Quotes of the Day: July 10, 2009

"Couple of thoughts for the day...: "You have to sacrifice to win. That's my philosophy in 6 words." - George Allen. &..."Act in accordance to your conscience -risk- by pursuing larger vision in opposition to popular, powerful pressure." - unknown."

-Sarah Palin's thoughts on Twitter, July 8, 2009

Whining About Other Shoes

It looks like Palin probably buys the majority of my speculation about the "other shoe" actually being Axlerod's. Her interview with Time Magazine had these few snippets:

"Enemies stirred up by her sudden prominence — and orchestrated, she believes, by the Obama White House — would bury her in unfounded ethics complaints...."

"For Palin, however, these aren't isolated incidents. She believes they grow from the same root, which is too big and too formidable to ignore.

"A lot of this comes from Washington, D.C. The trail is pretty direct and pretty obvious to us," says Meg Stapleton, a close Palin adviser in Alaska. Awaiting a flight back to Anchorage from distant Dillingham, Stapleton adds that the anti-Palin offensive seems lifted straight from The Thumpin', which describes the political strategies of Rahm Emanuel, who is now the White House chief of staff.

"It's the Sarah Palin playbook. It's how they operate," Stapleton says."

I think the Obama White House, whether directly or indirectly (because there are some there who don't need coercion, they are just simply in love with Obama, not to mention they're jealous of all the attention she's been getting), has also compromised the Alaska legislature, but I won't go into all that again.

And I know that others have speculated about this stuff too, I'm not the only one. I do want to go on record though and say that if I copied anyone else's ideas, it was completely unintentional. All I had to go on was a snippet in the comments of C4P that someone in Alaska said that the Dems nationally had told some legislators to stall all of Palin's priorities.

Everything else was brainstorming and following things to their logical conclusion. I later watched alot of interviews where people said essentially the same thing, but I didn't steal the idea from them.

Now, about the whining thing....

Frank Luntz was on Hannity last night whining about Sarah Palin's "whining," saying that the "American people" didn't want to hear her talk about the ethics complaints.

There were a few things I wanted to scream at the television (and, I may in fact have actually screamed them).

1. "She wasn't talking to you!"

2. "She wasn't talking to you!"

And finally....

3. "She wasn't talking to you!"

To recap....

"She wasn't talking to you!" (If you swear, you may insert an expletive between "wasn't" and "talking.")

These people in the media (and I know Luntz is usually a friend of the Gov, and she can take constructive criticism, so I'm not really mad at him) are complete idiots sometimes.

They think that they are so enlightened...... Drives me out of my mind.

Newsflash: She wasn't talking to the people of America, the Republican party, or to Mr. Frank Luntz's control groups.

She was talking to Alaska. You know, those people who are actually her constituents who might have wanted some explanation as to why she was resigning. You know those people?

Why can nobody see past the end of their national 2012 nose?

And, for the record, there is a very legitimate problem in Alaska with these ethics complaints. Maybe national pundits are completely fine with allowing state resources to go down the drain, as long as your political career remains intact, but Sarah Palin isn't.

If it's between the state government being able to actually get its work done for the people of Alaska and her sitting in the Governor's office, she'll just leave office. And that's exactly what she did.

She puts the state and the people whom she's serving above herself, and that is why she is one of the only politicians in America today who actually deserves to be one.

She really cares about Alaska, and Alaska has a problem that needs to be fixed. If that doesn't jive with what the rest of America "wants to hear"......oh, well. Tough cookies; she's going to say it anyway.

And while I don't think that it's an effective strategy going forward for Palin to constantly talk about the ethics complaints, I think the complaints are honestly a big reason why she resigned, and this isn't a woman who quite frankly cares about what Frank Luntz's focus groups think.

She's just going to tell the truth. Whatever happens beyond that, happens.

Quote of the Day: June 9, 2009

"Good Conservatives always pay their bills. And on time. Not like the Socialists [anklebiters] who run up other peoples bills."

- Margaret Thatcher

"Freeeedom!"

That's the word that I imagine is running through Sarah Palin's mind these days. "Only a few more weeks of this craziness and I am outta here! All you anklebiters just try and mess with me now!"

I don't know about my previous speculation about the other shoe (it is after all, speculation), but I do know that the more time that passes since the resignation, the better I feel about it. I feel like I can breathe again.

Whether there was a coordinated effort to break Sarah Palin by using the constraints of her office or not, the result was the same as hog-tying her and then telling her to climb a mountain. Not gonna happen.

So, I'm getting happier and happier with the idea of Sarah Palin, Private Citizen. And it looks like she is too:

Resigning was what was best for her state (Alaska already looks like it's breathing a sigh of relief), what was best for her and her family, and (I think) what was best for the whole country.

