Sarah Palin: spammer and digital secrecy scofflaw.
Above, snapshot of a rally organized by "Alaska Women Against Palin" this weekend. Some 1500 people are said to have participated, making it possibly the largest single political protest in the state's history (here's video).
Buried on page 4 of a 5-page New York Times article on Sarah Palin's political history in Alaska:
[L]awmakers in April accused her of improperly culling thousands of e-mail addresses from a state database for a mass mailing to rally support for a policy initiative.Once Elected, Palin Hired Friends and Lashed Foes (NYT)While Ms. Palin took office promising a more open government, her administration has battled to keep information secret. Her inner circle discussed the benefit of using private e-mail addresses. An assistant told her it appeared that such e-mail messages sent to a private address on a “personal device” like a BlackBerry “would be confidential and not subject to subpoena.”
Ms. Palin and aides use their private e-mail addresses for state business. A campaign spokesman said the governor copied e-mail messages to her state account “when there was significant state business.”
On Feb. 7, Frank Bailey, a high-level aide, wrote to Ms. Palin’s state e-mail address to discuss appointments. Another aide fired back: “Frank, this is not the governor’s personal account.” Mr. Bailey responded: “Whoops~!”
Mr. Bailey, a former midlevel manager at Alaska Airlines who worked on Ms. Palin’s campaign, has been placed on paid leave; he has emerged as a central figure in the trooper investigation.
Another confidante of Ms. Palin’s is Ms. Frye, 27. She worked as a receptionist for State Senator Lyda Green before she joined Ms. Palin’s campaign for governor. Now Ms. Frye earns $68,664 as a special assistant to the governor. Her frequent interactions with Ms. Palin’s children have prompted some lawmakers to refer to her as “the babysitter,” a title that Ms. Frye disavows. Like Mr. Bailey, she is an effusive cheerleader for her boss.
“YOU ARE SO AWESOME!” Ms. Frye typed in an e-mail message to Ms. Palin in March.
Image courtesy Mudflats blog.
Bonus point for the word "scofflaw".
Palin...Stalin... coincidence? I think not! *dons asbestos underpants*
An assistant told her it appeared that such e-mail messages sent to a private address on a “personal device” like a BlackBerry “would be confidential and not subject to subpoena.”
Just so long as her personal lawyer is making that argument about her personal e-mail, at her personal expense, then it's probably o.k.
I do NOT think it is a sound and constitutional argument, but so long as the taxpayers are not paying for that piece of advice I see little wrong with the act.
Also, does that not make the penalties for hacking such a system a lot less onerous?
As DHS has proven time and again, hacking a gov't computer is a much bigger deal than hacking a private computer. I only wish I had the know how or the insider access to do it.
Hey now, Stalin might not have been a nice guy, but he at least had a grasp of his role in the government.
What do you call a hockey mom that advocates abstinence only education? A grandma!
*ducks and runs*
I'm sure you mean a hockey grandma!
But either way, that was awesome.
Kp tryng! Sh s th VP cnddt? Whr s th tcry fr bm's rcst chrch nd hs mntr Bll yrs? H s th tp f th tckt.
E-mails... grasping at straws. Lyda Green is the one who refused to move her speech one hour so Palin could attend her son's graduation from boot camp. Lyda Green has a well known hatred for Palin -- she is hardly the most credible source.
Jst lk yr dbnkd bk bnnng drngmnt -- ths t wll nd p tmpst n tpt.
I feel the initially positive national momentum for Palin starting to shift towards a strong negative, and it makes me warm and happy inside.
The election and everything else put aside, Sarah Palin as a person scares the hell out of me. Stubborn + ignorant (see her views on global warming, evolution, and non Judeo-Christian religions) + charismatic is a terrifying combination, especially when such a person has national news crews following them and grasping at every word.
I can only hope that she says something so outrageous and offensive in the next 50 days that a vote for the McCain/Palin ticket becomes unthinkable. Here's hoping she just speaks her mind...
Digging up all the dirt you can on Palin is great. But don't let it distract people from the more (MOST) important fact that she is supremely unqualified to be the vice president (and next in line to president) of the US.
