A Good Article

(sigh) After flipping through dozens of headlines about how hateful Palin is in "Going Rogue" and every other lie out there, I decided to post an article that is positive. Just for a change of pace:

Hard to be lukewarm about Alaska’s former governor

She talks funny, she’s dumb, and she was governor of Alaska … big deal.” That’s what a lot of people say about Sarah Palin. For those of us in conservative circles, we’re used to our candidates being ridiculed.

Remember Dan Quayle, Ronald Reagan and the previous president, George W. Bush? They all have one thing in common: They were depicted as having the IQ of a rock. Incredibly, the current VP has avoided that label.

If all you’ve read is headlines, you’d think the former VP candidate was dumb, too. The media has gone out of their way to depict her that way. Don’t believe me, just look at the cover of the most recent Newsweek magazine. “She’s just a pretty bimbo,” even though she was the youngest and first woman to govern Alaska, and do it successfully.

Not wanting to burden the state or her family, she resigned after countless false ethics complaints were incessantly lodged against her. Conservatives have latched onto her though. Her message is their message. It’s a message of limited, more efficient government. It’s a pro-life message that she not only speaks of but lives every day. It’s a message that the government should be working for you, not you working for it.

She’s on to something, too. Consider the 23rd District election in New York. Sarah Palin was one of the first to endorse conservative Doug Hoffman despite the Republican Party’s choice of liberal Dede Scozzafava.

Under pressure from conservatives, Scozzafava dropped out. Hoffman lost, but despite little name recognition or party backing, he almost won.

Recently, the elections here in Rochester resulted in many voting on the conservative line, not Republican. Conservatives also were polled to be the single largest ideological group in an October Gallup Poll, with a 40 percent majority. Those who considered themselves liberal polled at 20 percent.

A Pew Research Poll showed that conservative independents have risen to 33 percent from 26 percent in 2005. Voters who defined themselves as conservative democrats also are up 8 percent. There is a noticeable trend here.

Voters are sending a message that they want fewer taxes, less government interference and more accountability and Sarah Palin is ratcheting up the enthusiasm, unencumbered by office or handlers.

Whether you believe the McCain/Palin ticket should have won or not, one thing is clear: Her message is resonating all across the country. That may well usher in a new wave of “change we can believe in” in 2010.

- Petrena Hayes