Sarah Palin Says She Will Not Run for President

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin told radio host Mark Levin earlier on Wednesday, Oct. 5, that she will not run for president.

"I have decided that I will not be seeking the 2012 GOP nomination for President of the United States," said the former vice presidential nominee. "As always, my family comes first and obviously Todd and I put great consideration into family life before making this decision. When we serve, we devote ourselves to God, family and country. My decision maintains this order."

Palin's announcement comes a day after New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said he will not enter the race. A CBS News poll that was released earlier this week found that only 23 percent of Republican primary voters would have welcomed a Palin presidential campaign.

Those Gotcha Questions

It was apparently a night for gotcha questions!

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich certainly let his displeasure with his former Fox News colleagues known during last night’s Republican presidential debate in Ames, Iowa. The thrice-married social conservative’s scorn aside, the spectacle that took place at Iowa State University proved somewhat interesting and even entertaining for this native Granite Stater who watched it unfold from his parents’ home in Manchester, New Hampshire.

Congresswoman Michele Bachmann arguably proved she does have a titanium spine as she deflected pointed questions about her personal life and defended her record against former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney appeared rather presidential as he tried to rise above the intra-GOP fray that unfolded on the Ames stage, although his assertion at the Iowa State Fair earlier in the day that “corporations are people” and his support for a Constitutional amendment that would define marriage as between a man and a woman confirm questions about his convictions. Former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum should have looked in the mirror before he criticized the Iranian government for trampling the rights of gays and women.

The debate was equally as newsworthy for those who did not participate—most notably former Texas Gov. Rick Perry and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. Perry will make his presidential aspirations official in a speech he is scheduled to deliver in South Carolina on Saturday, Aug. 13. Palin’s national bus tour will roll into the Hawkeye State just in time for the Iowa Straw Poll.

Should we anticipate even more gotcha questions from those annoying journalists in the coming days and weeks?

You betcha!

Two idiots grab a slice

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and former possible 2012 presidential candidate Donald Trump grabbed a slice at Famous Famiglia on West 50th Street and Broadway on Tuesday, May 31.

Did the "New York pizza summit" accomplish anything more than snarl rush hour traffic and give the former vice presidential nominee and the Donald even more column inches? Arguably not; but the days when Trump's presidential delusions actually trumped Palin, and her tweets, out of the headlines seem a mere memory.

Has the Donald Trumped Palin?

Whatever happened to Sarah Palin?

Levi Johnson’s new memoir will certainly ensure the former Alaska governor and her family—think Willow and the homophobic-laden messages she posted to her Facebook page last fall—will garner even more headlines. Will anyone actually notice? And more importantly, will anyone even care?

Palin’s assertion she was the victim of “blood libel” following the Tucson massacre certainly didn’t help her possible 2012 presidential campaign. The hype surrounding Donald Trump’s potential White House bid, however, has accomplished what Palin’s critics could not—her spits and spats and tweets and Facebook posts no longer dominate the hyper-saturated news cycle.

A Trump spokesperson said earlier this month that the Donald plans to announce whether he will run for president during the season finale of “Celebrity Apprentice” on May 22. Anyone who suggests that Trump is a serious presidential candidate is at least somewhat naïve—he has a reality show to promote after all! This ego-fueled side show, however, ensures that a former Alaska governor with a knack for social media is no longer the only media-savvy kid on the block vying for attention.

Stay tuned…

Another day, another headline for Sarah Palin, Inc.

My “does not care one iota about anything related to ‘Dancing with the Stars’” Facebook proclamation sparked four comments and nine likes, but what is this expression of e-love's broader takeaway?

As last week’s post on Willow Palin’s homophobic rant on Facebook categorically proved, anything remotely related to the former Alaska governor and her family sparks immediate reaction—and a lot of blog traffic. The buzz around whether Tea Party supporters have rigged “Dancing with the Stars” to make sure Bristol Palin wins continues, but mama grizzly herself made headlines yesterday when she told Sean Hannity she would not sit down for another interview with Katie Couric.

"I want to help clean up the state that is so sorry today of journalism," said Sarah Palin, as reported by the Washington Post’s Rachel Weiner. "And I have a communications degree. I studied journalism -- who, what, where, when, and why of reporting. I will speak to reporters who still understand that cornerstone of our democracy, that expectation that the public has for truth to be reported. And then we get to decide our own opinion based on the facts reported to us. So a journalist, a reporter who is so biased and will, no doubt, spin and gin up whatever it is that I have to say to create controversy, I swear to you, I will not my waste my time with her. Or him."

