November 9, 2010 10:04 AM

Sarah Palin Takes Aim at the Wall Street Journal

By
Lucy Madison
Topics
Domestic Issues

Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin

(Credit: AP)
In a statement posted on her Facebook wall on Monday, Sarah Palin took aim at a new enemy - the Wall Street Journal - after the newspaper disputed factual evidence behind statements she made about the Federal Reserve during remarks earlier in the day.

"Do Wall Street Journal Reporters Read the Wall Street Journal?" Palin wondered, in the headline of her Facebook post.

"Ever since 2008, people seem inordinately interested in my reading habits. Among various newspapers, magazines, and local Alaskan papers, I read the Wall Street Journal," Palin writes. "So, imagine my dismay when I read an article by Sudeep Reddy in today's Wall Street Journal criticizing the fact that I mentioned inflation in my comments about QE2 in a speech this morning before a trade-association."

The article questions the veracity of Palin's remarks that "everyone who ever goes out shopping for groceries knows that prices have risen significantly over the past year or so," and argues that, while recent moves by the Fed have drawn a fair amount of political criticism, the former Alaska governor "tries to draw the concerns about quantitative easing to inflation today and falls short."

Reddy writes:

Grocery prices haven't risen all that significantly, in fact. The consumer price index's measure of food and beverages for the first nine months of this year showed average annual inflation of less than 0.6%, the slowest pace on record (since the Labor Department started keeping this measure in 1968). Even if you pick a single snapshot -- say, September's year-over-year increase in prices -- that was just 1.4%, far better than the 6% annual increase for food prices recorded in September 2008.

Reddy continues that in September 2010, the overall consumer price faced "the slowest annual inflation rate for September since the early 1960s," other than in September 2009, when prices were actually down. "That's not strong evidence to argue about rising prices today," he writes.

In her response to Reddy's piece, Palin cited another story from the Journal as evidence that inflation had indeed caused rising prices at the supermarket. "The article noted that 'an inflationary tide is beginning to ripple through America's supermarkets and restaurants...Prices of staples including milk, beef, coffee, cocoa and sugar have risen sharply in recent months,'" Palin argues in her post.

CBS News political analyst John Dickerson points out, however, that Palin and the authors of article she cites as proof of her point are referring to different time periods: Palin's remarks argue that "everyone who ever goes out shopping for groceries knows that prices have risen significantly over the past year or so." But the article states that the "inflationary tide is beginning."

Dickerson also notes that Palin uses the word "significantly" when referring to price hikes over the course of the past year -- but points out that during the first nine months of the year, grocery prices actually increased at a record slow pace.

"Even if it's just the last couple of months she's talking about, a term like 'moderate' might have been more precise," says Dickerson. "Recent price increases have not been like the six percent increase of 2008."

Lucy Madison
Lucy Madison is a political reporter for CBSNews.com. You can read more of her posts here. Follow Hotsheet on Facebook and Twitter.

Add a Comment See all 276 Comments
by jackpenn November 11, 2010 1:52 AM EST
Sarah Palin owes John McCain big time, because nobody would've ever even heard of her if McCain didn't pick her out of the blue to be his running mate. Now, she is a big time celebrity, making all kinds of money shooting her big mouth off in opposition of everything Obama stands for, or the Democratic Party in general. Oh boy! she is even getting her own reality show, of her and her family running around in Alaska, like Grizzley Adams and family, making lots more money. She is just like all of the rest of her kind of people, who are only doing what thet are doing, because people will pay big money to see her do whatever it is she happens to be doing. People of today just want to idolize people as celebrities, as their role models, and make them all richer and richer. It is a shame people don't spend more of their time worshipping someone worth while, like our Lord Jesus Christ. People will spend all kinds of money on man made celebrities of the world, but for them to put money in the offering plate on Sunday morning, or contribute to the mission field would be last on their agenda.
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by JV1970 November 11, 2010 9:20 AM EST
I'm a Christian, too, and as a fellow Christian and a sister in Christ I'm going to tell you that you are breaking one of the Ten Commandments. It's the tenth one. The one that says "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ###, nor anything that is thy neighbour's." In spite of what you might think, Sarah Palin is your neighbor!
by newazmn November 11, 2010 12:03 AM EST
Just another blow job from Palin!!!
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by choiceshaveconsequences November 10, 2010 6:39 AM EST
Sarah is correct about the amount of attention paid to her reading habits. She still misses the point. It isn't which sources she reads as much as which ones does she comprehend. If she had bigger hands, she might understand more.
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by JV1970 November 11, 2010 9:23 AM EST
Do you EVER really listen to her? Or do you just shoot off your mouth before you know what she's really saying?
by Noval53 November 10, 2010 6:23 AM EST
An article about a CBS political reporter's opinion about a politician's opinion and a reporter's opinion about that opinion, the price of groceries, etc...zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
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by nearl451 November 10, 2010 6:19 AM EST
Damned liberal media....the Wall Street Journal?

What's next Sarah, when FOX corrects you, you attack your employer too?
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by Brian5013MS November 10, 2010 3:13 AM EST
Good job Sarah! Keep it up!
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by greta_olson November 10, 2010 2:58 AM EST
THE LYNCHING IS OVER! JOBS OR ELSE!
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by RealiteBites November 10, 2010 12:03 AM EST
I read something one of the members of the board of the Federal Reserve said about this plan to print up $600mil to buy bonds, and he was saying he reluctantly voted for the measure but that he didn't think it was an ideal situation. That like monetary policy isn't going to be able to fix an economy that's got issues with tax code, trade policy, etc.

I think Sara's fixin' to get her foot in the door of the White House, and this WSJ guy's just looking at his stock portfolio. Because apparently there's a real danger of deflationary pressures which can tend to dampen spending and investment. On the other hand, by injecting $600mil out into the economy, I guess that does make the US$ weaker relative to other currencies, which is going to raise the value of commodities like oil. And since the Chinese currency is pegged to the US$, it doesn't help alter the trade imbalance with that country, although it might help alter the trade imbalance with other countries (so long as they don't implement a similar measure).

I guess there's a POSSIBILITY that food prices MIGHT rise in the future, although I guess they haven't just yet. But theoretically, incomes are supposed to rise to match inflation, so I guess we'll have to wait and see what happens. It IS a possible danger though, right. I mean like this is why I started to lose interest in Economics - there's so many moving parts, it's virtually impossible to know with certainty all the possible pros and cons of any particular action or inaction.

Anyhoo ... I just wish Washington would put some more thought into the global picture. Like hopefully they're not pinning their hopes on this one measure by the Federal Reserve, as if everything else is all cool ...
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by mahdeealoo November 9, 2010 11:52 PM EST
She is so out of her league. Ya know, ya can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.
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by Doctor_Bones November 9, 2010 11:44 PM EST
What a load! Sarah's old boss John McClame voted for the massive Wall Street bailouts right before the 2008 elections and now the schoolmarm is all against Wall Street now that its the popular thing to do.
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