Erick Erickson's Red State Posts Sexist Photoshop of Sarah Palin

It's not that big of a deal to me.

Photoshopping people for a dig is old hat, even for people on your own side. It's a little surprising, however, for such a big conservative brand as Red State to sink to petty locker room Photoshop humor as this. And the post has been up for two days. Worse is that Erick Erickson defended the image as not Photoshopped when called out on Twitter, and then some.

Folks contacted me privately after I tweeted earlier.

Again, not that big a deal. That said, here's Jen Kuznicki, "RedState misstates Palin and misses the point":

Anger erupted on twitter after RedState’s Peter List posted a photoshopped cleavage picture of Sarah Palin on his Diary, but the content of his post misstated her position, and shows how little he knows about the current fight going on in the GOP.

For all its buzz, RedState is a fairly static presence on the web. For instance, you can miss reading it for about 2 years, and then jump back in, and they are saying the same thing, with the same people, pointing out the same circumstance, and frankly, being really nasty and angry in the comment section.

List says that Palin’s third party solution is part of the problem. He knows she didn’t come up with a third party plan, and if he knows anything about boots-on-the-ground grassroots work, he would know that the third party idea is prevalent in the GOP rank and file. In his misleading post, List points to another RedState writer and how he has laid out the way to take over the GOP.

Is List ‘taking over’ the GOP? It seems to me that if you are going to preach it, you ought to do it. If he is in the fight, good, but I do not see the insight in his post that would prove such. For him, and his clique at RedState, I’ll lend a hand to show what has happened to warrant what many see as a possible alternative. And I’d like to stress the fact that Palin didn’t say she’s going third, she said, ‘if’ the current GOP establishment keeps on doing what they are doing, it certainly is a factor.

RTWT.

Jen's got a handle on the grumbles at the grassroots. Mostly, I just like how Erick Erickson gets a pass.

More on Twitter:

@Josh_Painter I have no idea nor do I care if it's a Photoshop. She your Mohammed or something? @EWErickson @arias_harley
— Ben Howe (@BenHowe) July 2, 2013

At what point do you blame the famous person for their absolutely insane cultist followers?
— Ben Howe (@BenHowe) July 2, 2013

I second this. RT @Pqlyur1: Just fix this and come clean @EWErickson and @BenHowe...Jeeze... http://t.co/i4gu90WuFQ”
— Pam Swan (@pjswan) July 2, 2013

ADDED: This post has a lot of the details that I was unable to locate as I was writing this essay: "RedState Posts Demeaning Photoshop of Governor Palin, Denies When Confronted — Updated."

Also, from Dan Riehl, "Erickson and His Redstate Boys Never Learn, Titter at Faux Palin Ta-Ta’s." (Original photo there, compared to the Photoshop.)

Here's still more at C4P, "RedState Boys Act Like Leftists When Confronted On Smears Against Governor Palin," and "Redstate Posts Demeaning Photoshop of Governor Palin, Denies When Confronted — Updated."

Sarah Palin Slams Obama Tool David Plouffe on Twitter

Awesome.

At Twitchy, "‘Is this all a game to you?’: Sarah Palin slams David Plouffe and his ‘messiah’ Obama."

@davidplouffe Is this all a game to you and your ilk? Your messiah's "Transformation of America" is destruction of America.

— Sarah Palin (@SarahPalinUSA) June 25, 2013

Sarah Palin With Eric Bolling on Fox News

I'm really glad she's back at the network.

Sarah Palin's Speech to Faith and Freedom Coalition

At the Washington Post, "Sarah Palin at Faith and Freedom conference: 'Let Allah sort it out' in Syria, Middle East."

Sarah Palin Speech to National Rifle Association 2013

It wasn't as choreographed as the CPAC speech this year, and not quite as funny, but she's always a crowd-pleaser. And slamming Michael Bloomberg with that box of Skoal Tobacco was priceless.

Watch it at the link.

Establishment Hack Karl Rove Lashes Out at Sarah Palin

This story was trending yesterday at Memeorandum. Here's the clip:

He's an ass. An ultimate ass.

Sarah Palin Lights a Fire Under #CPAC2013!

Earlier on Twitter, Jimmie Bise argued that "Sarah Palin has upped her game." And having now watched the speech, all I can say is "no doubt."

This is freakin' amazing. Palin was on fire and brought the house down, at the clip: "CPAC 2013 - Former Governor Sarah Palin (R-AK)."

Palin joked about her husband Todd buying her a gun rack for Christmas: "He's got the rifle, I've got the rack" (and she then pulled out a Big Gulp from the below the podium).

At Twitchy, "Awesome: Sarah Palin sips Big Gulp during CPAC speech; ‘Bloomberg’s not around’ [pics and video]."

