In yesterday’s post, That Dog Don’t Hunt, I provided significant documentation to demonstrate that even though advertising herself as a hunter of big game, Beautiful Sarah (B.S.) has not held a hunting license in Alaska for at least the last three years.    http://malialitman.wordpress.com/2010/09/17/that-dog-dont-hunt.  Ever since the publication of the Vanity Fair article suggesting that Palin doesn’t really hunt,   www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2010/10/sarah-palin-2  the Palin family seems to have worked quite hard to prove that Sarah actually does hunt. Even though B.S. didn’t specifically address the Vanity Fair article and the suggestion that she is not really a hunter,  Palin herself has mentioned caribou hunting in several of her recent speaking appearances.  On August 30 B.S. gave a speech in Pennsylvania at a Pro-Life rally.

http://www.palintv.com/2010/08/30/governor-palin-speaks-at-hershey-lodge.  Even though being an advocate for “life” she gratuitously mentioned her desire to kill animals. Again on Sept 13, while in Kansas City B.S. mentioned the caribou hunt, in which she had recently participated, and left us with the graphic illustration of caribou blood that remained under her beautiful nails.  http://malialitman.wordpress.com/2010/09/16/dont-you-hate-it-when-you-get-caribou-blood-under-your-nails.  In case you missed that reference to caribou hunting B.S. gave a speech to the Republican Governor’s Association on Sept 17th in Iowa, and once again advertised the fact that she had been hunting caribou in ANWAR last week. http://www.justnews.com/video/25059727/index.html.  Bristol was so anxious to mention her mother’s hunting exploits, it was the very first thing Bristol mentioned in her interview on Sept. 3rd with Jay Leno. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/04/bristol-palin-jay-leno-levi-johnston_n_705592.html.  Curiously, Bristol said that her mother was actually hunting at that time.  That would mean that roughly 10 days had passed between the time that B.S. got caribou blood under her nails, and the time she gave her speech in Kansas City. 

Thus her attempt to “refudiate” the Vanity Fair article, both Sarah and Bristol, have intentionally reinforced their desire to paint the picture of Sarah as a hunter.  Perhaps the Holy Spirit should have whispered in Sarah’s ear that she should shut-up about the hunting.  Even if B.S. intended to convince people that it was part of God’s plan that she should kill Santa’s reindeer, she should have gotten a license to kill them first.  Maybe she should have written a letter to herself to tell herself that the law in Alaska demands that every hunter have a license to hunt, and hunting caribou requires a special permit.  Sarah must have forgotten that minor detail over the last several years, as I have confirmed with the Alaska Fish and Game Department that B.S. did NOT have either a license or permit to hunt caribou in Alaska in 2010, 2009, and 2008. 

So how is it that we have come to know Sarah Palin as a hunter?  It’s been two years since we were introduced to B.S., so let’s take a brief journey down memory lane to remember what Palin herself said. Palin passed McCain’s rigorous test and was selected as his VP choice because he recognized her education, intellect, experience, judgment, mental stability, attractiveness and the fact that she had two x chromosomes.  From her first speech before the RNC, Palin determined that it was important to her political image that she portray an image as a tough mom.  The joke about pit bulls and lipstick was specifically chosen to convey the message that Palin was as tough as a pit bull.  Remember her specific words:

“I had the privilege of living most of my life in a small town. I was just your average hockey mom and signed up for the PTA.  I love those hockey moms. You know, they say the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull? Lipstick.”

http://elections.nytimes.com/2008/president/conventions/videos/transcripts/20080903_PALIN_SPEECH.html.

In 2000 the CDC published a study on dog bite-related fatalities (DBRF).  They reported that during the 24 year period of the study, 238 people had been killed by dogs.  Pit bulls were identified as the breed of dog that was responsible for the highest number of deaths.  Thirty two percent of the deaths, 76 in number, were attributed to the type of animal Sarah Palin compared herself to.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pit_bull#Related_human_fatalities.  This person who is so focused on the “pro-life” agenda that she carried her child with Down’s syndrome as a prop or trophy at the RNC Convention, also intentionally painted herself as a killer.

Palin characterization as a killer has been something she has been perfecting since she first came onto the national scene in 2008.  In October of 2008 Palin gave an interview where she said:

“If I ever thought those days (being back home in Alaska) were over, I wouldn’t be running for vice president. It’s that important to me to be out there in the great outdoors.”

Todd then drove the point home that he and Sarah are hunters by displaying a picture from his BlackBerry to show a photo sent by two hunting pals from back home. On the screen were huge moose antlers framing a handwritten sign asking: “Where’s Todd?”

In this interview conducted from the back of the McCain bus, she focused on “Alaskana” life in the Frontier State. Especially hunting. B.S. said  it’s caribou more than moose hunting that she likes because “it’s kind of more family oriented.”

“And, yes, they eat all they kill. “We love our moose hot dogs, we love our moose chili and moose stew, but caribou too,” says Palin. “We do this not just because it is a good family activity, but fish, moose, caribou: Those are the staples. That’s what we eat. You go look in our freezer today, and you see fish, moose, and caribou. You don’t see beef in our freezer. I love that I was brought up on this clean, healthy source of protein, and we teach our children the same. It makes sense for us to seize the opportunity to harvest our own food.”

For Field and Stream fans, she uses a .243 for caribou, a small bullet normally used by white-tailed deer hunters. And she’s just as good at hunting exaggerations as the next guy, as evidenced when she asked hubby Todd about her longest shot:

Sarah: “What’s my longest?”
Todd: “It was pretty long.”
Sarah: “It was so impressive.”
Todd: “I was like, ‘Holy cow. She didn’t hit that one.’ ”
Sarah: “See, I have to ask him, so I’m not bragging about it myself.”
Todd: “Her dad probably knows better, but it was a long range. Probably closer to 200 yards.”
Sarah: “Two hundred? I was going to say 600.”
Todd: “A 150 to 200 is a long shot.”

http://politics.usnews.com/news/blogs/washington-whispers/2008/10/28/exclusive-interview-sarah-palin-on-alaska-life-guns-and-oil-drilling.html

Palin further demonstrated her love of killing caribou by giving out caribou jerky at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference.  http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36371177/39096951.

B. S. has four “regular needs” children and one “special needs” child.  She travels the country, spending more time away from her children than with them.  It is especially troubling that when she does have time to spend with them at home in Alaska, she would rather spend that precious time killing animals, instead of enriching the lives of her family.  Perhaps she should devote more time enhancing her image as a loving mother than a killer.  Even if my priorities are screwed up, and being a killer of animals is viewed as more important to the image of B.S. than being a loving mother and wife, it does seem that complying with the laws of Alaska should be important to B.S.  Either she is not the killer she professes to be, or she has violated the law in Alaska.  In either event she is not the loving mother she professes to be.  The only thing that seems to be true about the image of B.S. is the analogy to a pit bull