The Daily Palin: The Buzz on Why Track Enlisted

The McCain/Palin ticket have been chest thumpiing the 9/11 deployment of her son Track to Iraq, 9/11 being a Republican National Holiday to remind Americans that only the GOP can keep America safe.  What a perfect way to show their party’s love of motherhood, God, country and the Military than by sending her oldest off to Iraq?  (we pause to remind everyone that Beau Biden, Joe’s son, is also being deployed to Iraq as a military lawyer, so that love of the troops is hardly a one-sided partisan affair).

The Blogsphere is buzzing with a story that Track Palin was a minor allegedly involved in a serious vandalism incident involving multiple school buses and a stolen bottle of vodka.  The stories claim Track was given a choice — jail time and a record, or join the military.  Of course, there are reports this story is false.

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This story ran in SarahPalinexposed.com:

There are now allegations that her son Track was involved in a vandalism rampage a couple of years earlier and that his run-in with the law contributed to his decision to enlist in the Army.

On December 5, 2005, the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman reported that Alaska State Troopers had arrested four teenage boys for the previous week’s vandalism of school buses. The boys deflated the tires of 44 buses, broke mirrors and unplugged 110 buses from their engine-block heaters, which caused the buses not to start in subzero weather. The incident was serious enough to force the school district to close schools for a day on November 29.

One of the boys was identified as 18-year-old Deryck Harris. State troopers refused to release the names of the 3 other boys, ages 16, 17, and 17, because they were juveniles. However, the mother of one of the juvenile suspects confirmed her son David Coon was involved in the incident. Two of the boys, including Coon, attended Burchell High School. The other two were students at Wasilla High School.

The boys were each charged with third-degree criminal mischief, first-degree criminal trespass and conspiracy to commit criminal mischief. In addition, the 16-year-old was also charged with fourth-degree theft and furnishing alcohol to a minor. He was alleged to have stolen a bottle of vodka from a local liquor store.

A progressive Alaska radio station (Newstalk 1080 Kudo) reported on September 2, 2008 that the 16-year-old boy in the story was actually Track Palin. The station cited an unnamed judicial source. A recording of the radio broadcast is not yet available.

However, the story has been picked up by a local Anchorage public television station.  Nellie Moore and Steve MacDonald on KAKM Channel 7, Anchorage Edition (September 5, 2008):

MacDonald is quick to note that the local radio station may be biased given its liberal stance; however, he was not previously familiar with the story and could not comment on its authenticity. The host Nellie Moore, who is familiar with the report, did seem very much convinced.

Curiously, Track Palin spent six months of his senior year with a host family in Portage, Michigan. His mother took him out of Wasilla High School and sent him to Michigan for the 2006/2007 school year. The Kalamazoo Gazette is reporting that Track came to the Midwest hoping he would be picked up by college hockey recruiters in the area, this despite the fact that he was already a star hockey player for the competitive Alaska All-Stars team.

Shortly after Palin was selected and it was revealed that her 17 year old unmarried daughter was pregnant, we posted a link to Perez Hilton’s blog that featured photos of Bristol Palin partying with her friends unaccompanied by full and empty bottles of beer and liquor.  Now this happens in high schools all over America.  But combine this behavior with the vandalism story, and frankly it makes me wonder how Palin can govern Alaska if she can’t manage her kids.  When one parent has a high profile job, the other parent typically steps up responsibility to the family but it appears her husband is MIA in this regard.

Barack Obama’s kids, in constrast, have a lot of attention from mom, Michelle, and several aunts and uncludes and Michelle’s folks.

This well said comment was was posted on the Progressive Alaska blog:

Using your son to prove your fitness as a vice presidential candidate, by boasting of his enlistment in the army and impending trip to Iraq, knowing he chose the army as his alternative to jail, is both hypocritical and stupid. Hypocritical because you know that the only reason he’s headed to Iraq is that he had no choice. Stupid because it’s going to come out.

