The Politico Is Pretty Much Just Making Stuff Up Now

It's about Sarah Palin, so that makes it cool I guess.

Consider this headline: "Iowa Republicans wince at Sarah Palin's $100K speaking fee"

The Politico story starts...

A conservative Iowa group’s effort to lure Sarah Palin to its banquet next month has had an unintended effect: Rather than exciting conservatives about the prospect of a visit from the former Alaska governor, the group’s plan to raise a six-figure sum to bring her to the state has GOP activists recoiling at the thought of paying to land a politician's speaking appearance.

The Iowa Family Policy Center’s effort to cobble together $100,000 for Palin would represent a striking departure from customary practice in the first-in-the-nation state, these Republicans say, noting that a generation of White House hopefuls has paid their own way to boost their party and presidential ambitions.

Then way down on page 2, in the 24th paragraph of the article we find this little nugget.

There is no indication that the former governor has requested a fee or that her decision whether to attend is being influenced by whether she’ll be paid.

Hello? What's that again? You spend 23 paragraphs telling us how odd it is for a candidate or prospective candidate to charge for an appearance, how some people are put off by this highway robbery and then you get around to mentioning, Palin never asked for the money and there's no reason to believe it will impact her decision to show up?

Jayson Blair emails to say, "Dude, have some integrity".

Can we start doing posts about how writers for certain online publications might be engaged in illicit behavior? Maybe we could fill up the post with quotes from people about how disappointed they are that some political reporters are having, say, intimate relations with, oh I don't know, farm animals. Then after a few hundred words of this I'll drop in something like, "Of course, there's no evidence any of this happening".

Hey Politico, would that make it ok?

Here's a hint...no it wouldn't.

But I'm not talking about making up stories about Sarah Palin so a whole different set of rules apply. You know, the rules that require you don't make stuff up and hit 'publish'.

Let me admit something...I'm agnostic at best on Palin but if the leftists keep acting like she's Holy Water and they are vampires, I'm gonna have to rethink my position.

See what I did there with the "gonna" and not "going to"...I can fit in.

To be clear...she did not ask for the fee according to her people.

It seems some folks wanted to bring her to their event and have heard her fee is 100K. Well, that's apparently for her speaking gigs, like the one in China. He political efforts are separate and funded by her PAC.

But then "Palin Speaks For Free To Conservatives" isn't exactly an earth shattering scoop.

I don't know how much Jonathan Martin makes but if I were his boss I'd wince every time I signed his check. Unless they want to pay for fiction.

h/t Jim Treacher

*I accidentally linked to the second page of the article. I've fixed that.

posted by DrewM. at 06:44 PM

| Access Comments