Sarah Palin has been demoted from Tea Party icon, to moldy candy-less pinata. "Here's your stick, step right up and take a swing!"

First up we have Ann "Crypt Keepers daughter" Coulter, speaking to Laura Ingraham filling in for Bill O'Reilly, who said of Sarah Palin:

You know, we used to all love Sarah Palin, conservatives like me, for her enemies. I'm starting to dislike her because of her fans. And she does get things wrong. She wouldn't have to. I think she's bright, but she doesn't -- her good points do not seem to be in the direction of running for president. Just like Newt Gingrich, you just go ahead and run so we can get this over with.

You can see the interview for yourself directly below.

However Coulter is certainly not the ONLY conservative pundit taking a swing at Palin these days, check out the scathing evisceration of Palin's political prick tease from RedState.com:

When people (including her own supporters) began to (reasonably) speculate that this would be the date and place of her announcement (as she no doubt intended for them to do), she issued one of the most ridiculous, delusions-of-persecution laden statements in the history of politics, declaring herself the victim of “establishment political games” and declaring that such speculation was “more of the ‘politics-as-usual’ that Sarah Palin has fought against throughout her career.” 

Perhaps never before has a politician had the chutzpah to claim that excited speculation about her running for President was part of a conspiracy against her that she needed to thwart. Likewise never before have so many of a politician’s followers so eagerly lapped up something so transparently moronic. 

Palin’s ridiculous act has worn so thin with the GOP electorate that she now polls roughly equivalent with Ron Paul. Whereas three months ago she would have been in an ideal position to be kingmaker in the Republican primary, given that 71% of Republicans don’t want her to run for President, she might well be in a position that the first person she calls to offer an endorsement will politely turn it down. And nevermind actually running a campaign that could win – in addition to her substantial polling woes, Palin has no national campaign staff, no local staff in any early primary states, no big-donor fundraising network that can match either Perry or Romney, and if her September 3rd speech is any indication, no cohesive and defining issues or policies to run on. The primary calendar has moved earlier and is more heavily frontloaded with major states than ever; a candidate without any of the attributes listed above has never been so far behind the 8-ball as Sarah Palin would be now if she announced tomorrow.

Oh yeah, that's the stuff!

You know I offered numerous times in the past to have these conservatives come over and visit my blog to receive an education on Sarah Louise Palin and to learn what her game plan was for coyly acting the part of the political dilettante, while milking her supporters of every last red cent, before abruptly leaving them in the dust as she roars off in her private jet to live in the luxury that their ignorance and desperation provided for her.

If they had only taken me up on that offer, we could have been reading this postmortem on Palin a year ago.

Lawrence O'Donnell responds to e-mail from Republican chairman in Iowa asking if he would apologize for repeatedly saying that Sarah Palin will not run for President after she announces. An announcement that he expected to take place on September 3rd.

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If only the Teabaggers watched Lawrence O'Donnell instead of Fox News, just imagine how much grief and disappointment they could have avoided.

I think I am going to hand the baton of blogging about Palin's Iowa run to my friend Oz Mud. (Do you like how I stuck to the running metaphor?)

This is a sight that could give nightmares to progressives, actual marathon runners, and intelligent people everywhere.

So I am going to avoid the Iowa race topic today (well at least that is my plan as I type this.), but I thought that all of you might benefit from a trip down under to see my blogger buddy OzMud, who did a rather amazing job of finding things about the pictures of Sarah Palin at that race which just kind of make you go "Hmmm."

Personally I am still trying to figure out why there was such an incredible push back on the talk that this whole thing might have been staged. And I don't just mean the typical pro-Palin people either.

Perhaps one of you could enlighten me concerning that question?

Perhaps I was too quick to label yesterday's photo of Sarah Palin running as photoshopped.

Yesterday I posted a picture found on Gretawire of the Grizzled Mama running, that to be honest seemed very odd, which then led to many of us making the assumption that it was photoshopped.

Here let me show you the picture in question.

Now as the day unfolded numerous people rushed over here to correct my assertion that the photo appeared to have been manipulated. Other bloggers even wrote about how I had put my credibility in jeopardy by even suggesting that Sarah Palin had NOT run this race. And a few people whose opinion I respect said that they were not certain the picture was photoshopped either.

But you know sometimes I can be a real stubborn son-of-a-bitch so I was still pretty darn convinced that something hinky was going on here. But then I saw this picture:

Oh my god, what can I say?

