Saturday, January 9, 2010

Should Palin Skip CPAC?

Article by Allahpundit over at Hot Air:
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A better question: Why shouldn’t Palin skip CPAC? She’s got her grassroots flank covered by speaking at the tea party convention and she’s got her party establishment flank covered by speaking at the SRLC. What does she gain by speaking at CPAC? With no obvious benefit in attending, better to skip it and use your absence to burnish your credentials as a crusader against corporate interests. Even Rick Moran, who’s no Palin fan, agrees she’s making some shrewd moves.

Or is she? A better question is, should Palin be skipping the tea party convention?:

....“She thinks she’s coming to endorse the tea party movement, but most tea party people won’t be there because they can’t afford it,” [Anthony Shreeve, a Tennessee tea-party organizer,] said. “The tea party movement is a grass-roots movement; it’s not a business,” he added, asserting the convention “could potentially harm the movement, because it’s a premature national initiative that doesn’t have the support of the majority of we the people.”

The base loves her too much to hold her participation in the cooptation of the tea-party movement against her, but for what little it’s worth, when I tweeted about the ticket prices last night there was plenty of grumbling in response and some complaints (echoed in Politico’s story) that the convention isn’t a “true” bottom-up leaderless tea-party event. If she’s decided she’ll only do either that or CPAC, she probably made the right choice — it’s tea partiers who have the media buzz right now — but I’m not sure it’s an unalloyed good. Exit question: Is it?

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Well, Allah was going good for about a paragraph at least. "Cooptation," really? Come on.

You know what really bugs me? When someone claims to speak for us and they really don't. Who says the Convention doesn't have the majority support of "we the people." I'm a "we the people." I can't afford to go. But good gravy, yeah, I support it!

The Tea Party Convention isn't for everyone and their mom - it's for the state and local leaders of the movement - kind of a workshop if you will. If they lowered the price to almost nothing, they'd probably have a couple million people show up. Which would be cool, I guess, but this isn't a rally or a protest - this is about trying to get some degree of organization injected into the movement so that it can be more effective in the 2010 elections and beyond.

Calm down, Allah. Breathe. It's the symbolism that matters.

Some Pics

You know those pics I said I'd post about a week ago? You don't remember that? Well, you should!

Here they are:)

Aha! Sarah caught on camera with Bigfoot....Beaver -


Here's some thumbnails I was able to snag off of one page of Palin's old website when she was campaigning for Governor. The first two are the actual sizes I was able to snag. The next two are the same pics blown up a little bit. A tad grainier, but nicer to look at. As always, click for bigger pic:
And here's a couple pics from the People magazine article that aren't on the website. Horrible renderings, but they're better than nothin':

Schmitty Wanna Diaper?

Doesn't Steve Schmidt look like a ginormous baby?

Have I mentioned lately that I hate the media? I really, really hate the media.

All of these stories popping up now about whatever "revelations" Schmitty has for 60 minutes do one thing - convince me that the media that critiqued and commented on Palin's book never, ever read it. This stuff is all in there if they had bothered to look.

I don't much care what the classless piece of "schmidt" has to say. All I know is that his face or the mere mention of his name awakens an irresistable primal urge to knee somebody.

Preferably him.

Videos - Tammy Bruce, BAM, and Machosauce

First up, Tammy Bruce on "Why Jews Hate Palin." She throws in a bit about Todd at the end of part two:





Now, the Bob and Mark Show has some fun with Hollis French. If you're familiar with Alaska politics, you'll get this:



And lastly, Machosauce has some fun with the underwear bomber:

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Tammy Bruce, Cavuto, and O'Reilly

A few vids including Tammy Bruce on Obama's safety and the importance of Palin's example, Cavuto on Don Imus about Palin, and O'Reilly in a segment says Palin crushed Obama:



Now, Don Imus is not a Palin fan, but that doesn't stop Cavuto from trying:



Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Welcome to 2010 - It's War, Not a Crime Spree

Welcome to 2010. A year of Congressional races and comeupances; of the storm that is Sarah Palin, and the blooming of the Tea Party movement.

The LOTUS kicks off the year with a scolding for President Obama:

It’s War, not a Crime Spree -

President Obama’s meeting with his top national security advisers does nothing to change the fact that his fundamental approach to terrorism is fatally flawed. We are at war with radical Islamic extremists and treating this threat as a law enforcement issue is dangerous for our nation’s security. That’s what happened in the 1990s and we saw the result on September 11, 2001.

