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Media Genius Sarah Palin No Longer Taking Questions From Reporters?

» 66 comments

This is one of those times where you have to wonder whether Sarah Palin is truly a media genius. Or merely a sign of things to come. Or both. Yesterday, Palin’s longtime spokesperson and “adviser” Meg Stapleton announced she was resigning her position to spend more time with her family.

Stapelton’s competence as Palin’s spokesperson has been consistently questioned since Palin arrived on the national stage in late 2008, mostly recently during the whole Rush Limbaugh/”retard” debacle. Also, for a spokesperson she was reportedly rather hard to reach. Says Politico’s Michael Calderone:

[G]etting a comment or sometimes even an acknowledgment from Stapleton could be difficult. I tried several times in recent months on Palin-related stories, and Stapleton never responded, while her voice mail was repeatedly full and unable to accept messages.

But here’s where it gets really interesting. Apparently, Palin has no plans to hire another spokesperson! The Palin family is apparently “comfortable speaking in their own voice.” Per Calderone:

So as of right now the only contact seems to be through Palin’s PAC, which provides a phone number which goes right to an answering machine and an e-mail address with no specific person to contact (info@sarahpac.com).

Crafty or crazy? Palin is, obviously, one of the most talked-about women/politicians on the planet, and a lot of that talk is not nice. I suspect “responding in her own voice” actually means one of two things. Palin has decided that answering questions from actual reporters is very last decade and is either going to let a combination of her Fox analyst appearances and the take-no-prisoners Fox News PR team speak for her (one can dream). Or! She has concluded, and not without good reason, that her one-way Facebook mouthpiece is all the public access she requires. It’s worked so far. Why bother with the fourth estate at all when all you need is a catchy Facebook note to derail an entire health care bill.

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  • The Real Royal King

    I don’t think Sarah should hire a spokesperson. She is terribly knowledgeable and articulate, and I think she and we would mutually benefit from her talking about anything she wishes, anytime she wishes, in her wonderful stream-of-conscious flow.

  • timzank

    I know you never intended to be correct, but you are. Gotta love a retired politician that scares the livin’ bejesus outta guys like you.

  • writer

    With the exception of Fox, why doesn’t the media quit this dog and pony show and just be honest? Tell Palin, “Look, Sarah. We’re all left wingers and we hate you. Any time you so much as peek you head out the door we’re going to go on the attack. So just stay in your house and keep your mouth shut. Freedom of speech only goes for those we agree with.”

  • MichelleF

    Um Glynnis,
    Remember how the left was outraged that Bush went a while without a presser? Well it was reported a couple days ago that Obama’s gone even longer, so in the words of Kevin James, “shutty”. BO’s pres. and Palin isn’t. You do get the diff, right?

  • The Real Royal King

    Gotta love a retired politician that scares the livin’ bejesus outta guys like you.

    Judging from comments by some Republican leaders of late, it seems to me it is they and not we who are scared. As I have often said, I hope, against all hope, Sarah gets the Republican nomination. It will be the RNC starring in the Fear Factor.

  • The Real Royal King

    MichelleF says:
    February 25, 2010 at 11:36 am

    Um Glynnis,
    Remember how the left was outraged that Bush went a while without a presser? Well it was reported a couple days ago that Obama’s gone even longer, so in the words of Kevin James, “shutty”. BO’s pres. and Palin isn’t. You do get the diff, right?

    Goodness, Michelle. You rightist moan and bleat every time President Obama is on television. Is that why you want a presser? Another opportunity to moan and bleat, bleat and moan. Enough! I say: Enough!

  • writer

    I’ll admit that in a Palin/Obama matchup, Palin would probably lose. But it would sure be fun. That pass that McCain gave Obama on his associations with people like Van Jones and Reverend Wright wouldn’t be given with Palin running. Watching Obama twist in the wind would almost be worth losing again.

  • MichelleF

    Please, we all know his pressers are like, “how does it make you feel when you are called a Socialist?” If he can’t handle those questions, we have a problem! We’re sick of his speeches on TV blaming Bush for everything under the sun, a few hard questions would be GLADLY welcome. But he won’t do that, will he?

  • Olby Sucks

    I agree, writer. Obama’s a lame duck, anyways.

  • MichelleF

    Writer, you could be right, but remember, Biden is “brilliant” and she more than held her own with him. I would LOVE a Obama/Malkin or Ingram matchup! Watching him get a beat down from a little girl would be pricesless. BTW,I am in NO way implying violence when I say beat down, it’s stictly metephorically!

  • The Real Royal King

    It would be interesting, indeed, although I think for different reasons. Obama is such a gentleman. He puts the rest of us to shame. Sarah has a very rude, nasty, snippy side to her, in my opinion. Her shelf life would be somewhat less than fresh eels.

