The Palins: Are We All Hypocrites, Now?

This is a difficult story on Todd and Sarah Palin to react to. The Left making hay from it certainly has no ground to stand on in pushing it. They never had an issue with Hillary's involvement in Bill's official actions, both behind the scenes and eventually out in front on health care. But then, what does someone from the Right who mocked a Clinton co-presidency do? The only morally consistent position is to criticize neither, or both. I wonder, can one even be involved in politics today and remain morally consistent? And are there gender issues in play for some, who might criticize a wife playing a significant role behind the scenes, but not a husband?

Sad that while many might agree that idealism is what's most required in politics today, there's so little room for it, don't you think? Perhaps politics has never really been an idealist's game and we all just have to make the best of the reality as it unfolds.

The still-secret e-mails between Todd Palin and senior officials reach into countless areas of state government and politics: potential board appointees, constituent complaints, use of the state jet, oil and gas production, marine regulation, gas pipeline bids, postsecondary education, wildfires, native Alaskan issues, the state effort to save the Matanuska Maid dairy, budget planning, potential budget vetoes, oil shale leasing, "strategy for responding to media allegations," staffing at the mansion, pier diem payments to the governor for travel, "strategy for responding to questions about pregnancy," potential cuts to the governor's staff, "confidentiality issues," Bureau of Land Management land transfers and trespass issues and requests to the U.S. transportation secretary.

One odd note that came up on the campaign:

The governor coached her staff on how to disguise the amount of electrical work needed at the mansion to hook up her new tanning bed.

Comments

[serfer62]

It would stupid no NOT expect a spouse to have influence in politics. Nansy Reagon said "Just Say No" for instance.
.
What differrs from normal Pillow Talk with the Clintons is they stated it was a "Two for One" management and she proceeded to legistate, ie the HealthCare I Act.
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Lets not get silly over Tods influence, his back ground only inhanses the Palin scope...

[FKD]

Sarah Palin is a typical politician; opportunist, hypocritical and dishonest. Maybe way more, not less, as to the degree.

[Huey]

I'm of the same mindset as the O'Keefe matter. Wait until all the facts are out. In general, I have no problem with the spouse taking a role, whether 1st Lady or 1st Dude. If he/she has the ability, he/she has the confidence of the elected official, so why not use his/her abilities?

As to the tanning bed thing...strange, I suppose. But, was it vanity? Just wanting to keep the use of it secret? After all, there's no question she could have one if she wanted one.

[lu-e]

so this is all the left has on Palin?

hell people, you can smoke pot, snort coke, pose nude, commit adultery, and still be president or a possible presidential candidate, and YET...a tanning bed is the BIGGEST SCANDAL YOU FIND ON THE PALINS? COME ON!!!!!

The conservative movement is now going to eat its own, eat the Palins over THIS???!!!!

F**** pathetic!!!

we deserve to have the far left wing run this country if we bury & cast out the Palins over this.

POLITICIANS ARE HUMAN. yet i never saw so much damn political NAVEL GAZING as i do on right wing blogs.

i am just so fed up how day after day the left goes after the Palins and it seems the right just cant wait to see something SCANDALOUS show up on them....REALLY!!!

I am soon done with the conservatives if they feel they need to go along and mask "honor" with the left.

really people...look at the sources.

the left is spending BILLIONS on finding something that will wipe out the Palins from ever having a chance at the White House... doesnt that make any of those on the right understand that once they get rid of the Palins they will go after everyone & anyone who disagrees with the left and is popular. Palin is a nobody YET the left wants to CRUSH her! she came from a tiny north pole town, pta, hockey mom, daughter dates white trash doper, gets pregnant, yet conservatives are waiting to dump her if a SERIOUS scandal shows up. WHY??!!!

why cant the right wing conservatives and libertarians actually support, thru thick & thin, good times & bad, their heroes????????????

