Geoffrey Dunn's Palin Obsession

In a post on Sunday, we discussed and thoroughly discredited a couple of the rantings of left-wing buffoon Geoffrey Dunn. The venue for Dunn’s unhinged musings was a piece of…er…fiction he penned for Huffington Post, the left wing internet tabloid. As the last two days have been busy ones, we didn’t have time to deal with all of Dunn’s spurious allegations. Rest assured we didn’t forget about Dunn’s drivel and today Sheya and I pick up where we left off on Sunday. Throughout his piece, Dunn substitutes his own wacky opinions as fact in a feeble attempt to “fact check” Governor Palin’s book. He begins his tale with the following:

Excerpts from Sarah Palin's Going Rogue have been released by several news agencies and other sources who have received advanced copies. Here are the first ten lies from Palin's memoirs:

By his own admittance, he hasn’t read the book and is therefore basing his opinions on “excerpts”. As we have shown, many of these so-called excerpts have been completely taken out of context and otherwise distorted beyond all recognition by the AP. This fact alone renders Dunn’s yarn irrelevant. Dunn continues:

The Cover Byline: Palin didn't write the book by herself. Most books with known ghostwriters list their co-author's name on the cover. In this case it was Lynn Vincent (a well-known homophobe).

On Sunday I pointed out the absurdity of Dunn’s claim that Lynn Vincent is a homophobe in the post referred to above. Another narrative the MSM is trying to push is that Palin didn’t write the book. God forbid if Governor Palin did write the book, the entire hysterical narrative of the left would be called into question. After all, how can someone who can’t read a book (according to elites who never met her) possibly write a book? Lynn Vincent did not co-author the book, she collaborated on it. Governor Palin never wrote a book before and it’s quite understandable that she would seek the help of a professional. Governor Palin made it known from the start that she was using a collaborator. I haven’t seen Mr. Dunn complaining about President Obama’s “Ghost Writer”. Next, Dunn provides us with the following pearl of wisdom:

The Subtitle: An American Life. Aside from her infancy, Palin has really spent very little time outside of Alaska, and according to John McCain's campaign advisors, was shockingly unfamiliar with American geography and American history. "Alaska," as John McPhee noted in his resplendent Coming Into the Country, "is a foreign country...Its nature is its own."

Joshua debunked this one on Sunday. I would also like to point out the hilarious irony here. Dunn repeats discredited charges that Governor Palin doesn’t know geography while demonstrating his own appalling lack of geographical knowledge. Yes Geoff, Alaska is indeed part of America. In fact, it’s one of Obama’s 57 states. Or is it 58? You decide:



Dunn next imagines that Governor Palin is obsessed with Katie Couric:

Going Rogue features Palin's obsession with Katie Couric and characterizes the CBS anchor as "badgering." Palin refused to prep for the Couric Interview because she was more concerned about her popularity in Alaska than about what was best for the campaign. Was it really badgering to ask what books or periodicals Palin read? Palin further claims that Couric suffered from low self-esteem. In fact, according to those close to Palin, it's the former governor who suffers from low self-esteem and frequently projects that onto other women.

Palin has an obsession with Katie Couric? I haven’t read the book, but from the excerpt I’ve read, presumably the same one Dunn has read, Governor Palin doesn’t “claim” that Couric suffers from low self esteem; she merely describes what Nicole Wallace told her in order to entice Palin into doing the interview. Who are those “close to Palin” Dunn is referring to? Nobody close to Governor Palin would give this moron the time of day, much less an inside scoop. Perhaps Dunn’s “sources” are the obligatory unnamed “insiders” from the McCain campaign. Steve Schmidt perhaps? Nicole Wallace? More likely they’re the little voices Dunn hears in his head. The only one here suffering from an obsession is Dunn. Next, Dunn either repeats demonstrably false claims made by others or makes them up himself:

McCain's aides bent over backwards to protect Palin and to try to get her up to speed on international affairs. In addition to not knowing whether or not Africa was a continent, according to sources in the McCain campaign, Palin also didn't understand the difference between England and Great Britain. And much, much more.

Here Dunn goes beyond mere nonsense and jumps into the land of make believe. The McCain camp has already debunked and corrected the Africa claim and now we have this new one: she doesn’t understand the difference between England and Great Britain. Where did this latest bit of Dunn-speak come from? Did he simply make it up or are those voices to which I referred above back in Dunn’s head. This is certainly plausible given the amount of empty space up there. Maybe these same voices also told him that Alaska is not part of America (see above). Regardless, it’s difficult to understand where Dunn came up with this latest gibberish but my money’s on the voices. But then again, this is a piece of fiction so I guess it really doesn’t matter to Dunn and his handful of readers. Next Dunn wades into the ludicrous “ethics” complaints filed almost exclusively by an odd and pathetic gaggle of anklebiters and publicity seekers with no discernable purpose in life:

Palin contends to have been saddled with legal bills of more than $500,000 resulting from what she calls "frivolous" ethics complaints filed against her. The lion's share of those bills resulted from the ethics complaint she filed against herself in a legal maneuver to sidestep the Troopergate charges being brought against her by the bipartisan Alaska Legislative Council.

