DNC circulates Palin memo; 'God Bless'

The Democratic National Committee has been, for days emailing reporters gleefully about Sarah Palin's media blitz, feeding the flames of what officials there see as a distraction for and a threat to the Republican Party.

This morning, they're circulating a memo to local press in the places where Palin's book tour is stopping, summarizing the voluminous Palin coverage and making the case that the memoir is "political payback" and "fiction."

"This book tour has only reinforced the tabloid aspects of her profile, wasted a platform to add substance, driven deeper the schisms in the Republican party and sucked the oxygen out of the room for anyone else to emerge. So, God bless," email DNC Press Secretary Hari Sevugan.

The full memo is after the jump.

DNC MEMO

In advance of Sarah Palin’s stop in Michigan today, please find below everything you need to know about Going Rogue – a memoir that has been received as 1) political payback for Palin’s rivals that adds to the tabloid nature of her profile rather than provide a display of substantive policy chops that would reset her ability to be taken as a serious leader; and 2) substantively more fiction than fact compounding the credibility problems she earned during the 2008 campaign. These factors are reflected in recent polling which shows extraordinary disapproval numbers and small minorities who feel she's qualified to be President. The sensational nature of Palin's book continues to dominate news cycles - and does so to the detriment of the Republican Party. Combined with her dismal polling numbers and Republican willingness to cede the party to her and her polarizing tea party following, the political impact of her re-emergence, spells political disaster for the GOP going into 2010 and beyond.

PALIN’S BOOK RECEIVED AS POLITICAL “PAYBACK”, “REVENGE” AND “ALL FICTION”:

Memoir is Palin’s payback to McCain campaign [New York Times]

'Going Rogue' reignites Palin divide, even in her hometown [CNN]

McCain official: Palin claim 'one hundred percent untrue' [CNN.com]

McCain campaign emails contradict Palin's "Going Rogue"' [Huffington Post]

McCain adviser denies Palin’s claim that she granted Couric interview because she felt sorry for her [Washington Post.com]

In 'Going Rogue,' Sarah Palin goes for redemption -- and revenge [LA Times]



Sarah Palin 'bottled up' no more: Lid off [The Swamp]

Sarah Palin, the GOP's blessing and curse [LA Times]



McCain campaign staffers: Sarah Palin's book "all fiction" [Seattle PI]

For Palin, Reality Goes Rogue [Boston Globe]



Coulter: Payback Time for Palin vs. McCain [CBSnews.com]



Sarah Palin Takes Aim at McCain Staffers in Upcoming Book [ABCnews.com]



Sarah Palin is an insider playing a rogue [CNN]

Palin in book: McCain aides kept me 'bottled up' [USA Today]

How do you solve a problem like Sarah? [Newsweek]

PALIN CREDIBILITY CONTINUES TO PLUMMET:

Lie #1: Palin Lies About Family’s Role In Her VP Decision: “In a segment of her interview with Oprah Winfrey, which was posted online but did not air on television, Sarah Palin was asked whether her family had voted on her decision to accept John McCain's offer to join him on the Republican ticket in August of 2008. ‘This time, there wasn't a family vote,’ Palin told Winfrey… But in September of 2008, Palin told an entirely different story to Fox News' Sean Hannity. ‘What was your family's reaction?’ Hannity asked. ‘Was there time to huddle and have a hockey team meeting?’ ‘It was a time of asking the girls to vote on it, anyway,’ Palin told Hannity. ‘And they voted unanimously, yes...’” [CBS News, 11/16/09]

Lie #2: Palin Blames McCain Campaign For Clothing Controversy: “Palin has devoted a dismayingly prominent chunk of her book to scapegoating communications aide Nicolle Wallace for supposedly forcing her to wear designer clothes. This claim is preposterous. No one aspiring to be vice president of the United States takes orders from a communications aide. The purchases themselves are fully documented in RNC records, including $75,062.63 at Neiman Marcus and $49,425.74 at two Saks locations. Wallace, a former spokeswoman for George W. Bush, has no history as an outfitter. No one close to the campaign backs up Palin’s version. ‘Totally fabricated,’ said Wallace. ‘Total fiction,’ declared McCain’s campaign adviser Steve Schmidt. ‘Petty and pathetic,’ said John Weaver, McCain’s former strategist.” [Boston Globe Editorial, 11/17/09]

