In the kitchen of their Wasilla home, among an extraordinary collection of animal skins, skulls and bones, the spoils of a lifetime spent hunting and fishing, they told me that their whole family has faced death threats.
"As a mother I do have concerns about her safety and that of the kids... she knows how I feel, that it's risky," Sally said.Interesting how the death threats against the Palins are not plastered all over the American media, how there is no outrage, and how the threats are not imputed to the entire Democratic Party and left-wing blogosphere, as was done with the ridiculous claims that Sarah Palin's electoral map had some connection to the shooting of Gabrielle Giffords.
Palin's father Chuck said a man recently had sent the family photocopies of a receipt for a gun he had bought, together with a photocopy of a one-way ticket to Alaska.
The family had laughed it off, but the man subsequently turned up in the state and was arrested by the FBI, Chuck said.
"We sleep with the guns," Palin's father admitted.
The BBC article is of further interested because Sarah discusses her thinking as to whether she will run for President:
"Obama has already said he's going to spend a billion dollars (£615.4m) on this race, so money is certainly going to be a consideration," Sarah Palin told me.
"And just the idea of whether the American electorate is ready for someone a bit unconventional, who is willing to tell it as she sees it, not be beholden to special interest or such obsessive partisanship as to let a political machine get in the way of doing what's right for the voters."
Update: The BBC article refers to an arrest of the suspect, but that was not what Chuck Heath said. As Ben Smith reports, there was no arrest, and it is unclear what Heath meant by "sent him home." There does not appear to be any dispute that there were death threats made, and that the stalker went to Alaska, although the circumstances of his return from Alaska are murky.
And a reader e-mailed me complaining about how Smith and others are focusing on whether the stalker was arrested, not on the facts that there have been numerous threats against the Palin family (which was the focus of this segment of the interview, the stalker was just used as one example), there was a stalker, he did make threats, and he did travel to Alaska recently (apparently after notifying the police he was coming):
"There's a pattern: exaggerate Palin's faults (and those of her supporters) and ignore the disgraceful treatment to which she is subjected.--------------------------------------------
Carl Cannon's honesty is sorely lacking."
Related Posts:
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The Worlds of Jared Loughner and Palin Haters
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Kind of confirms Michelle Bachmann's "gangster government" accusations doesn't it? Is is just that it's impolite to point out the obvious?
ReplyDeleteI like and admire both women for the fact that they're not afraid to tell it like it is. They're tough, and you've got to be tough in politics.
ReplyDeleteUnsaid in Sarah Palin's statement: family is under constant threat, is it fair to them to run? She has always said it will be her family who is first considered. This is quite telling; thug-ocracy is scaring even the best people. I believe Sarah has the 'nads, but is it fair for her family to have this over them 24/7? A tough question for anyone to face, let alone answer.
ReplyDeleteI pray she runs. I also pray for her family's safety. We need a candidate that says things that are not PC, but are TRUE. It might just be her best tactic to be the cheerleader, saying the facts, and letting the electorate see who will fight, who will stand, for the TRUTH.
May the Lord help US.
1. The prevalence of violent rhetoric and death threats is an ominous, dangerous deterioration in American politics.
ReplyDeleteNevertheless, a public figure with an eight-figure net worth should easily afford top-of-the-line security systems for her extended family. Until his daughter can step up to the kind of security that comes with a nine-figure net worth, perhaps Chuck Palin should be prudent when he leaves his property--but I trust that his guns aren't the only thing guarding his sleep.
2. "And just the idea of whether the American electorate is ready for someone a bit unconventional, who is willing to tell it as she sees it, not be beholden to special interest or such obsessive partisanship as to let a political machine get in the way of doing what's right for the voters."
yawn
gs:"Nevertheless, a public figure with an eight-figure net worth should easily afford top-of-the-line security systems for her extended family. "
ReplyDeleteYeah, but one problem with that. Most security systems only notify the police or a security company. By the time they show up, the Bad Things you are trying to prevent are normally over. Which is why they sleep with guns. Heck, in the same circumstances, I'd want to have a cannon.
gs, that is possibly the single most bullshit 'argument' by a troll I've ever read.
ReplyDeleteI understand you have no shame.
Where is all that civility?
Palin ~ Bachmann 2012
ReplyDelete"...a public figure with an eight-figure net worth ... with a nine-figure net worth,"
ReplyDeleteGS, how did Sarah Palin's net worth increase 10 fold in the space of two sentences? Was she getting that $1.87 back for every $1 invested in unemployment like Pelosi was?
Further more, this is America gs. A person's net worth shouldn't have anything to do with their safety. Conservatives proved that when we drove the Democrats out from under their hoods and extinguished their burning crosses.
I sleep with a gun and carry one daily, so? I've used it twice in my own home to discourage inappropriate behavior. I did not have to fire it just show it to the intruders.
ReplyDeleteThe Obama presidency will for all practical purposes move into lame duck status the moment The Alaskan Goddess announces her candidacy.
ReplyDelete"Interesting how the death threats against the Palins are not plastered all over the American media, how there is no outrage, and how the threats are not imputed to the entire Democratic Party and left-wing blogosphere, as was done with the ridiculous claims that Sarah Palin's electoral map had some connection to the shooting of Gabrielle Giffords"
ReplyDeleteActually, not particularly interesting to any seasoned observer of all things media. The moral cripples populating the left end of the spectrum (or perhaps, in juxtaposition to the "right", we should start more correctly calling it the "wrong" end of the spectrum") are the equivalent of "throwbacks" to a day when eating one's own feces was considered haute cuisine.
