Todd Palin Defense Fund Update

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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.

136 comments

  2. That I fully understand and completely endorse your campaign strategy might give some pause…………..

    Just because it wont happen doesn’t mean it isn’t a brilliant strategy.

  5. Donated $100 to the Fund. This morning, I went from feeling very sad for this good American family to saying Hell Yeah! Thank you Mr McCain.

  10. What we were not told is Stacy and his kids were secretly turning the KIA “deerslayer” van into a time machine and they managed to get it working! 

  11. Man, you guys are just a little delusional .
    todd palin’s a gay pussy and $carah can’t/doesn’t shoot worth shit

  14. absolutely, in fact i can’t wait to see the waterass out in public ’cause when i do i’m just gonna point and laugh, and if you knew todd like i know him he won’t do squat, guaranteed…..

  16. It’s not the “loud-mouths” one has to worry about; it’s the “silent types” …….Todd is “laid back”, but under-estimate him at one’s own risk……BTW, your choice of words says more about you than your subject!!!!!

  18. Sadly it is a reflection on our society that instead of getting the beating he richly deserves, McGinnis will make some amount of money for re-packaging old gossip. We have become too civilized in these modern days where we don’t take appropriate action because it would be deemed barbaric by polite society. Well, guess what in polite society you don’t question whether a woman actually gave birth to her child, you don’t publish unsubstantiated claims that a woman was screwing around with her husband’s business partner, etc. Back when we were a better country, McGinnis would have been challenged to a duel and then put down like the cur that he is!

  19. I was waiting for the story reporting the sad news  that McGinniss had died last night after surgeons failed to remove a copy of his book from his lower intestinal tract.  “It was just too far up there, ” said an unnamed surgeon.

  21. how the hell do you know what todd’s like?!? if you did you’d know the purse carryin’ guy’s wound tighter than the skin on a drum. wasilla’s not called the meth capitol of alaska for nothin’

  22. you do know that calling leftist “stupid, ignorant worthless bastards” is grounds for a lawsuit, right ?….yeah, i knew you did…

  24. I suspect you don’t know Todd Palin very well at all, but you say you do, and are one of those people from Alaska who are all talk and no walk.

  26.  being gay has nothing to do with winning, heck look at carl lewis…’sides that winning 5 iron dogs means ‘ol shit fer brains todd just had more meth stashed in his dropbags in the check points than the other guys, that and numb nutz likes to kick over his fellow competitors gas cans in said check points

  30. I dunno… I’m having a hard time getting worked up over this latest Palin outrage, mainly because the attack itself is damned pathetic.  I mean, sifting through 25-30 year-old gossip?  THIS is supposed to make her unelectable?   It’s not even substantiated, for crying out loud.  It’s just a lot of nonsense.

    Dear Joe Mcginniss:

    Did you know the Amish have this thing called Rumspringa where the teenagers are allowed to drink, do drugs, and have sex, without any repercussions?  It’s all because the Amish understand that it’s better to let their teens have a taste of the forbidden and then reject it, rather than deny it to them always.  When you are less tolerant of people’s youthful indiscretions than the Amish, you just look rather…hypocritical and unenlightened.

    Yours,
    elaine

  34. don’t matter that the $kank does/did coke and slept with whomever,who the hell cares, point bein’ $he’s a fraud of epic proportions, coward, quitter, liar, has zero family values, zip nada.

  35. yeah, like you know who or what i am…

    hey, don’t look now but i think yer hoveround is overchargin, best go unplug it before it melts…or something…

  36. Interesting to see how vile the trolls get whenever there’s a chance that Sarah Palin (or her family) have even a small chance at positive press. 

    Or when said trolls think they have even a small chance at spreading a smear against them.  That says a lot of those sort of trolls, none of it good.

  37. It might be more reasonable to merely start a fund for sending Andrew Sullivan the viagra antidote serum now.   He is clearly going to be thrust into a state of priapism secondary to his own haze of pathological and unrelating onanistic ecstasy. 

  39. You’re just a pathetic creep who’s probably sitting in his dirty undies typing from his parents’ basement.

    Sad that you think you’re persuasive at all.  Maybe you should get some tips from Andy Sullivan on writing more convincing lies…

  43. It might be more reasonable to start the Andrew Sullivan rehab and viagra antidote fund.  He is clearly being thrust into a state of priapism fueled by the likely drug haze and onanistic ecstacy over this story. 

  44. Whoops, slow posting = double post on my part.  I suppose it wasn’t that funny anyhow.  Just checking the spelling on the big words cost all the valuable time! LOL

  45. Nothing you say has any substantiation.  Much like every other lie the left has slung at Palin and her family.  Todd’s gay.  Really?  Based on what?  Your say so — or your wishful thinking?  Yeah, I’m sure you’d love to be on the receiving end of a great big gay bear hug from Todd.  Too bad that’ll never happen.  Which would explain your rage.  No wonder you hate Sarah so… you’re just jealous that she snuggles with “your man” every night.

    She’s a Coke head?  Really?  Do you have ANY proof of that?  I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t be hard to obtain… if it existed.

    She lacks family values?  Are you KIDDING me?

    Hint: it makes you look crazy and desperate to make up laughable crap.  It also turns more voters off the left every day.

    I should hope with all Soros’ bazillions, he could afford a better level of stooge.  Guess quality really is expensive.

  46. yeah, those “crowds” a couple weeks ago in iowa, new hampshire were pretty “phenomenal” huh ? That ain’t nuthin’ though, you ought’a see the crowds bustin’ down the barriers here in Anchorage when $he flies back into town, gotta number in the hundreds-0-thousands, easily. Then the Glenn highway’s cordoned off for the police escort back out to wasilly. Usually takes a couple days for shit to return to normal around here after something like that, ya know ?

  48. Yeah, don’t the lefties keep telling us how insignificant and unimportant she is?  So why should these trolls expend any effort trying to defame her here?  No one cares about Palin… she’s insignificant and unelectable.  Riiiiiight?

  49. But getting back to the topic at hand.  Well done post, Stacy.  I donate to Sarah Pac tomorrow. 

    Take that, trolls!  Your job worked!  I really hates me some Palins.  NOT.

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