------ Forwarded Message > From: "dasg...@aol.com" <dasg...@aol.com> > Date: Tue, 24 Mar 2009 23:09:22 EDT > To: Robert Millegan <ramille...@aol.com> > Cc: <ema...@aol.com>, <j...@aol.com>, <jim6...@cwnet.com>, > <l...@legitgov..org> > Subject: Strange Bedfellows: Fox News Scientologists Pushing Sarah Palin for > President >
> Palin Pallin' Around with Scientologists: > Todd & Sarah & John & Greta > Geoffrey Dunn <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/geoffrey-dunn> (Award-winning > journalist, filmmaker and historian) > Posted March 21, 2009 | 10:00 PM (EST) > http://www.huffingtonpost.com/geoffrey-dunn/palin-pallin-around-with_b_177709. > html > > There is something absolutely bizarre and troubling going on in the political > netherworld of Sarah and Todd Palin, Greta Van Susteren and her > wannabe-queen-maker hubby, John Coale. > > At best, it's a clear case of journalistic conflict-of-interest on behalf of > Van Susteren; at worst, it's a sleazy, national power play by a couple of > practitioners of Scientology <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientology> -- > the controversial cult that Time magazine described as "a hugely profitable > global racket that survives by intimidating members and critics in a > Mafia-like manner." > > Let's start with the easy stuff: Van Susteren > <http://home.snafu.de/tilman/prolinks/greta.html> is a flat-out hypocrite and > a con artist. Quote me. Ever since Palin was first selected as John McCain's > running mate last August, Van Susteren --she of the rather severe face lift > and right-wing tilt-- has been utterly infatuated with the Palins (especially > with Todd) and has enjoyed unequaled access to the Last Frontier's first > couple and their family. > There's been the interviews in the kitchen with Sarah, the fawning (if not > embarrassing) tête-à-tête > <http://tete-a-tetehttp://www.foxnews.com/video2/video08.html?maven_referralOb > ject=3091289&maven_referralPlaylistId=&sRevUrl=http://www.foxnews.com/ontherec > ord/> with the "First Dude" overlooking Lake Lucille, the softball > conversation with Sarah after the GOP's defeat in November, and, most > recently, the controversial interview with 18-year-old Bristol Palin and her > infant son, Tripp. > > While there's something ironic about Alaska's most famous evangelical > Christians pallin' around with a couple who believes > <http://www.clambake.org/> that 75 million years ago an entity named Xenu > <http://www.clambake.org/archive/leaflet/> brought billions of people to > Earth in spacecraft resembling DC-8 airliners, it's all been good for Van > Susteren's ratings. It's also expanded her television profile from the narrow > confines of legal journalism to broader national political commentary. She's > ridden Palin's conservative steed into an entirely new level of public > exposure. > > Van Susteren first used her Fox blog to protect > <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/01/06/greta-van-susteren-slams_n_155746.ht > ml> Palin after CNN --with whom Van Susteren had a less-than-friendly > break-up in 2002-- named her to its year-end list of "politicians who fell > from grace in 2008." That particular all-star team included Eliot Spitzer, > John Edwards and Rod Blagojevich. Van Susteren protested, and CNN quietly (and > gutlessly) removed Palin from the list. >> "Why didn't CNN PUBLICLY apologize for this one?" Van Susteren blogged. >> "They sure unfairly trashed her publicly on that list." > Unfairly? Palin's vicious and duplicitous attacks against Obama on the > campaign trail alone reserved her a spot on that roster, not to mention all > the lies and half-truths she spewed along the way, nor her > moose-in-the-headlights moments with Charlie Gibson and Katie Couric. > > Two days ago, Van Susteren ripped into comedian David Letterman for his riff > on Bristol Palin, Levi Johnston and the governor: >> Letterman: You remember that Sarah, one of the deals was one of her >> children, daughters, a very young girl, was pregnant and was going to get >> married to the young man that knocked her up. And her name was Bristol, and >> the kid's name was Levi Johnston. You remember these kids? Well, they have >> broken up. Yes. So if you were going to send them a gift...[Laughter] > Okay. Let me say from the outset that I also found the jabs at Bristol and > Levi insensitive--but then a lot of the humor on late-night talk shows tends > toward the insensitive (that's why we laugh). It wasn't out of line by typical > late-night standards. > > But Van Susteren threw a hissy fit about it. She brought on as a guest, Jane > Swift, the former governor of Massachusetts, to tag-team Letterman and > excoriate him for his joke: >> Van Susteren: He took it 15 steps further and picks on the kid. We left the >> Bush children alone. We left Chelsea Clinton alone. That was always >> something that people were respectful towards the children, recognizing it >> was different....Do you really have to go that far to make a buck, to make a >> laugh? > First of all, it's an outright lie that the Bush and Clinton kids were left > alone. They took plenty of heat. It goes with the terrain. > > But more importantly, the reason that Bristol Palin has now been elevated to > late-night talk show fodder is precisely because Van > > ------ End of Forwarded Message
