"Rogue, Baby, Rogue" Edition

"You are entitled to your opinion, but you're not entitled to your own facts."

--Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Palin goes "Rogue"

Politico reports that, "Four Republicans close to Palin said she has decided increasingly to disregard the advice of the former Bush aides tasked to handle her, creating occasionally tense situations as she travels the country with them. Those Palin supporters, inside the campaign and out, said Palin blames her handlers for a botched rollout and a tarnished public image — even as others in McCain's camp blame the pick of the relatively inexperienced Alaska governor, and her public performance, for McCain's decline. "She's lost confidence in most of the people on the plane," said a senior Republican who speaks to Palin, referring to her campaign jet. He said Palin had begun to "go rogue" in some of her public pronouncements and decisions. "I think she'd like to go more rogue," he said." Go rogue! Go rogue! Rogue, Baby, Rogue!!

"McCain sources say Palin has gone off-message several times, and they privately wonder whether the incidents were deliberate. They cited an instance in which she labeled robocalls -- recorded messages often used to attack a candidate's opponent -- "irritating" even as the campaign defended their use. Also, they pointed to her telling reporters she disagreed with the campaign's decision to pull out of Michigan." And just yesterday in an apparent detour from the "prepared remarks," Palin went on an explanation of how she's gonna go back to wearing thrift store clothes, (y'know, as soon as she's elected president...erm...vice president...erm...loses this election...) and that she's only wearing "Eskimo" earrings and a flag pin today and that her $35 wedding ring is in Todd's pocket. Last night in Asheville, NC, she showed up in jeans, a t-shirt and her most ill-fitting jacket. That'll show 'em.

How in the names of Hades did the McCain campaign wind up with her on the ticket? Kathleen Parker echoes my thoughts on Palin. Long-time readers of the Rant might recall that I thought it was like that episode of the Partridge Family where Keith falls for the pretty blonde who can't sing a note-- except that whenever she's in the room, he goes all googly-eyed over her and thinks she's fantastically talented. Parker says: "My husband called it first. Then, a brilliant 75-year-old scholar and raconteur confessed to me over wine: 'I'm sexually attracted to her. I don't care that she knows nothing.'"

Doesn't matter. Palin just cannot catch a break. HuffPo reports that Palin was to drop the puck at at the St. Louis Blues hockey game, but "This time her presence resulted in a hip injury to St. Louis goalie Manny Legace, who slipped on the carpet rolled out for Palin."

And in another CLASSIC moment--this one from the end of last week--Palin talks around, over, under and in the vicinity of the Republican platform on family values with James Dobson of the ultra-right-winger Focus on the Family. Chris Kelly of 23-6 notes though, that "problem is, Palin seems not to know what a platform is:

Palin: Absolutely, and Dr. Dobson thank you so much for recognizing that. This is a strong platform around the planks in this platform that respect life and respect the entrepreneurial spirit of this great country and those things, back to the social issues that are what Republicans, at least in the past, had articulated and tried to stand on.

Pause. Did that do it? Wait for next question. Darn it, he's not saying anything. That's okay, we can do this. Deep breath.

Palin: Now, finally, we have very solid planks in the platform that will allow us to build an even stronger foundation for our country. It's all good and it's encouraging. You would maybe have assumed that we would have gotten further away from those strong planks. But no, they're there, they're solid, we stand on them and again I believe that it is the right agenda for the country at this time. Very, very clear and contrasted tickets in this election November 4th. People are going to see the clear contrasts, you just go to the planks in our platforms and that's where you see them.

You can listen here. If you can't stomach the interview, skip to about 12:50 into the thing.