This is a war on terror not an “overseas contingency operation.” Acts of terrorism are just that, not “man caused disasters.” The system did not work. Abdulmutallab was a child of privilege radicalized and trained by organized jihadists, not an “isolated extremist” who traveled to a land of “crushing poverty.” He is an enemy of the United States, not just another criminal defendant.

It simply makes no sense to treat an al Qaeda-trained operative willing to die in the course of massacring hundreds of people as a common criminal. Reports indicate that Abdulmutallab stated there were many more like him in Yemen but that he stopped talking once he was read his Miranda rights. President Obama’s advisers lamely claim Abdulmutallab might be willing to agree to a plea bargain – pretty doubtful you can cut a deal with a suicide bomber.

John Brennan, the President’s top counterterrorism adviser, bizarrely claimed “there are no downsides or upsides” to treating terrorists as enemy combatants. That is absurd. There is a very serious downside to treating them as criminals: terrorists invoke their “right” to remain silent and stop talking. Terrorists don’t tell us where they were trained, what they were trained in, who they were trained by, and who they were trained with.

Giving foreign-born, foreign-trained terrorists the right to remain silent does nothing to keep Americans safe from terrorist threats. It only gives our enemies access to courtrooms where they can publicly grandstand, and to defense attorneys who can manipulate the legal process to gain access to classified information.

President Obama was right to change his policy and decide to send no more detainees to Yemen where they can be free to rejoin their war on America. Now he must back off his reckless plan to close Guantanamo, begin treating terrorists as wartime enemies not suspects alleged to have committed crimes, and recognize that the real nature of the terrorist threat requires a commander-in-chief, not a constitutional law professor.

- Sarah Palin


It's even better when Tammy Bruce reads it:



I do believe that I am grinning from ear to ear:)

I apologize for being distracted lately by the Bristol/Levi custody battle and other things. When nothing's going on I tend to track down the rabbit trails. But the lull is finally over, and the two sides now reengage. As far as the custody issue is concerned, I leave it to the court. Leaving Levi's publicity seeking aside, it might actually be better for Sarah if Levi is successful in obtaining joint custody. We'll address the fallout as those issues arise.

Leaving all of that sideline stuff on the sidelines, we press forward into a new year and onto a new front. Among other things, Obama is missing the Iranian Revolution; he is saying "now you stop that now" to the terrorists before retreating back to his golf course to suck his thumb. It is time to take this country back. It is time for some courage. It is time to remind ourselves who we are.

No more hangover from the 2008 election - this is a new year; a new war; a new beginning. And we are going to be led into battle by a general who has spent the last year and half learning how to weather the storm. Thank you, libs for providing the boot camp.

I don't know about you, but I feel good:)


Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Sarah Palin is the Person of the Year / Going Rogue Review

For the second year in a row, voters have named Sarah Palin as ESR's Person of the Year.

Article by Enter Stage Right:
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No one received as many votes as did our top two finishers: former Alaska governor Sarah Palin and Fox News star Glenn Beck. The winner was decided by narrowest of margins: Sarah Palin.

"She exudes a positive can-do attitude and has valiantly soldiered on after more than a year of constant berating by the media and Hollywood -- with charm and grace, I might add. Sarah Palin is the embodiment of the American experience." -- a voter
When 2009 began one might be forgiven for thinking Palin's star had shone brightly before then faded away like those of so many other vice presidential nominees cursed with being on a losing ticket. With the media's attention focused on Obama and the Democrats, Palin finished what would be a best-selling book and began traveling the United States and building a web of contacts and organizations that will likely come into service in 2012. Palin's concerns weren't merely mercenary, however. She was one of the most effective critics of Obamacare and forced the media to address proposals -- such as the alleged death panels -- that they would have preferred to ignore.

"Because she is irrepressible. She embodies the American spirit of freedom, with that touch of rebellion (the "rogue") that won't be silenced, won't be repressed, won't be diminished or demeaned. The love the people have for her is an expression of their deep hope for America's future in the face of an entrenched and intractable political machine selling our birthright down the pike." -- a voter
Does Sarah Palin have a bright future on the American national scene? That's difficult to say. Looming battles over Obama's agenda, an increasing focus on the upcoming mid-term elections and the perceived distance to 2012 may force Palin to the sidelines -- at least for the moment. And she would hardly be the first shooting star in American politics to be replaced by the next big thing or by what party leaders felt is a more pragmatic choice. It's hard to believe, however, that we've heard the last from Palin. Despite what her critics argue, and as she capably proved in 2009, Palin brings passion, insight and a Reagan-esque positive attitude about America and on that she has the current monopoly.
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And there is a good review of Going Rogue in three parts here, here, and here. Excerpts:
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Let me say right off that Going Rogue was better than I expected, and my expectations were fairly high. I never accepted the mainstream media’s portrayal of Palin as some kind of frontier hick with only half a brain...

