Quote of the Day (September 15, 2010)

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Ann Coulter at Townhall.com:

"In the October issue of Vanity Fair now on newsstands, Michael Gross reverts to junior high school to issue gossip-girl digs at Sarah Palin. Next up in Vanity Fair: 'Sarah Palin Super Stuck Up; Thinks She's All That.' ... Most psychotically insane is Gross' rumination on why the Palins would leave their home on, I quote, 'the anniversary of Sarah's resignation.' This is the kind of 'anniversary' celebrated only by Rachel Maddow, Keith Olbermann and other Palin obsessives. It is not yet, as we go to press, an anniversary celebrated by Hallmark."

- JP

NewsBusters: Contradictions Pile Up Around Vanity Fair’s Palin Hit Piece

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Vanity Fair attack dog Michael Joseph Gross has admitted to one glaring "error" in his smear job on Sarah Palin, but the reports contradicting his hatchet job continue to stack up, according to NewsBuster Nathan Burchfiel:

In a Sept. 7 post on The Corner, Katrina Trinko "refudiated" Gross's characterization of Palin as vicious, vengeful, and fake. Unlike Gross's sources, almost all of which were anonymous, Trinko provided citations.

Gross had cited "people who know" suggesting Palin's relationship with close friends Kristan Cole and Kris Perry had "deteriorated." But Cole reportedly told Trinko the charge was "absolutely not true. I don't know where they get this stuff from, honestly."

A former Palin aide, Ivy Frye, also contradicted Gross's characterization that she parted ways with Palin "on bad terms." "I didn't leave on ‘bad terms,'" she said in a statement. "Gross' 8 page hit piece is a complete work of fiction from beginning to end."

Although Gross admitted that he "misreported" an incident in his story in which he had alleged that Gov. Palin was using her Down Syndrome child to curry political sympathy, Burchfiel checked the Vanity Fair website, and the original story appears unedited, with no correction or apology added.

Related: Ben Smith has an update at Politico which casts some serious doubt on another Gross anecdote from his VF hit piece:

Now Scott Conroy, a Palin embed and co-author of the critical, reported book on Palin's rise Sarah from Alaska emails over his informed thoughts on the matter:

[Co-author] "Shushannah [Walshe] and I were fed the same story more than a year ago while we were researching our book. We decided not to print it because although it was related to us by a senior aide who claimed to have been on the receiving end of Palin's inquiry, the source had a very obvious axe to grind and insisted upon anonymity. Also, there were several other people present at the time that Palin supposedly posed the question. We spoke to all of them, and none recalled hearing Palin ask, at that time, about when Bristol should marry Levi. In fact, a couple of the people present said that they would have overheard the question if she had indeed asked it..."

- JP

Why many progressives want no part of Vanity Fair's Palin smear job

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Progressive pundits, at least those with some degree of credibility, are running away from the latest Vanity Fair hatchet job on Sarah Palin or trying to pretend that they aren't aware of its existence. Susannah Fleetwood explains at NewsReal Blog. Here's the Cliff Notes version:

1. Michael Gross, the author of this column, sounds like a blithering idiot, his column is dripping with hatred, and he manages to prove Sarah Palin correct about the “lamestream media”.

2. Michael Gross’ hit piece on Sarah Palin was just dripping with blatant sexism.

3. When Michael Gross is not attacking Sarah Palin in his column, he is attacking her supporters–who are his fellow Americans.

4. Franky speaking, Michael Gross sounds like a pervert who is way too interested in Sarah Palin’s undergarments, as well as her sex life.

Please read the unabridged original here.

- JP

Dr. Gina Loudon: Gross and VF still owe Sarah Palin an apology

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Dr. Gina Loudon, who exposed Michael Joseph Gross as a liar for the Vanity Fair hit piece that he wrote about Sarah Palin, says in a Big Journalism op-ed that the smear merchant and the mendacious magazine both owe Gov. Palin an apology:

He falsely reported that Sarah somehow disregarded her child at an event, when he knew the child was mine, and I took him from the Governor who was holding him right up until she was walking on stage.

He did not apologize to Sarah Palin, to me, or to either of our children, for the record. He also has not retracted the other 99 lies in the piece. At least not yet.

He accuses Sarah Palin of creating fictitious PACs to “hide” money she is supposedly collecting from all of these groups. He speaks specifically in his piece about the “Take America Back” rally where the Governor, and I spoke, among others.

[...]

The right thing to do is to write a formal apology to Sarah Palin, her family, and all liberty-loving patriots across the country. We are a forgiving lot. If you could manage that level of honesty, you would be shocked at the good things that would come your way, not the least of which is your right to continue to write whatever you believe about whatever topic you desire. How ironic that we, your targets, are actually the ones who might save your job for you.

Perhaps you have already apologized, in a backhanded kind of way. I think your piece (which has been rebuked by liberals and conservatives alike) may have pushed anyone who doubted the Palins square into their corner. You may have done more for her than a million dollars worth of marketing. You may have boosted her shot at the White House. We may all be thanking you for that one day. You betcha’!

Read Dr. Loudon's full Big Journalism article here.

- JP

Fox NewsWatch on Vanity Fair's Palin hatchet job

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And though he constantly whines about 'constant whining,' even liberal Ellis Hanican admits that the VF piece is 'a hit job," and left-leaning Democrat Kirsten Powers said it was "absolutely atrocious" in this clip courtesy of Palin TV:

Read more... _

And in this Fox NewsWatch Face Off, Hanican and Jim Pinkerton continue the debate. While Hanican continues to whine about whining and gratuitously slams Gov. Palin over the authorship of her book, Pinkerton deals with substance, making the point that the real burden of proof is on Gross and VF to back up their wild claims, which they have refused to do:


- JP

Quote of the Day (September 4, 2010)

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John Sexton at Big Journalism:

"Having read [his] dismissive account of Palin’s faith, it surprised me to see Mr. Gross on television claiming he has a lot in common with Palin, including Christianity. It reminds me of that old car commercial 'This is not your father’s Oldsmobile.' Well, Michael Gross is not your father’s Christian. In fact he’s apparently a graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary which is a long way from the faith of most evangelicals... Perhaps he’s being honest about his initial sympathy towards her, but I’m metaphysically certain he also has lots of equally plausible reasons to dislike her and what she stands for. You don’t write speeches for Bill Weld and then suddenly become one of Palin’s pen pals."

- JP