By Barb Shelly, Kansas City Star Editorial Page columnist
Update: Apparently the fake Martin Eisenstadt wasn't the source of the Fox News story, according to this post from MediaBistro.com. It still begs the question: Who was?
So the 24-hour cable news spin cycle got spun.
You know that story about how Sarah Palin didn't understand that Africa is a continent?
MSNBC thought it knew the source of that tidbit, originally leaked on Fox News Channel. It was, according to the station, a John McCain adviser named Martin Eisenstadt, senior fellow at the Harding Institute for Freedom and Democracy.
One problem: There is no Harding Institute. There is no Martin Eisenstadt.
They are both figments of the very active imaginations of a filmmaker named Eitan Gorlin and his partner, Dan Mirvish, according to the New York Time.
How embarrassing.
Eisenstadt has been quoted and debunked by other media, including the Huffington Post, political blogs for the Los Angeles Times and New Republic, and Mother Jones magazine.
So if you see a Martin Eisenstadt quoted someplace, disregard immediately.
And now all eyes are on Fox News -- or should be. Was Eisenstadt their source for the Palin story? If he wasn't, who was? The Africa-is-a-country-not-a-continent story isn't very believable, no matter who the source








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Peskime - don't bother yourself
Let the Republicans worry about who their nominee is in 2012. You wouldn't be voting in Republican primary anyway. Concern yourself with the Democrats.
I just can't figure you people out. McCain/Palin lost. It's over - your guy won. I can't remember in my lifetime people from the winning side worrying so much about the VP half of the ticket from the losing side.
Does the idea of Palin threaten you?
Once and for all, may Sarah ride off into an Alaska sunset
PALIN for senator because i thing she will
run in 2012 for the big job and i hope she gets
it to shut people like you up. As for her youngest child,unless you have a child like him
you should not refer to a child like that with deformities. how dare you speak about a baby
with no voice to say you & your family are not
perfect either. well i am saying it for him
Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel
SARAH PALIN
You do not have to concern yourself with MRS.
PALIN for senator because i thing she will
run in 2012 for the big job and i hope she gets
it to shut people like you up. As for her youngest child,unless you have a child like him
you should not refer to a child like that with deformities. how dare you speak about a baby
with no voice to say you & your family are not
perfect either. well i am saying it for him
Old News
Red State.com's Leper Project has already reported that Rick Davis and Nicolle Wallace, senior members of the McCain campaign, were the sources of the comments to Fox News. It's old news by now.
bbq....
what universe are you from? talk about the inability to write coherently? Are you truly illiterate, or is this part of your "satire"?
BBQ is not running in 2012...
No Darlin'...
You will not see me in the race in 2012...The only race you will see me even participating in, will be the Kentucky Derby...I will be the one in the Biggest Hat...if you can't recognize me.
However...and you know there is always a However with me and a typo with me as well...Typos are not the same, as NOT being able to complete a full sentence...with out a prepared speech or a prompter in front of you.
And would someone PLEASE tie her hands up, when she speaks? Or take away her "GodFather" CD. What a distraction!
By the way, did you see her open a Hockey game...She was sending out the first puck. They had to put a team shirt on her youngest daughter to make her SEEM more human (Sarah not the child). The crowds were booing Sarah Palin so badly, that they had to turn the speakers up so high, it was all you could hear...so...that the TV cameras couldn't pick it up...you can see it in her face if you watch it close enough and see how scared her child was.
By the way, SNL took Sarah Palins words verbatim when they did the interview with Katie Couric...that was not comedy...it was true satire. Right from the horses mouth...her own words...something that SNL usually does not do...but when life imitates comedy...you have got to use it.
That is on my blog as well...
That of course would not be my biggest fault-finding with her, if I never had to listen to her again...
"One" of my biggest grievances with Sarah Palin, is her view on abortion and what that represents-as far as health care for women...
If it were her way, women would be going in back doors for abortions and worst. Her views would set women back 40 years. Woman like me, who fought for them.
I watched her the other day and she was speaking of Hillary Clinton who "cracked" the ceiling for women, when she ran for President...and she (Sarah Palin) and others like her (Sarah Palin) will crack it more...well...she won't be cracking any ceilings with Hillary Clinton, with her (Sarah Palin) archaic ideas of what women should be doing with "THEIR" bodies.
