Sarah Palin's coin controversy
The former VP candidate appears to blame Obama for a 2005 redesign of the dollar coin. Is Palin's judgment going rogue?
At a speech in Wisconsin this week, Sarah Palin noted how the words "In God We Trust" had been moved to the edge of the new dollar coins. "Who calls a shot like that?" she reportedly asked, before identifying the change as part of a "disturbing trend." Some read this as an implied criticism of the Obama administration, even though the decision to redesign the coins was made by the Republican-led congress in 2005. Palin has since denied her remarks were critical of either administration. But is this an honest misunderstanding or irresponsible controversy baiting? (Watch Fox News fact-check Sarah Palin's coin claims)
Even Fox News isn't biting on this one: Palin's newest conspiracy theory is "too much even for Fox News," says Lila Shapiro in the Huffington Post. The news channel, which some consider to be supportive of the conservative agenda, ran a fact-checking piece on Palin's speech, and reported that her comment on the coin redesign was an "unsaid but implied" rebuke of Obama. "This must sting a bit."
"Fox News Fact-Checks Sarah Palin"
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Palin blamed liberals, not Democrats: Did Palin really blame Obama for the new coins, asks Bob Ellis on the Dakota Voice, because there's "no quote to that effect" in any of the reports. More likely, Palin was implying that "liberals" were responsible for the changes, and the Bush administration had "more than its fair share" of them. The only reason this has been blown up to these proportions is because liberals "loathe" this "decent, conservative woman."
Palin thinks she's not accountable to the truth: Maybe Sarah Palin truly believes she can "go rogue" with the facts and get away with it, says Stu Schutzman at ABC News. After all, the former Alaskan governor "banned all media coverage" of her speech, and it was only due to a group of "enterprising reporters" that this story leaked out. Perhaps she thinks she can "say whatever she pleases to friendly audiences" and just "hope that no one else hears."
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