The Gov is pretty busy these days. I'm going dizzy trying to remotely keep up. Here's a few highlights:
First up, Sarah hit the Villages today. Her interview with Gretchen Carlson is on tomorrow morning, bright and early. Articles here and here. Pictures here. Videos here and here. Excerpts from the articles:
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"I addressed her as 'President Palin,' " said Debbie McMillan of Orlando. "She said, 'I like that very much — I could live with that.' "
They waved cameras, wore "Palin 2012" T-shirts and "Women for Palin" buttons, and patiently waited when they became a surprise backdrop for Palin's 20-minute sit-down interview with FOX & Friends host Gretchen Carlson, expected to air this morning on the Fox News Channel. As her mother spoke, Piper trailed behind her toddling brother, the one whose hair she famously smoothed down with a little spit at the Republican National Convention.
Cheri Meadows, 65, a resident of the Villages for 17 years, had her own word for Palin: "courageous."
When she appeared inside, the crowd cheered loudly and chanted "President Palin."
"I thanked her father for raising a good, level-headed woman, and he said, 'Thank her mother, not me,' " said Justin Crowe, 26, who drove from Fort Lauderdale and waited nearly 24 hours to see her.
Eric Dry, 23, arrived at 3:30 a.m. praised her "pro-life, limited-government, low-taxes" stance. "There are only a select few people who will speak out for what we believe," Dry said.
"I told her she's amazing and to keep fighting because she's a voice for all of us," Capozza said.
As Palin spoke, Trig puttered around off-stage bare-footed, charming Sumter County sheriff's deputies and his 8-year-old sister, Piper.
As she sat down to sign books, her team provided the bookstore staff with a CD to play that started with the Brooks & Dunn tune "Only in America."
"She's the conservative we've all been waiting for," said Jackie Larkin, 47, of Ocala who spent the night outside the store.
Joan Butterfield, 74, who retired to The Villages from Vermont, wept as she recounted her brief encounter with Palin who held the older woman's hand before signing her book. "I told her she was like a breath of fresh air and if I had another daughter I'd want her to be just like her," Butterfield said. "She genuinely thanked me."
Sheila Schulte, 54, a resident of The Villages who was wearing a button on a red, white and blue scarf that read "Sarah Palin for President 2012," leaned over and thanked Palin for serving as a great inspiration.
Palin responded, "You're welcome and I like your pin."
Lisa Rivera, 46, of Leesburg, clad in her U.S. Air Force fatigues, arrived after the wristbands were distributed, but was given a place in line by Bill Brantley, 63, and his wife, Aurora, 60, who had driven from Miami to see Palin.
"We need to support our troops any way we can," Aurora Brantley said.
Rivera, who serves with a unit in Orlando, was grateful for the opportunity to meet Palin.
"I love Sarah. I love her spirit, her tenacity," Rivera said. "I've been in the Air Force for 18 years and I'm a born-again Christian. I love that she speaks openly about her faith."
Palin, criticized for leaving a stop in Indiana without signing the books of about 100 fans, did not depart for Orlando until no one was left in line.
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A couple of really cool eyewitness accounts of Palin's Fort Bragg visit the other day here and here.
Palin put out a Facebook note on the war tax idea:
First up, Sarah hit the Villages today. Her interview with Gretchen Carlson is on tomorrow morning, bright and early. Articles here and here. Pictures here. Videos here and here. Excerpts from the articles:
----
"I addressed her as 'President Palin,' " said Debbie McMillan of Orlando. "She said, 'I like that very much — I could live with that.' "
They waved cameras, wore "Palin 2012" T-shirts and "Women for Palin" buttons, and patiently waited when they became a surprise backdrop for Palin's 20-minute sit-down interview with FOX & Friends host Gretchen Carlson, expected to air this morning on the Fox News Channel. As her mother spoke, Piper trailed behind her toddling brother, the one whose hair she famously smoothed down with a little spit at the Republican National Convention.
Cheri Meadows, 65, a resident of the Villages for 17 years, had her own word for Palin: "courageous."
When she appeared inside, the crowd cheered loudly and chanted "President Palin."
"I thanked her father for raising a good, level-headed woman, and he said, 'Thank her mother, not me,' " said Justin Crowe, 26, who drove from Fort Lauderdale and waited nearly 24 hours to see her.
