Saturday, December 5, 2009
Palin E-mails
She's baaaaack....
Andree McLeod got these incriminating (sarc) emails that sent among Palin's administration during the campaign just recently. Here's just some of them. There's 200 pages worth. You can download document here. Click for larger images:
Andree McLeod got these incriminating (sarc) emails that sent among Palin's administration during the campaign just recently. Here's just some of them. There's 200 pages worth. You can download document here. Click for larger images:
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Signing Books and Islam
Book signing vids:
Totally off topic - there are two women with amazing stories about their lives and about the impact of radical Islam on women. They are Wafa Sultan and Brigitte Gabriel. I highly recommend their books. Below is a sampling of who they are, in case you are not familiar with them.
Brigitte Gabriel:
There are seven parts of this address. Watch them all on You Tube.
Wafa Sultan:
Totally off topic - there are two women with amazing stories about their lives and about the impact of radical Islam on women. They are Wafa Sultan and Brigitte Gabriel. I highly recommend their books. Below is a sampling of who they are, in case you are not familiar with them.
Brigitte Gabriel:
There are seven parts of this address. Watch them all on You Tube.
Wafa Sultan:
Vids - Governor, You Maketh Me Dizzy!
Late nite vids:
I forgot to post this video of Palin in Florida earlier. I'm going to have to slow this baby down!
Sarah Palin's Aunt Katie being interviewd by Inside Edition:
And here's a couple vids of the Governor on Tuesday. I linked a couple of them earlier, but now they're on You Tube.
Another article here. And vid:
This young fan's excited:
And in honor of the special that got bumped to next week:
I forgot to post this video of Palin in Florida earlier. I'm going to have to slow this baby down!
Sarah Palin's Aunt Katie being interviewd by Inside Edition:
And here's a couple vids of the Governor on Tuesday. I linked a couple of them earlier, but now they're on You Tube.
Another article here. And vid:
This young fan's excited:
And in honor of the special that got bumped to next week:
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
The Rundown
Too much stuff. I've broken it into subcategories.
Facebook
Newest post is Sarah's reaction to Obama's decision:
Sarah Palin put out her reaction today. Nothing short of awesome:
I also love this article in the Canada Free Press:
--------
Al Gore flies all across the world destroying the environment with his travels so that he can sell the fantasy of globaloney. Hundreds of government officials will be crisscrossing the globe flying to Copenhagen to “save the planet” at the upcoming Climate Conference this December. All are adding to what leftists call global warming and they are adding more in just the month of December alone with their efforts than any common citizen would in their entire lifetime.
So, what is the lefty outrage du jour? Is it that these so-called environmentalists are hypocrites? Nope. The newest outrage from the left is that Sarah Palin dares to fly from city to city during her whirlwind book tour.
I know. The nerve of her, eh?
At issue with Joey McGinniss’ “shocking” expose is the bus that Palin has been using to get from one location to the next in the local areas during her book tour, but has flown the longer distances. Why is this such an outrage? Because Palin said this about her book tour when it began:
“I’ll post our progress from the road.”
According to McGinniss this proves that Palin is a liar about using the bus to cross the country on her book tour. Since she has at times been flying, apparently, McGinniss thinks that the “from the road” part of her post makes her a liar despite that it is quite common vernacular to use that phrase when discussing travel. Who says “from the air” when they are talking about traveling?
McGinniss then goes on to ask all sorts of “probing” questions about the flights. He wants to know who is paying for the flights, if she has anyone else on these planes with her, if she’ll continue to fly, if she… well, let’s just say he has a lot of questions.
And let’s remind this left-wing hack that none of the answers to these questions are any of his business! Sarah Palin is a private individual dealing with a private business. She is not working for the taxpayers and her bills are paid for out of the profits of her book sales and/or the company that is publishing the work. Sarah Palin has absolutely no responsibility to answer to some ##### in the press about her expenses.
If she wants to fly 20 different private jets to fly to 20 different cities, it is none of Joey McGinniss’ business.
If Sarah Palin wants to drive 20 buses where ever she wants to ride them it is none of Joey McGinniss’ business.
If Sarah Palin wants to ride a horse and buggy to every book stop it is none of Joey McGinniss’ business.
Joey McGinniss has a tempest in a teapot all revved up and ready to outrage his extremist, left-wing buddies, to be sure, but he definitely has nothing of any note to write about. Must be a slow news day to be pushing this folderol.
But I guess it shouldn’t be surprising. Joey McGinniss has been trying to get at Sarah since she debuted on the national scene. So, one wonders, how many books has Joey McGinniss’ name sold?
Of course, even were we to take McGinniss’ point seriously, just a little research into the Governor’s actual itinerary on this book tour undermines his ridiculous claims. Also, Harper Collins spokesperson Tina Andreadis informed Greg Sargent that Palin had taken only three plane trips, that her plane travel was been minimal and only for logistical reasons. The publisher, not Palin, scheduled the plane trips and also paid for them. Other than the three flights, Sarah Palin’s book signing travel was indeed done on the tour bus.
It’s more proof of the failure to even check a few facts where Palin is concerned with the Old Media haters. They set up their anti-Palin supposition and then craft the “facts” around their plot line. Let’s not have truth getting in the way of a good anti-Palin story, shall we?
---------
Bus Tour
Palin hit Arizona.
Article here.
Excerpts:
Another article here. Video on page.
Yet another article here. Video on page. Picture slideshow here.
Link to another vid here. Article here.
Videos here.
Here's an older vid that as just posted of Sarah in Washington:
And Sarah in Rochester:
In other news.....
See my thoughts on the stupid "quote controversy" on the post below.
The Underground
Ah, yes, the twisted underbelly of bloggers that the media crawls to for information. Listen, people like Gryphen can say whatever they want. Free country. I'm not so ticked at their ridiculousness as I am at the fact that the media listens to them. Hey, I've got a blog; the media doesn't listen to me.
I'm only going to give you these summaries so that: A)You won't have to go there yourself, and B)So you know what tomorrow's headlines will probably involve.
The Palingates are nothing short of giddy that the mainstream media has picked up their "story." They're now posting pictures trying to prove that Sarah Palin faked her pregnancy. You know, they're going to maximize on their new exposure by showing the world exactly how depraved they are. The enemy destroys itself. These people must be truly bored.
Oh, let's see...Gryphen is still hyping up Levi. Tank Jones was on Shannyn Moore's show last week. According to him, Levi's got his book coming out and is going to be on a reality show in Alaska. I pity you Alaskans.
Tank also trumpeted the tired meme that all of Levi's problems result from his presence at the RNC. Tank, you know that's total garbage. Was the media stupid towards Levi? Yes. But it might have been worse had he not been at the event. I mean, for Pete's sake, before the media knew his last name they were calling eveybody in the phone book who's first name was "Levi" just to ask them if they were Bristol's boyfriend. What kind of message would it have sent if Sarah had told him to stay in Alaska? Give me a break.
