t like us very much? They just interviewed me on the sidewalk. (This account was later refuted by Shushannah Walshe and Scott Conroy. Can you believe they accused her of making things up?)

Complains about reporters hanging out by her house. And then… “in addition there were the ‘new media’ – the left-wing bloggers. The lines between the two were often blurred, with stories starting in the blogosphere and leap-frogging to old media channels.” (There were lots of stories that started with the bloggers, but of course she doesn’t point out that the “old media” still has to fact check all those bloggers, or that they will probably be fact checking her book. Doh!)

Her Dad’s answer to “Trig Truthers” is “I know Trig is hers, dumbass. I was there when he popped out!” (ACK! I hope that doesn’t mean what it sounds like it means… “Hey, Dad! Check it out!”)

Page 348
When the bloggers weren’t busy makin’ stuff up, they talked about looming scandals that would ruin her political career. Like the rumors she had a sex tape. (I had to look that one up, because I had never heard that one. Sure enough there was a rumor…which was debunked on September 8, 2008, about a week after the nomination.  It wasn’t started after she got back to Alaska post-election. So, you know what’s coming….)

Everything she did was scrutinized. It was “pathetic and chilling.”

And then we have, for my money, the best line in the whole book. Are you ready? Put your beverages down, and swallow your popcorn or you’re going to be wiping it off your monitor.

“I don’t like to hear people complain.”

She goes on to complain that the mainstream national media are pretty much worthless and don’t report the facts. They suffer from “the sin of omission.” (But of course, this book does not) “The time has come to acknowledge that it is counterfeit objectivity the liberal media try to sell consumers.” (Thank you Lynn Vincent.)

Page 349
Thank God there is still talk radio, and other objective sources. (Ha!)
She got grief from pro-life groups for appointing a Supreme Court Justice who wasn’t pro-life enough. She explained (after tip-toeing out of the room where Trig lay sleeping) that the system of judicial appointments in Alaska needs to be changed. She wanted them to put their energy into changing the law, so she wouldn’t ever have to nominate someone who wasn’t pro-life enough again.

Page 350
The Yankee Game
She, Todd and Willow were with Rudy Giuliani at a Yankees game. It was an unforgettable afternoon.
She went to Texas to crawl in bed with Exxon and give interviews.

Page 351
She did an interview.  The stipulation was that they would ask her about the gas line first, and not tabloid stuff.  She likes Matt Lauer. Wolf Blitzer?  She likes his mom. (zing) David Letterman told a crude joke about Willow at the baseball game. John Ziegler asked her about the joke while she was on the air and she had not heard it, so she was unprepared to give an answer. She said something and the media criticized her for not being able to take a joke. Statutory rape is not funny.

Page 352
Gossipmongers began spreading rumors that she and Todd were going to divorce. They noticed she wasn’t wearing her wedding ring. But her wedding ring only cost $35 and she often didn’t wear any jewelry at all.  Todd doesn’t wear a ring either.

She watched Todd in Texas all tanned and walking around with no shirt on. “Dang, I thought. Divorce Todd? Have you seen Todd?” (And her criteria for the continuation of a marriage is out there for all to see. Guess Todd better keep his boyish figure, or he’s outta there!)

Page 353
Her administration was hit with a paralyzing amount of FOIA requests. Instead of her staff doing their jobs, they spend “thousands of hours and wasted more than $2 million of public monies to sort through it all one sheet at a time.”

Nice try.

Most of the requests came from Andree McLeod who is again referred to as “the falafel lady” and the Associated Press. Andree also inspired a “group of co-belligerents” who filed complaints.

