The Left and Legacy Media Get Punk'd by Levi Johnston

The storyline is out on Vanity Fair's story on the Palin family: Levi Good Sarah Bad.

Just a tidbit of commentary from one of Democrat Gubernatorial candidate, Who's- Bob-Poe friends:

Update 3: MSNBC has more where Levi talks about how often the subject of divorce came up. Hint: A LOT!

Here is where Jesse Griffin and the left get punk'd.

Dan Riehl has this YouTube posted to his site.



In the interview you will hear Levi back off on knowing first hand of the divorce between Sarah and Todd Palin.

He states that he heard about it and doesn't have much information about that.

Someone here in Alaska knows who told Levi to spread the rumor and it has to deal with underage drinking, fishermen, sex and a trashy mouth.

An e-mail with who started the rumor, was sent out to individuals the day before the story was published in the Star. The person who outed the individual, is well known and is, at times pretty damn reliable.

The person who knows who started the rumor, their name has been sent to Outside sources.

And with Levi stating he doesn't have much information about the divorce, it clearly shows he is getting lawyer advice on backing off on what was told to him.

So where does that leave Levi? Out in the cold when it comes to a possible custody battle.

One question remains, is Rex Butler leading the charge on a possible custody battle between Bristol and Levi?

We shall see.

(emphasis added)

However, some on the left in the mainstream media are realizing that they have been punk'd by Levi Johnston.

Levi Johnston's Smarmy Tale

The Media Loves Sarah Palin, Thanks to Levi Johnston and Vanity Fair

The Revenge of Levi

As for the others on the left like Olbermann and his followers; the Olbermann group is made up of Trig Troofers and 9-11 truthers, like Obama's pick for "Greenies" czar Van Jones.

Look for that ever-growing number of kooks on the left to congregate at the Olbermann/Maddow/Moore/Griffin and Who's Bob Poe meet up places.

And of course tin foil is the required dress code at these meet ups.

- Tom

Credibility Test

Which of the following two people do you believe?

Levi Johnston...

"She says she goes hunting and lives off animal meat -- I've never seen it. I've never seen her touch a fishing pole. She had a gun in her bedroom and one day she asked me to show her how to shoot it. I asked her what kind of gun it was, and she said she didn't know, because it was in a box under her bed."

... or Chuck Heath?

"She started shooting a gun when she was eight and shot her first animal when she was ten. It was something small, possibly a rabbit.

"She is a really good shot. I taught her to shoot a moose and dress it, to fish and hunt for game."

"We raised our family to be able to support ourselves - 90 per cent of our meat and fish we get ourselves."

We will take the word of the man who shot the bear that adorned the couch in former Governor Palin's office over the lies of the paid character assassin who drives around in a $30,000 truck and has never so much as bought a pair of diapers for his infant son.

- JP

The Speech: September 3, 2008

It was one year ago today that Sarah Palin delivered her acceptance speech to the RNC convention. Interesting how history has confirmed her predictions about Barack Obama.

"When the cloud of rhetoric is past, when the roar of the crowd fades away, when the stadium lights go out and those styrofoam Greek columns are hauled back to some studio lot -- when that happens, what exactly is our opponent's plan? What does he actually seek to accomplish... after he's done turning back the waters and healing the planet? The answer is to make government bigger and take more of your money and give you more orders from Washington and reduce the strength of America in a dangerous world."

- JP

You might be a leftist hypocrite if...

You might be a leftist hypocrite if you believe every word that comes out of Levi Johnston's mouth, but you're convinced that Larry Sinclair is lying.

Actually, we never paid much attention to what Sinclair had to say before Rahm told Rex Butler to  put Levi and Vanity Fair together, but if this is the game the Dems want to play, let's play:

Granville: "Alright men, now here's the play we're gonna use. I don't think the guards know this formation. It's called 'incidental punishment after the ball is blown dead.' Remember, any man you tackle gets an elbow, knee, or kick in the mouth."

Just sayin'...

- JP

A Sarah supporter from Wasilla at El Paso Tea Party

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Following the Tea Party Express to El Paso, Texas, Fox News' Griff Jenkins meets a Sarah Palin supporter from Wasilla, Alaska:



h/t: A

- JP

Amy Siskind on what could have been

The New Agenda's Amy Siskind reflects on the excitement she and her friends felt when John McCain announced that Sarah Palin would be his running mate a year ago:

"While I might disagree with Sarah Palin on many policy issues, she seems, well, familiar. I feel like I 'get' Sarah and can relate. I admire what she has accomplished despite the odds and the barriers that our society places on women as they reach for leadership roles. I would have been thrilled to have her in the White House."