Clearly this photo, which I am guessing was taken seconds after the first photo, shows Sarah "I am too a runner dammit!" Palin/Heath running so quickly that, not only do her feet not touch the ground, but she has just passed herself in the race. ("Laws of time and space do not apply to me, I am Sarah Palin bitchez!")

What can I say? Photos don't lie.

So let me take a moment to apologize.

First to Sarah Palin for assuming that just because she appeared virtually catatonic on Friday in Iowa, that she could NOT get herself healthy enough to place second in a half marathon, despite NOBODY in Wasilla ever seeing her running around town, nor on a treadmill at any of the gyms. Or that she would wait around for at least an hour after the race to have her picture taken with a Palin-bot (Who just happens to blog) to prove her participation.

And let me apologize to my visitors for automatically assuming that a woman who faked a pregnancy, substituted one baby for another, and whose daughter appeared on nationally televised dance contest while pregnant (Which she covered up for by claiming she was just more fit than the other contestants.), would EVER fake a marathon race.

I mean seriously, WHAT about this person would convince me to never take what she does at face value, and to always remain skeptical until I have proven to myself, without a shadow of a doubt, that we are NOT all being manipulated by somebody famous for her manipulative nature?

What was I thinking?

Is the picture of Sarah Palin running in Iowa the worst job of photoshop EVER? Update!

"I'm hovering above the grass because I don't want to stain my shoes."

(H/T to Gretawire.)

This is such an amateurish job that I CANNOT believe that Van Susteren thought anybody would take it seriously.

So we all make noise about Palin looking sickly and possibly drugged yesterday and the day before, and then THIS picture suddenly shows up?

Didn't I have this effect on her once before when she was in Hawaii? Why yes I did!

Can somebody please ask Joe McGinniss if he is SURE that Sarah Palin does not read the blogs? Cause it kind of looks like she does!

I'm just saying.

Update:  Another picture and eyewitness account suddenly appears to prove that we bloggers are "just makin stuff up."

Okay gang, what do we think?

Has Palin's political prick tease finally run out of pricks to tease?

'Padded, pancaked, and Prozac'd!"

"Wow, there are so few of you here I can block out half of of the audience by just holding up my thumb. I'm still getting paid for this right?"

"Well how much money IS in your trust fund? You never know,  if you donated a chunk of it to SarahPAC I might run."

"Your sign's not misspelled and you have all your teeth. Are you sure you're a member of the Tea Party?"

"Drenched all the way down to my size 47 BVDs after standing in the rain for five hours, and she still refuses to announce whether she's running or not! If she does this two or three more times I am out of here!"

According to several news outlets there were about two thousand people at this rally.

Now admittedly I am not a math whiz, but does THIS look like two thousand people to you?

But you know things like math, or speeches that make sense, or even ever actually launching a campaign, don't make any real difference.  All that matters is whether or not Snowdrift Snooki provided JUST enough hope for her crazed fans to still convince themselves that she is really and for true going to launch a Presidential campaign. Which will then convince them to keep sending her that wonderful money.

And it looks like she managed to hold off her inevitable nervous breakdown long enough to achieve that very goal. 

From the Sea O'Pee:

Of all days to worry about whether or not Governor Palin is running for President, as far as I can tell, today would not be that day. I can’t say for sure, as I certainly have no inside information, but I do have common sense. Common sense tells me that unless one has an incredible amount of free time on her hands, she doesn’t devise a specific, detail-laden plan for America like the one Governor Palin delivered to the country today, if she weren’t planning to implement that plan. Perhaps there are some out there who have that kind of free time, with nothing better to do, but we have all seen what kind of schedule the Governor keeps; she’s not one of those people sitting around looking for something to do. Common sense also tells me that she doesn’t have to do things our way. In fact, she won’t do it anyone’s way but her own. Common sense says that if Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton could make their presidential intentions known in November and October, respectively, September is not too late. 

So here’s my question: Should not common sense tell the worry warts the same thing? 

It is like shooting crippled fish, in a really tiny barrel.

Sarah Palin pulls it together in Indianola, Iowa for last ditch effort to stay relevant to her Teabagger base.

Wearing more body padding than a NFL linebacker, more makeup than circus clown, and many times almost screaming her attacks on President Obama, Sarah Palin puts on quite a show in Iowa.

After seeing what she was like yesterday I had my doubts that Palin could get her shit together for this speech. But you have to hand it to her, when it is time to shake her carefully padded money maker she knows exactly how hard to shake it, and whose face to shake it in.

Clearly this was a speech that somebody worked on for quite some time.