And at the Hill, "Sarah Palin fires up conservative grassroots in speech at CPAC" (via Memeorandum).

Come and Take

At AWD, "LOOK WHO’S SPORTING A MOLON LABE T SHIRT!

An iOWNTHEWORLD joint, "The Shirt Never Looked Better."

Former Navy SEAL, 'American Sniper' Chris Kyle, Killed at Texas Shooting Range

This was one of the big stories over the weekend. Here's the CBS News segment from this morning, "Top SEAL sniper allegedly murdered by fellow vet."

And here's this morning's New York Times, "Untouchable in Iraq, Ex-Sniper Dies in a Shooting Back Home." And at the Los Angeles Times, "'American Sniper' Chris Kyle shot dead in a post-combat world."

Updates on the shooter at Dallas Morning News, "Alleged shooter of Navy SEAL Tasered after being aggressive with jailers." And at London's Daily Mail, "Marine who 'killed' the top American sniper and his workout buddy now being held on $3million bail after confessing to his sister."

More at Newsmax, "Palin Mourns “American Sniper” Kyle's Death."

Sarah Palin Forced Out at Fox News?

Well, she was forced out to the extent that Fox News was going to pay her "a fraction" of her previous $1 million a year contract, according to Howard Kurtz, "Fox Made Limited Effort to Keep Sarah Palin." But whatever the reason, it signals some kind of significant change, or that's what folks are saying. See CSM, "Why Fox News dropped Sarah Palin."

And see Stephen Bannon, at Breitbart, "Palin: 'We Haven't Yet Begun to Fight!'—Exclusive Interview with Breitbart News."

She'll always be a hero to me. She's stands for so much that's right about this country. Just setting the example for younger conservatives will be a national service. We'll see how she does going forward.

Emails Show White House Briefed on Benghazi Terrorism in Real Time — Ansar al-Sharia Claimed Responsibility

At ABC News, "Email Alerts Describe 9/11 Benghazi Consulate Assault Unfolding" (via Memeorandum):

A series of email alerts sent as Obama administration officials monitored the attack on the U.S consulate in Benghazi last month are the latest to shine light on the chaotic events that culminated in the death of U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans.

The names of the individual recipients of the emails, first reported by CBS News but independently obtained by ABC News Tuesday evening, are redacted. A source who requested anonymity said it appears they are sent by the State Department Operations Center to distribution lists and email accounts for the top national security officials at the State Department, Pentagon, the FBI, the White House Situation Room and the office of the Director of National Intelligence.

And that's a compelling interview with Sarah Palin at the clip. I haven't seen her this animated ---- literally angry ---- in quite some time. Here's Greta's report, "BREAKING NEWS: Emails show the Obama administration knew Ansar al Sharia was behind the attack in Benghazi."

And at London's Daily Mail, "White House knew al Qaeda-linked group claimed responsibility for deadly Libya attack just TWO HOURS later, emails reveal."

And check out this devastating piece at Youngstown News out of Ohio, "Lies being told about attack in Benghazi":

It was a little much when President Barack Obama said that he was ”offended” by the suggestion that his administration would try to deceive the public about what happened in Benghazi. What has this man not deceived the public about?

Remember his pledge to cut the deficit in half in his first term in office? This was followed by the first trillion dollar deficit ever, under any President of the United States — followed by trillion dollar deficits in every year of the Obama administration.

Remember his pledge to have a ”transparent” government that would post its legislative proposals on the Internet several days before Congress was to vote on them....

As for what happened in Libya, the Obama administration says that there is an ”investigation” under way. An ”on-going investigation” sounds so much better than ”stonewalling” to get past election day. But you can bet the rent money that this ”investigation” will not be completed before election day. And whatever the investigation says after the election will be irrelevant.

The events unfolding in Benghazi on the tragic night of Sept. 11 were being relayed to the State Department as the attacks were going on, ”in real time,” as they say. So the idea that the Obama administration now has to carry out a time-consuming ”investigation” to find out what those events were, when the information was immediately available at the time, is a little much.

The full story of what happened in Libya, down to the last detail, may never be known. But, as someone once said, you don’t need to eat a whole egg to know that it is rotten. And you don’t need to know every detail of the events before, during and after the attacks to know that the story put out by the Obama administration was a fraud.

The administration’s initial story that what happened in Benghazi began as a protest against an anti-Islamic video in America was a very convenient theory. The most obvious alternative explanation would have been devastating to Barack Obama’s much heralded attempts to mollify and pacify Islamic nations in the Middle East.

