P Turns Heads for Devoting 11 Reporters to Palin Book 'Fact Check'

[spursncowboys]

Robert Shaffer - FOXNews.com - November 17, 2009
Robert Shaffer - FOXNews.com - November 17, 2009
AP Turns Heads for Devoting 11 Reporters to Palin Book 'Fact Check'

Reviewing books and holding public figures accountable is at the core of good journalism, but the Associated Press' treatment of Palin's book seems an unprecedented move at the wire service


Sarah Palin is no normal politician, and at the Associated Press, apparently "Going Rogue" is no normal book.

When the former Republican vice presidential candidate and former Alaska governor wrote her autobiography, the AP found a copy before its release date and assigned 11 people to fact check all 432 pages.

The AP claims Palin misstated her record with regard to travel expenses and taxpayer-funded bailouts, using statements widely reported elsewhere. But it also speculated into Palin's motives for writing "Going Rogue: An American Life," stating as fact that the book "has all the characteristics of a pre-campaign manifesto."

Palin quickly hit back on a Facebook post titled "Really? Still Making Things Up?"

"Imagine that," the post read. "11 AP reporters dedicating time and resources to tearing up the book, instead of using the time and resources to 'fact check' what's going on with Sheik Mohammed's trial, Pelosi's health care takeover costs, Hasan's associations, etc. Amazing."

The AP, an organization with over 4,000 employees and 49 Pulitzer Prizes earned for asking the hard questions, wouldn't comment on their own reporting for this story.

Reviewing books and holding public figures accountable is at the core of good journalism, but the treatment Palin's book received appears to be something new for the AP. The organization did not review for accuracy recent books by the late Sen. Ted Kennedy, then-Sen. Joe Biden, either book by Barack Obama released before he was president or autobiographies by Bill or Hillary Clinton. The AP did more traditional news stories on those books.

The attraction to Palin doesn't appear to be partisan, since AP didn't fact-check recent political tomes by Republicans Rudy Giuliani or Newt Gingrich.

The AP, however, regularly writes "fact checks" for major political speeches, such as a September health care speech by President Obama.

Doug Underwood, a University of Washington journalism professor who covered Washington politics in the late 1970s for Gannett, said Palin brings some negative attention on herself with a history of bad interviews and misstatements. In addition, the press cannot ever be perfectly consistent or fair, he said.

Still, the media treated Biden and Palin differently, he said.

Biden's book "Promises to Keep" became an instant best-seller when he was chosen to be Obama's running mate, but was not fact-checked by the AP and only received passing interest. In a story last year on Biden's Vietnam War draft deferments due to asthma, the reporter notes Biden didn't mention the malady in his book.

Palin is not the standard presidential possibility for 2012, Underwood said.

"She's a figure who's a politician, but also a part of popular culture," he said.

Palin supporters believe 11 reporters poring over every word of her book is excessive- and further proof of the media's obsession and maltreatment of the hockey mom from Wasilla.

"They're obsessed with trying to discredit her," said Adrienne Ross, New York state organizer for the 2012 Draft Sarah Committee. "Because she's a conservative woman, they make fun of her accent, comment about her looks. She doesn't come in the package they want her to come in."

Reviewing books and holding public figures accountable is at the core of good journalism, but the Associated Press' treatment of Palin's book seems an unprecedented move at the wire service


Sarah Palin is no normal politician, and at the Associated Press, apparently "Going Rogue" is no normal book.

When the former Republican vice presidential candidate and former Alaska governor wrote her autobiography, the AP found a copy before its release date and assigned 11 people to fact check all 432 pages.

The AP claims Palin misstated her record with regard to travel expenses and taxpayer-funded bailouts, using statements widely reported elsewhere. But it also speculated into Palin's motives for writing "Going Rogue: An American Life," stating as fact that the book "has all the characteristics of a pre-campaign manifesto."

Palin quickly hit back on a Facebook post titled "Really? Still Making Things Up?"