It did not seem to miss one opportunity to attack President Obama, one opportunity to suck up to the Teabaggers, or one opportunity to put her GOP rivals on notice that she can still give them a run for their money. At one point Palin even kissed up to the corporations who have not always been her biggest fans by calling for the end to ALL corporate income taxes.

I have to admit I was very impressed with how her special effects team was able to transform her from the frail, sickly creature we saw yesterday to the Dolly Parton lookalike that stood on that stage in Iowa today.

Well what can you expect from the woman who successfully fooled virtually every journalist in the world into believing that she was pregnant and gave birth in 2008? Hell compared to that, this was a walk in the park for the queen of body morphing.

However those who have been paying attention know what Sarah Palin REALLY looks like.

And it ain't Dolly Parton!

Sarah Palin deigns to mingle with her sycophants in desperate attempt to retain their support. Update!

This fawning write up of Palin's appearance at a meet-up of castaways from the Sea O'Pea comes to us from the pro-Palin blog US for Palin:

Gov. Palin shook my hand shortly after entering. She signed my O4P NY tee shirt, as I said to her, “Take New York. Take the heart of it. Take it all….all 29 electoral votes. Do it for my wife. Do it for my mother. Do it for all the little girls of this country.” My meeting with her concluded with a hug from Gov. Palin, followed by a handshake with Todd. 

The former Alaska Governor did not address supporters at the Conservatives4Palin-sponsored event, however, Peter Singleton, Iowa State Coordinator, Organize4Palin did. The Palins sat and listened to his address, followed by final bonding with supporters.

Now the Palin-bots are going to come over here again and claim that I doctored that picture to make her look so incredibly bad, but of course I didn't as you can prove to yourself by clicking the link provided at the top.

Of course it does not matter what she ACTUALLY looks like, because this is what these people see when they look at her.  

However something is very odd about this appearance.

"The former Alaska Governor did not address supporters ."

Why would Palin show up to this meeting of supporters and NOT take the opportunity to address them?

These are her most ardent followers, and the source of the money that flows into SarahPAC, why would she not take the time to thank them and get them all fired up about the possibility of a future announcement that she is jumping into the race?

I literally could not answer that question. Until I saw this video.


Did you see it too?

There is something very, very wrong with Palin.  She looks quite ill, and extremely frail.

I believe that she is having a nervous breakdown, and she simply could not take the chance of losing it in front of these people.

If you look at Todd in the video you can see the that he has a very worried look on his face, and seems drained from the strain of dealing with whatever she is going through right now.

The supporters in that room were too blinded by the appearance in the sweaty flesh of their demi-god, but I believe what we are witnessing are the last days of Sarah Palin as a political force.

It could be the books coming out, the pressure about babygate, or even the statements coming from "Anonymous," but SOMETHING has almost literally sucked the life right out of her.

Update:  I noticed that a number of you did not believe that Palin looks as ill as I described earlier in the post. I in fact do.

My opinion, and this is just my opinion, is that she is having a rather severe psychotic break. I also believe that it is affecting her health in rather troubling manner.  That kind of skinny does NOT come out of a diet pill box or Red Bull can, THAT is the result of a serious eating disorder.

Some have mentioned possible drug use, and yes that could also be a factor.  In fact if I saw that woman on the streets I am pretty sure I would automatically assume she was a meth addict or a speed freak.

Also watch her affect in the video.  She seems incapable of any emotion, not even responding to the loud cheers right behind her and right next to her.

What is even more bizarre is that she cannot even FAKE emotion, which of course she is usually quite adept at doing in front of crowds.

So though we can all have different reads on what we are seeing I assume we all agree that there is something seriously amiss here.

Palin is scheduled to give her speech later on today.  I am interested in whether or not she can pull it together by then, or if she will be forced to cancel.

Martin Bashir tries to get to the bottom of the Sarah Palin/Christine O'Donnell kerfuffle in Iowa.

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I tell you every time I see one of these Teabaggers on television it is like they just got snatched away making barely coherent anti-government rants on YouTube, dressed in an ill fitting suit, and plopped down on a chair in the MSNBC studios.

This guy Judson Phillips is clearly ill prepared to defend the Teabaggers against Bashir's rather pointed questioning, and his contention that "The Tea Party lives by the words of Martin Luther King, we judge people by the content of their character not the color of their skin," is laugh out loud ridiculous.

It is also worth noting that he essentially admits that Palin's people refused to have her participate as long as O'Donnell was included in the line up of speakers. And as all of the people who visit this blog are already aware, when they say "Palin's people" that really means the Grizzled Mama herself.

