Update on the Palin smears -- and one NON-smear

It's worse than I thought. I cannot believe that people I once considered politically sympatico are resorting to such disgusting smear tactics.

The photo displayed here (on the left) is a hoax which some on the left have circulated as true. The original of this image, and the full story of how it came to be, is here. I don't know how many people have swimming pools in Alaska, but I strongly suspect that Sarah Palin doesn't have that kind of cellulite.

Bill Maher accused Palin of running up a $22 million dollar deficit during her tenure as Mayor of Wasilla. The City's documents are here. I just took a look at the numbers for 2003 (the first year after Palin left office), and the balance sheet speaks of a surplus. Either the newly-elected Mayor Dianne Keller worked an amazing feat of financial magic, or Maher was misinformed.

The Obots have put together a number of fake web sites designed to promote anti-Palin memes.

Here is a site which purportedly belongs to Britol Palin's boyfriend. After exposure as a hoax, the website's perpetrators quickly added a message proclaiming "This is a parody." Look at the posts and you'll see no attempts at humor. This blog was meant to deceive.

A fake "Alaska Independence Party" site was here until earlier today.

A recently-removed pdf file distributed by Democrats revealed Sarah Palin's Social Security number and exact home address.

The Obots have painted Palin as intolerant of gays, even though her position on gay marriage exactly mirrors Barack Obama's most recent stance. I've seen no evidence that she has tried to implement Dominionist theology during her time in the governor's chair. At any rate, dare an Obama supporter critique Palin's choice of pastors?

The Huffington Post is now posting hate diatribes against Piper Palin, who is all of six. Recall that moment during the speech when the little girl licked her fingers and patted down the baby's hair? Millions of normal people went "Awwwww..." But hard-core Obots aren't normal:

Totally creepy. Hasn't she been taught not to lick her hands? And to put it on her baby brother...eewww...makes me cringe. Needs more home training - nothing cute about this no matter howthey change to spin it. Disgusting...

I agree. This is probably a result of HOME SCHOOLING by her mom. She can't train her own children, how can she lead a country!!!!!!

1. Pregnant + an Alcoholic
2. Lacks home training

In light of the above examples of dirty pool, some of you may be surprised to learn that a widely-circulated letter criticizing Sarah Palin is real, even though many people pegged it as a fake. The erudition of the text struck many as suspicious.

Anne Kilkenny knew Palin during her days as mayor of Wasilla. I just spoke with her husband Ray, who struck me as a very nice guy. (I was surprised to learn that he and I used to live in the same L.A. suburb.) Yes, there really is an Anne Kilkenny -- and she did not intend the letter for the public. It was distributed to a handful of friends, one of whom asked permission to send it to another friend -- and within hours, it entered millions of cyber mailboxes. Ray says Anne said some things that she might have rephrased had she known that the missive would reach a large audience.

The letter has already been subjected to variants. The most accurate version is here.

Anne was graduated from UC Berkeley in 1971 -- which explains the high quality of her writing. Some of her criticisms strike me as fair -- for example, I think that it has been well-established (thank you, Bob Somerby; you've made your point) that Palin opposed the "bridge to nowhere" only after she heard the entire nation laughing at it. Some of Kilkenny's critiques seem to arise from a simple clash of personalities. Example:

During her 6 years as Mayor, she increased general government expenditures by over 33%. During those same 6 years the amount of taxes collected by the City increased by 38%. This was during a period of low inflation (1996-2002). She reduced progressive property taxes and increased a regressive sales tax which taxed even food. The tax cuts that she promoted benefited large corporate property owners way more than they benefited residents.

What is left out here is the fact that the city doubled in population. (It's a suburb of Anchorage.) The difference between expenditures and revenues speaks to me of black ink, not red. The town doubled in size but, according to Kilkenny, revenues grew by 38%. Not such a terrible record.

Kilkenny complains that taxes were refunded directly to the taxpayers instead of being invested in renewable energy. I'm a strong proponent of renewable energy, but I am not sure that this is a problem solvable by an Anchorage suburb. And I’m fairly sure that Palin's choice will play well with moderate to conservative voters. This is, in short, a disagreement based on differing weltanschauungs; it is not an accusation of chicanery.

I certainly do not approve of regressive taxation. But a sales tax is hardly a subject that any Obama voter will want to bring up. Chicago has the highest (and most regressive) sales taxes in the country, in order to pay for all of the corruption overseen by Blagojevich, Daley, Tony Rezko and Barack Obama.

As for the "arrogance" charge -- for all I know, this may be true. But who among the arrogant can compete with Barack Obama, the man who has never apologized for saying that he barely knew Tony Rezko?

Added note: Not long ago, all the progs seemed horrified when cops used a taser on a loudmouthed attention-seeker who disrupted a speech by John Kerry. (Of course, prog assholes hate Kerry almost as much as they hate those awful, awful Clintons.) Have ya noticed how these same progs seem perfectly happy to leap to the defense of an Alaskan state trooper who tazed an 11-year-old kid?

You can't say progressives don't have standards. Plural. As in double.