"Imagine that," the post read. "11 AP reporters dedicating time and resources to tearing up the book, instead of using the time and resources to 'fact check' what's going on with Sheik Mohammed's trial, Pelosi's health care takeover costs, Hasan's associations, etc. Amazing."

The AP, an organization with over 4,000 employees and 49 Pulitzer Prizes earned for asking the hard questions, wouldn't comment on their own reporting for this story.

Reviewing books and holding public figures accountable is at the core of good journalism, but the treatment Palin's book received appears to be something new for the AP. The organization did not review for accuracy recent books by the late Sen. Ted Kennedy, then-Sen. Joe Biden, either book by Barack Obama released before he was president or autobiographies by Bill or Hillary Clinton. The AP did more traditional news stories on those books.

The attraction to Palin doesn't appear to be partisan, since AP didn't fact-check recent political tomes by Republicans Rudy Giuliani or Newt Gingrich.

The AP, however, regularly writes "fact checks" for major political speeches, such as a September health care speech by President Obama.

Doug Underwood, a University of Washington journalism professor who covered Washington politics in the late 1970s for Gannett, said Palin brings some negative attention on herself with a history of bad interviews and misstatements. In addition, the press cannot ever be perfectly consistent or fair, he said.

Still, the media treated Biden and Palin differently, he said.

Biden's book "Promises to Keep" became an instant best-seller when he was chosen to be Obama's running mate, but was not fact-checked by the AP and only received passing interest. In a story last year on Biden's Vietnam War draft deferments due to asthma, the reporter notes Biden didn't mention the malady in his book.

Palin is not the standard presidential possibility for 2012, Underwood said.

"She's a figure who's a politician, but also a part of popular culture," he said.

Palin supporters believe 11 reporters poring over every word of her book is excessive- and further proof of the media's obsession and maltreatment of the hockey mom from Wasilla.

"They're obsessed with trying to discredit her," said Adrienne Ross, New York state organizer for the 2012 Draft Sarah Committee. "Because she's a conservative woman, they make fun of her accent, comment about her looks. She doesn't come in the package they want her to come in."

[jack sommerset]

And the madness continues...3rd 'Rogue" thread.

[spursncowboys]

This one is less about Palin and to me more about the drive-by's setting their sights. One book on the other side of the isle with atleast 4 fact checking. Or just two.

[whottt]

Barrack who?

[baseline bum]

Palin still playing the victim card? :lmao

Boo hoo... I believe in a free press, but you gotta treat my book with kiddie gloves. :violin

I don't know how the hell any of you can like that spoiled child.

[coyotes_geek]

Palin should be thrilled. It's free advertising. It makes her more money.

[baseline bum]

Palin should be thrilled. It's free advertising. It makes her more money.

Plus she can martyr herself as an excuse for the inevitable 2012 failure.

[Wild Cobra]

Funny how these liberal media organizations don't fact check works done by liberals...

10,001

[Winehole23]

I was unaware the AP was liberal or conservative, although I do seem to recall a bunch of butthurt libs complaining the AP's president was in the tank for GWB a couple of years ago.

Plus ca change...

[coyotes_geek]

Plus she can martyr herself as an excuse for the inevitable 2012 failure.

Won't happen. She's not going to run in 2012. If she were going to run, she never would have quit the governorship. Her plan doesn't involve political office. It involves spending the next few years cashing in on the book and lecture circuit. Something that she would have been unable to do while holding the job as governor. So she writes a book knowing full well that both people who love her and hate her will obsess over every word in it and that will drive sales. Between now and 2012 she'll continue to keep herself in the public eye and will never say that she's going to run, but never completely closing the door either just to keep people interested in her. Then when it finally comes time for a decision she'll say she's not running and will ride off into the sunset thanking her supporters and laughing at her critics, having made a shitload of coin in the process. In the end, she wins. Ain't politics grand?

[MannyIsGod]

I'm going to tell you why they used an unprecedented amount of fact checkers:



They knew there was going to be lies in the book.

[Ignignokt]

Mhmm Mhmm mmmm Barrack Hussein Obama.