    I also think, Writer, the issues you persist in raising have all been vetted to such an extent that most people have no interest in them any longer. It is like W and the ANG. The issue was never resolved, but it was raised in 2000. Few people had much interest in raising it to 2004, to which reference the Rather story. I think Wright is much the same. Again, Sarah would likely raise the issue because it is in her nature to do so. It would cut against her.

  • writer

    And when I said ‘twist in the wind’, it was the common metaphor. I in no way implied lynching or anything related. Perhaps I should’ve said, I’d enjoy seeing Obama made a fool of, or raked over the coals, or caught lying, or being a hypocrite, or some other terms that would’ve been just as apt.

  • The Real Royal King

    MichelleF says:
    February 25, 2010 at 11:43 am

    Please, we all know his pressers are like, “how does it make you feel when you are called a Socialist?” If he can’t handle those questions, we have a problem! We’re sick of his speeches on TV blaming Bush for everything under the sun, a few hard questions would be GLADLY welcome. But he won’t do that, will he?

    See, you don’t even need a presser to bleat and moan. It comes as natural to you as melodic tones from the Vienna Boys’ Choir.

  • The Real Royal King

    MichelleF says:
    February 25, 2010 at 11:45 am

    Writer, you could be right, but remember, Biden is “brilliant” and she more than held her own with him.

    According to all of the post-debate polling, a vast majority of your fellow Countrymen and women disagreed with you. Perhaps, they are not as fond of shrill as you.

  • writer

    The issue of Obama going to a racist church was never ‘resolved’. Obama lied about it, the left said ‘yeah, I believe him’, and that was that.

  • the real john t

    ” I would LOVE a Obama/Malkin or Ingram matchup!”

    You’re not serious are you? Obama could take on both those women at the same time in a debate and shred them to pieces.

  • MichelleF

    Sorry King, you’re little childish digs won’t work today! I’m zen!

    And Writer, you are correct. He lied, the media backed him up, and they thought the case was closed. It’s not!
    Especially since we are now able to go around the traditional lefty media to get all of his close associations out into the light of day.

  • MichelleF

    The real john T,
    Why don’t you try setting that up and we will see. Remember, you can’t use your teleprompter in a debate. He doesn’t debate well. He has to think too carefully about everything that comes out of his mouth. There is what he thinks and what he can say out loud. It screws him up. It’s like Rush says, when you know and believe what you say, you don’t have to do that. Malkin or Ingram would roll him.

  • writer

    We can only hope such a matchup would take place. McCain may have been a war veteran, but on the things he should have really attacked he let Obama off the hook. Obama couldn’t count on Palin being politically correct and sparing his feelings.

  • The Real Royal King

    How lovely! A Mormon Buddhist. Must be interesting.

    You had no rightist media in 2008? Must be short term memory loss on your part.

    Do you also support DNA testing to disprove that the President is a catfish?

  • The Real Royal King

    Obama couldn’t count on Palin being politically correct and sparing his feelings.

    Or, even simply correct.

  • The Real Royal King

    You people are truly amusing today. Thanks for a great laugh!

  • Olby Sucks

    The issue of Obama going to a racist church was never ‘resolved’.

    ——-

    He thought he “resolved” it by throwing wright under the bus. He “resolved” the ayers issue the same way. Who has been to the white house more than anybody else according to the log records? ayers and wright! LOL!

  • MichelleF

    I would call you ammusing King, but sadly you are not! Just bitter, as always.

  • the real john t

    “He has to think too carefully about everything that comes out of his mouth.”

    Yeah, that’s what’s good about him. Unlike Palin that just spouts off at the mouth and maybe thinks about it later, which is too late.

  • http://trickletown.vox.com/ Trickletown

    Memo to the “Right”: The “Left” has so miserably screwed up, it should be easy to relegate Obama to a single term. However, If you think ex Gov Palin or the Tea Party are your ticket into the White House, you are delusional! Find a qualified Republican candidtate who isn’t afraid of working from the center, or plan on losing.

  • The Real Royal King

    Of course, I never said the issue was resolved. I said it was vetted. The election, by a stunning popular vote and Electoral College margin, did that. Elections have consequences, you see. A vast majority of voters concluded that these issues were not of such importance to them and to the governance of our nation that they should act to disqualify President Obama. Go back to these as much as you want. They are as relevant as the propriety of Eleanor Roosevelt wearing hair nets in public.

  • the real john t

    If Palin is such a great speaker why as she banned the press from her speeches? They have to buy a ticket now and no cameras or recorders are allowed.

