I Just Saw Sarah Palin Snow a Willing Greta van Susteren

Just minutes ago on Fox News I saw Sarah Palin tell Greta van Susteren that the rumors that she wanted to ban books in the local library while she was mayor of Wasilla, Alaska were false.

Governor Palin said the charge was untrue because someone accused her of banning Harry Potter books and that would be impossible because Harry Potter "hadn't even been written when I was mayor." But Sarah Palin was mayor of Wasilla from 1996 to 2002 and there were additions to the Harry Potter series in that period.

So the conclusion to be drawn here is either 1). Palin is lying about her attempt at book burning in Wasilla and trying to cover it up; or 2). Palin is so clueless about secular popular culture she is unaware of the time period of the publication of the books in the mega-hit Harry Potter series. Of course, van Susteren -- dutiful Fox News Republican ventriloquist dummy she is -- just let Palin's assertion go by unchallenged. I just thought it was really weird. I guess Palin just lies even when she doesn't have to or is really culturally challenged up there in the tundra. Did anybody else see this?

Comments

[Roll451]

If she is lying about book banning it would be consistent with her other lies and distortions - thanks, but no thanks on the bridge to nowhere, selling the governor's jet on e-bay for a profit, firing the governor's chef. The pattern here is a series of petty lies to make her look better in the eyes of the public. I think she is so driven to make herself politically appealing that she doesn't even think about the truth when she says this stuff. She may be the most dangerous type of politician - one who believes her own BS.

[bwilder]

Exactly and those and pesky bloggers in their parents basement's just insist
on proving her a liar time and time again. Keep it coming SP, the more you
lie and make a fool of yourelf the better.

[2bad]

Like "snowing" Greta would be some great feat! Keith Olberman recently referred to Greta as "one of the sheep over at Fixed News".

[Doofus]

If not Harry Potter (#48), maybe another?

('Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone' was published in the US in Sept 1998.)

http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/oif/bannedbooksweek/bbwlinks/top100challenged.cfm

The 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990–1999

1. Scary Stories (Series) by Alvin Schwartz
2. Daddy’s Roommate by Michael Willhoite
3. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
4. The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
5. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
6. Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
7. Forever by Judy Blume
8. Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
9. Heather Has Two Mommies by Leslea Newman
10. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
11. The Giver by Lois Lowry
12. My Brother Sam is Dead by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier
13. It’s Perfectly Normal by Robie Harris
14. Alice (Series) by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
15. Goosebumps (Series) by R.L. Stine
16. A Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Newton Peck
17. The Color Purple by Alice Walker
18. Sex by Madonna
19. Earth’s Children (Series) by Jean M. Auel
20. The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson
21. In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak
22. The Witches by Roald Dahl
23. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle.
48. Harry Potter (Series) by J.K. Rowling
49. Cujo by Stephen King
50. James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl.

[Happyexpat]

Help! Am actually having trouble breathing!

[cariintexas]

Wasn't "To kill a mockingbird" also banned? Go figure.

[Texas4Obama]

Considering that Greta was up in Alaska riding around on the snowMOBILE with Todd Palin - Greta seems more like a Palin friend now than an objective reporter. When reporters become buddies with the people they are supposed to be interviewing the results come out biased. Fox is in the tank for Palin so they aren't going to expose her faults or the truth.

[mae37]

Joseph, thank you for your suggestion that Sarah Palin "lies even when she doesn't have to".

Did she not ask the Wasilla librarian how to go about banning books? Almost 90 books were banned, and the librarian was fired for non-compliance (she was re-instated the next day). Books that were banned included "Huckleberry Finn", "Tom Sawyer", "To Kill a Mockingbird", Shakespeare, Faulkner and Steinbeck. These books have been required reading in Junior and Senior High schools since I can remember. One high school group discussed a "Farenheight 451" scenario for our future, if Palin was the Vice President . Would our homes be invaded to remove the "classics"?

Life-long Republicans that I know, saw Palin as an unstable and dangerous narcissist, and for this reason voted Democrat. Gov. Palin appears to "make- it- up as she goes along" . The definition of a "Passive Aggressive" personality is one who says what they think you want to hear, yet does not reflect the feelings or thoughts inside. A psychological term for a type of chronic lying.

Gov. Palin must, must have some redeeming qualities, but the shallow act only insulted Americans.
All candidates could be required to have a psychological exam considering the depth of responsibility they have. I think in near future, "how much they know", will be held lesser in value than "truth = reality".

[RobDoub]

Careful with the facts, Mae...No one involved - not the librarian, not the councilwoman (Laura Chase I think?), not the pastor...h­as said that 90 books were banned. You may have seen the email going around that made this totally unsupported claim. That email is the 'straw man' that Sarah is knocking down to try to prove she did not try to coerce the librarian. That list of 90 titles is bogus.

Let's not give Sarah easy targets to go after.

Carefully researched factual information is what we need the reporters to ask about. There is more than enough to work with!

[meleon]

Thank you RobDoub. Personal opinion is one thing, but rumor posing as truth does nothing but add fuel to "their" fire. I agree there is more than enough factual information on record, and it's just waiting for the frozen tundra to thaw, melt away and reveal things Palin can't aw shucks and wink her way out of.

[boing007]

Gov. Palin must must have some redeeming qualities.­..

We're still looking. I’ll get back to ya!

