Just seeing Sarah Palin still gives Nicolle Wallace PTSD. Tell me about it.

Courtesy of Mediaite:  

As O’Donnell explained, Palin found herself on the wrong side of PETA after she posted a photo of her young son Trig standing on top of the family dog to reach the sink. 

When Wallace started to defend Palin by saying “her kids are beautiful,” Griffin shot back, “Don’t play the kid card!” To that, Wallace admitted, “I’ve got nothing else except the kid card!” 

After playing a clip of Palin trying to turn the whole thing around on President Barack Obama during an interview with the Today Show, O’Donnell asked Wallace, “Do you have PTSD when you see her?” 

“A little bit,” Wallace said, laughing. “I start to sweat out.” O’Donnell said she could see the color “drain” from Wallace’s face. “Who do I get to try to kill me today. PETA or Palin?” Wallace wondered aloud.

I like the fact that Wallace points out that using the kids to defend Sarah Palin is the only card that she has in her deck.  (Clearly she and Palin are playing from the same one.)

However that statement about who to get to try and kill her today was really stupid.

And that last remark about Palin's looks MIGHT have been true in 2008, but not anymore.

Sarah Palin on Sean Hannity last night ratchets up her battle with PETA. Update!

The first thing I have to point out is that Palin is put together well.

She has her hair styled right, her makeup applied professionally, and she even manages to appear sane.

This may seem like a small thing, but for Palin it's quite the accomplishment these days. (However it should be pointed out that she talks incredibly fast, is at times somewhat manic, and may have partaken of some chemical assistance to help her along.)

The interview starts off with Hannity presenting Palin as the victim of liberal attacks and then asks her what she makes of it all.

"Well yeah the ridiculousness of it all Sean. Background though, PETA has been attacking me for years, and those of my ilk. They've been attacking me because they know that I eat, therefore I hunt. And you know I tell my kids that many of their meals will be..coming wrapped in fur not cellophane. And that we eat organic, you just gotta shoot it first. So you know they've never been a big fan. And then when I was governor...uh...aggressive predator control in order to allow many of our herds to thrive and see good return on our herds...uh..they didn't like that either and they were brutal back then too. But this one? I have to admit even though it seems like I've seen it all, this one kind of took me aback. "

Hannity then suggests that PETA will not like the pictures he posts of fish that he has caught, which is a fairly ridiculous statement. He then quotes PETA, including their dig at Palin (Which I enjoyed hearing on Fox News.), and suggests that PETA want animals to have constitutional rights.

Palin's response:

"Well I guess they don't know where their leather belts and leather chairs and...um...their crocodile purses, many of the elites that are part of that leftists PETA group, where those come from. No..I...I..love animals. I specifically...um...I'm in love with our dog Jill Haddassah, who is a service dog for our youngest son. Trained in Iowa at the Puppy Jake Foundation, we love her...uh...we'd never abuse her, so I think what we've done is proven the irrelevance of PETA, and many on the left, because the double standards they apply...so hypocritical. Here Ellen DeGeneres was PETA's woman of the year and she posted the same image. A child standing, using as a footstool, her dog. the little dog."

Little dog?

"And...uh..yeah there were outcries of 'oohs' and 'awws' and 'how beautiful Ellen' that was, but Sarah Palin heck no. And also their man of the year in 2014 was Mayor De Blasio who, my goodness, he killed a groundhog didn't he? (Actually he accidentally dropped it and it died a week later. Not exactly murder.) And yet still you know they...they..they praised him."

At this point Hannity tells Palin he is putting "all these pictures up" because, you know, this is totally unrehearsed.

Hannity then says that for the record this is a dog "specially trained for your son."

"Oh absolutely, and the Puppy Jake Foundation they're so good, they train these dogs to help disabled vets, that's their main purpose here. We were privileged to, having been supporters of the foundation, been able to adopt the dog that's been trained for a child with special needs. Yes there is a bond there, he's part..uh..Trig of course needing and knowing the love of this dog. Teaching him so much. And Jill yes she's a great part of our family. We're very, very happy to have her and nobody would ever hurt her."