  • writer

    The way it was ‘vetted’ was the same way Van Jones was ‘vetted’. The media granted Obama his politically correct pass and enough people didn’t question it further. There’s a difference between ignoring and vetting.

  • MichelleF

    Writer,
    We all know his vetting was “pathetic” at best.

  • MichelleF

    Sorry, comment submitted before I was ready. Anyway, the reason people like Glenn Beck are exploding right now is because he’s doing the vetting of the people around BO that should have been done BEFORE the election and wasn’t. The people are more willing to listen now.

  • writer

    Closer to non existent.

  • The Real Royal King

    Yes, I said, whine, bleat, moan; bleat, moan, whine; moan, whine, bleat. The Michelle F and Writer duet has an engaging repertoire, doesn’t it?

  • MichelleF

    King,
    I’m rapidly losing my sanity talking to you and I’m going ot need it for work today, so have a great day!

  • Olby Sucks

    Obama didn’t vet any of the people he tried appointing. His arrogance did the vetting. How’d that work out for ya,’ obama? ;)

  • homie

    Also too, Palin has been taking crash night courses at wing-nut college, doncha know?
    She can probably name several magazines or even newspapers by now, you betcha! All the ones that are put in front of her.

  • The Real Royal King

    so have a great day!

    Thanks, Michelle F. Back at ‘ya.

  • homie

    “How’d that work out for ya,’ obama?”

    Repeat after me: “Landslide” That’s how.

  • The Real Royal King

    Obama didn’t vet any of the people he tried appointing. His arrogance did the vetting.

    Seems like he did very well with Clinton, Duncan, Sotomayor and many others.

    You appear to be mistaken again, Jeff.

    By the way, I was over at TP archives last night. I got burned just reading some of the posts about you. If you need treatment, the best burn center in the States is in San Antonio. Just let me know. I’ll make you some petit fours and bring you some DVD’s and magazines. Still into gladiator movies and Scott Brown centerfolds?

  • The Real Royal King

    homie says:
    February 25, 2010 at 1:13 pm

    “How’d that work out for ya,’ obama?”

    Repeat after me: “Landslide” That’s how.

    Now, now. Don’t ask Jeff to repeat words with “s” sounds. You know how his lisp embarrasses him.

  • Olby Sucks

    “Oh, but, he won the election!”

    WEAK!

  • Olby Sucks

    Thanks patsy, er homie! ;)

  • Ted

    MicheleF – the reason Glen Beck is “exploding” is because there are always going to be people that will pay to see the freak show. He delivers. Has nothing at all to do with Van Jones.

  • MichelleF

    Keep telling yourself that, Ted.

  • The Real Royal King

    I don’t know, Michelle F. I think Ted may be right. As I’ve said before, no one goes to a NASCAR race to watch people turn to the left. They go for the inevitable explosion.

  • writer

    Beck did what the MSM should have been doing. Alerting us to a communist close to the president.

  • The Real Royal King

    Then, I wish Glen(n) would come over to my house and check for Kommunists under the bed and in the closet. I’m afraid the accelerometer in my Kommiedar is broken and can’t be replaced.

  • writer

    Yeah, when people look for imaginary ones, that’s funny. But Van Jones is the real thing. But I guess since Obama spent so long listening to a guy whose philosophy is ‘goddamn America’, it’s not all that surprising.

  • The Real Royal King

    Have we declared Kommunism illegal in Amerika? When did this happen? Not that we have any real Kommunists in Amerika anymore, but I am curious.

  • giussepina

    I sometimes vote for the CPUSA candidate if there’s one on the ballot. But I plan on returning to my formerly Communist country soon.

  • writer

    It’s not that big here. No big threat. Just odd to have a presidential appointee who believes in a system that wants the overthrow of our own. Just kinda odd. Maybe not so much in China or Cuba. Kinda odd here.

  • Olby Sucks

    No communists? Really? Go check out think propaganda. They don’t, in the least bit, hide it.

  • writer

    The main thing is, Royal doesn’t care in the least. Want to say goddamn America? No problem.

  • The Real Royal King

    First off, Writer, I never say that word. Never. I find it no only vulgar, but utterly reprehensible, and I truly resent your implication that I might. I also resent that you have “published” that word here. Secondly, I love this nation, our society and our culture, deeply, profoundly, passionately. If I see a path to make this amazing nation as great and good as it ought to be, as it can be, as it wants to be, that is not to be disparaged. I am sure you are in complete agreement with at least the second point. You may see a different path. And there may be a third path as yet to be discovered. There is much I respect about your point of view and your posts, unlike the point of view and posts of your immediate predecessor at 17:23 Hours, who has nothing to offer. It seems to be that two gentlemen ought to be able to enjoy and benefit from a free exchange of very different ideas, and still maintain a level of respect for one another. I think we are both far better than a Keith Olbermann and a Glen(n) Beck, than a Harry Reid and a Mitch McConnell. That ought to be a most happy pairing.

