The Candidates
Michelle Malkin completely eviscerates the “Book-banning Sarah Palin tried to get librarian fired” meme being disseminated by the lefty blogs.
The entire article is essential reading. However, the last paragraph that deals with the assertion that Palin tried to have the librarian who refused to remove the books from their shelves fired is, perhaps, the most crucial:
If you read the Anchorage Daily News article, towards the bottom, you find that Palin requested the resignations not only of the librarian, but of several other township officials. Why? Because they were political appointees who openly supported her political opponent. Palin requested the resignations a few days BEFORE she assumed office, apparently for political reasons, as would be routine in ALL such situations, including in the very small town of Washington, DC. [Didn’t some no-name politician fire all of the US Attorneys?] Frankly, it’s far more remarkable (and shows a great deal of tolerance) for Palin to have KEPT Emmons in office. And you’d think people would consider the source when Emmons claims Palin wanted to ban books.”
Be sure to read the article in its entirety here.
September 6th, 2008 at 2:33 pm
I really think we have a big star with Sarah Palin, people are just going crazy over this women!
September 6th, 2008 at 2:43 pm
This is exactly what I as trying to convey to people that were going ape nuts over all of the “Sarah Palin Facts”. We did not even know if any of these things were even remotely true, and yet some people wanted to go off half-cocked and dump all of the Kos Oppo talking points on us here.
Look at all of the “facts” that have been debunked:
1. Alaska Independence Party member - DEBUNKED
2. Creationism meme - DEBUNKED
3. Recently supported Pat Buchanan - DEBUNKED
4. Extra-martial affair - DEBUNKED
5. Book banning - DEBUNKED
6. Tried to get librarian fired who stood in the way of her book-banning - DEBUNKED
7. Supported the “Bridge to Nowhere” - DEBUNKED
And the list goes on… I am ashamed that a few of my fellow “Republicans” swallowed these Daily Kos/MSM talking points whole so easily.
September 6th, 2008 at 2:47 pm
It’s still amazing to me that Governor Sarah Palin has had more vetting from the Mainstream Media in 7 days than Barack Obama has had in 17 months.
September 6th, 2008 at 2:49 pm
Sarah is exactly what the party needed to excite all of those (me included) that had supported another candidate in the primaries and were uninspired by the campaign so far. Once she was announced as the pick, all the ’stuff’ that was tossed out there to see if it would stick by those supposedly on our own side was both maddening and disheartening. Sarah is gonna be a rock star - and as Michael Reagan wrote since her pick - the next Reagan!!!
September 6th, 2008 at 2:54 pm
Thanks Kavon, not going to Kos these days, I did not know we had so much non-sense to debunk. This just makes the Left looks more silly.
September 6th, 2008 at 4:27 pm
I hope she does an interview soon. People of the country need to see her in a relaxed setting in a one on one interview.
September 6th, 2008 at 4:39 pm
Check out the latest feigned outrage by Andrew “Of No Party or Clique” *snort!* Sullivan. He’s spinning the line of the Dem Party and the Press Clique that the Mac Camp is sheltering Palin from the media for all of two weeks! Outrage!!
Fact is, Obama went on the O’Reilly factor nine months after receiving O’Reilly’s personal invite on the show. And the Bam Camp arranged the interview in an attempt to draw attention away from the GOP Convention.
When it comes to tightly managing the press corps, the Obama campaign is notorious for micromanaging everything and controlling all access. They famously kicked a reporter off of the Obama “world tour” plane for writing an article critical of Obama.
Hypocrisy and double standards from the Dems, media, and their leftist cohort: Nothing new under the sun.
September 6th, 2008 at 4:49 pm
“Palin requested the resignations not only of the librarian, but of several other township officials. Why? Because they were political appointees who openly supported her political opponent.”
Political appointee? Interesting way to characterize a librarian in a town of 5,000.
September 6th, 2008 at 4:51 pm
“Palin requested the resignations not only of the librarian, but of several other township officials. Why? Because they were political appointees who openly supported her political opponent.”
Political appointee? Interesting way to characterize a librarian in a town of 5,000.
September 6th, 2008 at 5:10 pm
> “Political appointee? Interesting way to characterize a librarian in a town of 5,000.”
How familiar are you with Wasilla, Alaska? Apparently the Anchorage Daily News thinks the librarian was a political appointee — if you have contrary information, post it.
September 6th, 2008 at 5:37 pm
The ADN article does not use the term “political appointee,” or imply that the librarian was a political appointee.
It also does not state that Palin asked for the librarian’s resignation BEFORE taking office.
The article’s lead: “Back in 1996, WHEN SHE FIRST BECAME MAYOR, Sarah Palin asked the city librarian if she would be all right with censoring library books should she be asked to do so. According to news coverage at the time, the librarian said she would definitely not be all right with it. A FEW MONTHS LATER, the librarian, Mary Ellen Emmons, got a letter from Palin telling her she was going to be fired. The censorship issue was not mentioned as a reason for the firing. The letter just said the new mayor felt Emmons didn’t fully support her and had to go.”
