Michelle Malkin » The bogus Sarah Palin Banned Books List

The bogus Sarah Palin Banned Books List

By Michelle Malkin • September 6, 2008 12:01 AM

Palin Derangement Syndrome strikes again. This time it’s hysterical librarians and their readers on the Internet disseminating a bogus list of books Gov. Sarah Palin supposedly banned in 1996. Looks like some of these library people failed reading comprehension. Take a look at the list below and you’ll find books Gov. Palin supposedly tried to ban…that hadn’t even been published yet. Example: The Harry Potter books, the first of which wasn’t published until 1998.

The smear merchants who continue to circulate the list also failed to do a simple Google search, which would have showed them that the bogus Sarah Palin Banned Book List is almost an exact copy-and-paste reproduction of a generic list of “Books Banned at One Time or Another in the United States” that has been floating around the Internet for years. STACLU notes that the official Obama campaign website is also perpetuating the fraud. And it’s spread to craigslist, where some unhinged user is posting images likening Palin to Hitler. Here it is again.

The person who first spread the Palin smear is identified as “Andrew Aucoin,” a commenter on the blog of librarian Jessamyn West. West has done the right thing in keeping the bogus comment up and pointing out in her main post that “there appears to be no truth to the claim made by the commenter, and no further documentation or support for this has turned up.”

It’s a fake. Not true. Total B.S. A lie.

If it gets sent to you by a moonbat friend or family member, set ‘em all straight. Fight the smears. They’ve only just begun.

The bogus Sarah Palin Banned Books List:

This is the list of books Palin tried to have banned. As many of you will notice it is a hit parade for book burners.

A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
Annie on My Mind by Nancy Garden
As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
Blubber by Judy Blume
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
Canterbury Tales by Chaucer
Carrie by Stephen King
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
Christine by Stephen King
Confessions by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Cujo by Stephen King
Curses, Hexes, and Spells by Daniel Cohen
Daddy’s Roommate by Michael Willhoite
Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Peck
Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller
Decameron by Boccaccio
East of Eden by John Steinbeck
Fallen Angels by Walter Myers
Fanny Hill (Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure) by John Cleland
Flowers For Algernon by Daniel Keyes
Forever by Judy Blume
Grendel by John Champlin Gardner
Halloween ABC by Eve Merriam
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Prizoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling
Have to Go by Robert Munsch
Heather Has Two Mommies by Leslea Newman
How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell
Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
Impressions edited by Jack Booth
In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak
It’s Okay if You Don’t Love Me by Norma Klein
James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D.H. Lawrence
Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman
Little Red Riding Hood by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
Love is One of the Choices by Norma Klein
Lysistrata by Aristophanes
More Scary Stories in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz
My Brother Sam Is Dead by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier
My House by Nikki Giovanni
My Friend Flicka by Mary O’Hara
Night Chills by Dean Koontz
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
On My Honor by Marion Dane Bauer
One Day in The Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn
One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Ordinary People by Judith Guest
Our Bodies, Ourselves by Boston Women’s Health Collective
Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy
Revolting Rhymes by Roald Dahl
Scary Stories 3: More Tales to Chill Your Bones by Alvin Schwartz
Scary Stories in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz
Separate Peace by John Knowles
Silas Marner by George Eliot
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
The Bastard by John Jakes
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
The Devil’s Alternative by Frederick Forsyth
The Figure in the Shadows by John Bellairs
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
The Headless Cupid by Zilpha Snyder
The Learning Tree by Gordon Parks
The Living Bible by William C. Bower
The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare
The New Teenage Body Book by Kathy McCoy and Charles Wibbelsman
The Pigman by Paul Zindel
The Seduction of Peter S. by Lawrence Sanders
The Shining by Stephen King
The Witches by Roald Dahl
The Witches of Worm by Zilpha Snyder
Then Again, Maybe I Won’t by Judy Blume
To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare
Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary by the Merriam-Webster Editorial Staff
Witches, Pumpkins, and Grinning Ghosts: The Story of the Halloween Symbols by Edna Barth

***

From the Anchorage Daily News story that inflamed P.D.S.:

Back in 1996, when she first became mayor, Sarah Palin asked the city librarian if she would be all right with censoring library books should she be asked to do so.

According to news coverage at the time, the librarian said she would definitely not be all right with it. A few months later, the librarian, Mary Ellen Emmons, got a letter from Palin telling her she was going to be fired. The censorship issue was not mentioned as a reason for the firing. The letter just said the new mayor felt Emmons didn’t fully support her and had to go.

Emmons had been city librarian for seven years and was well liked. After a wave of public support for her, Palin relented and let Emmons keep her job.