What kind of mother risks the emotional stability of her kids by exposing them to national and international ridicule to further her career? What kind of candidate thinks it is ok for her to tout her children’s positive achievements, but off limits for the opponents to discuss their more problematic behaviors? You can’t have it both ways.

And what does this all tell us about the presidential candidate who makes impulsive decisions based on his gut feelings? I think McCain’s choice of Sarah Palin has done us all a giant favor. He’s shown us that he’s willing to take risky decisions, risky important decisions, with shoddy data gathering and analysis. It’s better we know that and see it clearly before November.

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A final note, concerning Palin’s deer in the headlights moment of being unable to describe the Bush Doctrine to ABC.  My son is enrolled in the model UN program at Irvine’s Northwood High.  The teacher asked if anyone knew what the Bush Doctrine was.  My kids shot up his hand and gave a comprehensive complete answer.  If a 17 year old knows it, the conservatives feigning ignorance what the Bush Doctrine is are full of moose-$h!t.

 

15 Comments

  1. And what kind of person posts every salacious rumor about the family of politicians simply because he doesn’t like her, and then blames that politician for creating a situation where lefties spread ludicrous, vicious rumors about her and her family?

    What’s tomorrow, Dan? Sarah Palin practices Santeria? The sad thing is the left-wing fever swamp would leap to believe it, that’s how completely unhinged the Leftosphere has become.

    Good for your son, but that proves exactly nothing about Palin’s fitness to be president. A person can learn the definition of the Bush Doctrine — whichever definition of whichever Bush Doctrine we’re talking about — in no time at all. What’s more important is sturdiness of character, a record of accomplishment and political smarts.

  2. Matt — if you clicked through all the links, you will note a story refuting the “Track Plain was a vandal” story line; I believe you guys call that “Fair and Balanced.”

    Her interview was loaded with prepped talking points that she wanted to get out as soon as she could. Gibson did a decent job seeking an actual answer rather than a tlaking point. Palin reminded me of a college student who crammed for a test so she could forget everything she learned. Its no wonder the McCain camp is keeping her away from the press.

    Its clear that she’s not qualified to be a heartbeat form the presidency and by selecting her, McCain has proven he can’t make big decisions well.

  3. I saw the link, Dan: a needle buried in a haystack of rumor regurgitation.

    And I’ve noticed that in the Leftosphere, whenever Obama or Biden respond to a question, they “give an answer” but when its McCain or Palin, they “recite talking points.”

  4. In a sentence all by itself.

    They are talking points; McCain said yestered to a Portland Maine TV reporter that Palin knows more about energy than anyone in the country. Really? I don’t buy that for a second.

    Did you catch McCain on The View today? He’s “never flipflopped!”

  5. “model UN program”

    What the hell is that?

    Do they throw up white flags and yell run away…………

    Or is he getting rich in the Food for Oil program?

    Did they have to remove his spine first?

    How about his……..oh, never mind.

  6. Actually Thomas its a great program where kids group off and are assigned a nation. They need to learn to use diplomacy to trade, find allies, ward off threats and communicate..all those things the Republicans running the country don’t know how to do now.

  7. I don’t doubt that it’s a great program, but let me be Russia and invade Georgia and let’s see how those kids handle it.

    I’d stymie any attempt to talk me out of Georgia and use my Security Council veto to block any attempt to get me to leave. All polite request to leave would be met with a giant NYET!

    Now what do you do?

  8. Check the occupant of the Oval Office again Bub; and you seem to have forgotten there are enough Republicans in the Senate to block everything meaningful that comes out of the House; didn’t the GOP set a record for filibusters this year?

    As far as Georgia and Russia, I hve more faith in these kids to make the right decision that I do with Palin or McCain.