So why not fact check Audacity of HOpe?

[ChumpDumper]

So why not fact check Audacity of HOpe?How do you know it was not fact checked?

[MannyIsGod]

So why not fact check Audacity of HOpe?

Because its not full of lies like this book was.

[Ignignokt]

Because its not full of lies like this book was.

You'd have to fact check on that first.

[Ignignokt]

How do you know it was not fact checked?

Give me a link where the AP fact checked it with 10+ employees and i'll drop the subject.

[101A]

Because its not full of lies like this book was.

You've read both books?

You're basing your conclusion on which has the lies on fact checking which was performed on one, and not the other, are you not?

Meh.

[ChumpDumper]

Give me a link where the AP fact checked it with 10+ employees and i'll drop the subject.Moving the goalposts already?

Too easy.

[balli]

Yeah, the right could have proved the Audacity of Hope was complete fiction, they're just such good people that they decided to leave Obama alone. GMAFB.

Tell ya what, if Obama's next book is basically a ghost writer re-telling a bunch of flat out fabrications on his behalf, you jackasses can have at him.

[Ignignokt]

Moving the goalposts already?

Too easy.

Link?

[Ignignokt]

Yeah, the right could have proved the Audacity of Hope was complete fiction, they're just such good people that they decided to leave Obama alone. GMAFB.

Tell ya what, if Obama's next book is basically a ghost writer re-telling a bunch of flat out fabrications on his behalf, you jackasses can have at him.

here you go chump.

This guy is a gambler too.

[ChumpDumper]

Link?You want a link to your previous post?

OK.

http://www.spurstalk.com/forums/showpost.php?p=3845726&postcount=20

[balli]

This guy is a gambler too.
Hardly a gamble. This guy can't give away an ipod or bow to a Japanese PM without you ignorant fucks calling for his head.

But maybe you're right, his bestselling book has somehow avoided any scrutiny or thorough analysis.

Again. Give me a fucking break.

[Ignignokt]

You want a link to your previous post?

OK.

http://www.spurstalk.com/forums/showpost.php?p=3845726&postcount=20

So you gave up on finding a link to the AP equally holding a research team to Obama's book?

:toast

[Ignignokt]

Hardly a gamble. This guy can't give away an ipod or bow to a Japanese PM without you ignorant fucks calling for his head.

But maybe you're right, his bestselling book has somehow avoided any scrutiny or thorough analysis.

Again. Give me a fucking break.

I know! it's kind of hard to believe those hayseed missipi baptist pro life boys at the NYT, CBS, and AP missed out on an easy target.

[ChumpDumper]

So you gave up on finding a link to the AP equally holding a research team to Obama's book?

:toastI never started. Only Palin and her supporters seem afraid of that kind of scrutiny.

So you are now admitting you have no idea if Obama's book was fact checked or not.

:toast

[balli]

I know! it's kind of hard to believe those hayseed missipi baptist pro life boys at the NYT, CBS, and AP missed out on an easy target.
Whatever dude. If it takes utter delusion to make you feel better, feel free. But good night, call me once you get some rationale.

[Ignignokt]

I never started. Only Palin and her supporters seem afraid of that kind of scrutiny.

So you are now admitting you have no idea if Obama's book was fact checked or not.

:toast

You said it was easy, that means you already knew of a link to back you up.

but i guess your lack of a link means you conceded. :toast

[Ignignokt]

Whatever dude. If it takes utter delusion to make you feel better, feel free.

sure. I'll have what you're smoking.

[ChumpDumper]

You said it was easy, that means you already knew of a link to back you up.No, making you move the goalposts was too easy.


but i guess your lack of a link means you conceded. :toastI already gave you a link to your moving of the goalposts. :toast

Now, how do you know the Obama book was not fact checked?

You made that assertion, so you can back it up with a link.

[boutons_deux]

the right-wing fact checked Magic Negro and came up with plenty of lies ... their own lies about Magic Negro.