"The New Agenda did speak out for then Governor Palin a year ago – our first three press releases a year ago were in defense of Gov Palin. We were proud to be the first and only national women’s group to have Gov Palin’s back!"

And today?

"Sigh, I couldn’t help think about what could have been."

"Our country can be proud, yes, for electing its first African American President. But I can’t help but wonder, as Secretary Clinton makes women’s issues her main focus abroad, sigh, what could have been. And as Sarah Palin pursues a path less travelled now, sigh, what could have been if she were in the White House."

Perhaps what could have been is soon to be, Amy. There are many of us in this fight -- women and men; Black, Caucasian and Latino; Catholic, Protestant and Jew; libertarian, conservative and not so conservative; young, old and middle age; blue collar, white collar and tan collar -- and many more joining Sarah's troops every day. Like John Paul Jones, we "have not yet begun to fight."

The next three years should be both interesting and invigorating.

- JP

Quote of the Day (September 2, 2009)

Michael Eden at Start Thinking Right:

"Sarah Palin redefined the entire debate on ObamaCare with a single Facebook entry submitted while she was on vacation. Not bad for a political has-been who destroyed her platform and popularity by stepping down."

- JP

Tea Party Crowds Want "Sar-rah, Sar-rah"

According to CNN's Political Ticker:

As the Tea Party Express makes its way across the country, Sarah Palin has emerged as a favorite daughter of the movement, and organizers have invited her to join the tour — or at least come to the final stop in the nation's capital.

The bus is scheduled to end its nationwide journey in Washington on Saturday, September 12.

"We've been in touch with her people, letting her know the response that we've gotten. She's very suportive (sic) of the movement," says Joe Wierzbicki, one of the organizers traveling on the Tea Party Express.

The former governor has not been been making public appearances. She has instead been working the past month to finish the memoir she is writing. Her father, Chuck Heath, says the book is 85 percent completed. With the exception of several postings on her Facebook Notes page which had quite a significant impact, Sarah Palin has been conentrating on getting the getting her manuscript wrapped up and submitted to her publisher.

The 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee has signed with the Washington Speakers Bureau and has a confirmed appearance later this month to deliver an address in Hong Kong. 

At tea party protests, Palin's is the name heard most often amongst participants. In El Paso, Texas Wednesday, the crowd chanted "Sar-rah, Sar-rah." One hot item: "Draft Sarah Palin 2012″ t-shirts.

Whether Palin would be interested in trying to earn a leadership position in the tea party movement is an open question. It was reported Monday that she has over a thousand requests for appearances and other offers to sort through.

- JP

Words for today

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Today's words, boys and girls, are "scumbag" and "scumbaggery."

The Urban Dictionary provides a number of definitions. This one seems to be the best fit:

scumbag
1. One who steals from others, even close friends
2. One who rats out others, even close friends, for small personal gain
3. One who cheats, bribes, lies, and steals for personal gain

Stacy McCain demonstrates proper usage of "scumbag":

"The scumbag has an agent. The scumbag has a lawyer. The scumbag does a Vanity Fair photo shoot and appears on network news programs. People say they've seen him wheeling around in a brand new $30,000 truck. And other people say the scumbag hasn't bought a single diaper for his own baby son."

The Telegraph's Lucy Jones shows us how to use "scumbaggery" in a headline:

"Levi Johnston plumbs new depths of scumbaggery with Vanity Fair article on Sarah Palin"

Your homework assignment is to plug the name Rex Butler into a search engine and learn how a scumbag Stalinist lawyer manipulates a scumbag useful idiot. Pop quiz tomorrow. Have a good day!

Update: Politico's Ben Smith links to a Larry King transcript proving Levi's Vanity Fair statements contradict what he was saying about the Palins in April.

Allah:

"Surprise: Even MSNBC thinks Levi Johnston’s a lying scumbag"

Aaron Goldstein:

"I guess you can't blame Vanity Fair for knowing its audience of middle-aged, middle to upper class, urban dwelling white liberals who hate Sarah Palin and will believe anything they are told about her."

Jamie Jeffords:

"Johnston... seduced Bristol Palin, knocked her up, and then abandoned both her and their son. Now he is trolling around Alaska in a $ 30, 000 pick up truck bought with money news outlets for which he trashed the grandmother of his child. None of that money has gone to support his child."