1. Georgefelis, I had an alarm system in mind in addition to the guns. (Fwiw, googling indicates that there are security companies with offices in Wasilla.)
ReplyDelete2. JorgXMcKie said...gs, that is possibly the single most bullshit 'argument' by a troll I've ever read. I understand you have no shame.
Where is all that civility?
A JorgXMcKie posted this: Thus, having these morons living even longer only increases the chances that they'll gum up the works even further, while *simultaneously* increasing their demands on 'the system' and decreasing their useful input. (p)Quite simple, really. The dumb bastards should work hard, follow orders, and die relatively young. Is that you? Just asking.
3. Sencho,...oh, never mind.
4. The Obama Democrats have been disastrous and show little sign of improving. The recovery of our prosperity depends on the Republican politicians who are positioned between the RINOs and the wingnuts.
People seem to have missed an important detail regarding the communication from the stalker (Shawn Christy) -- the ticket he sent was one-way. The message he meant to convey: I've just bought a gun, I'm flying 5000 miles to Alaska, and I don't intend to come home.
ReplyDeleteThey never have figured out who firebombed Palin's church, have they?
ReplyDeleteThere were people inside. You'd think that would be a Big Deal.
You should have listed the dollar amount of the goal of Obama contributions also in Euros, Riyads, Rubles and Yuan cause those are what's going to be the original currency's on his credit card donations.
ReplyDeleteIf I was the RNC,
(of course if I was the RNC a WHOLE LOT OF THINGS WOULD BE BEING DONE DIFFERENTLY)
I would be setting up to dispute and file charges over any donations that could be originating from foreign donors. (you know like THE LAST TIME IN 2008).
That's a story that would be more important to bring up than whether Obama is a Kenyan or not.
When seconds count, the police are only minutes away.
ReplyDeleteSelf protection is the only way.
gs: so, is it an eight-figure salary or nine-figure salary?
ReplyDeleteWhat a rancid comment.
And the BBC piece was no better -- riddled with slant and snark. Did you note the clever way they twist the story to make Palin both embroiled in the Tucson tragedy and then implicated in the failure to "quiet the furor"? We marvel at your subtle brilliance, elites!
I don't know how Palin shows the grace and tolerance she does for these sickening, sniveling assw*pes.
One thing everyone seems to forget, including Sarah Palin and her family -- the instant she declares publicly that she's vying for the Republican nomination, she becomes eligible for Secret Service protection.
ReplyDeleteIf she remains a Fox News employee, no such Federal protection. Maybe she can get Roger Ailes to spring for a 24/7 security detail.
Heck, official sources say Obama gets 30 death threats a DAY. With all those 'nads Sarah is said to have, she can surely weather an occasional 18 year old stalker and an unsubstantiated number of death threats.
Usually, when people sleep with guns, they wake up confused and buzzed with adrenalin, and end up shooting a family member or friend who has access to the home.
ReplyDeleteIMHO this story tells more about the bias of the MSM... Covered by the BBC?! If these things were happening to a member of the D-party, there would be trumpets blown and a grand display of up roar! And if that person were a black democrat!!!
ReplyDeleteIt's downright depressing to think what the coverage would be like if (God forbid) anything did happen to her.
ReplyDeleteUnlike Gabby Giffords, the entire mainstream media would focus on how Palin "made" herself "controversial". She would be blamed for the attack on her.
KaJo:
ReplyDeleteYou don't actually know anyone who sleeps with a gun, do you?
Here's a suggestion: make a numerical estimate of Americans who regularly sleep with a gun within reach. Correlate with the number of accidental home shootings in the United States last year. Show us your numbers; if we think they're off base, we'll tell you.
cheers,
Daniel in Brookline
"It so grates on me that Republicans echo what (liberals and the MSM) say about Sarah Palin. The geniuses on our side fall right in line with all that. People on my (Rush Limbaugh) team echo this nonsense about Sarah Palin. I can't tell you how angry that makes me. She's got more courage and more bravery in her little finger than our entire presidential field has....The gonads on out team happen to be wearing skirts....Here's Paul Johnson in the Wall Street Journal: Sarah Palin "is in the good tradition of America, which this awful political correctness business goes against. She's got courage. That's very important in politics. You can have all the right ideas and the ability to express them. But if you haven't got guts, if you haven't got courage the way Margaret Thatcher had courage -- and [Ronald] Reagan, come to think of it. … It's the central virtue." Courage is the central value of American politics. If you don't have that the rest is irrelevant. Paul Johnson, brilliant British historian and journalist."
ReplyDeleteRush Limbaugh, March 8, 2011
Being an Englishman and a political junkie I watch BBC Newsnight regularly. As with the US networks the BBC has an inbuilt left/liberal bias but, although you could never get an Obama/Clinton style love-in for Governor Palin, the recent Newsnight profile of her was reasonably fair.
ReplyDeleteEven anchor Jeremy Paxman, who can be witheringly sarcastic about politicians, described Palin as the best known woman in American politics without even a micron of snark.
http://www.theagedp.com/?p=2190
Recently studying the constitution for the first times in my life, I’ve come across a strange, totally unfamiliar phrase: Free Press.
ReplyDeleteI wonder what a free press would look like. I suppose there would be news reported with good faith efforts to be unbiased. And then there would be clearly labeled op/ed/commentary pages as well. Maybe that’s one of those things that will just have to live in my imagination. Too bad.