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Sarah Palin Tag

Please see Mandy for more coverage of the crisis here. As Brian and Neo have previously posted, during the 2012 campaign Mitt Romney was mocked by President Obama and his cheerleaders for highlighting the Russian threat to American interests. Romney wasn't the first Republican mocked for suggesting that Obama wasn't ready or willing to stand up to Russia's leader. In 2008, vice presidential candidate, Sarah Palin warned of Russian troops invading the Ukraine.
In October 2008, after Russia's invasion of neighboring Georgia emerged as a foreign policy flashpoint in the homestretch of a heated campaign, Palin told an audience in Nevada, "After the Russian army invaded the nation of Georgia, Senator Obama's reaction was one of indecision and moral equivalence, the kind of response that would only encourage Russia's Putin to invade Ukraine next." Her prediction was derided by Foreign Policy magazine  as "strange" and "extremely far-fetched," but Palin, frequent media antagonist that she is, couldn't resist crowing about how events have played out.
Twitchy, it seems, never forgets. (In this case aided by Jammie Wearing Fool.) Gov. Palin is enjoying the vindication on Facebook.
Yes, I could see this one from Alaska. I'm usually not one to Told-Ya-So, but I did, despite my accurate prediction being derided as “an extremely far-fetched scenario” by the “high-brow” Foreign Policy magazine.
Twitchy (again) notes that the editor in question is digging deeper.

Hounshell_Palin_2014-03-02_064752

Earning himself an appropriate rebuke.

We previously have written about the copyright and trademark lawsuit by North Jersey Media Group against Sarah Palin and SarahPAC over a single use by Palin in a 9/11 Facebook post of a photo of fireman raising the U.S. Flag at Ground Zero. We also previously noted that the claim in plaintiff's papers that Palin used the image for fundraising seemed to be a real stretch (at best). There was no evidence attached to the Complaint showing any specific fundraising. Plaintiff's claim appears to be that anything that takes place in Palin's name or at SarahPAC constitutes fundraising. Palin and SarahPAC moved to dismiss the case for faiture to state a legal claim, or alternatively, to transfer the case to Alaska since New York had no connection to the dispute. In an Order filed today, the Judge granted the motion to transfer, but to New Jersey where NJMG is headquartered. Given the transfer, the Judge deferred ruling on the merits of the motion to dismiss to whichever federal judge gets assigned in New Jersey. It will be interesting to see if NJMG continues to fight the lawsuit, which makes no sense given that the photo clearly was not used for fundraising and was taken down quickly. Indeed, as previously noted, there is an issue as to whether Palin and SarahPAC even received actual notice of the takedown demand prior to the filing of the lawsuit just two days after the Facebook post was made. Here is the substantive text of the Order (embedded below):

We previously have written about the copyright suit by North Jersey Media Group, Inc. (NJMG) against Sarah Palin and SarahPAC based on a Facebook note by Palin commemorating the attack on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001: The Facebook note used an iconic image of three firefighters raising the flag at Ground Zero. Sarah Palin Facebook Page Three Firefighters Image Although the Complaint and Amended Complaint alleged that the photo was used for fundraising, neither of those court filings demonstrated specific fundraising use. Instead, the claim appears to be that anything Palin did for SarahPAC implicitly was fundraising. I expected the case to settle, not because of any inside knowledge, but because the use was not for commercial advantage, and was taken down immediately. There was question as to whether Palin and SarahPAC even received actual notice of a take-down demand. Suit in federal Court was filed just two days after the Facebook entry. Apparently the suit has not settled, because Palin's attorneys filed a Motion to Dismiss in court yesterday. (Full motion and supporting Memorandum embedded at bottom of this post.) In the Motion to Dismiss, Palin and SarahPAC argue:

Martin Bashir infamously suggested that someone shit and piss in Sarah Palin's mouth because she used the (quite common) analogy of national debt to slavery. Bashir made his suggestion by way of analogy to a slave torture, stating that Palin would be a good candidate for it. Bashir apologized, then was put on vacation, and today resigned. Tommy Christopher at Mediaite has the news:
Just over two weeks ago, MSNBC host Martin Bashir delivered a harsh piece of commentary that culminated in the suggestion that someone should “s-h-i-t” in former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin‘s (R-AK) mouth. Bashir offered an abject apology on his next broadcast, but a chorus of critics continued to demand action against the host. After a reported “vacation” for the host earlier this week, Bashir announced, Wednesday afternoon, that MSNBC and Martin Bashir are parting ways. Here’s the statement from Martin Bashir, via email:

Martin Bashir said he hoped someone would shit and piss in Sarah Palin's mouth. Seriously. The absurd logic was that because Palin compared the national debt to slavery, she deserved to be given a horrific slave torture. Many people, including the folks at Twitchy, debunked the notion that comparing indebtedness to slavery was unusual. Slave references, much like the overused Nazi comparisons, are all too common, including by Bashir. Should we wish that everyone who uses a strained Nazi analogy should have their skin peeled off them and turned into lamp shades? Even in the low world of MSNBC, this was low. MSNBC didn't seem to mind much, though. What a cesspool MSNBC has become. Really MSNBC executives, what is wrong with you? Have you lost your minds? Are you so corrupted by your ideology? Lean forward? How about rehab for your business strategy instead. But the firestorm of controversy has forced Bashir into an apology.

Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, brother of Rahm Emanuel, was on Kelly File last night. (Video embed at bottom of post.) You may not remember Ezekiel. He was the Dr. Death Panel referred to by Sarah Palin in early August 2009 (emphasis added):
The Democrats promise that a government health care system will reduce the cost of health care, but as the economist Thomas Sowell has pointed out, government health care will not reduce the cost; it will simply refuse to pay the cost. And who will suffer the most when they ration care? The sick, the elderly, and the disabled, of course. The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama’s “death panel” so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their “level of productivity in society,” whether they are worthy of health care. Such a system is downright evil. Health care by definition involves life and death decisions. Human rights and human dignity must be at the center of any health care discussion. Rep. Michele Bachmann highlighted the Orwellian thinking of the president’s health care advisor, Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, the brother of the White House chief of staff, in a floor speech to the House of Representatives. I commend her for being a voice for the most precious members of our society, our children and our seniors.
In response to Palin's us of the term "death panel," we explored Ezekiel's writing to which Palin was referring, Principles for Allocation of Scarce Medical Interventions (full embed at bottom of post). On August 8, 2009, we wrote An Inconvenient Truth About The “Death Panel”:

Among the nicest things the Democratic smear machine called Sarah Palin was "Caribou Barbie." Just about everything else they called her was much worse. The term "Caribou Barbie" started within days of Palin's nomination for Veep in August 2008.  By September 2, 2008, the term was spreading throughout the left-blogosphere, as Michelle Malkin noted at the time. The term so took hold that it even was the subject of an SNL skit in October 2008, with Palin delivering the punch line in an attempt to make light of the term. It later was used by NY Times columnist Maureen Dowd:
"Caribou Barbie is one nutty puppy."
The treatment of Palin was sexist -- including liberal women who mocked Trig Palin and thought it the worst thing in the world that Palin had the audacity to bring him on stage with her -- but not just because of the term "Caribou Barbie."  That term was the least of it. The "Caribou Barbie" name was part of the myriad of accompanying photoshops and sexualizations of her, using any excuse to make sex jokes.  Palin wasn't just turned into any Barbie, but a sexy librarian and bikini model not just in the blogosphere, but from stars such as Stephen Colbert. With Palin it wasn't just the use of the term "Barbie," it was the full package of sexualized attacks, including from mainstream publications. [caption id="attachment_66047" align="alignnone" width="400"](Newsweek magazine, feature article, November 23, 2009) (Newsweek magazine, feature article, November 23, 2009)[/caption]

Sarah Palin once again proved that her political instincts far surpassed those of the Republican political establishment, which long has accepted Don Young, Alaska's lone Congressman. Elected in 1973, Young has come to epitomize what is wrong with Washington, with questionable use of campaign funds and...

Not long ago Politico's Maggie Haberman ran an anti-Palin opinion piece masquerading as news analysis, Sarah Palin’s next act: Candidate or ‘Kardashian’? I addressed that false choice in my post, Politico’s next act: Real News Organization or Gawker (no offense to Gawker), noting that Palin had backed numerous successful Republican...

Just yesterday the dimwits at Politico were writing her off in their usual demeaning terms. I don't expect she'll be a candidate again, but today she took CPAC by storm, playing an important role outside the Republican Party structure in saying what needs to be said...

Sarah Palin has taken to twitter to further confuse and confound what she has termed the "idiot media," no doubt including Washington Post journalist Suzi Parker who erroneously reported that the former Governor would be joining Al Jazeera. The Washington Post's Suzi Parker had failed to...

Dated January 11, 2013 (h/t gs in the Tip Line): Dear SarahPAC Supporter, Together, we made history this November! Our victory in the U.S. Senate race in Texas was a remarkable testament to the conservative grassroots. We started out as underdogs in a long, competitive primary. But despite the...

There seems to be an unusual lack of clarity here, as Ed Morrissey notes in a post earlier this afternoon. Various news reports indicate Palin will not be giving a speech, but it's unclear if she was not invited to speak, given such a poor time...

My post earlier today, Sarah Palin visits Chick-fil-A, civility and new tone ensue on Twitter, has generated a fair bit of attention. The tweets highlighted in the post were not even the worst of them. As has become typical when Palin is attacked from the left, the attacks quickly become mysogynistic, sexualized, and sexist, with the "C" word liberally thrown in by women as well as men. Here are some more samples of the sea of profanity and vitriol, so you realize (which you already do, I know), we are dealing with: