I've never read such sexist drivel in my entire life.  As it matters on wit whether ETA is in Spain or the Sunnis are in Hamas or Hezbollah is in Ireland.  Here's an easy-going and downright decent governor of the largest state in the union, a known crime-fighter and reformist who said, "no thanks" to new clothes from the Ol' big city stores and "no thanks" to per diems while living at home and "no thanks" pork from Congress that wasn't coming any way; a smart, articulate woman who ad libbed her Convention speech and who was the victim of "gotcha" journalism; a snazzy debater who rightly gave it to both Ifill and Biden by telling them she will answer questions she will pose to herself, as opposed to questions either of them had to ask ... and all you liberal media and terrorist-loving McCain operatives can do is bring her down.

She's given her first born to Iraq - well, a court did because he was doing too many drugs, but still - the fruit of her loins is in Iraq fighting for America and this is what you people in the media are up to?  For shame.

But c'mon, who really needs to know the difference between Shiites and Sunnis as long as you have Joe Lieberman there to correct you?

I see the magazine of Stephen Glass and Scott Thomas Beauchamp is still as trustworthy as ever.

www.sourcewatch.org/index.php

Honestly, guys. Would it kill you to do five minutes of research?

icarusr:  Is that drug thing true?

GinaRenee-

If Crowley had done research we never would have had the awesome irony of Crowley ridiculing someone for "cluelessness" by reprinting something clearly false.

Really, Michael.  Do you believe anything you read that doesn't contain the words "baba booey"?

We could all do with more pop quizes for politicians. Were I emperor of the world, it would be a basic tenet of journalism that any interview with a person holding or seeking power must include several basic tests of factual knowledge. Questions every politician should be asked from time to time:

1. Who is the current leader of [name of newsworthy allied or enemy country], and what political faction does he or she represent?

2. What are America's three largest trading partners, in order?

3. What is the capital of [any state located far from the subject's home state]?

4. How many articles are in the Constitution? List them, and what they do.

5. How many times has the Constitution been amended? What did the most recent amendment do?

6. Whom do you regard as the two greatest presidents? Why? The two worst, and why?

7. How much revenue did the [state or federal] government raise in taxes last year? How does that compare to the previous year?

8. How much money did the [state or federal] government spend last year? Approximately what portion went to [transportation, social programs, defense, farm or industrial subsidies, government operations]?

9. When was the Constitution written? What were the years of George Washington's terms as president?

10. How many cabinet-level [state or federal] departments are there? Name them. Name the current secretary of [any given state or federal department].

One could go on, but any candidate for office who cannot answer these or any similar questions deserves public humiliation and hounding from office. And a little fear of such humiliation would have a salutary effect on politicians at all levels.

icarusr,

Hmmm, you seem to be forgetting some things: Earlier this year Palin cut the budget of Covenant House Alaska, a state-run program that takes in low-income underage unwed mothers and provides shelter and job-training, by over 20%; she supported the Bridge to Nowhere until it was clear no more funding was going to be granted, and subsequently kept the federal money already allotted for it; she tried to get a book she didn't approve of banned from the local library; she complained about the Obama campaign's "redistributing the wealth" pledge yet taxed oil companies in her state that resulted in a $3900/per-person handout for Alaskans; she maintains an abstinence-only stance even though her own underage daughter got knocked up by some cretin who obviously despises birth control; she billed Alaska for thousands of dollars of travel costs for her kids on government-business trips; and her husband's involvement in the Alaskan Independence Party whose mantra is to unpatriotically sucede Alaska from the U.S.

There's more but I don't have all day to list them all.

(Oh, and if Hilary Clinton were being criticized for the same things, you wouldn't be playing the sexist card at all -- at all.)

jhildner: I have no idea.  The Enquirer was pursuing the story:

www.nationalenquirer.com/.../65407

Hey, rough and tumble of politics.

The Eisenstadt story appears to be bogus, though I'm certain that the underlying story is not.

Whoops. Looks like you (and maybe Carl Cameron) have been had Michael.

It's a well perpetuated hoax. I especially like the Harding Institute for Freedom and Democracy.

"Known as the Great Leader of 1921-23, Harding's ideals held as true in his day, as they do today."

www.hardinginstitute.org/index.html

www.youtube.com/.../HardingInstitute

I believe Dan Rather thought much the same thing about the Bush National Guard documents, icarusr.