@#7
Troy, I remember you claiming the book banning as "debunked" in the BB post about it. I also remember you were asked for a citation. Can't seem to recall you returning to that thread with one.
I wouldn't count on it. I think Palin will do well for McCain and if not help him win, help make it close. If her behavior while she has been governor is any indication, she will remain non-offensive to the public at large. While Palin certainly can be accused of having some crazy view (creationism, abstinence only, etc) she did a good job as governor not letting them influence how she governed. It might be that she believes that others people views are valid and so doesn't want to force her own, or simply that she is a smart politician and knows that some of her views will get her hanged.
Whatever the case, she has shown that she is able to disassociate herself from her crazier views. I would be surprise if she fails to continue to do this when it matters the most.
Lyda Green is the one who refused to move her speech one hour so Palin could attend her son's graduation from boot camp.
1) citation please
2) So what? Life is choices. Palin was stuck in a pickle and needed a favor - from someone she had been a jerk too. You reap what you sow.
3) Sarah Palin supporters are turning out to be a mass of whiners. How very entertaining.
You can put lipstick on an iceberg, but it will still sink your campaign.
Whatever the case, she has shown that she is able to disassociate herself from her crazier views.
....in front of a camera.
Her e-mail discipline says much about her camera discipline.
Not to be rude, but I don't think Sarah Palin is focusing on the right things. I think she is hiding many things and not separating the church from government. Does she ever think about other people who are different from her like Muslims, Jews and others who are not Christian. And is it just a coincidence that her daughter is pregnant because she does not support birth control or adoption
And if she is such a Christian then why does she support the war and wants to look at Russia when we have Iraq enough to deal with.
"...she will remain non-offensive to the public at large..."
I don't know how likely that is. Now that she is a national candidate, her words and actions (past and present) will be facing scrutiny vastly more detailed than before.
My guess is she will be very offensive to around 50% of the American public. (Same goes for ALL candidates these days).
While Palin certainly can be accused of having some crazy view (creationism, abstinence only, etc) she did a good job as governor not letting them influence how she governed.
As far as you know. If only there were some sort of public record about the inner workings of her short governorship...perhaps something in an electronic format, where state employees could communicate on official business through a series of tubes, if you will...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/cartoons
Also, how can she say "destroy radical Islam" without recognizing that "radical Christianity" is every bit as corrosive to the world, and much better funded.
I bet if Palin is backed into a corner, she will vomit hate by the bucket. Lets hope that somebody gets the opportunity!
BTW Ceronomus @ 4, Stalin is thought to have killed at least 12 million; people twice that of Hitler (Though only about half as many as Mao), so any reference to being a "not a nice guy" is a major understatement.
":I do NOT think it is a sound and constitutional argument, but so long as the taxpayers are not paying for that piece of advice I see little wrong with the act."
You don't see anything wrong with hiding official state business on a personal device so that any official subpoena cannot provide the public with a record of your actions under their employ? Really? Really?!
The tubes in Alaska have been clogged since Ted Stevens stuck his foot in one.
I opine that Palin is an absolute trainwreck
how does an article like that even get published in the NYT?
RIKF - I DO NOT THINK IT IS A SOUND AND CONSTITUTIONAL ARGUMENT.
can you please read through your anger?
this would help
http://blog.cleveland.com/ent_impact_movies/2008/02/medium_prezsheen.jpg
It's clear that both McCain and Palin practice what I would call "the politics of convenience." Despite their core beliefs they will say whatever is most convenient.
Palin=Stalin, I'm not so sure. Palin=Cheney, I'm feel on more solid ground.
and RIKF, before you misunderstand me again - I am trying to say I think it's perfectly fine for Sarah Palin to have a bad lawyer who gives her bad advice, so long as the people of AK are not footing the bill.
Want to get into Sarah Palin's mind? Go to her blog at:
http://whatssarahthinking.com
#10
In regards to "debunking" the book banning issue, the list of books floating around the internet was debunked over at Snopes. However, Palin did ask the head librarian about how she would respond to a request to "remove" a book from the library and the librarian WAS fired for not being supportive. A hue and cry from the populace got the librarian's job back.
http://www.snopes.com/politics/palin/bannedbooks.asp
This has been a record fundraising month for Obama, according to the BBC headlines.
