Nobody Owes Sarah or Bristol Palin Any Kind of Apology

By now it’s no secret that the Palin family was involved in some kind of drunk party brawl a few weeks ago, which is something that I only found interesting because of the sheer hypocrisy of it all. A family, most notably Sarah Palin herself, who’s often seen telling millions of Americans the importance of “Christian family values” – involved in a drunken brawl at some Saturday night house party in Alaska.

Well, recently Bristol Palin’s comments to the police following these events were released and she tells a tale of male on female violence and assault that indeed does sound alarming. And following the release of these comments, CNN’s Carol Costello cynically mocked Bristol and what she had to say. Which many found offensive, especially her mother, considering the details of what Bristol claimed were accounts of fairly severe male on female violence, including her stating that she had been dragged on the ground by her feet by a male at the party.

Of course, nobody should ever mock any kind of domestic violence. Though it’s clear from the official police reports that it was Bristol who was one of the most aggressive and violent of the bunch.

But since Costello made these comments, she issued a statement to Politico apologizing for the candor in which she went about reporting on this story. Which I think is more than enough.

Though apparently that hasn’t been enough. Some are calling for a full on-air apology, with even others within the media that I’ve seen floating around the internet suggesting that she be fired.

It’s all ridiculous.

She shouldn’t apologize to anyone. Was what she said a bit tacky? I could see how some could see it that way. But Bristol Palin’s comments in that audio don’t at all go along with official police reports and the vast majority of witness testimony from what happened that night. Which by official police accounts from witness testimony, paints her as someone who was out of control, aggressively and violently attacking the homeowner where the party was being held.

In fact, if you read the official police report it seems most of the entire Palin family was completely out of control.

Remember, Sarah Palin validates much of her core ideology on the premise that she’s “fighting for good, wholesome Christian values.” So I don’t think anyone should apologize for being a bit cynical when official police reports depict the Palin family as a drunken, aggressive group of lunatics attacking people at a party to which they were not invited.

And in all of this talk about Bristol’s comments to the police, it seems as if nobody has pointed out the fact that in the midst of a drunken brawl at nearly midnight, she states that her 5-year-old was with her. Why was a 5-year-old out with a bunch of drunk family members cruising around in a limo at nearly midnight? You’re telling me that’s the place for a 5-year-old child?

Let’s also not forget that Sarah Palin has built a career of her own out of bashing and attacking those with which she disagrees. She has put her family into the national spotlight and made them public figures. She could have faded away in 2008, but she didn’t want to. And now any time she or her family faces public scrutiny, she’s one of the first to publicly whine and complain about those being critical toward them.

Again, this is Sarah Palin, who herself seemed appalled at Costello’s comments, yet is someone who’s called Rush Limbaugh one of her heroes (a man who’s openly a racist and a sexist) and has sung the praises of draft-dodging pedophile Ted Nugent. Two men who have made countless disgusting and slanderous remarks against President Obama and Hillary Clinton.

Then let’s not forget we’ve already seen one on-air personality, Martin Bashir, get fired/resign because of some less than flattering comments he made about Palin’s ignorance.

Look, Costello probably should have stuck with a straight-line reporting of Bristol’s comments and left it at that. But I don’t blame anyone for being cynical when it comes to this family. And had the official police report actually supported Bristol’s account of what happened, I would be one of the first ones condemning Costello’s mocking of what she had to say. But it didn’t. Instead, the reports and most witness accounts painted Bristol (and much of the Palin family) as a group of out of control drunks who showed up somewhere that they weren’t invited. With Bristol being one of the people who the majority of witnesses said was the most aggressive and out of control of the bunch. Aggressively, and repeatedly, attacking the homeowner.

So while I’m sure Costello will almost certainly have to issue some kind of on-air apology to the Palin family, I don’t think anyone owes them an apology. Not unless the queen of this family, Sarah Palin, starts issuing formal apologies for all the lies, propaganda and borderline slanderous comments she’s made (like mocking a diabetic pregnant woman) about people over the years.

Which is something I’m positive she’ll never do.

Official Police Report About Palin Brawl Exposes Their Hypocrisy and Embarrasses Family

Before I even start I know what many of you are going to say, “Who cares about the Palins?” While many people feel that way (and I completely understand that sentiment), there’s no denying that the family, particularly Sarah Palin, still has a lot of influence over conservatives.

Whether or not liberals like her really doesn’t matter, because conservatives (especially “the base”) still do listen to what she has to say. Which is why I’ve found this whole “drunken brawl” situation so interesting. Because, as most of us know, a big “calling card” to Palin’s propaganda is this idea that she’s a representative for “good, wholesome, Christian values.”

Which makes me curious how a late night drunken brawl at a party in Alaska, along with her daughter Bristol (who famously had a baby as a teenager out of wedlock and was apparently the most violent person at this party) qualifies the Palins as representatives of “good Christian values.” Not that I am judging them. But it’s interesting that she’s rallied against several issues (such as abortion and same-sex marriage) based on her belief in “good Christian values,” yet this is how her family behaves.

Well, according to the newly released official police reports, this little brawl was quite the scene.

Here are a few details reported by the Alaska Dispatch News:

• Officer Justin Blake described arriving to find a group of people heading toward a long white limousine parked in the street. Blake noted a strong smell of alcohol coming from the group. Track Palin, shirtless and bloodied, was being led into the limousine by several others, who appeared “intent on keeping him away from me,” the officer wrote.