As the "Christians" love to say, "seek and ye shall find"

[Jacob1983]

Why do people give this attention whore attention? Honestly, if the news and media would just ignore this bitch, she would go away.

[MannyIsGod]

You've read both books?

You're basing your conclusion on which has the lies on fact checking which was performed on one, and not the other, are you not?

Meh.

I'm basing my conclusion on the dozens of reports of various people associated with Palin's book coming out before the fact checking to point out it was full of lies.

The moment anyone had any bit of that book there were reports contradicting what Palin said. THAT is why it was so extensively fact checked.

However in any event, anyone is free to fact check any book that anyone has written. Instead of listening to the "not fair" bullshit coming forth from Palin why aren't more people focused on her lies? Classic tatic when caught lying is to turn it around and act pissed off at the WAY you were caught.

[spursncowboys]

ANyone can factcheck. However why are journalist doing it? Why 11? MIG: just because someone disagrees with her doesn't make it alie. Also the supposed lies come from the people who were put in a bad light in her book. Of course these buerocrats are going to disagree with what happened. That doesn't make it a lie.

[101A]

Yeah, the right could have proved the Audacity of Hope was complete fiction, they're just such good people that they decided to leave Obama alone. GMAFB.

Tell ya what, if Obama's next book is basically a ghost writer re-telling a bunch of flat out fabrications on his behalf, you jackasses can have at him.


Hmmmm.

You admitting AP is "The Left"?

[101A]

I'm basing my conclusion on the dozens of reports of various people associated with Palin's book coming out before the fact checking to point out it was full of lies.

The moment anyone had any bit of that book there were reports contradicting what Palin said. THAT is why it was so extensively fact checked.

However in any event, anyone is free to fact check any book that anyone has written. Instead of listening to the "not fair" bullshit coming forth from Palin why aren't more people focused on her lies? Classic tatic when caught lying is to turn it around and act pissed off at the WAY you were caught.


Good post.

[DarrinS]

Based on the way the media treated Palin in the campaign, this level of scrutiny on her book shouldn't surprise anyone.

Frankly, I think the entire media blitz she's currently on is a little attention-whoreish.

I don't think she's an idiot and she has some good ideas, she's just very clumsy at articulating them verbally.

And her bitching about the Katie Couric interview on Oprah and calling Couric "the perky one" struck me as petty and made her look a bit foolish. Palin's a bit "perky" herself and that's part of what annoys me about her. Oprah gave her a big stage to clear the air about what newspapers and magazines she reads (still a dumb question, IMO), but she didn't even do it.

She has good, conservative ideas -- she's just a horrible candidate and I kinda wish she'd just go away.

Fellow conservatives, you may flame away.

[EmptyMan]

Won't happen. She's not going to run in 2012. If she were going to run, she never would have quit the governorship. Her plan doesn't involve political office. It involves spending the next few years cashing in on the book and lecture circuit. Something that she would have been unable to do while holding the job as governor. So she writes a book knowing full well that both people who love her and hate her will obsess over every word in it and that will drive sales. Between now and 2012 she'll continue to keep herself in the public eye and will never say that she's going to run, but never completely closing the door either just to keep people interested in her. Then when it finally comes time for a decision she'll say she's not running and will ride off into the sunset thanking her supporters and laughing at her critics, having made a shitload of coin in the process. In the end, she wins. Ain't politics grand?

Bingo. She is gaming the game. These silly cuckolds are so filled with hate they have no idea she is banking off of them. Keith O and TingleTingle get up in the morning and spend their lives devoting time for the profession to a harmless "nobody".


They are like the nerd who always talks shit about the head cheerleader. The obsession is obvious to others, yet the nerd thinks others are taking him seriously LOL

FFS after all of the clowns the Left has currently propped up into high positions, they have such passionate vigor about Palin who does not even hold an office? Twilight zoneeeeeee :rollin

[Winehole23]

.She has good, conservative ideas -- she's just a horrible candidate and I kinda wish she'd just go away.What are her good, conservative ideas?