It all happened 12 years ago and the controversy long ago disappeared into musty files. Until this week. Under intense national scrutiny, the issue has returned to dog her. It has been mentioned in news stories in Time Magazine and The New York Times and is spreading like a virus through the blogosphere.

The stories are all suggestive, but facts are hard to come by. Did Palin actually ban books at the Wasilla Public Library?

…Were any books censored banned? June Pinell-Stephens, chairwoman of the Alaska Library Association’s Intellectual Freedom Committee since 1984, checked her files Wednesday and came up empty-handed.

Pinell-Stephens also had no record of any phone conversations with Emmons about the issue back then. Emmons was president of the Alaska Library Association at the time.

***

Reader Martin: “If you read the Anchorage Daily News article, towards the bottom, you find that Palin requested the resignations not only of the librarian, but of several other township officials. Why? Because they were political appointees who openly supported her political opponent. Palin requested the resignations a few days BEFORE she assumed office, apparently for political reasons, as would be routine in ALL such situations, including in the very small town of Washington, DC. [Didn’t some no-name politician fire all of the US Attorneys?] Frankly, it’s far more remarkable (and shows a great deal of tolerance) for Palin to have KEPT Emmons in office. And you’d think people would consider the source when Emmons claims Palin wanted to ban books.”

STACLU: “What the hell will they just make up next?”

Answer: A bogus tale of an affair. Debunked at Hot Air.

Posted in: Sarah Palin

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#444142

On September 7th, 2008 at 11:43 am, PatriotRider said:

nyk said:
Your “hive mind” description reminds me of a book I read as a child
You read a book?

BWWAAAAHAHAHA! You libs slay me with your ability at a comeback. God! My pancreas! Whoo boy!

I’m not above slinging a zinger here and there but you trolls never fail to amaze me how when you can’t think of an intelligent, informed comeback or arguement you revert to your childhood. That is, asuming you are not still a child.
#444143

On September 7th, 2008 at 11:43 am, St. Louis Blue said:

On September 6th, 2008 at 11:52 pm, FilmLadd said:

On September 6th, 2008 at 7:40 pm, dakine said:

FilmLadd, your whole “hive-mind” thing officially jumped the shark about 50 posts ago. Mix it up a little brah.

Dakine (aka King Pidgin-shtick) telling someone to mix it up!?!

That’s funny, I don’t care who you are…brah!
#444193

On September 7th, 2008 at 12:21 pm, atheling said:

On September 7th, 2008 at 6:55 am, nyk said:

Cheap shot coming from a know nothing twit who can’t debate because she has no critical thinking skills, making it rather ironic, since this little twit is an affirmative action recipient like her Obamessiah.

I bet you’ve never read a serious book in your life. Your reading list is probably a litany of navel gazing propaganda veneered with self congratulatory nonsense with a “politics of envy” theme.

Pathetic.
#444205

On September 7th, 2008 at 12:27 pm, FilmLadd said:

On September 7th, 2008 at 11:43 am, PatriotRider said:

My pancreas!

Didn’t catch that until the second reading. Laughed so hard it turned into a coughing spasm. Thank you

On September 7th, 2008 at 9:00 am, b-cat said:

FilmLadd, as I’ve told you before, I enjoy your posts, and I think you have an effective means of spotlighting collectivism in the individual.

I had a conservative friend over last night and mentioned your work here, and how I had noticed no one ever, ever denies being hive-mind.

Keep it up.

Thanks b. All of this has been a bit of “testing the waters” on a new website based on that concept.

Based on the reactions both negative and positive I believe I have a round-house punch. To be delivered about 30 days before the election.
#444409

On September 7th, 2008 at 3:47 pm, PatriotRider said:

Sometimes it gets so tedious. Like a child who keeps asking “why?” no matter how many different ways you explain it. Most of the time you just need to send them to bed without any supper.
#444629

On September 7th, 2008 at 8:21 pm, Lockstein13 said:

Off topic from “books”, but ON SMEARS:

how can we best hit back, wothout being “diverted” by the lies?

THIS video appealed to me greatly:

http://www.thepeoplescube.com/red/viewtopic.php?t=2281
#444636

On September 7th, 2008 at 8:27 pm, dakine said:

Thanks DougT…I’m glad somebody around here gets me.

atheling, you never disappoint in your ability to go to the ad hominem with folks holding differing viewpoints from your own. BTW, the “affirmative action” shot was borderline bigoted. You tend to show your true colors went going off on your overwrought and emotional vents. Rob, atheling. Atheling, Rob. Not much diff. One more BTW, the blind devotion you show to “your Sarah” is amusingly similar to the Obama worship this site is so found of lampooning.