Page 354
They tried to keep a sense of humor especially when her chief of staff “received a fresh complaint” saying that women in state offices wore inappropriate clothing to work. “Breasts were apparently spilling from blouses all over the 49th State and Andree demanded I do something about it!” (Notice the skillful blending of official ethics complaints and a letter written via email to Mike Nizich and Commissioner of Administration Annette Kreitzer. This email about the inappropriate dress of some state workers somehow magically ended up in a gossip column at the Anchorage Daily News…wonder how THAT happened? I covered it in a daily wrap up post, which also featured some pretty inappropriate dress by the governor herself. Remember the skimpy skirt at the memorial service for fallen soldiers? Here it is, along with the info on “cleavage gate.” When McLeod tried to see what was in the internal emails that flew around, guess what? REDACTED. The great cleavage cover-up! And if you’ll notice, the email was not directed at Palin, but at the commissioner of Administration Annette Kreitzer, so as for demanding that Palin “do something about it….)

Page 354 (continued)
You can see what Andree McLeod’s attorney, Don Mitchell had to say about his paragraph HERE. To sum it up, he basically say that yes, he’s an attorney, but other than that:

Page 354 (still continued)
Someone (Linda Kellen-Biegel) complained that she was wearing a warm winter jacket with Todd’s Iron Dog sponsor’s logo. Someone complained about a picture of her holding a fish. (I STILL have no idea what that is.) She was served with a complaint from a fake British Soap Opera character. (For the record, the form wasn’t even filled out all the way and ended up in the round file immediately, taking NO state time but getting – to use a term of Palin’s – milked for all it was worth.)

Page 355
Instead of thinking about work, all she and her staff did was deal with ethics complaints. “I had to wonder. Will I be punished for wearing these clogs, or this label on my jeans today?” (Only if your husband is making a ton of money from the clog company and you wear the clogs at an official world famous clog event that you attend officially as the governor, and pose for pictures wearing a uniform with the clog logo all over it while you’re there for a national clog magazine, and dress your entire family up in clogs that are worth hundreds of dollars a piece and don’t declare the expensive clogs as a gift, and don’t disclose how many thousands of dollars worth of clogs you’ve got stashed in your closet, not to mention your twin pair of state-of-the art clog machines and the giant clog trailer you got as a perk to haul them all around.)

She and the whole family wore the offending team uniform at the event, “proudly in front of God and FOX and everybody, so what?” (So what? You can read about the Arctic Cat saga HERE, and at Blue Oasis in the future.)

Page 356
She wanted to just pay the ethics fine and get it over with, but no… her principled and idealistic lawyer, Snidely Whiplash Thomas Van Flein would have none of it, because she didn’t do anything wrong.

People are using the system against her. Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh!

She was “handed a megaphone” during the campaign so how can she not use it to talk about the dangerous path our nation is on? It would be selfish of her to “zip her lips.” (No, not really…)

Page 357
The megaphone is used.
Obama is bad. Stimulus is bad.
She has a teachable moment with Bristol who gets up at 4am every day to work in a coffee shop and then takes classes and takes care of her baby. The lesson is about how we should not bail out businesses using the metaphor of a coffee shop that Bristol wants to own some day. She should call it “Bristol’s Beans.”

Page 358
She fears for the future because of the DemocRAT administration. She proceeds to scare the young entrepreneur in the car by asking her to imagine trying to start Bristol’s Beans with a Democrat-led congress telling her what color roof she has to have, and what car she can drive?

Page 359
Bristol says, “Pay attention to the tea parties, Mom. You’re not alone in this.”

She knew Bristol and Tripp would be just fine because Bristol was strong, and independent and loved to work.

On the campaign trail many people were hesitant to talk about Obama’s past associations with “anti-capitalist radicals.” The press tried to tell people that was the wrong thing to do. (Imagine!)

Page 360
When she answered questions about past associations of his on the trail, she was “going rogue.” (Flipping back to the part where she said that she was told to talk about “palling around with terrorists.”)

Wealth redistribution is bad. Margaret Thatcher was good.

Page 361
Stimulus money. Fat strings attached to the money. Still spouting all the crap about universal mandated building codes that we would have to accept.

Page 362

(Is it getting hot in here, or is it me?)

