Free Republic

Raw footage of CBS News anchor Katie Couric recording voice-overs for news segments about Gov. Sarah Palin on the day she was named as John McCain’s running mate: [...] What’s newsworthy here isn’t merely that Couric mocked the GOP’s historic Vice Presidential nominee–most of us have said things we’re not proud of in private–it’s that she did so so brazenly in front of her supposedly objective news team. Conservatives4Palin raises another good point about Couric and Co.’s efforts to marginalize the former Alaska governor from day one: “[W]hat in [Palin's] impressive biography did CBS News and Couric choose to focus...

The following video was sent to C4P’s tips account. As you can see, the video shows Katie Couric preparing to go on the air on the day John McCain announced Governor Palin as his running mate. It shows some tantalizing hints of Couric’s attitude toward the Governor--when talking about first Trig, then Track, Couric says “where the hell do they get these [names]?...” At that point the producer running the sound board shut off the sound because he or she didn’t want to have Couric’s disdainful and contemptuous view of Governor Palin’s children captured on even an internal CBS tape...

Will Sarah Palin get a second chance at the presidency? Palin for president? An ambitious woman in the quest for the ultimate position of power. McCaines bid for the white house in the 2008 election was an eye opener for the former Governor of Alaska. McCaine lured Palin to the tree of the knowledge of power, She tasted of the possibility to be first in her gender to occupy the vice presidency of the United States. Unfortunately the Republicans suffered an overwhelming defeat at the hands of the Democratic party. Sarah, an unknown in the political world flourished as a...

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin said Sunday that Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer (R) has "the cojones" that President Obama "does not have" to take on illegal immigration. Appearing on "Fox News Sunday," Palin blasted Obama for suing Arizona to block the state's controversial new law without addressing "sanctuary cities" -- in which local law enforcement are prohibited from asking people about their immigration status.The former governor said the president and congressional Democrats "are all wet" on plans to allow the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans to expire. "It's idiotic to think about increasing taxes at a time like...

One of the delights about the Internet is watching new people use a new technology to make the same old mistakes. Consider the admissions by Politico and Greg Sargent that they regularly run items on Sarah Palin simply to drive traffic. From Politico: “More traffic comes from an item on Sarah Palin’s ‘refudiation’ faux pas than from our hundreds of stories on the complexities of health care reform or Wall Street regulation.” Perhaps if Politico were as vigilant in its coverage of health care reform and Wall Street regulation as it is every slip by Sarah Palin readers would be...

Repeat after me: “Liberal media bias is a myth”… (Daily Caller)- In the hours after Sen. John McCain announced his choice of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to be his running mate in the last presidential race, members of an online forum called Journolist struggled to make sense of the pick. Many of them were liberal reporters, and in some cases their comments reflected a journalist’s instinct to figure out the meaning of a story. But in many other exchanges, the Journolisters clearly had another, more partisan goal in mind: to formulate the most effective talking points in order to defeat...

How ironic that on a day when we celebrate the 20th anniversary of the enactment of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, The Daily Caller released 15 pages of JournoListers’ email exchanges about a dark and demented conspiracy regarding my son, Trig. It’s tough to fittingly describe these numerous members of the mainstream media who actively engaged in the debate about this conspiracy back when I was first introduced as John McCain’s running mate, and it’s impossible to legitimize any “prominent” media publication that continues to traffic in this bizarre narrative today. It wasn’t just a few fringe characters...

* Gov. Palin posted this Monday on her Facebook Notes page: Journey into the Media’s Heart of DarknessHow ironic that on a day when we celebrate the 20th anniversary of the enactment of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, The Daily Caller released 15 pages of JournoListers’ email exchanges about a dark and demented conspiracy regarding my son, Trig. It’s tough to fittingly describe these numerous members of the mainstream media who actively engaged in the debate about this conspiracy back when I was first introduced as John McCain’s running mate, and it’s impossible to legitimize any “prominent” media...

Sarah Palin’s speech to the 2008 Republican convention impressed more than a few doubters, including even some members of Journolist, an online community for liberal journalists. “This speech is gangbusters,” wrote Ari Melber of the Nation. “Her tone is pitch perfect.” Adele Stan of the Media Consortium agreed: “Palin is golden.” The exuberance appeared to unnerve the Guardian’s Michael Tomasky. “People get a hold of yourselves!” Tomasky wrote to his fellow Journolisters. “It’s a very good speech with good lines. But there’s very little substance.” Rebecca Traister of Salon wrote to say she was grateful for Tomasky’s message discipline. (“This...

If you wonder why so many Americans are attracted to Sarah Palin, just take a look at the crowd now nipping at her heels, doing its best to derail her appeal through personal attacks that are scurrilous. She’s been a mayor and a governor, yet they say she lacks experience, though they remain enthralled by a loquacious president whose own resume was barren by comparison. She’s a happily married mother of five, one a soldier who served in harm’s way, another a son born with Down syndrome, meaning she understands what it means to live life on life’s terms. Of...

