Sarah Palin Exposed: “A Closed Book and a Constant Noisemaker”

Daniel Jacobs — September 3, 2010 – 11:28 am | Election 2012 | Election 2008 | GOP Hypocrisies | Republicans | Separation of Church & State Comments (4) Add a comment

Vanity Fair’s Michael Joseph Gross published an article that exposes a number of aspects of the “real” Sarah Palin. Traveling to Alaska and following the former Vice Presidential nominee on her recent public speaking tour, Gross reveals many secrets of Palin’s political and personal life kept hidden from the public eye. Among many interesting and sometimes shocking anecdotes, Gross examines Palin’s conflicting public and private images; exposes stories of her heated temper; decodes Palin’s frequent references to right-wing religious groups and use of religious rhetoric; and describes the fierce intimidation Palin directs against those who might speak out against her. Gross also reports on Palin’s connection to controversial conservatives and provides more information about her voluminous campaign expenditures.

An intriguing part of Gross’ article touched on the Palin family’s superfluous wardrobe expenditures:

In late October, when stories of Palin’s exorbitant campaign clothing budget surfaced, Todd Palin dismissed the criticism in an e-mail (subject line: ‘Cloths’) to several campaign aides: ‘How many fundraiser’s has she done for RNC, how much money has she raised and how much has voter registration increased for RNC since she was announced. So what if RNC purchase’s some cloths for her for the work she has done for the party.’ Though the clothing issue has been discussed at length, internal campaign documents reveal new information that contradicts the account Palin has given. The shopping sprees continued through late October and were not, as previously claimed, mainly undertaken to clothe the family for the unexpected emergency of the Republican National Convention, in St. Paul. The number and range of items purchased for the entire Palin family-more than 400 in total-is mind-boggling. For Sarah, the campaign bought about 30 pairs of shoes, roughly $3,000 worth of underwear (including many Spanx girdles), a pair of Bose headphones costing more than $300, and even her incidentals and toiletries. Charging a campaign for underwear would appear to be unprecedented. A campaign e-mail shows that one of Sarah’s senior aides requested that an outfit be purchased for Bristol for her birthday, explicitly stating that the items should be charged ‘via the campaign.’ Todd Palin received as much as $20,000 worth of clothing-a wardrobe that would last most men for many years, if not for life.

Another aspect of Palin’s private life hidden from the public eye is her temper:

The intensity of Palin’s temper was first described to me in such extreme terms that I couldn’t help but wonder if it might be exaggerated, until I heard corroborating tales of outbursts dating back to her days as mayor of Wasilla and before. One friend of the Palins’ remembers an argument between Sarah and Todd: ‘They took all the canned goods out of the pantry, then proceeded to throw them at each other. By the time they got done, the stainless-steel fridge looked like it had got shot up with a shotgun. Todd said, ‘I don’t know why I even waste my time trying to get nice things for you if you’re just going to ruin them.’

According to Gross, Palin’s rhetoric at Tea Party rallies and public speaking events frequently use heightened religious language appealing to far right-wing constituencies:

Whenever I heard Palin speak on the road, her remarks were scored with code phrases expressing solidarity with fundamentalist Christians. Her talk of leading with ‘a servant’s heart’ is a dog whistle for the born-again. Her dig at health-care reform as an expression of Democratic ambitions to ‘build a Utopia’ in the United States is practically a trumpet call (because the Kingdom of God is not of this earth, and perfection can be achieved only in the life to come). But it is Palin’s persistent encouragement of the prayer warriors that most clearly reveals her worldview: she is good, her opponents are evil, and the war is on.

Additionally, Palin’s political operation is aided by a number of controversial figures. Specifically relevant to the Jewish community, Republican Party power broker Fredric V. Malek, who provided information on Jewish employees of the Bureau of Labor Statistics to President Richard Nixon because of suspected “disloyalty,” and The Weekly Standard’s Bill Kristol, who is a major force behind the Emergency Committee for Israel, play significant roles in garnering support for her.

Despite the numerous anecdotal instances of Palin’s erratic behavior, speaking out against the former Alaska governor remains a difficult task:

When I ask about Palin, though, a palpable unease creeps in. Some people clam up. Others whisper invitations to call later-but on this number, not that one, and not before this hour or after that one. So many people answer ‘Off the record?’ to my initial questions that it almost seems the whole town has had media training. They certainly have issues with the press. Some tell of reporters who seduced them with promises-Don’t worry, I’ll make you look good-and then published stories that made them out to be hicks, stupid, less-than. ‘These were people we let into our house,’ one Wasilla resident says. ‘We served them food.’ But the real concern is with Palin herself-they don’t want her to find out they have talked with a reporter, because of a suspicion that bad things will happen to them if she does. The salty, seen-it-all bartender at one of the town’s best restaurants says, ‘I wish you luck-but I like my job.’ Has Palin actually had people fired for talking about her?, I always ask, and the answer always comes, Remember that trooper? The reference is to Mike Wooten, a state policeman who fell out with the family after divorcing one of Sarah Palin’s sisters and ended up at the center of the scandal known as Troopergate. The Alaska Legislative Council found in 2008 that Palin ‘abused her power’ as governor in attempting to get Trooper Wooten fired.

Gross’ Vanity Fair article did not go unnoticed by Palin. In an indirect response to the article on Thursday, Palin criticized individuals who have passed judgment on her, calling them “impotent, limp and gutless reporters.” In a recent article from Politico, reporter Andy Barr wrote:

Though she did not name a story in particular, Palin seemed to be referencing a new Vanity Fair story on her that relies heavily on anonymous stories and contains several unflattering anecdotes about her temper.

‘I hear there is some pretty ugly stuff right now,’ Palin said of her recent coverage in an interview on Sean Hannity’s radio show.

‘Those who are impotent and limp and gutless and they go on their anonymous - sources that are anonymous - and impotent, limp and gutless reporters take anonymous sources and cite them as being factual references,’ Palin said. ‘It just slays me because it is just absolutely clear what the state of yellow journalism is today that they would take these anonymous sources as fact.’

‘When a story is filled with those, we know it’s bogus,’ she added.

 

 

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