Fighting Smears Against Sarah Palin

SEE IMPORTANT NOTE AT BOTTOM!

Sarah Palin's critics absolutely hate pictures like this one because it reminds them what's lacking so often in their own lives. Such a picture illustrates who Sarah Palin is and what she has a loving wife and mother.

I'm writing all this week on my blogs (especially this one) about Lorenzo Benet's book (Trail Blazer: An Intimate Biography of Sarah Palin) about Sarah, who she is, why she evokes such hatred from some people, and why is she's so tough that she's become indestructible. She knows what's going on; and we know. The left-wing media wants to destroy her because they are hooked on Bambi Obama, who isn't half the human being Sarah is.

In answering criticisms about Sarah we need to be very brief and direct. When something is a lie, such as "Bristol is really Trig's mother," we need to say: "That is a lie spread by the Obama Campaign through its loyal servants at The Daily Kos (Markos Markos)." Period. We should not "play nice." We need to be ferocious in our counterattacks. "Take no prisoners."

When a feminist says, "Sarah wears clear glasses to make her look intellectual," we should say: "Sarah has been near-sighted since childhood, like her daughter Piper, and she's worn glasses since she was 10." Period.

When someone says, "Well, Sarah implied they sold [former Alaska Governor] Murkowski's jet on E-Bay," we reply: "She never said it. She never implied it. They tried to sell it on E-Bay and, when they didn't get the offers they wanted, they sold it through a broker. It was sold -- period -- and Sarah never used it."

On the bogus situation known as Troopergate: "Oh yeah, that was the state police officer who was abusive toward his wife (Sarah's sister) and tasered their 11-year-old son. He deserved to be fired."

I believe we need to stay on a positive message as much as possible. Benet's book (Trail Blazer) is not perfect, but it does a good job in explaining where Sarah got her spine of steel.

Some of the charges against Sarah are exaggerations. Most of them are outright lies. We need to characterize the smear artists as liars haters of Christian Americans, which they generally are. They have no understanding or respect for a self-made, self-reliant woman like Sarah Palin. We need to expose them for exactly what they are: loathsome smear artists.

NOTE: Some people are telling me that certain conservative web sites don't like the Benet book, apparently because they believe (wrong-headedly) that it's not sufficiently reverential. My response:

On on my blog (http://draftpalin2012.blogspot.com) and through other communications I'm QUOTING and paraphrasing segments of the Benet book, mainly ones that present Sarah, Todd, AND THEIR EXTENDED FAMILIES, in very good lights. If those who "don't like" the book are doing otherwise, then you can safely assume they're just blowing ideological smoke. It's a good book, not a great one, and it's not done in adoration of Sarah. In terms of substance, it's not as good as the one I'm writing, but it presents a great deal of new information. It cites -- and names names -- of people who know Sarah best, including her parents, her sisters, her friends, her neighbors, and some of her political and media critics.

It does what a biography is supposed to do.

It's not supposed to be a "love letter," and it's not.

It's written in "People Magazine" style, one that I like because it's so readable.

Endless Smears Against Palin Family

Who says there's no Easter Bunny? Not the man in the diaper, Senator Al Franken

Obviously we need to respond effectively to criticisms directed at Sarah Palin and her family. One problem is that point-by-point refutations are sometimes needed, but they also result in repeating stories, many of them fanciful charges (e.g., Sarah "banned books": Trig's mother is "really Bristol"; and on and on).

The Anchorage Daily News (ADN) is a source of many rumors and smears. Frankly, the ADN is small potatoes, backwater journalism. It's "reader comment" section is dominated by Sarah-haters who revel in baseless charges.

The entire "Troopergate" controversy was bogus. Unfortunately, pro-Sarah bloggers had to spend tens of thousands of hours refuting charges that were baseless. The trooper was a rogue who drank on the job, tasered his own young son, and treated Sarah Palin's sister very badly. By age 35, this "congenial" soul had acquired four wives. He's not exactly what women call a "keeper."

He should have been fired -- although he hasn't yet.

As for Monoghan, the safety commissioner, Sarah had every right to fire him. She regarded him as disloyal to her administration. Yes, he worked for the people of Alaska, but he worked for them through the Governor. If he didn't have the confidence of the Gov. of Alaska, then it was her obligation to get rid of him.

I realize these aren't the usual analyses of the situations (the trooper and the Safety Commissioner), but they're about all I care to do. Sarah likes to get rid of disloyal subordinates (and so do I, by the way). She did the same when she first became Mayor of Wasilla.

My friend and YouTube expert, Rebekah Chauhan in CA, has suggested we ascribe criticisms of Sarah to sexism, which Rebekah says is equivalent to racism. Yeah, in a way this is name-calling, but if the name fits, use it. It's a simple approach.

Very early in the game -- during the Republican Convention -- I was on a TV show in Pittsburgh, debating with two female Obama Supporters. The question came up whether, as Politico had suggested, Sarah was "shrill and inexperienced."

My comment was: "Apparently, shrill means she has a woman's voice. Inexperienced means she's a woman . . . and has a woman's (wife's, mother's, working woman's) experience." Simple, but it worked well.

I've had long experience in public relations for some of the country's most controversial industries (oil and gas, pharmaceuticals, health insurance), and I really believe "less is more" when it comes to dealing with (baseless) charges. Point-by-point refutations tend to get us in a situation like Brer Rabbit and the tar baby. It's debilitating.

My response to the "current" controversy regarding Levi Johnston is this. Yeah, teenage parents and 18-year-olds in general make mistakes. As the world knows by now, two of my daughters (nearly two decades ago) had children (one each) before they married the children's fathers. In one case, the father was involved in activities which I didn't, to say the least, approve of.

However, I don't recall being asked for a lot of advice by my "children," who were both young adults when the events occurred. They insisted on their right to make their own mistakes, which they did in abundance.

I'm sure that, like many teen parents, Bristol and Levi will flounder around. Decent people will wish both of them well -- period. Even if I knew Bristol and Levi much better than I do, I'd hesitate to make any judgments about them as people. Ask me again when they're, say, 35.

In the campaign, The oxymoronically named "Obama Truth Squad" worked effectively, mainly because the media allowed it to do so. The MSM is not going to give us in Sarah's camp that luxury. That's why we need to replace the media, which is doing a good job collapsing of its own dead weight, with a new media, i.e., us.

Overall, we shouldn't over-react to what will be an endless stream of petty charges against Sarah and her family. We need to recognize it for what it is: an attempt to smear a woman and her family for being "normal" and for having the same problems and challenges as tens of millions of other Americans.

During the convention -- before "the speech" -- one of my frequent correspondents (Eric) said that a McCain staffer told him there were some "devastating" (and apparently credible) allegations against Sarah, etc., etc. (At the time Markos Markos of The Daily Kos was spewing out one lie per hour about Sarah Palin.)

I told Eric this: You know Sarah well (he'd campaigned in Alaska for her) and I know all about Sarah. And because you know so much about her, you realize that any such allegations are completely false." (I believe they had something to do with Bristol's pregnancy.)

I took a leap of faith in what I said -- faith in the character, values, and essential goodness of Sarah Heath Palin. In the end, I was right, and Eric, along with his "source" were wrong.

The Obama Campaign (one that apparently continues unto eternity) -- basically controlled by people who hate "normal Americans" -- would love for us to spend the next four years (eight years?) refuting absurd charges against Sarah.

They don't want us to spend our precious time organizing and emphasizing the kind of positive change Sarah represents. Obama and his media minions want to destroy Sarah Palin. They will find out eventually that she is indestructible. Carry on, Sarah.