Politik Ditto:

"Now Levi Johnston becomes another tool for the Left to use, exploit and spit out when they're done with him. In other words he's another Meghan McCain."

Dan Riehl:

"Sarah wanted us to get married, Sarah wanted to adopt the baby! Oh wait, Rex, what do I tell them next?"

Mayor Jeff Graham:

"Wait a minute....the same media wags who joke about Sarah Palin hunting game from a helicopter, now report she cannot operate a gun."

Finally, Gawker confirms that Ricky Hollyweird will strip down for the gay guys who read Playgirl. You stay classy, Levi!

- JP

Be afraid, ye leftist dragons. Be very afraid.

Jim Colton, publisher of The Coltons Point Times, says the liberals, who pulled out all the stops to try to destroy Sarah Palin, have blown it:

Just a couple of weeks ago Palin, long thought dead by the liberal media, single handedly might have slammed the door shut on Obama's effort to stampede Congress into a radical socialized health program. Suddenly the president and vice president of the United States were stuck responding to the voice of the people and make no mistake, Sarah Palin has legions of people behind her in spite of everything the Obama machine and far left Liberals have done to annihilate her.

And the Democrats, liberals and socialists, smoke billowing out of their scaly nostrils as they try to prop up the failing presidency of Barack Obama, are seeing their worst nightmare come true:

Left for dead in the Alaska tundra, Palin quietly took to the Internet and used Facebook to build an organization of over 800,000 people hungry to set the record straight. Obama took great pains to diminish Palin's experience as governor and mayor but after 7 months as president, it appears he has demonstrated that he was the one lacking in experience. Those 800,000 Palin fans are a drop in the bucket in terms of her support as a recent poll showed Palin behind Obama just 48-42% and she was never even a candidate for president.

But what is significant is that Sarah Palin's Facebook Notes postings have been, for her, just minor diversions -- brief respites from the task which commands most of her time and attention. She owes her publishers a book, and writing it has been her major focus for the past month. She wants to get it finished so that she can turn her attention to the pressing matters at hand. It is almost done -- 85 percent complete, according to Sarah's father Chuck Heath. Once that work is done and the book turned over to HarperCollins, then -- and only then -- will we finally see Sarah Palin unleashed. Those Facebook cruise missiles aimed at the heart of Obama's plans for remaking America to match the visions of his leftist mentors from the Frank Marshall Davis of his youth to the Jeremiah Wright of his recent past were just previews of what is yet to come from Sarah Heath Palin:

Now that we have seen what the Obama experience has brought to the presidency, maybe it is about time we join the millions of others and give a fair chance to someone who really had the strength of conviction and resistance to distortion to speak up for the forgotten Americans. I suspect the newly resurrected Palin will be swinging a sword every bit as powerful as St. Michael as she continues her odyssey to slay the dragons of lies and distortion and restore truth to America.

This is a war for the heart and soul of the very Republic Mr Franklin and the "angry mob" he was a part of challenged us to keep. An army of everyday Americans, every bit as angry at those who would steal liberty as were our founders before us, is growing to fight by Sarah's side.

Be afraid, ye leftist dragons. Be very afraid.

- JP

Will Sarah Palin Punk the Living Borat out of the CLSA?

Hong Kong Broker Pulling A "Borat" On Sarah Palin

I am going to make this one thread short and sweet...

What I want to know is if Sarah Palin will punk the living Borat out of the CLSA for lousy investment practices....

HONG KONG (AP) — A former banker at one of Asia's top stock brokerages and an ex-fund manager have been jailed in Hong Kong for insider trading that reaped illegal profits of more than half a million dollars, regulators said. Allen Lam, former investment banking director at broker CLSA, was sentenced Monday to six months in prison and ordered to pay fines of $69,000 Hong Kong dollars ($9,000), the territory's Securities and Futures Commission said in a statement. His friend Ryan Fong, a former fund manager at HSZ (Hong Kong) Ltd., received a one-year jail term and was fined nearly ....

To be continued for sure...

- Tom

No, Gov. Sanford, you don't even have a clue

From CNN's Political Ticker:

South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford says that the state Ethics Commission probe into his travel expenses reminds him of the flood of ethics complaints filed against Sarah Palin before she resigned the Alaska governorship.

"I think I now know what Sarah may have been feeling," Sanford told The Washington Times in an interview published Wednesday.

No, Gov. Sanford, you don't have any idea what Sarah Palin may have been feeling, and neither does anyone else.

