Reporters anticipating the release of Sarah Palin’s emails to be of Wiki Leaks magnitude were sorely disappointed.
Media outlets seem to be struggling to find anything worth reporting following yesterday’s release of 24,000 pages of emails written during Palin’s term as governor of Alaska.
Rachel Weiner, with The Washington Post, reported Friday that Palin faced rumors of her fifth child, Trig, actually being her daughter Bristol’s child long before she became Sen. John McCain’s vice presidential candidate.
Palin emailed staffers and her husband Todd Palin on April 6, 2008, 12 days before Trig was born, regarding the rumors. “Bristol does want it squashed — we just don’t know how to do so without making it a bigger issue. . . . I figured it was them or [former Palin staffer John] Bitney,” Palin wrote.
Even after Trig’s birth, Palin sent out several emails discussing how to handle the rumors. “I wish I could shame people into ceasing such gossip about a teen, but can’t figure out how to do that,” she wrote in an April 22 email.
The Huffington Post reported today that Palin claimed she wasn’t worried about any negative backlash from the emails during an interview last weekend with "Fox News Sunday."
"I think every rock in the Palin household that could ever be kicked over and uncovered anything, it's already been kicked over," she said during the interview. "I don't think there's anything private in our family now. A lot of those emails obviously weren't meant for public consumption. They are between staff members. They're probably between family members."
According to the Huffington Post, Palin’s emails contained conversations to her staffers about McCain’s positions on certain topics, including resource development and oil drilling in Alaska.
“If anyone can help me hear from him (McCain) on that, our state would appreciate it. I'll have a tough time explaining my support for him until I can say I spoke with him about my concerns re: pro-environmental stands he's taking that could hurt Alaska,” Palin wrote in a February 2008 email.
The Daily Beast read between the lines, claiming to find an overarching trend of Palin obsessing over her portrayal in the media. She wrote to staffers in February 2007 that she wanted to keep track of news clippings and interviews.
"I need folks to really help ramp up accurate counter comments to the misinformation that’s being spread out there," she wrote. However, months later she wrote that doing such wasn’t worth the time and energy.
But media outlets weren’t the only ones going after Palin. Yahoo! News reported today that Palin’s emails revealed death threats after Palin became the vice presidential candidate. An email from someone identifying himself as Dominique Villacroux accused Palin’s candidacy of being one of “ultra neoconservatism and ultra neoliberalism.”
“She doesn't belong to the NRA to support the right of each citizen to have weapons in an aim of self-defence (sic), but just to support the right of every Southern white citizen to shoot all non-white people legally! Sarah Palin MUST BE KILLED!” Villacroux wrote.
A Reuters story, summarizing the email findings, reported that the emails were released to anyone willing to pay $725 for copies plus the cost of delivery.
Now a complete catalog of Palin’s email correspondence can be found at http://www.crivellawest.net/palin2011/default.html.
For more current news summaries, visit educatedechoes.blogspot.com.
I read through a day's worth of the emails. Didn't find anything to write home about. You know Palin's lackeys in Alaska aren't going to release anything that might be considered scandalous. We'll probably never know what all was redacted and/or omitted altogether.
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