She might help McCain a little, but it seems Ms. Palin has been a great boost for Obama.
The GOP voters don't love her as much as the Dems hate her.
We might just be on to something folks.
Naw, Cheney be eeevil. Palin beee dumb.
They make a great team, because McCain spams too. Meanwhile, Obama doesn't. But then, given the Obama website, it's kinda clear that he gets how to run a web campaign.
@27, lamarguerite - Good stuff.
"Todd liked the third one best".
Kudos. :D
WTF is up with the vowel-less comments? BB is not the Torah!
Dave Bullock, you've been reading (and commenting) here for over a year and you don't know about being disemvowelled? Hard to believe. Read the thread about Moderation Policy over there on the right.
BTW, WTF is up with the EECUE?
"Palin=Stalin, I'm not so sure. Palin=Cheney, I'm feel on more solid ground."
You give the woman's intellect far too much credit. Cheney is surely evil, but he's just as certainly brilliant. Palin can only attempt to infer the thinking behind the politics he so voraciously devours.
I've been reading and commenting for much more than a year, back when comments had to be submitted directly through the tip form. And I've noticed on numerous occasions the voweless comments, but I just now decided to comment on them.
=]
@33 See here.
I find Palin's comment that the Iraq war represents "God's will" to be rather worrying. I don't think that it's a great leap from that to "God told me that we need to nuke Tehran" or "God told me that we need to go to war with Russia."
Fair enough DaveB. But still, what is the eecue? All I can think of is to put a barb- in front of it. :D
This is much ado about nothing, Palin is such a trainwreck and has so many scandals that McCain's going to drop her any day now. She's literally a gaffe a minute
@22 "how does an article like that even get published in the NYT?"
The NYT editors felt that it was responsible to publish that information so as to inform the public that they may make an educated decision come the election in November. Would you rather find out before or after the election about Ms. Palin's ability to be next in line for the office of President? Personally, I find her to be the most singularly frightening individual to have been nominated by a major political party in the last fifty years.
I miss Dan Quayle.
I find her to be the most singularly frightening individual to have been nominated by a major political party in the last fifty years.
Too young to remember Spiro Agnew?
seen Perseopolis? Remember the scene where the woman appeals vainly to the "director" of the hospital for a lifesaving operation for her husband?
The "director" who used to be the window washer before the fundamentalist revolution and is now 'qualified" because he has am islamic beard? Your future in Palinopolis.
#28
Actually, I admit to knowing the specifics. But that poster dismisses the entire situation as 'debunked', even going as far (in the other thread) to suggesting that it was a stunt by the librarian to get her job back.
He's trying to pshaw the whole thing away. I suspect he never links to the snopes article--or any other--because the real issue of concern would still be there: Palin believed that she had the power to ban books, and anybody who didn't get with the program was gone.
Anybody seen Matt Damon on Palin?
"Palin=Cheney, I'm feel on more solid ground."
Palin. When she shoots you in the face, it's on purpose.
@43 I do remember Spiro Agnew. I shook his hand, and Nixon's, at a campaign rally in 1968 that my Mom took me to. Both of them were very lucky that I was too young to vote at the time. However, Agnew pales in comparison to Palin.
I'm wondering why Alaskan protestors have such small signs...
Anybody seen Matt Damon on Palin?
On the bed, on the floor, on a towel by the door, in the tub, in the car, up against the mini-bar?
Palin's extremism will energize the fundi-right.
@eecue: N00B
Palin's extremism will energize the fundi-right.
does that make her "the holy ghost"?
I'm wondering why Alaskan protestors have such small signs...
The signs aren't small. Alaskans are huge.
sd t lk ths st bt t srsly rmnds m nw f dg hmpng th lg f th Dmcrtc prty tht y cn't pry ff f y trd.
t's knd lk wlkng nt rm whr tw ppl r mkng t....thr's plnty f lv bt y'r jst nt sr y shld b thr.
Every campaign harvests email and spams. Every candidate keeps some things OTR with personal email, blackberry pins, and so on. And every elected official plays favorites if elected. Politics is all about friends in high places.
Palin's extremism will be about as effective as coulter's. Fundies in particular love sensationalism with breasts, but don't want them women making any real decisions.
