Fox News Goes Tabloid Trash With Sarah Palin Rumors

Normally, Fox News is a quality news outlet that has more integrity and balance than any other news outlet. Not so, today. Somehow, Fox let itself slide to the level of the National Enquirer when it ran with some wild rumors about Sarah Palin that originated from "unnamed" sources.

Kerri Houston Toloczko wrote a nice column for Regular Folks United in which she identifies the sources and has some choice words for them. From her column:

News has been circulating around GOP insiders for weeks that McCain campaign honchos Rick Davis and Steve Schmidt were planning to blame Sarah Palin for McCain’s loss. This was expected to be an effort to punt the blame for their own failures to the side of the ticket that was most popular with the base, attracted the largest rally crowds, and scared the living bejeepers out of the opposing party. The slander was projected, and appeared immediately after the election. What was not anticipated was the disgraceful level of venom-laden vitriolic drool that dribbled from their camp, and their use of a respected Fox News reporter as their personal tool for deflecting their own accountability. Last night on the O’Reilly Factor, McCain campaign embed Carl Cameron laid out Davis and Schmidt’s case against Palin with glee that channeled junior high mean girls, and details only worthy of the National Enquirer on its darkest day.

If these were real charges and real concerns, Schmidt and Davis would not have hidden behind the cloak of anonimity and would instead have put their names out for all to see right from the very start. This is clearly a sour grapes response to the election loss. Further, I doubt that Schmidt and Davis would have started such idiotic rumors about any male candidate.

The slanders included idiotic notions that Governor Palin didn't know Africa was a continent or that she didn't know the three nations that made up NAFTA. Only the most gullible and naive (or the most die-hard Democrat) would believe such nonsense slanders. These slanders are right up there with Barack Obama claiming there are 57 states, or Joe Biden claiming that President Franklin Roosevelt got on TV after the market crash in 1929. Hell, even the bit about Biden telling a man confined to a wheelchair to "stand up and take a bow" didn't reach this level.

Given that Sarah Palin was reared by two school teachers, owned a business and rose up to become the Governor of Alaska, it is pretty easy to see how idiotic Davis and Schmidt are for starting such rumors.

Toloczko goes on:

As a human person, I was shocked. As I woman, I was disgusted. As a conservative who understands how important this new fresh face has been to our political renewal; I was incensed. As a Republican, I was ashamed. ... Senior campaign officials should stand up like grownups and take responsibility for the outcome of the campaign instead of throwing the girl under the bus. Fox News’ Carl Cameron should go to rehab for his apparent case of Stockholm Syndrome after spending months on McCain campaign planes and buses. And Bill O’Reilly should designate all of them as “pinheads” and apologize to Governor Palin for showing such personally damaging and politically counterproductive rumors and innuendos the light of day. Ironically, as the head honchos of McCain’s failed campaign attempt to deflect their own inadequacies in such a disgusting and defamatory manner, they have ensured that they will never be hired again. What they have demonstrated without question is that they cannot be trusted.

I would have expected something like this from, say, Kathleen Parker or Christopher Buckley or even Peggy Noonan. But for Bill O'Reilly to consciously participate in this kind of slander was unthinkable up until now.

You can access the complete article on-line here:

Im-Palin Sarah: Fox Joins Weasels In Post Campaign Rumor Game
Kerri Houston Toloczko
Regular Folks United
November 6, 2008

An Open Memo To The Conservative Elite

Along the same lines of my last post which referenced Bob Parks, Matt Lewis over at Town Hall has a few things to say about the RINOs among us. He wrote a memo to them congratulating them on their contributions to the 2008 Presidential race. His primary recipients are Kathleen Parker, Peggy Noonan, David Brooks, David Frum and Christopher Buckley. (I'd add George Will to that list too.)

Here are a few of the highlights he hits on:

You gave the media an excuse to assert that “conservatives” hated Sarah Palin so much that they were jumping off the McCain campaign like rats off a sinking ship. Despite the fact that Palin was reinvigorating the conservative movement and drew huge crowds, you felt the irrational need to ignore the evidence and insist that Sarah was a walking blonde joke. Great job! Of course, you probably lost you any credibility you had with real conservatives…you know, the rank-and-file voters. But, hey, I’m sure it was more than worth it considering that you became overnight sensations on the Georgetown cocktail circuit (where people wouldn't have given you the time of day had you actually stuck by your beliefs).