Eric Dry, 23, arrived at 3:30 a.m. praised her "pro-life, limited-government, low-taxes" stance. "There are only a select few people who will speak out for what we believe," Dry said.
"I told her she's amazing and to keep fighting because she's a voice for all of us," Capozza said.
As Palin spoke, Trig puttered around off-stage bare-footed, charming Sumter County sheriff's deputies and his 8-year-old sister, Piper.
As she sat down to sign books, her team provided the bookstore staff with a CD to play that started with the Brooks & Dunn tune "Only in America."
"She's the conservative we've all been waiting for," said Jackie Larkin, 47, of Ocala who spent the night outside the store.
Joan Butterfield, 74, who retired to The Villages from Vermont, wept as she recounted her brief encounter with Palin who held the older woman's hand before signing her book. "I told her she was like a breath of fresh air and if I had another daughter I'd want her to be just like her," Butterfield said. "She genuinely thanked me."
Sheila Schulte, 54, a resident of The Villages who was wearing a button on a red, white and blue scarf that read "Sarah Palin for President 2012," leaned over and thanked Palin for serving as a great inspiration.
Palin responded, "You're welcome and I like your pin."
Lisa Rivera, 46, of Leesburg, clad in her U.S. Air Force fatigues, arrived after the wristbands were distributed, but was given a place in line by Bill Brantley, 63, and his wife, Aurora, 60, who had driven from Miami to see Palin.
"We need to support our troops any way we can," Aurora Brantley said.
Rivera, who serves with a unit in Orlando, was grateful for the opportunity to meet Palin.
"I love Sarah. I love her spirit, her tenacity," Rivera said. "I've been in the Air Force for 18 years and I'm a born-again Christian. I love that she speaks openly about her faith."
Palin, criticized for leaving a stop in Indiana without signing the books of about 100 fans, did not depart for Orlando until no one was left in line.
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A couple of really cool eyewitness accounts of Palin's Fort Bragg visit the other day here and here.
Palin put out a Facebook note on the war tax idea:
Congress Never Ceases to Amaze
Really? A tax on national defense? I hear liberal Congressional proposals and I, like most Americans, wonder if they’re serious. We’re going to put a price tag on security?With Congress and President Obama spending money on everything at breakneck speed, it’s interesting that they are only now getting nervous about spending – but only when it comes to providing the necessary funds to complete our mission in Afghanistan.
They don’t need a new “war tax” to fund a strategy for victory in the war zone. They simply need to prioritize our money appropriately. I find it telling that the Pelosi-Reid Congress is only cost-conscious when it comes to our national defense. Scary. Nonsensical. Unacceptable.
- Sarah Palin
In other news, looks like Obama's pretty much going to do what his commanders told him to do three months ago, to a lesser extent. Three months for that? Well, to be fair I'm going to wait and hear what he has to say. But heaven help us if we ever get attacked. Three months after the dust settles we might react.
Moving on....
A really cool Hot Air post by a Hillary voter turned Palin voter. It's called, An Unlikely Palinista:
Moving on....
A really cool Hot Air post by a Hillary voter turned Palin voter. It's called, An Unlikely Palinista:
In January of 2008, many months before Sarah Palin would explode onto the national scene, I was pondering the chances of my dream choice for the next president, Hilary Clinton. Clinton had been in my heart since 2000 and I boldly told anyone who would listen that she would triumphantly return to the White House in eight years. Unlike many of my black friends, I was not excited by the prospect of Barack Obama and did not feel the need to “support one of our own.”’
As a self-described liberal and feminist, Clinton had my full support throughout the primary season. I accepted the mistakes of her staff and her own missteps along the way as par for the course. The bitter primary fight was unexpected given Obama’s inexperience. I still hoped the Hillary would be victorious. Even after some obvious union shenanigans in caucus states, I never expected Obama to win the nomination. When he did, I put aside my disappointment and got behind him. I tried to feel pride in his accomplishments and overlook his obvious ACORN ties.
As a former ACORN/Project Vote employee, I recalled taking a call from the campaign in 2007 and speaking with one of the staffers. I was excited at the time, but only because I had just attended a staff retreat where Zach Polett, head of ACORN Political Operations, had bragged about supervising Obama and stated that “ACORN produces leaders.” After working with the Obama donor list in late 2007, I knew that Hilary Clinton faced a formidable opponent with a well-run political money machine.