As far as Levi not getting to talk, you just said that he didn't want to talk at first, so what's your problem? Yes, that horrible Sarah Palin who forced Levi to do exactly what he wanted to do. I got news for you Levi: Junk happens. Maybe you shouldn't have knocked up the Governor's daughter.
Tank also made the ridiculous assertion that Levi posing for Playgirl was just like strutting up and down a runway in a swimsuit (an obvious slam on Palin). (Chuckle) Okay, Tank, when you find the pictures of Sarah Palin posing naked in the shower for a magazine, I'll give you that one. Until then, go smoke your dope in somebody else's outhouse.
Let's leave Levi himself aside for a moment and turn to the people (Moore, Gryphen, etc...) who are cheering on his folly.
You accuse Sarah Palin of using Levi. Fine. For the sake of argument, let's just say that she did. What on earth do you think you're doing? Helping him?
Oh, you're helping him, all right, helping him make a complete fool out of himself. If you really cared about Levi, you'd care about what's best for him, not what brightens up your Palin-hating blog the most.
Probably the only one who really is in it for Levi is his mom. By the way, I honestly do hope that she's able to get back on her feet and straighten out her life after all of this. Levi clearly needs an adult in his life who actually cares about him and isn't in it to settle scores.
If you really cared about Levi you would advise him to get his GED, help him get a real job (and don't give me this garbage about how he can't get a real job. The actual Palin kids have jobs), and yes, you could even help him get some custody of Tripp.
Like I've said a million times, people break up and they work out custody. No big deal. Once the relationship gets to this point it's better to just get it in writing. Bristol and Levi should have gone to court and settled this a long time ago, in my opinion. Rex and Tank are manipulating this to have the maximum damage possible on the Palins. That's all it is; they don't actually care about the "young man," and neither do you. Besides, if Levi gets joint custody, his meal ticket is gone. Nothing more to whine to the media about.
Instead of encouraging Levi to grow up and helping him deal with his situation like an adult, you give Levi an easy way out (blame all of your problems on the Palins) and you assist him in his kamakazie mission. You don't actually give a rip, you just want to work him into a Palin-hating lather, say "Sic 'em!", and watch him do the dirty work for you.
You'll flush him like toilet paper once he's outlived his usefulness. Not that he'll care.
Newest post is Sarah's reaction to Obama's decision:
Finally, A Decision for Afghanistan: We're In It to Win ItAnd now on to the "bus hoax." Here's a "news outlet's" report on the whole bus tour thing, something which started in the underground on blogs like Palingates. I told you this stuff bubbles up. I'll stop keeping my eye on these jokers when the media gets a clue:
Three months ago, I joined a number of Americans in urging President Obama to provide the resources necessary to achieve our goals in Afghanistan. Tonight, I am glad he mostly heeded that advice.
At long last, President Obama decided to give his military commanders much of what they need to accomplish their mission in Afghanistan. In the end, he decided to endorse a “surge” for Afghanistan, applying the counterinsurgency principles of “clear, hold and build” that worked so well in Iraq. Given that he opposed the surge in Iraq, it is even more welcome that he now supports a surge in Afghanistan.
This approach means, as Senator John McCain has noted, that “We now have an opportunity to build a bipartisan consensus in support of a vital national security priority: defeating Al-Qaeda and its violent extremist allies in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and ensuring that these countries never again serve as bases for terrorist attacks against America and our allies.”
We should be clear, however, that fewer troops mean assuming more risk. Talk of an exit date also risks sending the wrong message. We should be in Afghanistan to win, not to set a timetable for withdrawal that signals a lack of resolve to our friends, and lets our enemies believe they can wait us out. As long as we’re in to win, and as long as troop level decisions are based on conditions on the ground and the advice of our military commanders, I support President Obama’s decision.
- Sarah Palin
Sarah Palin put out her reaction today. Nothing short of awesome:
Once again, I love this woman.Media's Priorities Shine Bright, Again! :)
It’s really comical at this point! Despite all of the important events happening in the world today – the president’s speech tonight on the strategy in Afghanistan, the Senate debate over health care reform, the disturbing details of the “Climategate” scandal, the continuing challenges facing the world economy – the media is concerned about my travel and lodging arrangements on my book tour?! Does this sound familiar? It should. The media showed the same out-of-proportion obsession with my personal arrangements, clothes, and hairstyles last year instead of focusing on the crucial issues involving the election.
So what is this news “story”? That I fly on an airplane to complete some of the stops on my book tour when it’s impractical or physically impossible to reach the next event on time by bus. Some news outlets are behaving as if my travel was a secret that they didn’t know about – despite the fact that I’ve tweeted about my flights and at least one local newspaper reported on the arrival of my flight into Rochester, NY.What’s even funnier is that these same media outlets think it’s shocking that we stay in hotels. I guess they expected us to pitch a tent alongside the road. We love the great outdoors, but such an arrangement is hardly practical for a book tour.
Using common sense, it was determined that traveling by plane between some stops would save time and energy and allow me to go to more events. Economically speaking for HarperCollins, it’s more efficient to travel by charter, and I am very grateful to the publisher for providing my family and me with this incredible opportunity to shake hands with as many Americans as possible on this book tour.
If you’re scratching your head wondering why my flight and hotel logistics warrant news coverage, join the club. They can, of course, report on whatever they like, but in my opinion CBS loses whatever professional integrity it still has when it links in its report to a website devoted to the bizarre conspiracy theory that I’m not the real mother of my son Trig.
I’m truly humbled by the response to my book tour by everyday Americans, and if traveling by plane means that I can meet more of these wonderful people, I’ll travel by plane (or bus or train or canoe or dog sled or whatever it takes). Please enjoy the photos below!
- Sarah Palin
I also love this article in the Canada Free Press:
--------
Al Gore flies all across the world destroying the environment with his travels so that he can sell the fantasy of globaloney. Hundreds of government officials will be crisscrossing the globe flying to Copenhagen to “save the planet” at the upcoming Climate Conference this December. All are adding to what leftists call global warming and they are adding more in just the month of December alone with their efforts than any common citizen would in their entire lifetime.
So, what is the lefty outrage du jour? Is it that these so-called environmentalists are hypocrites? Nope. The newest outrage from the left is that Sarah Palin dares to fly from city to city during her whirlwind book tour.
I know. The nerve of her, eh?
At issue with Joey McGinniss’ “shocking” expose is the bus that Palin has been using to get from one location to the next in the local areas during her book tour, but has flown the longer distances. Why is this such an outrage? Because Palin said this about her book tour when it began:
“I’ll post our progress from the road.”
According to McGinniss this proves that Palin is a liar about using the bus to cross the country on her book tour. Since she has at times been flying, apparently, McGinniss thinks that the “from the road” part of her post makes her a liar despite that it is quite common vernacular to use that phrase when discussing travel. Who says “from the air” when they are talking about traveling?