for cryin out loud, how would Reagan have ever survived by the standards the damned blogosphere lives by? multiple campaign loses, divorce, nutty scandalous children, posibly got Nancy pregnant before marrying her, iran-contra, Beirut bombing...etc...

shite people...GET A GRIP!!!!

what about COURAGE, INTERGRITY AND GUTS?? PALIN HAS IT IN DROVES. even the "heroe" mccain showed he was a weak-backed milk-toast of a politician in his campaign against obama. he never manned up except his choice of Palin, who was a lifeline for his campaign.

cheers

[anonymous]

The Republican conservatives are not happy with Palin right now because she is going to campaining for Sen. McCain of Arizona and has endorsed Rand Paul of Kentucky who is running for the US Senate. It have something to do with the Tea Party. Palin won't run for President in 2012. She is done!

[Huey]

Many "conservatives" believe that Palin is attempting to take over "their" tea party movement. Of course, by thinking that anyone CAN "take over" the tea party movement, they exhibit a lack of understanding of the tea party movement itself which is, at its core, a REJECTION of the loss of control to others, whether the government, the press, or anyone else.

But, lu is correct. Those who (for their own reasons) want to destroy Palin will do so, whether they be on the "left" or the "right" or just pretend to be so to advance their own agenda.

Right now, there ain't "no there there." But, as lu states, Palin is people too.

[William]

Man, I'm sorry, but I'm completely with Lu over this.

Todd's involved with his wife's life? Oh-la-la the scandal?

And they had to "coach" people over the tanning bed fees? Let's stop and think about this. We're assuming this tanning bed costs thousands of dollars to use for, what, an hour a day at most? Is it a magical bed? Why the hell would anyone care about it's "added fees to the bill?" Is that the scandal?

Or are we shocked that Sarah cares about her body? Oh my God, a woman cares what she looks like? Should we be leaping to Hillary's saggy pantsuits for the justice of it all?

Yeah, Sarah's not Jesus Christ, savior of all mankind. I'm losing tons of sleep on this.

[Josh Painter]

http://www.williamkwolfrum.com/2010/02/05/e-mails-reveal-piper-palin-ran-alaska-in-2008/

[Jack Okie]

William:

As I understand it, Alaskans are at risk during winter for not getting enough vitamin D, and the tanning bed was to help compensate for that. Perhaps an actual Alaskan can clarify this.

[Lew]

I'm sorry to see Sarah campaigning for John McCain, but I can understand why she would do it. As for Todd, I would rather have SP using him as a sounding board over a President who uses Socialist and Communist as sounding boards. Rand Paul, I would vote for him. This is nothing more than a divide and destroy campaign. Republicans are unhappy with SP, Tea Party is unhappy with SP, BS. People are loosing jobs by the thousands and they won't always, just take it. Fix the jobs and stop looting the Treasury. If she runs for President, I will vote for her, because she can't be as bad as what we have now. Just my 2 cents.

[brooklyn]

long ago, i tried hard, for the sake of many good friends, fine conservatives, to simmer on the hype with Mrs. Palin.

it wasn't that i don't like Mrs. Palin, i do, but i knew the fashion was so overt, there were many going to be let down in the end. again, like the Fred Head thing, the record just didn't equate with much of the glorification.

it was all unfair to Mrs. Palin in many ways, yet, she has clearly profited from the exchange on a personal level.

first clue to the dose of reality, was her acceptance of the Maverick VP slot, which presents a huge contradiction with the entire 'super hero conservative' sales pitch on a moderate reformer from Alaska who provided tax increases in a populist manner to the Oil Companies, which has turned out to have predictably hurt all - driving up the cost of living as well as making the industry in question less competitive.

second clue was the demeanor during the General Election, which revealed a very poorly prepared candidate, who did not even know a great deal about issues relating to 9-11 and the GWOT. this should have been a huge warning sign, for anyone eager to over inflate.

third clue, was the abandonment of the Governor's Position, which is contrary to the conservative mantra on responsibility. it was a true symbol for the hype not matching reality.