• Korey Klingenmeyer [the homeowner where this event took place] told police that a fight had broken out in the cul-de-sac in front of the home, and he had asked guests not to get involved. A few minutes later, Bristol and Willow Palin came around the back of the house, and Bristol looked like she wanted to start a fight, Klingenmeyer said.Klingenmeyer asked her to leave, he told police. “Who the fuck are you?” she responded. He told her he was the homeowner, and she responded that he didn’t own the house and she would “kick his ass.”“He says then that she hits him in the face. He says he then tells her to hit him again if it makes her feel better and she does. He says he lets her hit him 5-6 times in the face and that she was hitting pretty hard. After about the sixth punch he grabbed her fist as she punched again and he pushed back and she falls down. He says she gets up and tries to punch him again and he grabs her fist again and pushes her away and she falls down again.”

• The fight escalated as Track and another man began swinging punches at Klingenmeyer, the homeowner told officer Benjamin Nelson. At that point several men stepped in to help him, Klingenmeyer told Daily.“A fight broke out and the Palins ended up losing. (Klingenmeyer) said after it was over that Bristol came up and tried to hit him again but he didn’t let her.”

• Matthew McKenna told police that during the fight he picked Bristol up, carried her into the street and put her down. “At that point, Todd and Sarah Palin were there asking what happened and he told them to leave. Nobody listened and yet another fight started,” officer Adolf wrote.Officer John Daily described Bristol Palin as “heavily intoxicated and upset.” She told Daily that Klingenmeyer had pushed her to the ground and dragged her across the lawn after she had attempted to confront a woman about hitting her younger sister, Willow Palin.

• At least two fights appear to have broken out during the party, according to witness statements: a fight involving Track and Todd Palin, and one involving Bristol Palin. Seven witnesses verified Klingenmeyer’s account of being punched in the face repeatedly by Bristol Palin.

Mind you, this all happened around midnight. Again, I am not judging this behavior. But then again I’m not part of a family where the mother is often seen on television telling Americans what is or isn’t “morally acceptable.”

And I’m not exactly sure where I see “wholesome Christian values” in a drunken brawl where parents and children are out together until around midnight, and the adults are so intoxicated that police reported “a strong smell of alcohol coming from the group.”

Not slight, or moderate – strong. Meaning that this family wasn’t out late at night just having a few adult beverages. They were out cruising in a limo fairly intoxicated.

My gosh, what would Jesus think?

But, by all means, I would love to see Palin show up on my television screen here soon to tell me how Americans need to follow “good, Christian family values.” Please.

International 'Pro-Family' Conference Ends With Call for Worldwide Gay Propaganda Ban

An international 'pro-family' conference in Moscow featuring a number of prominent anti-gay figureheads including NOM's Brian Brown and author of Russia's anti-gay propaganda law Yelena Mizulina (pictured below) concluded yesterday with delegates issuing a proclamation calling for similar 'propaganda bans' to be implemented throughout the world, Right Wing Watch reports:

According to a rough Google translation of the resolution — which was posted on the website of a foundation chaired by Putin ally Vladimir Yakunin, which also helped fund the event — the delegates expressed their “extreme concern [that] currently being implemented in some states of the world is extremely biased policies and unprecedented propaganda campaign, leading to the final undermining of the Institute of the natural family, which in a civilized society has always been considered as the basis for prosperity [of the] state.”

In the resolution, delegates vow “to uphold the interests of children and to work for the adoption of legislative bans on all types of propaganda concerning homosexual relationships in the environment of children and juveniles” as well as to support research on “the negative social and psychological effects and the consequences of raising children in same-sex couple.”

The 'pro-family' conference, originally organized under the name of the Illinois-based World Congress of Families before the organization "suspended" its planning following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, had a number of scheduled American speakers. This included representatives from Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute, the Christian Broadcasting Network, Personhood USA, and Family Watch International.

In related news, the Human Rights Campaign has asked the U.S. Treasury Department to investigate whether World Congress of Families officials improperly collaborated with sanctioned Russian lawmakers (such as Yelena Mizulina) in the planning of the hate-filled forum.

Why Liberals Should Thank South Carolina

South Carolina just elected Mark Sanford to Congress; A guy who got caught cheating on his wife and using taxpayer money to visit his mistress because you know… 

Republicans are the party of strong Family Values and Fiscal Responsibility. 

This is actually a HUGE win for liberals across the country, and I’ll explain why:

Mark Sanford is going to be the poster child for GOP Hypocrisy in 2014. If you look at the way Republicans across the country seem to run their campaigns not against their opponents, but instead against Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama – turnabout would be fair play. How can Republicans ever complain about sexual transgressions ever again? How are we as a nation not supposed to laugh in your face when you mention the cost of Barack Obama’s trips now? They just elected a man who was drummed out of office for ethics violations while using taxpayer money to disappear for days while leaving the country to cheat on his wife with his Argentinian mistress. Need to go deeper into the hypocritical rabbit hole? Sanford voted to impeach President Clinton for lying about his alleged affair.

But… Mark Sanford had this to say in regards to lying about an affair:

“The issue of lying is probably the biggest harm, if you will, to the system of Democratic government, representative government, because it undermines trust. And if you undermine trust in our system, you undermine everything.”

Maybe it’s time for him to apologize to Bill Clinton and LGBT couples everywhere for his views on the institution of marriage.

So thank you, South Carolina. It’s typically very tough to frame such a strong argument against your entire party, and your entire platform in one easy-to-understand symbol. The only thing that could have made it better is if Sanford forced his wife and mistress to get abortions. Wait… Am I getting my hypocritical Republican politicians mixed up?

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