Gave a speech in Fairbanks. Government is not the answer. God is the answer. She got a standing ovation but some of the legislators didn’t stand because they don’t like her. Then the DemocrAT-controlled (have I been sleeping?) legislature overrode her veto. Teabaggers make her hopeful.

Page 363
She and Todd were going broke. The McCain campaign charged her $50,000 for being vetted. (After the fact? Maybe it was just for their pain and suffering…) They asked what was left of “Headquarters” to pay it, but they said NO because they didn’t win.

One of the left’s “favorite weapons” is frivolous ethics complaints.

Page 364
Democrats were mean to Newt Gingrich because he was a movement leader. Democrats have moved to the left. Some are good but most are bad. Democrats engage in the politics of personal destruction. Democrats target people, not ideas. Democrats lodged 74 charges against Gingrich and 65 were “laughed out of committee.” (Soooo…nine were valid?) Republicans didn’t stick by Newt.

Page 365
Travelgate.
A whole lot of rationalization about why the state should have paid for her children to travel all over creation. She got 2 choices, either pay for 8 or 9 trips that were ethically questionable, or she could present her case to the Personnel Board. She chose to reimburse the state for the trips as long as she didn’t have to say she did anything wrong. But she knew how the media would “spin it.”

Page 366
Now all you hear is that “most” of the ethics complaints have been dismissed, when in reality it was all of them as soon as she paid the state back for the 8 or 9 ethically questionable family travel incidents.

Just like Democrats “neutered their nemesis” Newt, they would do the same to her. (Spay Sarah?)

The “saddest part” about travelgate was that it kept her separated from her family. Todd wouldn’t even come around the office any more. Now they had to minimize their trips. She, Piper and Trig were in Juneau and the rest were in Wasilla. It wasn’t fair. (If I remember correctly, Juneau has been the capital for quite some time now, and I think that most governors know that when they take the job. But at least we get to hear this beautiful violin solo.)

Page 368
Then the insane ethics complainers started objecting to the state paying for her state  staff to travel around the country with her on campaign events while she tried to run the state via Blackberry. (What DO we have a Lt. Governor for, anyway?) The lefties must be reading “Rules for Radicals.”

The “thumpin’” that she was getting was apparently coming from Rahm Emmanuel.

****uproarious laughter break*******

Page 369
Troopergate (even though it started well before she was tapped for VP spot) was orchestrated by Obama! (Oh, dear God. How many pages left??) The White House must have been whispering in Walt Monegan’s ear. The “Independent” investigator (who was chosen by a bipartisan committee and is NO liberal) came up with a “strained and nonsensical” decision. (read: guilty of abusing her power under the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act)

Page 370
It wasn’t until the day before the election (what timing!) that the Personnel Board “dismissed the ethics charges surrounding Troopergate. That circus was finally over.” (Actually, as you Mudflats faithful readers know, the 3-person governor appointed Personnel Board found her not guilty of the charges she filed against HERSELF. They in no way supercede the conclusion of the Legislative investigation that found her guilty. She just chooses to believe THAT one.)

She wonders aloud what former State Senator Kim Elton did “to earn his new job in Washington.” (Wow.)

***********break until hackles return to normal position**************

Todd said don’t let the bastards get you down (in Latin). If it were only her it would be one thing, but the media wouldn’t leave her kids alone.

