Tag: sarah palin
Palin Returns To National Politics At Top Of Alaska Primary Pack

Palin Returns To National Politics At Top Of Alaska Primary Pack

Sarah Palin is reemerging on the national political scene after she advanced with the most votes in the primary for the special election to fill Alaska’s only seat in the House of Representatives. Palin will contest the special election with three other candidates vying to serve the remainder of Don Young’s term, who died in March after 49 years in the House.

The Alaskan has not held political office since Palin took the national stage as Senator John McCain’s running mate in the 2008 presidential election.

Palin received 30 percent of the votes, 10 percent more than her next competitor, and she received an important endorsement from Donald Trump. In many ways, Palin’s ‘maverick’ political stylings in the 2008 election set the stage for Trump eight years later.

Notably, the election was conducted completely by mail, and with about 25 percent of the vote left to count a clear top tier has emerged. Joining Palin will be Republican Nick Begich who received about 19 percent of the vote, and independent Al Gross with 12.5 percent.

The fourth and final spot will likely go to Democrat Mary Peltola, who received 7.5 percent. A democratic socialist named Santa Claus is the next closest contender with 4.5 percent of the vote.

Republican Split

Much like other primary contests across the nation, the Alaska primary and the special election will have competing factions of the Republican Party vying for political office.

Palin represents the Trump wing of the party with her website highlighting key conservative talking points against abortion, for gun control, and specific to Alaska, drilling for oil.

Palin’s endorsements read like a who’s who in the Trump world of GOP politics: Turning Point USA, Kimberly Guilfoyle, Sheriff David Clarke, Donald Trump Jr., in addition to Trump himself.

In 2008, Palin’s "populist" brand of politics was more novel, but now she falls squarely in line with the majority of Republicans.

The second-highest vote-getter, Nick Begich III, represents the other side of the battle within the Republican Party. Begich III is the grandson of former Democratic Representative, Nick Begich, who died in a plane crash in 1972.

Begich III worked on Young’s 2020 reelection campaign and served on the Alaska Republican Party's finance committee. But Begich III entered the race before Young died and had become critical of his spending.

The more traditional Republican is running as a fiscal conservative and touts his collaboration with the conservative Club for Growth. The Club for Growth is a conservative political organization that promotes cutting income taxes and removing the estate tax, among other right-wing positions.

The Club for Growth backed Trump in 2020 and were big backers of candidates who supported overturning the 2020 election results. It backed competitors to Trump-endorsed candidates in key Senate primaries in Ohio and Pennsylvania, however. Trump’s candidates won, but he said of the club, “it’s their right to do it, but it’s a rather hostile act. It doesn’t mean I have to like it.”

Rather than a complete break from Trump’s brand of politics, candidates like Begich III show that powerful organizations like Club for Growth are less interested in dismantling Trump’s political movement, than vying to take it over for their own political ends.

Palin’s Chances

Palin enjoys the highest name recognition and will be the favorite heading into the August 16 general election.

In a new twist in Alaskan elections, the general election uses ranked-choice voting. Alaskan voters will have the option to vote for their top four choices, and if no single candidate gets 50 percent of the vote, a second round is held by eliminating the lowest candidates’ votes and adding those voters’ second choice to the voter’s tally. The counting ends when a candidate receives a majority of votes.

This election structure may harm Palin’s chances. A May poll showed that 59 percent of likely special election voters have a negative view of the former Governor. Yet she clearly has a dedicated base that may turn out for her.

Endorse This: Kimmel Roasts Trump On Sarah Palin Endorsement (VIDEO)

Endorse This: Kimmel Roasts Trump On Sarah Palin Endorsement (VIDEO)

Before Donald Trump and the pack of insanely unqualified, hateful, and ignorant grifters who followed in his wake, there was Sarah Palin. The Republican Party is now so utterly far-right, crazy and without an iota of democratic principle, that we look back fondly look back on the late Senator McCain as a beacon of light and hope. But McCain helped launch the rabid sideshow of buffoonery that is today's Republican Party when he made former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin his 2008 running mate.

Late night host Jimmy Kimmel poked fun at former defeated President Trump's endorsement of Palin for the sole Congressional seat in Alaska, where she served as governor. Among the 50 mostly wacko candidates running in a special election to fill the at-large House seat held by the late Don Young for 49 years, she got a hilariously dumb endorsement from Trump.

“Sarah Palin is tough and smart and will never back down," said Trump.

“Even for Trump, it’s impressive to fit three lies into an 11-word sentence,” Kimmel cracked on Monday.

“But I guess The Masked Singer’ money dried up and Sarah’s running for office,” he added. “Trump endorsing Sarah Palin is like paste-eating endorsing glue-sniffing. It’s ridiculous.” And then he went on...

Watch The Segment Below:

Michael Hayne is a comedian, writer, voice artist, podcaster, and impressionist. Follow his work on Facebook and TikTok

Sarah Palin May Fill Alaska House Seat ‘If Asked’

Sarah Palin May Fill Alaska House Seat ‘If Asked’

Former Alaska Governor and failed Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin is ready once again to throw her hat in the ring, this time for a seat in the U.S, House of Representatives.