She is against abortion, but not war...so it is an oxie moron to me...save the babies and slaughter the men, women, children and babies...the victims and innocents of war, the faultless and our soldiers. I am sorry but you can't have it both ways. Which are you Sarah Palin..."savior of babies only or sadistic terrorist?"
People my age (I am 56) knew what "0 Population" was and that we were headed for a planet with too many people and not enough food. I guess that she didn't listen in that Civics class...her 5 children are proof of that, as well...knowing what the risks are for having children after 40 and the odds of child who has deformities...as her last does. Guess she hasn't read a magazine, watched TV or listen to the radio...for the last 50 years, not to know what she brought that helpless child into. That was selfish.
Please read my post:
http://babyboomeradvisorclub.com/john-mccain-sarah-palin-out-of-touch-on-womens-health-issues/
Church and state should not mix.
She says her ideas of abortion are do to her Christian beliefs. I can not call Sarah Palin a Christian...my idea of what a good Christian woman/person is...well, it is NOT what Sarah Palin is. She slandered Senator Obama and Joe Biden all through the campaign. Every time she did, she might as well had snakes run out of her mouth and ears, as far as I am concerned. Pandora's Box or shall we say Palin's Box...
Sarah Palins views on energy... Dinosaurs...excuse the pun! She says she is new energy...LOLOLOL That is a choice statement...she is old energy which will still eat up the earth and the air we breath. She is oil (from her state) and coal. My Grand Father died from black lungs. He was a coal miner. Coal is filthy. Plus, you rape the earth, to get it. Keep riding that Dinosaur Sarah...you are as out dated as what few ideas you have running around in that pretty head of yours. You need more than good looks to get by on the American people and those of the World.
The sun can be harnessed, We can farm the sun, the wind, the water...the sun generates enough power in one hour to supply the worlds needs for a year. I am working on that report...had it ready last night and it was 500 AM I was tired and I erased it by mistake...but I will have it up...ASAP.
Well...I guessed I have ranted enough for this hour...thanks for listening...you'all come by and see BBAC sometime, We welcome your comments and visits, no matter what your view is.
Please excuse my typos and spelling, but I am not running for the Vice Presidency of America. Nor do I have someone who writes my speeches for me. I don't have a teleprompter either...
Southern smiles and world peace,
Sharon/BabyBoomerQueen
http://www.BabyBoomerAdvisorClub.com
Honestly,
nearly everyone's posts have one or more grammatical errors, mispellings, or plain old typos in them...
bbq, most likely, wasn't campaigning for VP, and isn't pondering the 2012 presidential race openly to the press. So I'd think you could overlook a couple of typos, and maybe address her actual message, if you like?
If SP would stop talking to the press, they would--eventually--stop talking about her. As long as she continues to blather, all of her "boo-boos" will haunt her.
People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones..
Apparently you don't know much about English grammar, and either cannot type, or cannot spell and aren't smart enough to use a spell checker.
Well..that still does not
Well..that still does not miscount the fact that Sarah Palin can not form a complete sentence.
With out promoting she can not hold a speech or a press conference and make complete sentences...
See my post on Can Sarah Palin form a complete sentence...
http://babyboomeradvisorclub.com/sarah-palin-seriously-can-she-form-a-full-sentence/
Because she knows that Africa isn't a country...what are we supposed to give her, a college degree???
Watch her give an interview after the elections and see what you think...Tina Fay has her down pact.
She pushes oil energy when it is a thing of the past. Watch my video on solar energy and
tell me what century she is living in...
Southern smiles and world peace,
Sharon/BabyBoomerQueen
http://www.BabyBoomerAdvisorClub.com
Barb, you want Fox News to reveal its sources?
I thought the Star was in favor of confidential sources and shield laws to protect them. Do you really want a news organization to reveal its sources? Personally, I have never liked the idea of using anonymous sources, but I thought the Star and its editorial board did. I guess I was operating under a misimpression.
A little late to the game.
The Africa-is-a-country-not-a-continent story isn't very believable, no matter who the source.
It was believable enough to your own co-worker to post here:
http://voices.kansascity.com/node/2741