Palin does not trust ANYBODY to make decisions on her behalf.  Even Todd had to ask her what to do about me when I showed up at the book signing event in Anchorage.

Palin is making the Teabaggers jump through hoops with the promise she MIGHT show up on Saturday.

Courtesy of the Des Moines Register:

Christine O’Donnell is off the guest list – again – and Sarah Palin is a “maybe.” 

In the latest episode in the drama over the speaking lineup for Saturday’s Tea Party of America rally in Iowa, organizer Ken Crow said Palin’s staff called this morning to say Palin’s appearance at the rally was “on hold” until three changes were made. 

“They said, ‘Ken, can you take care of bing, bing, bing’ and I said, ‘Yessir, I will’ and I did,” Crow, an Indianola Republican told The Des Moines Register. 

“Now I’m waiting to hear back.”Crow said two of the requests were logistical details: Email a copy of the program today, and address concerns about back-stage security and who will be allowed in that area. 

Asked about the third request, Crow said: “Can I let that remain private for now?” 

Meanwhile, Crow telephoned staff for O’Donnell, a Delaware Republican who ran for the U.S. Senate, to say she can’t speak at Saturday’s event. 

“We’re all friends and she’s not coming,” he said, referring to O’Donnell.

Five points to the person who correctly guesses which THIRD change had to be made. And the first two don't count.

Oh yeah Christine, that was ALL about you baby.

Personally I am disgusted with these baggers for letting Palin treat them like her own personal handbag carriers and ass-wipers.  I mean hell THAT'S Tawd's job!

I hope that somebody takes that Mudflats post and e-mails it to Ken Crow, you know if you had access to his e-mail address, you know like this one right here for instance: ken@teapartyofamerica.org.

Not that I'm suggesting that anybody do that, after all Ken has so much on his plate already.

But if it were ME I would certainly like to know what kind of lunatic was making me look like an idiot in front of the press.

Mudflats is a MUST read today. Update: Palin QUITS Iowa speech!

If you have not been there yet, I suggest that you do not delay as it has confirmation of many of the stories about the Palins that we have been hearing for a long time. (Just click here to visit.)

They do not say anything too revelatory about babygate (If Frank actually knows the truth, as has been suggested, then it appears he did not share it, or swore Jeanne and Ken to secrecy), but it does suggest what others in her inner circle thought might be the reason she was so tiny throughout her pregnancy.

The claim that Sarah was never actually pregnant with her special needs child Trig—a widely circulated rumor that became known as “Babygate”—was partially based on Sarah shocking the world by announcing her pregnancy at seven months. Prior to that, nobody had suspected a thing. The revelation was even a surprise to staff, Frank Bailey, and the media. Even State Senator (and, according to Sarah and staff an evil-doer) Lyda Greene incredulously said, “It’s wonderful. She’s very well disguised. When I was five months pregnant, there was absolutely no question that I was with child.” 

How did Sarah manage to hide that pregnancy for so long? That question seemed to defy explanation to all except a small number of personal insiders who expressed alarming speculation. During her pregnancy with Piper (and it was suggested later with Trig), Todd asked a friend whom he thought knew about such matters, “As unhealthy as her eating is, what can those diet pills do to the baby?” 

The friend explained to him, “I’m not sure, but I’d be concerned about having a failure-to-thrive child.” (Failure to thrive is where there is a significant interruption in the expected growth rate during early childhood and can result from malnutrition). Was Sarah so vain as to try and hide her pregnancy and prolong her petite, almost perfect figure through drastic means? It’s a proposition that shocked everyone, including, reportedly, her husband.

This might have been something that was discussed by people with no understanding of pregnancy but as many of you can probably already surmise for yourselves, the diet pills might help to keep most of a soon-to-be-mother's body slim, the baby is still growing inside of her, and it would in fact look even MORE pronounced against an emaciated frame.

And as you can see from these two pictures taken on March 26, 2008, Palin did NOT appear nearly as skinny as we see her today, nor does she appear pregnant. She might have been taking diet pills at this time, but it in NO WAY explains the oddness of the square pillow in her belly.

Nor does it explain how she ballooned up to to her April 13 size in just a few weeks.

However we were to desperately cling to that explanation instead of admitting the truth that should be obvious to everybody who saw her then you would have expected  Trig to have been equally as emaciated when he emerged from his starvation period in the womb, and as you can see by pictures of the child presented as Trig by the Heaths on the day of his "birth" such was not the case.

