Some numbers to chew on

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From the AP-GfK Poll, October, 2010

Favorable/Unfavorable

52/48 - Barack Obama
49/50 - Sarah Palin
48/51 - Democrat Party
45/54 - Republican Party
42/37 - Tea Party Movement
35/63 - Nancy Pelosi
29/54 - Harry Reid

Likely Voters
MoE +/- 3.3 percent
October 13-18, 2010

More here.

Gov. Palin's favorables have improved by 5 percent over last month's AP-GfK Poll, and her unfavorables have improved by 8 percent. The difference between her numbers and Obama's are within the poll's margin of sampling error (MoE). So much for the "she's unelectable" meme being pushed by the left and its trained media hounds...

Exit question: Will Allahpundit, who has posted every poll which has portrayed Gov. Palin in the worst possible light on Hot Air, post this one? Don't bet the farm on it.

h/t: techno

- JP

AP's anti-Palin campaign continues unabated

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The Associated Press hasn't rested in it's two year old campaign to marginalize Sarah Palin and everything she says and does. AP is the corrupt wire service which assigned no less than eleven "fact-checkers" to parse Gov. Palin's Going Rogue memoir, while it gave Barack Obama's two books free rides. The latest AP hit piece on the governor came late last week and begins:

It's been a summer of setbacks for Sarah Palin. Candidate "cubs" endorsed by the Mama Grizzly in Chief have been suffering a recent string of primary election losses.

The Republicans' 2008 vice presidential nominee promised a pack of "mama grizzly" candidates would rise up and defeat Democrats in this November's elections. But office-seekers she supported in Kansas, Wyoming and Washington state lost their primaries despite her high-profile endorsements. And Karen Handel lost her runoff contest for Georgia governor a day after sharing an Atlanta stage with Palin.

Now, Alaska's Senate primary on Tuesday is shaping up as an embarrassing defeat in her own backyard. Sen. Lisa Murkowski is expected to dispatch the challenger Palin has endorsed in the Republican contest.

It's not until the 25th paragraph of AP's full story that Gov. Palin's successful endorsements are mentioned, but by buying any pretense at fairness so deep in its article, the wire service virtually assures that most readers will never see it. The reason is that most news outlets truncate AP's full stories, editing to save space or broadcast air time. The Chicago Sun Times, for example, shortened the AP piece to just five paragraphs and published it under the headline "Palin support the kiss of death?"

There was no analysis or even a mention in the AP story of the endorsements made by any of Sarah Palin's potential rivals for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination, such as former Speaker Newt Gingrich or former Governor Mike Huckabee. Nor was there a single word written in the hit piece about the relative failure of candidates endorsed by President Obama to win Democrat primaries this year. If any endorsement is the "kiss of death," it has to be a nod from Obama, as recent polling confirms.

As our colleagues at Conservatives 4 Palin have pointed out here, here and here, a number of those candidates who were endorsed by the governor and lost, still performed much better in their respective races than they would have if no nod from Sarah Palin had been given to them. C4P also notes that, despite AP's prediction that Tuesday's U.S. Senate primary in Alaska "is shaping up as an embarrassing defeat" for Gov. Palin, Joe Miller is quickly closing the gap on the incumbent. Even if Miller fails to pull off an upset victory, he may well make a close race of it yet.

By our calculation, 56.5 percent of the 2010 candidates endorsed by the first woman to be the vice presidential candidate of the GOP have won in their primaries or runoffs, for a record of 13-10. But only those of us in the punditocracy care about win-loss records, certainly not Gov. Palin who intentionally endorses many underdogs just to make sure the Republican primaries serve as venues where the issues can be debated from all points to the right of political center.

Sarah Palin is a winner. With each of AP's attempts to grind her down, its already shameless lack of credibility sinks even lower. Like the rest of the biased lamestream media, the Associated Press is digging its own grave ever deeper. Sarah Palin, meanwhile, is still standing and still fighting. And when the corrupt press finally meets its demise, she will still be winning.

- JP

Quote of the Day (July 29, 2010)

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Doug Powers at The Powers That Be:

"Sarah Palin’s got a new lib-tickling book coming out in November, so I hope the AP fact checkers relaxed after Going Rogue was released, because break time is almost over."

- JP

SATIRE: AP Reporting from Wasilla

- By Warner Todd Huston
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We just received in our email box the Associated Press working files on the following story...

Palin's Daughter Arrested in Wasilla for Dangerous Drunk Driving

(AP) WASILLA, ALASKA — The daughter of failed Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin was arrested Thursday in Wasilla for driving drunk.

Bristol Palin, 19, was stopped by officers at about 12:40 a.m. and booked after rude behavior at the Wasilla police station for driving under the influence.

She was held for about five hours and released at about 5:30 a.m. after posting $5,000 bail, officials said.

Bristol Palin is the eldest daughter of failed Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin and could be responsible for the loss of Republican John McCain's bid for president in 2006. After it was discovered she was pregnant out of wedlock, the doomed Palin GOP bid for vice president suffered repeated scandals. Governor Palin was thought to have been a book banner in Wasilla and it was reported that her son, Trig, was really Bristol's child.