But wait until they photoshop devil's heads on a photo of your youngest child and spread it around the internet, along with the lie that your youngest is actually the child of your daughter and was fathered by you. Wait until they hack into your private e-mail account and post the messages on the internet. Wait until they try to burn down your church while there are people inside after pouring gasoline around every exit and igniting their hellish fires. Wait until they brand you a racist and spread lies that put you aboard a helicopter, hunting down and killing cute, furry animals from the air to make children believe you're some heartless monster. Wait until they say that you should have aborted one of your own beloved children. Give it about a year, Governor Sanford -- a year of some of the most vile and disgusting things human beings in their depravity could say about and do to another, and then you be sure to get back to us, okay?

Then we can talk about how the right governor -- the one who did nothing wrong -- resigned, and the wrong governor -- the one who got caught with his pants down south of the border -- refuses to do the honorable thing and give up his death grip on the power of his office.

Updates...

The Palination:

"Saying you understand how Sarah feels is kind of petty when your situation does not reflect the months and months of what she had to deal with, nor the type of issues with which she has been dealing."

K-Lo at NRO's The Corner:

"Sarah Palin didn't disappear mysteriously on her state, on the taxpayers' dime, while cheating on her spouse and lying to seemingly everyone about it all."

- JP

Mrs. Mom the governor vs. Dr. Death the terminator

American Thinker has published yet another excellent Stuart Schwartz essay on Sarah Palin. Oh, what thoughts could be racing through the great mind of Rahmbo's smarter brother since Sarah Palin shined a light on the brave new world he seeks to bring about?

Where does she get off attacking him? Sarah Palin, it seems forever Sarah Palin. And he wonders, as have so many others, what it takes to put a stake through her heart? People should listen to him, not Sarah Palin. He is the philosopher king of Democrat health care. And he went to Harvard, you know.

One day he was vacationing in the Italian Alps, a top-level government bureaucrat and Democrat insider enjoying the fruits of his labors on behalf of the common good. Government health care was cruising and Zeke was the guy Time magazine predicted will build the most "equitable and ethical" health care system north of Cuba. Marty Peretz, his friend and publisher of The New Republic, described him as quintessential Harvard, "very impressive" and stuffed with "gravitas."

And then he got the call: Sarah Palin had done the unthinkable. She had read the health care bill. Mainstream journalists hadn't read the bill. Congress hadn't read its own bill. But Sarah Palin did. Sarah Palin! He has a medical degree and doctorate in political philosophy from Harvard. The only Harvard she's knows is the chunk of ice off Prince William Sound, Harvard Glacier.

Then she writes something on Facebook -- Facebook, for Obama's sake! -- and suddenly the president, congress, the media, and everyone who is anyone inside the beltway is scurrying for cover. Palin wrote that she wanted nothing to do with Obama's "death panel," the collection of bureaucrats who Zeke was so proudly putting together to assess the "level of productivity" that would determine individual access to medical care

They went after her, but...it was over. Everyone was talking death panels. Sarah Palin had let people know: if you're old, if you're sick, if you're disabled, they're targeting you. It became Mrs. Mom vs. Dr. Death, the governor vs. the terminator.

You owe it to yourself to read every word of the unabridged original. On a rating of stars from one to five, we give it all the blazing lights in in a clear night's sky.

- JP

Quote of the Day (September 1, 2009)

Scott Michaels:

"Let Dick Cheney be Dick Cheney and Sarah Palin be Sarah Palin, for she’s surely the strongest Republican woman to come down the pike in a long time. What’s for certain is that they both seem to get that Republicans don’t win anything by pretending to be slightly different and more moderate versions of today’s Democrat, and that you don’t get to put your own philosophies into practice when voters aren’t sure what you stand for and what you stand against."

- JP

Fox News: Sarah Palin's Asian speech confirmed

Way down near the bottom of a Fox News story apparently meant to slam Sarah Palin for turning down an invitation to attend the National Federation of Republican Women's 35th Convention, we find this interesting bit of information:

"While Palin will not be going to Florida, she will be delivering a keynote speech in Hong Kong, China later this month, according to her spokeswoman, Meg Stapleton."

Talk about burying the lede!

So Monday's AP news item is now confirmed, and our decision to report it is supported -- not that we needed vindication, but we did receive some criticism for posting that AP was reporting it. Also, Riehl's 24 hour rule holds up, and Dan should rest assured that Sarah Palin does indeed have the people around her to be successful.

