Dana Milbanks Apparently Soils Himself (Shoots at a Mama Grizzly and Misses)

It was, rather, "about highlighting the great things about America." [REDACTED]

Actually, there is a tour under way that highlights the great things about America, [REDACTED] Palin's.[REDACTED]

It says something about [REDACTED] Palin [REDACTED] as a prospective presidential candidate.

The past week's bus tour continued [REDACTED] with Trump [REDACTED] in Times Square. As usual, Palin's sincerity was [REDACTED] total [REDACTED].

Contrast that with Gates, who [REDACTED] brought new [REDACTED] flag-draped caskets [REDACTED].

[REDACTED] he affirmed [REDACTED] defense spending cuts, spoke in detail about Chinese "capabilities that are of concern to us," discussed shortcomings in Afghanistan and acknowledged his disagreement with Obama [REDACTED]

To succeed as [REDACTED] Republican [REDACTED] is a rare triumph. [REDACTED] When you shoot at a Mother Grizzly, Dana, you'd better have enough high-caliber ammunition AND good aim.

"It's not about me," Sarah Palin said as she rode a bus emblazoned with her name in three-foot letters. "It's not a publicity-seeking tour," she told her Fox News interviewer as the cameras rolled.

And you know, she's telling the truth. It was the *press* complaining that she was refusing to give them her itinerary in advance; it was the press complaining that she snuck out side entrances and out the back to avoid being mobbed by reporters. It was the press who complained that the great number of journalists following her meant that her family vacation was a traffic hazard.

If she really is as unpopular as they claim, why don't they just ignore her? I don't see hordes of reporters following around Geraldine Ferraro (another former female VP candidate) or Dan Quayle (another Republican VP whose intelligence was widely mocked among the Georgetown cocktail party set).

It was, rather, "about highlighting the great things about America." Such as: Donald Trump's digs at Trump Tower and the Fox News headquarters in New York - stops on her "One Nation" bus tour.

Oh, that's right. She's insignificant, and anyone with any money or power simply shuns her. Do you think she might have been talking about a third party, or asking Trump for names from his Rolodex concerning funding for a possible Presidential run, since the beltway crowd has already re-annointed Mitt Romney (it being, in the DC parlance, "his turn" to run -- and lose to Obama)?

Actually, there is a tour under way that highlights the great things about America, but it isn't Palin's. It's the farewell tour of Robert Gates, defense secretary to Presidents Bush and Obama, whose work over the last four-and-a-half years has dramatically improved the state of the U.S. military. While Palin played cat-and-mouse with the press corps on Interstate 95, Gates set off on a tour of Asia and Europe where he is receiving the gratitude of soldiers and the acclaim of allies.

That's really, really good of you to consider the military as one of the "good things about the United States" Dana.

Especially as you wrote earlier this month about Afghanistan that "A decade after Bush spoke of 'moral victory' in Afghanistan, even “good-enough” sounds a bit too hopeful. "

Gates, who remained on the job at Obama's request, took on sacred weapons programs at the Pentagon, fired ineffective generals, won the surge in Iraq, revived a crumbling war effort in Afghanistan, and got Osama bin Laden.

Yes, that's supposed to be his job. Too bad he's not addressing other issues, like the fact that our F22 fleet has been grounded due to problems with the oxygen system, an entire class of littoral ships is coming under scrutiny due to problems with hull corrosion, and according to the GOA, 40% of the military supply chain is damaged by Chinese parts.

During that same time, Palin quit as Alaska governor, then went on to a life of $100,000 speaking fees, reality TV shows and incendiary political speech.

Yes, just when you though you had her safely buried in knowingly frivolous lawsuits (including a gem that her legal defense fund, required since Alaska law required her to defend herself out of her own pocket, was itself "illegal". She then left, wrote a New York Times bestseller, and managed to rehabilitate her image among likely blue-collar voters, whom you thought you had snowed with Katie Couric and Charles Gibson's ambushes, by arranging for a Cable TV show, Sarah Palin's Alaska. This show not only gave Palin favorable publicity, but did so while putting money into her pocket. Not bad for a brainless Caribou Barbie, as you like to portray her.

The dueling tours of Gates and Palin show the best and worst in American public life. Both call themselves Republicans, but he comes from the best tradition of service while she is a study in selfishness. He's self-effacing; she's self-aggrandizing. He harmonized American foreign policy; she put bull's-eyes on Democratic congressional districts and then howled about "blood libel."