Despite these experiences and misgivings, I went for Obama and when John McCain announced Sarah Palin as his running mate, I was angry. With all the liberal self-righteousness that I could muster, I attacked her experience, her knowledge of foreign affairs and all things Palin. It was a purely irrational response born out of the bitterness of not being able to have Hilary Clinton as my candidate. I ignored Palin’s innate charm, grace and beauty. I found myself secretly laughing with her and admiring her spunk but would never admit it.
In 2009 as I began to transition from liberal to conservative, I wondered whether I would get behind Palin and if I did, would that make me a hypocrite. A series of unlikely events answered that question for me. As the fight against ACORN became ugly and people began to spread lies and take sides, I finally understood Palin. She is a lightening rod for anyone who does not stand for truth and wants to maintain a status quo or move toward socialism.
When I found out the title of her book was Going Rogue, that stuck in my head, because that was the gist of the situation. Palin defies expectations, speaks from the heart and shoots from the hip. As former McCain staffers began to attack her, I identified with her. I realized that by bucking the system and going against Obama, I had upset liberals and some Republicans who wanted to use exposing ACORN for their own benefit. I upset other whistleblowers who wanted to protect Obama and selectively expose ACORN. I ruffled feathers at Fox with my determination to link this scandal back to the White House.I began to admire Palin’s strength in the face of attacks and her relentless quest to just be Sarah and expose hypocrisy and truth. I became an unlikely “Palinista” and found myself devouring all articles written about her and following her on Facebook.
I was struck by how some treated her and intrigued by those who admired her. Sarah Palin really is a lesson in an American life: she never claimed to be perfect but through sheer grit, determination and an undeniable likability, she showed this self-described feminist what being a woman in this new America is all about.
- Anita MonCrief
Pretty cool, huh?
More really cool articles up ahead, like this one on Palin's Mayoral record. I'm not going to blockquote it because it's too long, but I can't bear to cut a lot of it either:
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You can’t help but notice that just about everyone who is part of the political establishment detests Sarah Palin. And you can’t help but notice that Palin couldn’t care less.
Early in the second chapter of Going Rogue, a chapter titled “Kitchen-Table Politics,” you learn everything you need to know to understand why. This is the way Palin has been wired for a very long time. During her two terms on the Wasilla City Council, followed by two terms as the city’s mayor, she consistently demonstrated a refreshing immunity to the insider mentality that tends to afflict people who serve in government at any level.
Recruited to run for the Council in 1992 by local power broker Nick Carney, Palin was seen as an attractive face who would support the usual way of doing business in Wasilla. She wasn’t.
In one of the first tests of her independence, Palin opposed a proposal touted by Carney, her political patron, to force residents to pay for neighborhood trash pickup rather than hauling their garbage to the dump themselves, as most did, and as Palin says she still does.
Why was this so important to Carney? Because he owned the local garbage truck company. If you’ve never had much exposure to local politics – and this is largely true anywhere you go – it’s a pretty big deal for a young, inexperienced politician (especially a woman) to so blatantly go against the person who recruited you into politics and supported you in your first campaign. You come under tremendous pressure to fall into line. Most cave, right then and there, long before they ever sniff politics at a higher level.
Palin didn’t.
During her terms on the council, she consistently opposed heavy-handed community planning initiatives and burdensome taxes. But she was not anti-government....[quotes a passage of the book]
She continued this emphasis after being elected mayor in 1998, supporting the building of roads and sewers, which helped to attract stores like Wal-Mart and Fred Meyer to Wasilla for the first time. She also spurred the paving of the city’s airport runway. You read that right: Wasilla’s airport had a gravel runway before Palin worked to get it paved.....
Among Palin-haters, one of the most popular canards is that she is an airhead, and clearly not capable of dealing with the intricacies of government. As this chapter demonstrates, nothing could be further from the truth.
Palin not only has a keen grasp of the details of governing and budgeting, she also understands the political difficulties inherent in making government responsive. Many of her antagonists at the national level scoffed at the notion that her experience in Wasilla was of any value. Quite the contrary, local government is where a public official’s decisions have the most direct impact on the electorate. It’s where you really have to understand the ins and outs of what you’re doing.