I appreciate Michael Crowley's swift admission of his mistake. I wish all the rest of those who have smeared Palin and her family with no basis would do the same. Shall we start with the towel story, or the Africa story, or the Sununu/Bradley story, or the NAFTA story, or the shopping spree story, or the incest stories, or . . .

You really should have let Crowley twist in the wind though GinaRenee.  It would have been funny to see who else believed this.  Other than the inevitable Andrew Sullivan, that is.

Speaking of which, this would be an awesome game show/prank:  What outrageous rumors or stories would Crowley (or Andrew Sullivan) actually believe about Sarah Palin?  Hmmmm.  Here are my suggestions:

(1)  That she checked Joe Lieberman's head for horns when she met him.

(2)  That she still refers to Russia as the Soviet Union.

(3)  That she thinks Hezbollah was kicked out of Lebanon.

Kevin Collins,

Please re-set sarcasm meter to "detect."  Icarus has been having some fun in recent weeks with his impersonation of a deranged right-wing blogger.

I should mention that I got the tip from Hot Air at http://www.hotair.com . Nice work, guys.

Gina: you keep referring to the incest story; I have heard any, so, really, it's you who is perpetuating it.

As well, Eisenstadt is claiming credit - but it is not clear that the claim (of being the source) is bogus, or rather that the entire thing (including the Cameron report) is bogus.  The shopping spree story is true - and the GOP has $150,000 worth of bills to prove it, so I am not sure if anyone is being maligned here.  

Finally, as to her abject ignorance, inherent meanness of character, grasping and baseless ambition - we have the public record.  So, please stop this nonsense about "smear" - no one other than the Palin lied - lied outright - about the bridge to nowhere; no one other than the Palin herself demonstrated outrageous ignorance for a national figure; it was the Palin who said she reads all newspapers and all books and whatever; it is the Palin herself who has diffculty stringing a single English sentence together - even Tucker Carlson ripped into her for that; it is the Palin who demonstrated mind-boggling arrogance to claim that because  the Bering Sea, she has "foreign policy credentials".

Yes, this story was bogus, but the Palin is bogus - her character, her "accomplishments", her claim to any thing remotely resembling respect.

GinaRenee,

I have not smeared Palin at all; I've provided plain and simple facts -- or, "inconvenient" facts, to people like yourself. You immaturely cry "Smear!" rather than debating each and every fact I've presented, which is typical of someone with their head-in-the-sand mentality. You're fooling no one but yourself.

bigm: sadly, the problem with your points 2 and 3 are that I am not at all sure a) she knows the difference between Russia and the Soviet Union and b) she has any clue what is Hezbollah and where is Labanon.  This is not based on bogus claims of outing her, but rather, on her public performance, which demonstrates a high level of ignorance about basic things - as in, what the Constitution says about the VP - and an abiding lack of curiosity in the world around her.

As for point 1, I'd check Santimonious Joe for horns if I met him, just out of curiosity.  Not that I think he's the devil; more like a goat, a silly, pathetic, old goat besotted by "Legs" Palin, like his Mancrush McCain.

"I appreciate Michael Crowley's swift admission of his mistake. I wish all the rest of those who have smeared Palin and her family with no basis would do the same. Shall we start with the towel story, or the Africa story, or the Sununu/Bradley story, or the NAFTA story, or the shopping spree story, or the incest stories, or . . ."

The latest news is that apparently the Couric intervew never happened either, Gina.  It was a scam organized by the Obama campaign -- they got someone inside the TV studio to slip a quick-working drug into Palin's Diet Sprite in the green room.  She drifted off into unconsciousness, and a Palin lookalike went ahead and did the interview, deliberately fumbling or ducking all the questions to make Palin seem as if she was generally clueless about the world, had no intellectual curiosity whatsoever, and couldn't even name TIME, NEWSWEEK, or the Anchorage Daily News when asked about her reading matter.

A dastardly plot, indeed!

Now I'm convinced that the Alaska Disasta's allies are putting some of these things out there so, hopefully, after some time passes everyone will be shamed into forgetting that she is an ignoramus. Muddying the waters and all that.

which part of the shopping spree story is a hoax, out of curiosity?

Icarusr-

Good point about Palin not knowing what the Constitution says about the VP.  I'll bet that she didn't even know that the job was defined in Article I until Biden said so in the debate.

And she probably didn't know that Hezbollah was kicked out of Lebanon until he said so at the debate either.  Oh, wait.  It wasn't.  And he never called for NATO troops to go into Lebanon  like he claimed either.