McGinniss then goes on to ask all sorts of “probing” questions about the flights. He wants to know who is paying for the flights, if she has anyone else on these planes with her, if she’ll continue to fly, if she… well, let’s just say he has a lot of questions.
And let’s remind this left-wing hack that none of the answers to these questions are any of his business! Sarah Palin is a private individual dealing with a private business. She is not working for the taxpayers and her bills are paid for out of the profits of her book sales and/or the company that is publishing the work. Sarah Palin has absolutely no responsibility to answer to some ##### in the press about her expenses.
If she wants to fly 20 different private jets to fly to 20 different cities, it is none of Joey McGinniss’ business.
If Sarah Palin wants to drive 20 buses where ever she wants to ride them it is none of Joey McGinniss’ business.
If Sarah Palin wants to ride a horse and buggy to every book stop it is none of Joey McGinniss’ business.
Joey McGinniss has a tempest in a teapot all revved up and ready to outrage his extremist, left-wing buddies, to be sure, but he definitely has nothing of any note to write about. Must be a slow news day to be pushing this folderol.
But I guess it shouldn’t be surprising. Joey McGinniss has been trying to get at Sarah since she debuted on the national scene. So, one wonders, how many books has Joey McGinniss’ name sold?
Of course, even were we to take McGinniss’ point seriously, just a little research into the Governor’s actual itinerary on this book tour undermines his ridiculous claims. Also, Harper Collins spokesperson Tina Andreadis informed Greg Sargent that Palin had taken only three plane trips, that her plane travel was been minimal and only for logistical reasons. The publisher, not Palin, scheduled the plane trips and also paid for them. Other than the three flights, Sarah Palin’s book signing travel was indeed done on the tour bus.
It’s more proof of the failure to even check a few facts where Palin is concerned with the Old Media haters. They set up their anti-Palin supposition and then craft the “facts” around their plot line. Let’s not have truth getting in the way of a good anti-Palin story, shall we?
---------
Bus Tour
Palin hit Arizona.
Article here.
Excerpts:
The first man in line waited more than 26 hours to spend a few seconds with Palin. Drew Sweatte of Palm Springs, Calif., arrived at 8 a.m. Monday and later spent the entire night outside.Link to vid here.
"It's my birthday present to myself," said Sweatte, who turned 23 on Tuesday.
"I've got a cooler here full of food and had to buy some lawn chairs and warmer socks, and I've got my kangaroo-skinned coat," Sweatte said. "I'd sit far longer and in far cooler temperatures to wait for Sarah Palin."
He likes Palin, he said, "for being consistent and standing up for her values. I continue to pray for her and her family, if I don't break down in tears."
I was walking away and she asked if I was going to school," said Diane, who told Palin she was working toward a master's in social work at Arizona State University.
"She said, 'We need more people like you in the world,' "" Diane said. "It made my day."
Another article here. Video on page.
Yet another article here. Video on page. Picture slideshow here.
Link to another vid here. Article here.
Videos here.
Here's an older vid that as just posted of Sarah in Washington:
And Sarah in Rochester:
In other news.....
See my thoughts on the stupid "quote controversy" on the post below.
The Underground
Ah, yes, the twisted underbelly of bloggers that the media crawls to for information. Listen, people like Gryphen can say whatever they want. Free country. I'm not so ticked at their ridiculousness as I am at the fact that the media listens to them. Hey, I've got a blog; the media doesn't listen to me.
I'm only going to give you these summaries so that: A)You won't have to go there yourself, and B)So you know what tomorrow's headlines will probably involve.
The Palingates are nothing short of giddy that the mainstream media has picked up their "story." They're now posting pictures trying to prove that Sarah Palin faked her pregnancy. You know, they're going to maximize on their new exposure by showing the world exactly how depraved they are. The enemy destroys itself. These people must be truly bored.
Oh, let's see...Gryphen is still hyping up Levi. Tank Jones was on Shannyn Moore's show last week. According to him, Levi's got his book coming out and is going to be on a reality show in Alaska. I pity you Alaskans.
Tank also trumpeted the tired meme that all of Levi's problems result from his presence at the RNC. Tank, you know that's total garbage. Was the media stupid towards Levi? Yes. But it might have been worse had he not been at the event. I mean, for Pete's sake, before the media knew his last name they were calling eveybody in the phone book who's first name was "Levi" just to ask them if they were Bristol's boyfriend. What kind of message would it have sent if Sarah had told him to stay in Alaska? Give me a break.
As far as Levi not getting to talk, you just said that he didn't want to talk at first, so what's your problem? Yes, that horrible Sarah Palin who forced Levi to do exactly what he wanted to do. I got news for you Levi: Junk happens. Maybe you shouldn't have knocked up the Governor's daughter.
Tank also made the ridiculous assertion that Levi posing for Playgirl was just like strutting up and down a runway in a swimsuit (an obvious slam on Palin). (Chuckle) Okay, Tank, when you find the pictures of Sarah Palin posing naked in the shower for a magazine, I'll give you that one. Until then, go smoke your dope in somebody else's outhouse.
Let's leave Levi himself aside for a moment and turn to the people (Moore, Gryphen, etc...) who are cheering on his folly.
You accuse Sarah Palin of using Levi. Fine. For the sake of argument, let's just say that she did. What on earth do you think you're doing? Helping him?
Oh, you're helping him, all right, helping him make a complete fool out of himself. If you really cared about Levi, you'd care about what's best for him, not what brightens up your Palin-hating blog the most.
Probably the only one who really is in it for Levi is his mom. By the way, I honestly do hope that she's able to get back on her feet and straighten out her life after all of this. Levi clearly needs an adult in his life who actually cares about him and isn't in it to settle scores.
If you really cared about Levi you would advise him to get his GED, help him get a real job (and don't give me this garbage about how he can't get a real job. The actual Palin kids have jobs), and yes, you could even help him get some custody of Tripp.
Like I've said a million times, people break up and they work out custody. No big deal. Once the relationship gets to this point it's better to just get it in writing. Bristol and Levi should have gone to court and settled this a long time ago, in my opinion. Rex and Tank are manipulating this to have the maximum damage possible on the Palins. That's all it is; they don't actually care about the "young man," and neither do you. Besides, if Levi gets joint custody, his meal ticket is gone. Nothing more to whine to the media about.
Instead of encouraging Levi to grow up and helping him deal with his situation like an adult, you give Levi an easy way out (blame all of your problems on the Palins) and you assist him in his kamakazie mission. You don't actually give a rip, you just want to work him into a Palin-hating lather, say "Sic 'em!", and watch him do the dirty work for you.
You'll flush him like toilet paper once he's outlived his usefulness. Not that he'll care.
On Quotes
There has apparently been quite a bit of hoopla over a couple of quotes in Sarah Palin's book.
