Sarah Palin’s camp has finally weighed in on the Alaska birthday party brawl that put the former Republican vice presidential nominee and her family back in the national spotlight this past week.
The website Real Clear Politics spoke to what it described as a “source close to the Palin family” who offered the Palins’ side of the physical, bloody altercation that took place on Sept. 6 at a house in Anchorage. The article said the source’s description “diverge[d] significantly” from what had been reported elsewhere, but the anonymous portrayal essentially confirmed the broad outlines of the fight, including that Sarah Palin herself was present and was shouting as it all went down.
On Friday, TPM published a detailed account of the brawl based on reports from several news outlets as well as our own reporting. Two named eyewitnesses reported seeing the former Alaska governor at the party, including one who said he saw Palin’s husband Todd, son Track, and daughter Bristol were involved in multiple melees with other party guests that night. One anonymous source said Sarah Palin was “nearly crawling on top of people” while screaming and shouting profanities.
The source who spoke to Real Clear Politics for its article on Saturday said, however, there were a few details the Palin family saw differently, including how the fighting began.
The RCP source confirmed that Sarah Palin’s son, Track Palin, was the first family member involved in the fight, and Todd Palin, Sarah’s husband, was the next member to intervene.
But the source said Track Palin was not the one who picked a fight with his sister Willow Palin’s ex-boyfriend. The former boyfriend allegedly “tried to get in” the Palin’s stretch Hummer limousine after some “questionable behavior,” leading Track to get involved, according to the source. The source said four men then began fighting with Track, after which Todd Palin intervened and ended up bleeding from the fight. The source also said Track Palin ended up with four cracked ribs.
While RCP’s account was vague on some details, previous reports said there were at least two separate fights at the party that involved the Palins. One of the altercations, according to eyewitness Eric Thompson, who spoke to multiple news outlets, involved Sarah Palin’s daughter, Bristol Palin, who was seen punching the host of the party multiple times.
Alaska journalist Amanda Coyne, who first broke the news of the brawl, initially reported that Bristol Palin demonstrated that night she had “a particularly strong right hook.”
While the RCP source did not dispute Bristol was involved in the altercation, the person “took issue” with the idea that she threw a punch with her right hand. The source, according to Real Clear Politics, noted “that the eldest Palin daughter is left-handed.”
The RCP source also disputed Thompson’s account to ABC’s “Good Morning America” that Sarah Palin could be heard yelling “Do you know who I am?” during the commotion.
The source said Sarah Palin was actually shouting about her son’s status as a military veteran.
The source said Sarah Palin was shouting “Don’t you know who he is? He’s a vet!”
“From my understanding,” the source told Real Clear Politics, “she was in full ‘mama grizzly’ mode defending the kids.”
