![]() FREE LUNCH, NO STANDARDS! Sarah Palin has a problema problem the press will avoid: // link // print // previous // next //
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2008 FREE LUNCH, NO STANDARDS: On last nights Hardball, the Washington Posts James Grimaldi clarified his bungled work about Sarah Palins per diem diet; the governor has been taking approximately $60 a night from the state of Alaska for every night she sleeps at home, the tough-talking scribe told Chris Matthews. (As we noted yesterday, Grimaldis front-page Post report omitted this elementary fact.) For the record: Since Matthews was hostingand he never knows anythingGrimaldi wasnt asked to explain his reports plain contradiction about that sixty bucks. In his opening paragraph, hed seemed to say that the swag was for meals, later, he seemed to say that it wasnt. But this is the way the Washington Post handles its major, front-page reporting. You live at a time when your biggest, most important political newspaper cant even get the basic facts right in its key, front-page reports. In this mornings New York Times, Michael Luo provides blessed clarity. The $60-a-day allowance is available for state employees when traveling on official state business to cover meals and other sundry expenses, he writes, remembering to include the basic facts and failing to self-contradict. Bottom line: In her first seventeen months in office, Palin banked $17,059 in such swag, sixty dollars at a time. (She took the per diem for over 300 nights.) The hockey mom took this swag from the statefor her meals, while living at home. Theres no free lunch, many wags have said. If we may borrow from President Kennedy: Let them come to Wasilla! At any rate, Luo seems to establish the basic facts. But we were struck by this account of Democratic reaction:
According to Luo, Democrats thought the free lunch money contradicted Palins image of fiscal discipline. Its a sign of the times that Luo doesnt say this: Democrats said the revelations display Palins problem with the truth. Yes, Palins free lunch plan has cost Alaskas tax-payers some dough. But news of her lunch plan struck us differently; it heightened our interest in the tortured character tales she has continued to spout. Has any pol ever arrived on the scene pimping such a trio of groaners? In the last twelve days, Palin has defined her outstanding character with three pleasing tales:
These pleasing stories have been used to define Palins wonderful character. But the bridge to nowhere tale is laughably bogus, essentially a lieand the jet plane tale is so slickly misleading that she even fooled Saint John McCain into saying the plan was sold on eBay, at a profit! And she didnt exactly fire the chefalthough the actual facts of the matter still seem to be unknown. This much is clear: Palin reassigned the chef in late June 2007, when the legislative session was over and Palins family was leaving Juneau for the summer. Did the chef return to the governors mansion to cook for Palins kids that fall? As of last Sunday, even the Anchorage Daily News didnt know the answer to that. This item appeared in Sheila Toomeys Alaska Ear column:
Note: Even Toomey misstates the facts a tad. Palin didnt can the chef after becoming governor; she canned the chef in late June 2007, after the chef had cooked for her kids for her first seven months in office. She canned the chef when her kids were leaving the mansion for the summer. Even Toomey doesnt know if the chef returned in the fall. At any rate, Palins self-glorying character tales have been extremely shaky. Now we learn that, for all her bluster, she was taking free lunch money in the summer of 2007 after heroically dumping (reassigning) that chef. Frankly, Palins stories get more and more phony the more we learn the facts which surround them. More and more, they resemble the kinds of tales which have gotten certain other pols massacred in the recent past. So how about it? Does Palin have a problem with the truth? According to Luo, even Dems didnt ask that question in the wake of this latest revelation. This brings us around to the point dday made in a post at Digbys shack, a post we strongly recommend:
In our view, dday slightly misstates the problem. We strongly recommend this postwith one key emendation: No standard was applied to Gore in 1999 and 2000. (Why do we liberals instinctively start by cutting the length of the offense in half? It seems to be hard-wired in us.) No standard was applied to Gore; instead, a narrative was applied, in which Gorelike Clinton and Clintons vile wifewas said to have a deeply troubling problem with the truth. Starting in March 1999, the press corps started inventing examples of this deeply troubling problem. By the middle of March 1999 (not in 2000!), they had assembled their three basic building-blocks:
Except Gore didnt say he invented the Internetand the other two examples were even more bogus. The farm chores complaint was such a hoax that the press corps eventually dropped it, something these life-forms never do (after savaging Gore with it for months, of course). They replaced it with another bogus claim: Al Gore said he discovered Love Canal! That claim was so bogus that it took a misquotation, by the Post and the Times, to get the story started. The misquotation was corrected on the very first day. Journalists kept repeating it, for months. Lets be clear. No standard was being applied in these matters; instead, the press was applying a narrative. And yes, they were willing to lie to impose their narrativeand the E. J. Dionnes and the Josh Marshalls were willing to stare into space while this happened. (Along with the Michael Kinsleys and the Joe Kleins, and so many others. The Lawrence ODonnells played a shockingly active role in the lying.) They lied about this for two solid years, thus putting George Bush where he is. Today, Sarah Palin parades about, repeating three shaky heroine tales. The bridge to nowhere claim is pure nonsense; its as close as major pols ever come to a flat-out lie. But her other tales arent much better. How comical does her heroine tale about the chef seem, when we learn the background info: When we learn Palin was pocketing lunch money in Wasilla as the chef was on leave down in Juneau? This