By Stephen C. Rose
When Sarah Palin returned to Alaska last week, the MSM focused on a rousing airport welcome where the ebullient governor heard nothing but applause. A triumphal entry.
But there was a counter rally. An anti-Palin rally. Giving rise to a thesis which I will suggest anon.
Never, have I seen anything like it in my 17 and a half years living in Anchorage. The organizers had someone walk the rally with a counter, and they clicked off well over 1400 people (not including the 90 counter-demonstrators). This was the biggest political rally ever, in the history of the state. I was absolutely stunned. The second most amazing thing is how many people honked and gave the thumbs up as they drove by. And even those that didn't honk looked wide-eyed and awe-struck at the huge crowd that was growing by the minute. This just doesn't happen here.Then, the infamous Eddie Burke showed up. He tried to talk to the media, and was instantly surrounded by a group of 20 people who started shouting O-BA-MA so loud he couldn't be heard. Then passing cars started honking in a rhythmic pattern of 3, like the Obama chant, while the crowd cheered, hooted and waved their signs high.
So, if you've been doing the math... Yes. The Alaska Women Reject Palin rally was significantly bigger than Palin's rally that got all the national media coverage! So take heart, sit back, and enjoy the photo gallery. Feel free to spread the pictures around (links are appreciated) to anyone who needs to know that Sarah Palin most definitely does not speak for all Alaskans. The citizens of Alaska, who know her best, have things to say. SOURCE
The full account and the photos are well worth a look.
Amplifying this, from another account.
Eddie Burke of KBYR-AM showed up in person, but while there was no evident friction between the two camps, cheerful chants of "O-bam-ah" effectively drowned out whatever he was saying to the cameras in the center of a mini-media scrum.
The din did not prevent reading the signs, pro and against:
Bush In A Skirt
Palin: She Be Failin'
I Love My Alaska Girl
Jesus Was a Community Organizer
We Luv Our Lady Guv
Palin: Thanks But No Thanks
Smearing Alaska's Good Name One Scandal @ a Time
Candidate To Nowhere
Rape Kits Should Be Free
Voted For Her Once: Never Again!
Community Organizers are the Real Patriots
Barbies for War
I Shall Not Be Pandered To
Give Palin Your Vote AND Your Draft Age Child
Sarah Palin: So Far Right She's Wrong
Sarah Palin Is My Hero
Alaska Is Not Frisco
Gun Rights
Coat Hangers for McCain
Sarah Palin, Undoing 150 Years of American Feminism
Hockey Mama for Obama (on a hockey stick)
SOURCE
Now the thesis. As one who has kept up a running page on Palin since day one, I have noted that the fate of the governor is almost entirely dependent on the degree to which she, and events around her, are exposed.
The more we know the less likely she is to be a credible candidate.
The story above shows that there is substantial opposition to Palin in Alaska among women , but no one knew about it. The story appeared appeared in a few blogs.
There are other stories. Raising questions. Did Palin, for example, utter a racist remark about Barack Obama once he had won the primary? There has been plenty of blowback on this rumor, but any on scene reporter worth her or his salt could track it down.
Then there is Palin's refusal to cooperate with the Troopergate probe.
Can she get away with it?
It's a matter of exposure. To the extent Palin has been exposed she has declined as a positive force, her effect on polls has diminished,. her value to the McCain camp has shrunk.
I fully agree with Frank Rich's suggestion that Palin is the mover of odd McCain-Palin couple and that McCain is stuck with a potential who could do more to sink him than even his own ambient tongue.
Palin is a danger who ranks with Richard Nixon in terms of the potential for endangering our already cringing democracy.
So I would ask: If everyone is sending reporters to Alaska, why are they not telling us about counter-rallies and chasing down leads about racist remarks? Why did the interesting if tangental story of Palin's tanning bed, which Keith Olbermann noted, rely on a blogger to bring it to light?
Mccain did not vet Palin. The job has been left to the media. If Palin survives, the reason might well be the lassitude of the journalist class.