Posted on 01/03/2012 6:32:07 PM PST by reformjoy
Tuesday, January 3, 2012 Editorial by John Ziegler
Sarah Palin: Selfish, Hypocritical, Sellout
1/3/2012
As surreal as it may be, after spending over two years and several thousand dollars defending Sarah Palin at great personal cost, I now find myself in the bizarre position (three years to the day from starting the journey to Wasilla to do the interview of record on her 2008 VP run) of being perhaps the only conservative commentator willing to point out that Palin has now clearly revealed herself to be a selfish, hypocritical, sellout.
While she was doing her presidential tease (an act that I actually bought because I didn’t think she was capable of such contemptible deceit), I wrote an extremely long essay for the Daily Caller detailing why I thought a Palin run would be horrible for the cause of beating President Obama. At that time, I was roundly (and wrongly) criticized for betraying her, when in actuality I was being very kind to her personally and sincerely trying to save her from embarrassment.
Back then, I still honestly liked and admired her as a person. The events since then strongly indicate that I was totally wrong to give her the benefit of the doubt as a person. I don’t know if the unprecedented and unfair circumstances that she has had to deal with since 2008 have changed her, or if, like Tiger Woods, I was simply completely fooled by her from the beginning. But I do now know that she is worthy of a heck of a lot more contempt than portions of the base and the vast majority of the conservative media are currently holding her in.
A quick glance of the most recent past may help the scales fall off of your eyes like they finally did for me.
First, she not only put her supporters through an incredibly selfish presidential “tease” that she clearly contrived from the beginning, but when she finally revealed her deception, she did so on the Mark Levin radio show. This was inexplicable not because she didn’t do it on Fox News (which got some media attention), but because she broke her nationally televised promise to make the announcement on the Bob & Mark Show out of Anchorage.
This may not seem like a big deal at first, but keep in mind she made a huge production on the finale of her Alaskan reality show that Bob & Mark would be the first to know about her plans. Apparently, by the time she was ready to say “never mind,” rebuilding her Alaskan “ice cred” was no longer seen as very important. Neither was her loyalty to two long-time supporters and friends. Bob & Mark are just two of many people I personally know who have sacrificed for her only to be left by the side of the road for no apparent reason.
Then there is that matter that her political action committee sent out a fundraising e-mail the week before her “decision” which overtly sent the message that supporters could help her pull the trigger on a presidential run by donating immediately.
Obviously when that was sent out, Palin knew she was not running for president and yet when she was asked (ironically, only by Bob and Mark) whether her PAC would return the hard-earned money her supporters surely thought was going to a particular cause, she lamely claimed that people who donated to her PAC did not think they were donating to her prospective campaign. Unbelievably, no one else in the media (on either side) called her on this outrage.
Then there is the issue of her endorsement of another candidate for the Republican nomination. I have never understood how any political commentator could ever not make an endorsement in a presidential primary on their side of the ideological fence, but when you are Sarah Palin and you claim that you “don’t need a title to impact change,” such an omission is particularly incomprehensible.
After all, if she won’t exert her power in a Republican presidential primary, when would/could she ever?
The reality is that Palin hasn’t endorsed for the same reason she didn’t run. She knows that she has almost no influence and a remarkably small base and she is smart enough to not use her stick because she knows doing so will reveal how tiny it really is. She has basically decided it is better for her TV career to still be thought of as somewhat potent, than to be exposed as being essentially impotent (a word, interestingly, she likes to use from time to time).
This non act of cowardice and selfishness was bad enough, but then today on Fox News Palin had the gall to essentially call for Michele Bachmann to get out of the race and endorse someone else.
For me this was the very final straw. I don’t even like Bachmann, but I was immediately livid.
Where does Palin get off telling the only woman who (unlike her) had the guts to get in the race to endorse someone else when she hasn’t had the courage to do that herself? The multiple levels of hypocrisy here would be staggering even for a liberal, but for a conservative they are simply off the charts. Then, finally, lost amid her attacks of Bachmann (whom she surely sees as a potential future rival for air time on Fox News) was her defense of none other than that total fraud and publicity whore Donald Trump.
In perhaps the dumbest stance she has ever taken, Palin called for those who are upset at Trump for threatening to run as a third-party candidate to “shut up.”
