Palin Supporters Working on New Analysis of Email Dump
Conservatives say Palin's emails showcase political strength.
June 14, 2011— -- Sarah Palin supporters have united in a collective grizzly roar, angered by the media's decision to analyze more than 25,000 pages of emails from Palin's term as the governor of Alaska. For the past several days hundreds, if not thousands, of commenters expressed their disappointment online, conservative writers and radio hosts lashed out -- even Ashton Kutcher seemed dismayed.
And now, claiming Palin has been mistreated by the media once again, Conservatives4Palin, a non-profit website with more than 1 million visitors each month, is planning to analyze the emails themselves.
"Some of us were like, 'Oh no, it's just going to be a massive witch hunt. We were afraid of what the media would cook up or try to take out of context," said Conservatives4Palin contributor Nicole Coulter, who lives in Hershey, Pa. "We feel like the media was hoping to find something to pin on her negatively but it's kind of blown up in their faces, with all due respect."
Coulter, who was a Democrat until deciding to become Republican in 2004, has spent the past year writing for the pro-Palin website, which was co-founded in 2009 by Rebecca Mansour, a current SarahPAC staffer. Mansour has some frankness issues of her own when it comes to the Palins.
Coulter says it's impossible to read the emails and not come away with the impression that Palin is loyal and protective of her staff.
"We're categorizing all those emails that suggest the record of a competent and ethical person," she said. "Her record is being finally revealed. I hope everybody reads the emails."
Coulter added, "I 100 percent support her, she's my No. 1 candidate."
Palin Supporters Reach Boiling Point
Although the email dump wasn't damaging to Palin, many of her advocates remain frustrated that the emails were posted in the first place. Angry comments have dominated news websites since Friday, and over the weekend the Twitter account of Crivella West, the company that put Palin's emails online for MSNBC, Mother Jones magazine and investigative news website ProPublica, was hacked.
Some of the tweets sent out over the weekend included: "Emails: Gov. Palin a Hard-Working Public Servant," "Email Witch-hunt Backfires" and "Weiner's America Or Palin's America - That Is The 2012 Choice."
Art Crivella, president and co-founder of Crivella West, told ABCNews.com the Twitter account was accessed from the company's Facebook page. Other than that incident, he says, they haven't encountered any backlash -- in fact, they have seen a huge amount of interest from around the world.
Crivella said the emails –- which were posted in just 12 hours -- have generated more than 10 million page views from as far away as Spain, Norway and "all over the English-speaking world."
Anticipating the public's fascination with all things Palin, The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times both created their own searchable Palin email databases. And the Washington Post created a special webpage to house stories about the Palin emails -- a quick search of the Post's website puts the latest article count at more than 30.
The Media Are 'Making Asses of Themselves'
The time and cost involved in such an extensive review of the former governor's emails became perplexing to thousands of commenters online, especially because the emails -- more than 13,000 messages -- were so voluminous they had to be housed in six boxes that each weighed 55 pounds.
National Review contributor and radio host Mark Levin commented on the "massive media frenzy" last Friday, saying the media are "making asses of themselves."
"We don't even know if she's running for office –- and look at this … We're told she can't win. We're told to dismiss her, and yet they are all over these emails," he said on "The Mark Levin Show."
"In the spirit of transparency" Levin called on President Obama, Vice President Biden, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi to release their emails. But, as he later noted, the Freedom of Information Act doesn't apply to Congress (or the central offices of the White House).
Linda Perez, administrative director of the governor's office in Alaska, told ABCNews.com she has so far received 17 FOIA requests for Palin's emails from media organizations.
ABC News did not submit a separate FOIA request, instead partnering with the Anchorage Daily News and the Daily Beast to digitize and analyze the documents.
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