Ad why oh why do people continue to draw exaggerated conclusions about the future from fictions that already exaggerate reality? Orwell, little brother, persepolis, etc. It seems delusional to think someone's imagination will predict the future.
ANTINOUS@50: bwahahahaha!
p3n3nc3 - If you have something interesting to say maybe the people making out will stop and listen to you. Otherwise don't let the door hit you on the way out.
No no, it's Palin, not Silverman...
knw vry lttl bt Pln xcpt McCn's ppl dcdd sh ws Th n tht wld hlp hm wn th lctn, nd hr hstry s cln ngh t lk gd vn ndr yr mcrscp. Y hv t dmt, pckng hr ws strk f gns nd f ths mnr prblms r ll hr ppnnts cld fnd thn sh's dng prtty gd.
Pln bng ct s jst cng n th ck.
Cube,
Extracting from your comment, I do think that Sarah Palin will ultimately be trivialized because of her gender. Seventy per cent of the chatter about her is somehow related to her reproductive capacity.
OK, so it's a bit tangential, but with all the talk of pitbulls...
Antinous,
"Seventy per cent of the chatter about her is somehow related to her reproductive capacity."
insofar as it's about her views on and proposed regulations of that capacity, it's fair game. Sure, some people go over the line, but some people were wearing purple heart band-aids at the RNC 4 years ago. Is that any better?
Like Joe Biden said - he debates smart strong powerful women every day at work.
He's not worried about it - they had best be able to take a punch as well as they can land one, b/c he's not holding back out of deference to their dainty side. Expecting him to do so is sexist.
Now, how often will that be read as a pro-violence against women comment rather than an abstraction of debating technique? About 70% of the time I'd say
Kieran, when I clicked your link, YouTube said, "The URL contained a malformed video ID."
Wow that protester sure did phone in that sign.
Does she even know its facing the wrong way?
@Jake0748 -- that's just my point. You've displayed it perfectly. No attempt to converse and understand only to rally with those who share the banner and throw bricks at those who don't.
I am officially calling shenanigans on any more blog links in this thread.
Trvth - Your comment @60 made me throw up a little bit.
"I know very little about Palin..."
but you are here to defend her?
"McCain's people..." they are just people, right? "...decided she was The One..." - The One?? Are we talking biblical now?
"...her history is clean enough to look good even under your microscope." - Hah hah, not even close.
Governor Palin is harder to pin down than a greased Berkshire on a Slip 'n' Slide during a olive oil squirt gun fight. http://www.236.com/blog/w/will_durst/the_unkosher_candidate_8926.php
Shenanigans.
@JK0748, 'm dfndng hr bcs sh s Rpblcn nd sh hs th sm pltcl vws tht hv.
Whn sd "Th n," Ys, thnk t ws vry smrt f McCn's ppl t chs Pln s VP. nd, "Nt vn cls?" - Th thngs sh stnds fr, hr strng pnts, r wht vry Rd Stt vtr blvs n. brtn, Gn Cntrl, Rlgn, Mltry Vwpnts, tc. Sh hs t ll.
#60
uh
MINOR problems?
Support of book banning? Creationist? The financial issues surrounding that bridge affair?
Not minor at all, hon.
grimc "I'm wondering why Alaskan protestors have such small signs..."
"The signs aren't small. Alaskans are huge."
Good to know.
brundlefly76 "Wow that protester sure did phone in that sign.
Does she even know its facing the wrong way?"
Alaska is America's Bizarro World. Oddly, America is the world's Bizarro World, as well.
#70
Religion should in no way, shape or form come into play in politics.
Hello separartion of church and state.
Unless you believe, of course, that "separation of church and state" is wrong.
Tl, prsnlly hv fnd bk n mddl schl lbrry tht cntnd fl lngg, nd sm sxl cntnt. Dn't y thnk thr r sm bks tht shld b bnnd? dn't knw wht bk Pln ws cncrnd bt, ws t mmrl, r dd t hv ny prts tht wld cncrn mrl, Chrstn mthr f 5?
Crtnst? Hvn't y ntcd tht Chrstnty s th mjr rlgn mng Rpblcns? Tht's nt jst Pln thng.