This is a deeply personal account. She chose to make this autobiography as true to her personality as possible. I detect no whiff of pseudo-sophistication....

How do I perceive Sarah Palin’s character in the book? She is the following:

1. A woman who has a relationship with the Lord and who seeks to do His will in every avenue of life;

2. Someone who has a determination to be productive with her life and make a difference in the world, one way or the other;

3. An excellent administrator with a penchant for detail, as shown by her dissection of budgets both at the local and state levels;

4. Someone who is willing to face down those who are abusing the public trust;

5. A fearless politician [not always a dirty word] who had no qualms taking on the corruption that was overtaking politics in Alaska;

6. A determined public official who fights for limited government principles [more on that a few days from now];

7. A “real” person who genuinely loves those whom she serves;

8. A dedicated wife and mother who puts her family first....

Some reports on Palin’s book made it seem as if she spent the majority of the time complaining about the treatment she received from the press, the Democrats, and operatives within the McCain campaign. In fact, all she did was chronicle what actually took place during the campaign and afterwards. She points to actions that she considers unfair, foolish, and indefensible, yet she doesn’t turn it into a diatribe against her opponents. She is analytical about it, not resentful....

Until Sarah Palin got the nod for vice president, she was admired by nearly everyone. No one accused her of any wrongdoing. Democrats in Alaska appreciated that she took on corruption within her own party. But once she was on the ticket, all that changed.....

Suddenly, she was no longer the efficient administrator, but a dumb “Caribou Barbie,” according to some commentators. Her first interview, with Charlie Gibson of ABC, took on the nature of a stern civics teacher challenging her knowledge of the world.

While she doesn’t pull any punches about her feelings over the maltreatment, her faith shines through. There is an inherent optimism in Palin that mirrors Ronald Reagan in the 1980s. Reagan suffered through many of the same accusations: he’s dumb, he’s lazy, he’s a simpleton. He refused to respond in kind; Palin follows in his footsteps....

I can hardly imagine the stress all of this placed on her family, and on her personally. Yet her attitude in the book is that you cannot expect to escape such trials. It’s the nature of politics, so you simply must face it and move forward. Even as she eventually decided to resign the governorship [because no real work could be done due to these tactics], it was not a retreat in her mind; it was, instead, a “reloading.” She was eager to see what new doors God might open....

Sarah Palin’s persona in Going Rogue is that of an open, honest, down-to-earth woman with whom everyday Americans would feel comfortable. Her responses to the personal attacks are admirable. That is one of the key things I look for in a potential leader. It goes back once again to character. And she has it....

When Palin’s book first came out, I remember Rush Limbaugh commenting that it was a great book on public policy...Now that I’ve read it for myself, I can say that Rush was correct.

No one disputes that the book is primarily autobiographical. The intent clearly is to reintroduce Palin to the public from her perspective rather than through the lens of her critics. Yet a significant part of who she is pertains to what she believes....

She calls herself “an independent person who had the good fortune to come of age in the era of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher.” She realizes that politcal labels get attached to individuals, so she decides to call herself a Commonsense Conservative.

Upon what is her Commonsense Conservatism based? Palin says, “I believe in a few timeless and unchanging truths, and chief among those is that man is fallen. This world is not perfect, and politicians will never make it so. . . . I am a conservative because I believe in the rights and the responsibilities and the inherent dignity of the individual.” This means we don’t trust utopian promises from politicians. The role of government is not to perfect us but to protect us—to protect our inalienable rights. The role of government in a civil society is to protect the individual and to establish a social contract so that we can live together in peace.

On economics, she sees cycles of booms and busts that are natural, given man’s fallen condition. Then when government steps in to “help,” things only get worse.

Sarah Palin is probably the first politician since Ronald Reagan who has the potential to unite all factions of conservatism.

Will she do so? If she does what she says everyone must do—follow the leading of the Lord in all areas of life—she may be the person who can achieve this.

