Wednesday, August 03, 2011

Reasons Sarah Palin Scares Me: Part 2-The Lies


Oh, the lies...

I could write a whole post on the lies. Hell, I could write a whole post about EACH lie. And, trust me that would keep me very busy for a long time.

Journalist Andrew Sullivan tried to keep up with all the lies she has told since she was picked as John McCain’s running mate. He ran a series on them called “The Odd Lies of Sarah Palin”. He had very clear ground rules for what would qualify as a lie: “Remember: we are not including contested stories that we cannot prove definitively one way or another or the usual spin that politicians use, or even hypocrisy or shading of facts. We are merely including things she has said or written that can be definitively proven as untrue, by incontestable evidence in the public record.” (From his blog, The Daily Dish) Here is a roundup he did on November 15, 2009. As of June 27, 2011, he is still counting. (Note: I tried to find a list of all of them together for weeks, but I have been unsuccessful.)

She is so notorious for her lies that noted writer and filmmaker Geoffrey Dunn wrote a book released this year called “The Lies of Sarah Palin: The Untold Story Behind Her Relentless Quest for Power”. Yes folks, she lies so much, it warranted a whole book written about them. A WHOLE BOOK!!!

There are days that I wonder if she is aware of the existence of the internet, YouTube, television, video tape, newsprint, the printing press. Does she not know that in this day and age, when you are in the public eye, you are being recorded for all time?

Tuesday, August 02, 2011

Reasons Sarah Palin Scares Me: Part 1-The Enemies List


I am very aware of the fact that in politics that you are going to make enemies. That is the nature of the game. Not everybody is going to agree with you, and trying to make everyone happy is an impossible task. A good politician will see that their job, their purpose is to do what is right by the constituents they serve, and not view it as a popularity contest. This is true whether it is a community association, town, county, state or the entire country.

But one cannot do it alone. One needs to have allies to aide them in their daunting task of governing. And let's face it, there will be people that agree with your point of view and will want to help you. There will also be others that may not like you and/or agree with your way of going about things, but will see what you are trying to accomplish and will at least respect you for it. A good politician also knows this.

Then there is Sarah Palin.

Publicly, she is in a feud with someone every time you turn around. It has been estimated that she has a public feud at a rate of 2 1/2 completely different people a month. And when I say completely different, I mean someone that she has, up to that point, not had a feud with previously and any point in time. She will feud with anybody. It doesn't matter if you are a blogger, entertainer, journalist, politician, kingmaker or leader of a country. Hell, the woman even feuds with her fans. If making enemies was her profession, she would be raking in some SERIOUS bucks.

And don’t think that there aren’t people keeping track of this. Tina Dupuy, of the Young Turks started a list on November 2010 of all the very public feuds she has had. It has been updated at least three times since she posted it.

And these are just the public feuds.

As I am sure we all know, one's behavior in public is quite different in public as it is in private. In public, you are more reserved as opposed to in private where ones attitude is more "let your hair down. In other words, you are more likely to let people know what you really think of them. You are more likely to let your true colors come out. For every feud you have in public, their are many more in private. So seeing the bridges she is burning for the whole world to see, the number she's burning behind the scenes must be astronomical.

Right now, this is not so much of a problem for her, since all she is right now is a celebrity. (Let's be honest, we let our celebrities get away with A LOT.) If she decides to run for public office again, this could be catastrophic, and not just for her We would during the primary season be witness to a political bloodbath the likes we have not witnessed before, and may never again. And no one can tell me that would be good for the state of politics in this country.