[Ooo! Pictures! In color, no less. Blueberry picking, running with jogging stroller, Willow in fireweed, modeling fur hats, Iron Dog, Praying at Easter brunch, a moose sticking its head in the door (Don't go in!!!), Playing hockey with Piper, group shot in native garb, local parade, bar in Chicken, voting, first day in governor's office, inauguration ceremony, dancing at the governor's ball, reading to Trig, Track and Sarah, Piper's birthday in the capitol building, signing of AGIA, Chuck & Sally Heath in front of old log cabin that used to be a house of prostitution, Track and Todd at Ft. Benning, GOP convention in Minneapolis, Chuck & Sally with Henry Kissinger, Jim & Faye Palin at GOP convention, Chuck Heath talks to the press (THAT always goes well...), Anchorage Airport departure, Moose antlers in the cockpit of the campaign plane, Piper talking to George W. Bush on a cell phone, Ground Zero with firefighters, campaign bus, Mark Wallace yelling at her during debate prep, "Good laughs" with Lindsey Graham, Joe Lieberman and John McCain (I feel nauseous), heading to VP debate, Courageous American Hank Williams Jr. and Iditarod champ Martin Buser, She and Cindy and "band of merry followers," Piper talking into a microphone, Country First rally, 1-25th's deployment ceremony, rally in Missouri, voting in Wasilla, more voting, concession speech (no not HERS...), Lounging by the pool w/ napping Trig and Blackberry, She and Piper in full Arctic Cat regalia, and a totally adorable picture of Todd lying on the ground with Trig chewing on his head while Tripp grabs his face. That one actually makes me like Todd. They showed it during Oprah, and the whole audience went "Awwwwww!"]

Oh no….back to the words again.

Page 371 (previously posted)
Bristol was criticized for going on the abstinence tour and her “pragmatic” position that the only way to make sure you don’t get pregnant is not to have sex.  She graduated high school with great grades, is taking college courses and works two part time jobs to pay for diapers and formula. But you don’t read about that. (Should I erase this then?) Partisan bloggers questioned Track’s enlistment in the army.

A fake Planned Parenthood ad was mean to Trig. So was someone who “Photoshopped distorted images over Trig’s pretty face in order to make him look monstrous.” (Err… that would be putting local radio shock jock Eddie Burke’s face on Trig’s body to show how cozy he and Palin are. Eddie Burke? Monstrous?? Well, Ok… You can see the original monstrous Burke photo and his  shrunken monstrous tiny head HERE. How many people get mad when their body is put on someone else’s head, vs. their head getting put on someone else’s body. It isn’t about the body! It’s about the head! But that doesn’t make a good story.)

Page 372
Someone said she was using her baby as a prop. She was mortally offended. Other politicians have their children on stage. She’s a proud mom. Just because you’re running for office doesn’t mean you have to “switch off your maternal instincts.”

To answer your next question:  41 degrees.

Kris Perry wanted to quit because she got a FOIA request an hour after her father-in-law passed away. She didn’t want to deal with the “hit squad”.

Page 373
She felt like quitting too. Her approval ratings plummeted from nearly 90% to 56% during the “one-sided public discourse” about her ethics issues. (Hmm. I seem to remember lots of press releases coming from the governor’s office, and lots of press covering her side of the story. And it’s 48%.) Slowly everything was “shot to hell.”

The bloggers won. Everyone just assumed she was guilty because “where there’s smoke, there’s fire.” But in her case there was lots of black billowing smoke, but no fire at all. The “liberal mentality” is that even if you’re innocent, it doesn’t matter, you’ll go broke eventually.

Page 374
She’s worried that the way things are set up, it will discourage good people from running for office. (Umm.. has any other Alaskan governor ever had this problem?)

Kristan Cole set up the Alaska Fund Trust (Legal Defense Fund) without any assistance or input from her. There is an ongoing investigation on the fund and she has gotten no money from it. (Even though its legality is in question, she still continues to accept donations which can be used for her OR any member of her family or her staff for anything.)

She can take anything – personal pain, loss of reputation, financial hardship, but she cannot take the harm to…. Alaska. Nobody had ever been able to tell her to sit down and shut up, but now it had happened. It would never stop. So, a hobbling lame duck that couldn’t take watching her precious Alaska suffer, she did the noble thing. She passed the ball, after she prayed about it.

Page 375
Enter Track, again.
Track knows all. He knows that she doesn’t want to put her family through this. Track knows she wants to protect them. Track knows she doesn’t want to let those idiots run her off. But Track has seen his sister be humiliated by…..her former boyfriend who went on a “fact-free kiss-and-tell media tour.” (And Levi finally makes an appearance on page 375. And he doesn’t even get a name mention. He must know something.) And Track knows he’s making things up.