Mrs. Palin is a fine Woman and great American who has wonderful potential. many hyped so much about so many politicians and Americans over the years, they grow bizarrely insane about it. it is as if they need a hero. so many foolishly followed the same fashion in the other direction, about GW Bush, growing foolishly reactionary after 2004. they had a little temper tantrum that it was not perfect, blowing in the winds over enormous fears with Iraq. they ended up debasing their own interests.

we have seen it repeatedly, as many over the years glorified those who are simply human, and they actually begin to debase other fine Americans on the right side.

they were doing it with Palin, bashing all other Republicans, who they deemed not worthy. it was growing ugly, but something happened along the way. the larger majority of Conservatives in the USA, suddenly elected fine Republicans in Virginia, New Jersey, Mass, etc. these impressive candidates were all about business, professionalism, etc., and didn't have to fit the stereotype of having the perfect accent, geographical location, certain religious affiliation, etc.

the stereotype of the super conservative hero has been overtly played in many arenas, and it is actually quite counter productive. we will always have good and bad politicians. we will always have those we love more than others, some may not actually do a very good job, others who are outstanding will be ignored. conservatives who are successful, used the record, reason, objectivity, facts, etc. to empower sound policy and better representation.

time to return to keeping your feet firmly planted on the ground.

[NVA Patriot]

1. Consider the source - The NYT full of fair & balanced reporting

2. For those who are married and have relatively high powered careers work together -(Alaskan Governor - IS - a high powered career, especially when you topple oil companies & the old corrupt boys network). Without getting into detail, my wife knows a lot about my career, people I work with, and my customers - I trust her insight. Sarah trusts Todd's - I'm down for that - Todd has more brains than 80% of the elected officils and their respective spouses than now inhabit the Whitehouse and Capital and about 1/2 the supreme court

3. As a Tea Party person who's has been at rally's and worked to put McDonnell across the line (destroy it really) I can tell you, Sarah will win VA in 2012 without a lot of effort, especially after the Republicans get done with Re-districting

4. There are many washington conservatives who like to pontificate, yet these are the same folks who have lead us to where we're at -Obama, 59D Senators, 50 Progressive Senators, 100+ progressive congressmen, and 240+ D's. I have met Greyson's campaign staff from Tennesee - some of whom worked in NVA for McDonnell. They are good people. They work hard. Unfortunately, they are more Republican than conservative - They reflect Greyson, Rand Paul is new, differenet, not 'Republican' and Not 'establishment' - conservative first

5. I don't demand perfection in style, appearances, or the details of navigating a highly complex world under the heat lamp of the 24hr news cycle. I do want wisdom and a deep connection to our bedrock values of American Constitutionalism. How do the Washington leaders stack up on the American constitutionalism score? As good as the Palin's? Nuts, most of them don't do as well as my 15year old daughter - Palin 2012 - stick a fork in it it's a done deal. Palin studied Reagan - she's using his playbook with 21st century tools.

As they said in the last few lines of the new Star Trek movie - "Buckle Up"

[I think the some Republicans and Conservatives Have Lost Their Minds. You are resembling the Liberals More Every Day. Put Your Pitch Forks Down and Step Away From MSNBC]

I thought Republicans and Conservatives Learned from O'Keefe's Situation, but It Seems You Want To Pick up Your Pitchforks and Run After Sarah and now Todd too?