The hypocrisy of the Palin campai....

Wait...

This just in....

Hold on, new facts have come to light. To our newspaper customers, please ignore the last story and substitute this one:

Sen. Kerry's innocent daughter arrested in LA on DUI

(AP) LOS ANGELES — The daughter of Sen. John Kerry was arrested Thursday in Hollywood for allegedly driving drunk.

Alexandra Kerry, 36, was stopped by officers at about 12:40 a.m. and booked at the Hollywood police station for investigation of driving under the influence, Officer April Harding said.

She was held for about five hours and released at about 5:30 a.m. after posting $5,000 bail, Harding said.

She had no other details but we are sure that John Kerry's daughter is wholly innocent of these scurrilous charges.

That is all. End Satire.

- WTH

More on AP's big lie about cost of Palin resignation

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As uppy explained in a post we linked to here, the AP story by biased reporter Rachel D'Oro is just a smear job:

"When was Sarah stepping down and Governor Parnell sworn in? At the Governor's picnic in Fairbanks. A Governors Picnic is held every year and costs about the same every year, as the State of Alaska provides food and has to pay for the cost of set up on the picnic and such."

Palin spokeswoman Meghan Stapleton made the same point, but her comment wasn't part of the original AP release. It was added later to an updated version of the original story. Meg says D'Oro's hit piece is "incredibly misleading" and explained that the resignation ceremony simply was incorporated into the previously scheduled governor’s picnic and organized by the lieutenant governor’s office.

Our colleagues see right through the lie AP sent down its wires and are sounding off...

Johnny at Alamo City Pundit:

"And they wonder why Mainstream Media are dying a prolonged, slow, tortuous death. Personally, it can’t happen fast enough for the AP for me."

Vicki at Frugal Café:

"So, Palin potentially saved the state millions by selflessly stepping down, and this Alaskan [reporter] is whining about buying new letterhead? Go figure."

Craig at the BUFFALOg:

"So, in an age where trillion-dollar deficits are considered normal, we're supposed to be outraged because Sarah's resignation cost Alaska the price of a Prius?"

Rev. Wayne at Rev. Wayne's Place:

"Why is it that seemingly every time a story comes out about Governor Palin, the author of the story is usually a woman? Are these women being used as liberal hand puppets because it is better if a woman attacks Governor Palin? Or is it because there is a rabid jealousy among the liberal elite women in this country over Governor Palin who can do anything?"

JavaHIGH at AR15.COM:

"Why is this on the front page of Yahoo? When has the financial cost of a politician's resignation ever made the news?"

Jerry Fuhrman at From On High:

"Oh, the humanity."

Rose at Mahoney's Musings:

"Can we give the Sarah Palin nitpicking a rest?"

catfish at Texican Tattler:

"Where's the story on how much it cost Illinois and the US Senate for Barrack Obama to resign? How 'bout the story on how much it cost Delaware and the US Senate for Joe Biden to resign? Or even a story on how much it cost New York and the US Senate for Hillary Clinton to resign?"

Vadm Collingwood at C4P:

"Two million wasted on phony ethics charges with no end in sight versus forty thousand in transition costs?"

Well, that's the hypocrisy of AP Rachel and her nutroots blogging buddies up in Alaska. As we've always said, hypocrisy is a prerequisite for being a leftist, liberal, progressive or whatever these lying moonbats are calling themselves these days.

- JP

AP, Alaska's Wyle E. Coyote Bloggers Lying Again

The Associated Press' Rachel D'Oro has written another Anti-Palin (AP) hit piece disguised as a legitimate news story:

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Early estimates put the cost of Sarah Palin's midterm resignation as Alaska governor at a minimum of $40,000, not including a special legislative session partly linked to her departure.

D'Oro's crock is chock full o' lies to give the chock full o' nuts bunch of Palin-hatin' Alaskan bloggers something new to pass around their little blogging circle.

As Texas for Sarah Palin contributor upinak points out at The Palination:

When was Sarah stepping down and Governor Parnell sworn in? At the Governor's picnic in Fairbanks. A Governors Picnic is held every year and costs about the same every year, as the State of Alaska provides food and has to pay for the cost of set up on the picnic and such.

But that's just another inconvenient fact which gets in the way of a good smear job.

Among Rachel D'Oro's Facebook friends are Amanda Coyne (of the anti-Palin Alaska Dispatch, and a freelancer whose Palin hit pieces have appeared in the UK's leftist The Guardian and the USA's leftist Huffington Post), Brendan Joel Kelley (Associate Editor of the Anchorage Press, an-anti-Palin fish wrapper) and Linda Kellen Biegel (Palin-hatin' blogger at Celtic Diva's Blue Oasis whose idea of good, clean fun is to photoshop pictures of an innocent Down Syndrome baby).