Like I said, binging and purging, and pounding down diet pills does not adequately explain this bizarre "pregnancy."

I don't know why this is still being trotted out as a possible excuse by people who I am relatively certain do not buy into it, but I think most people, who are NOT trying to protect Palin's birth mythology, are well aware of what the overwhelming evidence demonstrates.

Having said that I still suggest that you head on over to the Mudflats and read the article as it is chock full of information about Todd and Sarah's battles, Sarah's lack of parenting skills, and her crazy mood swings.

Update: Okay I have no reason to think this is related to the Mudflats post, but Palin just quit her September 3, Iowa speech. Courtesy of Politico:

Sarah Palin canceled her Saturday appearance at a tea party rally in Indianola, Iowa, a person close the former Alaska governor told The Wall Street Journal. 

The person cited “continual lying” from event organizers at Tea Party of America, including a recent mixup over whether former U.S. Senate candidate Christine O’Donnell of Delaware would also speak. 

Okay Sarah Palin quit because of "lying?" Ouch! The irony makes my head hurt!

Please, we all know she quit because the organizers had the audacity to schedule Christine O'Donnell on the same day. Palin lives by the law of the Highlander, "There can be only one!"

Of course on the plus side, there is DEFINITELY an opening for Christine O'Donnell to give a speech, and this time she does no have to worry about being tripped by that nasty old bitch as she walks off stage.

Update 2: Apparently the Teabaggers themselves have NOT been informed that her highness may not be coming. My somewhat educated guess is that SHE does not want to go, but that her "people" are flipping out that she might cancel yet again.

I am interested in how this all plays out, because it sounds to me like Palin might be having one of her manic episodes.

What do you think?  Will she show up, or not?

SarahPAC creates another campaign commercial for Sarah Palin's non-existent campaign.

So let me get this straight.

SarahPAC spends their donations on air travel, bus rental, and hotel costs for Sarah Palin, and whichever family member she can bribe/convince/threaten to come with her, so that she can travel to a certain venue in the United States.

Then Palin is filmed walking around, shaking hands, and answering a few reporters questions.

That footage is then very carefully edited to make it appear that she did something political. 

The same soaring soundtrack that was in her previous pseudo political advertisements is then added to tug at the heartstrings of the viewers.

After that the whole thing is thrown up on various pro-Palin websites to encourage MORE donations to SarahPAC, which are necessary to pay for the NEXT fake political appearance, in order to obtain MORE footage to use in the NEXT fake political commercial, which can then be used to grift MORE money from the slowest learners on the planet.

Do I have that about right?

A couple of things to note.

First, we now understand the reason behind this huge, gaudy bracelet that Palin wore in Iowa. 

If you watch the video you will notice that EVERY time she shakes someones hand the red, white and ridiculous accoutrement is prominently displayed, sending the subliminal message that Palin is super-duper patriotic.

Second there were also a large number of brown people in the video, which proves, once again, that Palin is definitely reading the comments here and recognized that people noticed that her other videos had featured ONLY white folks.

Third, there was a LOT of effort this time to show Palin answering questions from REPORTERS.

Clearly that is in response to criticisms that she never spoke to any members of the press except Fox News talking heads.  Which means to me, that Palin purposefully went out of her way to talk to reporters specifically for THIS video.

"Wait, are you saying that she used me?"

Yes Don Lemon, yes I am.

So Palin swoops into Iowa, distracts the media from covering the REAL candidates running for the GOP nomination, and gets a fundraising video out of the deal as well. Pretty slick.

The only down side for Sister Sarah is that she managed to piss off almost everybody who ever supported her.  But as long as she can still string along the dipshits over at the Sea O' Pea, and get them to send her their hard earned money, I am not sure she even gives a flying crap about whose toes she steps on.

Which I guess really only leaves one question left to answer about Snowdrift Snooki's next move.

(H/T to Azure Ghost for the graphic.)

Republicans turn on Sarah Palin en masse after her disasterous political prick tease in Iowa.

After squeezing every last drop of her fifteen minutes of fame, like a milk-aholic at a cow's rapidly depleting udder, Sarah Palin seems to have FINALLY stepped over the invisible line from possible Presidential candidate to Republican laughingstock.

