Thatcher Aide Denies Guardian's Palin 'Snub' Report

"Would Lady Thatcher have ever described a prominent US conservative politician as ‘nuts’?"
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Well, well, well. The left-wing media has been caught making things up about Margaret Thatcher and Sarah Palin. Gov. Palin told a correspondent for The Times of London last week that she intended to visit Sudan in July and mentioned that the trip would possibly include a stopover in London, where the governor said she hoped to pay a call on Margaret Thatcher if the former PM would be feeling up to it.

The Guardian, arguably the most left wing of the UK's "mainstream" newspapers, saw the opportunity to take a gratuitous swipe at Gov. Palin and falsely reported that the governor should forget about paying Lady Thatcher a visit, and not simply because of the Iron Lady's failing health:

Her allies believe that Palin is a frivolous figure who is unworthy of an audience with the Iron Lady. This is what one ally tells me:

“Lady Thatcher will not be seeing Sarah Palin. That would be belittling for Margaret. Sarah Palin is nuts.”

Paliniste-across-the-Pond David Riddick did not believe that nonsense for even a second, and he lists his reasons here. Among them, The Guardian has always loathed Lady Thatcher, they loathe Sarah Palin and no professional on her staff would ever use the pejorative "nuts."

Another red flag (ahem) in the Guardian's little spot o' propaganda, at least in our humble opinion, was the alleged "ally" referred to her as "Margaret" in the quote. Your editor is hardly an Anglophile (although I was an Episcopalian for most of my life, but I digress...), I can't even imagine anyone on her staff or in her close company using her given name. That's too familiar for someone of her status, and anyone truly inside her inner circle would refer to her as "Lady Thatcher" instead.

The Guardian's account also seemed highly suspect to one of Jim Hoft's readers at Gateway Pundit, who decided to investigate. The reader sent an inquiry to The Thatcher Foundation, and here's an excerpt of the reply which came back:

I have no inside knowledge of this business to offer I am afraid and certainly am not in a position to make any kind of statement on Lady Thatcher’s behalf. I’m happy though to give you my personal view.

The Guardian, of course, is not a newspaper at all sympathetic to Lady Thatcher (or to Mrs. Palin), so reports on this topic, from that source, have minimal credibility. If nothing else, would Lady Thatcher have ever described a prominent US conservative politician as ‘nuts’, or approved an ‘ally’ who used the description? I would hope that question answers itself.

Of course, sadly, Lady Thatcher’s health is not good these days and such considerations naturally dominate her schedule. That much is true. Someone once said that if you plaster together the true and the false you thereby manufacture the plausible, but in this case I don’t think even that much has been achieved by the Guardian.

Notice the respectful use of "Lady Thatcher" in the reply.

The Guardian's credibility, which is always dubious at best, is totally destroyed by Christopher Collins, the Foundation's historian. So if Gov. Palin visits England and does not meet with Lady Thatcher, you can be reasonably assured that illness, not scorn, is what kept the two conservative women of different eras apart.

h/t: Brian Preston

- JP

Quote of the Day (October 22, 2010)

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David L Riddick at The Aged P:

"[Mark] Burnett is a Brit from London’s East End whose parents moved to Dagenham to work in the Ford factory. When he was seventeen he joined the British army and then spent four years in the Parachute Regiment. The Paras are one of the UKs toughest military outfits, and Burnett rose to be a section commander serving at the sharp end in Northern Ireland and the Falklands... So when Burnett calls Todd Palin 'Captain America' that is praise indeed. Burnett is the sort of man who could survive in the wilderness on a diet of nails and chunks of concrete, so I would guess he slotted quite neatly into the Palin household."

- JP

Quote of the Day (September 13, 2010)

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David L Riddick at Conservatives 4 Palin:

"The fact is this rather mysterious woman panders to nobody, doesn’t care who she upsets on the left or the right and follows her own star. She has no influential family network or billionaire patron, no massive staff structure thronged with consultants and advisers, has for two years been ignored and/or despised by most media pundits, insulted and demeaned by third rate scribblers, cold shouldered by her own state party and ignored by her party’s national establishment. Nevertheless she has become one of the most influential and powerful figures in American politics."

- JP

David Riddick: A tectonic shift in the Telegraph's coverage of Gov. Palin

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David Riddick, C4P's contributor from across the big pond, detects what he says is a tectonic shift in the London Daily Telegraph's treatment of Governor Palin by two of their Stateside correspondents, Alex Spillius and Toby Harnden:

Spillius and Harnden, even though residents in the USA have never, to my knowledge, made any attempt to use actual shoeleather to research Palin or sought to arrange an interview. Instead they have been content to parrot talking points from the NYT and WaPo or dinner party put downs from the great and the good of the Beltway.

But that video has affected the mercury in the political barometer.

Citing Spillius' latest offering, The Aged P explains the importance of such articles:

Firstly, for the Brits, it allows a foreign audience to see Palin as a serious political figure rather than a one minute wonder out of a Jerry Springer show.

But it has a much deeper significance for the USA. Spillius, Harnden and Co. purvey gossip and rumour from the political players of DC and their hangers on. For Spillius to write something like this means that there has been a shift of the tectonic plates.

Washington has started to take Sarah Palin much more seriously – and it’s beginning to show.

Read David Riddick's full post at Conservatives4 Palin.

- JP

The Hound of the Bloggervilles

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We tried doing this the nice way. We really did. We removed inflammatory comments and posted a call for a show of respect. Sadly, it was to no avail. It's hard to get a dog to listen when he's too busy barking, it seems.

So here are two excellent comentaries on the hysterical, Palin-biting, CPAC-defending, mindlessly-barking David Keene Terriers (A David Keene Terrier -- also known as "CPAC Water Dog" -- is a hound about the size of a Jack Russell Terrier, but with none of the latter breed's virtues).

From our Blogs 4 Palin colleague Jerry Wilson at Goldfish And Clowns:

"There’s another aspect to the 'Palin’s personally insulting me by not going to CPAC' meme that’s more than a tad disturbing. In recent days a rather nasty fuss has been raised by those complaining about Palin’s perceived snub, centered on whining about Palin supporters being this lot of mindless drones who worship the ground she walks on, believe she gives infallibility lessons to the Pope and must be immediately defended to the death and beyond against any and all critiques. In fact, the kvetchers are the ones behaving like those who Jesus referenced with the illustration of children in the marketplace whining about people not following their song’s lead. Certainly there is an element, as is present with every public figure, within the Palin posse of those who believe she can do no wrong. However, dismissing her supporters en masse due to the excesses of a few is condescending and just plain rude."

And from the esteemed David L. Riddick, posting from across the pond on Conservatives 4 Palin:

"Poor Allah... he bleeds for other bloggers who, in merely trying to be helpful to Palin by questioning her motives, her judgement and her political common sense over the CPAC and the Tea Party Convention affair, have been shocked and wounded by respondents who have questioned the bloggers’ own motives and judgement. It is classic Allah, a cri de coeur, glistening with heartfelt sincerity, pleading the unfairness of bombing the bomb throwers."

Meanwhile, those fiendish capitalists from Tea Party Nation are sending out e-mails urging people to donate to and volunteer for Scott Brown's campaign. Yes, but what's their real motive in doing this? It simply must be nefarious, because someone with a dull axe blade told some bloggers that those evil TPN people cannot be trusted. Their eyes are too close together or something... 

- JP