Okay so to be clear Palin is saying that this dog was specially trained to work with special needs children even though the Puppy Jake Foundation trains dogs for injured vets, not children.  And that the people of PETA are hypocrites because they chose Ellen DeGeneres as their "Woman of the Year" even though she posted a similar picture featuring a small child on a large dog, and Mayor De Blasio once accidentally dropped a groundhog.

Is that about right?

Man she just cannot stop digging this hole can she?

Later in this same interview Palin also endorsed Louis Gohmert to take over Boehner's position as House Speaker. 

Thank you for the support @SarahPalinUSA! http://t.co/LBBhrQUVDu
— Louie Gohmert (@replouiegohmert) January 6, 2015

Well why wouldn't she? After all there are not many politicians out there that make her feel smart by comparison.

Update: Holy crap, she was on the Today Show this morning as well and more unhinged than ever:  

"I thought, absolutely hypocritical double standard, as usual, applied to, I don't know, perhaps a constitutional conservative,'' Palin told Savannah Guthrie on Tuesday. 

In an initial statement to NBC News on Monday, Palin referred to President Barack Obama, who admitted he tried dog meat as a 10-year-old in Indonesia, when she wrote that "at least Trig didn't eat the dog." She stood by those comments on Tuesday. 

 "Oh heck no, that was the best line in the post that I wrote,'' she said after Savannah asked if it was a cheap shot. "It was the kickoff line."

And the hole gets deeper.

Sarah Palin finally responds to the criticism for letting Trig stand on a dog. Gee, took long enough.

Courtesy of the PESTA's (Pathetic Ethically Stunted Teabagger Agitator) Facebook page:  

Dear PETA, 

Chill. At least Trig didn’t eat the dog. 

Hey, by the way, remember your “Woman of the Year”, Ellen DeGeneres? Did you get all wee-wee’d up when she posted this sweet picture? (Warning, takes you to the Sea O' Pee.)Hypocritical, much? 

Did you go as crazy when your heroic Man-of-Your-Lifetime, Barack Obama, revealed he actually enjoyed eating dead dog meat? (The exact quote appearing in "Dreams from my Father" was, "With Lolo, I learned how to eat small green chili peppers raw with dinner (plenty of rice), and, away from the dinner table, I was introduced to dog meat (tough), snake meat (tougher), and roasted grasshopper (crunchy)." Doesn't really sound like he enjoyed it.)

Aren’t you the double-standard radicals always opposing Alaska’s Iditarod – the Last Great Race honoring dogs who are born to run in wide open spaces, while some of your pets “thrive” in a concrete jungle where they’re allowed outdoors to breathe and pee maybe once a day? (http://iditarod.com/ http://www.irondog.org/) 

(Actually 142 dogs have perished in the Iditarod since the beginning of the race. But thanks to the intervention of PETA and other animal rights groups the dogs are cared for much better and the death rate is almost nonexistent now.)

Aren’t you the same herd that opposes our commercial fishing jobs, claiming I encourage slaying and consuming wild, organic healthy protein sources called “fish”? (I do.) 

Aren’t you the same anti-beef screamers blogging hate from your comfy leather office chairs, wrapped in your fashionable leather belts above your kickin’ new leather pumps you bought because your celebrity idols (who sport fur and crocodile purses) grinned in a tabloid wearing the exact same Louboutins exiting sleek cowhide covered limo seats on their way to some liberal fundraiser shindig at some sushi bar that features poor dead smelly roe (that I used to strip from our Bristol Bay-caught fish, and in a Dillingham cannery I packed those castoff fish eggs for you while laughing with co-workers about the suckers paying absurdly high prices to party with the throw away parts of our wild seafood)? I believe you call those discarded funky eggs “caviar”.  (You know I may be reading too much into this, but I don't think she likes PETA very much.)


Yeah, you’re real credible on this, PETA. A shame, because I’ll bet we agree on what I hope is the true meaning of your mission – respecting God’s creation and critters. 

Our pets, including Trig’s best buddy Jill Hadassah, are loved, spoiled and cared for more than some people care for their fellow man whose politics may not mesh with nonsensical liberally failed ways or don’t fit your flighty standards. (WTF?)

Jill is a precious part of our world. So is Trig.

Precious Trig, preciously choking the crap out of another precious Palin family pet.

- Sarah Palin

Oooh, somebody's in a snit.

