The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Todd Palin Defense Fund Update

Posted on | September 15, 2011 | 136 Comments

While I am grateful for the enthusiastic response to my suggestion that Sarah Palin’s supporters donate to create a legal defense fund for her husband, some of the commenters seem to be under the impression that I’m joking about this. But you see, as a veteran of 25 years in the news business, I understand the tangible publicity value of the Todd Palin “One Nation Joe McGinnis Ass-Whupping Tour.” And if you think about GOP primary voters, the benefits in terms of political strategy should be obvious enough. Imagine the headlines:

New York Post, Oct. 6, 2011
PAPA GRIZZLY
Author of Palin Smear Book Hospitalized,
Todd Charged After ‘Brutal’ NY Assault

Joe McGinniss underwent emergency surgery Wednesday night after police say the author was beaten senseless by Republican presidential candidate Sarah Palin’s husband Todd at a Manhattan party where McGinniss was signing copies of his new book about the former Alaska governor.
“It was one of the most brutal attacks I’ve ever seen,” said Venona Wineglass, who was waiting in line to get her copy of the controversial anti-Palin book signed at the Upper West Side reception when, she said, Todd “came out of nowhere” and began punching McGinniss. “He was just like bam, bam, bam, and it took three guards to pull him off.”
While police charged Todd Palin with assault and resisting arrest, his wife was campaigning in South Carolina, two weeks after officially announcing her GOP presidential candidacy. Her campaign spokesman refused comment on the McGinniss incident, while the candidate — currently a distant third in polls, behind Rick Perry and Mitt Romney — told a rally in Spartanburg, S.C., that she wants to “focus on the issues important to ordinary Americans and not be distracted by the lamestream media.”
Surgeons at St. Lukes Roosevelt Hospital expect McGinniss to be able to continue his book tour despite his injuries . . .

Politico, Oct. 12, 2011
Palin Passes Romney in New Poll

Sarah Palin has moved into second place among Republican presidential contenders, passing former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in the latest Rasmussen poll.
The former Alaska governor, whose late September announcement stunned nearly all political observers, was at 21% in the Rasmussen survey conducted Oct. 8-10, up nine points over a poll conducted just five days earlier, and ahead of Romney, whose support dropped to 16%. Texas Gov. Rick Perry remained in first place in the GOP field, according to Rasmussen, although his 32% number in the latest survey is down slightly from his previous 34%.
Several analysts attributed Romney’s dip in the polls to his statement last week condemning Todd Palin’s beating of Joe McGinniss . . .

Philadelphia Inquirer, Oct. 14, 2011
Palin’s Husband Arrested After
Second Assault on McGinniss

The husband of GOP presidential candidate Sarah Palin was arrested Tuesday after police say he attacked author Joe McGinniss at a Rittenhouse Square bookstore where McGinniss was signing copies of his controversial new “unauthorized biography” of the former Alaska governor.
Police Lt. Darnell Robinson said Todd Palin was arrested on charges of assault and resisting arrest after he suddenly rushed McGinniss at the Barnes & Noble where the author of “Rogue” had just begun reading from the book. It was the second such attack on McGinniss in the past two weeks, and Lt. Robinson said a police officer on duty was able to restrain Mr. Palin ”after two or three punches.”
McGinniss suffered “multiple contusions and broken teeth,” according to a spokeswoman at University Hospital, where the author was treated and released. Mr. Palin was released on $50,000 bail after a hearing where municipal judge Vincent D’Anofrio ordered the Republican candidate’s husband to wear a radio-monitoring device pending another pre-trial hearing next month . . .

Media Matters, Oct. 15
Limbaugh Applauds McGinniss Beating;
‘Hit Him Again, Todd,’ Radio Host Says

Right-wing talk-radio host Rush Limbaugh yesterday endorsed Todd Palin’s repeated attacks on investigative journalist Joe McGinnisss, whose new book chronicles the genuine evil of Republican presidential candidate Sarah Palin.
“Damn right, he deserved it,” Limbaugh said on his Wednesday show, calling Todd Palin an “American hero” after his second savage beating of McGinniss at a Philadelphia bookstore Tuesday.
“It’s about time some of these lowlife maggots like McGinniss learned they can’t just print lies about Republicans — hit him again, Todd!” Limbaugh said, introducing a Paul Shanklin parody song set to the tune of Michael Jackson’s 1982 song, “Beat It.”
Limbaugh also issued a challenge to what he called “femi-nazis,” demanding that they condemn McGinniss’s sexual innuendo against Sarah Palin . . .