IBD Interview Back Up

I went searching for Palin's IBD Interview that she gave in July of 2008 on You Tube and it had been taken down. I just reposted it.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Big Hollywood on Levi

Levi as a young boy

Article in Big Hollywood - Levi Johnston: A Hollywood Cautionary Tale :
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Fame is that place where character is rarely able to sustain itself. I don’t know how much character Levi Johnston had as a boy, but as a young man in the grips of the Hollywood culture machine he’s lost it all.

Levi’s story is one that plays out hundreds of times each year in Hollywood. The young either come to La La Land seeking fame, or have the opportunity for it laid in their lap due to circumstances they often times never sought. The wreckage of most rarely see the light of day, much less the pages of Playgirl magazine, they only end up chasing a dream that never comes, in rehab, jail or worse.

When one unknowingly trades character for fame the recipient has only one recourse, attack the catalyst that brought them the opportunity in the first place, in Levi Johnston case it’s Sarah Palin and the mother of his child.

When young men lack positive role models at home, often times they go astray in that long stretch towards manhood, only to end up a tool for whatever hungry machine is in their path, gangs, a White House intern, or the exploitative elements of Hollywood. When a young man’s character fails him, good parents are needed to right the course. Levi Johnston didn’t have that growing up in Alaska....

Getting your high school girlfriend pregnant is hardly worthy of fame, that is unless her mother is the Governor of your state, a vice-presidential candidate and conservative woman. Only then do the leftist vampires of Hollywood come out of their dark corners and offer you the glowing flame of fame. But what they didn’t tell Levi is that he’s just another one of their moths and the moment he’s served their purpose they’ll push him into the flame and exterminate him.

Levi’s now what Hollywood calls an actor and model, surrounded by the illusionist of Tinsel Town, an agent, a lawyer, a publicist. They prop him up on Tyra and Larry King for painful interviews of which reveals only a young man being nudged towards the embers. They set him up on public dates at children’s events with despicable bottom feeders like Kathy Griffin, get him to hock pistachios on TV and take his clothes off in magazines, all while taking 10, 15 and 5% of his gross respectively. When he’s done with the rounds in Hollywood they set him ablaze by dragging his child into the circus with a court battle because they tell him having custody would be good for his image. And when the media showers the public with the car crash that is Levi Johnston they are filled with glee because somehow they believe they are helping their liberal cause by destroying a young man, smearing a young mother and mocking a conservative woman who rose to power by her own boot straps.

There are worse things in life than ending up an electrician in Alaska and a present, active father in child’s life. I hope that’s where Levi ends up; it’s a far nobler and more lasting life. Cause if he stays on the path of the hungry machine that is Hollywood, just another moth reaching for the fame flame, you’ll see him years from now on “Celebrity Boxing,” “Tool Academy” or “I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here” and he won’t be the handsome young man with so much potential that he is today.

When Levi is older I hope he’s able look back at this time in his life and feel a sense of shame, only then will he know that he’s begun to rebuild his character.
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This guy made a few factual errors in his article, like failing to mention that Levi was run out of his job because of political opponents of Palin, and he apparently doesn't know that Levi's father has left home.

People who write articles like this are people who truly care about the Johnstons, Levi in particular. People who try to make everything big, bad Sarah Palin's fault are only aiding Levi in his self-destruction. Trying to excuse Levi's actions and rushing to the defense of his poor decisions of late does nothing to help him. The Palin-haters are just happy to have someone to do their dirty work. They accuse Sarah of using him - well what on earth do they think they're doing?

Now, legally, I don't think Bristol has much of a case. Hope springs eternal, but the fact remains that Alaska favors joint custody and Levi, while being a scumbag, has stayed within the law. It sucks to have him get away with being a douchebag, but such is life.

At the end of the day, it might be a good thing. I believe he truly does love Tripp (who wouldn't love their son?) and if joint custody is granted I can only hope that some better judgment on Levi's part will start to kick in and he'll start making decisions that are in Tripp's best interest rather than his own. I guess we'll see.

Monday, January 4, 2010

New Palin E-mails

The Alaska Dispatch has somehow gotten a hold of some brand new (well, technically old) Palin administration e-mails. These are from when she first got into office. I could post a bunch of pics of different parts of the emails, but it's better if you just read them yourself. The batch is here.

Sunday, January 3, 2010

SP Video Sunday (Monday:)

I should just call it SP Video Monday Morning. I'm working on something else for maybe tomorrow or the next day. We'll see. For now, kicker press conference of Palin's and then a few adorable snippet vids.

Presser is a playlist of vids. Each one should play automatically if you just give it a second.







Greta Vids - Piper Palin on Bus





Is that guy bowing to her?