You know perhaps Palin missed the part where a whole shit ton (My daughter's phrase.) of her fan base called her out for animal cruelty as well.

I deem this her Puppy-Libel response.

And I kind of think it will have a similar result.

"Doghazi" goes viral as Palin apologists attempt to tamp down outrage. Update!

Since yesterday was New Year's Day it took the news a little while to get up to speed, but by late last night the responses to Trig standing on a dog and his mother's incredibly poor parenting were all over the internet.

And this morning the negative comments arriving on Palin's Facebook page have completely overwhelmed it. Which is interesting since as we know she as a team of people to keep that thing sanitized.

Here are but a few that are still there as of this post:  

Pam Blades: You are one dumb woman! 

Lauren Sparber: Bad parenting. Dogs are not step stools. They are lucky the dog did not bite the child or get injured. They are lucky the dog didn't get up and send the child head first into the counter or floor. 

Suze Miller: Dogs are not furniture. Who didn't get the memo? 

Bobbie Raymond Smith: Have you not taught him that abusing animals.(or people) is unacceptable behavior? And that fact that you thought this was funny... It says more about your character. He has an excuse... You DON'T. 

Danica Vuleta Jenny: the dog who is a loyal family member would not move if in pain!!!! Dogs are loyal to their owners and he sees the child is above him in pecking order, as a person it is obvious it would be uncomfortable not to mention dangerous for both. I say we get a man to stand on you face down while your son takes pics, post them and I'm sure the population of the world will like the pics!! 

Charlotte Omeara; Stupid woman !!! Protect your dog and your child and buy a proper step for your child to help with dishes all good mothers do!! Shame on you woman and in anyone else who thinks this is okay. 

Of course there are the usual Palin supporters working overtime to play this whole thing down by suggesting that if the dog were being hurt he would move. But of course that is not precisely true and also misses the point that Palin did not correct a potentially abusive behavior and allowed her child with Down syndrome to put himself and a family pet in danger of harm while she simply stood by and took photos.

A fact that has truly upset even past Palin supporters who are parents or dog owners themselves. 

Palin Facebook posts do not always receive a great deal of attention these days, but this one has gone international.

The Daily Mail has an article up.

As does the Inquisitr, The Independent, the New York Daily News, and even Australian news outlets. 

I think that this controversy really has legs as indicated by the fact that my post on it received over 400 comments on New Years Day of all days.

And really if you think about this it fits right in with the meme about Palin's poor parenting that includes her pregnant teenage daughter, her drug addicted son, her vandalizing middle child, and of course the infamous brawl.

Let's face it the real damage stories like this do is to reinforce what people already suspect about Sarah Palin and her tribe of uneducated, hateful, substance abusing offspring.

Update: And now the number one story on Mediaite.

Oh yeah, this is going to leave a mark.

Update 2: PETA is not amused by Palin's photos either:  

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals called the post inappropriate. 

“It’s odd that anyone — let alone a mother — would find it appropriate to post such a thing, with no apparent sympathy for the dog in the photo,” PETA President Ingrid Newkirk said in a statement to POLITICO. 

“Then again, PETA, along with everyone else, is used to the hard-hearted, seeming obliviousness of this bizarrely callous woman,” Newkirk said 

I could not have said that better myself.

Sarah Palin graduates from the tent revival circuit to the rodeo circuit. Oh and she attacks Paul Ryan. Uh oh!

This from old Ridden Hard and Put up Wet's Facebook page:

It was an honor to participate today in a luncheon for the Justin Cowboy Crisis Fund at the Southpoint in Vegas. The JCCF, sponsored by Justin Boots, helps pay medical bills for injured professional rodeo athletes and their families. It’s a great cause honoring our cowboy tradition and those who participate in America’s original “extreme sport.” 

Vegas? She's in Vegas?

I am a little confused as to why Palin would support a charity, since as we all know she never does anything which is not in some way beneficial to herself. I mean sure these are people who abuse animals for a living so she may identify with them in that way, but how does this help her to sell more of her crappy books and get free stuff?

P.S. That’s Michael Gaughan and his family in the photo. They’re the owners of the Southpoint Casino, which sponsored the event today. I mention Michael in “Good Tidings and Great Joy.”