Washington Post, Oct. 19
Palin Refuses to Condemn Husband’s
Attacks on ‘Smear Merchant’ McGinnis

Republican presidential candidate Sarah Palin said she is not responsible for her husband’s assaults on the author of a controversial ”unauthorized biography” of her, but refused to make a direct condemnation of Todd Palin’s beatings which have twice sent Joe McGinniss to the hospital.
“Todd is just Todd, you know,” Palin said during a Sunday appearance on “Meet the Press,” where she was repeatedly asked about her husband’s assaults on McGinniss. “I mean, he’s always been kinda protective of me, and I’ve tried to tell him he shouldn’t be beating on people like that but I guess . . . Well, he’s kinda got a bit of temper sometimes.”
However, Palin dismissed McGinniss’s book as the work of “a disgusting smear merchant trying to make money off a bunch of lies,” and said the headlines about her husband’s one-man war against McGinniss were “just a lamestream media tactic to distract people from the real issues that matter to America.” . . .

New York Times, Oct. 21
Palin Now First in GOP Field
Candidate Unexpectedly Surges in New Poll

Sarah Palin has moved to first place in the latest New York Times/CBS News poll of likely Republican primary voters, eclipsing former front-runner Rick Perry.
Palin’s unexpected surge — now with 37% support in the nationwide survey conducted Oct. 15-17 — comes despite a flurry of negative coverage of her campaign and the controversy surrounding her husband, Todd, who has twice made physical assaults against investigative journalist Joe McGinniss, author of a new book about the former Alaska governor.
“This completely defies conventional wisdom,” said longtime political analyst Larry Sabato, describing Palin’s gain as “freakish . . . maybe a statistical anomaly of some kind.”
Meanwhile, thousands of supporters in Manchester, N.H., chanted “Todd! Todd! Todd!” at a Thursday rally where Palin’s husband appeared briefly onstage with the new GOP front-runner. Vendors did a brisk business selling “Hit Him Again, Todd” T-shirts and bumper stickers at the mid-day event, where Sarah Palin said economic growth “remains the No. 1 focus of my campaign, despite all the smears and distractions from the lamestream media.” . . .

USA Today, Oct. 25
Author McGinniss in Seclusion,
Search for Todd Palin Continues

A nationwide manhunt for Todd Palin continued for a second day Monday, and author Joe McGinniss cancelled the remaining dates on his book tour after the husband of GOP front-runner Sarah Palin eluded an FBI dragnet.
Police say that Todd Palin’s “whereabout are still unknown” after he apparently removed a radio-monitoring device — ordered by a Philadelphia judge following Palin’s second beating of McGinniss Oct. 13 — sometime Sunday morning. The candidate’s husband had been scheduled to join her at an afternoon rally Sunday in Council Bluffs, Iowa, but did not appear at the event. Palin campaign officials say they haven’t seen Todd since he left a Des Moines hotel without explanation that morning.
The mysterious disappearance came shortly after McGinniss appeared on “Meet the Press” and reiterated several of the accusations made in his controversial unauthorized biography of the former Alaska governor. McGinniss had been scheduled to appear at a Chicago book-signing party Monday afternoon, but cancelled the event after Todd Palin went missing and a red Ford Bronco, leased by the Palin campaign, was found abandoned in the parking lot of a commuter rail station in suburban Oak Park, Ill., Monday morning.
Meanwhile, Sarah Palin continued her four-day bus tour of Iowa. Now leading by double-digits in the latest Gallup/USA Today poll, Palin did not directly address the controversy surrounding her fugitive husband Tuesday night at a rally in Davenport, where an unexpectedly large crowd — estimated at more than 20,000 — waved signs with slogans like “Go Get Him, Todd!” and “We [Heart] First Dude.”
Sarah Palin told the cheering crowd “we have to keep focused on economic growth, putting an end to crony capitalism and fixing the mess in Washington, D.C.” She said supporters shouldn’t “be distracted by phony controversies ginned up by the lamestream media.” . . .