Just another day—with an all too predictable headline and blog post—courtesy of the well-greased machine Sarah Palin, Inc., has become. Journalists, bloggers and anyone else who cares should obviously take note!

Homophobic Palin family values

Willow Palin apparently has a homophobia problem of her own.

The teenager called a critic of her mother’s new reality show a “faggot” in a Facebook exchange TMZ posted late on Tuesday, Nov. 16. Bristol Palin, who is a finalist on “Dancing with the Stars,” also chimed in.

“No you just run your mouth just so you’ll get a reaction,” wrote the teen activist. “You’re a typical shit talker. Talking shit cause you have nothing else going for you. Just like you pretended you didn’t know what Dancing with the Stars was.”

What does Mama Grizzly Palin herself have to say about her two cubs' antics? Perhaps the world will find out once she has finished promoting her new reality show, declared herself a presidential candidate, left Christine O'Donnell's coven and even proclaimed she can see Mars from the Eastern Aleutians. Just a thought...

Monday morning wrap-up: Saints, Palin and Paterson

A broken pipe in the basement caused quite the scene here in Bushwick over the weekend, but a steady stream of news kept this news junkie entertained as he eagerly awaited the return of running (hot) water.

Voulez vous le bon temps rouler! I certainly did not follow each play in the Super Bowl, but the New Orleans Saints' come-from-behind victory against the Indianapolis Colts remains nothing short of breathtaking. This win is surely a shot in the arm for the Crescent City as it continues to regain its footing after Hurricane Katrina. And Americans will undoubtedly continue to rejoice with Who Dat nation in the coming days and weeks.

On a decidedly less festive note, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin gave a rousing speech to Tea Partiers in Nashville over the weekend. I am certainly not a Palin fan; nor have I ever described her in favorable terms outside of the fact she looks great for a mother of five and for her appearance on Saturday Night Live alongside Tina Fey. And the steady stream of sound bites of Palin's speech that the Sunday morning talk shows played sparked the predictable tweets.

"With all due respect to Sarah Palin, what the hell does she know about foreign policy?," one read in response to the former Alaska governor's assertion the White House should declare war against Iran. "You can't see Iran from Alaska after all..."

I guess crib notes qualify her to run for president in 2012. Perhaps New York Gov. David Paterson may have some new found time on his hands, however, if rumors of his possible resignation pan out.

Stay tuned...

Palin resigns

This is arguably old news after the long holiday weekend, but Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin announced last Friday she plans to resign by the end of the month.

She made the surprise announcement at her home in Wasilla. Her husband Todd and members of her cabinet joined her, but the press conference, which came at a time many Americans were celebrating Independence Day away from their televisions and computers, sparked immediate interest as to whether she will seek higher office or whether she had an undisclosed skeleton in her closet.

The governor's apparent lack of experience and finesse during interviews after U.S. Sen. John McCain unexpectedly chose her as his vice presidential running mate made her an all too convenient punch line for the media and late night talk show hosts. Her family's plethora of less than flattering headlines in recent months, including her daughter Bristol promoting abstinence before marriage after she gave birth to her son Tripp last December, has not helped to heel this image.

Alaska Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell has repeatedly indicated Palin resigned, in part, because of the millions of dollars the state and her own family have spent to fight more than a dozen ethics complaints. Only two of these complaints have not been dismissed, but as one high ranking Democratic operative told me on Fire Island on Saturday, the "comic strip" that is Sarah Palin will almost certainly continue long after she leaves office in Juneau.

Palin exceeds debate expectations

In what was arguably one of the most anticipated vice presidential debates in history, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin exceeded admittedly very low expectations in her showdown against Senator Joseph Biden last night at Washington University in St. Louis.

Palin clearly came out swinging. She clearly had a lot to prove after a less than flattering series of interviews with Katie Couric and Charles Gibson caused many observers and even some prominent socially conservative commentators to question her qualifications. Palin's broad GOP talking points, strategic sound bites and folksy presentation were clearly designed to resonate with Joe Six Pack and hockey and soccer moms across the country who admittedly fail to understand the day-to-day wheeling and dealings inside the Beltway. And her direct challenge to the way she feels the mainstream media has prevented her from speaking to the American people was a page directly from the Republican playbook.

