It’s becoming increasingly difficult to distinguish whether the media is blatantly biased or, simply put, just insanely stupid. Most likely both.

On Saturday night Governor Palin appeared on Justice with Jeanine Pirro, where after a 9 minute discussion on the budget, the deficit and a number of issues facing the nation the judge turned the discussion to Donald Trump persuing the birther issue.

Judge Jeanine: Alright Governor, Donald Trump who is considering a run for the presidency says that he’s got investigators in Hawaii, looking for President Obama’s birth certificate. What do you make of that?

Governor Palin: Well, I appreciate that the Donald wants to spend his resources in getting to the bottom of something that so interests him and many Americans. You know, more power to him. He’s not just throwing stones from the sidelines, he’s digging in there, he’s paying for researchers to find out why President Obama would have spent $2 million dollars to not show his birth certificate. So you know, more power to him.

Judge Jeanine: What do you think of the fact that the president is refusing to show his birth certificate? And I’ve heard that number before, $2 Million Dollars, that he is spending to not have to show the birth certificate. There is a difference between a birth certificate apparently and a certificate of live birth, but what to you think, is that relevant?

Governor Palin: Well, you know, I think that he was born in Hawaii because there was the birth announcement put in the newspaper. But obviously if there’s something there that the president doesn’t want people to see on that birth certificate, that you know he’s going to great lengths to make sure that it isn’t shown. And that’s kind of perplexing for a lot of people. But you know, again, Donald Trump – he may get to the bottom of it because he’s spending the resources that probably would be necessary to do some investigation.

As usual, it didn’t take too long for the entire national and international media to jump on it, totally ignoring the other parts of the interview where the Governor talked about the issues, and within hours the stories began coming in:

CNN: Palin gives Trump some verbal support on birther issue

ABC: Ex-Alaska Governor Seems to be Reverting to Her Old Position That Obama’s Birthplace Is Fair Game to Ask

ABC: Sarah Palin Supports Trump’s Birther Efforts

ABC: Donald Trump Sarah Palin Unite

Daily Mail: Birther u-turn: Sarah Palin jumps on the Trump bandwagon and backs his Obama investigation

The Celebrity Cafe: Sarah Palin Expresses Appreciation for Donald Trump’s Birther Movement Against Barack Obama

NYMag: Sarah Palin Embraces Certificateism: A Kinder, Gentler Birtherism

Christian Science Monitor: Ex-governor of Alaska gave the current reality-show star an attaboy for his embrace of “birtherism.”

The reason I post all those links is to point out the blatant bias, stupidity and out of control spin. Some didn’t even bother to point out that the governor said that she believes Obama was born in Hawaii, to make it appear that Governor Palin is part of the conspiracy.

Others went in the direction to suggest that Governor Palin flipped-flopped on the issue. Why? Because in February at the Long Island Association, the Governor said this:

Kevin Law: There is still, into his third year as president, there are still some people out there still questioning President Obama’s faith and citizenship. Do you question his faith and citizenship?

Governor Palin: I don’t, and those are distractions. What we are concerned about is the economy and we are concerned about the policies coming out of his administration and what he believes in in terms of big government and the private sector. So no, the faith, the birth certificate, you know, others can engage in that kind of conversation. It’s distracting, it gets annoying and let’s just stick with what really matters.

No. Governor Palin has not flip-flopped. She’s been quite consistent with her position on this issue. So for the people with brains the size of a peanut, let me explain it to you.

At the Long Island Association she was asked what her position is on the issue and whether she questions Obama’s faith and citizenship. She responded that she’s not bothering with this and, as far as she’s concerned, it’s a total distraction.

Judge Jeanine asked her what she thinks about others persuing it. Governor Palin responded that it appears that Obama is hiding something.  After all, he’s spending $2 million dollars to not have to show it. People have questions and she appreciates the fact that Donald Trump is willing to put in his OWN money to get wondering people some answers. So good luck to him. She did make it clear that she herself believes that the President was born in Hawaii (something some reports conveniently forgot to mention). If The Donald wants to pursue it and get this resolved once and for all, she wasn’t going to stop him.  It’s still a free country.

