Palin fires librarian in attempt to ban books

Commissioner · #81 (**permalink**) 09-08-2008, 06:59 PM

Hard to believe this thread got this much traffic.

It would take an idiot to go with the idea that Sarah Palin is some kind of book burner. And it' hardly the only internet rumor that's been started on her.

From AneneberFactCheck:

She did not demand that books be banned from the Wasilla library. Some of the books on a widely circulated list were not even in print at the time. The librarian has said Palin asked a "What if?" question, but the librarian continued in her job through most of Palin's first term.

FactCheck.org: Sliming Palin

Back Atcha · #82 (**permalink**) 09-08-2008, 10:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Commissioner

Hard to believe this thread got this much traffic.

It would take an idiot to go with the idea that Sarah Palin is some kind of book burner. And it' hardly the only internet rumor that's been started on her.

From AneneberFactCheck:

She did not demand that books be banned from the Wasilla library. Some of the books on a widely circulated list were not even in print at the time. The librarian has said Palin asked a "What if?" question, but the librarian continued in her job through most of Palin's first term.

FactCheck.org: Sliming Palin

Well, it certainly stands in contrast to the fact checking I did when the story first broke. I'm not sure I ever said that she demanded that the books be banned, but did inquire about it. However, there is more to the story than you or I presented here. However, I'm willing to aqueous to the point that the librarian does appear to have been let go as a "test" of loyalty for a day. Which in and of itself seems a little weird. Rather than try to explain the rest myself... I'll let the fact check analysis speak for itself...

Quote:

It’s true that Palin did raise the issue with Mary Ellen Emmons, Wasilla’s librarian, on at least two occasions. Emmons flatly stated her opposition both times. But, as the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman (Wasilla’s local paper) reported at the time, Palin asked general questions about what Emmons would say if Palin requested that a book be banned. According to Emmons, Palin "was asking me how I would deal with her saying a book can't be in the library." Emmons reported that Palin pressed the issue, asking whether Emmons' position would change if residents were picketing the library. Wasilla resident Anne Kilkenny, who was at the meeting, corroborates Emmons' story, telling the Chicago Tribune that "Sarah said to Mary Ellen, 'What would your response be if I asked you to remove some books from the collection?' "

Palin characterized the exchange differently, initially volunteering the episode as an example of discussions with city employees about following her administration's agenda. Palin described her questions to Emmons as “rhetorical,” noting that her questions "were asked in the context of professionalism regarding the library policy that is in place in our city." Actually, true rhetorical questions have implied answers (e.g., “Who do you think you are?”), so Palin probably meant to describe her questions as hypothetical or theoretical. We can't read minds, so it is impossible for us to know whether or not Palin may actually have wanted to ban books from the library or whether she simply wanted to know how her new employees would respond to an instruction from their boss. It is worth noting that, in an update, the Frontiersman points out that no book was ever banned from the library’s shelves.

Moreover, although Palin fired Emmons as part of a "loyalty" purge, she rehired Emmons the next day, and Emmons remained at her job for two-and-a-half more years. Actually, Palin initially requested Emmons’ resignation in October 1996, four days before the public discussion of censorship. That was at the same time she requested that all four of Wasilla’s department heads resign. Palin described the requests as a loyalty test and allowed all four department heads to retain their positions. But on Jan. 30, 1997, three months after the censorship discussion, Palin informed Emmons and Wasilla’s police chief, Irv Stambaugh, that they would be fired. According to the Chicago Tribune, Palin did not list censorship as a reason for Emmons’ firing. Palin rehired Emmons the following day. Emmons continued to serve as librarian until August 1999, when the Chicago Tribune reports that she resigned.

So what about that list of books targeted for banning, which according to one widely e-mailed version was taken “from the official minutes of the Wasilla Library Board”? If it was, the library board should take up fortune telling. The list includes the first four Harry Potter books, none of which had been published at the time of the Palin-Emmons conversations. The first wasn't published until 1998. In fact, the list is a simple cut-and-paste job, snatched (complete with typos and the occasional incorrect title) from the Florida Institute of Technology library Web page, which presents the list as “Books banned at one time or another in the United States.”