As for the Fox story, we wonder what part of  "Sarah Palin is writing her book and won't attend any events until it is finished" the legacy media fail to understand. Despite FNC's misleading headline, former Governor Palin didn't "snub" anyone. We have to ask who was asleep at the Fox newsroom printer when the following AP story was sent down the wire Monday:

The father of Sarah Palin, the former governor of Alaska and vice presidential nominee, says his daughter has been steering clear of the media spotlight in recent weeks to focus on writing her memoirs.

Chuck Heath, in Idaho campaigning for a Republican congressional candidate last week, says Palin has been away from her Alaska home for more than a month but is in touch frequently with him.

The AP story preceded Fox's Monday piece by a full seven hours at the very least.

Update: ADN's Sean Cockerham at least got right to the point in the Alaska Politics blog, but as per McClatchy practice had to include this bit of snark:

But, given recent history, it seemed prudent to make sure Palin was actually on board.

Ironically, in Cockerham's next paragraph, he had to report on what will put an end to the "they said, she said" media narrative that the likes of ADN has so relished reporting:

Stapleton also confirmed reports that Palin has signed with the Washington Speakers Bureau to handle her paid speaking engagements.

Update: Fox News has changed the headline of their story from "Palin Snubs Republican Women's Convention" to "Palin to Speak at Hong Kong Investors Conference." Heh...

- JP

Ian Ransom on Levi's Vanity Fair Palin Smear Job

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Ian Ransom's cutting commentary regarding Vanity Fair's latest character-assassination-for-hire of Sarah Palin is not to be missed. The contract on Palin went to the most unlikely of hit men -- Levi Johnston, who blends with the VF elites like Scotts Miracle Gro mixes with moose manure. Any way you package it, it's the same old... er, stuff. What we like about Ian is he uses a keyboard like a samurai wields a katana. Here are a couple of excerpts:

"Once again, we witness the Left's indefatigable obsession with defaming and dehumanizing Sarah Palin, long after she has departed center stage--for the time being--in the battle for America's ideological soul. Though Beltway denizens and pundits have adopted a wait & see approach (whilst keeping their straight-razors handy), bloated old fashion-mummies like Graydon Carter can't seem to shake their overweening fear of Palin's decency, or their inability to comprehend her unwavering, distinctly American dignity. Fops like Graydon Carter can't tolerate such abiding normality because, unlike Palin, these individuals do not value character...they value characteristics."

[...]

"It's not shocking that Vanity Fair and its washed-out hive of worker bees would stoop to such galling depths to ridicule a fine American leader who has never harmed anyone. Vanity Fair's sales are unquestionably in the same toilet wherein the souls of its editors are currently swirling toward the Ultimate Flush. These dandies are forced to pander for their very lives, which, in a way, testifies to the power that Sarah Palin has over them, and not vice versa."

Well, Ricky Hollywood, when Rex Butler said he would make you a star, is this what you had in mind? Probably beats posing for Gayboy magazine, though. Or is that next? And to think that your dad had found honest work for you until Dan Fagan screwed that up.

Read Ian's complete commentary here.

- JP

Sarah Palin Is No Ted Kennedy

Jeffrey Lord, in The American Spectator's Political Hay column, asks "Is Sarah Palin the Next Ted Kennedy?" Lord makes the stretch to connect the two mostly based on what he calls the "head of the table" characteristic -- people listened whenever Kennedy spoke and they listen when Palin speaks. Lord's label is derived from a Winston Churchill quote, "Wherever I sit is the head of the table," meaning that regardless of where Churchill sat at the dinner table, he had the full attention of all those who were seated there. A rare quality in leaders:

"They possess, as did Winston Churchill, an unquantifiable capability that can not just electrify a room full of supporters but send them into passionate fits of ecstasy -- while simultaneously sending opponents into a furious, foaming rage."

"By now, a year after her emergence on the national scene, it is crystal clear that former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin has this 'head of the table' gene in spades. She is, in a remarkable way, the real heir -- make that heiress -- to Senator Kennedy. She is charismatic, she has a decided point of view and she is a lightning rod for controversy. Just as Kennedy managed to sink a once sure-thing Supreme Court nomination with his famous Bork speech, Governor Palin has managed to explode Section 1233 of the ObamaCare House bill with her vivid description of 'death panels,' severely damaging the President's entire legislative priority in the process."

But Lord's attempt to draw connections between Palin and Kennedy ultimately falls apart for one simple reason -- one link does not make a chain.