If she's so self-aggrandizing, why did she shun the press? And if you want to talk about the Giffords shooting, why don't you point out that Sheriff Dupnick blamed Palin--very publicly, which is odd for an ongoing investigation--while admitting in the same interview that he had absolutely ZERO evidence linking her to the shooter? Why didn't you write in your article how Palin's cell phone started ringing within a couple of hours of the shooting, with reporters HOUNDING her for a statement and then bitterly complaining that she "made herself the story" once she defended herself? Oh, and finally, why didn't you comment on the utter tastelessness of Obama showing up at a memorial service where a Tucson union passed out T-shirts which read, "Together we Thrive" ? Who else has ever passed out political T-shirts at a funeral? (Although I'm sure you wish the Democrats had thought of that in time for the memorial service for the late Senator Wellstone.)

It says something about the infirmity of our politics that Gates can't wait to go home while Palin is again being taken seriously as a prospective presidential candidate.

It says a lot more that after Palin lost the Vice Presidency, she was deliberately subjected to a barrage of nuisance lawsuits from Democrat shills, hacks, and whores; that the august and objective Mainstream Press^TM (that would include you, Dana) did not see fit to call out the Democrats on the politics of personal destruction, which Bill Clinton had assured us was over; and that after this, men and women of good will all over the country began to look on Sarah Palin as a standard bearer for patriotism, self-sacrifice, and love of country.

Because, you know, none of you members of the Eastern establishment press have ever had national late-night talk show hosts joke about your daughters becoming pregnant as a result of statutory rape by a professional athlete.

Palin's antics since she quit as governor in 2009 are legion: Hunting caribou on her TLC show, cheering for her daughter on "Dancing With the Stars," stoking the "birther" conspiracy, and earning millions while specifying "Lear 60 or larger" private jets for her transportation needs.

Is there something wrong with hunting for meat, Dana? It's organically grown, free range, and growth-hormone free. Or do you think people should pick up tofu off the shelf at Whole Foods, the way Gaia intended? And I applaud her daughter for making use of her celebrity: it's sure better than becoming a ward of the state. And the "birther" conspiracy, as you call it, was not trumpeted by Sarah; all she did is point out that Obama had the power to quell suspicions simply by producing the documentation instead of hiding it. And she was right, as usual. And the earning "millions of dollars" while specifying "Lear 60 or larger"? Tell me again where you've called out Nancy Pelosi for running up a $100,000 tab or food and drinks on her junkets to San Francisco over two years, while her net worth increased 62% during the Obama depression. And Pelosi's bill was at *taxpayer* expense, mind you, whereas Sarah Palin was able to find willing private companies willing to take the risk of funding her trips. Or even better, where you've excoriated Barack Hussein Obama for buzzing New York City in Air Force One, or for $250,000 date nights with his wife, or renting out luxury hotels for a week at a time in India...or even for all those golf vacations with the poor bitter clingers on Martha's Vineyard.

The past week's bus tour continued the vanity: crashing the Rolling Thunder gathering in Washington wearing black leather, securing an audience with Trump over pizza in Times Square. Proving once again that she is no flash in the pan, and that she is both comfortable with and popular among a wide variety of demographics. "Diversity" is, I believe, the favored word among the anointed for such appeal; and when anyone but Sarah shows it, it is greatly to be praised.

As usual, Palin's sincerity was suspect: Though she claimed "I honestly don't look at states according to when their primaries are," her tour, by total coincidence, takes her from New Hampshire to Iowa, to South Carolina. In her interview with Fox, Palin claimed she didn't participate in a flattering new movie about her, but later confessed she "did a voice-over" for it.

It's even more of a coincidence that her tour began in New England, which where much of the earliest history of the settlement of our country began. Fort Augustine, Florida is a notable counterexample; and before you snark, Florida is NOW a part of the United States, no matter which Europeans originally settled it, or how much you still resent the 2000 Presidential elections.

Concerning the movie, perhaps you should consider that a "voice-over" is more or less a post-production step, done after the filming and much of the editing. It means that her original implication is clear, that she had no editorial control over the content of the film.

The tour included signature Palin touches: manipulating the media (she refused to divulge her itinerary, resulting in TV news choppers following her approach into Philadelphia), finding financial gain (she requested "generous donations" to SarahPAC), and lobbing rhetorical grenades.

Oh, that's right. You said above that she was "self-aggrandizing" but she refused to give an itinerary in advance to the press. Nobody demanded that the press cover her trip; and if it had drawn as little fanfare as Romney's announcement, that would have been cheerfully, gleefully proferred by the press as proof that her nascent candidacy was dead in the water.