To have helped overthrow pro-Western governments in Egypt and Libya, only to bring anti-Western Islamic extremists to power would have been revealed as a foreign policy disaster of the first magnitude. To have been celebrating President Obama’s supposedly heroic role in the killing of Osama bin Laden, with the implication that al-Qaida was crippled, would have been revealed as a farce.

Osama bin Laden was by no means the first man to plan a surprise attack on America and later be killed. Japan’s Admiral Yamamoto planned the attack on Pearl Harbor that brought the United States into World War II, and he was later tracked down and shot down in a plane that was carrying him.

Neither the Los Angeles Times nor the New York Times had this breaking at their websites as of 10:15pm Pacific time, as this post was being scheduled for overnight, although Huffington Post and Reuters had the news. I'll have more on this later.

It becomes clearer by the day. The administration's been covering things up all along, and lying remorselessly. Conservatives are hammering the White House. While progressives are enabling the cover up with denials and obfuscation. We'll see how things play out for the remainder of the day. It's not going to be pretty, that's for sure.

New Sarah Palin Pictures Draw Controversy

Her face does look thin.

At London's Daily Mail, "'I'm writing a fitness book!' Sarah Palin hits back as the row grows over her shocking new skinny figure":

Controversial Sarah Palin has been forced to hit back after being caught up in a furore over her new scarily skinny figure.

Mrs Palin, 48, debuted her new look as she strolled through California's Studio City, dressed in an outfit that appeared to have been plundered from one of her young daughter's wardrobes.

Dressed in tight black jeans, a crop top that looked like it had been stolen off the set of Flashdance, and high wedges, the former vice presidential hopeful looked a million miles away from the campaign trail.

But the look was greeted in less than flattering terms by many - prompting Mrs Palin to claim she is, in fact, now writing a fitness book.

Read it all, plus photos, at the link.

Sarah Palin on Biden's 'Back in Chains' Comments: 'Unhinged'

A great interview with Governor Palin, at C4P, "Governor Palin Goes ‘On the Record!’ (Video)."

Palin shakes her head and denounces Vice President Biden as a "drag on the ticket." She suggests Hillary Clinton should be brought on the bolster the ticket, jettisoning the Biden "unhinged" dead weight. Good Stuff.

RELATED: At LAT, "Biden clarifies 'chains' remark, takes shot at GOP rivals."

Sarah Palin Congratulates Mitt Romney

For his veep selection, on Facebook:

Congratulations to Mitt Romney on his choice of Congressman Paul Ryan as his running mate. President Obama has declared that this election is about “two fundamentally different visions” for America. Goodness, he’s got that right. Our country cannot afford four more years of Barack Obama’s fundamentally flawed vision. We must now look to this new team, the Romney/Ryan ticket, to provide an alternate vision of an America that is fiscally responsible, strong, and prosperous – an America that understands and is proud of her exceptional place in the world and will respect those who fight to secure that exceptionalism, which includes keeping our promises to our veterans.

Continue reading.

Don't Cross the Progressive Forces of Hatred

Mark Steyn's commentary on the left's assault on Chick-fil-A, "Don't cross the forces of tolerance."

To modify Lord Acton, power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely, but aldermanic power corrupts all der more manically. Proco "Joe" Moreno is Alderman of the First Ward of Chicago, and last week, in a city with an Aurora-size body count every weekend, his priority was to take the municipal tire-iron to the owners of a chain of fast-food restaurants. "Because of this man's ignorance," said Alderman Moreno, "I will now be denying Chick-fil-A's permit to open a restaurant in the First Ward."

"This man's ignorance"? You mean, of the City of Chicago permit process? Zoning regulations? Health and safety ordinances? No, Alderman Moreno means "this man's ignorance" of the approved position on same-sex marriage. "This man" is Dan Cathy, president of Chick-fil-A, and a few days earlier he had remarked that "we are very much supportive of the family – the biblical definition of the family unit. We are a family-owned business, a family-led business, and we are married to our first wives" – which last part suggests he is as antipathetic to no-fault divorce and other heterosexual assaults on matrimony as he is to more recent novelties such as gay marriage. But no matter. Alderman Moreno does not allege that Chick-fil-A discriminates in its hiring practices or in its customer service. Nor does he argue that business owners should not be entitled to hold opinions: The Muppets, for example, have reacted to Mr. Cathy's observations by announcing that they're severing all ties with Chick-fil-A. Did you know that the Muppet Corporation has a position on gay marriage? Well, they do. But Miss Piggy and the Swedish Chef would be permitted to open a business in the First Ward of Chicago because their opinion on gay marriage happens to coincide with Alderman Moreno's. It's his ward, you just live in it. When it comes to lunch options, he's the chicken supremo, and don't you forget it.

Continue reading.

Well, they're despicable fascists. More here.