Cheers Commish

Eternal Footman · #83 (**permalink**) 09-09-2008, 01:49 AM

snopes.com: Books Banned by Sarah Palin

Michelle Malkin The bogus Sarah Palin Banned Books List

I like the, ERROR: Invalid Page Requested on Obama's site.

Barack Obama and Joe Biden: The Change We Need | Invalid URL

PDF of original
Barack Obama and Joe Biden: The Change We Need | Invalid URL

Eternal Footman · #84 (**permalink**) 09-09-2008, 07:09 AM

Obama accuses Republican rivals of dishonesty - Yahoo! News

"I mean, you can't just make stuff up," Obama said..........

Even if he/they are right about this, it still smacks of irony. No, you're right, you can't just make stuff up. HAHAHA

Uncensored2008 · #85 (**permalink**) 09-09-2008, 08:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Commissioner

Hard to believe this thread got this much traffic.

The forum leftists are in full panic mode. Crow, Shitty and Backatcha are seeing their Messiah® drop like a brick. Ad hom works as the foundation of "debate" here, so they figure it will work against Palin, too.

superhorn · #86 (**permalink**) 09-09-2008, 09:58 AM

It's impossible to know whether this story is true or not, but I sure hope it isn't. It's awfully hard to separate fact from rumor in this election. False rumors have been spreading like wildfire started by both democrats and republicans.
But if the stories about attempted library censorship on the part of Ms. Palin are true, and she actually had a librarian fired merely for doing the right thing, which that librarian certainly did in resisting that censorship, it's a very bad reflection on Palin. Library censorship is bad, period. Private citizens have no right to tell other Americans what they may or may not read at a public library.
Censoring books is absolutely unamerican. We must NEVER allow the government to open the slippery slope to the arbitrary and capricious banning of what Americans read or view.

Eternal Footman · #87 (**permalink**) 09-09-2008, 11:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by superhorn

It's impossible to know whether this story is true or not, but I sure hope it isn't. It's awfully hard to separate fact from rumor in this election. False rumors have been spreading like wildfire started by both democrats and republicans.
But if the stories about attempted library censorship on the part of Ms. Palin are true, and she actually had a librarian fired merely for doing the right thing, which that librarian certainly did in resisting that censorship, it's a very bad reflection on Palin. Library censorship is bad, period. Private citizens have no right to tell other Americans what they may or may not read at a public library.
Censoring books is absolutely unamerican. We must NEVER allow the government to open the slippery slope to the arbitrary and capricious banning of what Americans read or view.

I think it is possible to know. I think it has been shown to be false. What might make it impossible to prove or disprove?

steve k · #88 (**permalink**) 09-09-2008, 11:40 AM

HOW OBAMA BLEW IT
By KIRSTEN POWERS
September 9, 2008 --

YESTERDAY'S Gallup poll had John McCain ahead of Barack Obama by an astonishing 10 points among likely voters. A Washington Post poll had that lead at only two points, but clearly showed a McCain surge - especially among women. This wasn't what Democrats were expecting when they left Denver - yet they have nobody to blame but themselves.

Obama's toughest challenge has always been to connect with working-class swing voters. So attacking the poster child for small-town values, Sarah Palin, was a bad strategy.

No, Obama didn't engage in the mass sneering at Palin - but he did fall into the trap of disrespecting her. When McCain chose her, the Obama campaign's first response was to ridicule the size of her town. Then the candidate himself began referring to her as a "former mayor" when she is in fact a sitting governor.

When she retaliated (justifiably) by mocking his stint as a organizer, the Obama camp was clearly rattled. Obama himself actually began arguing about the importance of community organizing. His supporters amplified this cry - claiming Palin's attack was a racist slur and passing around e-mails titled "Jesus was a community organizer, Pontius Pilate was a governor."

Meanwhile, the rest of the country was probably wondering what being a community organizer has to do with being president.