Don't anybody ask Biden about policy towards the Soviet Union!

Gina:

This is the Palin's father:

"She was just frantically ... trying to sort stuff out," Heath said. "That's the problem, you know, the kids lose underwear, and everything has to be accounted for."

Wha the GOP was doing buying "underwear" for the kids is beyond me.  As for the clothes issue - no smear.  This is what it is.  And it's pathetic.

www.huffingtonpost.com/.../palin-sorts-clothes-to-se_n_142766.html

"The Palin"? My, my, icarusr, what a talent you have for Victorian-era invective. I'm sure Scarlett O'Hara would be on the fainting couch by now. :-)

Kevincollins, I never purposely addressed you (although in the rough-and-tumble of the thread it may have looked like I did), but here's a little debunking for you, since you asked:

-- The executive director of Covenant House Alaska, Deirdre A. Cronin, stated publicly that Palin never reduced their budget: "Despite some press reports to the contrary, our operating budget was not reduced. Our $3.9 million appropriation is directed toward a multi-year capital project and it is our understanding that the state simply opted to phase in its support for this project over several years, rather than all at once in the current budget year.”

-- Librarian Mary Ellen Baker has confirmed that Palin never tried to ban any specific book.

-- Palin never once stated that she was in favor of abstinence-only education. That was a meme that got started to try to prove her hypocrisy when her daughter's pregnancy was revealed. No one has ever provided a quotation to back it up.

There's more but I don't have all day to list them all.

Perkowitz, I was referring to the unnamed sources telling stories of "Wasilla hillbillies looting Neiman-Marcus." Both her staff and McCain's staff are now publicly in agreement that staffers went out and bought the clothes, not Palin herself.

Gina and Bigun, from your mouth to God's ears: Make Palin the leader of the Republican Party. If you really think that she's a talented and thoughtful leader capable of leading the GOP in the future, scream it to the rafters. I'm rooting for you.

Mpatrickhendri, no need for that support (and yes, I know you were being sarcastic). I would settle for people simply telling the truth about Governor Palin. If the media simply thought she was incapable, why spread all the lies about "divaness" and buffoonery, which multiple reporters like Mr. Crowley have already had to retract? Why not simply report the truth and let her stand or fall on her own merits?

You will excuse me if the victim card rings a little empty, Gina. Gov. Palin's pathological lying and inability to answer even the most obvious policy questions is what sank her, not Michael Crowley. The fact that McCain could look over the political landscape and choose her was a major reason that voters broke to Obama - look at the polls. But by all means, drag her out in four years to carry your flag. She's a perfect standard bearer for the right.

Why indeed?  

If I call you a complete Jackass Gina without providing any examples of why you are a jackass then it has no meaning.

These so called "smears" as you call them are evidence that Palin is an imbecile and should be ridiculed.  She honestly makes Bush look capable and that is saying a lot.

Gina, if a devout Pentecostal asks a librarian how she'd respond to a request to remove books from the library's convention, only a great fool would believe anything other than that it indicates a desire to remove specific books from the collection. Palin never followed up? Good. But the credit is due entirely to the librarian, who responded that she would resist the effort, and not to Palin for lacking the desire to censor the library. Of course she wanted to censor the library. Again, you'd have to be a great fool, or perhaps simply entirely ignorant of Pentecostal culture, to believe otherwise.

As to the rest, I seem not to have heard most of the rumors you cite. I did see Palin herself tell multiple outright lies about herself and her work in public life, however, and that was enough for me. She lied about opposing the "bridge to nowhere," she lied about selling the state jet on eBay, she claimed that a report specifically citing her for violating state law cleared her of any lawbreaking, she repeatedly mischaracterized both her campaign's and her opponents' specific tax and spending proposals. She repeatedly padded her resume with small fibs and exaggerations. About Russia, say, and her foreign-policy and energy "expertise."

Palin was quite simply, and inarguably, the most frequently dishonest politician on the national stage since at least the Agnew vice presidency. We know her by her actions, and her actions are those of an extraordinarily dishonest, unscrupulous person. To hold Palin up as either a martyr or a model is to throw oneself behind a deeply immoral leader. You can keep your rumors; I judge Palin by her record, and her record shocks the conscience.

Oy vey...Sarah Palin is a turd, and anyone who supports her is a loser. The debate (as it were) is over. She will never be a serious general election candidate. Let's wash her off our shoe and keep walking...

Can we please get back to Dancing with the Stars now?