Let me get this straight, a woman who agrees with Palin on almost everything should get out of the race and do something she herself wont do, but a liberal con-man who could easily insure the second term of Barack Obama (which she has said must be prevented at all costs) needs to be vigorously defended?
Astonishing. But not nearly as astounding as the reality that she will somehow get a pass on all of this from a conservative media that can be a corrupt and mindless as the liberal version is on its worst day.
I have made a lot of mistakes in my life, but right now (while I still stand by everything that is in my documentary “Media Malpractice”) it is difficult for me to imagine making a bigger one than believing that Sarah Palin was worthy of all that I have tried to do to defend her.
My wife warned me about her almost from the beginning of my Palin odyssey. She presciently told me, “once a beauty queen, always a beauty queen.”
It now appears that she was right. Sarah Palin is, at least now, all about Sarah Palin and not about the cause. After the events of the past few months you can clearly see that reality all the way in Russia from land in Alaska.
WTF indeed. This guy is one snot-nosed piece of work. Just shows you don't have to be a politician to be a narcissistic a-hole.
I think its funny when people accuse Sarah Palin of trying to remain in the spotlight. Have people forgotten she WORKS for Fox News..she gets paid to go there and be a commentator. She is asked questions and she answers them. I dont think that as trying to remain in the spotlight, she is doing exactly what she is being paid to do.
I have supported Sarah, but seeing her just now on FoxNews I got a weird feeling. She did not seem like the old Sarah, and when she said something tantamount to agreeing that Bachmann should drop out, it had a catty/angry undertone that I think only women would pick up.
I really like her message overall, but I think something has changed about her. And it’s not something I can really articulate either. Almost makes me concerned for her.
None of the above means I agree with the author of this article, because he sounds like he has his own ax-grinding agenda.
Just my own observations.
What a childish and petty article.
My thoughts exactly.
“Not to burst your bubble but Rush had been talking up Santorum long before Sarah.”
You’re right, he did. A week or so ago, Rush said Santorum was only running to build name recognition for a run in the future. Rush also said Santorum wasn’t ready for the job even though he liked him and thought he had conservative credentials.
Humby, is that you??
Ziegler is a seriously unbalanced guy.
He was snarkily attacking Palin all last year because she appeared not to be taking his advice to “not run,” when she was down in the lower-48 testing the waters. Then, when she ‘did’ opt not to run, he attacks her on that! And always in such a bizarrely emotional, narcissistic manner. Weird, weird dude.
He should have himself committed.
I know that Sarah is your girl, but you have the facts ridiculously wrong.
You’re just a regular a-hole.
If you want to have a better understanding of why she sounded angry(I didnt catch the anger, maybe I just didnt notice) about Bachmann, you have to understand the history..when Palin was accused of being a mass murderer, Bachmann did not defend her, I can let that slide, she was under attack by the left too as being a cause, but not as much as Palin has been..but I think, what broke the camels back so to speak, is when Ed Rollins, Bachmann’s campaign manager at the time, went on TV and trashed Palin, I think thats when the friendship ended. She saw her as a backstabber, I would too if I were in her shoes. Your supposedly my friend, I campaign for you, and you have your goon that most people here dont even care for go on TV and trash me? I think anyone would have had the same response
One thing she said may have you thinking that way: she said something like “it will be good when Michelle gets back to the House of Representatives”!
Yeah, this idiot is calling out St. Sarah for defending Trump’s possible decision to run as an independent, thereby throwing the election to 0bama.
Sure, St. Sarah is horrifically wrong here, but how dare she be called out on this!
Well I listen to Rush and I don’t recall it the way you do. I do not think he said he wasn’t ready for the job, he has always maintained that Bachmann, Perry and Santorum were the most conservative on the list.
Actually she isn’t “My girl” I support her, but right now my vote is leaning towards Santorum(Or maybe Gingrich still on the fence) I had no issue with her not running, I saw that her family went through enough. The point about Rollins is that he worked for Bachmann, what came out of his mouth she had to approve..he was her spokesperson, thats what a spokesperson does, speaks for whoever hired them.
Just go away, John.
“She is asked questions and she answers them. I dont think that as trying to remain in the spotlight, she is doing exactly what she is being paid to do.”
That’s a legitimate observation.
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