Palin Critic Rejected By Auction After Identity Revealed

By GottaLaff

UPDATE: If you go to Comments on this post, check out the one from Ken Morris, the first bidder referred to below. Thank you, Ken! And sadly, I couldn't agree more.

So someone had an extra $63,500 to spare and felt that breaking bread, or mooseburgers, with Sarah the Quitter would be worth a hefty donation to a great cause... if she decided to show up. Rich people have all the fun.

However, behind the scenes, there were a few maneuvers that weren't revealed by our pals on the Tee Vee Machine. It seems S the Q was being awfully picky.

Mudflats has all sorts of fun little detaily tidbits, but here are the basics: Sarah gave herself the out to quit anyone she didn't deem worthy:

The auction rules clearly state that:

Governor Palin reserves the right to refuse dinner with a winning bidder if, in her sole discretion, the winning bidder is not a suitable bidder based on her subjective standards of suitability, professionalism, background and other factors. In the event the high bidder is rejected for this reason, the high bidder’s bid will be refunded, if paid, and the next highest bidder shall be notified, and thereafter, until a suitable match is determined.

She calls it refusal, I call it discrimination. Then again, I'm a flaming progressive who feels compassion for those who get rejected for no apparent reason. Call me crazy.

There were seven bidders total. And we know for a fact that at least two of them were not of the “Palinbot” persuasion. And we know that both successfully passed the “pre-approval” process.

First, there’s Ken Morris - Wall Street whiz, trader-turned-financial-thriller-novelist, whose top bid exceeded $50,000.

His motive for shelling out $50K?

I’ll ask her a few questions that might seem harsh, but aren’t intended to offend—after all, we must be honest, no? Do your regret saying several hundred times that our president “…palled around with terrorists…”? Do you really believe that providing health insurance to all Americans is socialism or fascism or Nazism or that there are truly ‘death squads’ in these proposals?

Ruh-roh!

On to the next doomed bidder:

That brings us to our second candidate, dubbed c***i by the Ebay alias assignment team, and known to those in the outside world as Joe McGinnis. McGinnis, also an author by trade is best known for his books The Making of the President about Richard Nixon, and Going to Extremes, about Alaska, oil and the 1970s pipeline boom. McGinnis is an outspoken critic of Palin, evidenced most recently by his article for Conde Nast’s Portfolio entitled Pipe Dreams, which cast a critical eye on Palin’s handling of the ever-elusive Alaska gasline. McGinniss is currently working on a book whose focus will be the ex-governor herself.

McGinniss, hoping to win the auction had the high bid at one point close to the end. The amount was a whopping $60,101.01, and he was willing to go higher. And then something interesting happened. The Alaska Dispatch came out with a story identifying McGinniss as one of the bidders. When the unsuspecting c***i went to place his next bid in the amount of $60,301.01, he was met with this message:

[...] McGinniss was unapproved, with only an hour to go.

Damn.

So, who did win? Cathy Maples, the owner of a defense contracting company in Alabama. She thinks Sarah Palin is pretty swell, and hopes she gets to be president some day.

Isn't that swell? I bet she's thrilled to pieces that she passed all the tests! Those pesky prerequisites can be so annoying, can't they?

Then again, defense contractors don't have to worry about stuff like, you know, qualifying. Just ask Blackwater Xe.

For the rest of the story, and there is one, go here.

Blue and bluer

By GottaLaff

There Prez O goes again, going all reachy-outy on everyone. Wonder if they'll serve Milk Bone hors-d'oeuvres, or go for Iams:

The Hotline notes that President Obama is scheduled to have dinner with members of the Blue Dog Coaltion tonight after he returns to Florida.

"Eleven House Democrats voted with Republicans against the president's economic plan. Stay tuned to see if he woos any of them successfully back into the fold. The tete-a-tete is closed to reporters."

Let's hope he makes some headway.

VIDEO: What Obama's right-wing dinner partners are saying today

By GottaLaff

"Yesterday, he met with the liberal columnists. And they had a pleasant hour in the conference room in his office. They got some coffee in some styrofoam cups. We had a pleasant dinner at George’s house, and they had some coffee from the machine in the office."

Yesterday, I posted about P.E. Obama's impending dinner date with some of the rightiest of the righties. If this were a dating show featuring a Palin documentary filmmaker, we'd see who bonded, who was rejected, who got humiliated, and who might get a call back. Instead, all we get are a few sketchy descriptions from participants whose reliability is dubious at best.

Here's a video of Charles Krauthammer with his two (non)cents.

Above, we see Bill Kristol being all Bill Kristol-y, so pop a Tums and get the Pepto Bismol out.

And finally, boffo reviews galore from Larry Kudlow. He makes it sound as if a second date were in their future [insert wolf whistle and heavy panting here]:

Larry Kudlow, who attended the right-wing dinner, said: "I was very impressed. He's a nice guy, terribly smart, well-informed, great smile. He just really engaged. He said he likes to know the arguments on all sides."

No word yet from George Will, Peggy Noonan, Paul Gigot, or David Brooks. I'm sure they were swept off their two right feet and are converting to Progressivism as we speak.