She responds. But, Track… think of the troops! “The shots that really hurt are felt by people losing their livelihoods, losing a loved one in battle…”

But Track says you don’t quit. Don’t be a quitter! You only leave if you move up to something “more worthy.”

Page 376
But isn’t protecting your little brother and sister more worthy, Track?  What about revealing truth? What about “breaking free of the bureaucratic shackles that are now paralyzing our state?” Isn’t that more worthy? (OMG…when will it be over?!? 5 more pages… I know I can make it. I’m not a quitter!)

I’m not a quitter Track, I’m not. (Yes you are.) But I know what I have to do. (Quit.)

Track says he’ll pray for her. She tells him to fast for a day. He says no.  She says that he shouldn’t “cuss” for a day. Impossible. Finally, they settle on the holy act of no chew for a day. And that, apparently “was a big darn deal.” (A 24-hour chewing tobacco fast… Something we can all aspire to.)

She wasn’t sleeping well thinking about going with the flow and collecting a pay check, and padding her resume (with a full term?).

Page 377
A lame duck session would not help Alaska. “If I die, I die.” Doesn’t need a title to effect change…

On July 3, she quit. Beautiful day, shimmering lake. Family by her side (no Bristol). Her dad said, “She’s not retreating, she’s reloading.” She “wanted to leave no doubt that she wasn’t running from political shots.” (HUH? Isn’t that exactly what she just said she was running from?? Gah! 4 more pages…)

Page 378
When she took the job, she wanted to be held accountable for doing her job, not to have to prove that she is Trig’s mom. (Wouldn’t a birth certificate have done that in 5 seconds? While she’s at it, she can sign the Juneteenth proclamation governor’s must legally sign, and get rid of that complaint.  She could kill 2 birds in 30 seconds.)

Her quitter speech was broadcast nationwide. She didn’t expect that. People speculated about why she quit. “What a bunch of buffoons.” She turned off the TV and ate cake.

The same people who wanted her out, were now outraged.   (I ate cake.)

Page 379
Mainstream media stalked her parents and asked questions about why she quit and if there was an FBI investigation. The FBI said there wasn’t. “Poor press. At that moment the B in “FBI” stood for “Buzz kill.”
(Pleeeease, make it stop! 2 more pages…don’t….know..if I can…make it…)

She went to Dillingham to “slay salmon.”

Secretly (except in this best-selling book) she wanted to see “the likes of Andrea Mitchell” be forced to watch her being happy and content with her family.

Page 380
The last time she saw Mitchell it was with (name drop alert) Fred Malek, Dick Cheney, Alan Greenspan, Dianne Feinstein, Madeleine Albright, Walter Isaacson, Jeb Bush and John McCain. Now she wanted to see her covered in fish slime and “banging around in a skiff, stuck in the mud, trying to pull themselves over the bow.” (Nice. Who would Jesus slime?)

They issued an open invitation to all the press except CBS. Whoever employs “the perky one” doesn’t even deserve the slime. Piper taught them how to drive a boat. They couldn’t believe there was no scandal and no “greedy grasp for money” (except the book deal). It was all for Alaska.

Page 381
But they didn’t believe her. Mary Matalin was the only one who got it right by saying she’d disarm her opponents and it would free her up to raise a lot of money “for worthy causes.” The water was calm and the day was sunny “so – dang it – none of them got slimed.”

************************************

DONE WITH CHAPTER 5! That was the most painful one so far by a long shot. Oy. (rubbing temples in a circular motion) I literally have a twitch in my eye. I’m not kidding.

Remaining is a 12-page chapter called “The Way Forward.” That must be the brilliant policy pamphlet Rush Limbaugh talked about. Then there’s a 7 page epilogue. Then a 4-page thing about Alaska by some guy. Then 5 pages of acknowledgments. Then it’s over. Really and truly over. We should have this wrapped up in the next 24 hours.