Quote #1 - "Our land is everything to us...I will tell you one of the things we remember on our land. We remember our grandfathers paid for it -- with their lives."
Sarah Palin attributes this to John Wooden, sports guy. Turns out it was actually said by John Wooden Legs (yes, that was actually his name, please, keep your chuckles to yourself). John Woodenlegs (okay, that is funny) was a Native American activist. That quote makes more sense now. I couldn't figure out why John Wooden would wax so poetic about land, but now I know.
As far as gaffes go, not major. Next quote -
Quote #2 - "Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle."
Palin attributes this quote to Plato, but some academics are getting their panties in a wad saying that while this quote is often attributed to Plato, it's doubtful that he actually said it.
Well, blow me over. My world is shattered.
Give me a break. Do you have any idea how many quotes out there are merely attributed to historical figures and were probably never penned or uttered by them? This stuff happens all the time. There are a few quotes by Patrick Henry that people are fond of using although those quotes are merely attributed; there's no proof that he said them.
And how's about this for a misattributed quote - preachers and conservative politicians are fond of using Alexis de Tocqueville's phrase:
"Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits flame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power. America is great because America is good, and if America ever ceases to be good America will cease to be great."
When I was a teenager, I got Alexis de Tocqueville's Democracy in America (both volumes, unabridged) because I had heard that quote. Only problem: I never found those words in those pages. I thought I must have missed it, so I got the ebook version online and did word searches. Nothing. I did some more research; turns out that nobody knows exactly where that quote came from. It's been used by Presidents (Eisenhower, Reagan, and Clinton) along with many others even though it's clear that it is not actually in Tocqueville's book. Here's more backstory.
Nobody pays that much attention when that famous quote is billed wrongly, most people probably don't even know about it, but if Sarah Palin had put that in her book the whole world would know it now. You can bank on that.
Quote #1 - "Our land is everything to us...I will tell you one of the things we remember on our land. We remember our grandfathers paid for it -- with their lives."
Sarah Palin attributes this to John Wooden, sports guy. Turns out it was actually said by John Wooden Legs (yes, that was actually his name, please, keep your chuckles to yourself). John Woodenlegs (okay, that is funny) was a Native American activist. That quote makes more sense now. I couldn't figure out why John Wooden would wax so poetic about land, but now I know.
As far as gaffes go, not major. Next quote -
Quote #2 - "Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle."
Palin attributes this quote to Plato, but some academics are getting their panties in a wad saying that while this quote is often attributed to Plato, it's doubtful that he actually said it.
Well, blow me over. My world is shattered.
Give me a break. Do you have any idea how many quotes out there are merely attributed to historical figures and were probably never penned or uttered by them? This stuff happens all the time. There are a few quotes by Patrick Henry that people are fond of using although those quotes are merely attributed; there's no proof that he said them.
And how's about this for a misattributed quote - preachers and conservative politicians are fond of using Alexis de Tocqueville's phrase:
"Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits flame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power. America is great because America is good, and if America ever ceases to be good America will cease to be great."
When I was a teenager, I got Alexis de Tocqueville's Democracy in America (both volumes, unabridged) because I had heard that quote. Only problem: I never found those words in those pages. I thought I must have missed it, so I got the ebook version online and did word searches. Nothing. I did some more research; turns out that nobody knows exactly where that quote came from. It's been used by Presidents (Eisenhower, Reagan, and Clinton) along with many others even though it's clear that it is not actually in Tocqueville's book. Here's more backstory.
Nobody pays that much attention when that famous quote is billed wrongly, most people probably don't even know about it, but if Sarah Palin had put that in her book the whole world would know it now. You can bank on that.
Pajamas: Redeeming Sarah
Another great article, this time by Pajamas Media:
I admit at the outset — to the shock and amazement of many of my friends and colleagues — that I really dig Sarah Palin. I am drawn to her not because she happens to be the most babelicious of the current crop of female politicos — at best, a pleasant distraction — but for reasons that have nothing to do with her physical presence, which I will enumerate farther along. Like all political candidates, she comes with flaws and defects that are readily detectable, but since she is avowedly conservative, these have been invidiously exaggerated beyond the limits of discretion and common decency.
The amount of ad hominem invective indiscriminately heaped upon her constitutes the real disgrace in what we might call the “Palin phenomenon.” Cutting short her recent book signing session in Noblesville, Indiana, distressing some of her many fans who had long waited in line, has metastasized into a public relations tumor. Had the culprit been a Democrat, the lump would scarcely have been noticed.
Lord knows, a battery of media anti-Palinists have been shooting from the hip and the lip since day one of her vice-presidential selection on the Republican ticket, the only agile move that John McCain made during his otherwise pedestrian campaign. We know about Katie Couric, David Brooks, Thomas Friedman, Keith Olbermann, Tina Fey, and many others among the media Ferengi, that famous species of sly and deceitful opportunists, who have feathered their careers by depicting Palin as a meeping leper. Even some of a Republican stamp have not held their fire.
Former Bush speechwriter (author of the phrase “axis of evil”) David Frum also has it in for Palin. In article after interview, dating from August 2008 to this month, Frum has thrown the book at poor Sarah, including her own. She’s irresponsible, she’s vindictive, she’s a quitter, she prefers to play Madonna rather than Evita, and so on ad biliosum.
Similarly, a recent article by Rick Moran savages Palin for her “cotton candy” thinking, attacking her for not confronting “the verity of the present” and for not taking proper stock of the future — but Moran never scruples to tell us what that “verity” is and what that future portends; nor does he specify how Palin has demonstrably failed in this regard. Such animadversion comes all too easy. One of the most blatant instances involves the Newsweek cover flap, which has also been blown completely out of proportion. The cover shows a woman in excellent shape dressed in a standard running outfit. There is nothing much there to make a fuss about, except, of course, from the perspective of a prurient and partisan press corps.
In this connection, I think, a little facetiously, of those mellifluous lines from the prologue to Chaucer’s The Legend of Good Women — “As she, that is all flowers flower, Fulfilled of all virtue and honor” — which are patently over the top in the cynical times in which we live, but which, I submit, furnish a better portrait of this “good woman” than the nasty distortions of her detractors.
Palin has two main problems. The first is that she is unashamedly attractive, a telegenic paragon, which infuriates the radical feminists and the pseudo-intellectuals who might have preferred an extreme and not particularly compelling feministika like Andrea Dworkin, and perhaps even tempts the vexation of her male adversaries. Far more importantly, she is (or was) largely innocent of how media muckraking and dirty electoral politics actually work.
Her greatest weakness during the electoral run was not what she stood for, or her personal aura, or her knowledge — or lack of same — of foreign affairs, but an ingrained naiveté about the extent of the unmitigated hatred and disdain with which many liberal Americans and almost the entirety of the liberal-left media greeted her candidacy. She did not understand the fury and contempt she would have to face, especially in interviews with the likes of Katie Couric or the scandalous caricatures of a Tina Fey, media types who had inexhaustibly more embarrassing blunders and solecisms to exploit in the Democratic camp. Instead, they zeroed in on Palin, who resembled then the proverbial deer caught in the headlights.