FilmLadd, you may want to expand your “hive-mind” theory to explore its applicability to the social conservatives/religious right. Lots of examples to pull from on this site in fact.
#444646

On September 7th, 2008 at 8:45 pm, dakine said:

“fond” I mean.
#444747

On September 7th, 2008 at 10:32 pm, Danceswithdachshunds said:

I get Time magazine for free, (for what reason I don’t know -?). The Sept 15 issue arrived and in an article by pond scum, senior editor, Nathan Thornburgh, on page 29:

Stein says that as mayor, Palin was as much about promoting conservative values as about promoting growth. “She asked the library how she could go about banning books,” he says, because some voters thought they had inappropriate language in them. “The librarian was aghast.” That woman, Mary Ellen Emmons, couldn’t be reached for comment.

(According to pond scum, banning books is a conservative value diddenchaknow!)

Want more smear from pond scum? How about this on page 30:

…Palin’s staff and husband assembled a dossier of misbehavior by Wooten, which they tried to feed to his bosses. Among the charges: he shot a moose without a permit a few years back.

Yes Mr. pond scum, let’s all just ignore the tasering of a 10 year old boy, that’s just too irrelevant to bother mentioning, why waste ink…

But wait, there was enough ink to mention on page 27:

Did Palin fake the pregnancy of her son Trig?

The kossacks must be flagellating themselves for not inventing even worse lies seeing how easy it is to get anything they ~~cook~~ puke up printed in a trashy magazine like Time.
#444759

On September 7th, 2008 at 10:41 pm, atheling said:

On September 7th, 2008 at 8:27 pm, dakine said:

Captain Dogcatcher’s analysis is just as flawed as his political acumen.

Must be hard to be you, when you’re so wrong all the time.
#444882

On September 8th, 2008 at 12:20 am, dakine said:

atheling, you’re actually a very nice example of the “hive-mind” mentality on the hard social conservative right. Very little original thought. Operate out of your cult playbook on all issues. Must be easy to be you when all you have to do when faced with any issue at all is simply open up your playbook and regurgitate the appropriate response. Either that or spew whatever “your Sarah” thinks regarding the matter at hand. lgm has his Obama his messiah and you have your Sarah your queen mother. Like I said, must be easy to be you. Boring and vacuous, but easy.
#444908

On September 8th, 2008 at 12:54 am, atheling said:

Well, Captain Dogcatcher, I see you’ve been consulting a dictionary and thesaurus. I guess “sanctimonious” is wearing thin for you.

I wonder why you come here, when all you do is insult the people who comment? No one likes you here. Even when you lick “your man” chapoutier’s hand, he ignores you.

No one, absolutely no one, has ever thought of your comments as noteworthy, or interesting, or of any value here. Your “analyses” of anything is invariably pooh poohed by everyone here. No one ever speaks to you unless they mock or deride your arrogance and mean spiritedness.

You have been proven wrong again and again, so why should anyone consider what you say? It’s all worthless.

You’re the kind of person everyone ignores at the party, because you’re a pompous twit. And to prove it, I’ll bring it up every time your comments are slammed by someone here – when they’re not being ignored.
#445547

On September 8th, 2008 at 12:34 pm, dakine said:

Thanks for again underscoring my point about you atheling. You can’t be so dense that you don’t see the irony in your last comment can you? “Arrogance”? “Mean-spiritedness”? These terms define the tone of your presence on this site. Why is it that many of the more intelligent hard right posters around here are able to have civil and interesting discussions with the smart and articulate liberals who post here (e.g., chap, nyk, mj, Rusty, etc.), while you are only capable of rudeness, derision and personal attacks?

BTW, DougT is one of the two or three best posters on this board and he gets me, so stick that in your pipe and smoke it.
#445725

On September 8th, 2008 at 1:43 pm, nyk said:

this little twit is an affirmative action recipient like her Obamessiah.

Spoken like a good little regurgitator. At least you don’t even pretend to have an original thought. And for the record, if your proof that I’m an “affirmative action” recipient is that I’m a person of color, I’ll have to assume that you too have benefitted — greatly — by virtue of the fact that you’re a woman (which I’m still skeptical about).

You’re the kind of person everyone ignores at the party

Projecting, I think.

Arrogance”? “Mean-spiritedness”? These terms define [atheling's] tone of your presence on this site.

Yes. She’s every bad stereotype of conservatives personified. And pretty much incapable of having a discussion. Whatever. People this sour usually have pretty miserable lives, and I assume that’s the case here.

Anyway — enjoy the day, dakine.
#455078

On September 14th, 2008 at 11:17 pm, TooMuchTime said:

I think it was Huckabee that said, “If you’re taking major flack, it usually means you’re over the target.”

Yes. This is true. My father flew 30 missions in B-17s over Germany in WWII. I once asked how he knew which target to bomb. His answer – “You know you’re over the target when you start getting flak.”