And Matt also notes:

You’d never met Gov. Palin, you had no personal connection to her, so why not throw her under the bus? A little intellectual dishonesty never hurt anyone, and being good pseudo-conservative intellectual, you understood the benefit of behaving as a self-interested individual. Ayn Rand would be so proud of you. Unfortunately, you goofed up on just one little issue. You forgot about the long-term impacts of your decisions; you turned a blind eye to the out-and-out ideology of Barack Obama. ... High taxes, the fairness doctrine, universal healthcare, more regulation in all aspects of your life….that’s all going to be at least partially your fault. And frankly, I lied about Ayn Rand being proud of you -- she’d probably smack you in the face for allowing such a dramatic erosion of your personal freedoms.

I can only think of the Disney movie The Incredible Mr. Limpet and the one scene where a chorus of women sing in the background: "Be careful what you wish for!" right before Don Knotts gets turned into a fish.

Well, the circular firing squad will be over soon enough. We conservatives now have a better idea of who our true allies are and who the members of the fifth column among us are.

We'll work it from here.

You can access the original posting on-line here:

An Open Memo To The Conservative Elite
Matt Lewis
TownHall.com
November 5, 2008

The Time To Gloat

Here is an interesting analysis from an African-American commentator about the Obama victory:

As is their ability to do so, Democrats will now go on a search-and-destroy mission of all things that have been a thorn in their side for all these years. They will attempt to silence talk radio, internet conservatives, Republican activists, and to a small extent, we have it coming. We have been too tolerant. We have allowed RINOs to take over the Republican Party. Those who sought to reach out to Democrats, while a noble gesture, are the ones who brought the Barack Obama juggernaut down around us. When Bill Clinton was first elected with a Democrat house and senate, no overtures were demanded by the media, and none was offered by the left. When John McCain found media refuge in bashing his own party in 2000, he believed it was the ticket to political success. When George W. Bush was elected, his “New Tone” was not embraced, and should Rahm Emanuel become Obama’s chief of staff, no new tone will even be considered.

I suspect that my blogging days will be numbered as the new socialist administration comes in and tries to silence me and others like me who oppose the policies of socialism. But there is more to it than that:

Our elected national leaders decided it was more important to be liked by our enemies, and took our votes for granted. Our elected leaders decided it was more important to water down our principles, spurn the base that put them in power, and reach out to those who consider us lower than Satan’s bile. We have allowed them unfettered access to our children, and liberals have successfully spawned a new generation who voted for Obama because they were told they would see “change”. We allowed the left the room to protest conservatives, while they redefined our God-given right of dissent as “hate” and “smears”. We have allowed them to rewrite history for their political convenience, and use the very words of racism and intolerance upon those who had the nerve to oppose them.

Remember my post from yesterday about how a public school teacher was forcing acceptance of the gay and lesbian lifestyle on 6-year-olds? That is going to become even more common under Barack Obama.

But there may be hope:

Should that happen, the RINO wing of our party should not be allowed anywhere near the reigns of power and decision making. If anyone is to blame for the election drubbing that was, it was those who sought to go-along-to-get-along for their own personal aggrandizement. ALL of those in the Republican leadership who ever sought compromise, when they didn’t have to, need be removed from any kind of political influence. If they are not, don’t bother sending out those donation letters. Don’t bother asking for volunteer help. Don’t bother asking us to call our Democrat congressmen and women to complain, when these same “Republicans” will stab us in the back and have drinks with them later. Whoever is the new Republican Party head coach, he or she needs to be someone with a spine. Only losers seek to reach across the aisle. Only losers abide by the demands of a slanted media and lift their foot off the neck of a vanquished opponent. Only losers seek the adoration of those who hate us. Only losers seek our votes when it comes time to keep them in power, yet are ashamed to be seen in public with us. Our losers have brought us to this moment and we shall pay dearly for allowing them to do so unchecked. Until we have fully purged our Grand Old Party of the enemy within, we deserve everything a vengeful, intolerant, hate-filled Democrat Party will do to us. Let the Democrats gloat. They will. While they rub it in our faces, don’t get mad solely at the progressives. Remember those who brought us all down with them and when the time comes, we won’t be kissing their asses. We must kick them out once and for all.

Early names for kicking include Chris Buckley, Kathleen Parker, Peggy Noonan and George Will.

The fire has finally gone out. It is time for us conservatives to rise up and reassert ourselves as the reality-based people we are. As the pop-rock group Asia once sang: And from the wreckage I will arise! Cast the ashes back in their eyes!"

You can access the complete column on-line here:

The Time To Gloat
Bob Parks
Black & Right
November 5, 2008