Sarah and Greta: Dysfunctional High School Days Revisited

Update: May 29, 1010

In light of recent events involving Joe McGinnis and Sarah’s latest example of her persecution fantasy, I thought this old post about Greta VanSustern’s strange relationship with Sarah was worth another look.

Written in October 2009, it’s as relevant today. Those of us who ‘pay attention’ to Sarah are very familiar with her immature reactions to any event that doesn’t go her way. (Geez, imagine once again, the nightmare of Sarah Palin anywhere near the real problems of the White House!) Sarah has shown us, repeatedly, that she is thin-skinned and vindictive; many people who have had dealings with her have commented the mean-spririted reactions she displays when someone ‘crosses’ her.

So, here we have Joe McGuiness, a well-known writer who is working on a book about Sarah for whom ‘God has opened a door’ right next door to Sarah’s house in Wasilla! According to Joe, the reaction (at least to those of us who have grown to know Sarah) is typical Sarah-the-High School-mean-girl! She runs to Facebook, and writes a lamely sarcastic post, describing a scene where she is outside in ‘a tank top and shorts’ and goes on to insinuate that Joe will be peering into her daughter’s bedroom!

Isn’t this what ANY teen-aged Diva would do if defied??? Yep, that’s SarahStyle! Immature, petty and vindictive.

Sarah’s daughters and sexual threats to them are a recurring theme in Sarah’s world, and this time it’s Piper. Some of you may remember that in her book, Sarah recounted an ‘incident’ about Willow being the subject of threats of gang rape while in Juneau. Serious threats! Serious threats?? Hmmm well apparently not serious enough to report them to school authorities, or law enforcement or even to Sarah’s own Security people! In another instance, a lame joke about A-Rod and Bristol (Letterman got the daughters mixed up) turned into OUTRAGE! and Statutory Rape in the Sarah version!

Sarah’s self-image is closely tied, if not entirely made up of, her sexuality. This is not surprising really; her father isn’t shy about referring to his daughter in terms that border on the inappropriate. To most people, there is something vaguely creepy about a Dad who would refer to the birth of a grandchild as ‘I was there when he popped out’ or wears a Tshirt proclaiming his 40 something daughter to be ‘hot’. While most grandfathers would say: those kids are always losing something! Chuck Heath specifies, they are always ‘losing their underwear’. Creepy. Did Sarah grow up hearing her Dad comment on her looks, her sexual appeal, her ‘talents’ ? Does her obsession with men seeing her daughters as ‘sexual objects’ stem from her own love/hate self-image as an aging woman who is losing her looks while her young daughters are growing into theirs? Worse, does Daddy now make those same welcome/unwelcome comments about Bristol, Willow and Piper?

Which brings me back to Greta: the smart girl in High School, who worked hard at her studies. She probably had a lot of friends but none like Sarah Heath Palin, unless it was to borrow her notes before exams. I’m guessing that Greta never got ‘messages’ from her family that her looks would open doors for her, nor did she need to use her sexuality to get ahead, if it ever occured to her at all.

But …….. still ……… even the plain girls with brains must have even a tiny bit of envy for girls like Sarah Heath, who Dumb & Wink their way up the ladder while GretaGirls rely on hard work, integrity and open their own doors!

Having lived her life with the confidence of being ‘smart,’ it must have been a shock for Greta to lose a poll she conducted on her own website, in response to an email calling her ‘stupid’. Sadly, it might not have occured to her when she joined FOX how much she would need to dumb herself down in order to communicate with the notoriously dim-witted and undereducated FOX audience! Being lumped in with the likes of Sean Hannity, Glen Beck and O’Reilly must be a humiliating experience for someone like Greta, who at one time was – in my opinion-the most respected legal analyst on TV.

I wonder if Greta now looks at Rachel Maddow, and thinks of what might have been! Might have been respected as a flawless, honest researcher. Might have been admired for her charm, personality and intelligence. Might have been envied for her quick wit, logical thinking skills and on point criticism. Instead, Greta has become a joke; a lapdog to the popular girl in High School. So needy to be known as ‘Sarah’s friend’ that Greta has reduced herself to calling Joe McGinnis ‘the Wasilla Stalker’ ….. and publishing a photo of the ‘fence’ on her blog. Greta, the legal analyst who never allowed her personal opinion to cloud her legal opinion when commenting nightly on the OJ trial, has sunk so low that she now slanders a respected writer. Greta, the smart girl, lowering herself to Sarah’s mean girl vindictive tactics. Greta, now catering to an audience that is not looking for factual information, but rather, is expecting to be told what they want to hear.