Such bewilderment, I believe, was a function of her essential good nature, her moral dignity, and her natural optimism. These are attributes that would by no means handicap her in her dealings with actual and potential enemies of the country she obviously loves and is sworn to defend — no Michelle-like resentment of America in her bones — but did have a paralyzing effect on her ability to respond to fellow citizens she may have considered merely as Americans who might not agree with her beliefs and prescriptions.
Despite her street smarts, she was plainly unprepared for the viciousness with which she was assaulted by her nominal compatriots, as we too are often unprepared when family members, no matter how estranged, become our worst enemies.
Palin is surely wiser now that she has been put through the domestic wringer. And when compared to her major political opponents, Barack Obama and Joe Biden, she comes across as prime presidential material indeed. The gaffes committed by the president and his hobbling mate during their pre-election speeches defy credulity and betoken not only the sort of “shallowness” that Moran accuses Palin of, but suggest an ignorance so profound and entrenched as should have disqualified them immediately from running for office.
Further, as has been often pointed out, Palin has actual hands-on experience of what it means to govern; Obama was a short-stint senator who voted “present.” Palin’s record as a mayor and governor is squarely in the public domain and is undeniably impressive; Obama’s CV remains largely sequestered in sealed archives and nobody quite knows what a “community organizer” really does. Palin has genuine accomplishments to her credit; Obama is a cryptograph, who is, in addition, devoid of any notable achievements.
One cannot in good faith accuse Palin of Obama’s faults and deficiencies and get away with it indefinitely. For the fact is that Palin knows reasonably well what she is talking about but Obama is like the captain of an ocean liner who never stepped into a rowboat and whose only experience of the sea is a view of Lake Michigan from the Hancock Observatory. Honestly now, who would you really trust at the helm of state?
There are many factors that render Sarah Palin fit for high office, not the least of which is a generous helping of common sense — a faculty sorely lacking in the current leadership. She is unpretentious and is nearer to the majority of ordinary people than her faux-sophisticated competitors, the beltway schemers, insider traders, brazen peculators, and outright liars now in power. This is precisely what an indignant punditocracy cannot forgive her: the plainspokenness, the deep convictions, the sense of loyalty, the chiming with ordinary folk — what the pointy-headed can only interpret as blunt-mindedness.
But Palin’s moral and political values hew closer to the heart of the American republican experiment — individual liberty, personal integrity, Emersonian self-reliance, responsibility for choice, true patriotism, unobtrusive government dedicated to the public weal — than do those of almost any other political figure on the American scene today, with the exception of Mike Huckabee. I have no doubt that such stalwart values would stand her in good stead in the perilous world of international politics and that her decisions would invariably strengthen rather than weaken the United States, which latter is the deplorable case in today’s international theater.
Moreover, it seems clear that Palin is capable of learning whereas Obama appears incorrigibly learn-proof. I suspect that Victor Davis Hanson is absolutely correct when he sums up Palin’s imperatives for the future: “The best thing she can do is to go out and talk, take her licks, promote her book, fend off foes, and gain experience in the arena of ideas — while spending her evenings reading and debating wonks and politicians.” Palin is deemed by her defamers as a polarizing figure and a disaster for both the Republican Party and the nation. This is pure nonsense but it will take much cerebral scrubbing to redeem her. Thankfully, she seems up to the job.
One can never predict the result of the primaries. In the Liberal leadership campaign prior to Canada’s last election, a coalition of less unqualified candidates delivered their block votes to the utterly incompetent Stéphane Dion. Something similar happened in the U.S., the only distinction being that Dion is a bland cipher and Obama is blessed with charisma.
The unexpected can always happen. But pace Moran, Frum, Couric, Olbermann, Friedman, and company, with their mean-spirited and catarrhal denunciations of one of the best America has on offer today, things may turn out differently next time around. We may now be looking at the making of the future American president. To quote Captain Jean-Luc Picard from Star Trek: The Next Generation, who had the Ferengis’ number: “Make it so.”
I admit at the outset — to the shock and amazement of many of my friends and colleagues — that I really dig Sarah Palin. I am drawn to her not because she happens to be the most babelicious of the current crop of female politicos — at best, a pleasant distraction — but for reasons that have nothing to do with her physical presence, which I will enumerate farther along. Like all political candidates, she comes with flaws and defects that are readily detectable, but since she is avowedly conservative, these have been invidiously exaggerated beyond the limits of discretion and common decency.
The amount of ad hominem invective indiscriminately heaped upon her constitutes the real disgrace in what we might call the “Palin phenomenon.” Cutting short her recent book signing session in Noblesville, Indiana, distressing some of her many fans who had long waited in line, has metastasized into a public relations tumor. Had the culprit been a Democrat, the lump would scarcely have been noticed.
Lord knows, a battery of media anti-Palinists have been shooting from the hip and the lip since day one of her vice-presidential selection on the Republican ticket, the only agile move that John McCain made during his otherwise pedestrian campaign. We know about Katie Couric, David Brooks, Thomas Friedman, Keith Olbermann, Tina Fey, and many others among the media Ferengi, that famous species of sly and deceitful opportunists, who have feathered their careers by depicting Palin as a meeping leper. Even some of a Republican stamp have not held their fire.
Former Bush speechwriter (author of the phrase “axis of evil”) David Frum also has it in for Palin. In article after interview, dating from August 2008 to this month, Frum has thrown the book at poor Sarah, including her own. She’s irresponsible, she’s vindictive, she’s a quitter, she prefers to play Madonna rather than Evita, and so on ad biliosum.
Similarly, a recent article by Rick Moran savages Palin for her “cotton candy” thinking, attacking her for not confronting “the verity of the present” and for not taking proper stock of the future — but Moran never scruples to tell us what that “verity” is and what that future portends; nor does he specify how Palin has demonstrably failed in this regard. Such animadversion comes all too easy. One of the most blatant instances involves the Newsweek cover flap, which has also been blown completely out of proportion. The cover shows a woman in excellent shape dressed in a standard running outfit. There is nothing much there to make a fuss about, except, of course, from the perspective of a prurient and partisan press corps.
In this connection, I think, a little facetiously, of those mellifluous lines from the prologue to Chaucer’s The Legend of Good Women — “As she, that is all flowers flower, Fulfilled of all virtue and honor” — which are patently over the top in the cynical times in which we live, but which, I submit, furnish a better portrait of this “good woman” than the nasty distortions of her detractors.
Palin has two main problems. The first is that she is unashamedly attractive, a telegenic paragon, which infuriates the radical feminists and the pseudo-intellectuals who might have preferred an extreme and not particularly compelling feministika like Andrea Dworkin, and perhaps even tempts the vexation of her male adversaries. Far more importantly, she is (or was) largely innocent of how media muckraking and dirty electoral politics actually work.
