Palin follies Day 6 — bombshell affair allegations ramp up personal spotlight

New personal-life rumors — this time of alleged affair — dog Palin camp; viciousness of Schmidt response indicates strength of political traction

We’ll start with the more sedate stuff of the day first, then let you the reader scroll down for details on the teaser.

First, Palin may play well to GOP red meaters, but NOT to independents in Michigan

She was a Republican novelty act with a sophomoric script. It was not even a speech I would expect for a someone running for the local PTA, much less for vice president." — George Lentz, 66, Southfield independent

or, even more importantly, women independents in Nevada, who also didn’t like it. That “PUMA appeal” gets slimmer by the day, doesn’t it?

The Palin speech? Wingers are already lying to cover up for how much of a clusterfuck Palin’s delivery was last night, but her TelePrompTer did NOT break. A glitch or two is a different thing. Next thing, the conservative bloviosphere will claim she trudged miles in Alaskan snows, uphill both ways, to deliver the damn thing.

Troopergate update — Fired former Alaska Commissioner of Public Safety Walt Monegan says Palin is lying:

“I think there are some questions now that, coming to light about how transparent and how honest she wants to be,” Monegan said.

Give that man a cigar for the understatement of the week!

The old college non-try: — Palin attended five colleges in six years. (Must have been all the cheerleader camps, tryouts and scholarship offers).

How many did the Schmuck Talk Express™ Vetting Service contact?

You know the answer.

McCain campaign honcho Steve Schmidt threatens to sue National Enquirer for allegations Palin had an affair; according to the mag, Palin allegedly had an affair with a “former business associate” of her husband, Todd Palin.

“The allegations contained on the cover of the National Enquirer insinuating that Governor Palin had an extramarital affair are categorically false. It is a vicious lie... The American people will reject it.”

Hey, Steverino, the Enquirer got John Edwards’ affair right even as the MSM sat on the issue for a good year. So, sue away, and increase the PR damage by giving it credibility.

Indeed, the Enquirer itself tells Schmidt just where to get off:

Following our John Edwards exclusives, our political reporting has obviously proven to be more detail-oriented than the McCain campaign's vetting process.

Beyond that, isn’t it funny how we’re hearing more and more about Palin’s private life, and how, per my show me the birth certificate post, this does have political legs — it is actually getting under the McCain camp’s skin, big-time.

The Trig Palin paternity issue has already gotten under Schmidt’s skin; combine the two, and it’s clear the McCain camp is HUGELY worried about her personal issues.

It’s also interesting how, outside the Enquirer itself, the best info about the Palin affair allegations seems to be from the British media. The American MSM either still hasn’t learned from the Edwards affair coverage, or else is either too cowed by or still in too much suck-up mode to “maverick” McCain, the Straight Schmuck Talk Express™. And that stands true in spite of the fact that British libel law is MUCH more media-unfriendly than is the case on our side of the pond.

Meanwhile, yet another possibility for Trig’s parentage came across my e-mail transom this afternoon. Something that, if true, would blow the affair issue out of the water. But, I think this is an attempt to punk me.

But, as I’ve said more than once before, I reject the idea that it’s “National Enquirer politics” to have bloggers, the DNC, the Obama-Biden campaign, etc., push the ball on this issue.

Again, my riff on Clauswitz:

Politics is war by other means.

But, B.O. and his Post-Partisan Politics™ seem to have the DNC, “liberal” bloggers and would-be 527s all singing the “Kumbaya chorus.”

Ohh, and why does Palin hate community organizers?

Per TAPPED, here’s a gem of a quote on the matter:

“Ms. Palin needs to remember that Jesus was a community organizer and Pontius Pilate was a governor.”

But, we all know that, per the Chris Hayes link, “community organizer” is GOP code-speak for “meddling liberal activist.” (Quote aside, we really need to remember that, if Jesus existed, he was a revolutionary, or else a self-deluded sucker.)

Because we know that the GOP never meddles in people’s personal privacy …

Unless it involves sexual orientation and activity, reproductive choice (now, even birth control pills), or adult viewing choice.

Hence, per a post Monday on the GOP and ANTIPRIVACY, here’s my thoughts on what I wish a Democratic presidential candidate, or flak for him, would say:

We will agree that Bristol Palin’s pregnancy should be a matter of Palin family privacy as soon as Sarah Palin individually and the Republican Party collectively agree that one’s personal sexual choices, personal reproductive choices, and personal video viewing choices for 300 million Americans should be a matter of their privacy.

Don’t hold your breath.


In summation of everything ...

To borrow Joseph Welch’s famous 1954 quote against McCarthy:

Have you no sense of decency, Sarah Palin? Have you no sense of decency?

We know the answer to that one, too.

Finally, my summary.

A Palin affair wouldn't surprise me. Between the Trig parentage questions, Sarah’s own first pregnancy being “early,” Bristol allegedly, and while pregnant for the first/second time, already becoming too familiar with a bottle of alcohol (Google it), and more, Sarah Palin seems far removed from meriting the Religious Right’s Good Mommyhood Seal of Approval™.

Instead, sadly, the Palin family seems more like it could be a “family systems therapy” exhibit in a college Psych 101 textbook. Or an Alaska TV riff on the Addams Famil;y.