No voting for bills without reading them first.
As I’ve said many times before, and will say again now, I have no idea if Palin ever wants to run for president, and it is not my intention here to either tout her for president or argue for (or against) her qualifications.
But it has become widely accepted conventional wisdom that Palin is nothing more than a populist sloganeer who has no serious grasp of governing substance. Even a fair number of conservative commentators have bought into this notion, and are warning against the support of Palin as the mere embrace of empty style over substance.
Bullshit.
When it comes to the nuts and bolts of governing, Palin is one of the most substantive politicians to arrive on the scene in quite some time. And when it comes to having the intestinal fortitude necessary keep the interests of the people at the top of the agenda, I can’t think of a single person anywhere in politics who is Palin’s equal.
If you disagree with Palin’s philosophy of governing because you are a political liberal, that’s fine. But if you’re an honest person, stop trying to pretend she’s some sort of good-looking moron.
The more you read about Palin’s experience in governing, the more you understand why the national political establishments of both parties hope to smother her political career in its crib.
The more you read about Palin’s experience in governing, the more you understand why the national political establishments of both parties hope to smother her political career in its crib.
She knows how to govern – better than most of them do, in fact. She just won’t do it the way they do it, and that scares the crap out of them.
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Now that was a good read. And that kind of conclusion is exactly what this book was meant to lead readers to.
Three more articles. The first one is on a topic I've been thinking about as it relates to Sarah and her kids:
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It hit like a hammer. Number 1 on Amazon before it was even released. 300,000 copies sold on the first day. 1.6 million in the initial planned run in printing, another million or so hastily added to make a 2.6 million total run....
There were a lot of naysayers of course. It wouldn't sell, no one would care. If it did sell, it would still never make money. Even if it did make money, it would only be bought by rubes, hicks, and others who couldn't read above a 6th grade level. Ha! If she even wrote it herself! Meanwhile, there were prewritten negative reviews by the hundreds just waiting to be filed (easily by deadline). One review proudly admitting that it had been written without reading the work in question. Doubtless not the only such review written, but that one at least notable for its candor....
The scrambling amongst the wizards of smart was amazing. Frank Rich was apoplectic. Dowd was "dowdy" as usual. Frum could only point to her sex appeal dismissively (and mercy doesn't he sound more and more like an obsessed stalker?). But looking at those crowds on TV, I was struck by how half seemed thrilled for Sarah Palin personally, and the other half seemed wryly just to enjoy the fact that the naysayers were eating a heaping helping of crow again. Thats when it hit me. I finally and fully understand Sarah's appeal. More than that, I truly understand the zealous protective instinct so many seem to have about her.
Remember that obnoxious overly-competitive parent at the games that said your son couldn't make the big play? Remember your happiness for your son when he did? Tell me, wasn't there also just a touch of satisfaction that the obnoxious helicopter parent was proved wrong? You know there was. Remember the tears of your little girl when the "cool kids" didn't like her? Remember the beautiful girl that your daughter became and how you smiled when she came home excited about her awesome prom? Mixed with your joy and happiness was just a touch of "Well look at her NOW!" wasn't there? Oh yes, there was, don't deny it.....
Think back, you remember saying something overly protective about family a time or two I am sure. "That is MY sister, and you wont say anything about her!" or even a "He may be a jerk, but he is OUR jerk." sort of remark. It is a gestalt of "us" and "ours". It is primal, tribal and deeply personal. It is ancestral pride. No one picks on YOUR family. In fact, the more they try to pick on someone in your family the more you defend your brother/sister/cousin and so on. And while you are truly happy when someone in the family does well, there is also a touch of "Ha! That'll show them!".....
But someone outside of your immediate circle has to touch you in an extraordinary way in order to be viewed as family. It explains the devotion some have to a songwriter, author, or artist. We are impacted by their songs or stories on such a deep emotional level that we begin to bond our self-identity and close-circle feelings to them, generally all unknowing.