And here’s the closest the article comes to Malkin’s “political appointee” assertion:
“Four days before the exchange at the City Council, Emmons got a letter from Palin asking for her resignation. Similar letters went to police chief Irl Stambaugh, public works director Jack Felton and finance director Duane Dvorak. John Cooper, a fifth director, resigned after Palin eliminated his job overseeing the city museum.
“Palin told the Daily News back then the letters were just a test of loyalty as she took on the mayor’s job, which she’d won from three-term mayor John Stein in a hard-fought election. Stein had hired many of the department heads. Both Emmons and Stambaugh had publicly supported him against Palin.
“Emmons survived the loyalty test and a second one a few months later. She resigned in August 1999, two months before Palin was voted in for a second mayoral term.”
September 6th, 2008 at 5:41 pm
And note that the article used the following language: “Stein had HIRED many of the department heads.”
Hired. Not “appointed.”
September 6th, 2008 at 5:51 pm
Um, the police chief sued the city with the claim of improper dismissal. The judge ruled that the chief served at the pleasure of the mayor — that’s pretty much a hallmark of an office held by a political appointee if I ever saw one.
The banality of this “scandal” doesn’t even approach visiting a radical church for 20 years — without noticing its anti-American radicalism — and launching a political career in the home of a radical, unrepentant former terrorist with the terrorists full endorsement.
September 6th, 2008 at 6:17 pm
AJ. . . Things are different up here in AK. Outside Anchorage and, to a degree, Fairbanks, most towns/villages operate that way. There just aren’t enough resources to spread around. AK has very few cities. Three major ones, several minor ones, and the rest are villages with no road access spread over an area more than twice the size of Texas. This is what most people don’t get. The Bridge to Nowhere is a great example. I am actually in favor of it. The plan was to build a bridge from Ketchikan - one of the fastest growing cities in Alaska - to the island with few people and the region’s airport. The idea was that once the bridge is built, Ketchikan can begin to spread over the island to become Alaska’s fourth city. It made sense to build the bridge first rather than expect new business and industry to continue to use an outdated ferry to get to and from work every day. So the politicians asked the feds for funding. Keep in mind, the lower 48 has been receiving federal grants and funds for roads, schools, and general infrastructure for the entire past century. AK was virtually ignored by the federal government until oil started flowing in the mid 70s. AK was only asking for funds to help build what the lower 48 has been building for decades - bridges, schools, communications, rail and air links, etc. In the lower 48, when you want to connect two towns, you build a road and set up power lines and connect the towns. In Alaska, several hundred miles of arctic tundra can seperate one small villiage from another. It costs a lot of money to bring the technology of the last century to much of the Great Land, technology the rest of the country takes for granted every day. The Bridge fiasco only occured after Ted Stevens (still one of my favorite Senators) linked the funds to Katrina relief. Politically, everyone sided with Katrina, and, once again, to hell with Alaska. It didn’t matter that New Orleans had been squandering millions on a disaster they helped create. Once it became “Bush’s problem” any diversion of funds to a Republican request became, in effect, steeling from New Orleans. So the Bridge went from a much needed piece of infrastructure to a symbol of wasteful spending. Now the other side is trying to paint Palin - who has faught corruption since before she took office - as a close friend of Stevens, when it’s well known here that they are far from friends.
I’m not trying to justify increased spending, just trying to put things in perspective.
September 6th, 2008 at 6:23 pm
Good job Kavon, as usual.
September 6th, 2008 at 6:26 pm
The assertion was that the ADN story described the librarian as a “political appointee.” It did not. If ADN had meant to characterize Emmons as such, that’s the term that would’ve been used. The article also did not make the point, as the Malkin post suggests, that firing all top managers en masse is standard procedure when a new mayor takes office in Wasilla.
September 6th, 2008 at 6:46 pm
I hope McCain-Palin take this wisdom to the White House. Does anyone remember how the Clinton’s immediately dismissed all of the Justice Department lawyers. They hired many back, those that whose loyalty and discretion they could guarantee. Do you remember when Bush did the same thing when he came to office? That’s right. You don’t. He never did. He left almost all the Clinton appointees in Justice and at State and even in the WH staff in place which is one of the many reasons that the Bush White House had to fight rear guard actions in their own government for 8 long years, .e.g. Richard Clarke.
When McCain-Palin arrive in Washington I hope the Clinton hangers-on are finally purged. We can be bi-partisan with elected officials; but different standards should apply to those we appoint.
September 6th, 2008 at 6:53 pm
You are another civic illiterate. That’s OK. Many Obama supporters are. Too many. It’s part of our task to educate them, e.g. you.
Follow me: Local governments are patronage machines in most of the US, especially Chicago where Obama benefited from patronage mightily, and benefited others too, e.g. Rev. Wright and Fr. F-F-Flager. It’s safe. It’s legal. And I actually have no problem with it. Elected officials should have the right to make key appointments. What worries me are the high ranking permanent government apparatchiks who can never get purged no matter how you vote who can set up personal fiefdoms at public expense.