Whenever anyone mentions the 2012 election, inevitably the name of former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney becomes a topic of conversation. And when it comes to polling data, Romney is often seen as a front-runner, forecasted to be stronger than the current occupant of the Oval Office, Barack Obama. Increasingly, many of those in the Republican Party think Mitt is the GOP’s “go-to” guy in the next election. I guess you’ll just have to pardon me for failing to drink the Kool-Aid regarding the former governor. I just think it’s about time somebody stated the truth about Gov. Romney. Mitt Romney...

Spencer Ackerman - Wired, FireDogLake, Washington Independent, Talking Points Memo, The American Prospect Thomas Adcock - New York Law Journal Ben Adler - Newsweek, POLITICO Mike Allen - POLITICO Eric Alterman - The Nation, Media Matters for America Marc Ambinder - The Atlantic Greg Anrig - The Century Foundation Ryan Avent - Economist Dean Baker - The American Prospect Nick Baumann - Mother Jones Josh Bearman - LA Weekly Steven Benen - The Carpetbagger Report Ari Berman - The Nation Jared Bernstein - Economic Policy Institute Michael Berube - Crooked Timer, Pennsylvania State University Brian Beutler - The Media...

Below is a transcript of a portion of Fred Thompson's interview with Rich Galen on his radio show July 23, 2010 in which Thompson and Galen discuss the relative merits of Gingrich and Palin, as well as the likelihood that either or both will enter the GOP. Galen is a former press Secretary to Gingrich, and he gives the back of his hand to Sarah Palin in the interview, calling her "a really interesting personalit[y]...but not necessarily ... qualified to be the nominee or be president." Incredibly, and to his discredit, Thompson laughingly agrees: "THOMPSON: Uh huh... GALEN: And uh,...

This tripe from Kathleen Parker is something. She bemoans the loss of privacy and kinship when the Journolist blew up in the faces of some 400+ reporters: It should come as no surprise that self-identifying liberals have liberal thoughts and friends, so no foul there, as Carlson has said. And, indeed, some of the comments are, on their face, condemnable, not to mention banal. But some also have been presented out of context and, besides, were offered as part of an ongoing argument among colleagues who believed they were acting in good faith that theirs was a private conversation. Were...

Like her or not, Sarah Palin will play a decisive role in who gets the Republican nomination in 2012. Since being plucked out of relative obscurity by 2008 GOP nominee John McCain, Palin has emerged as a celebrity in her own right. Anyone longing for the nomination will have to deal with her persona, her influence, and her supporters. Along with Palin’s notoriety, the rise of the Tea Party movement has created a number of inviting venues for the Palin message. She is now a regular commentator on Fox News, adroitly uses social media to comment on current issues, and...

K. remembers seeing Palin emerge and walk onto the stage, dressed in a sharp black suit, as the crowd in Ohio went wild. In Chicago, the Liberals around him cringed, as that excitement and energy reverberated through the large screens and smacked them in the face. K. will never forget two Liberal women, clutching each other, faces blanched, with true dread in their eyes. “What are we going to do now? She’s incredible. He can win now, with her. What are we going to do?”. “We need to destroy her. We need the media to destroy her”. “They need to...

On the very day America learned so-called journalists conspired to destroy Sarah Palin from the moment John McCain chose her as his running mate, Politico's Roger Simon declared she's at the top of the Republican Party. Assuming he's correct, what does that tell us about all those in the mainstream media that have been looking down their noses for almost two years as they worked overtime to smear this woman? Before we attempt to answer that question, let's see what Simon had to say: More than 13 months ago, I wrote a column that began: "Sarah Palin can be the...

First, she plucked little known state legislator Nikki Haley from obscurity to victory in the South Carolina GOP governor's primary. Then there was a helping hand for Susanna Martinez in New Mexico gubernatorial primary, Sharron Angle in the Nevada Senate primary, and Carly Fiorina in the California US Senate primary. Now there's an endorsement for Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel. Is Sarah Palin's Political Action Committee packing the GOP with female candidates in 2010? SarahPAC made news this month, both for its fundraising prowess and its "Mama Grizzly" advertisement, which has gone viral on the internet. She's made a...

From a remote location on an island off Alaska’s coast, former Governor Sarah Palin is blasting what she describes as the “sick puppies” in the media who immediately and ruthlessly attacked her when Sen. John McCain picked her as his running mate during the 2008 presidential campaign. In exclusive remarks to The Daily Caller, Palin described “hordes of Obama’s opposition researchers-slash ‘reporters’” descending upon Alaska in the days after she was picked by McCain. She said the media became a key reason she decided not to finish out her term as governor and faults, in part, the McCain campaign for...

In the hours after Sen. John McCain announced his choice of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to be his running mate in the last presidential race, members of an online forum called Journolist struggled to make sense of the pick. Many of them were liberal reporters, and in some cases their comments reflected a journalist’s instinct to figure out the meaning of a story. But in many other exchanges, the Journolisters clearly had another, more partisan goal in mind: to formulate the most effective talking points in order to defeat Palin and McCain and help elect Barack Obama president. The tone...