Ooooh, now I get it. She shows up for a charity function and gets a free night in a hotel and the opportunity to pimp her book. Palin does NOTHING for charitable reasons.

Here's a rather odd coincidence. MY father was a professional rodeo cowboy when I was a boy. That is until he was forced to quit after having his legs shattered by a bull.

In fact your favorite Alaska blogger also participated in a little bull riding. (I was young, my father and I were trying to bond, and there may have been some girls involved.) I sucked at it of course, and besides I like animals too much to participate in a sport that is so incredibly abusive to them.

Palin may also have misjudged her audience with this one.

Here is the top comment on her Facebook page as of this posting:

For once, I must respectfully disagree with you. Why pay for injuries sustained while torturing animals? We can eat em, ride em, enjoy them in every way, but torture them, no way!!!!

It is one thing to attack the President at every opportunity or abandon her family while pursuing fame and fortune, but hurting animals? Nope that may be the one thing that both liberals and conservatives can agree is indefensible.

And she may have also miscalculated with this angry ghostwritten attack on the conservative golden boy Paul Ryan: 

No one can argue with the fact that Paul Ryan’s compromise budget bill raises taxes and increases spending. Show me one Republican who got elected on that platform. Spare America the Orwellian word games. If the government is taking money out of your pocket to fund its growing Big Brother operations, it’s a tax. Whether money is taken from you via your phone bill, your airline ticket, or your income, it’s a tax. If politicians can’t be honest about this, it’s time to go home. 

The TEA Party’s very acronym stands for “Taxed Enough Already.” We sent these politicians to Congress in an historic landslide election in 2010 with a mandate to stop the runaway spending train bankrupting our nation, not to wave to it from the station or – heaven forbid – increase its speed. 

Not at all surprising that Palin has decided to throw her lot in with the obstructionists and Tea Party saboteurs who do not understand how government works, and who work overtime to prove that it does not.

However this is the beginning of the civil war that will determine the future of the Republican party and somehow I doubt that Palin is going to end up on the side with the victors.

More popcorn anyone?

California police are taking injured cats and dogs out to the shooting range and using them for target practice. Refer to it as "humane."

Courtesy of CBS Sacramento:  

The penal code has been on the books for decades. Some officers say it’s the most humane thing you can do, while others call it barbaric. 

Officers use deadly force to save the lives of others, but what about shooting severely injured dogs or cats found on the street? 

According to a California penal code, it’s an officer’s discretion, saying in part: 

“…any officer… may, with the approval of his or her immediate superior, humanely destroy any abandoned animal in the field in any case where the animal is too severely injured to move or where a veterinarian is not available and it would be more humane to dispose of the animal.” 

 “No one wants to see an animal lose its life, but if death is inevitable, and it’s just being prolonged,” said Sacramento County Sgt. Jason Ramos. 

That is one thing, and I think we can all see where that might be the best choice. However...

.....Merced Bee reports Merced Police take injured animals to the range and kill them there. 

“That sounds so archaic to me,” said veterinarian Dr. Jyl Rubin. “What a crazy way of thinking, especially with all these rescue organizations.” 

She believes law enforcement agencies that still shoot injured animals should consider creating an alliance with rescue groups. 

“All those organizations need to really come together. There needs to be something finite that way if an animal is injured you don’t take it out on a range and shoot it.”

You know I once responded to a moose hit on the highway. In that case the animal's legs had been shattered and there was NO hope of its survival. The responding officer DID shoot it with his revolver twice to put it out of its misery, but that is substantially different then loading up somebody's bleeding pet and taking them out to the gun range to use as target practice.

There is NOTHING humane about that.

Anybody who has seen an animal, or person, that has been shot, realizes that it is NOT necessarily a humane way to die.  Bullets rip through flesh, and if they do not hit a vital organ the suffering and bleeding will only be increased.

Not only that but try to imagine how a house pet might feel. Laying on the road suffering immensely only to be picked up by a trusted human and carried away. I am sure that they imagine they will be taken care of by the creatures they have come to trust and rely on.

Instead they are taken out into a field and tossed on the ground only to have their "saviors" riddle them with bullets? That does not fall under the heading of "humane" in my book.