Now, this is merely a hypothetical and I grant that some readers may indulge a laugh at the mental image of Joe McGinniss flinching at every loud noise for fear of another brutal Todd Palin ass-whupping, but that’s not the same as me admitting it’s just a joke. This is known as the Stacy McCain Plausible Deniability Clause in the campaign journalism Code of Ethics, because whatever I may write about any candidate, the campaign can always offer the official response, “Oh, hell, it’s Stacy McCain — everybody knows he’s crazy,” and they’re automatically off the hook for whatever “sources close to the campaign” may have told me.

Pleading insanity is more than a legal tactic, of course. It’s also a valuable marketing tool. Let’s face it, this blog gets thousands of hits a day from people just clicking over out of curiosity: “What kind of crazy stuff has that fool written this time?”

Absolute gonzo has rarely been tried as a political strategy. However, when the going gets weird, the weird turn pro, and if Todd Palin shows up at a Joe McGinniss book signing — just for a “friendly chat,” you see, rather than a felonious assualt – maybe some of y’all will realize that my “One Nation Ass-Whupping Tour” idea was only half-joking.

I’m not saying which half, though.

TODD PALIN LEGAL DEFENSE FUND
Just in Case He Actually Needs It, IYKWIMAITYD

UPDATE: For the benefit of Andrew Sullivan readers.

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Category: Books, humor, Media Bias, Sarah Palin

Comments

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  • Anonymous

    Sarah could shoot the smegma off of your taint from 30 paces. 

  • Garym

    Awww you Palin haters got you a brand spankin new Bible to read. Just don’t be spankin out in public, that might look bad.

  • Anonymous

    Wow! Why all the sex talk?

  • Anonymous

    Something to keep in mind:

    “Crazy” is a term of art: “Insane” is a term of Law. Remember *that*, and you will save yourself a lot of trouble. — Hunter S. Thompson

  • Anonymous

    Yes, because what the Palins need to do for their image is to act more like the shirtless drunkards on Cops… or Reno 911 may be more their speed.

    Either way, you stay classy, Robert.

  • Anonymous

    HAD another troll.

  • http://profiles.yahoo.com/u/EU5DQWQTTHTPO4A4ZYSL3AAV2U Adjoran

    Dude . . . that’s sublime . . . hold on  . . . I can”t . . . I’m verklempt, talk amongst yourselves . . .

  • Anonymous

    Absolutely.  Just hope Todd will not have to assume the role of her
    protector & spokesman if Sarah were to become President.  Not a good
    look for a leader to  appear afraid to stand up to the challenges of the
    office and have to rely on their spouse to fight their battles.   One
    of the accusations made against her when she served as Governor was that
    Todd was sharing the responsibilities of governing.  This image needs
    to be changed. 

    There is nothing wrong in one mate supporting the other during hard
    times but if it is your intention to be perceived as a strong leader it
    is essential that you, not the person you married,  take charge of the
    situation.  If not, folks will start to question just who is in charge.

  • Anonymous

    I agree that they need to lawyer up, Ed.  If Joe has published nothing but untruths, they will have no problem at all in beating his sorry ass in a court of law.  However, if some of the allegations in the book are not lies, then it may prove to be a little harder.

  • Raymond

    In Asia, calling a man a fag is a direct insult and direct challenge, because if one man called another one a fag and it is not true, that man who is badmouthing should be ready to face death no matter what the cost. Try to live in the Philippines and Vietnam for even a month and start calling a silent man a fag, and you will see what you are looking for. 99% probability, you won’t be seeing again your homeland. Did United States really win in Vietnam war?

  • http://thepagantemple.blogspot.com/ ThePaganTemple

    Obama was born in Hawaii? Prove it. Bear in mind, I never was a “Birther”, I used to even make fun of them. Then it came out that Obama’s Social Security number doesn’t pass the smell test, known as “e-verify”. What’s up with that?

    Obama is a centrist? What planet are you from? I’ll say it again, just in case you missed it, Obama was raised and mentored by hard-core socialists and anarchists, so of course he’s of the far left. Don’t look now, but moderates don’t break bread with Bill Ayers. If Obama had unchecked power and authority, you’d find out how centrist he is. Thankfully, our system doesn’t work that way. Give you lefties enough time though and it will.

