1998 VIDEO: Who tried to control the media in Alaska while governor? Sarah the Changer!

By GottaLaff



I got the link to this video via an e-mail from a reader. Watch Stickler McMicroManage try to justify how the "administration can be the P.R. office":

"...one office will have contact to and contact from the media [...] It's my job to have contact with the media. [...] Coming from a journalism background and working in the media, I see the benefits of having, again, one contact person..."

1. Control freak much?

2. How ironic that you avoided the media at all costs again in 2008... especially after having come from a "journalism background and working in the media." One would think you'd have had more empathy for the profession you aspired to, instead of making their job harder by ducking them.

3. How long after that interview did you decide Bumpits would work out for ya?

"For someone who claims to be rogue... hypocritical to not let media...cover" her

By GottaLaff

Well guys and gals, Sarah the Quitter is quitting... again. This time she's washing her hands of media coverage on her not-so-excellent Wisconsin adventure. Going Mute:

[N]o press will be allowed into the Milwaukee auditorium where she will speak and those who have paid the $30 admittance fee are unable to carry in cell phones, cameras, laptops, or recording devices of any kind.

Wisconsin Democratic Party Chairman Mike Tate told the Wisconsin Radio Network he finds all these restrictions "bizarre."

"You know, for someone who claims to be a rogue and isn't afraid of what other people think it really is sort of hypocritical to not let the media, the press cover your event."

Come on, Wisconsin, would you want a record of your rancid, badly tossed, wilted Word Salad out there?

IWRC* Palin's Big U.N. Photo Op: Media Blackout Excuse Edition

By GottaLaff

--PHOTO WOULD GO HERE--

I will not include the Big Major Photo-Op photo. That would be hypocritical of me, although I could come up with a metaphor instead.

Nah.

This entire IWRC* Photo Op Moment is so laughable that my sides hurt and my eyes are watering. Oh wait. No. That was from the IWRC* campaign's rationalization at the end of this piece.

I'm not exactly sure why we needed to know what IWRC did with her legs:

As the pool entered, the Afghan president appeared to be telling Palin about his young son, who was born in January 2007.

Palin, her legs crossed and at one point patting her heart, was leaning in eagerly and smiling. Karzai, wearing his traditional clothes but without his trademark karakul hat, was also grinning while discussing the child. His remarks were mostly unintelligible as the noise from the clicking cameras drowned them out.

“What is his name?,” Palin asked.

“Mirwais,” Karzai responded. “Mirwais, which means, ‘The Light of the House.’”

“Oh nice,” Palin responded.

“He is the only one we have,” remarked Karzai.

After 29 seconds observing the meeting, CNN and other photographers covering the meeting were escorted out of the room.

Later, McCain-Palin press representatives chalked up the restrictions to a “mix-up, a miscommunication among staff.” The full pool — a print and wires reporter, along with a television producer — was then allowed in to observe Palin’s meeting with Colombian President Alvaro Uribe for 15-20 seconds.

If 29 seconds/20 seconds is what the IWRC team is telling us she's worth, that's quite an admission.

*"In What Respect, Charlie?"

Hurricane Ike news blackout; 1500 bodies found in Galveston?

By GottaLaff

One of our many astute Anonymi pointed me to this one:

The following is from an email sent to me by a good friend in Nacogdoches whose buddy has been over Galveston - names have been edited out to protect the folks those who relayed the report. Also relayed from this guy and others: persons going into the restricted area are apparently being patted down and cameras are being confiscated, by Army and Coast Guard personnel.

Okay...I've got some news on this front. Take it for what it's worth, but the guy I got it from is someone I trust to raise my children... He's never once lied to me...ever. And we're close.

He's in a pretty high-up supervisory position for a refinery down on the coast.

His refinery has some equipment and lines in and around Galveston county, and before they were to bring them back on line he and his crew had to inspect the place for damage and potential hazards. So they were given permission....after a background check....to helicopter in and inspect, which meant coming in over Galveston.

I kid you not when I say that he told me they saw AT LEAST 1500 bodies in trees scattered about Galveston. They also saw a lot in various ditches and marshes, esp. on the north side of East Galv. Bay, east side of Trinity Bay, and in the marshes between I-45 and Seabrook/Clear Lake/Deer Park.

It explains why they're not letting the media anywhere close to the Island except in limited sectors nd we're not hearing anything from or about the people who survived and those who stayed behind. It's like 20,000 people never existed....where are they? Where'd they go? What are their names? Nothing....

Same thing in Orange county.

Take it for what it's worth....I believe him, though his count may be wrong given the shock of the sight. But like I said, I'd trust him to raise my kids.

I'd be more surprised if he were wrong than if he were right.

And from Rhiannon Myers of the Galveston Daily News comes this dispatch:

GALVESTON - Mayor Lyda Ann Thomas on Monday ordered all city employees not to talk to news reporters. She did not say when that order would be lifted.

Thomas and City Manager Steve LeBlanc will be the only officials allowed to talk to reporters. City spokeswoman Mary Jo Naschke vehemently denied the city was trying to clamp down on coverage.
......

Reporters would be allowed on the island only if they had proper identification, Thomas said. She didn't clarify what that meant.

Reporters were also forbidden from visiting areas on the far West End, Thomas said. She did not explain why.

How sad is it that I'm no longer surprised by this kind of disturbing news?