Do you mean "good conservative ideas" like upping taxes on energy companies to boost the annual royalty check Alaskans receive from their state government?

[DarrinS]

What are her good, conservative ideas?

Do you mean "good conservative ideas" like upping taxes on energy companies to boost the annual royalty check Alaskans receive from their state government?


You mean she did something that generated enormous wealth for the residents of her state? She was governor at the time, right?

[DarrinS]

WH,

Palin was against drilling in ANWAR too, right?

[Winehole23]

I don't deny it made her very popular in a state so heavily dependent on public subsidy as Alaska. But what's so conservative about transferring profits and private wealth to the public?

Isn't that the very same "spreading the wealth around" Palin denounced on the campaign trail?

[Winehole23]

WH,

Palin was against drilling in ANWAR too, right?Drill here, drill now.

Whether private companies ought to be allowed to exploit public nature preserves doesn't strike me as an intrinsically ideological dispute, though no doubt it became one.

[DarrinS]

I don't deny it made her very popular in a state so heavily dependent on public subsidy as Alaska. But what's so conservative about transferring profits and private wealth to the public?

Isn't that the very same "spreading the wealth around" Palin denounced on the campaign trail?


That's a bit of a stretch. I don't equate this with, say, putting a surtax on doctors, lawyers, executives etc. to pay for a universal heath care system.


Did her tax result in the oil companies leaving the state and laying off workers?

[MannyIsGod]

WTF? How is it a stretch at all? Its actually the exact same thing.

[Winehole23]

That's a bit of a stretch.One for one correspondence, IMO.


I don't equate this with, say, putting a surtax on doctors, lawyers, executives etc. to pay for a universal heath care system.Neither do I. It's still redistribution of wealth, i.e., spreading the wealth around.


Did her tax result in the oil companies leaving the state and laying off workersI'm not sure it matters. It's a matter of equity. What right did Alaskans have to even more of the private profits of oil and gas companies?

I'd really be surprised if you thought levels of taxation ought to be pegged to ability to pay -- that's not a traditionally conservative POV.

[Winehole23]

I'm still waiting to hear about Sarah Palin's good conservative ideas. Are there any besides "Drill baby, drill?"

[DarrinS]

I'm still waiting to hear about Sarah Palin's good conservative ideas. Are there any besides "Drill baby, drill?"


I've already stated that she has SOME ideas that I agree with, but I don't like her as a candidate. I wasn't trying to turn this thread into one where I hash out all her policy stances and you, in turn, refute them. You pointed out one executive decision she made that ended up being a windfall for the residents of her state. I could just as easily point out a vote made by Senator Obama that greatly improved the lives of Illinois residents -- I just can't think of any.

[Winehole23]

I've already stated that she has SOME ideas that I agree withLike? Please state them. You said *ideas*. Is there more than one of them?


You pointed out one executive decision she made that ended up being a windfall for the residents of her state.Based on a socialistic redistribution of wealth, yes. Was it just because the oil companies could afford it? Didn't it tap funds that otherwise might have been used for exploration and extraction?


I could just as easily point out a vote made by Senator Obama that greatly improved the lives of Illinois residents -- I just can't think of any.You shouldn't generalize from your own ignorance, but sad to say, that's a big part of your MO, and a big reason you regularly end up kicking your own ass in this forum.

[Winehole23]

I wasn't trying to turn this thread into one where I hash out all her policy stances and you, in turn, refute them.Tough luck. You claimed Palin has conservative ideas. So far, you can't back it up. Should you continue to refuse to, that pretty much speaks for itself.

[mogrovejo]

What are her good, conservative ideas?

Do you mean "good conservative ideas" like upping taxes on energy companies to boost the annual royalty check Alaskans receive from their state government?

Calling royalties "taxes" is either dishonest or ignorant (unless it's explicitly stated that they are severance taxes).

There is nothing un-conservative about what Palin did with the oil companies. In fact, quite the opposite.

