Sarah Palin

Washington Monthly Blogger: Thanks to Palin, Republicans Now Insist ‘The Truth Doesn’t Matter’
By Tom Johnson | November 27, 2015 | 11:56 PM EST

In the race for next year’s Republican presidential nomination, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz have made media bias an issue, as did Newt Gingrich during the 2012 contest. Irony alert: Martin Longman believes that it was one of the media’s favorite GOPers, John McCain, who planted the seeds for such press-bashing when he chose his  running mate.

Longman contended in a Wednesday post that “something broke on the right when they were forced to spend September and October of 2008 pretending that it would be okay if Sarah Palin were elected vice-president. The only way to maintain that stance was to jettison all the normal standards we have for holding such a high office. But it also entailed simply insisting that the truth doesn’t matter…Seven years down the road, it’s gotten to the point that Republicans have realized that they can say anything they want and just blame media bias if anyone calls them on their lies.”

7 Years Later and Sarah Palin is STILL Being Attacked for This One Thing!
By Erik Soderstrom | November 23, 2015 | 3:46 AM EST

Seven years after the 2008 U.S. presidential elections in which Alaska Governor Sarah Palin joined the Republican ticket as John McCain’s running mate, the former vice presidential candidate is still living rent free in the minds of Hollywood screenwriters. During Friday’s episode of veteran CBS procedural, Blue Bloods, the show took an overt swipe at Governor Palin.

Lame, and Unacceptable: AP Claims 'Gun at Head' Photos of Cruz Had No Bad Intent
By Tom Blumer | June 22, 2015 | 12:09 PM EDT

The Associated Press, although it has apparently removed the primary photo involved from where it was posted last night at its APimages.com web site, is showing no remorse over having published what it has now admitted are five photos of 2016 Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz containing "guns seen on a wall in the background so that it appeared a pistol was pointed at Sen. Cruz’s head."

AP Media Relations Director Paul Colford, in a statement seen at the Politico and Mediaite which he has not mentioned at his Twitter feed and (as far as I can tell) hasn't posted at any official wire service page, wants us to know that they had no bad intentions — so would everyone please leave them alone so they can continue purveying their "unintended" filth? It's hard to have any reaction other than that to Colford's lame and completely unacceptable statement, which follows the jump.

To Lefty Writer Ana Marie Cox, Duggars and Kardashians Famous For Same Basic Reason: ‘Their Sex Lives’
By Tom Johnson | June 9, 2015 | 10:10 PM EDT

How do you become a “conservative folk hero”? It helps a great deal if you believe, and your fellow right-wingers believe, that liberals are picking on you, contended The Daily Beast’s Ana Marie Cox in a Saturday column.

Cox defined conservative folk heroes as celebrities or demi-celebrities “whose fame is not dependent on a celebrity-generating skill (acting, singing) but on a set of beliefs.” Her examples included the Robertsons from Duck Dynasty; Joe the Plumber; Ben Carson; and the Duggar family.

Their renown, she wrote, is sustained in part by a “network of conferences, straw polls and candidate cattle-calls,” but moreover they “find their credibility increases not via leadership but through victimhood. All criticism by mainstream voices becomes proof of worthiness—and the case of Josh Duggar exposes just how self-defeating the raising up [of] these folk heroes via victimhood can be.”

NBC's Guthrie Frets Palin Took 'Cheap Shot' at Obama in PETA Feud
By Kyle Drennen | January 6, 2015 | 1:05 PM EST

In a live interview with Sarah Palin on Tuesday's NBC Today, co-host Savannah Guthrie accused the former Alaska governor of taking a "cheap shot" at President Obama while defending herself against nasty attacks from animal rights group PETA: "You also talk about President Obama, saying that he tried dog meat when he was under ten years old in Indonesia. I have to ask you about that one, though, is that kind of trading cheap shot for cheap shot?"

ABC & NBC Seize on Palin 'Sparking New Controversy' in 'Feud' With PETA
By Kyle Drennen | January 5, 2015 | 12:04 PM EST

On Monday, both ABC's Good Morning America and NBC's Today hyped a supposed "controversy" between Sarah Palin and radical animal rights group PETA, after Palin shared a touching photo of her Down Syndrome son using his service dog as a step stool to reach the kitchen sink.

During a news brief on GMA, anchor Amy Robach announced: "Sarah Palin sparking new controversy, this time among animal lovers. Reaction has erupted on social media when Palin posted this photo of her 6-year-old son standing on top of their dog."

Jonah Goldberg: Protecting the Protesters vs. Trashing the Tea Party
By Rich Noyes | December 22, 2014 | 2:10 PM EST

Nearly four years ago, the media establishment swiftly and baselessly linked the Tea Party to the shooting of Arizona Congresswoman Gabby Giffords. But after this weekend’s murder of two New York City police officers, by a gunman who used the hashtag #ShootThePolice, there was no rush at ABC, CBS or NBC to condemn anti-police protesters who have employed the chant: “What do we want? Dead cops. When do we want them? Now.”

While Media Obsesses Over GOP Aide Criticizing Obama's Children, Dems Openly Sell Hate, Authoritarianism
By Tom Blumer | December 2, 2014 | 6:49 PM EST

Yesterday, I received an email from the Democratic National Committee informing me that they had a "Cyber Monday surprise" just for me.

How nice. All I had to do was click on the link to store.democrats.org. After the jump, readers will see the store's apparent "best sellers," raising a quite obvious question: Does anyone think the press would ignore analogous items on sale in a GOP store?

A Cornucopia of New York Times Thanksgiving Bias: Remember Bush's 'Fake Turkey'?
By Clay Waters | November 27, 2014 | 7:22 PM EST

Is there no beloved American tradition the liberal media won't try to sour? "A Warning on Nutmeg," a silly post from the New York Times' health section, failed to come close to justifying its alarmist headline, and functioned as a near parody of liberal media handwringing. But it's far from the first time the paper has flubbed Thanksgiving, either politically or by just being ridiculous

Lefty Blogger: ‘Largely Bogus’ Righty Gripes About Media Bias Led to ‘Propaganda Network’ Fox News
By Tom Johnson | October 27, 2014 | 9:48 PM EDT

Josh Marshall writes that back in the day, right-wingers distorted the extent of media bias against them, and created FNC to balance the scales.

CNN's Costello Gleeful As She Hypes Palin Family Brawl Audio
By Matthew Balan | October 22, 2014 | 3:38 PM EDT

Carol Costello could barely contain herself on Wednesday's CNN Newsroom, as she touted the recently-released audio of Bristol Palin giving her account of a fight involving her family to the police: "Okay. I'm just going to come right out and say it. This is quite possibly the best minute and a half of audio we've ever come across – well, come across in a long time anyway."

'Conservative' View Co-Host Nicolle Wallace Trashes Palin, Defends Clinton
By Scott Whitlock | September 22, 2014 | 12:52 PM EDT

Nicolle Wallace, The View's new "conservative" co-host, on Monday trashed Sarah Palin and defended Hillary Clinton against alleged sexism. Wallace, who worked for Palin in 2008, has previously attacked her former boss. Asked to talk about an alleged brawl that broke out at a Palin family party, the ex-political operative mocked, "I have political staffer version of PTSD. So, whenever I hear she's breaking her silence...my heart stops."