[BBackSoon]

The really scary thing is that she has 2 years to be taught how to speak without the ‘like’s’ and ‘you know’s’ and how to actually put together a series of sentences without repeating the same catch phrase 3 or 4 times. If she can learn, and I am afraid she might be able to, she will be a real contender in 4 years.

Now she is seen by most as a joke, but if she can, with the help of some RNC tutors put a little polish on the home spun ‘you betcha’s’ we might have to worry about her again. Hard times bring out stupid nationalist ideals that include hatred of people different than you and me and she is more than willing to wallow in the mud at the bottom of that well.

[Mugzi]

I'm trying to figure out who really buys her agenda??? How many people were really scared sh*tless with her neo con agenda!!! There was an article here that she wouldn't even take the stage with other pro choice repugs!!! It's possible other repug wannabe's will focus. Personally, I hope they do run her...can we ever forget the poison that spewed from her mouth, name calling, dividing the country into the real America??? I can't and I don't think others can either! She cannot be trusted!!!!

[boing007]

And she had the nerve to say that Barack Obama was going to take away all her and her Pro-American's freedoms. She should take a course in logic.

[LeBeau59741]

I'd love to stop talking about this woman but disecting and publicizing every last niggling lie and every example of her epic ignorance and clear venom is to act in self defense.
You see, if we fail now to render her forever impotent as a political figure, we will have to contend with her in 2012 (assuming she does not come to D.C. sooner than that by stepping into Ted Stevens' soon to be vacant seat).
You've seen the monster movies of the fifties? At the end, the monster is immobile but not de@d.... the last few frames often showed the creature beginning to awaken, still a menace to be confronted at some point in the future.
Let's make sure there are no twitches left in the monster that is Sarah Palin's political career.

[rzan1]

But there is also the possibility of a backlash by those who think we're being too hard on her, and that it is "unfair."

[sposton]

Talking about Sarah Palin is as much fun as talking about Britney Spears. She is just another distraction in the news cycle. She no longer belongs on the national stage. Let her slide back into Alaska's twilight where she belongs.

[bby328]

I 'herd' plenty weeks ago.

Sounds like . . . Witchcraft Wars . . . Palin vs Potter et al.

[TONM]

When she opens her mouth, it's a lie. Maybe that is how God told her to get to the White House. It's worked before...

She also contradicted herself on the clothes. She kept saying they were just for the convention, etc. Then later she said something to the effect that "I wish we had worn our own clothes on the trail all along." So it's many sources against one. And a friendly Faux News reporter to help her lie. But it's OK, because the more she talks, the deeper hole she will dig.

[cwillis-jones]

When I heard that statement I immediately had to do my own fact-check. She is really good at directing the topics to things that she knows about (sort of) and ignoring everything else.

[jaydeedub]

I want to see Palin grilled about the AIP. I'm amazed that did not get much coverage during the election. As McCain/Pailin stated numerous time concerning Obama "Connections", 'The American people have a right to know'.

[onlyThis]

I agree.

[JanaK63]

She is literally Georgette Bush...the small town, good ole gal routine gets real old, real fast...we need intelligence, integrity and honesty in our government. I hope we can finally bid adieu to the good ole boy with the southern drawl network and say hello to the new smart and articulate men and women of the White House.

[lasvegaslily]

First I am not a Sarah Palin supporter. With that being said, my understanding is that the incident of questioning book banning with Mary Ellen Emmons (Library Director, Wasilla City Library) took place in October 1996. However, I am a 62-year-old Harry Potter fan and the Harry Potter books weren't published in the US until 1998.

While her answer regarding specifically the Harry Potter books is probably true (and Greta was very careful to ask specifically about Harry Potter), her wanting books banned or censored at the library at all is despicable.

More about the actual incident is in the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman.

http://www.frontiersman.com/articles/2008/09/07/breaking_news/doc48c1c8a60d6d9379155484.txt

[wagthedog1001]

As a former librarian I am very familiar with the tactic described in the article cited. In the mid-nineties and for the next 10 years or so many attempts were made to remove materials from library shelves. Almost every time the "religious right" was behind it. There was a real movement through sermons, pamphlets, videos, etc... When the Harry Potter books came out it got even worse.

No doubt Palin was right in the middle of this.

[SailFree]

1) There is considerable doubt, as a) The librarian was not fired, b) nobody ever claimed Palin asked for books to be removed, c) There has been so darned many lies fabricated about Palin that any negative statement has to be taken with 10 pounds of Morton Salt.

[postman606]

I have to pled gulity, I have seen the Harry Potter movies, but never read the books. Someone please explain to me the problem these folks have with the books.

[MJinCanada]

Well, for starters, they've never read them either.

They claim the books encourage satanism (that's a big WTF for anyone who knows the books or movies) but I think it's because Harry and friends stand up to bigots, bullies, corrupt officials in the middle of a cover-up, and a batch of fascist evil wizards who would fit in fairly well with the worst elements of the GOP.

For the record, I've been raising my kids on Harry Potter, Discworld and good science fiction. And people keep telling me what nice, responsible kids they are.

[Insightful]

When John McCain proudly announced Sarah Palin as his VP pick it was clear that the man was not thinking clearly. She was so blatantly unfit for the position she should be relegated to the bottom of the heap where she belongs. Governor? NO. Senator NO. Hockey Mom? Sounds about right. She is such an impossible personality. Shame on MCCain for unleashing this weirdo on the public. Looks like she still thinks she is running.