I don't know about the rest of you, but I hate everything about this story.

Rock band Devo to release song about Mitt Romney's dog, Seamus. Update!

Courtesy of Rolling Stone:  

Devo are set to release a track later this month entitled "Don't Roof Rack Me, Bro! (Remember Seamus)." It is inspired by Mitt Romney's notorious road trip from Massachusetts to Ontario, during which he transported the family dog, Seamus, in a kennel strapped to the roof of his station wagon. 

According to the Orchard, the distributor behind the track, the digital single will be released on August 25th. 

The track also comes as Devo's founder and commercial director, Gerald V. Casale, kicks off his Remember Seamus campaign, which is supposed to help "make 2012 the year where animals like Seamus are valued and honesty is praised." 

Devo is also helping to back Dogs Against Romney, with Casale designing a special edition shirt for the group. Casale is also involved in an upcoming smartphone game called "The Crate Escape: Seamus Unleashed," which sees release on August 26th, otherwise known as National Dog Day. 

You know I am going to go out on a limb here and say that I believe Devo's founder, Gerald V. Casale, was REALLY offended by this story of Seamus the dog. Don'tcha think?

Personally I think it is a great idea and I hope he sells a million copies. I think everybody should know that this man who says he wants to reach out an help the American people, could NOT even take care of his own dog properly.

Gee how many dog lovers do we have in this country? And how many of them are going to want to vote for Mitt Romney after learning the story of "Seamus the roof rack riding dog?"

Yeah, that's what I was thinking.

I understand that Mitt Romney was reached for comment, and said "Just how long are you people going to hold this dog thing over my head?"

Okay well perhaps he DIDN'T actually say that, but you know he's thinking it!

Update: Here is the song now on YouTube.

We are not the only ones who believe that the story of Seamus Romney's ordeal is very damaging to Mitt Romney's electability. So does Newt.

Clearly Gingrich realizes that if he can give this story legs he might actually have a chance to snatch the nomination out of Romney s' grasp. I don't know if that is accurate, but I certainly hope that if he does he remembers to give Palin that VP slot.

Trust me Newt, she will do for your campaign EXACTLY what she did for McCain's campaign, and he says it was the best decision he EVER made! Would I steer you wrong?

You can read here that there are now THREE versions of this story circulating out there. (Four if you count believe that the original had Romney going through a car wash with Seamus trapped in his shit stained dog kennel.)

Mitt Romney shrugs off questions about cruel and inhumane treatment of his dog Seamus during a 12 hour family trip in 1983.

That is one of the most disingenuous laughs I have ever heard. And horribly inappropriate in this context.

So Romney is now claiming that the dog carrier was "completely airtight?" How in the hell does a dog breathe in an "airtight" kennel?

And he left the poor animal in there for twelve hours?

I also call bullshit on the idea that the dog climbed up onto the roof of the car in order to get into the kennel on his own. How would he even manage that?

I could not help notice that Romney seemed relatively unconcerned that he had also broken the law by doing this. You know regular human laws are for the little people, and do not pertain to Romney.

By the way I also learned that Romney's story may in fact be MUCH worse than previously thought.

Check this out.

The original story claimed that Mitt Romney strapped his dog to the roof of the car in a crate and drove the family 12-hours to Canada. Along the way, the poor, scared dog (Seamus) had a bad case of diarrhea (some say in fear) that ran down the side of the car. Romney stopped the car at a gas station, the story went, and hosed down the poor beast and car before getting back on the road. 

But is that what REALLY happened? 

In today's article, Swidey reveals that in the first version of the story he'd heard from a Romney "family friend," Mitt Romney did not hose down the dog but instead "drove the station wagon right through a car wash" with poor Seamus strapped atop! 

Knowing he had a remarkable story in his hands, Swidey says, he worked diligently to ensure he had every detail correct. He spoke to Tagg Romney, one of the Romney children who was in the car at the time. "Far from being tone-deaf, Tagg realized as I dug deeper that the story could cause his father grief," Swidey wrote. 

And the story changed.

Is it really possible that he drove his dog though a car wash? An animal that he claims was "a good friend of the family?"

Just when you thought Mitt Romney could not appear less compassionate.

I would not let this guy water my houseplants, much less run my country.