Thank you, Michael Crowley, you're almost as addicted to sleaze-laced gossip as your colleagues Andrew Sullivan and Isaac Chotiner . . .

------------------------------

Anchorage Daily News

November 9, 2008

Palin Reflects On Her Run

The defeat, the future and the critics are all addressed

By Sean Cockerham

Gov. Sarah Palin blames the Bush administration for the failure of the McCain-Palin ticket, thinks people need to move on from the so-called "Troopergate" controversy and has no regrets about state per diem for time spent at her home in Wasilla or state-funded travel for her children.

Palin also said she loved her time in the national spotlight and won't rule out a run for president or vice president in 2012.

Those were some of Palin's responses to questions posed Sunday afternoon in a wide-ranging interview with the Daily News and KTUU Channel 2 at the governor's Wasilla home.

Despite the defeat of the Republican ticket at the polls Nov. 4, Palin remains a national media obsession: Greta Van Susteren of Fox News had just finished an interview with her Sunday and was chatting with the governor and her husband in the kitchen. Moose chili cooked in the crock pot and moose hot dogs lay on the table. Palin insisted they weren't a prop for the national media but just how the family likes to dine.

Seven-year-old Piper Palin walked around with an apron and a notebook, asking people what they wanted to drink. Outside, an "Entertainment Tonight" crew waited, hoping without success that the governor would grant them an interview.

Here are some excerpts from the interview:

Q. Why do you think your campaign lost?

A. I think the Republican ticket represented too much of the status quo, too much of what had gone on in these last eight years, that Americans were kind of shaking their heads like going, wait a minute, how did we run up a 10 trillion dollar debt in a Republican administration? How have there been blunders with war strategy under a Republican administration? If we're talking change, we want to get far away from what it was that the present administration represented and that is to a great degree what the Republican Party at the time had been representing. So people desiring change I think went as far from the administration that is presently seated as they could. It's amazing that we did as well as we did.

Q. There's been an enormous amount of information about you that Alaskans have been exposed to the past couple of months -- and lots of it very critical. What are Alaskans supposed to make of all this?

A. Regarding information regarding my record, that is now out there, much of it that was based on misinformation was a very, very frustrating thing to have to go through when the record was never corrected. And we would try to correct the record and too many in the media chose not to make those corrections.

Q. What misinformation are you talking about?

A. Some of the goofy things like who was Trig's mom. Well, I'm Trig's mom (raises her hand) and do you want to see my medical records to prove that? ... And banning books. That was a ridiculous thing also that could have so easily been corrected just by a reporter taking an extra step and not basing a report on gossip or speculation. But just looking into the record. It was reported that I tried to ban Harry Potter when it hadn't even been written when I was the mayor. So, gosh, we have so many examples, I mean every day, especially the first few weeks, every day something that was thrown out there.

Q. One of the things that came up during the campaign is that you charge the state per diem for time spent here in Wasilla. Is that something you are going to continue to do?

A. We've always followed the law and fully disclosed all that. The choice there in many months of the Juneau mansion being re-plumbed and all the improvements being made in the infrastructure of the Juneau house, where we weren't going to be there anyway. Knowing that in the end it would have cost the state more money to do what other governors had done and that is either charge the state for hotel rooms. Or the state rents you an apartment like they did for Governor Murkowski. We said no, we just won't sell our house, knowing that we're going to spend quite a bit of time here, especially those months where the remodels were taking place in the governor's mansion. And we would disclose my per diem, we wouldn't try to hide it ... trying to go above and beyond, not accepting any per diem for the kids or Todd at all, they've lived outside of the governor's house. Trying to follow the rules and doing what is legal and ethical and full disclosure.

Same with the family's travel. That's baffled me that all of a sudden two years later, again, never having tried to hide anything with either traveling back and forth to Juneau for first family events that were outside the capital city, in bringing Piper and, once in a while, Willow with me also, that anybody would think that I was trying to hide that they came with me ... just trying to do my job and part of my job is with the first family, having them with me at some of these events.

Q. What was it like running for vice president?

A. It was amazing. It was amazing and very, very busy and energizing. Every day was an amazing experience and I loved it ...

And I truly believe it was good for Alaska. I believe that, with tens of millions of people seeing kind of a different face of Alaska, and again, not me personally but what it is that we represent. Hardworking, unpretentious, conservationists, all these things that our administration and my family, all that we embody, has been good for Alaska because it's shown that up here we do work hard and we do want to produce and we want to contribute more to the U.S. ... And the eyes of the nation are on Alaska, they're going to be on us for a long time.