[DarrinS]

Tough luck. You claimed Palin has conservative ideas. So far, you can't back it up. Should you continue to refuse to, that pretty much speaks for itself.


You're right. She's the most progressive candidate EVER! In fact, the Dems should be tripping over themselves trying to get her to switch sides.

Congratulations! You have won an argument I had no intention of having. Go celebrate with a nice chardonnay or a good cab.

:toast

[rjv]

now she reads the papers !

[Winehole23]

Calling royalties "taxes" is either dishonest or ignorant (unless it's explicitly stated that they are severance taxes). I don't see how wealth is any the less socialized whether you call it tax or royalty.


There is nothing un-conservative about what Palin did with the oil companies. In fact, quite the opposite.I'll bite. Care to flesh this out?

[Winehole23]

You have won an argument I had no intention of having. If you want to avoid arguments, you shouldn't make claims you can't back up.

[rjv]

.. we have not had a progressive president since LBJ. palin would be just another in the long line of neoliberals we have had since carter started this economic trend and reagan took off with it. obama belongs on that list and palin would fall right in line.

[mogrovejo]

The problem with factchecking The Audacity of Hope is that there are basically no facts to check. How can one fact-check meaningless platitudes and endless clichés? If ones want to stretch it, I suppose one could fact-check pretty much the underlying theme of the book - for example, the idea that (paraphrasing) "America is more weak and broken than at any time since WWII" or that "in recent years we lost the civility that have always reigned in DC".

But even considering this, I can easily point factual lies off the top of my head: his claim that the majority of national debt is a "direct" result of Bush tax cuts (I hope I don't need to explain why is this a lie) or his claim about the declining funding of the national health institutes during the Bush administration when it actually increased by absurd sums.

[Winehole23]

Maybe you can tell me what's so conservative about Sarah Palin, mogrovejo. I have a hard time seeing it.

[mogrovejo]

I don't see how wealth is any the less socialized whether you call it tax or royalty.

As I said, it was either dishonesty or ignorance. If you don't see it, it's ignorance. What's exactly the "wealth" being "socialized"?


I'll bite. Care to flesh this out?

This what?

[ElNono]

Let me get this right...

If Obama institutes a 'royalty' on all companies of a 5% of their income in order to finance universal healthcare, then conservatives would be OK with this?

Furthermore, it would be totally in-line with conservative ideals?

[Winehole23]

As I said, it was either dishonesty or ignorance. If you don't see it, it's ignorance. What's exactly the "wealth" being "socialized"?If the sovereign increases the royalty, the company must pay more. What it pays is money. How is that not wealth? Functionally, how is it any different from taxation?


This what?What is intrinsically conservative about giving money Alaska takes from oil companies directly to its residents?

[mogrovejo]

If the sovereign increases the royalty, the company must pay more. What it pays is money. How is that not wealth? Functionally, how is it any different from taxation?

I still don't understand what is the wealth being socialized - do you mean the oil? The profits from the oil exploration? And of course companies don't need to pay more.

A tax is the confiscation of the property of a particular industry, a royalty is a price for the use of an asset. This is extremely basic.


What is intrinsically conservative about giving money Alaska takes from oil companies directly to its residents?

Accordingly to the Constitution, the state of Alaska owns their sub-soil resources. To whom they should give the money that results from that? To you? To the oil companies?

[Winehole23]

A tax is the confiscation of the property of a particular industry, a royalty is a price for the use of an asset. This is extremely basic.The result is the same, but I see your point.

[Wild Cobra]

Why do people give this attention whore attention? Honestly, if the news and media would just ignore this bitch, she would go away.
Just proves she has a good future. Some people lover her, and the others love to hate her.

[spursncowboys]

Drill here, drill now.

Whether private companies ought to be allowed to exploit public nature preserves doesn't strike me as an intrinsically ideological dispute, though no doubt it became one.
Do you think that the saying is only applying to Alaska? The ideological dispute might have something to do with laws by liberals trying to increase the oil and gas prices to get people to use less.