Lie #3: Palin Enthusiastically Supported Her Appearance On Saturday Night Live From The Beginning: “In one email thread, dated October 14, 2008, Palin says she is "not thrilled" with the idea of going on Saturday Night Live as a way of marginalizing the show's unflattering impersonations of her… Palin would ultimately make a guest appearance on Saturday Night Live days later. But in her upcoming book she describes the deliberations about whether or not to go on the show much differently than the emails suggest. In "Going Rogue", the vice presidential candidate writes that "from the beginning, I liked the idea that John and I might appear on the show."” [Huffington Post, 11/15/09]

Lie #4: McCain Campaign Manage Steve Schmidt Yelled At Palin Over Prank Call From French President: “Palin writes that Schmidt called her, something that two McCain aides (including the one who provided the email) insist never happened. "He never called screaming at her," said one of the aides, who was traveling with Palin at the time. "There was no phone call." Moreover, in Going Rogue, Palin recalls Schmidt screaming directly at her, so much so that it "blew my hair back." In actuality, the irritation was directed at the staffers, the aide said. "He was expressing his anger to staff. And did it over email."” [Huffington Post, 11/15/09]

Lie #5: McCain Made Palin Pay For Her Vetting: “McCain said the bill was for legal work related to allegations that Palin made improper use of her influence as Alaska’s governor to press for the dismissal of a state trooper named Mike Wooten. Wooten was embroiled in a custody dispute with Palin’s younger sister, Molly McCann. “That was addressed by Trevor Potter,” said McCain, “That was over the troopergate.” In a statement to the Associated Press, Potter, McCain's general counsel, denied that McCain’s campaign billed Palin for vetting her. “To my knowledge, the campaign never billed Gov. Palin for any legal expenses related to her vetting and I am not aware of her ever asking the campaign to pay legal expenses that her own lawyers incurred for the vetting process,” he said.” [The Hill, 11/16/09]

Lie #6: Palin Lies About Her Stance On Aerial Hunting Of Wolves: “In her memoir, Sarah Palin falsely suggests that Alaskans do not engage in the aerial hunting of wolves. In fact, such hunting takes place in Alaska under a program that Palin herself has supported.” [Media Matters, 11/14/09]

Lie #7: Palin Claims That She Found Out At The Last Minute That She Could Not Speak On Election Night: “Palin says she found out only “minutes” before McCain’s concession speech that she would not be allowed to speak. In fact, she had been told so several times.” [Huffington Post, 11/17/09]

Lie #8: Palin Continues To Make False Claim About Ayers: “In her memoir, Sarah Palin claims that she stated during a speech that then-Sen. Barack Obama had been "palling around with terrorists" in response to "the breaking news about the friendship between the unrepentant domestic terrorist [Bill Ayers] and the Democrat candidate for president [Obama]." In fact, the New York Times article to which Palin referred found that "the two men do not appear to have been close."” [Media Matters, 11/14/09]

Lie #9: Palin Blames Unnamed Democratic Lawmaker For Dig That Actually Came From A Fellow Republican: “In her memoir, Going Rogue: An American Life, Sarah Palin mocks the "political buckshot" her "critics fired" at her, pointing to a "Democrat lawmaker" in Alaska who "complained that I wasn't as 'sparky' " after the 2008 election. Palin appeared to be referring to a January 31 Associated Press article that quoted Republican Alaska state Sen. Bert Stedman describing Palin as "[n]ot so sparky."” [Media Matters, 11/14/09]

Lie #10: Palin Falsely Claims Poor Would Be Hardest Hit BY Cap And Trade Legislation. “In her memoir, Sarah Palin falsely suggests that "those hit hardest [by cap-and-trade] will be those who are already struggling to make ends meet" and that President Obama "has already admitted that the policy he seeks will cause our electricity bills to 'skyrocket.' " However, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office says that the poorest Americans will benefit under the cap-and-trade bill that passed in the House in June -- a bill the Obama administration supported, but which Obama was not referring to in making his "skyrocket" comment.” [Media Matters, 11/14/09]

Lie #11: Palin Calls Herself A Frugal Traveler. “Although travel records indicate she usually opted for less-pricey hotels while governor, Palin and daughter Bristol stayed five days and four nights at the $707.29-per-night Essex House luxury hotel (robes and slippers come standard) overlooking New York City's Central Park for a five-hour women's leadership conference in October 2007. With air fare, the cost to Alaska was well over $3,000. Event organizers said Palin asked if she could bring her daughter. The governor billed her state more than $20,000 for her children's travel, including to events where they had not been invited, and in some cases later amended expense reports to specify that they had been on official business.” [Associated Press, 11/13/09]