  • writer

    I don’t care for that word either. Could have used *** I guess. But I’m not a close friend of the president, either. The fact that a twenty year friend of the president says it should bother you much more than me reprinting it to point it out. Doesn’t it bother you that Obama didn’t mind until he was running for president? You really, I mean really believe Obama didn’t know where Wright was coming from? I’ve heard of people sleeping in church, but come on. And in twenty years, he couldn’t find another church? A guy that says g.d. America, in church no less, was the best he could find? Really??

  • the real john t

    Writer,

    You seem to have a very big problem with the church Obama attended. Do you have the same problem with the church Palin attended where that witch doctor or whatever he was cast that spell or whatever it was on here? Do you have a problem with Todd Palin belonging to that organization that was calling for Alaska to seceed from the union?

  • The Real Royal King

    Writer, I just don’t find that all that relevant. As a Catholic, I can tell you that I know of members, worshippers who will listen to the priest or even the bishop rail about abortion, but who are pro-choice, rail about the evils of birth control, but use the pill, rail against capital punishment, but who support the death penalty. That is how I see the Wright situation.

    You know, I heard Joe Scarborough say he became a Baptist, or began attending a Baptist church, because in his part of the world he would have a leg up at the ballot box.

    What was it with President Obama? Simply not agreeing with the Rev. Mr. Wright? A bit of political opportunism in the world of Chicago politics? Both? Something else. I don’t know. I know President Obama is a good and decent man who seems completely devoted to his family, to his community and to our nation. I tend to agree with many of his policies. You don’t. But, I imagine you don’t think him inherently evil.

    I don’t know what, if anything, he ought to have done about the Rev. Mr. Wright and his membership and attendance at the church. I suppose I wouldn’t have continued going. But, I don’t know what ties he had there. I know that the denomination is one which encourages learning, outreach and tolerance. Maybe that kept him in a place despite some limitations with the minister.

    As I said, it was never that important an issue to me. After I decided Hillary didn’t have the leadership qualities we needed, and I began to support President Obama, I had some reservations and objections. I wish he had done some things differently. The Rev. Mr. Wright was simply one of the reservations, but not a disqualifier.

  • the real john t

    on here > on her

  • The Real Royal King

    Sorry to be so lengthy, but I ought to add, I had some real problems on religious matters with some of the ticket bigwigs. Obama, as I said. McCain’s professed Christianity without ever having been baptized (the rite of initiation into the Church) was very, very troubling. Palin, who I have never thought is a person of great faith, troubled be with her sort of snake-handling mentality. As a Catholic, Biden reassured me, and Hillary, who I ultimately “left” has a strong, centered mainstream faith. Faith, religion, is a factor, but not an immediate disqualifier. I could vote for a non-Christian easier than for a Christian was is not faithful in belief and practice. I think I would have trouble voting for a cultist, a Jim Jones, even a Mormon, but I have never had to address that head-on. Other issues have knocked that out.

  • writer

    It’s like the old song said, ‘You can tell a man who boozes by the company he chooses.’ (And the pig got up and slowly walked away.) Do I think Obama is as hateful and racist as Wright? Doubtful. But it does speak to his character that he saw Wright’s church as a stepping stone in Chicago politics and looked the other way on the rhetoric.

  • the real john t

    Writer, just what do you know about the Rev Wright? I’ll tell you what you know, you know what you saw in a couple 30sec clips that Fox showed over and over and over….. You know nothing about the church or the man. If it’s a racist church how come many white people belong to it?

  • writer

    Because there are plenty of self-loathing whites, laden with guilt. So you think that a man of God yelling goddamn America from the pulpit is proper behavior? Only takes thirty seconds to see that. If you think that’s proper behavior for a man of the cloth, and that there were no better churches to be found in all of Chicago, hey, more power to you.

  • The Real Royal King

    I think what we see here is simply White fear of an angry African-American male (the Rev. Mr. Wight). President Obama was correct during the campaign not to become angry and bite back when he was attacked. He would have raised fear in too many voters.

  • writer

    Hard as it is for the left to believe, everything isn’t about race. Any preacher saying goddamn America from the pulpit is a scumbag. Your political correctness just won’t let you say it.

  • writer

    And since Wright bought a mansion in a white neighborhood, he must also have fear of those angry African Americans. I thought you wanted to debate intelligently, Royal. As long as you find it absolutely impossible to criticize a left wing black man, no matter how outrageous his behavior, then there’s no hope of that.

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