Q. They, of course, will be on you, governor. Rasmussen Reports said 64 percent of Republicans see you as their top presidential choice in 2012.

A. Oh, look how fickle poll numbers are. Look where I've gone, up and down, up and down, even in the state of Alaska the last couple of months. We can't pay attention to those numbers.

Q. Still that's got to be pretty heady stuff, you've got to be thinking about that?

A. I think OK, it provides opportunity, again, to do things right up here as the governor. And to make sure that, if those eyes of the nation are on the state, that we are responsible, we are just, we are fair, we are productive, all those things that this state already is but we have opportunity to be even more so. The eyes of the nation are on the state, we're not going to let them down, we're going to make sure that people know we can do things right up here.

And then that, too, opens the door for more opportunity for the state. Ultimately, what it results in is more job opportunity for Alaskans. Because as more of an allowance is given to our state to ethically and responsibly develop our resources, we'll have more explorers up here, we'll have more companies up here wanting to do business. That can lead to great job creation in the state.

Q. Were you aware that during the campaign there were some large protests in Anchorage against your candidacy as well as your handling of the Walt Monegan issue? What do you think about that and what can you do to bring those people back.

A. To bring those people back in terms of ... I wasn't aware of all the protests until like after they'd happened, I hear about it, a friend e-mailing me or something saying that there were placards out there saying whatever they would say. I think that's the nature of a national level campaign also. The opposition to our ticket on the national level, that's going to be expressed here on the local level too. The whole Monegan thing, I am glad that we've already gone through two different processes now, the personnel board, which is where it should have been all along, and the legislative investigation of it also. It's done. It's over. People need to move on.

Q. Do you think it's going to be difficult for the state to make a case for earmarks, given that you and John McCain were so outspoken against them?

A. Not so much the case being made more difficult for Alaska in requesting but we'd better make sure that every earmark we request is in the nation's best interest and is something that has been vetted and seen the light of day via public participation.

Q. So fewer earmark requests coming?

A. I'm sure there will be fewer earmark requests and they will be sensible earmark requests, again, those things that can help on a national front, not just on a state front.

Q. What did you think of Tina Fey, really?

A. I really liked her. Her in-laws came to one of our rallies and met us backstage. They're pretty hardcore Republicans, the in-laws were. She had told me that, she was like, believe it or not, I'm from a family of Republicans. You, know, it was like, we have more in common than you think.

scockerham@adn.com

Copyright © The Anchorage Daily News (www.adn.com)

www.adn.com/.../584193.html

A brief one paragraph blog post about an article in the AP represents addiction to sleaze? zzzzz.

The right has now hoisted Gov. Palin on the cross and staked out their place as America's victim class. What a joke. This woman wouldn't know the truth, or deceny or common sense if it chomped her in the ass.

Please, by all means, make her the face of Republicanism - Fox News certainly has - and watch the the American public relegate the GOP to a decade or more in the minority.

Thanks for posting that interview, bkaplovitz. Just scanning it, you can spot several lies or distortions from Sarah (not to mention the way she tortures the English language):

- No one accused her of trying to ban Harry Potter books, and there indeed were a handful of Potter books already published when she was mayor.

- Funny she mentions seeing her medical records - a lot of people thought she should release them. She never did.

- Hey, turns out she likes earmarks after all! Although she always did, and simply lied about it during the campaign.

So this is the kind of person you're putting your faith in, Gina? This small, petty ignoramus who's proud of how provincial and ignorant she is? It doesn't bother you at all how causally she lies about anything she has to lie about? For crying out loud, you're here trying to claim she's getting a bum rap on the GOP clothes thing, and her own father is out there saying Sarah's sorting through piles of clothes trying to determine what she has to return, including *her kids' underwear.*  

At this point, Palin's getting a lot of crap flung at her by McCain politicos who are angry and embarrassed that they selected her in the first place. Some is true, some isn't, but in answer to your comment earlier: She has already been judged on her own merit. Harshly.

Sarah Palin incited rallies all over the country with inflamed rhetoric, as well as outright lies and distortions, questioning Obama's patriotism, accusing him of being a socialist, accusing him of palling around with terrorists.

At at least two of those Palin's rallies, when SP brought Obama's name up, supporters shouted: "Terrorist!" and "Kill him!"

And Palin said nothing, absolutely nothing, to stop them, or even mildly discourage them.