[spursncowboys]

Maybe you can tell me what's so conservative about Sarah Palin, mogrovejo. I have a hard time seeing it.
Do you mean what has she done already, or what are her stated conservative principles? I think I can help but need to know what exactly you don't understand.

[mogrovejo]

The result is the same, but I see your point.

No, it's not the same. They constitute completely different incentives. Case in point is precisely Gov. Palin's decision when compared with the far-left, namely Obama, to implement windfall profits taxes on oil companies: the later is a great incentive to inefficiency and puts the subjects at a competitive disadvantage, the royalty takes effect after the break-even price and is an incentive for oil companies to produce more efficiently, maintain their areas (remember the Exxon spill?) and start exploring the leased lands that otherwise they'd ignore (as it actually happened).

[jack sommerset]

The anti-Palin columns of the last two days are like your guidebook to identifying the second-hander hacks that populate the opinion world.

[mogrovejo]

Using that particular photo in the cover and the entire article are a hatchet-job - those denying it are obviously allowing their political passions to prejudice their judgement.

Nothing to see here though: Newsweek is a quickly declining magazine, on the brink of disappearing, trying to sell itself to the niche of far-left radicals to survive (for the record, I believe they'll fail). I don't think anyone still sees Newsweek as an "impartial" news outlet.

[doobs]

I wish she would just go away. She brings out the worst in both her conservative supporters and her liberal critics.

[rjv]

Using that particular photo in the cover and the entire article are a hatchet-job - those denying it are obviously allowing their political passions to prejudice their judgement.

Nothing to see here though: Newsweek is a quickly declining magazine, on the brink of disappearing, trying to sell itself to the niche of far-left radicals to survive (for the record, I believe they'll fail). I don't think anyone still sees Newsweek as an "impartial" news outlet.

i didn't even know there were any impartial news outlets.

[ElNono]

i didn't even know there were any impartial news outlets.

LOL, you just stole my thought...

[baseline bum]

Using that particular photo in the cover and the entire article are a hatchet-job - those denying it are obviously allowing their political passions to prejudice their judgement.

Nothing to see here though: Newsweek is a quickly declining magazine, on the brink of disappearing, trying to sell itself to the niche of far-left radicals to survive (for the record, I believe they'll fail). I don't think anyone still sees Newsweek as an "impartial" news outlet.

Why is Palin supposed to be immune to harsh criticism? I don't get this from her followers at all. It's a lot like the god complex they built around Bush years ago when you weren't a real American if you knew Bush and Cheney were full of shit and said so.

[jack sommerset]

Why is Palin supposed to be immune to harsh criticism? I don't get this from her followers at all. It's a lot like the god complex they built around Bush years ago when you weren't a real American if you knew Bush and Cheney were full of shit and said so.

:sleep

[mogrovejo]

Why is Palin supposed to be immune to harsh criticism?

I have no idea. Why are you asking me that, if you don't mind my curiosity?

[baseline bum]

I have no idea. Why are you asking me that, if you don't mind my curiosity?

You're deriding Newsweek for writing a piece that's critical of her. What specifically makes it such an unfair hatchet job? The photo certainly doesn't. It's showing her as a sex symbol, which she clearly has made herself out to be by not only by posing for those photos but also doing things like winking into the camera in a flirty way during the VP debate. Should Newsweek be expected to completely ignore the elephant in the room? That no one would even know who she was if she looked and acted like Janet Reno?

[mogrovejo]

You're deriding Newsweek for writing a piece that's critical of her. What specifically makes it such an unfair hatchet job? The photo certainly doesn't. It's showing her as a sex symbol, which she clearly has made herself out to be by not only by posing for those photos but also doing things like winking into the camera in a flirty way during the VP debate. Should Newsweek be expected to completely ignore the elephant in the room? That no one would even know who she was if she looked and acted like Janet Reno?

I think you're confusing harsh criticism with unfair criticism.

Saying that the use of that photo makes sense is like saying that a political magazine making a profile of Obama and using the turban photo in the cover is okay.

