As my Executive Assistant often points out to me, when a story lands on your desk that appears too good to be true, it usually is. Case in point, E! Online’s article of March 3rd, “Sarah Palin and Grabby Entourage ‘Like Locusts’ at Oscar Gift Suite” by Ted Casablanca and Whitney English.  The background of the article is that Palin attended a pre-Oscars charity event put on by The Silver Spoon and the Red Cross to support disaster relief efforts in Haiti. E! chose not to properly vet the story and instead unleashed a mocking screed against Sarah Palin loaded with defamatory assertions that require immediate corrections.  The Silver Spoon responded to the misinformation spread by this article and others like it with detailed retraction requests.  Below are statements from E! Online’s article juxtaposed with text from the release from The Silver Spoon:

E! Online:

We’re told Palin was quite the prima donna and that she insisted the suite be opened two hours early so she could come when no looky-loos would be around.

Silver Spoon:

The governor arrived with a small group about 15 minutes prior to our store’s official opening; and upon arrival, she and her entire group gave generous donations to the cause. We offered to open early to accommodate her schedule; she did not ask us to open early.

E! Online:

“They told us last minute to get here superearly [sic] for [Palin],” says our rightfully annoyed source. “Then, she wouldn’t let anyone take her picture or do any interviews.”

“Rightfully annoyed”?  Maybe not. Silver Spoon:

We asked and the governor happily agreed to take a photo with the American Red Cross staff and the staff of The Silver Spoon.

E! Online:

Palin grabbed some oversize sweatshirts and tie-dyed “jeggings” for Bristol, got a blowout by colorist Erick Orellana from the Chris McMillan Salon, along with snatching up jewelry from Pascal Mouawad, Skagen Watches, Lash Food and 40 pairs of Aiaiai headphones.

Silver Spoon:

Just one example of the many falsehoods is the ridiculous idea that Governor Palin walked away with 40 AIAIAI headphones. In reality, she was given two pairs of AIAIAI headphones – one for herself and one for her daughter Bristol who could not attend the event. The idea that she took 40 pairs is an outrageous falsehood.

E! Online:

Too fab she gave money, but we can assure you she did not give up any of her swag.

No, you can’t.  And what does “too fab” mean?  Anyway, from Silver Spoon:

The whole point of giving away products is to “give them away.” That’s why we call this type of event style a “gifting suite.”

So E! Online’s big bust is… Palin took gifts from the “gifting suite”?

E! Online:

Jeez, with this kind of bitchy and Hollywood-esque behavior, Sarah, you’re heading into Blind Vice territory! Or have you been there already?

Silver Spoon:

I escorted her around and introduced her to every vendor, and they talked to her about their products and gifted her with samples. She never asked for anything but politely accepted the products. The governor and her family and guests were very gracious and respectful to everyone.

Sounds “bitchy” indeed.  Since all of the evidence used in this piece that led Casablanca and English to the extremely sophisticated conclusion that Palin was “bitchy” is bogus, they ought to retract this offensive, misogynistic slur as well.

We think The Silver Spoon staff put it best in their press release:

We would like an immediate retraction and an apology to The Silver Spoon, its vendors, and especially to Governor Sarah Palin.

Please issue retractions to this “bitchy and Hollywood-esque” article.

Exit question:  If Palin is so green, so dumb, and so ripe for satire as E! Online and the rest of the mainstream media says she is, why does the left need to fabricate or wildly exaggerate stories to impugn her character?  If she’s so bad, prove it with the truth.

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These other publications also ran stories containing misinformation similar to what was cited above.  We request they issue corrections as well:

AOL’s PopEater: “Sarah Palin Reveals Her Love of Hollywood Swag”

New York Daily News: “Sarah Palin and entourage descend like ‘locusts’ on Oscar swag suite”

FishbowlLA: “Palin Posse Loots Oscar Gift Suite for ‘Charity’”

“Loots”?  Really? If there are others, and there surely are, please be sure to tweet them @retracto.

We kindly request all of these sources correct or retract their articles.