And if it didn't follow the political playbook of what a politician is supposed to do, so what? Who wrote that stupid playbook anyway? Maybe it needs to be torn up.

And for her critics out there who just don't understand why she would "step down" from a position of power to go back and mingle with the "lowly masses," I have this to say: In the United States of America, the People have the real power. Elected officials are merely our servants.

In that case, I say she took a step up.

The Barbarian's Creed

I've been watching the reactions of the talking heads regarding Palin's latest move. It's amusing to me how some get it and some (even friends of Sarah like Dick Morris) are totally baffled.

I can't explain all of it myself, but there are two things I know:

1. Sarah Palin will do what she thinks is right, and for some reason, she thinks this is right. In a recent interview, her close friend Kristan Cole said that Sarah had peace about the decision. That's all I need to know.

2. God works in mysterious ways. I believe that something Providential is happening, and the wisdom of man will never be able to figure that out, so just hold on for the ride. How do I know? I've just got a feeling.

While trying to figure out why some get it and some don't, a couple of phrases keep running through my head. We've all heard of the Apostle's Creed.

Well, I like to call this the Ordinary Barbarian's Creed. It's from I Corinthians 1:

"For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.

"Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?

"For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:

"But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;

"And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are."

Now I know that the context of those verses has nothing to do with politics and everything to do with salvation, but the point is that God often uses the things that the world would never choose so that He will get the glory, and not the circumstances.

He likes to let us run out of our own strength so that when He steps in, we recognize that it's Him and don't try to chalk it up to our own abilities. There's no other way to get things through our thick skulls sometimes.

One Crazy 4th

Sarah, I'll make you a deal. I'll donate money to SarahPac and you never scare me like that again. How does that sound?

Of course, I know it'll never happen. One thing you know when you jump on the bandwagon with Sarah is that there are bound to be a few twists and turns, so just hold on tight and have a little faith.

I don't know how your weekend went, but here's a rundown of mine:

Friday, around 2:00 in the afternoon, Central Time, my Aunt called me up.

Aunt: "Are you watching Fox News?"
Me: "No."
Aunt: "Sarah's going to make some sort of announcement."
Me. "Thanks, bye!" (Rush to the TV, make sure I'm taping it, turn on FoxNews and watch with a growing knot in my stomach as they speculate on her announcment.)

TV: "Sources say that she will not seek a second term."

Phew, okay. I can deal with that.

TV: "Wait a minute, now sources say that she may be resigning."

What!

At this juncture the knots turned into sailboats and a panic attack nearly came on. (I'm exagerrating, but only slightly.)

I believe my coherent thoughts were: "I'm gonna be sick, I'm gonna be sick, I'm gonna be sick..."

Followed by a few prayers: "Please don't let her quit, please don't let her quit, please don't let her quit...."

And then as confirmation came down that she was in fact resigning, the anger began to seep in, not at her, but at a system that would destroy such a good person. There were whispered vows to carry on in her name and an image of saluting a fallen general.

And then Fox News finally got the tape of her speech.

I should have learned by now to never take the media's word for anything when it comes to Sarah Palin. As I listened to her speak, the knot in my stomach began to slowly untie itself. I realized that she was not quitting; she was saying, "Forget the frying pan, show me the fire!"

We've all heard the cliches by now:

"She declared her independence."
"She has crossed the Rubicon, etc..."

Cliches they may be, but they're true.

This was an amazing act of courage, faith, and yes, even selflessness. I believe that she truly loves Alaska, and if you think for one minute that this was an easy decision for her to make, you're insane.

And just a sidenote here, don't think for one minute that she hasn't set Alaska up beautifully through this. How? Allow me to explain:

1. She has handed things off to people who share her exact same vision and who are loyal to her, so policy-wise nothing will really change.

2. She has taken the partisan political heat off the state that was directed at her and was rubbing off on the taxpayers.

3. She has set up Parnell and Campbell (both excellent guys who love her to death) as incumbents for the next election, thus avoiding a 2010 free-for-all in the state.

4. As she pursues her national voice she will continue to push for things like ANWR development and off-shore drilling.

She did Alaskans a huge favor on Friday, though many don't even know it yet.

Her critics are celebrating her demise and the political pundits are spinning as fast as they can the idea that she'll never be able to come back from this.

Garbage.

Let the Beltway Boys say she's done and let the critics think they've won, but something shifted on July 3rd, 2009. Sarah Palin threw down the gauntlet, and a new chapter began.

She burned her bridges. She can't go back now. Nowhere to go but forward. And I say, "Bring it on!"

Picture of the Day: July 6, 2009

Sarah, Todd, Trig, and Tripp go for a walk in Juneau. Sooooo cute!