This is exactly what has happened with Sarah Palin. Somewhere along the way, Sarah connected on such a deep level that she has become family. She is ours. Her success makes us joyful for her sake and also allows just a touch of smug satisfaction at her success. Hows that crow tasting Brooks? Want another bite Kathleen Parker? Oh! Can someone get a second plate for Peggy Noonan while they are up? Hey, did you guys see the show today? Wow! Sarah just kicked kiester on Oprah! Yeah, I'm serious! isn't that great? She is doing us proud isn't she? Did I send her PAC a donation? Of course...
...family always takes care of each other.
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Now, how does this relate to her kids? Well, I got into a debate with someone the other day over whether or not Sarah was using her kids. To me, it's the most natural thing in the world to see the kids. I want to see Trig. I want to see Piper. I want to know what's going on in their lives. Not to an excessive extent, of course, but it's almost personal.
I can see it from the perspective of someone who doesn't view Sarah like we do. I could look at the book tour stops where she always emerges, Trig on hip, and could almost come to the conclusion that she's using her kids. But that's the perspective of someone who doesn't think of Sarah as family. To us, it's natural. We would just as soon have Sarah and the kids over for dinner as we would volunteer for her campaign.Okay, on to the other articles. Next one, Sarah Palin: Redefining Feminism:
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I believe that the seething and obsession with all things Palin is bigger and deeper than even abortion.
What is really at the heart of the unrelenting vitriol and paranoia came to light rather innocuously in the celebrity style, soft-focus Oprah interview. In fact, the offending comment was so casually and organically delivered, that as far as I can tell, the chattering class, normally so quick to pounce on the slightest hint of mommy-war fodder, especially from someone as reviled by the left as Sarah Palin, did not picked up on the comment.
Near the end of the interview, in a gracious moment of praise and admiration for her host, Sarah recalled the days when she watched the Oprah Show more regularly, “back when I was a stay-at-home mom in the 90s”. That’s right, back when I was a stay-at-home-mom. When have we ever heard those words come out of the mouth of a female politician, much less one who is a possible contender for the highest office in the land?....
Sarah’s biography is the very public proof of what many women have already confirmed in their own lives: that success and female empowerment are not necessarily incompatible with early marriage, unplanned pregnancies, stay-at-home motherhood, or a large family.
Certainly one thing the feminist establishment never anticipated was Todd Palin. The new evolved husband was not supposed to be a blue-collar, snowmobiling commercial fisherman. He was supposed to be an ivy educated, New York Times-reading liberal.
Their great hope was Bill Clinton, but he let them down. However, his stellar abortion rights creds granted him a pass after Monica and the feminists set the stage for him to redeem himself during Hillary’s long-awaited presidential campaign. But poor Bill couldn’t help upstaging Hillary and his narcissistic rantings cost her dearly in a razor thin primary. The “First Dude” of the most macho state in our union, on the other hand, coolly stands in the background supporting his successful wife without a trace of resentment or envy....
Sarah embraces motherhood and authentic femininity with an unapologetic style that gives them their rightful power. It is something feminists have long rejected and continue to resist at their own peril. It is the source of their growing irrelevance and disconnect with a generation of women who are far too savvy and liberated to blindly accept feminist mantras and blueprints for ‘success’.
I’m a 38 year-old Hispanic stay at-home mother of five expecting her sixth in April. I live in rural Wisconsin and I’m married to a Midwestern lumberjack competitor and District Attorney who is a true helpmate – he’s as comfortable changing diapers as he is in the courtroom or wielding an axe. I have a graduate education that I don’t consider “wasted” on my kids and family. I write and find creative ways to pursue my personal interests thanks to technology, a great husband and supportive parents who help me with the kids whenever I ask. I shop at Wal-Mart and go to Mass every week. I’m pro-life, love Reagan, attended tea parties this summer and vote Republican.
If Sarah is redefining feminism, and female empowerment, then fourth wave feminism sure looks a lot more like my life and lot less like Gloria Steinem’s and Naomi Wolfe’s. And that, in a nutshell, is why they’re so afraid of Sarah Palin.
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Boy, good articles today, huh?
One more, and then you can stop reading for awhile, promise:)
The American Thinker - The Wilding of Sarah Palin:
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....What finally woke me up were the utterances of "bitch," "witch," and "monster" toward Hillary Clinton and her supporters early last year. I was shocked into reality: the trash-talk wasn't coming from conservatives, but from male and female liberals.