From Sarah's Lawyer with Update:
A recent article discusses what purports to be a new "revelation" that Todd Palin was a "powerful first dude." To most Alaskans, and to the millions of people who read "Going Rogue" this is neither new nor a revelation. Like many married couples, including political 'power couples,' it is common for a spouse to play the role of key advisor to the other spouse. The Palins were no different. Todd Palin had official and unofficial duties, but one thing was clear: he was a key advisor to Governor Palin and involved in her efforts to improve the State of Alaska. Officially, in addition to the duties traditionally expected of the spouse of the Governor, Todd Palin was put in charge of a Workforce Development commission with the goal of increasing vocational education opportunities and awareness. But unlike some spouses of elected officials, Todd Palin did not travel with an entourage, had no designated office, had no title other than "First Dude", received no pay, and had no staff. He donated his time to the people of Alaska by assisting the Governor. Each spouse of the chief executive is free to define his or her own role. From the policy oriented Hillary Clinton, to the more traditional and charitable work of Laura Bush, to the combined policy/traditionalist role of Michelle Obama, the first spouse takes on the duties within their interests and within the context of their marriage to the chief executive. Todd was no different.

What is interesting is that the same media outlet that today breathlessly reports how close the Palins were while Sarah Palin was Governor--too close for at least one reporter--earlier reported that the Palins were not close enough and headed for divorce. Consistency is not necessarily a hallmark for investigative journalists, but certainly truth should be. Let's look at the most serious accusation made. The article posits that Todd Palin "passed financial information marked 'confidential' from his oil company employer to a state attorney." The author clearly implies that Todd Palin, who was not a member of the British Petroleum management team, obtained secret "financial" information and surreptitiously gave it to a State assistant attorney general. The true facts are as follows: Todd Palin received an email from a third party (an email that was apparently making the rounds in Alaska) and he forwarded that to a state attorney on August 29, 2007. But the information in the email itself was dated February 19, 2004--three and half years earlier--and the information addressed safety performance for 2003 and overall productivity. Of course, as a highly regulated producer in Alaska, this is largely the same information provided to state regulatory agencies, taxing authorities, and even publicly disclosed to its shareholders. See BP Annual Report and Accounts 2003. The latter part of the email referred to performance data for 2005 again analyzing production, costs and safety. So there are two distinct errors in the article: (1) the email itself was circulating in Alaska and was simply forwarded to Todd by a third party, it was not an email that was sent by BP to Todd Palin wherein he was told it was "confidential" and (2) the type of information within the email was years old and all, if not most, was a matter of public record under the tight regulatory strictures BP operates under and its release of data to shareholders, securities regulators, the department of Revenue, and the state oil and gas commission, among others.

The bottom line is that this story reveals nothing new. Todd Palin was, and remains, a close advisor to the Governor. Those in the administration knew this, and the public knew this. There is nothing unusual, untoward or inappropriate for a spouse of a chief executive to provide guidance, input and hands on assistance.

- Thomas Van Flein, Personal Attorney for Sarah Palin

Update: If you go back and read the e-mails that Todd Palin was copied on or the e-mails that Todd sent out, you'll notice that Todd was acting as nothing more than a conduit between Alaskans and the government. If someone was trying to reach Sarah Palin, it probably makes sense for that person to reach out to Todd, considering that he is the person closest to her. A similar situation exists here at C4P. We get e-mails all the time from people who have questions about their book orders, etc. We try to get that information to the someone who can answer those questions. The role that we play in getting information to the appropriate people is not that different from the primary role that Todd Palin played in his wife's administration.

It's absolutely clear from the all the e-mails that that Governor Palin was responsible for the decisions made in her administration. Take for example one e-mail that is getting sensationalistic coverage from MSNBC: it was an e-mail exchange between Ivy Frye and Todd Palin regarding a judicial appointment. All Todd Palin did was ask Frye a question based on concerns he heard from local Alaskans. Frye informed Todd that Sarah Palin was going to make a decision later on about the appointment. Todd Palin's e-mail expressing his constituent concerns was the extent of his involvement on this issue as Sarah Palin made the final call. As you can see if you read the actual e-mails and ignore the MSNBC coverage, sometimes Governor Palin copied her husband on emails to ensure that nothing slipped through the cracks. Read the emails in question and judge for yourselves. In fact, read all of the emails and send us what you find. I'm betting that we'll find a lot of instances of good things that the media is not reporting -- things that show Governor Palin to be a fiscal hawk, etc. Let's call this our own C4P email project. Go through them and pull out the good ones, note the link, email us your list of links. We'll publish a long list and make our own story! Here is a link to where you can access the e-mails. Read more...
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[Dave B]