Courtesy of Meghan McCain:

Much of Sarah Palin’s allure seems to fade by each passing talking point of Michele Bachmann’s that goes viral. And with each passing day, Sarah Palin looks more and more like a confused woman who can’t decide which way to go. The last thing our country needs right now is a president who can’t make up her mind or make tough decisions. As Americans, we live in perilous times and what we need is real leadership. Republicans really have a chance to win the White House in 2012. We don’t need to be distracted by Sarah Palin’s attention-seeking antics anymore, unless of course she actually decides to stop flirting and finally make a move to announce her candidacy. Until then, the rest of the country is trying to decide between the candidates who are actually running.

Of course there was NEVER much love lost between the Palins and the daughter of the man responsible for plucking Caribou Barbie out of the wilds of Wasilla, but she is far from alone in her disgust with this endless charade.

As this biting opinion piece from Brad Schaeffer can attest:

So I must conclude that Sarah Palin has become a side-show who still clings to center stage. While rolling around in her tour bus crashing GOP events (while not a declared candidate for dog-catcher) she seems to be craving relevance that her fans in the media on both sides (the right loves her and the left loves to hate her) are more than happy to provide. Sarah sells. That cannot be denied. 

Her entertainment value aside, I cannot help but wonder if she is starting to do some damage to the GOP brand now that the hats are flying through the ring. Why was she in Iowa, for example, other than to steal the legitimate candidates’ thunder and continue to alienate the 58 percent of Americans who, according to Quinnipiac, would never vote for her under any circumstances — and thus reject the Republican ticket were she the nominee? Her Ames party crash has been labeled by some in the media as a “surprise trip to the Iowa state fair” (According to the Christian Science Monitor). A surprise to who exactly? The big unexpected would be if she turned down this chance to scoop up yet more of the limelight. 

Her attack on  conservative writer Alex Pappas over misunderstanding concerning a story that he wrote might have been the actual straw that broke the conservative camels' back.

In response many conservatives circled the wagons around Pappas and took aim at the woman they once adored.

Courtesy of FishBowl DC:

The American Spectator wasn’t alone in defending Pappas. A Daily Caller source who spoke anonymously told FishbowlDC, “If Sarah Palin wants to monitor the Caller that closely, but not so closely that she doesn’t take everything out of context, then maybe she could apply for a job at Media Matters. They’d get along famously.” 

Conservatives on Twitter, meanwhile, encircled the scribe and lashed out at Palin with a vengeance. Sonny Bunch, a former editor at The Weekly Standard , wrote, “Her refusal to personally apologize is just shitty.” But that was kind compared to what else he said. “That’s just a petty, dick move and, frankly, unpresidential,” he wrote. “What gets me about the @AlexPappasDC story is Palin’s refusal to apologize after calling him in front of a rival reporter to embarrass him.”

But perhaps the most telling example of the conservatives falling out of love with Klondike Kardashian, is this guy finally throwing up his hands in disgust.

By continuing to keep alive a tiny glimmering hope of her 2012 candidacy, long after the point when the whole “testing the waters” time-frame has passed its sell-by date, Palin is setting up her True Believers for a bitter disillusionment whenever the time comes for her to officially admit that she’s not running.

I would usually NEVER link to this disgusting excuse for a human being, and I certainly do not encourage any of you to visit the link this time. But because of the unique nature of his relationship with the Palins, and the terrible things he has done on their behalf,  I thought including him did much to prove the point of this post.

I am certainly no Nostradamus, but this has gone pretty much the way that I predicted it would over a year ago.

All you had to know to see this outcome on the horizon was to know WHO Sarah Palin was fundamentally.  And fundamentally she is a very immature, self aggrandizing, phony, who is completely addicted to the limelight and repulsed by hard work.

We Alaskans learned that hard truth about our half term Governor when she up and quit two years ago. We were just waiting for the rest of the country to get up to speed.

There was NEVER any doubt she would not REALLY campaign for the nomination.  The only question was how far could draw out this tease.

And I believe that question has now been answered.

By the way this does not mean that I don't believe that Palin will pop up again.

I have every confidence she will.

It just means that every new appearance is attracting less and less attention, and soon nobody will now, or care, where she turns up next.

I think it is very telling that Palin's next public appearance is alongside Glenn Beck, another disgraced ex-conservative superstar desperate to make a comeback.

President Obama tries to reason with Teabagger in Iowa. You can imagine how THAT goes. Update!

In my opinion the President shows an amazing level of restraint, and actually attempts to explain to this guy why people are upset with the Tea Party.

I don't know if Joe Biden called them terrorists or not, but if he did he was absolutely right to do so.  These poorly educated amateur politicians, who have been given FAR more power than they can handle, are systematically destroying this country, and should be called out on that behavior.