Here is what I wrote back in October 2009, when the big Oprah interview was announced.

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This whole FOX vs WH, Greta, Palin, Oprah thing has got my little mind all a’flutter! It’s too delicious to ignore!

It’s a bad day for Greta! First, the White House decides to put FOX in its place and now Sarah has turned her back on FOX and mostly on Greta!

To begin with:>>> Sour Grapes at gretawire.com today! Poor Greta, she really thought she would win “the bookings race for Governor Sarah Palin’s first book interview” ……….. ?????

Greta, after all .. DESERVED it, didn’t she??… And now look what’s happened ! Sarah has stabbed her in the back and gone to OPRAH!

Psst Greta: you should have KNOWN Sarah would discard you like a used tissue, it’s her MO! Weren’t you listening to OTHERS who’ve worked with her?

Still ……. Greta asks on her blog:

So who won the bookings race for Governor Sarah Palin’s first book interview? Oprah! And what makes this particularly interesting is that Oprah is a huge (and early) supporter of President Obama. During the election (when Palin was on the ticket and running) Oprah left the talk show set and stumped for candidate Obama against McCain and Palin.

Will Oprah ask the Governor about Bill Ayers? (remember the Governor talking about that on the campaign trail?) Will the interview be fascinating? or mean spirited? tough? touchy-feely? factual? inquisitive? straight forward? cold? warm? probing? (1)

Will Oprah ask the Governor about Bill Ayers? (remember the Governor talking about that on the campaign trail?) Will the interview be fascinating? or mean spirited? tough? touchy-feely? factual? inquisitive? straight forward? cold? warm? probing? (1)

Gee Greta, I was ALSO wondering about Oprah’s questions! Mine were:

1- How much OIL does Alaska produce NOW and how much would Drill Baby Drill ‘really’ produce? (I know, but Sarah won’t know)

2- It’s been said that you are not a ‘thoughful’ person. What do you think that means?

3- When you went into premature labour with an at-risk child, what were you thinking when you decided to fly from Dallas to Seattle to Anchorage then drive to Wasilla? Wasn’t that reckless?

4- Your SarahPac solicits donations from Americans for whom $10.00 is a lot of money. You call yourself a soccer Mom, and one of the little people … how do you connect that with the Kennedy-esque compound you are building in Alaska today?

5- When you said President Obama was ‘palling around with terrorists’ …. did you know who Bill Ayers was? Had you ever read about him?

6- Do you know that many of the most famous quotes by Reagan, are also famous quotes by Mao Tse Tung? Have you ever read any philosophers?

7- Katie Couric did NOT imply that people in Alaska had no access to news/book/magazines .. why did you feel the need to rephrase her question so that it appeared condescending, when it wasn’t at all?

8- Do you think you are as well informed and capable as Hillary Clinton to be President? Do you know what a President does?

Oprah? Will you ask about ‘palling around’ with the likes of Glen Beck, endorsing him on her site?

Will you challenge her on her ‘death panel’ scaremongering?

Will you ask her probing questions are the ‘oil industry’ that will reveal that she knows nothing about it?

How about asking her a few foreign policy questions?

Depreciating Value of the $$$ ??? I’d like to know how much she knows about International Finance ‘stuff’ .. does she know the exchange rate between the US dollar and the Hawaiian dollar???

and finally, Oprah, will you be changing your name to ‘Greta’ after the interview?

Time will tell, but for the moment, back to Greta!

Greta is obviously very dissappointed, after all the support she gives Sarah, I am sure she expected to be rewarded. After all, Greta made a fool of herself in AK with her ‘interview’ (hero worship) in Wasilla. And Greta plugs Sarah’s site for her, increasing the numbers dramatically!

But … Palin’s reputation precedes her, Greta should have seen this coming.

Sarah is a USER, anyone who has worked with her has said so.

The McCain campaign staff said so, the legislators of Alaska said so, even Levi said so! (Where is Meg these days?)

Greta and Glen and ALL of FOX have served their purpose, and Sarah has moved on to ‘brighter lights’ ……. She has some inside the beltway heavy hitters now!

Greta is crushed! She thought she worked for a REAL TEE-VEE News Network! She thought Sarah really liked her!

Well, Greta, Sarah was the popular cheerleader who borrowed your notes and never gave them back! So sorry. Thanks anyway, see ya. (wink)I have been watching Greta for a long time, though not so much in recent years since she went to FOX.

