Text Via, NewsBusters:
Such marvelously occurred Tuesday evening on the convention floor in St. Paul when MSNBC's Ron Allen said to the former Speaker, "But to be fair, her resume is not something we're familiar seeing with presidential candidates."
This didn't sit well with Gingrich who strongly replied (video embedded right, h/t NB readers Matt Noll and Patrick):
It's stronger than Barack Obama's. I don't know why you guys walk around saying this baloney. She has a stronger resume than Obama. She's been a real mayor, he hasn't. She has been a real governor, he hasn't. She's been in charge of the Alaskan National Guard, he hasn't. She was a whistleblower who defeated an incumbent mayor. He has never once shown that kind of courage. She's a whistleblower who turned in the chairman of her own party and got him fined $12,000. I've never seen Obama do one thing like that. She took on the incumbent governor of her own party and beat him, and then she beat a former Democratic governor in the general election. I don't know of a single thing Obama's done except talk and write.
Newt then challenged Allen:
I'd like you to tell me one thing Sen. Obama's done.
With that, Allen retreated, and said:
Thanks very much, Mr. Speaker. I'm going to leave it there. I'm not going to argue the case. Thanks very much.
After John McCain announced his choice of his running mate to be Sarah Palin, the media and political pundits went into what has been described as a frenzy with story after story, including unfounded rumors about Palin and now the GOP strikes back.
The last three pages of The Politico article details examples of many of the media and liberal blogger's attacks on Sarah Palin, from the rumor of Palin's fifth child Trig being her daughter's child, to headlines shown on major media networks question if a mother of five has "time" to be a vice president without asking if Barack Obama, father of two, has "time" to be the president.
Other examples include Democratic politicians and even liberal radio talk show host, Ed Schultz , who said Sarah Palin had started a "bimbo alert."
The new ad which will detail and contrast the differences between being a junior Senator from Illinois and Barack Obama is and holding an executive position running a state the size of Alaska as Sarah Palin does, is only the beginning of the GOP push back against the firestorm of reports regarding Palin.
Yesterday former presidential candidate and Senator, Fred Thompson, blasted the New York Ties for their coverage of Palin as well as using a portion of his speech at the Republican Convention to state the "media big shots are in a frenzy over the selection of a woman who has actually governed rather than just talked a good game on the Sunday talk shows and hit the Washington cocktail circuit."
Let's be clear ... the selection of Governor Palin has the other side and their friends in the media in a state of panic. She is a courageous, successful, reformer, who is not afraid to take on the establishment.
That was the beginning of the push back and reports show that it starts in earnest, on multiple fronts today.
Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani will be on multiple television and cable stations speaking about Sarah Palin's historic candidacy being the first female ever the Republic ticket as well as addressing the media's frenzy regarding her family.
Former Democratic vice presidential candidate and sitting Senator for Connecticut Joseph Lieberman, who also spoke last night at the Republican Convention, and Congressman Eric Cantor will hold a press conference to denounce the Obama campaigns official spokesman's words implying that Governor Palin supported Nazi sympathy because she wore a Pat Buchanan pin on one single occasion.
Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, Former HP CEO Carly Fiorina, U.S. Rep. Heather Wilson, former Ebay CEO Meg Whitman, McCain senior advisor Nicolle Wallace, McCain communications director Jill Hazelbaker and McCain senior advisor Nancy Pfotenhauer will also be pushing back against the media attacks.
The Washington Post reports on Steve Schmidt, a top McCain official describes how the campaign was sieged with a "feeding frenzy" fueled by a rumor first posted on a popular liberal website, Daily Kos, and states that even the reporters forced to call were claiming they were ashamed as he tells the Post, "The campaign has been inundated by hundreds and hundreds of calls from some of the most respected reporters and news organizations. Many reporters have called the campaign and have apologized for asking the questions and said, 'Our editors are making us do this, and I am ashamed.' "
The media frenzy continued yesterday with claims that Sarah Palin was a member of the Alaska Independence Party for two years in the 1990’s, which was reported by the New York Times and other media outlets, yet today it is reported by the Times' Caucus blog, the woman that provided that information to the Times, who went on to publish the story as others did, without bothering to confirm and verify, has now said "her initial statement was incorrect and had been based on erroneous information provided by another member of the party whom she declined to identify."
After checking the party’s archives, Ms. Clark said that she could find no documentation that Governor Palin had been a member of the party. She said Ms. Palin attended the party’s 1994 and 2006 conventions and provided a video-taped address as governor to the 2008 convention.
Ms. Clark said that Ms. Palin’s husband, Todd, was a former member of the party.
Some claim the problem here is clear saying the media was caught flat footed when McCain chose Palin, they were unprepared and they started reported unconfirmed information and it takes their official "blog" to correct for them a day later, after the initial story was blasted across headlines.
The Wall Street Journal calls this type of reporting a "Beltway outburst" and tries to explain the phenomenon.
What's really going on here is that the Beltway class can see how popular the Palin pick is with Republicans outside Washington, and especially with middle-class conservatives. As Richard Land, a leader with the Southern Baptist Convention, said Monday, John McCain's selection of Sarah Palin closed the "enthusiasm gap" between the two parties.
Some are pointing out the Republican Party speakers doing the media rounds need to focus on the smears, the lies reported on without confirmation or verification which end up being retracted or ignored the next day and the rumor reported as news, separating those specific attacks from any legitimate questions dealing with policy.
Sarah Palin is due to address the Republican Convention and the American people tonight and for many that do not focus on blogs, Internet political sites or major news papers, will get a chance to meet her for the first time and decide for themselves whether they like her, hate her, believe her and more importantly, if they will vote for the McCain ticket with Sarah Palin on it.
It is clear that Obama supporters are spinning in panic, especially the media which has seen one event from John McCain, choosing Palin, that has closed the enthusiasm gap, given the core base of the Republican party something to become excited about, and they are rallying around McCain and Palin in a spectacular manner.
The attempts to discredit her, use her family and children against her, have backfired and the more they run from website to website, comment section to comment section continuing to the same, the more Republicans will rally and bring it home for McCain/Palin in November.
They played their hand wrong and come November, if Obama loses the election, he will have his most ardent supporters to blame for it because they could and are throwing their own candidate, off the edge of the cliff without a parachute.
Irony works in wonderful ways.
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