    As for Palin and McGinnis, the simple fact is I don’t give a crap if Palin had a one night stand, or a long-drawn out fling, or ten minutes in a public bathroom for that matter with Rice. If he hit that, hey Salud to him.

    The point is, McGinnis is only coming up with this irrelevant crap because he thinks it proves some kind of point.

    But the only point it proves is my own contention that Democrats are, for the most part, passive aggressive racists.

  • Asian Bolitas

    hey Brown, do you believe that huge black man dick is the gage for good sex?? Why there a lot of black women and some of them are married and still having sexual affair with asian men like those from Vietnam and The Philippines? It is not the size it counts, it is the frequency….as long as it is up all night, likewise, black women like normal size dicks with BOLITAS!!! HAHAHAHAHA!

  • http://thepagantemple.blogspot.com/ ThePaganTemple

    Muslims are today’s barbarians, every bit as savage as the hordes of Attila. Nineteenth and Eighteenth century duelists were not barbarians, they were gentlemen. No one but a gentlemen would issue such a challenge, and if he did, no one but a gentlemen would be the recipient of such a challenge.

    That is in fact Largebill’s one and only error. McGinnis is by no stretch of the imagination a gentleman, and so he would not be so challenged by any gentleman, for the simple fact no one would give this slime ball the inferred legitimacy of such a challenge.

    No one was forced to accept such a challenge, and I suspect many more were declined than were accepted. It would not be something that would be bragged about in the family history, because it would be an admission that the person acted shamefully and was in the wrong regarding the reason for the challenge. It was also an admission that, though he bore the persona of the gentleman he did not deserve the honor. A gentleman was no coward.

    All such duels that were engaged in were fought fairly and evenly. The challenged had as much of a chance of winning as the challenger, and there were seconds to each man to see to the fairness of the contest.

    Your accusations of “barbarism” are best relegated to those who blow up children and slice the throats of sleeping infants.

  • http://thepagantemple.blogspot.com/ ThePaganTemple

    And accusations of a white female politician having sex with a black man decades ago prove that the accuser and his defenders are racist to the core.

  • Kristy Patullo

    Oh my gosh, that was hysterical!!! hahaha (“Hit him again, Todd”) This was an absolutely brilliant post. The visual of Todd punching out Creepy Joe is awesome! If only.

  • Anonymous

    Thank you very much!
     

  • Anonymous

     If you think Obama is a centrist, then that just shows how far off the left side of the table you’ve fallen.  Michael Moore is probably too conservative for you too.

  • Anonymous

    I’m imagining people doing the old football cheer: “Hit ‘em again, hit ‘em again, harder, harder!”

  • Tennwriter

    Since Pagan Temple is manifestly not stupid and bigoted, what you actually said is….PT there are plenty of people out there as smart and fair-minded as you.  To which I have to agree.

  • Cwxj415

    So I guess in the Phillipines, murder abounds in the Junior High Schools, huh?  Because at that age, “fag” is one of the most popular insults.  (it means, if I understand pre-teen-speak, “loser”.)

  • Blar

    It’s always so cute when spindly losers like McCain like to fantasize about violence against people who dare disparage their heroes like Palin.

    Helen Thomas could kick your ass, Stacy McCain.  

  • Anonymous

    Consider the sequence of events here:

    1. Joe McGinniss moves in next door to the Palin family to write an “unauthorized biography.”
    2. Todd Palin confronts McGinniss, yet resists temptation to punch him out.
    3. McGinniss glibly describes his confrontation with Todd in a book full of lurid innuendo about Todd’s wife.
    4. Excerpts of the McGinniss book appear in the National Enquirer.
    5. I write a blog post sarcastically soliciting funds to defend Todd Palin in case he decides to deliver “The Mother of All Ass-Whuppings” on McGinnisss.
    6. Anonymous trolls show up in the comments to insult me.

    Am I wrong to think these trolls have a mental deficiency that prevents them from learning the most obvious lessons about human nature? Do they not see the curriculum, as it were, embedded in my response to this controversy?

    People hurl insults and traffic in harmful gossip when they suppose themselves safe from retaliation of the sort they’d receive if they insulted others to their face. When you’re face-to-face with someone, it’s possible to estimate the risk of a violent response to insults, although people have been known to miscalculate such risks. A seemingly harmless little fellow might in fact be extraordinarily sensitive about insults, with a concealed carry permit and an utter disregard for the legal consequences of shooting some miserable son of a bitch who gives him half an excuse.