By the way, what's wrong with SarahPAC? It's quite clear that Sarah intends to continue promoting constitutional conservatives for Federal office throughout the country. And doing that takes money.

Grenades? By your own accusation about "bulls-eyes" above, coupled with the lemming-like accusations about Palin's NON-existent relation to the Loughner shootings, are you prepared to accept culpability for the next round of Democrat violence?

Contrast that with Gates, who set a new standard for honesty when, at his confirmation hearing in 2006, he admitted that the United States was not winning in Iraq. At the Pentagon, he brought new openness: He ended the gag order banning coverage of flag-draped caskets at Dover Air Force Base. He hired a journalist, Geoff Morrell, to repair press relations. He penned personal notes to families of fallen soldiers and attended funerals.

Yeah, I guess those 24,000 Sarah Palin emails didn't work despite the whole "crowdsourcing" thing, did it, Dana? I find it telling that after all the fanfare, the whole operation was quietly swept down the memory hole. PDS FAIL.

Gates brought new accountability, firing top officials over the outrages at Walter Reed and the mishandling of nuclear weapons. He fought with Congress and the military bureaucracy to redirect funds toward troop protection. His championing of mine-resistant vehicles saved countless lives.

Maybe you should get out more, Dana. That's his job. In the meantime, try surfing the net to see any pictures available of how the troops react when Sarah Palin visits them. Hint hint.

His unusual frankness continued right into his farewell tour. During his trip, he affirmed that "everything will be on the table" for defense spending cuts, spoke in detail about Chinese "capabilities that are of concern to us," discussed shortcomings in Afghanistan and acknowledged his disagreement with Obama's decision to attack Libya.

Did it ever cross your mind that his honesty and competence are the very reason Obama has to get rid of him? Did you ever then get the idea that such incompetence or worse in the office of the commander-in-chief is one of the reasons people question Obama's devotion to the country? Nobody ever accused Sarah of being foreign born, or having dual loyalties.

To succeed as Gates has under Republican and Democratic presidents is a rare triumph. But Gates departs with characteristic humility. "The best thing I could do when I get out of here," he told one interviewer as he began his tour, "for at least some period of time, is keep my mouth shut." And to succeed under the combined barrage from all sides, as Sarah Palin has done, is even rarer.

Let's just stroll down memory lane, shall we?

Disloyal staffers setting her up for the Couric interview; Charles Gibson saying on the air “exact words” when he was MISquoting her; having lies told about her in public, such as her impending divorce from Todd; that her special-needs child was really her daughter’s child; having her email hacked by the son of a Tennessee Democrat; having Saturday Night Live joke about incest in her family; having Tina Fey make up lies about her (”I can see Russia”); being the subject of lawsuits designed to destroy her as a person and bankrupt her; being the subject of rape threats at the hands of black men (Sara Bernhardt); having Letterman joke on TV in public on the air about her daughter being subject to statutory rape by a professional athlete, and getting pregnant by it; having the teenage guy who knocked up her daughter leave the daughter and then turn on the family; being accused of being a prima donna on the basis of $150,000 of clothes supplied by the campaign; having her own LEGAL DEFENSE FUND *itself* be called “illegal”; having creepy Joe McGinniss camp out by her house spying on her famliy all summer; being blamed (in public, by Sheriff "Dipstick" for contributing to the Giffords shooting even though such was a breach of protocol for an ongoing investigation and he admitted he had no evidence for such); having her cell phone ring off the hook for a comment on the shooting, and forbearing to answer, being blamed for NOT commenting, and then after being linked to the shooting, and responding, being blamed for “making herself the story” and being insensitive to the victims; then having to watch the Democrats hold a memorial service where T-shirts imprinted with "Together We Thrive" were given out at the FUNERAL; and being blamed for misusing the words “blood libel” even though noted liberal and Jewish Harvard Lawyer Alan Dershowitz defended her; being blamed for holding the bus tour, even though it was paid for by private donations, not taxpayer dollars; being blamed for being right about Paul Revere; and then having the 24,000 emails investigated, and the NYT and Washington Post being too manifestly *lazy* to read the emails themselves, so they crowdsourced it, and then spiked the story when it proved there was nothing to it.

If only you could grasp that.

When you shoot at a Mother Grizzly, Dana, you'd better have enough high-caliber ammunition AND good aim.

Guess what. It's just about Sarah's turn now.

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"Protect me, Teddy! Protect me from that mean Mama Grizzly!"