I don't have a problem with this particular story. It sounds like it comes from a high school note passed between two acne-faced teens during Algebra class written on lined paper with a happy face at the end of it. Are we serious? A Governor using his or her own spouse, the person any governor should trust the most without fear of some type of hidden agenda, as an advisor and silent partner? Really? "Coaching"? Per diem expenses and a strategy on allegations and how to address questions of her pregnancy? Stop the FREAKIN PRESSES! Is this the same news organization that completely ignored ACORN, John Edwards, and the thieves and cheats in Congress and around the White House?

If they think it's necessary to put so much time and effort into someone they think is just a stupid hick that talks funny, shoots defenseless animals from helicopters, that gives them all a good giggle in their newsrooms when someone takes her seriously, then here's a tip: I heard from a friend who knows someone with a friend that is married to a guy that found out she went three days without shaving her legs. When confronted with this atrocity she replied "You Betcha!"

[Dave B]

I'm going to send the following information to the NYT: "Sarah Palin and her baby Trig went to her son's hockey game. He played a good game, made some nice checks and after the game they went to McDonalds."

I'm expecting the story in the NYT to be something similar to this: "Sarah Palin was seen in the company of a male (not her husband)and the two appeared very "chummy". Worse than the Martha Coakley "incident", Sarah Palin watched as a person very close to her and her family physically assaulted and battered another person while holding a stick in his hands. The Governor did absolutely nothing to stop the assault and in fact cheered the battering and "coached" him to "keep it up." Later she and the male, not her husband, were seen dining together and according to observers, a playful kiss was exchanged while he was held tight in her arms."

[Fred F]

Much ado about nothing. How can the media and so-called conservatives get so bent out of shape of this when (a) it's nothing new ((the irony of one person saying 'we'll, we are knew Todd was powerful' is astounding, if "we all knew" than why is this news now?)) and b) the fact that the spouse of a elected official is involved in their work is neither revolutionary nor scandalous.

And the tanning bed incident isn't new either. This crap was drug out during the 2008 campaign and was covered by Newsbusters among others. Alaska is a cold state and dark state. Not getting enough sun/sunlight has been linked to people getting depressed and even homicidal. Scandinavian countries like Sweden have abnormally high suicide rates. Also, ever hear of rickets? Palin's tanning bed is not just a case of "vanity." The whole "she coached her staff to disguise the amount of electrical work" is typical liberal mainstream media sensationalism inspired hyperbole. What happened is probably that she told her staff, "you know, the media hates me, so even though this tanning bed perfectly legitimate, don't go making a big deal of it because if you do the media will make a big stink and try to make it sound like some huge scandal." And she was right, it was tried in 2008 to be made a big scandal but it didn't stick because the public didn't give a flip.

Quote from Conservatives4Palin:

"Update #2: Nit-pick all you want about the travel and the tanning bed (which, if you actually read the email, she was not hiding anything. She was simply saying that she didn’t want any fanfare about it because it was no one’s business), but one irrefutable truth remains: even with all these so-called “extravagances,” Governor Palin spent less on the Governor's Mansion operations than her predecessors and spent less on all personal and travel expenses for herself and her family than her predecessors. Period. End of story."

And the person who said Palin is just another "dishonest politician" is a fool. If you read Going Rogue you know very well she was very open that Todd was very involved in helping her perform her duties. And in 2008 she addressed the tanning bed nonsense. At no point has Palin hid any of this supposed hard-hitting "new" information.

Oh, and Dan, don't be such a tool. Your article here was lame and ridiculous. This is not at all like Bill and Hillary or Michelle and Obama. Hillary did not just help Bill the way Todd simply assisted Sarah. She was dictating and shaping key policies and as an unelected official that was wrong. A few exceptions or a few instances here and there might have been excusable, but Hilary was far too consistently and far to deeply involved in running of the executive branch. What she did went far beyond first ladies like Laura Bush, Nancy Regan or even Eleanor Roosevelt whose efforts were not based around policy or politics, but on non-partisan charitable and general humanitarian work. By trying to make any loosely similar situation the equivalent of a scandal or controversial situation, Corruptocats try to make you think idealism can't exist in our government and therefore make you not care or be proactive about combating corruption. For example, being secretive about national security is NOT the same as being secretive about say, how you're going to take control of peoples health care decisions. But the Culture of Corruption will try to convince you it is the same, and therefore the latter becomes acceptable and we become willing cynical aiders to corruption and politics as usual. Think about that next time before you fire off a melodramatic knee-jerk screed.

[Fred F]

Oh, and Michelle Obama the hateful witch is doing the same thing as Hilary.

And a personal tanning bed is hardly out of the range of the "common man." A tanning bed can be had for as little as $250 and a high end bed can be got for less than 2,000 bucks. This is much less than say putting in a cement swimming pool, and many, many middle class people have cement swimming pools, my neighborhood is loaded with them.

The rest of that one update:

"As for the travel issue, the governor has a large family. She ran for Governor as a working mom--this was not something the people of Alaska did not know. The "cost" of travel when minor children had to travel with her is expensive. Up until very recently, the Palins were living on a middle class income. Todd made $45,000 before taxes, and the Governor made $120,000 before taxes. It costs a lot of money to pay for intrastate travel in Alaska ($300-$600)."

Liberals are so full of bullcrap. They can't come up with anything of substance, so they resort to cheap, shallow accusations. And the fact that like with O'Keefe the "right-wing" blogosphere were quick to fall all over themselves to throw Sarah under the bus and before even hearing the facts sickens me.

P.S. And the "dishonest politician" guy isn't a fool, sorry, he is a moron.

[Dave B]

Fred F: I agree with everything you said and then some. I hope you don't think that most people... who aren't liberals, even take this stuff seriously. I've been laughing my ass off from the moment I read this "journalism." I've personally uncovered bigger stories from reading the stall in the men's room of a local restaurant. They think that people who like Sarah Palin, respect and admire her courage, honesty, plain speaking patriotic style will suddenly be "shocked and appalled" and forget she kicked out the chef, put the jet on e-bay, resigned from her appointment because of the corruption she exposed, shops in thrift shops, hunts, fishes, actually lives her life by her beliefs, is a doer and not a talker, and our observations that she might be one the most courageous and effective leaders in this country right now.

[daveinboca]

Ha ha ha. Ben Smith whom you quote shows his bias openly and neglects to point out that the looooong msnbc article about hardly anything new [remember Hillary toiling away at all sorts of political chicanery while her husband was busy cheating on her?]

Dave B... Sarah reminds me of Margaret Thatcher's famous dictum: "If you want something said, get a man. If you want something done, get a woman."

Also, the loooong article neglects to mention Todd Palin's ancestry as half-Native American, making him a more authentically multiculturally diverse AMERICAN than any influential Dem of minority status---including Menendez of the crooked state of New Joisey. Or that descendent of slave owners in the Oval Office.

Isn't it interesting that this "dumb" woman and her live-in "consultant" were the lead negotiators for the state of Alaska versus a pipeline consortium which arrived at an agreement costing hundreds of millions of dollars to export Alaskan natural gas? The profits from the state's side of the consortium will be distributed to the citizens of Alaska, unlike in the lower '48 where greedy politicians would predictably sideline much of the profits and then sluice them toward special interests in corrupt jurisdictions like California [Calpers].Illinois [the Dem & Repub "machines," and New York, where many of the corrupt msnbc failed journalists work out of, a state so corrupt that crooked pols are no longer sent to jail [as they are in Illinois], but simply become lobbyists in Albany or DC [Eliot Spitzer may have served a short term, but this oversexed crook is back shamelessly running for office.