By the way the guy's name in the video is Ryan Rhodes, he is the founder of the Iowa Teabaggers and endorses "crazy eyes" Bachmann.  That should give you some idea as to what the President's chances were of explaining anything to this wingnut.

Update: According to the Washington Post Fact Checker, Biden NEVER called the Teabaggers "terrorists."  (H/T to Jim in Texas.)

To Sean Hannity's embarrassment Iowans tell what they REALLY think of Sarah Palin jumping into the race.

The most telling part is AFTER Hannity gets schooled about Palin's true appeal and Frank Luntz steps in to demonstrate how Fate  how Fox News manipulates reality to support the myth of Palin' popularity.

This is a VERY revealing piece of footage.

Todd Palin is confronted by Alaskan in Iowa who reminds the Palins that their BS no longer works up here in the Last Frontier.

Courtesy of SF Gate:

As we told you the other day, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin hasn't decided yet to run for president.

One big question she will have to answer is why she quit after only two years as governor.The question came up as Palin and husband Todd swooped through the Iowa State Fair the other day. 

A woman, who identified herself as an Alaskan, questioned Todd about why his wife quit. 

He told her to watch "The Undefeated" -- the movie about Palin made by a conservative filmmaker. 

They got into it, and the exchange ended with the woman calling Todd a "sellout."

God I LOVED seeing that.

I cannot believe that Sarah Palin's personal purse valet suggested to this lady that she needed to watch "The Undefeated."

Hey asshole, we are Alaskans!  We don't need to see the movie, we fucking LIVED it!

That is how we know it is a poorly constructed piece of propaganda that NOBODY wanted to attend and which nowadays cannot even attract donations of pet foods in exchange for tickets.

Which is something that Spokane politician Mike Noder discovered the hard way:

Sarah Palin may not be much of a draw in Spokane. 

That’s one conclusion – and a charitable one, at that – to draw from an event a little more than a week ago at The Bing Crosby Theater featuring the new biographical movie about Palin. Planned as a chance to raise money for charities, food for Second Harvest Food Bank and pet supplies for Spokanimal, it was a disappointment, said organizer Mike Noder. 

Unsure how much it might bring in, and unwilling to run afoul of the state Public Disclosure Commission, he didn’t want to collect money for his low-cost mayoral campaign. But he offered hold the screening and collect for some local charities. 

Admission was free, with would-be watchers urged to bring food or pet supplies or donate to charity. 

“People responding were kind of vicious,” Noder said. Vanessa Behan Crisis Nursery wanted no part of the gig and the Food Bank wouldn’t bring down donation barrels, he said. 

The movie, which aired on a Thursday night, didn’t draw a big crowd. Noder estimated it at 50, although others thought it might’ve been half that. The Northeast Community Center Youth Group got the door receipts. The Food Bank got some donations and a plastic grocery bag of food. Spokanimal got some donations and a couple cases of cat food. 

Noder actually got less than nothing: “My web traffic dropped. The association was not good for my campaign.” 

Time to face reality "Tawd." Alaskans know you and your wife pathetic quitters, clearly movie audiences know you are pathetic quitters, and the number of American voters who know you are pathetic quitters is growing everyday.

T-Paw pulls the plug on campaign.

Courtesy of the AP:

Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty dropped out of the race for the GOP presidential nomination on Sunday, hours after finishing a disappointing third in the Iowa straw poll. 

"I wish it would have been different, but obviously the pathway forward for me doesn't exist so we are going to end the campaign," Pawlenty said on ABC's "This Week" from Iowa. 

The low-key Midwesterner, who had struggled to gain traction in a state he had said he must win, had told supporters on a conference call shortly before the broadcast interview that he was ending his White House bid. 

"I thought I would have made a great president, but obviously that pathway isn't there," Pawlenty said. "I do believe we're going to have a very good candidate who is going to beat Barack Obama."

Those last remarks still indicate that Pawlenty is delusional, but apparently not delusional enough to stay in this race. Still I am surprised that of all the GOP wannabes in this contest that he is the first to recognize that his chances are non-existent.

After all third place was not bad at all in the "nobody gives two shits about you but the media" Ames Straw Poll. I mean the only two to beat him were Michele Bachmann (I believe purely based on her corndog eating skills by the way), and Ron Paul who seems to ALWAYS place high in the early polling of the most wingnutty members of the GOP right before the more sober minds realize he might actually become their candidate and yank him of stage with a giant hook.