  9. Here is an interesting take on all this Palin stuff…..

    WHY SHE REALLY SCARES THEM

    By DICK MORRIS & EILEEN MCGANN

    Published in the The New York Post on September 12, 2008

    For two weeks, Democrats and their media allies have leveled scorching fire at Sarah Palin. It’s not having much effect, but they keep at it anyway.

    The latest Fox News poll shows Palin with a 54-27 favorable/unfavorable ratio, which compares well with Barack Obama’s 57-36, John McCain’s 60-33 and Joe Biden’s 51-29. (Of the four, she’s the most popular).

    Why do Democrats feel so threatened? They’ve even stopped attacking McCain and President Bush to launch a vicious and sexist barrage at her that would normally make a feminist angry and a Democrat blush.

    Basically, it’s this: John McCain only endangers Democratic chances of victory this November, but Sarah Palin is an existential threat to the Democratic Party.

    She threatens a core element of the party’s base – women.

    When an African-American like Clarence Thomas, Colin Powell or Condi Rice rises to prominence as a Republican, he or she endangers the Democratic coalition. So would a Republican labor leader.

    And so, above all, does the woman Republican running for vice president.

    Democrats can’t stomach seeing the feminist movement’s impetus for greater female political participation and empowerment “hijacked” by a pro-life woman who espouses traditional values. They must obliterate her, lest her popularity eat away at their party’s core.

    So the Democrats are hysterical in their attacks on her. South Carolina’s Democratic Party chairwoman, Carol Fowler (wife of a national party chairman), said that the only qualification Palin had for vice president was that she hadn’t had an abortion. Tabloids are digging up dirt on Palin’s children. And liberal bloggers have suggested that Palin would neglect her children if she were elected (while the Democratic candidate has young children at home, too).

    That liberals would resort to such blatant sexism shows their desperation.

    But the Fox News poll of Sept. 8-9 indicates a deeper reality of Palin’s popularity. On the question of which of the four candidates best understands what day-to-day life is like in America, Palin finished first, with 33 percent. (Obama drew 32 percent, McCain 17 percent and Biden 10 percent.)

    She’s not popular because she’s a radical feminist or pro-choice advocate. It’s because she understands what it’s like to be a woman in 21st century America.

    She’s never ascended to the elite, so she doesn’t need to stoop to conquer as most well-heeled feminist leaders must. She lives far from the plastic pseudoreality where a fossilized ideology substitutes for human compassion and empathy. As such, she rises above the slogans of both the left and the right and proposes to bring to Washington a dose of reality – a taste of real life.

    She may become the first woman in national office – yet the Democrats, feminists and liberals can’t control her, and that burns them up.

    Elections come and go, but Palin is a far more fundamental threat to the Democratic Party. And that’s why they fear her so.

    Go to DickMorris.com to read all of Dick’s columns!

  10. Oh please. Respect the Palin’s privacy? They trot out their pregnant teenage daughter and fly her boyfriend out to parade them on national TV?

    That said, I don’t like this post. It’s mean and makes not one whit of difference when choosing whom to vote for.

    I think of all the Presidents in my lifetime and the children in the White House and the only family that didn’t have a crazy or rebellious kid was?

    That’s right. The Clintons.

  11. Elections come and go, but Palin is a far more fundamental threat to the Democratic Party. And that’s why they fear her so.

    To quote Jon Steward, “Dick Morris is a lying sack of bovine scatology.”

    I know of no democrats that are afraid of Sarah Palin. We’re just scard of her being the VP.

  12. Anyone else catch John Fund of the Wall Street Journal use Jubal’s, I’ll say it, talking point on Bill Maher’s show last night that he didn’t know what the Bush Doctrine was? Matt and Fund are both much smarter than that. It was fun to watch Janeane Garofalo rip fund to shreads.

  13. RHackett-

    “I know of no democrats that are afraid of Sarah Palin. We’re just scard of her being the VP.”

    Boy I really hope you’re right. I would love nothing more than for you Dems to underestimate this lady’s talent over the next eight years…

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