Of course, he's a Democrat and they not held accountable in the press for any high crimes and misdemeanors, especially of the tax-paying variety. That's why they're so greedy to tax the rest of us.

Found money for these hucksters.

[Dave B]

Dave in Boca: Well said. It's hard to keep a straight face while I read this stuff about the Palins. They obviously are playing to stupid people that will listen to this stuff without questioning anything. That's their base and their power. Unfortunately for them those of us that have shaken our heads, let them get away with it, and went on with our lives and continued working our asses off to support our families, those of us that love this country and recognize the sacrifice our fathers, mothers, soldiers, police officers, doctors, nurses, fellow patriots, and ancestors made to make our lives better than theirs were asleep at the wheel for a long time. We're not buying this bullshit anymore, we took five minutes and figured out their game plan, their strategies, identified what they're trying to really do and we're all pissed off. This stuff isn't going to work anymore, in fact the more they attack Sarah Palin, nevermind her family, the more support she gets, the more resolve we feel, and the more determined we become to make sure what she stands for becomes a reality.

[joyMc]

It worried the press that Nancy Reagan may have exerted influence in the latter days of the Reagan administration. Hillary on the other hand was touted as being copresident, hard working, a wonderful supportive power spouse, an asset the American people were lucky to have. The press liked her in that role. Michelle O is simply too unlikable in general to be paraded around as co prez. Though I suspect she meddles behind the scenes. I am far less worried about Todd Palin advising Sarah than I am concerned about the stable of card carrying Marxists who openly advise Barry and get paid in my capitalist tax dollars.

[Gary Ogletree]

Looks like Darling Sarah is only 98% perfect. What a blow! Most of the Tea Party already consider Palin our de facto leader. No one else comes close. Better to keep it informal, who needs the baggage the media would hang on her otherwise. The Birthers are right, but it's irrelevant, given who runs the justice department. We are stuck with the Kenyan imposter for three more years.

[A Stephens]

Much ado about nothing. Since no one elected Todd he had no business dictating policy. And he didn't.

What I see in these communications, 1. healthy marriage, 2. mutual respect and trust, 3. honest advisor, 4. protective of spouse, 5. no scandals, yeah, shocking.

I love Palin, and I believe some do have to back off the idol worship, it's unhealthy folks -and exactly how this country elected the most poorly vetted, poorly qualified candidate ever. But if people are honest, there's really nothing in this story. The story's the story, and it will churn on for days. I suggest we don't add fuel.

[memomachine]

Hmmmm.

1. The sock-puppets are out in force I see.

2. And Michelle Obama's role behind the scenes is ....?

Are we going to see another "Hillary" in Michelle Obama running for public office herself in the future? And will her claim to competence be her influence and participation during the Obama Presidency?

So. Where's the there?

[ddub]

Nice job Fred.

What liberals may not know about a good marriage is that your spouse tends to be your closest confidant, your rock, and in some cases(like mine) your best friend. How many of us have sought advice from our spouse about how to handle a situation in the workplace?

The situation with Hill and Bill was a little different, she really didn't start taking a beating from the right until she trotted out that pathetic excuse for a healthcare bill, maybe there were some gender issues at play but for the most part I think it was the policy that Bill was allowing her to pursue that we conservatives took issue with.

BTW, Palin supporting McCain has nothing to do with anything other than loyalty. A pretty good trait that's lacking in the world today.

[toby]

www.vitaminD3world.com is a good site for inforamtion on vitamin D. The site also has links to a neat micro tablet formulation of vitamin D. It is so tiny you dont even need to swallow it you can just crunch it up in your mouth

[Brenda]

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