As the author himself admits, Palin and Kennedy share the "head of the table" factor with others, naming Rush Limbaugh and Newt Gingrich as but two examples. The late Senator and the former governor couldn't be less alike in so many other ways:

Kennedy was born into a life of privilege, while Sarah Palin is the daughter of two middle-class school teachers. Ted was expected to follow his brothers into politics, and there was a senate seat waiting for him with his name on it. Sarah Palin had to win her political battles based solely on her own merits, and she did not waltz right into a plush job in the U.S. Senate. She had to take it one step at a time, beginning with the PTA and advancing incrementally to city council, mayor, and then governor.

Sarah Palin never left anyone to die in a submerged automobile, and she hasn't consumed enough alcohol to spontaneously combust were she to be tased. She never met with the Soviets to try to undermine Ronald Reagan's presidency. She is not known for the kind of debauchery which was one of the personal failings of the brothers Kennedy, and the media which excused Kennedy's failings has to invent them for Palin.

Just because Sarah Palin used a favorite tactic of the Democrats against them is not sufficient reason to label her "another Ted Kennedy." Frankly, it's preposterous. Sarah Palin has much more in common with Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan than she will ever have with any Kennedy. Yet she is neither the "next" Thatcher nor the "next" Reagan. She is, instead, one of their students, and she is destined to make those two teachers, just as she has made her teacher parents, very proud of her.

- JP

2012 Draft Sarah Committee September Newsletter

The September edition of the 2012 Draft Sarah Committee's newsletter is out. If you're not receiving the newsletter, and you would like for it to be sent to your e-mail address, the procedure is painless. Just go here and scroll down to the blue box in the left-hand sidebar. Fill in the three blanks, click on "Go" and that's all there is to it.

- JP

She who laughs last does so on her way to the bank

At Left-leaning The Business Insider, Vincent Fernando dutifully propagates the latest DNC talking point -- that CLSA's invitation to Sarah Palin to travel to Asia for a speaking engagement at the end of the month is nothing more than a practical joke:

"Her invitation as keynote speaker in Hong Kong is so ridiculous that its absurdity can't be accidental."

In attempting to belittle former Governor Palin, Fernando beclowns himself. Think for just a minute, a chore which is impossible for the liberal mind...

Consider the report that the 2008 GOP vice presidential candidate will be paid a six-figure fee for each speech she gives. That means that CLSA will be out a minimum of $100,000 for a relatively small chunk of Sarah Palin's time and trouble. Plus, she will get an all-expenses-paid trip to Hong Kong as a bonus, not to mention another stamp on her passport, one liberals criticize for having an insufficient number of marks on it. Oh, yes, and she will also pick up some foreign policy and finance cred.

Advantage, Palin.

It probably never occurred to Fernando and the DNC talking-pont team that if this is indeed a such a stunt, then the joke is on CLSA and the Democrats. And Sarah Palin, ever the happy warrior, will be laughing all the way to the bank.

Update: Anti-Palin site Alaska Dispatch doth spinneth too much, wethinks. Meanwhile, Allah says if it is a joke, then...

"...what’s the punchline? They’re going to pay her a hundred grand to come read what I’m sure will be a perfectly serviceable speech on foreign relations — and that’s it?"

- JP

The 24-Hour Rule (Update: WSB Confirmed)

Dan Riehl assumes that the AP's Asia story is legit:

"Any would be prominent figure that allows a bogus story to fly across the AP and go not knocked down within 24 hrs doesn't have the people around them to be successful. So, I'm assuming this is legit at this point."

Sarah Palin signed with the Washington Speakers Bureau, as was reported Monday. The Bureau is the former governor's exclusive agent for all speaking engagements as of yesterday. One could now reasonably expect, if the Politico story is correct, that questions concerning Palin's reported Asian speech should be directed to the Bureau, given the silence from Meghan Stapleton.

Which is what we have done. A telephone call placed to the Washington Speakers Bureau Monday was not returned. We sent an e-mail inquiry to the Bureau Tuesday morning asking for  confirmation of both the Politico story and the AP report.  An update will be posted when we have confirmation or denial.

We have pontificated before on how important it is to a public figure to have control of his or her message. Dan's post just underscores that this is still an issue for Sarah Palin. If the Washington Speakers Bureau is now representing the former governor, we believe that will be an important step for her in gaining full control of her message.

Update: The Washington Speakers Bureau has revised its website to include the following banner headline:

"SARAH PALIN: Selects Washington Speakers Bureau for Exclusive Representation"

No copy yet, just the headline, but it confirms at least part of Mike Allen's Monday Politico report.

- JP