Her greatest weakness during the electoral run was not what she stood for, or her personal aura, or her knowledge — or lack of same — of foreign affairs, but an ingrained naiveté about the extent of the unmitigated hatred and disdain with which many liberal Americans and almost the entirety of the liberal-left media greeted her candidacy. She did not understand the fury and contempt she would have to face, especially in interviews with the likes of Katie Couric or the scandalous caricatures of a Tina Fey, media types who had inexhaustibly more embarrassing blunders and solecisms to exploit in the Democratic camp. Instead, they zeroed in on Palin, who resembled then the proverbial deer caught in the headlights.
Such bewilderment, I believe, was a function of her essential good nature, her moral dignity, and her natural optimism. These are attributes that would by no means handicap her in her dealings with actual and potential enemies of the country she obviously loves and is sworn to defend — no Michelle-like resentment of America in her bones — but did have a paralyzing effect on her ability to respond to fellow citizens she may have considered merely as Americans who might not agree with her beliefs and prescriptions.
Despite her street smarts, she was plainly unprepared for the viciousness with which she was assaulted by her nominal compatriots, as we too are often unprepared when family members, no matter how estranged, become our worst enemies.
Palin is surely wiser now that she has been put through the domestic wringer. And when compared to her major political opponents, Barack Obama and Joe Biden, she comes across as prime presidential material indeed. The gaffes committed by the president and his hobbling mate during their pre-election speeches defy credulity and betoken not only the sort of “shallowness” that Moran accuses Palin of, but suggest an ignorance so profound and entrenched as should have disqualified them immediately from running for office.
Further, as has been often pointed out, Palin has actual hands-on experience of what it means to govern; Obama was a short-stint senator who voted “present.” Palin’s record as a mayor and governor is squarely in the public domain and is undeniably impressive; Obama’s CV remains largely sequestered in sealed archives and nobody quite knows what a “community organizer” really does. Palin has genuine accomplishments to her credit; Obama is a cryptograph, who is, in addition, devoid of any notable achievements.
One cannot in good faith accuse Palin of Obama’s faults and deficiencies and get away with it indefinitely. For the fact is that Palin knows reasonably well what she is talking about but Obama is like the captain of an ocean liner who never stepped into a rowboat and whose only experience of the sea is a view of Lake Michigan from the Hancock Observatory. Honestly now, who would you really trust at the helm of state?
There are many factors that render Sarah Palin fit for high office, not the least of which is a generous helping of common sense — a faculty sorely lacking in the current leadership. She is unpretentious and is nearer to the majority of ordinary people than her faux-sophisticated competitors, the beltway schemers, insider traders, brazen peculators, and outright liars now in power. This is precisely what an indignant punditocracy cannot forgive her: the plainspokenness, the deep convictions, the sense of loyalty, the chiming with ordinary folk — what the pointy-headed can only interpret as blunt-mindedness.
But Palin’s moral and political values hew closer to the heart of the American republican experiment — individual liberty, personal integrity, Emersonian self-reliance, responsibility for choice, true patriotism, unobtrusive government dedicated to the public weal — than do those of almost any other political figure on the American scene today, with the exception of Mike Huckabee. I have no doubt that such stalwart values would stand her in good stead in the perilous world of international politics and that her decisions would invariably strengthen rather than weaken the United States, which latter is the deplorable case in today’s international theater.
Moreover, it seems clear that Palin is capable of learning whereas Obama appears incorrigibly learn-proof. I suspect that Victor Davis Hanson is absolutely correct when he sums up Palin’s imperatives for the future: “The best thing she can do is to go out and talk, take her licks, promote her book, fend off foes, and gain experience in the arena of ideas — while spending her evenings reading and debating wonks and politicians.” Palin is deemed by her defamers as a polarizing figure and a disaster for both the Republican Party and the nation. This is pure nonsense but it will take much cerebral scrubbing to redeem her. Thankfully, she seems up to the job.
One can never predict the result of the primaries. In the Liberal leadership campaign prior to Canada’s last election, a coalition of less unqualified candidates delivered their block votes to the utterly incompetent Stéphane Dion. Something similar happened in the U.S., the only distinction being that Dion is a bland cipher and Obama is blessed with charisma.
The unexpected can always happen. But pace Moran, Frum, Couric, Olbermann, Friedman, and company, with their mean-spirited and catarrhal denunciations of one of the best America has on offer today, things may turn out differently next time around. We may now be looking at the making of the future American president. To quote Captain Jean-Luc Picard from Star Trek: The Next Generation, who had the Ferengis’ number: “Make it so.”
Sarah Palin and the Future
An awesome article in American Thinker:
A generation ago liberals taught me to believe that Ronald Reagan was an extremist and a lightweight. Then I went to a Republican caucus in 1980 as a Bush supporter and met the Reagan supporters. I realized that they were the little people, mechanics, technicians, churchgoers, folks that used to be Democrats.
Now liberals are teaching us all to believe that Sarah Palin is a flake and a lightweight.
As the old saying goes: fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.
The critics are right about Sarah Palin's memoir, Going Rogue. There's a lot of score-settling, although usually the culprits are nameless.
Still, the critics will never like Palin. It is not just her hometown gushiness that, to them, it is like scratching on a blackboard. It is more like the cultural chasm between the Greek immigrants and the desiccated liberals in My Big Fat Greek Wedding.
Remember how embarrassed the heroine Toula Portokalos was about her chaotic Greek immigrant family? But the joke was really on the nice upscale parents of her WASPy romantic interest, Ian Miller. "Dry as toast" was the verdict of her father, Gus, on Miller's parents.
That's my verdict on the snooty liberals that sneer at Sarah Palin: Dry as toast!
Modern Liberals are fortunate children. They emerged in the late 19th century, children of the wealthy. They were ashamed of their crude fathers, up from nothing. They wanted to be refined, unlike father. They wanted to help the poor, but with other peoples' money. They wanted to give the poor an education, but with other peoples' money. They wanted to do creative work, and they wanted tenure.
Refined is something Sarah Palin has never been. Tenure is something she has never had. She worked through high school, waitressing, cleaning offices, inventorying groceries. Then she got scholarships and worked to pay for college. Then she joined boyfriend Todd in Bristol Bay, Alaska, salmon fishing, working slimy fish processing jobs at the canneries. Off season Todd would work as a baggage handler and she would work at customer service and part-time reporting.
Picked by Wasilla mayor John Stein, Palin ran for city council and won in 1992. After two terms she ran against Stein for mayor in 1996 and won. Then she ran for Lieutenant Governor in 2002 and lost. She upset incumbent Governor Murkowski in the primary and beat the Democrat in the general election to become Alaska's governor in 2006.
No wonder the liberals hate her. The whole point of public education, of business regulation, or rampant credentialism is to smother people like her before they have a chance to get anywhere.