Lie #12: Palin Was Elected Governor With Small Donations – The Majority From First Time Givers: “Of the roughly $1.3 million she raised for her primary and general election campaigns for governor, more than half came from people and political action committees giving at least $500, according to an AP analysis of her campaign finance reports. The maximum that individual donors could give was $1,000; $2,000 for a PAC. Of the rest, about $76,000 came from Republican Party committees. She accepted $1,000 each from a state senator and his wife and $30 from a state representative in the weeks after the two Republican lawmakers' offices were raided by the FBI as part of an investigation into a powerful Alaska oilfield services company. After AP reported those donations during the presidential campaign, she gave a comparative sum to charity.” [Associated Press, 11/13/09]

Lie #13: Palin Conflates Federal Bailout And Recovery Act: “Palin is blurring the lines between Obama's stimulus plan — a $787 billion package of tax cuts, state aid, social programs and government contracts — and the federal bailout that Republican presidential candidate John McCain voted for and President George W. Bush signed. Palin's views on bailouts appeared to evolve as McCain's vice presidential running mate. In September 2008, she said "taxpayers cannot be looked to as the bailout, as the solution, to the problems on Wall Street." A week later, she said "ultimately what the bailout does is help those who are concerned about the health care reform that is needed to help shore up our economy." During the vice presidential debate in October, Palin praised McCain for being "instrumental in bringing folks together" to pass the $700 billion bailout. After that, she said "it is a time of crisis and government did have to step in."” [Associated Press, 11/13/09]

Lie #14: Palin Suggests Recession Was Worse Under Reagan: “The estate tax, which some call the death tax, was not repealed under Reagan and capital gains taxes are lower now than when Reagan was president. Economists overwhelmingly say the current recession is far worse. The recession Reagan faced lasted for 16 months; this one is in its 23rd month. The recession of the early 1980s did not have a financial meltdown. Unemployment peaked at 10.8 percent, worse than the October 2009 high of 10.2 percent, but the jobless rate is still expected to climb.” [Associated Press, 11/13/09]

Lie #15: Palin Repeats False Calim About Alaskan Natural Gas Pipeline Bidding Process: “Palin characterized the pipeline deal the same way before an AP investigation found her team crafted terms that favored only a few independent pipeline companies and ultimately benefited a company with ties to her administration, TransCanada Corp. Despite promises and legal guidance not to talk directly with potential bidders during the process, Palin had meetings or phone calls with nearly every major candidate, including TransCanada.” [Associated Press, 11/13/09]

Lie #16: Palin Falsely Asserts That She Ended Any Conflicts Of Interest With Gas Pipeline: “Palin ignores her own "revolving door" issue in office; the leader of her own pipeline team was a former lobbyist for a subsidiary of TransCanada, the company that ended up winning the rights to build the pipeline.” [Associated Press, 11/13/09]

Lie #17: Palin Claims She Was Above Conflicts Of Interest And Special Favors As Elected Official: “Writes about a city councilman in Wasilla, Alaska, who owned a garbage truck company and tried to push through an ordinance requiring residents of new subdivisions to pay for trash removal instead of taking it to the dump for free — this to illustrate conflicts of interest she stood against as a public servant. As Wasilla mayor, Palin pressed for a special zoning exception so she could sell her family's $327,000 house, then did not keep a promise to remove a potential fire hazard on the property. She asked the city council to loosen rules for snow machine races when she and her husband owned a snow machine store, and cast a tie-breaking vote to exempt taxes on aircraft when her father-in-law owned one. But she stepped away from the table in 1997 when the council considered a grant for the Iron Dog snow machine race in which her husband competes.” [Associated Press, 11/13/09]

Lie #18: Palin Contradicts Her Own Stance On Supreme Court Ruling In Exxon Valdez Case: “PALIN: Welcomes last year's Supreme Court decision deciding punitive damages for victims of the nation's largest oil spill tragedy, the Exxon Valdez disaster, stating it had taken 20 years to achieve victory. As governor, she says, she'd had the state argue in favor of the victims, and she says the court's ruling went "in favor of the people." Finally, she writes, Alaskans could recover some of their losses. That response is at odds with her reaction at the time to the ruling, which resolved the long-running case by reducing punitive damages for victims to $500 million from $2.5 billion. Environmentalists and plaintiffs' lawyers decried the ruling as a slap at the victims and Palin herself said she was "extremely disappointed." She said the justices had gutted a jury decision favoring higher damage awards, the Anchorage Daily News reported. "It's tragic that so many Alaska fishermen and their families have had their lives put on hold waiting for this decision," she said, noting many had died "while waiting for justice."” [Associated Press, 11/13/09]