Hell he beat the eventual nominee, Mitt Romney, by FOUR places, you would think that might give him a boost of confidence going forward, but I guess losing to two of the most batshit crazy candidates in the field put the overall impact of this Iowa poll on the final nomination process into perspective for ole T-Paw.

I have to say that for me personally it is a shame, because right up until this morning I had a hell of a time differentiating between Pawlenty and Santorum. But as of right now I know that Pawlenty is NOT the guy who believes that a woman who has been raped should carry her rapist's child to term. 

Okay folks time to get out your crystal balls and let's see who YOU think will be the next potential loser to Obama in 2012 to come to their senses.

Here are the Iowa Straw Poll results. Try to act excited.

Courtesy of the LA Times:

1. Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (4823, 28.55%) 

2. Congressman Ron Paul (4671, 27.65%) 

3. Governor Tim Pawlenty (2293, 13.57%) 

4. Senator Rick Santorum (1657, 9.81%) 

5. Herman Cain (1456, 8.62%) 

6. Governor Rick Perry (718, 3.62%) write-in 

7. Governor Mitt Romney (567, 3.36%) 

8. Speaker Newt Gingrich (385, 2.28%) 

9. Governor Jon Huntsman (69, 0.41%) 

10. Congressman Thad McCotter (35, 0.21%) 

Well Michele Bachmann won which should come as no surprise to ANYONE. She is the flavor of the moment and she is a fellow Iowan, which gives her an advantage.

And that was BEFORE everybody watched her eat her corndog.

I have to say that I am somewhat surprised that Tim Pawlenty and Rick Santorum (Or as I call them Dweedle dipshit and Dweedle Dumbass), came in third and fourth, right after Ron Paul's second place showing.

I find it amazing that the press gives this stupid poll so much attention when the top five winners don't even have a snowball's chance in hell of getting the nomination.  

What I think might be somewhat newsworthy is that Rick Perry, who was not an official name on the poll and only declared his candidacy this morning, was able to win a sixth place position as a WRITE IN. That should really cause the eventual nominee Mitt Romney some sleepless nights.

All of this media attention these candidates are getting must be driving Palin CRAZY, I wonder what she could possibly do to get them to look in her direction?  

 
Of course, what was I thinking?

CNN reporter Don Lemon manhandled by Marcus Bachmann. NO it's not what you think.

Courtesy of CNN:

After talking for about three minutes, Bachmann waded into the crowd filled with adoring supporters.

Moments later, as she tried to exit the area back to a waiting drive cart, Bachmann found herself in the middle of a mob of people: among them many supporters and members of the press including this reporter and CNN anchor Don Lemon. 

As both CNN staffers tried to question Bachmann, Lemon said he was pushed by two members of Bachmann’s staff. Lemon also said that Marcus Bachmann, the congresswoman’s husband, pushed him. 

“She came out, after speaking for just a couple minutes,” Lemon said. “There were other reporters and cameras there. And I asked her very respectful questions: ‘How do you think you did in the debate last night?’ and ‘How do you think you’re going to end up in the Ames Straw Poll?’ And her two campaign aides started elbowing me.”Lemon continued: “I told them, asked them not to elbow me. And then her husband Marcus started doing the same thing. And then he elbowed me into the cart. And I said, ‘You just pushed me into the cart.’ And he goes, ‘No, you did it yourself.’ 

“It was just, I don’t know, why they would choose to do that. We weren’t asking any ‘gotcha’ questions,” Lemon added.

Gee I wonder what got the Bachmann campaign so "wee'd wee'd up?"

Perhaps a reporter from Des Moines Register can clear this up:

Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann was 30 minutes late to speak at her scheduled soapbox event and spoke for three of the 20 allotted minutes. 

She said she was going to shake hands, but left the makeshift stage quickly when 17-year-old Gabe Aderhold of Edina, Minn., loudly questioned her husband, Marcus, about counseling techniques at his clinic to “pray the gay away.” 

Uh oh, it looks like the unscientific, and potentially damaging, "therapy" sessions that the Bachmann's use in their "pray away the gay" clinics might be a sore spot for the campaign to deal with. Well gee if I were a reporter in Iowa I know exactly which question I would keep bringing up.  

I know I promised this yesterday but I done runned out of time. So let me present the Daily Show's Iowa Candidate Tent coverage.

The Daily Show - Indecision 2012 - Corn Polled Edition - Candidate Tent Coverage
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

Personally I think it is still funny even on a Saturday morning.

(If the video won't play just click here.)