No wonder the McCain campaign couldn't handle her. She's a force of nature. But what comes next?
We know from Palin's book tour that she has a base. You know who they are, because you've seen them in line at the book stores. They are the aspiring white working/middle class, the same people that turned out for Reagan a generation ago: "Ray the principal, Jose the Hairdresser, Peggy the Nurse, Bob the Cop, Joe the Plumber." Today's Democratic Party, once the party of the little people, has nothing to say to them.
The next question is: can Palin connect with moderates?
Fortunately, there is a simple answer to that question. We don't know. We might have an idea if she were a loyal Republican workhorse. But she isn't. She's a force of nature.
If Sarah Palin wants to lead the Republican Party in 2012 she'll have to make her own weather. The Republican establishment isn't going to help her. But that's OK, she once ran against the Republican establishment of Alaska and won.
If Sarah Palin runs for president in 2012 she'll be running against an incumbent, President Obama. But that's OK. She ran against an incumbent mayor and won. She ran against an incumbent governor and won.
But what about the issues? What does Sarah Palin know about economic policy or foreign policy? Good question. But let us put the question in context. What does President Obama know about economic and foreign policy after a year on the job that he doesn't need to unlearn, and fast?
If you read Sarah Palin's book and listen to her interviews you'll know that she is hammering away at one simple idea: commonsense conservatism. What does it mean? That will depend. But Palin's record tells us that when it's time to run for election, she knows how to win. When it comes time to master the details, she's done that with Alaskan energy policy. When it comes to selling the public on her program with speeches and town meetings, she's been there. When it comes to getting her agenda through the legislature, she's done it.
If only our incumbent president could say as much.
A generation ago liberals taught me to believe that Ronald Reagan was an extremist and a lightweight. Then I went to a Republican caucus in 1980 as a Bush supporter and met the Reagan supporters. I realized that they were the little people, mechanics, technicians, churchgoers, folks that used to be Democrats.
Now liberals are teaching us all to believe that Sarah Palin is a flake and a lightweight.
As the old saying goes: fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.
The critics are right about Sarah Palin's memoir, Going Rogue. There's a lot of score-settling, although usually the culprits are nameless.
Still, the critics will never like Palin. It is not just her hometown gushiness that, to them, it is like scratching on a blackboard. It is more like the cultural chasm between the Greek immigrants and the desiccated liberals in My Big Fat Greek Wedding.
Remember how embarrassed the heroine Toula Portokalos was about her chaotic Greek immigrant family? But the joke was really on the nice upscale parents of her WASPy romantic interest, Ian Miller. "Dry as toast" was the verdict of her father, Gus, on Miller's parents.
That's my verdict on the snooty liberals that sneer at Sarah Palin: Dry as toast!
Modern Liberals are fortunate children. They emerged in the late 19th century, children of the wealthy. They were ashamed of their crude fathers, up from nothing. They wanted to be refined, unlike father. They wanted to help the poor, but with other peoples' money. They wanted to give the poor an education, but with other peoples' money. They wanted to do creative work, and they wanted tenure.
Refined is something Sarah Palin has never been. Tenure is something she has never had. She worked through high school, waitressing, cleaning offices, inventorying groceries. Then she got scholarships and worked to pay for college. Then she joined boyfriend Todd in Bristol Bay, Alaska, salmon fishing, working slimy fish processing jobs at the canneries. Off season Todd would work as a baggage handler and she would work at customer service and part-time reporting.
Picked by Wasilla mayor John Stein, Palin ran for city council and won in 1992. After two terms she ran against Stein for mayor in 1996 and won. Then she ran for Lieutenant Governor in 2002 and lost. She upset incumbent Governor Murkowski in the primary and beat the Democrat in the general election to become Alaska's governor in 2006.
No wonder the liberals hate her. The whole point of public education, of business regulation, or rampant credentialism is to smother people like her before they have a chance to get anywhere.
No wonder the McCain campaign couldn't handle her. She's a force of nature. But what comes next?
We know from Palin's book tour that she has a base. You know who they are, because you've seen them in line at the book stores. They are the aspiring white working/middle class, the same people that turned out for Reagan a generation ago: "Ray the principal, Jose the Hairdresser, Peggy the Nurse, Bob the Cop, Joe the Plumber." Today's Democratic Party, once the party of the little people, has nothing to say to them.
The next question is: can Palin connect with moderates?
Fortunately, there is a simple answer to that question. We don't know. We might have an idea if she were a loyal Republican workhorse. But she isn't. She's a force of nature.
If Sarah Palin wants to lead the Republican Party in 2012 she'll have to make her own weather. The Republican establishment isn't going to help her. But that's OK, she once ran against the Republican establishment of Alaska and won.
If Sarah Palin runs for president in 2012 she'll be running against an incumbent, President Obama. But that's OK. She ran against an incumbent mayor and won. She ran against an incumbent governor and won.
But what about the issues? What does Sarah Palin know about economic policy or foreign policy? Good question. But let us put the question in context. What does President Obama know about economic and foreign policy after a year on the job that he doesn't need to unlearn, and fast?
If you read Sarah Palin's book and listen to her interviews you'll know that she is hammering away at one simple idea: commonsense conservatism. What does it mean? That will depend. But Palin's record tells us that when it's time to run for election, she knows how to win. When it comes time to master the details, she's done that with Alaskan energy policy. When it comes to selling the public on her program with speeches and town meetings, she's been there. When it comes to getting her agenda through the legislature, she's done it.
If only our incumbent president could say as much.
Just Vids
No time for insightful (or boring) commentary on today's events. I'll comment on those tomorrow. In the meantime, here's today's Palin vids:
Monday, November 30, 2009
Sarah Palin and Trig in Richmond
Sarah Palin and little Trig meeting people in Richmond, WA.:
And just a few late nite (early morning) goodies:
And just a few late nite (early morning) goodies:
Sunday, November 29, 2009
The Rundow: Old Geezers and Book Signings
First up, the LOTUS is talking about Afghanistan:
As Thanksgiving festivities wind down we contemplate all we have to be thankful for as free Americans! We head into the Christmas season wishing for leadership in Washington that reflects our commitment to the values and ideals that have built the freest and most prosperous and generous nation on earth.
Heading into December and Tuesday’s announcement of our nation’s strategy in Afghanistan, I ask the President to reassure us that the administration is in this War on Terror to win.
And I’ll pass along the following from Harold B. Estes, a 95-year-old member of the Greatest Generation: “I realize you never served in the military and never had to defend your country with your life, but you’re the Commander-in-Chief now, son. Do your job. When your battle-hardened field General asks you for 40,000 more troops to complete the mission, give them to him. But if you’re not in this fight to win, then get out.”
Thank you, Mr. President. Please tell us on Tuesday that America is in it to win.
- Sarah Palin
PS: You can read Mr. Estes' complete letter here.