Back in the 90′s though, during the OJ trial, Greta was a nightly guest on Larry King, along with Roger Cossak (sp) … she was fair, unbiased and usually RIGHT when she and Roger Cossak voiced their opinions on the trial. Greta would analyse that day’s events, zero in on the relevant issues and explain what everything meant. She knew her stuff, and when Judge Ito convened the court the next morning, he pretty much did what Greta had predicted. So did the Jury.

Greta was the ‘go to’ person on all things Legal.

After the trial, Greta and Roger shared a show on CNN .. (can’t remember the name): they discussed and examined current legal issues/stories. It was always informative, interesting and factual. Again, Greta was impressive; a skilled interviewer (cross-examiner) always on point cutting through the fluff to get at the issue.

THEN … Greta joined FOX ! She did try (in the beginning) to keep it classy; but, somewhere around the time of the Aruba Girl story, she went tabloid. Nancy Grace the Bimbo (also a Larry King graduate, btw) had a nightly show competing with Greta. Where Nancy was self-righteous and judgemental, Greta was still in ‘legal expert’ mode. Soon, Greta joined the tabloid format.

I always respected Greta, because I admire educated, intelligent women; and make no mistake, Greta is very smart. The real story about Greta, in my view, is that she traded in her ‘brain’ for ‘ratings’.

When Palin came along, Greta hitched her wagon to Sarah’s rising star. Her ‘interviews’ with Palin were embarassing to watch, she was literally drooling over Sarah and Todd.

Greta might be offended to be lumped in with the likes of Beck, and so she should be! It seems that she she is still under the impression that she has a reputation for integrity and truthworthiness. It is a shock to her to be lumped in with the rest of the FOX bunch.
She may just now be realizing that her ‘current fan base’ are the same undereducated people that Beck draws in…. in her mind, she gave her viewers the credit they didn’t deserve.

But… Greta …. you work for FOX … is it really a surprise to you that FOX edits video clips, misrepresents what people actually say, starts lynch mobs etc …

When did your ‘legal mind’ begin accepting this as ‘normal’? When did you develop the ability to turn off your integrity?

Greta, when you lay down with dogs, you get fleas. Do you really expect people to see you differently (even if you are) ???

Keep your outrage, and examine where you steered your career, Greta … I used to admire you so much, when you cared more about your integrity than your ratings.

Greta, are you just now realizing that you sold out?

FOX will dump you if you regain your integrity, just as Sarah has dumped you when someone bigger, like Oprah came along.

“Popular girls” ALWAYS dump the brainy girl when they see an ‘open door’.

Sarah told you that herself, Greta. Remember?

I’m like, OK, God, if there is an open door for me somewhere, this is what I always pray, I’m like, don’t let me miss the open door. Show me where the open door is. Even if it’s cracked up a little bit, maybe I’ll plow right on through that and maybe prematurely plow through it, but don’t let me miss an open door. (2)

(1) www.gretawire.com
(2) http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/11/10/sarah-palin-fox-news-inte_n_142856.html

FOLLOW UP ON THE INTERVIEW:Greta’s blog on November 17, 2009

AFTER the interview, Greta is still stinging from Sarah’s decision to choose Oprah for the 1st big interview. This is how Greta handles it on her blog:

So today was the big day — Oprah interviewed Governor Palin. I was very interested in watching the interview. As you know, there are many issues I don’t agree with the Governor on (or anyone for that matter) and I was anxious to see how Governor Palin answered the policy questions. Yes, I confess I like also to hear the personal stuff…but candidates, so that we can measure them, need to be asked policy questions. We never know a person’s view of an issue unless we ask. There is nothing like getting the answers right from the person. With politicians, I like a mixture of BOTH personal and policy / views on important matters.
We hear rumors (only from the media as the Governor has never said it) that she may run in 2012…so this book tour is/was the perfect opportunity to ask a few policy questions…find out what she thinks. Plus, it seems only fair to give her a chance to tell us her views on important issues (yes, like the ones the men get asked….war…economy….etc.) since she gets criticized for being light on policy. So… we should find out what she thinks about the heavy lifting issues, too, right?

So did Oprah ask any policy questions ? or was it all personal or gossip?

Now that is funny, Greta implies that SHE would have asked ‘policy’ questions and that Oprah was pretty much just ‘gossip’ .. RIGHT Greta, because YOUR interview was all about policy huh?

Greta, Sarah’s book has no policy statements .. it’s ALL about Gossip. And Sarah’s ME ME ME take on what happened to HER HER HER.

You’re right though, it seems that Oprah’s interview was softballed, as we all expected it to be.

Pot, meet Kettle, Greta!