Appearing on the far right-wing media outlet Newsmax Sarah Palin was asked if she would say yes if asked to replace the late Republican Congressman from Alaska, Don Young, who died Friday at the age of 88.

"If I were asked to serve in the House and take his place I would be humbled and honored,” Palin said. “In a heartbeat, I would.

“We will see how this process goes in filling that seat – it would be an honor,” she added.

Reprinted with permission from Alternet

Judge Will Dismiss Palin Lawsuit Against N.Y. Times Regardless Of Jury Verdict

Judge Will Dismiss Palin Lawsuit Against N.Y. Times Regardless Of Jury Verdict

By Jody Godoy and Jonathan Stempel

NEW YORK (Reuters) -A U.S. judge on Monday said he will throw out Sarah Palin's defamation lawsuit against the New York Times after concluding that the newspaper did not in an editorial maliciously link the former Alaska governor and 2008 Republican U.S. vice presidential candidate to a mass murder.

In an abrupt twist in a trial seen as a test of longstanding protections for American media, U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff in Manhattan said Palin's lawsuit must be dismissed because she failed to show the Times acted with "actual malice," the established standard in such cases.

The judge, however, allowed jurors to continue their deliberations in the case despite his intention to dismiss it and did not inform them of his plans. Rakoff said he plans to enter a formal dismissal only after jurors reach their own verdict.

"If you see anything in the media about this case, just turn away," the judge told jurors before dismissing them for the day.

Rakoff said he expected Palin to appeal, and that the appeals court "would greatly benefit from knowing how the jury would decide it."

The judge's action effectively takes the case out of the hands of jurors, in a trial that began on February 3.

Lawyers for the Times and Palin were not immediately available for comment.

Rakoff, an appointee of Democratic former President Bill Clinton, said he was "not altogether happy" about ordering a dismissal, calling the original editorial "an example of very unfortunate editorializing on the part of the Times."

But the judge went on: "My job is to apply the law. The law here sets a very high standard for actual malice, and in this case the court finds that that standard has not been met."

Gautam Hans, a Vanderbilt University law professor, said Rakoff's order, while unusual, is reasonable and will likely hold up on appeal.

"It is very difficult for plaintiffs to prevail in defamation cases," Hans said. "That's one reason you see some antipathy toward the current state of the law, including from some Supreme Court justices."

Palin, 58, had sued the newspaper - one of America's most prominent media organizations - and its former editorial page editor James Bennet.

She contended that a June 14, 2017, editorial incorrectly linked her to a mass shooting six years earlier that wounded Democratic U.S. congresswoman Gabby Giffords.

Supreme Court Precedent

Palin had said that if she lost at trial, her appeal might challenge New York Times v. Sullivan, the 1964 U.S. Supreme Court decision establishing the "actual malice" standard for public figures to prove defamation.

Headlined "America's Lethal Politics," that addressed gun control and lamented the rise of incendiary political rhetoric.

It was written the same day as a shooting at a congressional baseball practice in Alexandria, Virginia where Republican U.S. congressman Steve Scalise was wounded.

One of Bennet's colleagues prepared a draft that referred to the January 2011 shooting in a Tucson, Arizona, parking lot where six people were killed and Giffords was wounded.

Bennet inserted language that said "the link to political incitement was clear" between the Giffords shooting and a map previously circulated by Palin's political action committee that the draft editorial said put Giffords and 19 other Democrats under crosshairs.

The Times corrected the editorial about 14 hours later. Bennet testified that he made the additions too quickly under deadline pressure, and intended no harm to Palin.

It is rare for a major media outlet to defend its editorial practices in court, as the Times had to do in this case.

Palin had sought unspecified monetary damages.

On the witness stand, Palin compared herself, a celebrated conservative politician with a national following, to the biblical underdog David against the Times' Goliath, while accusing the newspaper of trying to "score political points."

Palin testified that the editorial left her feeling "powerless" and "mortified," and that the correction issued by the newspaper the morning after publication was accurate but insufficient and did not mention her by name.

She maintained that the Times undermined her reputation by falsely linking her to a mass murder and by not being fast or thorough enough in correcting its error.

Palin, who no longer commands as much public attention as she once did, struggled under cross-examination to provide specific examples about how the editorial harmed her reputation and cost her opportunities.

Times lawyer David Axelrod in closing arguments on Friday told jurors the editorial amounted to an "honest mistake" and was not meant as a "political hit piece."

The case placed renewed attention on Palin, the late Senator John McCain's running mate in the 2008 presidential election.

That campaign made Palin a Republican Party star and hero to many conservatives who viewed her as an outsider willing to take on liberals and established institutions including the news media. She served as Alaska's governor from 2006 to 2009.

(Reporting by Jody Godoy and Jonathan Stempel in New York; Additional reporting by Jan Wolfe in Washington, D.C.Editing by Will Dunham and Noeleen Walder)