There's nothing like fair and honest reporting, and when Rachel D'Oro's byline is on an AP story about Sarah Palin, it will be nothing like fair and honest reporting.

- JP

A Tortured Headline

-By Warner Todd Huston

I had to laugh at an Associated Press headline that is so tortured as to be beyond belief. Naturally, the purpose of the twisted headline is so that the AP could get a Palin reference into its headline in order gain attention for its story, even though the story has little to do with the Palins.

OK, so without dallying further, here is the tortured headline: "Mom of Bristol Palin's former fiance pleads guilty."

So, a story about a person only loosely connected at this time to Governor Palin doesn’t even get named in the headline but Palin does? We couldn’t see a more tortured headline if AP had written: “Governor Palin’s hairdresser’s friend’s dog bites child.”

Yes it is a sad story the Levi’s mother was caught up in this drug bust and yes Levi was once to marry Governor Palin’s daughter, Bristol, but in truth Sherry Johnston’s plight has nothing at all to do with the Palin family. But interestingly so much of this story on Johnston is centered on Governor Palin and her family. The Palins formed a much larger part of this story than necessary. Sure a mention of how Sherry is connected to the Palins was called for, but some parts of this story were only meant to exploit a scoffing at Palin.

The following, for instance, was AP's idea of a "legitimate" part of the story:

Johnston, 42, is the mother of 19-year-old Levi Johnston. He and 18-year-old Bristol Palin were engaged but called the wedding off after their son, Tripp, was born in December.

If that was all that was said of the Palins in the story on Sherry Johnston’s misfortunes, the story would have been a more legitimate, journalistic effort. But the whole end of the AP story exploited the Palin connection with little justification.

What the following has to do with Johnston’s legal troubles is anyone’s guess:

Sarah Palin announced on the first day of the Republican National Convention on Sept. 1, 2008, that her unwed daughter was pregnant. The McCain-Palin campaign issued a statement saying Bristol Palin "and the young man" would get married.

Sherry Johnston eventually disclosed that her son was the father. The following week, Levi Johnson attended the convention in St. Paul, Minn., when Sarah Palin accepted the vice presidential nomination.

Palin resigned as Alaska governor last month.

We can’t expect the AP to simply report the news without pushing its anti-Palin message, I guess.

- WTH

No surprise: Anti-Palin AP snubs Gov. Palin

In a story headlined "Alaskans concerned about North Korea's missiles" the Associated Press continues in its Anti-Palin tradition. Mary Pemberton, who wrote the story, quoted several of Alaska's citizens as well as "the state's political leaders."

Among the latter, Pemberton included statements from Rep. Don Young and Sen. Mark Begich. Conspicuously absent from the article was any mention of Gov. Sarah Palin, who has been the most vocal of Alaskans about the potential threat her state faces from North Korea.

The governor issued a statement on April 6 in response to a North Korean missle test:

"I am deeply concerned with North Korea’s development and testing program which has clear potential of impacting Alaska, a sovereign state of the United States, with a potentially nuclear armed warhead," Governor Palin said. "I can’t emphasize enough how important it is that we continue to develop and perfect the global missile defense network. Alaska’s strategic location and the system in place here have proven invaluable in defending the nation."

Palin followed her statement with a strongly-worded letter (PDF) to Defense Secretary William Gates:

"I am deeply concerned with North Korea's development and testing program. It has the clear potential of impacting Alaska, Hawaii, and possibly the West Coast with a nuclear armed warhead. I can't emphasize enough how important it is that we continue to develop and perfect our global missile defense shield."

"Alaska's strategic location and the system currently in place have proven invaluable in defending this great nation. Any cuts to the sole missile defense system for the United States has the potential of sending the wrong message to our adversaries with the unintended consequence of placing our nation at increased risk of offensive missile threats in the future."

On May 7 she released another statement in which she called the Obama administration's plans to cancel a second missile defense field at Alaska's Fort Greely and freeze the number of interceptors being deployed there "outrageous":

"This is an outrageous move at a time when North Korea has shown its willingness to flout international sentiments and conduct missile tests," Governor Palin said. "America needs a strong missile defense, and Alaska’s strategic location is invaluable in protecting the nation."

On May 29 the governor urged President Barack Obama to take a firm stand against North Korea and defend America and its allies on the Korean peninsula:

"The United Nations sanctions have failed to stop North Korea’s development of nuclear weapons, and the Obama Administration cannot afford to be playing catch-up to an irrational dictator like Kim Jong-Il," said Governor Palin. "Missile Defense Agency funding must be fully restored in the federal budget to guarantee our protective measures remain the best in the world. Fort Greely plays a crucial role in the nation’s security."

Alaska's governor took the lead months ago in warning against the potential threat posed by North Korea and arguing for a strong missile defense for the United States. No one has been more outspoken on this issue than she. The Associated Press' clear bias against Sarah Palin is plainly evident by the omission of any mention of her in this or any news article which attempts to deal with the reactions of Alaskans to North Korea's missile and nuclear weapons tests.

- JP

Cross-posted at RedState.com