Lured by the McCain camp, Obama supporters engaged in an argument about who had more overall experience - the top of the Democratic ticket or the bottom of the GOP ticket. This diminished Obama.

Meanwhile, the media lit up in all their cultural-elite splendor.

Alaska? they sneered. It has the population of Las Vegas! Funny how the coastal elite only sneers at red states with small populations. Howard Dean hailed from a blue state with almost the same population as Alaska and was a national phenomenon and front-runner for the presidency. Joe Biden's Delaware has a similarly small population - but no mocking was forthcoming there.

Evangelicals will never vote for a woman who works! they declared. This from people who've likely never met an evangelical in their lives. They could barely contain themselves when they found out Gov. Palin's daughter was pregnant, so sure were they that evangelicals would hang her from the highest tree. When evangelical leaders expressed support, there was a palpable disappointment that Palin or her daughter wasn't branded with a scarlet letter.

They claimed that the Palin announcement was some desperate pick that came out of nowhere. Had they been doing their jobs, or even perusing The Weekly Standard or right-wing blogs, they'd have known that she was on the list.

Since they didn't know anything about her, they started making things up. Anything that fit the caricature of a right-wing hypocrite was thrown up with, seemingly, no fact-checking.

They said she opposes contraception, when she said in a campaign debate that she is pro-contraception. They said she cut funding for pregnant teens, when she provided a massive funding hike.

They accused her of cutting funding for mentally disabled children, when she raised it 175 percent over the former administration. She was said to have been a member of the wacky Alaska Independence Party; The New York Times had to run a retraction.

Like Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, Palin has been deemed one of the GOP's rising stars. Since it's national reporters job to cover American politics, their ignorance of about her is distressing.

Most Americans think that the media are cheerleading for Obama, so they'll punish him for the reporters' and editors' sins.

So now he is weighted down with more baggage as he works to convince an important voting bloc that he and his party don't hold them in contempt.

The clock is ticking.

George O Well · #89 (**permalink**) 09-09-2008, 12:14 PM

The woman is an Alaskan Ellie May Clampett.

countryslim · #90 (**permalink**) 09-09-2008, 12:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Back Atcha

Could there have been a more predictable reply? LMAO... Did you really think Fox would pick this up? Moron...

It's been fact checked, it happened, and it's just another piece of shit on the growing pile illustrating her inability to govern in the interest of the People. We don't need another tard cramming their morals down our throats.

Moron, don't call me a moron.. Suffice it to say, there ARE a shitload of books written by some really warped people that hit the shelves as a literary onslaught on Children or otherwise weak minded people.. Palin DIDN"T ban them, nor would I, but a book with questionable content ought to be locked away in a Dumpster for safe keeping.. Puttin words between two covers does not an Author make, but for freedom of expression, it is an Important decision to tread carefully on banning any.

Palin is a Moral type Mom and seems to have stepped on a few toes as Mayor and Governor.. She sure didn't coast or sleep through her public service stints and It just makes me like her more than ever to know she is somewhat flexible when the Public speaks up..

Apparently you've never been around a strong willed Woman.. Palin reminds me of the Majority of Women in my family and in this area of East Texas.. They have the "Gitter Done" attitude.. If it won't move, paint it, if you have unpleasant bugs or rats, kill them in mass.. Clean house and put everthing in order..

I see nothing that she has done to deserve all this petty Bullshit vandalism that people are heaping on her reputation and record. I've heard ALL the rumors and have spent a great deal of time chasing the real truth down, but the most troubling thing I've noticed about Palin is her ability of regressing some adults promptly backwards to act like a grumpy four year old child cutting teeth..

The raw Power that Palin yelds is awesome.. at the mere mention of her name some people Snap and go berserk with a short tempered double dual personality like "Whats her name" Blair did on the exorcist..

Head's spin like tops and the mouth's spew vomitting words fit for a Queen Michelle Hussain ..

The media has it Labeled "The Palin Factor"..

I think there is a medical term for the "Two person" people actions by one, but it escapes me..

You got it Baaaad, Dudette..