And the red jacket goes to... John G. Miller!

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From Laura Ingraham:

"Thanks to John G. Miller for his incredibly generous donation benefiting the Fisher House and the Wounded Warrior Project!"

Miller, an author and advisor who teaches the principles of personal accountability to organizations through his QBQ! consultancy, submitted the winning bid of $57,000 for Sarah Palin's 'Going Rogue' jacket in an auction to raise money for The Wounded Warrior Project and The Fisher House.

Gov. Palin donated the jacket, which she wore for the cover photo of her Going Rogue memoir.

- JP

Sarah Palin and Laura Ingraham join forces for the troops

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If you listen to Laura Ingraham's radio program, you're probably aware that Sarah Palin is teaming up with Laura in a fundraising effort which will benefit our troops. Gov. Palin is promoting the auction on her Facebook Notes page:

Laura Ingraham’s Auction to Benefit Our Military

It’s a privilege to participate in the auction Laura Ingraham is organizing to help our men and women in uniform. Laura asked if I would donate the jacket I wore on the cover of my book, “Going Rogue.” I can’t think of a better cause, and it’s especially fitting because the book is dedicated to patriots and in particular to our women and men in uniform.

All the proceeds from the auction go to benefit the Wounded Warrior Project and The Fisher House (please click the links for more information about these wonderful organizations).

Our military and their families sacrifice so much to protect us. That sacrifice was so evident at our visit to the Walter Reed Hospital on Sunday. It was deeply moving and inspirational to hear our recovering troops’ stories and to see their patriotism reflected so vividly in their willingness to serve a cause greater than themselves.

Please join Laura in helping these brave and selfless Americans and their families. You can participate in the auction by visiting Laura’s website here.

- Sarah Palin

Our men and women in uniform and their families have always had a best friend in Sarah Palin. She was on Laura's show again Thursday. You can listen to that interview here and follow the auction here.

- JP

MSNBC goes for a Gotcha question and hits a wall.

Hmmm... MSNBC seem to be running with nothing as usual.

There was a very awkward interview for MSNBC with Mrs. Maples who was the winner of the auction on eBay for Ride 2 Recovery to help our wounded warriors.

You can see the video here

But as you can see, the gotcha questions didn’t really "get" the intended results.

The best was the segment at the end…. You have to watch the video to see where the interviewer stumbled. PRICELESS!

- u

Palin Enemy Denied Propaganda Opportunity

-By Warner Todd Huston

Oopsie. Palin smear artist Joe McGinnis was denied his chance to make a mockery of the Palin diner auction when the good Guv nixed his ebay bid last week, sources say.

The New York Daily News reports that smear writer McGinnis, who is writing an unauthorized "biography" attacking Governor Palin, tried to top the winning $60,101.01 ebay bid for the dinner with Palin but the bid was voided by Palin herself.

Palin reserved the right to refuse bidders who failed to meet "standards of suitability, professionalism, background and other factors."

Good for her. This smear merchant was denied a chance to put himself in the news by snagging this dinner with Palin. McGinnis was denied his shot at propaganda and self aggrandizement.

There is another reason why this denial of the smear writer is a good thing. His taking dinner with the governor would have overshadowed the charity for which the dinner was planned. Certainly the news would have focussed on McGinnis' blather and the clash between he and Palin and the great charity that the dinner was to benefit would have been forgotten.

That charity, by the way, is Ride2Recovery a great cause that helps our wounded military veterans recover their health and dignity.

- WTH

More: Marysue at Ruby Slippers thinks McGiniss, like Hamlet's Player Queen, protests too much.

- JP

Anti-Palinites use charity auction for political purposes

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When it comes to Dinner with Sarah and Todd, you may not be the winner!

Per the Alaska Dispatch:

We're crossing our fingers really hard today ... bestselling author Joe McGinniss is a strong contender to win the Ebay auction for a dinner with Sarah Palin.

McGinniss is among the top-two bidders in that now-famous Ebay auction for a foursome dinner date with Palin. He's bid $59,999.99 to dine with Our Lady of the North. The ecstatic subject line to an email McGinniss sent to AlaskaDispatch.com Thursday night read, "I'm going for the knockout blow! (mostly because I like the ‘FREE shipping' guarantee)."

McGinniss thinks he is going to win the bid for dinner. He may end up the high bidder (or not), but A Dinner with Sarah and Todd comes with a warning:

A background check for all attendees is mandatory. Failure to pass the background check will result in the winner forfeiting the experience and a refund given. The dinner experience with Sarah Palin will take place at a site to be determined and at a mutually agreed upon time and date to be determined by Ms. Palin and the winning bidder. Ms Palin may bring up to three guests of her own. The dinner will be paid for by the seller. There are no age restrictions but anyone under 16-years-old must be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian. Winner may take personal photos and allowed to bring one item of reasonable size i.e. no larger than what can be carried by hand (t-shirts, books, magazines, etc.) The decision to sign the item will ultimately be up to Ms. Palin. Respect for Ms. Palin and her guest(s) is expected at all times. Inappropriate behavior will result in the conclusion of the experience with no refund. 