A typical example of the bias: This is how CNN transcribed her answer:

I appreciate that the Donald wants to spend his resources in getting to the bottom of something that so interests him and many Americans. You know, more power to him,” Palin said Saturday on Fox News. “He’s not just throwing stones from the sidelines, he’s digging in, he’s paying for researchers

This is what she actually said (Emphasis added to what CNN left out):

Well, I appreciate that the Donald wants to spend his resources in getting to the bottom of something that so interests him and many Americans. You know, more power to him. He’s not just throwing stones from the sidelines, he’s digging in there, he’s paying for researchers to find out why President Obama would have spent $2 million dollars to not show his birth certificate. So you know, more power to him.

CNN chose to cut off just before the point where the governor explains why some people may have questions, which makes all the difference. If people were to know that Obama is spending that kind of money not to show it, they would understand why people are asking questions.

ABC notes:

Although she said she believes Obama was born in Hawaii, Palin seems to be reverting to her old position that it is fair game to ask the president for his birth certificate.

Making it appear that Governor Palin is all over the place on this issue, the “reverting” that ABC refers to goes back to an interview Governor Palin had with Rusty Humphries on December 3, 2009:

Rusty Humphries: One of the questions Jason asks is, would you make the birth certificate an issue if you ran?

Governor Palin: I think the public rightfully is still making it an issue, I don’t have a problem with that. I don’t know if I would have to bother to make that an issue, because I think there are enough members of the electorate who want answers.

Rusty Humphries: Do you think it’s a fair question to be looking at?

Governor Palin: I think it’s a fair question just like I think past associations and past voting records, all of that is fair game. You know, I got to tell you too. I think, our campaign, the McCain-Palin campaign didn’t do a good enough job in that area. We didn’t call out Obama and some of his associates on some of their records and what their beliefs were and perhaps what their future plans were. And I don’t think that was fair to voters to not have done our jobs as candidates and as a campaign to bring to light alot of the things that now we are seeing made manifest in the administration.

Rusty Humphries: I mean, truly, if your past is fair game and your kids are fair game centainly Obama’s past should be. I mean, we want to treat the men and women equally. Right?

Governor Palin: Hey, you know, that’s a great point. In that weird conspiracy theory freaky thing that people talk about that Trig isn’t my real son. And a lot of people said well, you need to produce his birth certificate, you need to prove he is your kid, which we have done. But yeah, so maybe we can reverse that.

Governor Palin isn’t reverting or flip-flopping on anything. In fact this interview ties it all up. It clarifies the governor’s position. While she herself doesn’t have a problem with it and wouldn’t bother making it an issue, she understands why some people have questions and want answers. She believes a candidate’s associations and record are fair game, and voters have the right to ask whatever questions they like.

But in reality the birther issue is not really what this is about. This is about going after Governor Palin in every way possible. Had Governor Palin given Judge Jeanine the same response she had given at the Long Island Association, you’d be seeing an onslaught of stories about Governor Palin’s feud with Donald Trump. “Palin has harsh language for the Donald“.  “Palin defies Trump“.  “Palin to Trump: You Are a distraction” and so it would go.

This would have been followed by Donald Trump being invited on all the networks to react. He would be pushed into criticizing the governor. An imaginary feud between Donald Trump and Governor Palin would have gone on for weeks in an attempt to divide conservatives and pit them against each other. This time it didn’t happen so they went for the “conservatives are crazy conspiracy theorists ” angle.

Personally I don’t care about this issue and I agree with Governor Palin: It’s a distraction and a waste of time. There are enough substantive issues to challenge Obama on. I see no point in wasting energy on an irrelevant non-issue. But, if anyone is willing to throw his money and investigate it, I have no problem with them doing it, and should they come up with anything interesting it would be fascinating to know what they dug up, if anything at all.

I’ll conclude with this: What if it had been reversed? What if it had been Governor Palin who had spent $2 million dollars to avoid showing her birth certificate? Would the media consider those pursuing it? We all know the answer. But the evidence will only get stronger if and when Governor Palin enters the presidential race. Nothing will be off limits and, if the media, like they haven’t until now, won’t find anything realistic to challenge her on, they’ll just make stuff up. Who’ll be the conspiracy theorists then?

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Cross-Posted: C4P