Th Brdg ffr? hvn't hrd bt tht n - dd thy tlk bt t n FX Nws?
@70, th S Cnstttn mntns nthng bt Sprtn f Chrch nd Stt. ssm tht's wht y r rfrrng t.
article of the moment:
We're Gonna Frickin' Lose this Thing
"...But don't let it distract people from the more (MOST) important fact that she is supremely unqualified to be the vice president (and next in line to president) of the US.v"
nd bm s qlfd hw? Dd h rgnz sm cmmnty bk sls nd st-ns?
Huh. THe fact that the huffington post article has 90+ pages of comments gives me hope I'm not quite alone in this country as I'd feared.
Trvth,
You're trolling. You're on a time-out. I'll reinstate your account in a week.
#77
he's got excellent plans for the country. And its evident from what he has to say he has the smarts to back it up. Plus he's about 1000000x more honest about politics than anyone else.
In general terms, that's why I support the man.
Trvth, I'll take you at your word that you know nothing about Palin. Personally, I do at least some research on someone before I vote for them, but ymmv.
I do find it a little hard to believe that someone with an internet connection hasn't heard of Sarah Palin's connection to the so-called "bridge to nowhere" in Ketchikan, given how often she's mentioned it, but, again, benefit of the doubt here. The bridge was a particularly famous example of pork politics — Alaska asked for hundreds of millions of dollars from the federal government to build a bridge to a small island off Ketchikan, home to a small airport that served the Ketchikanians (previously by ferry). Palin touted her opposition to it in her RNC acceptance speech and nearly every stump speech thereafter (notably excluding those in Alaska) with constant repetitions of the line, "I said thanks, but no thanks to that bridge to nowhere!" Since then, every major news outlet in the country has pointed out that congress killed the "bridge to nowhere" a year before she took office, that she was vigorously pro-bridge prior to that, that Alaska received (and kept) the money anyway. She admitted this in last week's ABC interview with Charlie Gibson. Nevertheless, she continues to claim in every stump speech that she turned down Congress's money. Whatever your party may be, she and John McCain are flat-out lying on this point.
Oooh, Defiant 1, I've been waiting all night for that response.
I was talking about Palin.
"...h's gt xcllnt plns fr th cntry. nd ts vdnt frm wht h hs t sy h hs th smrts t bck t p. Pls h's bt 1000000x mr hnst bt pltcs thn nyn ls."
rr, n. Y'r thm ws "lck f qlfctn." Dn't chng th sbjct.
Hv y vr hrd Brry tlk wtht th tlprmptr? Shhsh!
"...h, Dfnt 1, 'v bn wtng ll nght fr tht rspns.
ws tlkng bt Pln..."
Ys, nd ws tlkng bt Brry. Wht hs h dn? h, wt -- h rn hs cmpgn!!
um... err.. what were we talking about again?
Back to the topic, please.
Who's Barry?
1,500 people? That's equivalent to like 3 Delawares, right?
Way up @19, Demidan stated.
The Nazi's killed between 5 & 6 million Jews. However, closer to 11 million were killed in the different Nazi Camp systems and by sondercommandos or the Einsatzgruppen in the conquered territories. People were capable of killing any untermenschen, not just Jews. There is a real danger in believing the Nazi's only killed Jews.
Now, back to our regular programing.
61: 90%+ of Palin's chatter about herself and her qualifications references her reproductive capacity. Her nickname for herself that she chose for herself is Hockey Mom. There is not one single criticism of Palin that isn't something she used on the stump as her selling point:
1. mayor of a town smaller than the dorms at my college
2. governor of a state several hundred thousand people smaller than MY PARENTS' SUBURBAN COUNTY
3. hockey mom of that unfortunate teenage brood
etc. No one complains about Hillary Clinton's parental status because Hillary never ran specifically on that. Come back to the earth we inhabit.
"Hv y vr hrd Brry tlk wtht th tlprmptr?"
Yes, as a matter of fact, I have.
I just found the exact quote that Palin gave about God and Iraq. Here it is, straight from NPR:
Personally, I think that people have taken this quote violently out of context. This is boring old normal Christian stuff. She doesn't say "this is gods plan", she says to pray that this is his plan. In other words, this is just the traditional, "Don't hope that God is on our side, but that we are on the side of God."
