Happy Birthday To An Iron Lady

From LOTUS:

"I would like to extend warm birthday wishes to Margaret Thatcher today. Baroness Thatcher continues to remain a role model to many people, particularly women, around the world. Her career is a collection of "firsts." She was the youngest female Conservative Party member to stand for election in history, she was the first woman to hold the title Leader of the Opposition, and she was the first woman to become Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

"As Prime Minister, she took an active role in defending economic freedom and democratic ideals. Her push to privatize British industry and lower tax rates led to a substantial economic expansion in the United Kingdom. She was just as influential in foreign policy. Along with President Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul II, Prime Minister Thatcher recognized the evil of Communism and worked tirelessly to erode the power and influence of the Soviet Union.

"Her life and career serve as a blueprint for overcoming the odds and challenging the "status quo." She started life as a grocer's daughter from Grantham and rose to become Prime Minister - all by her own merit and hard work. I cherish the accomplishments of Margaret Thatcher and will always count her as one of my role models."

- Sarah Palin
Methinks Palin sees a bit of herself in Thatcher's story. And methinks I see a touch of Thatcher in Palin. Many of these Thatcher quotes I can hear coming from America's fighting lady:

Being powerful is like being a lady. If you have to tell people you are, you aren't.

I always cheer up immensely if an attack is particularly wounding because I think, well, if they attack one personally, it means they have not a single political argument left.

I am extraordinarily patient, provided I get my own way in the end.

I am in politics because of the conflict between good and evil, and I believe that in the end good will triumph.

I just owe almost everything to my father and it's passionately interesting for me that the things that I learned in a small town, in a very modest home, are just the things that I believe have won the election.

I owe nothing to Women's Lib.

I seem to smell the stench of appeasement in the air.

If my critics saw me walking over the Thames they would say it was because I couldn't swim.

If you just set out to be liked, you would be prepared to compromise on anything at any time, and you would achieve nothing.

If you lead a country like Britain, a strong country, a country which has taken a lead in world affairs in good times and in bad, a country that is always reliable, then you have to have a touch of iron about you.

If you want something said, ask a man; if you want something done, ask a woman.

It may be the cock that crows, but it is the hen that lays the eggs.

Of course it's the same old story. Truth usually is the same old story.

One of the things being in politics has taught me is that men are not a reasoned or reasonable sex.

Pennies do not come from heaven. They have to be earned here on earth.

Platitudes? Yes, there are platitudes. Platitudes are there because they are true.

There are still people in my party who believe in consensus politics. I regard them as Quislings, as traitors... I mean it.

There is no such thing as society: there are individual men and women, and there are families.

This lady is not for turning.

We were told our campaign wasn't sufficiently slick. We regard that as a compliment.

What Britain needs is an iron lady.

It's about time America got its fighting lady.