The fact that she posed for those photos for a particular context doesn't mean we can't criticize Newsweek editorial choices. I have no idea what's so difficult to understand about this.

[baseline bum]

I think you're confusing harsh criticism with unfair criticism.

Saying that the use of that photo makes sense is like saying that a political magazine making a profile of Obama and using the turban photo in the cover is okay.

The fact that she posed for those photos for a particular context doesn't mean we can't criticize Newsweek editorial choices. I have no idea what's so difficult to understand about this.

I don't see how it's the same thing at all. Do you seriously believe Sarah Palin would be popular with anyone if she looked like Janet Reno and had no sex appeal to sell (which she obviously does)?

[mogrovejo]

I don't see how it's the same thing at all. Do you seriously believe Sarah Palin would be popular with anyone if she looked like Janet Reno and had no sex appeal to sell (which she obviously does)?

I have no idea. Would Obama be as popular if his name was Joe Smith and he was a white boy from Iowa?

[baseline bum]

I have no idea. Would Obama be as popular if his name was Joe Smith and he was a white boy from Iowa?

You have no idea? Seriously?

[mogrovejo]

You have no idea? Seriously?

Yes. Margaret Thatcher wasn't sexy. Angela Merkel isn't sexy. Golda Meir wasn't sexy. I think the idea that attractive women politicians are popular due to their looks highly dubious and sexist at its roots.

But let's assume she wouldn't. What would make the situation different? Or do you believe that Obama would have been as popular if, while having the same political ideas, he was a white Iowa state senator called Frank Smith?

[clambake]

yeah, those women winking in every camera would have been gross.

[baseline bum]

I can't take you seriously when you act like sex appeal isn't a huge part of her popularity, and should somehow be off limits and tiptoed around.

[clambake]

why would you want to take away the only reason bubba cares?

[Wild Cobra]

I don't see how it's the same thing at all. Do you seriously believe Sarah Palin would be popular with anyone if she looked like Janet Reno and had no sex appeal to sell (which she obviously does)?
Believe it or not, it's her message. Now her looks don't hurt any. We conservatives aren't as shallow as you liberals. Please stop applying your thought processes to us, and you might start to understand us.

[mogrovejo]

I can't take you seriously when you act like sex appeal isn't a huge part of her popularity, and should somehow be off limits and tiptoed around.

Are you trying to avoid answering my question? I already said you are free to assume that I think that sex appeal is a huge part of her popularity. I still don't see how that makes the situations different (and in any case the objective of the magazine was not to illustrate her sex-appeal but to cast doubts on her seriousness as a politician).

[coyotes_geek]

Believe it or not, it's her message. Now her looks don't hurt any. We conservatives aren't as shallow as you liberals. Please stop applying your thought processes to us, and you might start to understand us.

:lol

Please. If she weren't a milf she'd still be the same anonymous governor of alaska that she was 18 months ago.

[mogrovejo]

If Obama was white, would he be president?

If Baroness Thatcher was an attractive middle-aged woman, would she have won so many elections?

I wonder how can anyone have definitive statements about the importance of Palin's looks to her popularity. I think there are three equally reasonable hypothesis: they hurt her, they help her and they are irrelevant.

[boutons_deux]

I repeat, if pitbull bitch was a typical mid-40s fat or overweight American woman with a plain or worse face, she'd have no celebrity.

I wouldn't be surprised if, with her $Ms from her book, she got her nose de-manified and her jaw softened, maybe some breast reduction or implants.

[clambake]

they told her she'd be hot and a real shot in the arm for mccains campaign.

she tried to give them (in retrospect) what they wanted.

sure enough, cornbread bubba ate that shit up.

when the bottom fell out, she knew she'd have to go back in the dark of alaska.

she couldn't stand the thought. she had to find a way out.

so she quit, wrote a book, and is making money off that instead of lap dancing.

[jack sommerset]

She is somewhat, that is somewhat pretty so that is why she gets all the bad publicity. That is AWESOME!!!!!!!!