I highly recommend that letter. Good stuff. Here's a few excerpts:
I love old people.I can't figure out what country you are the president of. You fly around the world telling our friends and enemies despicable lies like:
" We're no longer a Christian nation"
" America is arrogant" - (Your wife even announced to the world,"America is mean-spirited. " Please tell her to try preaching that nonsense to 23 generations of our war dead buried all over the globe who died for no other reason than to free a whole lot of strangers from tyranny and hopelessness.)....
Take a little advice from a very old geezer, young man. Shape up and start acting like an American.If you don't, I'll do what I can to see you get shipped out of that fancy rental on Pennsylvania Avenue .You were elected to lead not to bow, apologize and kiss the hands of murderers and corrupt leaders who still treat their people like slaves....
You don't mind offending the police calling them stupid but you don't want us to offend Muslim fanatics by calling them what they are, terrorists.
...You're not going to restore American greatness by bringing back our bloated economy. That's not our greatest threat. Losing the heart and soul of who we are as Americans is our big fight now. And I sure as hell don't want to think my president is the enemy in this final battle.
In fluff, here's a gallery of pics of Sarah in Washington. Another gallery here. Articles here and here. Video here. A few excerpts:
Palin made an impromptu stop along Jadwin Avenue and Torbett Street to thank her fans. She walked along the street for at least 20 minutes shaking hands and posing for pictures, while carrying her young son Trig.
“We were stoked. It was worth the drive,” said Katie McGuire-Forbes.
“I got to shake Sarah Palin’s hand. That was awesome. And her baby is so cute, I just want to kiss his face,” McGuire-Forbes said just a minute after meeting the best-selling author. “That will make it that much better if I can’t get my book signed.”
Chuck Heath stayed with his daughter inside the store, while Sally Heath — quickly recognized by many fans as Palin’s mother — walked the line outside doing interviews, taking pictures and signing her own name in the book.
“It’s just really a complete surprise. We were afraid, what if we showed up here and nobody came,” Sally Heath said. “We’re so thrilled to death to see the support in Washington state.”
"This kind of makes me emotional," Palin's father Chuck Heath said. "I see people crying. We're very proud of our daughter."
Here's a slideshow from C4P:
Book-signing in Washington:
Older vid:
Lastly, here's a long and detailed review of Going Rogue. I obviously disagree with some of his assessments, but I think it's useful to get other people's perspectives on things. The guy overanalyzes some things and focuses on other things that don't matter, but it's good to know what different people are thinking.
The Rundown
All's kinda quiet here on the Midwestern front. Turkey is still settling, but there are a few Palin bits out there.
McCain finally stuck up for Sarah a few days ago, as you already know, on Greta. I say, too little too late. I understand wanting to lick your wounds after the election, but if you don't have what it takes to stand up to your own staffers, than you would have been a truly crummy President.
McCain finally stuck up for Sarah a few days ago, as you already know, on Greta. I say, too little too late. I understand wanting to lick your wounds after the election, but if you don't have what it takes to stand up to your own staffers, than you would have been a truly crummy President.
I think that McCain is, at many levels, an honorable guy, but his time is up. I know that Palin has a blind spot when it comes to McCain. For that reason I don't hold it against her that she donated to his campaign and won't hold it against her if she campaigns for him, although I would prefer she just stay out of the Arizona race. But I think it's time for Johnny boy to go.
I was listening to old podcasts of the Bob and Mark show the day after the Governor's race in Alaska, and it struck me just how much the McCain campaign screwed up Sarah Palin. She had it going, man, she was hitting all the right notes, sending all the right messages, and then the McCain people got a hold of her. Now she's had to spend the last year just trying to get her image back to what it was on August 28th, 2009. And there are days when I just want to nuke the media. Those idiots know absolutely nothing, and if they do know the truth, they refuse to report it. Ugh, makes me sick. Spit on all of them.
In other news, Sarah's apparently a hit out in western Washington state. The Seattle Times reports that fans are lining up outside the book store. A few excerpts:
I was listening to old podcasts of the Bob and Mark show the day after the Governor's race in Alaska, and it struck me just how much the McCain campaign screwed up Sarah Palin. She had it going, man, she was hitting all the right notes, sending all the right messages, and then the McCain people got a hold of her. Now she's had to spend the last year just trying to get her image back to what it was on August 28th, 2009. And there are days when I just want to nuke the media. Those idiots know absolutely nothing, and if they do know the truth, they refuse to report it. Ugh, makes me sick. Spit on all of them.
In other news, Sarah's apparently a hit out in western Washington state. The Seattle Times reports that fans are lining up outside the book store. A few excerpts:
"She stands for what we stand for, which is greatly lacking in Seattle," said Debi Danielson, 54, of Yakima. "Only in Seattle can you come up with a government that has the idea that they know how to do everything."
Identify yourself as being from west of the Cascades — specifically, that liberal city by Elliott Bay — and you will be told in no uncertain terms why they love Sarah here.
"The state should be chopped in half," said the husband, about the eastside/westside political split.
"We're conservative. We won't leave a mess like liberals do," she said. "Ever seen the parks after they leave? All garbage."
Palin gave a shout-out to C4P at a book-signing:
The LA Times has an interesting take on Sarah Palin and the criticism thrown her way.
Another point about Sarah Palin:
I'm going to be honest and say that Palin was probably plucked before she was completely ripe for the Presidency. She was, of course, running for Vice President, something she was completely qualified for, but that doesn't matter now. In the world of honest journalism, Palin would still have a reputation and would probably still be the Governor of Alaska beefing up her resume. But it is what it is; America doesn't have time to let Sarah Palin go the route of Ronald Reagan - we need her now.
Is she still a little rough around the edges? Yes. Will it be an uphill battle all the way? Yes. And I personally think she needs to be even more Reaganesque when it comes to foreign policy. She will also have to become more specific on her policies, but there's still plenty of time for that. I have come face to face with the possiblility that she may go nowhere, that the Tea Party movement may fizzle away, and that we'll become a socialized nation whether we like it or not. She's going to have to prove herself in a national campaign (if she does run) just like anybody else.
Sarah Palin is not Barry Goldwater. She is not an ultra-conservative. She now calls herself a Common-Sense Conservative, which is a pretty accurate description. She is not a crazy right-winger. The NY-23rd was not an attempt to flush all moderates out of the Republican Party; she has said as much. Of course, nobody believes her.
John Ziegler is right; the media of the 21st century is all about narratives. They have established a narrative of Sarah Palin, and all facts that fly in the face of that narrative must be ignored, just as they ignore facts that fly in the face of any of their other narratives. If this country loses its freedom, there will be many people to blame, but I will lay the lion's share of that blame at the media's doorstep.
I'm just thankful this messed up world isn't all there is. Speaking of "things that are above," here's a web exclusive with Sarah talking to Billy Graham about faith:
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