She is a crazy creationist nut and a great case study to back up the mountains of literature as to why teaching abstinence only sex-ed is a poor idea. You don't need to drag her out of context to make her crazy. Believing that the world is a few thousand years old makes you crazy enough.
"I — I answered him yes because I have the confidence in that readiness and knowing that you can’t blink, you have to be wired in a way of being so committed to the mission, the mission that we’re on, reform of this country and victory in the war, you can’t blink."
It's right there. "Reform of this country" in the same sentence as "victory in war", both are black and white issues to her.
That's called fair warning, so be prepared.
The recent increase in trolls on this site is phenomenal.
I wonder what the McCain/Palin budget for trolling/sniping is and if this came from public funding.
It's as thick over here as it is at digg with all those "diggers have marked this article as potentially inaccurate" for NYT and WashPost articles that expose their lies or question their track records.
As for Palin, just ask Pam Anderson for my answer.
"The recent increase in trolls on this site is phenomenal. "
the trolls even come to my home sometimes, these elections years are just crazy
antinuous... are you against blog links because your (very fun) blog hasn't been updated in like forever, while mine is sexy nearly every day?
you need more hard yoga... you'll fit more in your day (me too though, for real...)
No, because we were getting astroturfed. And I already feel guilty enough about not updating my blog since February.
Gloryplastic @97, take your spam elsewhere. Your cheap crap is not welcome here.
oops, already gone. nevermind.
Though as a liberal European I'm clearly in favour of Obama/Biden, I'd resigned that four years of McCain could be tolerated if not enjoyed (since in essence simply a continuation of Bush's reign) but the addition of the 'Palin factor' has made this election into something else completely.
To be quite honest (and I'm not alone, this side of the pond), she scares me.
She's uninformed, hides this by lashing out to anyone who dares point it out and even though she didn't even know the Bush doctrine, she lives by it: not blinking, ergo not thinking.
I knew I felt a little turf-burn for some reason. *applies balm* We really oughta call off getting fucked royally by our government after 8 years already. I think the Dems are decent enough for a reach-around... (Yes, I went there, but Antinous beat me to it. eh... so to speak.)
dunno, I'm just glad there's someone around who can teach McCain how to email
She is super secret for sure, and still *totally qualified*.
(to go out with me)
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INtvFOyB6CM
Fck Y Srh Pln.
You can disemvowel me now.
S_L_O_P, helps if you eyeball yourself. I'm not gonna do it.
Interesting, if the protests against her by the women of Alaska are successful, they get to keep her as Governor. Talk about mixed feelings.
McCain offers "credits" to his followers who spam blogs. I suspect the increase in trolls is related to that.
Ms. Palin is a scary one for sure. Secretive and keeps an enemy's list. Hmm... remind you of anyone? At least Nixon had foreign policy chops.
And to the turfers, the reason we worry about Palin's qualifications even though she's only the VP nominee is because the presidential nominee is a 72-year old man who has had 5 melanoma operations and is in pretty bad health. His death pool numbers are pretty high.
McCain offers "credits" to his followers who spam blogs.
Citation please? I believe you, but I want to know more.
You can put lipstick on a religion-crazed hypocritical liar, but she's still a religion-crazed hypocritical liar.
@108 Here you go:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/06/AR2008080603589.html
@108 And a direct link to the dirty deed:
http://www.johnmccain.com/ActionCenter/BlogInteract/BlogInteract.aspx
At least boingboing isn't on the list of "Look what I did to distroy America."
Anti-Palin rally organizers receive threats
"A press release for the Reject Palin rally went out to practically every media outlet in town Wednesday. And one talk radio host decided to share the names and phones numbers of the two contacts on-air."
"KBYR talk radio host Eddie Burke admits he is a conservative and a "Palinista.""
"But on Wednesday Burke resorted to name calling when he found out Alaska Women Reject Palin planned to host a Saturday rally."
"They're a bunch of socialist maggots, that's what I'm going to call them -- socialist maggots, that's what they are, a bunch of socialist baby-killing maggots," said Burke."
http://www.ktuu.com/Global/story.asp?S=8996315