Dinner shall last no more than four hours, but could be less, in the sole discretion of Sarah Palin.* Governor Palin reserves the right to refuse dinner with a winning bidder if, in her sole discretion, the winning bidder is not a suitable bidder based on her subjective standards of suitability, professionalism, background and other factors. In the event the high bidder is rejected for this reason, the high bidder's bid will be refunded, if paid, and the next highest bidder shall be notified, and thereafter, until a suitable match is determined…

…The winning bidder agrees, warrants and represents that you will not in any way advertise, promote, market or, utilize Sarah Palin’s or the Ride 2 Recovery’s name, likeness, voice, photograph, signature, logo or image in any manner, for any reason at any time without the prior written consent of Sarah Palin or the Ride 2 Recovery. In order to make the experience more enjoyable and interesting, the dinner will be “off the record,” and the winning bidder and his/her guests agree not to record the conversation, take notes or quote Sarah Palin in any manner in any media including blogs or other online communications.

I don't think McGinniss will enjoy that little item as he is writing a book that isn't very nice about Sarah Palin and what happened as Governor.  I guess none of the usual suspects looked into the "rules" for the dinner.  Oops!

h/t: Ron Devito

-u

Editor's Note: Rules? Leftist moonbats don't need no steenking rules. That's how they can cheat on their taxes and still get plum government jobs. That's how they can "forget" a cool half-million in assets and retain chairmanship of the Ways and Means Committee. Rules are for rubes -- you know, like Sarah Palin and those increasing numbers of ordinary Americans who admire her, work hard and play by the... rules.

The Alaska Dispatch has blown McGinniss' anonymous ebay user ID by publishing the amount of his bid, so it doesn't take Sherlock Holmes to figure out which bidder he is. It's a shame that this moonbat is bidding for his own selfish reasons, while others have said that if theirs is the winning bid, they will give their meal tickets to five wounded veterans. That is in keeping with the spirit of the entire event, but it seems to be the last thing on the mind of political hit man McGinniss, and his bitter cheerleaders, who are using what is supposed to be a charitable endeavor solely to score political points. This is supposed to be about helping our wounded veterans, not pimping a book or mocking Sarah Palin.

Update: The auction has ended with a winning bid of $63,500. And, no McGinnis doesn't appear to have won. None of the last seven bids was his. AP story is here. 

- JP

Bid for Dinner with Sarah and Todd Palin nearing $40K

With three days and nine hours remaining, the ebay bid on dinner for five with Sarah and Todd  Palin is at $39,700 as of this posting. The former Alaska governor and 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate and some other notables have volunteered their names and time to the charity auction, with all proceeds to benefit Ride 2 Recovery. R2R supports cycling programs for injured veterans. Bidding, as we reported Tuesday, opened at $25,000.

- JP

Charity auction update: Dinner with Sarah and Todd

With a little less than six days to go, the ebay bid for dinner for five with Sarah Palin is currently well over $38,000. The former Alaska governor and 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate has joined some other notables in volunteering their names and time to the charity auction, with all proceeds to benefit Ride 2 Recovery, which supports cycling programs for injured veterans. Bidding, as we reported Tuesday, opened at $25,000.

- JP

Pallin' with Palin: The R2R charity auction begins today

As Warner reported Saturday, the Ride 2 Recovery ebay charity auction is today, and one of the items up for bid is dinner for five with Sarah Palin.

Yes, it's for real. Our Bloggers for Sarah Palin colleague Ron Devito contacted John Wordin, Executive Director of Ride 2 Recovery, who assured Ron that Meghan Stapleton confirmed former Governor Palin's participation to benefit wounded warriors through the R2R program.

Steve Parmenter has organized a group of Sarah's Facebook friends who are pooling donations to make a bid in the auction. If the group wins the auction, it will donate its seats at the table so five wounded warriors will be able to have dinner with Todd and Sarah. To donate to the group's bid, click on the ad below.

Speaking of bidding, it begins at 5:00 PM today. Pre-qualification for bidding began at midnight. We will update with new information throughout the auction.



Update 1: Here's Steve's post on Big Hollywood:

I’ve set up a special site at Causes.com to allow for all of us to participate in the R2R auction in order to win a dinner with Sarah Palin for five wounded warriors.

This is how it works:

1. Go to this site and make a donation directly to R2R.

2. At the end of the auction, Friday Sept. 18th, the accumulated donations will be entered as a bid for the DINNER WITH SARAH PALIN auction.

3. If this is the winning bid, FIVE deserving warriors chosen by the Ride 2 Recovery program will enjoy dinner with Sarah Palin – a wonderful evening out with a most wonderful person.

4. If this is not the winning bid, R2R will still benefit from your generous contribution and we will know that each of us will have donated to a most worthy cause.

So let’s put this “over the top” and send five guys/gals out on the town. Together we can make it happen.

I am currently sixty-three years old, retired, and am looking forward to my “golden years.” As a Marine Corps Viet Nam era veteran, I fully appreciate the sacrifices that our service members and families are making every day on our behalf. In my day there was a saying…. “All gave some and some gave all.” To that I would like to add… and some gave more than others. Being a Marine I have a firm belief in teamwork, such that by acting together great things can be accomplished. In my opinion this is one of those times.

I thank you for your interest and my best regards to everyone at Big Hollywood,

Steven P. Parmenter

Update 2: Sarah Palin posted the following on her Facebook Notes page Thursday morning:

Ride2Recovery Charity Auction

Ride 2 Recovery has launched an online auction to help our nation's wounded warriors. Todd and I are so happy to help such a worthy organization. Please click on this link to view the auction and begin bidding - and, as always, thanks for all your support.

-Sarah Palin

100% of proceeds from this auction will benefit the Ride 2 Recovery program whose mission is to improve the health and wellness of wounded warriors by providing a life changing experience that can impact their lives forever.

- JP