Dear Hot Air, What Did Palin Ever Do to You?

I'm wondering what Governor Palin ever did to garner the level of caustic snark she has received from the writers at Hot Air. Aside from Ed Morrissey, who has generally covered the governor in a respectful and substantive manner, the other writers seem to have a bad case of PDS.

For example, while covering the CPAC keynote address announcement yesterday, Tina Korbe took the opportunity to rehash old memes and linked to a couple deranged Palin-haters. Why the need for this kind of "analysis" just to cover a simple announcement? I guess it would make more sense if Hot Air were a lefty rag, or a regular MSM page, but it's not. It's one of the top conservative blogs online, so this attitude held by most of it's writers isn't based on ideological grounds. Or is it? I really don't know because I don't understand it, hence the title of this piece.

Korbe began by stating:

For the past four years, she has swayed, danced and dodged around the Conservative Political Action Conference, but, this year, Sarah Palin says she has committed to deliver the keynote address Feb. 11, the last day of the conference. ABC’s The Note recounts the rocky history between the former vice presidential candidate and CPAC’s sponsor, the American Conservative Union:

She declined to keynote the event in 2011, citing a scheduling conflict. But her refusal to participate fueled speculation that she wasn’t going because of GOProud, a gay Republican group, that planned to attend. She denied that was the case. Her political action committee, SarahPAC, did sponsor a reception at the convention.

In 2010, Palin cited ACU’s business dealings, particularly those of its then-chairman David Keene, as the reason for dodging CPAC.

In 2009, she initially accepted an invitation to kick off the convention, but then dropped out, saying that she had to attend to the “duties of governing.” She sent a taped message instead.

And in 2008, Palin cancelled her speech just two weeks before the event. By then, she had not been named Sen. John McCain’s vice presidential candidate, but in 2007, the man who would eventually become her running mate was booed by the crowd.

Yes, in 2009 Governor Palin had her hands full in Alaska, not to mention she was getting sued every time she even thought about leaving the state. In 2010, there were some issues with CPAC head, David Keene. In 2011, the CPAC keynote address took place on the same day as the Iron Dog banquet, so there was a scheduling conflict. That's not exactly what I would refer to as 'swaying,' dancing,' or 'dodging' the event, and it certainly had nothing to do with GOProud's participation. Both Tina Korbe and ABC could stand to do a little research before writing their articles. Then again, that wouldn't help them distort perceptions, so why would they?

Korbe continues:

Why now? It’s fun to speculate. Could be that she’s keen to recover her standing in the CPAC straw poll, in which she’s fallen over the years.

Um, no. We all know how Governor Palin feels about polls:

"Polls? Nah... they're for strippers and cross country skiers,"

It's laughable to suggest that Governor Palin would accept an invitation to give the keynote address at this years CPAC conference, all because she wanted to get higher numbers during the event's straw poll. During a year in which she's NOT even running for office, no less. Korbe continues:

Could be that she doesn’t have quite so many opportunities to nab headlines as she once did.

Governor Palin can "nab" a headline anytime she wants to. Korbe is obviously a person who doesn't understand Governor Palin very well. The governor doesn't "nab" headlines to get attention for herself. She has always used her platform to push a message of reform, fiscal sanity, and responsible government. If people would just get over their media-driven, false perceptions they might just hear what Governor Palin has to say. Next:

Could be that she thinks CPAC could be an ultra-dramatic setting to drop an endorsement.

Ah yes, we all know how Governor Palin uses "ultra-dramatic" settings to make announcements. After all, she announced she was running for the Governor of Alaska from her kitchen, and announced she wasn't running for president by calling in to a radio talk show. Try again, Tina:

Or it could be that she still believes strongly in the message of limited government that she’s articulated from her first day on the national scene — and sees this as a timely opportunity to remind voters of that message.

Bingo! She finally gets it. So why all of the meme-driven, garbage speculation on the way to reality? Because that's what Hot Air does. She goes on (emphasis replaces links in original piece):

It’s certain, though, that she’s still a lightning rod for emotion and opinion. As just one recent example, her remark to the effect that Michele Bachmann should drop out of the presidential race drew exceptional cheers and jeers. Today, Twitter and the blogosphere are alight with folks who say they’re excited to hear Palin speak at CPAC and those who say they saw this coming and, frankly, consider Palin a little passé.

These highlighted examples that I removed the links from, were not from honest people who really took issue with Governor Palin over her Bachmann statement, or just some folks who only now consider her "a little passé." No, the former link was to John Ziegler's website, who has flipped his own script in trying to obtain relevancy and a meal. The latter is a link to someone who has always had an irrational hatred for Governor Palin, by the name of Doug Mataconis. Yet, Korbe links to them without any context as if they are honest brokers without the need to include their background information to her readers. It's an old dirty trick that requires readers to be informed before they actually read the piece. If not, they may walk away from the article without all of the facts.

I guess it makes sense that a site run by an anonymous PDSer like "Allahpudit" would seek other writers who share his disdain for the reformer from Alaska. What I don't get is why that disdain exists in the first place. If she were running against their candidate in this year's GOP primary, it would make sense, but she isn't. Whether people such as Jazz Shaw and Tina Korbe like it or not, Governor Palin is a leading voice in the Republican party and with grassroots conservatives. Just this week, Mr. "Electable" himself, Mitt Romney referred to Obama as a "crony capitalist." That never would have happened had the governor not made this an issue during this election.

Governor Palin and her family have endured more crap from the media and the left than anyone who writes for Hot Air ever has. She has been calling Obama out since 2008, and has been a major voice shaping the issues that concern our movement and our nation. She deserves more respect than she gets from GOP, and most certainly from a group of bloggers who supposedly agree with her on those very issues.