William K. Wolfrum's picture

    Neo-Elite Ugliness – Sarah & Todd Palin Video Edition

    Via Palingates:

    Sarah Palin likes public appearances – provided everything is under control, questions are pre-screened and no potentially critical soul is in sight. Spontaneous, unscripted encounters which are being taped are not her thing, which became painfully obvious when Shannyn Moore recently published “Sarah Palin’s Homer moment”. In Homer, Sarah, Todd and Willow Palin confronted the Alaska teacher Kathleen Gustafson, who put up a huge sign saying “Worst Governor Ever” – and this encounter was taped with a cell phone. This unplanned meeting with Kathleen Gustafson turned out to be a PR-disaster.

    Today, we get another unscripted and unfiltered view of Sarah and Todd Palin.

    Mean-spirited bullies will always thrive in the U.S. Still, mocking a small business owner and trying to intimidate him is probably a new thing to Valdez. Welcome to big-time politics, Valdez, where the smiles are for TV cameras, not normal citizens.

    HT The Political Carnival

    –WKW

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    Comments

    Meh. Seemed fairly tame to me. It really just went to show that she's a newcomer who hasn't had people train her friends and family how to react to situations such as these. If I was the kind of person who liked her for her folksy charm, I'd argue this just goes to show she's not "politics as usual". I'm not that kind of person, and would suggest this is probably "politics as usual" for people not used to being in the national spot light. (Although, really, hasn't she and her family had enough time to adjust by now?)


    In looking into the source, what I find most interesting is that the woman at the end who is waving the paper in front of the camera is part of Greta van Susteren's team at Fox News. Not that anyone at this site thought that Fox News was in the slightest bit objective, but still…


    They should have figured it out by now, but from what I can tell, studying up on any subject (domestic affairs, foreign relations, birth control, history, PR) seems verboten in the Palin household.


    Not ready for prime time. Not even ready for cable access.

    I understand how freaky it would be to have someone follow you with a camera. But the way to deal with that is just to act like you're on camera. Even if the person with the camera had some grudge, he couldn't do anything with B-roll of Sarah Palin saying hi to fans in the airport. An impromptu closeup of Todd Palin asking "Why you shakin' so bad?" is different.


    There's no real there there for lefties to grab on to. Todd realizes that he's dealing with yet another  lefty stalker who is looking for a "Macaca" moment to put on Palngates and there's no reason why the Palins have to make it easy for their enemies.

    Politics is an adult business. Todd and Sarah get this.

    Registered voters look at this clip and see a crazy man following two people in an airport with a camera. That's not what the Left sees, but the Lefties are, well, how shall we put this, somewhat committed. The people over at Palingates are, well, REALLY, committed.

    Voters see a husband trying to protect his wife from some stalker with a camera. Nobody here sees how Fred and Martha think.

    This is basic stuff. This is how lefties always end up blowing their short stay in power. They overreach.


    With all due respect, Todd DID just make it easy for their enemies.

    I think you, like the Palins, misunderstand the "Macaca Moment." The Macaca Moment doesn't come from some political opponent following you around with a camera until somehow, without your knowing it, you do something that can be used against you. The Macaca Moment comes from going after the guy with the camera.

    In the original incident, the politician, George Allen, got so sick of being followed around that he tried to belittle the young man with the camera at a campaign event. In the belittling, Allen called the guy "Macaca." It wasn't something he was eavesdropping on. Allen was attacking him.

    If you just act like you'e in public whenever you're in public, things will be fine.


     

    Hi,

    this is Patrick from Palingates, we originally posted the video. This was a chance encounter that a citizen from Valdez had with the Palins. Hawk's wife was on the same flight, he went with his wife to the airport, where he then spotted the Palins. When Hawk started filming, he had no idea that it would turn into such an controversial story. This should have been a boring 2-minute video of the Palins strolling around in an airport, but because Todd in particular chose to confront him, it turned ugly.

    I also would like to point out that the "second" confrontation with Todd, from 3:13 in the video, happened after Hawk had switched his camera off already for 10-15 minutes. He was sitting at the gate and didn't plan to do any more filming. Todd then suddenly approached him again in this intimidating manner, which was Todd's own choice. Nobody had provoked him to do that. It was only then when Hawk switched the camera on again. Todd really showed his nasty side there - a side of his personality which by the way was already very well documented during the Troopergate investigation.

    On the plane, Hawk's wife was then actually seated right next to Sarah Palin, but Sarah realized that this was awkward and then changed seats with Greta Van Susteren.

    Many thanks for posting the story and linking to us!

     


    These are same nutjobs who think Palin gave birth to an alien from another planet. They stalk the Governor's family on a consitent basis so I bet todd assumed it was one of these smear merchants

     


     

    The Palins drew attention to themselves by virtue of arriving at the Valdez Airport with not only an entourage but also a camera crew in tow.

    Never mind the fact that she was on the Republican ticket less than 2 short years ago; that she has her own TV series this fall, and has had her mug and those of her family perpetually plastered all over video, internet, radio and print media for the last 2 years non-stop. This makes her a celebrity – whether she likes it or not.

    Oh yeah – she was a state governor too! Of COURSE people are going to whip out the cameras when they see her and her party coming toward them!

    One minute $arah’s on the cover of US magazine, the next she’s lambasting the Lame Stream Media. Then, she's Tweeting or posting a Facebook diatribe.  Then, she’s speaking at a convention… followed by ripping a fishermans wife over her WGE sign on private property… and all on camera. She simply can’t have it both ways, courting camersa off and on and only when she - or Todd - chooses. It comes with the territory, it comes with the celebrity, and so it goes for everyone in tow. That’s the life she chose for herself AND her family. It's a PUBLIC place!

    See how she's posing at the ticket counter with the gate agent dressed in orange?  That was OK.... but Hawk's filming was not?  Huh?  It only became an issue because Todd got in the guys face.  Watch the video again.  The guy is walking BACKWARD, while Todd continues to ADVANCE on him.

    In the Kathleen Gustafson video ("Worst Governor Ever"), Todd also brushes up against her left arm in a display of passive physical aggression. He goes way beyond violating her "personal space".   And look what happened AFTER the WGE video went viral.  Kathleen was attacked by Palin supporters via calls to her employer, phone calls to her home... no wonder this guy Hawk was so hesitant to give his full name (and, Hawk IS his first name!).  PalinBots will be harrassing his businesses today, guaranteed.  Lets hope he has an answering machine to pick-up most of the more disturbing calls and goes public with the spewing venom from the 'bots....


    Wouldn't there be security video inside the Valdez Airport? See exactly who did what to whom???

    Right outside the boarding gate waiting area... might be interesting to get it... public record and all... and didn't Hawk film the Faux news crew member swatting his cell phone with the papers in her hand? And of course, Todd coming up and starting the confrontation outside the boarding gate? I think he'd be entitled to get a copy of that videotape if he was going to file an Notice of Intent to Sue...


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