Lie #19: Palin Suggests Alaskans Don’t Want Monetary Help From Federal Government: “PALIN: Describing her resistance to federal stimulus money, Palin describes Alaska as a practical, libertarian haven of independent Americans who don't want "help" from government busybodies… Alaska is also one of the states most dependent on federal subsidies, receiving much more assistance from Washington than it pays in federal taxes. A study for the nonpartisan Tax Foundation found that in 2005, the state received $1.84 for every dollar it sent to Washington.” [Associated Press, 11/13/09]

Lie #20: Palin Claims She Rejected Stimulus Money Because It Would Have Mandated “Universal Building Codes”: “The wording in the stimulus bill related to the weatherization money may have left room for Palin's concerns, but the letter from the Department of Energy made clear that universal building codes were not going to be forced upon state and local governments as a condition for accepting the federal money. Palin's opposition to the funding may give her license to claim she opposed the stimulus plan -- even though it was only a small portion of Alaska's funding -- but her reasoning doesn't jibe with the assurances from the Department of Energy. We rule her claim False.” [Politifact, 11/17/09]

Lie #21: Palin Implies She Is The Only One To Get Questions On Her Appearance: “Edwards, Obama, Clinton, and Biden were subjected to frequent scrutiny "about their hair, makeup, or clothes." During the Democratic primary, the media devoted significant attention to John Edwards' "expensive" haircuts -- which were brought up by moderators in two Democratic presidential debates in 2007 -- to Obama's clothing, including during the April 16, 2008, presidential debate and in a Washington Post article stating: "One of the most distinctive elements of Barack Obama's public style comes down to what he so often is not wearing: patriotism on his sleeve"; to then-Sen. Hillary Clinton's clothing, including linking Clinton's "bright colors" to "likability problem" and calling attention to her neckline; and to questions over whether Biden had "taken steps to pre-empt baldness."” [Media Matters, 11/15/09]

Lie #22: For The Umpteenth Time, Palin Lies About ‘Bridge To Nowhere’: “Palin writes that shortly after she was tapped as Sen. John McCain's running mate in the 2008 presidential race, the media began reporting "one lie after another -- from rape kits to Bridges to Nowhere. All easy enough to disprove if the press had done its job." … Media outlets reporting on Palin's speech noted that Palin, as a candidate for governor in 2006, reportedly expressed support on several occasions for the bridge project and suggested that Alaska's congressional delegation should continue to try to procure funding. Moreover, as governor, Palin was in no position to reject the bridge project -- Congress had already appropriated the money to Alaska and left it to the state government to decide whether to spend it on the bridge. Palin did not refuse the funds or reimburse the federal government; Alaska reportedly kept the federal funds.”” [Media Matters, 11/15/09]

AS PALIN'S CREDIBILITY CONTINUES TO PLUMMET THE AMERICAN PEOPLE SEE PALIN UNFAVORABLY AND DO NOT THINK SHE IS QUALIFIED:

ABC/WaPo Poll: 52 % See Palin Unfavorable, 60 % Say Palin Isn’t Qualified To Be President, And 53% Say They Definitely Would Not Vote For Her In 2012. “In case all the publicity around her new book is going to her head, Sarah Palin is receiving some sobering news in a new ABC News/Washington Post poll: She's not all that popular. The former Alaska governor’s popularity score is a negative 9, with 43% liking her and 52% seeing her unfavorably. ‘Favorability is the most basic measure of a public figure's popularity; in politics, where majorities win, it’s trouble when it goes negative, as it's been for Palin since October 2008,’ notes ABC's poll maven, Gary Langer. There's more bad news for Palin: A solid 60% say she's not qualified to be President, and 53% say they definitely would not vote for her in 2012.” [New York Daily News, 11/16/09]

CNN/Opinion Research Corporation Survey: 70% Of Americans, 44% Of Republicans, And 68% Of Independents Do Not Believe Sarah Palin Is Qualified To Be President. “Fewer than three in 10 Americans think Sarah Palin's qualified to be president, according to a new national poll - the least of any of the five potential candidates included in the survey. But another woman tops that list in the CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released Monday: two-thirds of the public thinks that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's qualified for the Oval Office. That's more than Vice President Joe Biden, who's currently next in line for the presidency. According to the poll, 28 percent of Americans say Palin is qualified to run the White House, with seven in 10 saying the former Alaska governor and 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee is not qualified. The survey indicates that a majority of Republicans, 54 percent, feel Palin is qualified, with 44 percent indicating she isn't. But only 29 percent of independent voters questioned feel she is qualified to serve as president, with 68 percent disagreeing. According to the poll, nine in 10 Democrats feel Palin is not qualified.” [CNN, 11/16/09]