    I tell you, I know guys like that, and God help you if you should ever piss them off.

    Having met Todd Palin, I am amazed that McGinniss — having been face-to-face with Todd — would have published what he published. And I am further amazed that any literate person who has paid attention to the reality of this situation would focus on me, as if I were the source of a conflict I’ve done nothing to cause, and the consequences of which are utterly beyond my control.

    But if they were intelligent and rational, they wouldn’t be liberals, would they?

  • Anonymous

    You resort to violence because it’s the only option you have intellectually. That’s a shame. It’s a good thing you aren’t part of any real conversation.

  • Garym

    Picture a hand flying over you head with a vroom sound.

  • Anonymous

    Yes, you are certainly free to reply with hysterical-nutcase right-wing talking points, none of which could survive objective scrutiny. The difficulty for you, however, is that any objective, sapient person, upon reading your writing, will conclude not only that you’re crazed and semi-literate, but that whatever capacity for reason you might possess you have decided to sacrifice on the altar of tribalism and partisanship. This is precisely the sort of mindset that the Founding Fathers, who were the intellectual progeny of the Age of Reason, completely abhorred. Democracy is hard work, yet you refuse to man up and do the heavy lifting of putting your biases aside and engaging reality; you choose to be AWOL from the basic intellectual requirements of citizenship in a self-governing democracy. Country be damned, you’ve got your story, and you’re stickin’ to it. How utterly traitorous.

    By the way, do enlighten me with an answer to this simple question: What would the legal argument be for Todd Palin’s acquittal in a trial for his ostensibly assaulting this author? I can’t wait to hear this one. Do your best to come up with something that might be relevant here in the reality-based community.

  • Angelo

    I am from Cayman Islands and I do not know much about the Palins, but one thing is for sure, I know well this McGinniss, he is a very close friend of Glen Rice.Both of them love to visit in the past Cayman Island and they always share the same apartment and the flashy thing is, they sleep together in a same king bed! Hahahahahaha! Just read between the lines lefties!! LOL

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  • Anonymous

    This is either brilliant satire or you are one sick right wing fascist cretin, the kind of low class trash that the Palin’s attract like manure attracts flies.

  • Anonymous

    “PS: Todd Palin for Ambassador to the UN?”
    Yeah, right lets put our most ignorant and backwards people in the UN so everyone in the  rest of the world will appreciate how dumbed down the US will be.

  • http://www.facebook.com/johnny.mcdonald1 Johnny McDonald

    Members of the jury; how do you find?

    Not guilty, your honor.

  • http://www.facebook.com/johnny.mcdonald1 Johnny McDonald

    Fascism lives at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Solyndra, Lightsquared…..etc, etc.

  • http://twitter.com/Weirddave0 Dave

    Ummm….you do realize that the US is a republic, not a democracy, don’t you?

  • Anonymous

     If you apply the same logic to Sarah Palin, you’ll find that the MSM and the blogosphere found more than 300 lies… er, “misrememberings” in “Going Rogue” instead of calling for Sister Sarah to be physically assaulted. That’s the difference between responsible journalism and McCain’s sick fantasizing. If McGinniss lied, then prove it in the same way that Palin’s lies were exposed when she wrote her silly  self-hagiography: research. Simply saying that McGinniss lied might feel satisfying, but what if he’s telling the truth? Can your tiny little head handle that?

  • Garym

    I said it before and i’ll say it again: picture a hand flying over your head with a VROOM sound.
    You write beautifully and very articulately, but you don’t visit this site and you have no idea of the personality of RSM. This is tongue and cheek. The “defense fund” links go straight to Sarahpac for a fund raising drive to counter the BS book you people are touting.
     As for democracy, this country is the biggest and most expensive to run business in the entire world. We, as conservatives, want to shrink this behemoth as small as we can. No where in this latest rant of yours, which boils down to calling PaganTemple unpatriotic, do you mention FREEDOM. Keeping and holding freedom is much harder than “democracy”. The Founding Fathers would not recognize this country, with the horrid regulation on our businesses and on its people. Socialism is the antethesis of freedom.

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