It’s heartening to hear that Dunn, however briefly, acknowledges that Governor Palin follows state ethics rules. But Dunn’s flirtation with reality doesn’t last long. According to Dunn, she initiated an ethics complaint against herself merely for political theater. Mr. Dunn ignores, predictably, that when she saw the process being politicized by people like Kim Elton and Hollis French, she took a stand against this politicization and filed the complaint so that the process could be put back where it belongs: in front of the Alaska Personnel Board who, predictably ignored by Dunn, exonerated her. Kim Elton, for his part, was rewarded with a cushy job in the Obama Administration in return for his assist in Troopergate. Dunn conveniently excludes the other twenty-odd frivolous “ethics” complaints filed against the governor, all of which have been dismissed. Of course Dunn has no choice but to ignore this since it contradicts the narrative of his fairy tale. Dunn continues his journey into fantasy:

Palin rather astonishingly claims that she was saddled with $50,000 in bills for the legal fees associated with her vice-presidential vetting. A) She was not vetted; B) A McCain campaign advisor says this is "categorically untrue."

Here Dunn’s fictional narrative really jumps the tracks and he digs himself into a hole from which there is no logical outlet. Dunn says on the one hand that she wasn’t vetted at all while at the same time, states as fact that the infamous secret “McCain advisor” claims it’s untrue that they charged her for her vetting. Dunn, apparently, is unaware of the contradiction. Dunn continues:

She had been told at least three times that she would not be allowed to give the speech and kept lying about it in the hopes of creating some last-minute chaos that would allow her to assume the dais.

And Dunn knows this how? From the infamous “senior McCain” official? From one of the little voices in his head…perhaps the same one that told him Alaska is not part of America? And by the way what, specifically, is she lying about? Is making a case to speak to her supporters considered lying these days? Dunn then travels into an area he knows even less about, energy:

Although she claimed otherwise in her speech at the GOP convention, there is no pipeline. It remains a pipe dream.

Apparently Dunn was experiencing another round of voices in his head and, consequently, missed the big announcement of the pipeline deal with Exxon and TransCanada last June. This having been completed, the pipeline is now moving forward after decades of inaction. Next Dunn pretends to know something about Governor Palin’s personnel decisions regarding the bungling of Bristol’s pregnancy announcement:

Palin implies that the McCain campaign intentionally bungled the release of information regarding her daughter Bristol's pregnancy and refused to let her rewrite it. In fact, the McCain campaign allowed her to rework the draft, but the original version went out accidentally. Palin reportedly accepted the recalcitrant staff member's apology for the mistake, then when she left, ordered her immediately dismissed of her duties.

As I said, I haven’t read the book. However, from the excerpts I seen, Governor Palin doesn’t claim that the original version went out on purpose. She does maintain, correctly, that the team mishandled the release. On Oprah’s show yesterday she recounted how much this hurt Bristol. Accepting a staff member’s apology does not contradict dismissing them of their duties. She could have accepted an apology while still deciding that the individual isn’t capable of doing their job. But all this being said, what is the lie here? Mr. Dunn claims this is evidence that Governor Palin lied? How? I guess that little voice in Dunn’s head has emerged again. Finally Dunn comes to his 10th and final “lie”:

Palin complains that McCain's senior advisors, most notably Steve Schmidt, forced her to "stick with the script" they provided her. In fact, Schmidt & Co. were encumbered with the task of keeping Palin from lying and misleading people throughout the campaign, from her well-documented lies about the "Bridge to Nowhere" to her duplicities about her husband Todd's association with the Alaska Independence Party. Palin's lying to those in the McCain campaign was so troubling to them that they cringed every time she went "off script."

Dunn’s characterization of the “Bridge to Nowhere” as well as Todd’s association with the AIP have already been debunked. Dunn claims in his yarn that he has uncovered 10 lies in Governor Palin’s book yet provides no evidence to substantiate his claim. Moreover, he doesn’t mention anything that could be construed as a lie in the first place. He distorts or takes out of context ten items in the book he doesn’t like and calls them lies. I don’t particularly like peas. Should I call the company who sells peas a “liar” because I prefer corn? In Mr. Dunn’s fantasy world, the answer is “yes”.

Dunn is obsessed with Governor Palin. He’s even writing a book to further attack her. The fact the few will read, much less purchase, this drivel is immaterial. In this fictional tale for the HuffPo, he does nothing but put forward his own opinion as proof of a “lie” when in fact the only thing Dunn’s yarn proves is that he has an incoherent and rather vivid imagination. Fortunately for Mr. Dunn, this is all that’s necessary in order to secure a gig writing for the Huffington Post.

The dapper Geoffrey Dunn is pictured below with fellow palin-obsessed HuffPo "writer", Shannyn Moore. Yes, this is the deranged Shannyn Moore who runs around taking pictures of Governor Palin's skirts with her cell phone camera. This rather eccentric behavior was chronicled for the ages in the comments section of Rich Crowther's now legendary "Mae Day thread" and subsequent follow-up. Perhaps Ms. Moore, like Mr. Dunn, hears voices too. Birds of a feather I guess...



(A big hat tip to Sheya who collaborated on this post)