I finally beheld what my eyes had refused to see: that leftists are Mr. and Ms. Misogyny. Neither the males nor the females care a whit about women.
Women are continually sacrificed on the altar of political correctness. If under radical Islam women are enshrouded and stoned and beheaded, so be it.
My other epiphanies: those ponytailed guys were marching for abortion rights not because they cherished women's reproductive freedom, but to keep women available for free and easy sex.
And the eagerness for women to make good money? If women work hard, leftist men don't have to.
And the eagerness for women to make good money? If women work hard, leftist men don't have to.
Then along came Sarah, and the attacks became particularly heinous. And I realized something even more chilling about the Left. Leftists not only sacrifice and disrespect women, but it's far worse: many are perpetuators.
The Left's behavior towards Palin is not politics as usual. By their laser-focus on her body and her sexuality, leftists are defiling her.
They are wilding her. And they do this with the full knowledge and complicity of the White House.
The Left has declared war on Palin because she threatens their existence. Liberals need women dependent and scared so that women, like blacks, will vote Democrat.
A strong, self-sufficient woman, Palin eschews liberal protection. Drop her off in the Alaskan bush and she'll survive just fine, thank you very much. Palin doesn't need or want anything from liberals -- not hate crimes legislation that coddles her, and not abortion, which she abhors.
Palin is a woman of deep and abiding faith. She takes no marching orders from messiah-like wannabes like Obama.
And so the Left must try to destroy her. And they are doing this in the most malicious of ways: by symbolically raping her.
Just like a perpetuator, they dehumanize her by objectifying her body. They undress her with their eyes.
They turn her into a piece of ass.
Liberals do this by calling her a c__t, ogling her legs, demeaning her with names like "slutty flight attendant" and "Trailer Park Barbie," and exposing her flesh on the cover of Newsweek. And from Atlantic Magazine's Andrew Sullivan: "Sarah Palin's vagina is the font of all evil in the galaxy."
Nothing is off-limits, not actress Sandra Bernhard's wish that Palin be gang-raped or the sexualization of Palin's daughters.
As every woman knows, leering looks, lurid words, and veiled threats are intended to evoke terror. Sexual violence is a form of terrorism.
The American Left has a long history of defiling people to control and break them. The hard core '60s leftists were masters of guerrilla warfare, like the Symbionese Liberation Army repeatedly raping Patty Hearst. Huey P. Newton sent a male Black Panther to the hospital, bloodied and damaged from a punishment of sodomy.
The extreme Left still consider themselves warriors, righteous soldiers for their Marxist cause. With Palin, they use sexual violence as part of their military arsenal.
Palin is not the only intended victim. As Against Our Will described, the brutality is also aimed at men. By forcing men to witness Palin's violation, the Left tries to emasculate conservative men and render them powerless.
The wilding of any woman is reprehensible. But defiling a mother of five with a babe in her arms, and a grandmother to boot, is particularly obscene. It is, of course, Palin's unapologetic motherhood that fuels the leftist fire.
Because as a mother and a fertile woman, Palin is as close to the sacred as a person gets. She is not just politically pro-life. Her whole being emanates life, which is a stark contrast to the darkness of the Left, the life-despoilers.
These "progressives" are so alienated from the sacred that they perceive nothing as sacred. And they will destroy anyone whose goodness shines a mirror on their pathology. The spiritually barren must annihilate the vital and the fertile.
It has been almost two years since I woke up and broke up with liberalism. During these many months, I've discovered that everything I believed was wrong.
But the biggest shock of all has been realizing that the Democratic Party is hardly an oasis for women. Now that it has been infiltrated by the hard Left, it's a dangerous place for women, children, and other living things.
In the wilding of Sarah Palin, the Left shows its true colors. Rather than shield the vulnerable, leftists will mow down any man, woman, or child who gets in their way. Instead of a movement of hope and change, it is a cauldron of hate.
From Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: "Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it. Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it. Hatred darkens life; love illuminates it."
In these dark times, with spiritually bankrupt people at the helm, thank God we have bright lights like Sarah Palin to illuminate the darkness.
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Wow. That's about all you can say.
Congratulations, you have read a very long blog post. Your reward? Videos! Yay
Parts one and two of Palin's KTUU interview are up on You Tube now:
Recognize the lady helping Sarah? Of course you do.
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