Mike Huckabee Slams Left's 'Hate Speech' on Chick-fil-A

Huckabee interviews Brian Brown of the National Organization for Marriage:

Previous entries are here.

RELATED: At Fox News, "Philadelphia to Consider Resolution Condemning Chick-fil-A." These people are not too smart.

Sarah Palin Supports Chick-fil-A — Progressives Respond With Vile Misogynist Attacks: 'C*nt-fil-A'

William Jacboson had this earlier, at Legal Insurrection, "Sarah Palin visits Chick-fil-A, civility and new tone ensue on Twitter."

And here's the update, "Palin stops at Chick-fil-A, left responds with misogyny and sexism."

BONUS: Now we have the leftist mayor of D.C. joining the progressive hate-attacks, "Gray opposes Chick-fil-A expansion; calls it ‘hate chicken’" (via Memeorandum).

And Doug Powers has some progressive backtracking at Michelle's, "Rahm Emanuel’s office: He never said he’d block Chick-fil-A from opening here, just that their values aren’t Chicago’s" (via Memeorandum).

Fascism doesn't fly, it turns out.

Keep a spotlight on progressive hate. It's all they have.

Added: From Marooned in Marin, "Corrupt DC Mayor Attacks Chick-Fil-A As "Hate Chicken," Use 9/11 Anniversary To Promote 'Peace & Tolerance'."

Sarah Palin at Right Online - #RO12

The Right Scoop has the full clip: "Full Speech: Sarah Palin at Right Online 2012."

And see the Los Angeles Times, "Sarah Palin gives a pep talk to conservative bloggers at the Right Online conference":

LAS VEGAS -- It was a rousing pep talk for a ballroom full of conservative bloggers, and a tribute to a fallen compadre Friday evening, as Sarah Palin honored the memory of the late Internet entrepreneur Andrew Breitbart and told an annual gathering of conservative new media that they fill a vital role in the nation’s political discourse.

In some ways, Palin’s 35-minute speech was also a vintage performance, her sing-song voice rising and falling as she also castigated and mocked the “lamestream media,” accusing it of failing to vet then-candidate Barack Obama in 2008 and of promulgating rumors about her personal life, which still seem to get under her skin.

“You do what the old media can’t or won’t do, and that’s tell the truth,” said Palin, who remains a hero of the tea-party right despite her withdrawal from the arena of electoral office. “I have learned in the last four years or so, it doesn’t do any good to personally complain about the untruths told by the old media. I might as well save my breath…. Shoot, by now I should have been divorced how many times?  Under FBI investigation. Living in the Hamptons. It still is a great mystery who really is Trig Paxon Van Palin’s real mother.”

RTWT.

And follow all the action on Twitter.

'Check This Out, Bodyguard - You're Fired': Sarah Palin Speaks Out on Secret Service Prostitution Scandal (VIDEO)

At Fox News, "Palin to Secret Service agent: 'Check this out - you're fired ... the buck stops with the president'" (via Memeorandum):

Well, this agent who was kind of ridiculous there in posting pictures and comments about checking someone out. Well, check this out, bodyguard. You're fired. And I hope his wife kicks his ocoli and sends him to the doghouse, as long as he's not eating the dog, along with his former boss.

Greta, you know, a lot of people will just, I guess, say that this is boys being boys. And boys will be boys, but they shouldn't be in positions of authority. And yes, I think it's pretty embarrassing....

 It's a symptom of government run amok, though, Greta. And it's, like, you know, who's minding the store around here? And when it comes to this particular issue of Secret Service, again, playing with the taxpayer's dime and playing with prostitutes and checking out those whom they are guarding.

You know, the president, for one, he better be wary there of -- when Secret Service is accompanying his family on vacation. They may be checking out the first lady instead of guarding her.

And I say that not just tongue in cheek, but I say that seriously, that the president, the CEO of this operation called our federal government has got to start cracking down on these agencies! He is the head of the administrative branch and all these different departments in the administration that now people are seeing things that are so amiss within these departments.

The buck stops with the president. And he's really got to start cracking down and seeing some heads roll. You know, he's got to get rid of these people at the head of these agencies where so many things, obviously, are amiss.

More at Memeorandum.

Plus, at London's Daily Mail, "'I was really checking her out': Married Secret Service agent who quit over Colombia sex scandal joked about Sarah Palin on his Facebook page (and posted this picture to prove it)," and "First Pictures of the woman who shamed the Secret Service: 'Colombian hooker' who shook the White House after Obama's agent wouldn't pay for sex."

Sarah Palin: 'Paying at the Pump'

Video c/o C4P.

And ICYMI, "Exclusive Interview: Palin Talks Pain at the Pump Ahead of Fox News Special."