How The Media Gives A Negative Spin To A Palin Story

The headlines caught my eye:

"Iowa Group Winces At $100,000 for Palin Speech"

"Palin's 'Really Odd' Fee"

"Iowa Group Says 'No Thanks' To Expensive Sarah Palin"

Those headlines last week, and dozens of others, would lead one to believe that Sarah Palin was trying to soak a Conservative group in Iowa for her $100,000 dollars speaking fee and that the group turned her down.

As usual, that is not the story at all. I have learned from past Sarah Palin appearance stories to give it a few days and let it play out. The truth always comes out, albeit too late.

The credit for getting the truth out this time goes to Politico.com This is what Ben Smith wrote to clear things up:

The Iowa Family Policy Center makes official what Palin spokeswoman Meg Stapleton suggested to me earlier this week: that the former Alaska governor won't be appearing before the social conservative group later this month.

Apparently, issuing a statement before she commits suggesting she may be coming and dangling $100,000 at her isn't the way to coax Palin into an appearance.

The group's statement today:

Iowa Family Policy Center ACTION received word this morning that Governor Sarah Palin is unable to accept our speaking invitation due to her book tour contractual commitments, which cannot be changed.

We extended our invitation knowing she would be in the middle of her book tour and the chances of her being able to accept any invitations were extremely slim.

In the meantime, some Iowa Republican activists had complained the policy center and a pro-Palin group based in Washington, D.C. were raising money for her to attend the fundraiser.

"She has asked if she could speak at a future mutually agreeable date. She will not accept any fees for her appearance," English said in the statement.

So here is the truth - the Iowa Family Policy Center did want Sarah Palin to speak at its convention on November 21. The group was told that Sarah Palin had other commitments because of the November 17 release of her book "Going Rogue" and the following book tour. The group persisted and attempted to raise the six figure fee that The Washington Speakers Bureau is asking for a Palin appearance. Because the group is in Iowa, a key state for 2012 presidential contenders, some of its members were offended that the leadership was trying to raise money for a speech by a potential candidate, who should be happy at the chance to speak in the state. Sarah Palin's people told the group that it is not about the money, she would be more than happy to speak at a later date for no fee. She just cannot in late November. End of the non-story.

But in the world of Sarah Palin, everything is a story, even the in-fighting of a small Republican group in Iowa.

Here is why the media jumped on the story - it allowed outlets to perpetuate the same false narrative about Palin that started a year ago. The headline and the accompanying stories would lead you to believe that A) Sarah Palin was just after the money - making her a hypocrite who quit to cash in and even turned down a group she believes in because they couldn't pony up the cash; B) Sarah Palin again is a "no show" to an event because of miscommunication from her not ready for prime time Alaskan staff; and C) That Sarah Palin is such a political neophyte that she clumsily insulted Conservatives in Iowa, thus hurting her chances for a run in 2012.

All story lines the media has been promoting - All untrue, especially with this story - or non-story.

Even today when the story was exposed as bogus, the headlines continued as Reuters asks "Is Palin's Fee Too Steep For Iowa?"

Again, just to be clear, it has nothing to do with the fee. She's on her book tour. She will be back later - for free. *Sigh*

Big Kudos to Ben Smith and Jonathan Martin from Politico and people like Tom Beaumont from the Des Moines register and Holly Bailey from Newsweek who got the story right.