As Peggy Noonan has said, Palin represents the "new vulgarization" of the GOP.

As David Brooks has said, Sarah Palin is a "fatal cancer to the Republican Party."

This woman is the very lowest of the low. And she deserves whatever ridicule, whatever humiliation, whatever ethics investigation, may come her way--and a whole hell of a lot worse.

What's funny is that none of the incurious bigots slamming Palin on this thread have accomplished 1/100th of what Palin has in their own lives.  They're mostly of graduate students living off their parent's money, modern day know-nothings, whose pathetic existence makes the world that much worse.

Palin is governor of America's biggest state, overseeing thousands of employees and spearheading a 30 billion natural gas pipeline project - North America's largest construction project - which will supply much-needed energy to the lower 48.

Now, thus far, WoodyBombay, mpatrickhendri, and the rest's chief accomplishment consists of waiting for their mothers to go to sleep, before jerking off to Internet porn in their parents' basement apartment.

Hey, this is bcrago77's first public appearance since he shouted "Kill him!" at a Palin rally!

bcrago:  ". . . the incurious bigots"

What do you mean by "incurious bigots"?  "Incurious" is an odd term to use in this context, as it implies no intellectual or informational interest in the world (a distinct flaw pretty noticeable in Palin herself rather than in folks on this board) and the accusation of bigotry seems a little thin too, as for most people it's Palin's own actions and speech that led to the dislike/rejection of her, not her race, gender, age etc.

Irony: bcrago is the Palin incognito - say anything, accuse ignorantly, malign at will, lie and cheat and distort to your heart's content, in the misguided hope that you get a message across.  "Incurious bigot" is the most amusingly absurd projection insult I have read in these threads, it's like Liberace calling Frank Sinatra a fag.

Bcrago: just for your info, the first election I ran in and won, at the age of 21, my constituency was bigger than the town of Wasilla.  As for the rest of my accomplishments - to actually learn about the world and to be able to represent oneself before appellate judges, one has to study for eight years (and I don't study journalism over six years in five different indifferent schools), apprentice for two and work for six.  And no, I can't win arguments by winking like a two-bit whore or dolling myself up in Nieman Markus attire like a Spitzer-class floozie.

And here is how my "accomplishments" far outweigh those of the WWW (the Winkin' Wasilla W****):  I have to speak English in coherent sentences; I need to know about the Constitution not only of my country but of half a dozen other ones; and I read a dozen newspapers a day and a dozen or so magazines a month - all of which I can name.

You really do not help the reputation of the Lipstick Bitch (I'm not being insulting, I'm just using the correct technical term for a female pitbull) by these random and idiotic Palin-like insults.    

When did I ever call Governor Palin a victim? Is it calling people victims to ask that they be treated with the respect and honesty that every human being deserves? I notice that Barack Obama thought those values so important that he had an entire website set up to debunk smears about himself. I didn't see anyone here calling him a turd, a cancer, or a b---- for it.

But by all means, keep up the Palin Derangement Syndrome. You may not have noticed yet, but it's already starting to backfire on you.

Oh, and by the way, WoodyBombay:

www.religiousintelligence.co.uk/news

www.zimbio.com/.../Dangerous+Books+Sarah+Palin+Wanted+Banned

And how does Sarah's father's statement go against what I said? Her father said she's sending the clothes back; I said that staffers bought the clothes rather than Palin herself. In what way are the two statements mutually exclusive?

Religious Intelligence and Zimbio.com - oh my, why didn't you say so!! I wonder if Cat Fancy chimed in, too.

Most people start off treating Sarah Palin with respect and honesty. She proved pretty quickly that she didn't deserve respect. And that's me treating her with honesty. She deserves to know the truth about herself. Bill Kristol and Sean Hannity sure ain't telling her.

GinaRenee:  "Is it calling people victims to ask that they be treated with the respect and honesty that every human being deserves?"

No it's not -- but treating people with respect and honesty also includes letting them know when they are unqualified for a job that they are applying for (and even more so if they appear to think that qualifications are irrelevant).

Is it being disrespectful or dishonest to point out that Sarah Palin, in the Couric interview, appeared to be unable to mention a single publication (not even the Anchorage Daily News!!) that she read to keep up with contemporary world events?  Or to remind people that in a startling moment during the VP debate she indicated to Gwen Ifill that she wasn't prepared to answer the questions that were directed to both Joe Biden and her, but would rather invent her own questions and answer them?

These aren't my fantasies -- millions of people watched these interactions unfold.