The question remains, however, whether Palin actually provided any specifics. She did come out against marriage for same-sex couples. Palin also appeared to implicitly support a more powerful role for the vice president in response to what her role would be if voters elected the GOP ticket this November. Biden rather correctly implicated Dick Cheney in his response.

"[He] has been the most dangerous vice president we've had in American history," he said.

All in all, Palin easily exceeded the excessively low bar set for her. It remains to be seen, however, whether voters will respond to her performance. But to quote my mother in New Hampshire, Palin did not say much of anything.

Palin censors press

The news of the ongoing economic crisis, the return of Hurricane Ike evacuees to Galveston and even Clay Aiken's decision to come out of the closet continue to garner today's headlines, but Sarah Palin's decision to severely curtail media access to her meetings at the United Nations in New York yesterday certainly garnered this writer's attention.

The Associated Press and CNN were among the outlets that strongly objected to the campaign's decision to prohibit reporters from observing meetings between the Alaska governor and Afghan President Harmad Karzai and Colombian President Alvaro Uribe. Campaign officials reportedly told the news organizations their exclusion was "not subject to discussion." They finally relented after CNN pulled its crew from Palin's first meeting.

Politicians routinely seek strategic photo opportunities to shore up their credentials on a particular issue and to frankly score some PR points with a strategically identified constituency. The campaign's actions, which arguably amount to censorship, only fuel questions about Palin's qualifications as vice president. They only provide journalists, pundits and political observers with even more questions about this Republican wunderkind du jour to her arguable detriment.

Palin blasts media during RNC speech

With the seemingly endless scrutiny placed on her family and her own record in Alaska, it should come as no surprise Gov. Sarah Palin came out swinging against the media and other detractors during her prime-time speech at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul last night. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, all former running mates against nominee John McCain, echoed Palin's sentiments before she ascended to the stage. The self-described hockey mom followed suit in a performance that arguably came straight from the Republican playbook.

"I've learned quickly, these past few days, that if you're not a member in good standing of the Washington elite, then some in the media consider a candidate unqualified for that reason alone," Palin said. "But here's a little flash for all those reporters and commentators: I'm not going to Washington to seek their good opinion--I'm going to Washington to serve the people this country."

Any mother would understandably cringe and even bristle at the coverage of their 17-year-old daughter's pregnancy, but this defiant proclamation that mocked the media
arguably came across as incredibly naive. It could also reinforce the argument she does not have the experience necessary for the position for which McCain has tapped. Journalists have a job to do and, for better or for worse, that includes finding out information about a particular candidate--or in this case a vice presidential nominee--and the process through which she was chosen. Palin's record in Alaska is among the many unanswered questions that remain fair game. Let's hope journalists continue to do their jobs and uphold the commitment they have to their readers and the public who want to know who Palin really is.

John McCain taps Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as VP

Less than 24 hours after Barack Obama became the first black person to accept a leading party's presidential nomination, Republican rival John McCain stunned observers--and arguably political insiders--by tapping Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate.

McCain made the announcement in Dayton, Ohio, moments ago, and Palin introduced herself and her family to those inside the auditorium and the country. The McCain clearly wanted to tap into the potentially lucrative women's vote this November--and perhaps wanted to court Hillary Clinton supporters who may remain disenchanted with Obama's nomination. The question remains, however, who is Palin and what is in her closet. She has denied any wrongdoing, but state lawmakers launched an investigation into the matter.

Palin's conservative credentials have also come under close scrutiny. Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese was quick to criticize her support of a state constitutional amendment to ban marriage for same-sex couples that passed in 1998 and her opposition to an Alaska Supreme Court decision that mandated the state to extend benefits to the partners of its gay and lesbian employees--even though her veto essentially provided these benefits.

"America may not know much about Sarah Palin, but based on what our community has seen of her, we know enough," Solmonese said.

NARAL Pro-Choice America President Nancy Keenan further criticized Palin for her stance against abortion.

"John McCain's choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate proves just how rigid and extreme his administration would be when it comes to a woman's right to choose," she said.

McCain's decision to choose Palin is certainly historic, but a number of serious questions, including whether she has enough experience for the job, remain. She has a lot to prove in the next two months.