is clownish, comical stuff. If Gore had ever told stories like these, he would have been hung from the nearest tree. Because he didnt tell such tales, the press corps made tales up. Does Palin have a problem with the truth? We cant think of any pol who ever arrived on the national scene with three stories quite this bogus. But try to grasp the irrationality which now shapes your public discourse: In the world of the modern press, only Dems have a problem with the truth! The press will invent the lies Dems tell. With Republicans, theyll sidestep the problem. Key point: No Democrat could ever tell three stories as bogus as Palins. The RNC would keen and wail, refusing to let such nonsense stand. The press corps would swing into action, applying a much-cherished narrative. But Howard Dean heads the DNCand he doesnt watch that much cable. And under the narratives ruling your press, this problem with the truth cannot stand. Others seem to have the same problem: Others seem to have problems with the truth too. On MSNBC, Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow keep making claims about that state chefand failing to back their assertions. Examples:
These dramatic, pleasing claims occurred at the top of these programs, with little subsequent attempt to explain or support them. This is the best attempt we can find, from KeithO, on Monday night:
Assuming all that is true, how does that mean that Marnon kept cooking for her? How does it mean that Marnon continued to cook for the governors kids? While were at it, a note to our latest brilliant Rhodes Scholar: If the chef gets reassigned (to the legislative lounge, for example), then duh! That would mean that she was no longer the governors personal chef. Weve seen a lot of lying in the past ten years; weve seen a lot of grimy people who get a kick out of running us rubes. Weve really come to dislike such people. We hate this stuff most when it comes from creeps on the pseudo-progressive side. By the way, Lawrence ODonnell guested with Maddow last night. ODonnell kept mistakenly trashing Candidate Gore, right through October 2000. See THE DAILY HOWLER, 6/3/05. The truth hurts: Creepy crawlers like ODonnell put George Bush where he is. DIDNT ASK, DIDNT GET TOLD: Do you want to understand how incompetent your mainstream journalists are? Just consider the Wall Street Journals news report on Sarah Palin and the Bridge to Nowhere. Its a jumbled, confusing reportbut its being praised all over the web. This bungled work now stands as the report of record concerning this major topic. How hapless are high-level mainstream journalists? In her report, Elizabeth Holmes quickly offers a basic chronology:
From that highlighted chronology, a reader would surely think the bridge became a national scandal at some point after Palins gubernatorial race. In fact, the bridge became a national scandal in the fall of 2005, the year before Palins campaign. Congress rescinded its earmark at that time, letting Alaska keep the federal money that had been designated for bridge construction. By the way: It was at that time, before Palin became governor, that the federal money began being allocated elsewhere. A bit later, Holmes creates more confusion:
In that passage, Holmes suddenly refers to Congress stopp[ing] the earmark, an action that is never referred to (or explained) anywhere else in her piece. She seems to suggest that Congress killed the project when it stopped the earmark, but the earmark and the project itself were two separate critters. (As noted, Congress dropped the earmark in November 2005; as governor, Palin was still contemplating the project two years later, in the fall of 2007.) Simply put, Holmes piece is a jumbled mess; a reader who is unclear on the facts will be unclear after reading this piece. Holmes exposition is quite ineptlike almost all the exposition that has been done on this topic. What is wrong with Palins claims? She claims she said thanks but no thanks to the Congressbut its hard to see when she did that. A McCain ad claims that shes a maverick because she stopped the bridge to nowherebut the project was a minor state matter by the time this minor event occurred. When did Palin say thanks but no thanks? When did she stand up to the Congress? Wouldnt you know it? Holmes interviewed Salter, McCains top guybut theres no sign that she ever asked. Tomorrow: Salter explains to the Post. The wages of snark: We liberals are extremely good at accepting half loaves in these matters. And thats what were doing when we parade about, offering this snarky formulation: Sarah Palin was for the bridge before she was against it. For us, the snark feels very goodbut many voters wont get the reference. Beyond that, theres an obvious problem with this formulation, one we explained last week. And sure enough! Last Friday morning, the Morning Joe gang went right where we had prophesied. Bill Adair was on the show with his famous truth-o-meter. He said that Palin deserves a half truth for her claim that she told Congress thanks but no thanks on the bridge. As he tried to explain, Adair, was soon reciting that snark. But uh-oh! It was just as wed warned! Look where Scarborough took it:
Do you see the problem with the snarky formulation, She was for it before she was against it? That construction allows many voters to say: Well, if she got it right in the end, what are we really complaining about? To our ear, Scarborough seemed to be saying this: Palin may have campaigned for the bridge, but she did the right thing once she got into office. To many voters, that will sound like a pretty good deal. The wages of snark can be quite bad in this case. Theres no substitution for clarity. What does clarity look like here? In our view, it looks like this:
No, Palin didnt tell the Congress to take their bridge and shove it. Indeed, when she killed it, she specifically said she was doing so because Congress wouldnt give the state more money for the project. And though she did put the project out of its misery, it was a minor state matter by that point; her decision hardly made her a maverick, as McCain is foolishly claiming. Palins initial claim was laughably bogusessentially a lie. McCains claim is a laughable stretch.
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