I know it's up in other places, but I could not believe my computer screen. SEIU members for Scott Brown:
I just want to note that Sarah's Facebook post on the unions was probably one of her smartest moves so far. It would be something else if the grassroots union members buck their party leadership and support Sarah, wouldn't it? It could happen. I never thought I'd see purple shirts for Scott Brown.
Oh, please. Fox is as stupid as the other networks sometimes. They buy right into the narrative. First the meme was, "Palin can't name a newspaper she reads." Now it's, "Palin can't name a founding father she likes." Give me a flippin' break. I personally, don't have a favorite founding father. I like all of 'em. I don't have a favorite anything, not even a color. The focus on this says more about the people who aren't able to have more than one thought at a time than it does about Palin. No wonder her shields are up, she can never guess where the stupidity is going to come from.
And here are the brilliant MSNBC people attempting to mock Sarah Palin. They can't even mock intelligently:
Gov. Sean Parnell said Thursday that he wants to give oil and gas companies greater incentives to do business in the state, a plan he says will boost production and create potentially hundreds of new jobs for Alaskans.
The plan comes amid forecasts of slumping oil production on Alaska's North Slope and concerns by some Republican lawmakers that a state tax on oil and gas production — passed two years ago at the urging of then-Gov. Sarah Palin — is doing more harm than good and hindering new development.
Nice little shot over the bow there, but keep reading...
A report released Thursday by the state Department of Revenue did not attribute industry woes to the tax; in fact, it found the tax was performing as expected.
Alas, all is not Sarah Palin's fault.
However, it did recommend ways the system could be improved to spur additional development, including expanding tax credits for drilling and well work costs.
Parnell said the recommendations strike a balance between protecting Alaska's interests and declaring the state open for business. While the state currently has billions of dollars in budget reserves, Parnell said its economy is struggling and he's trying to create more jobs and opportunities. The estimated hundreds of millions of dollars in additional tax credits are a small price to pay, he said, for a state that runs on oil and gas revenue.
He said he'd ask lawmakers, who begin meeting in regular session next week, to approve his plan.
Whether they do is anyone's guess.
It goes on to quote different lawmakers, including Ramras. Don't get me started on Jay Ramras. Jay Ramras is a tool for the big oil companies. He is the definition of tool, just so you know that every thing he says comes straight from the oil companies' butt.
The most important part for Palin supporters is the first bolded section. The most important part for Alaska is the second. I have no problem with this. Palin herself has said that some changes to the tax system are open for consideration. There is nothing wrong with that.
Here's the thing: The oil companies had Alaska over a barrel with Murkowski. Palin was able to take Alaska's power back and put the state in a position of strength. Because the state is now in that position of strength, negotiation is now possible. But no real agreements could ever be made while the oil companies had a choke-hold on the state.
You cannot make a fair deal unless the parties are in a position to look each other in the eye. Palin put the state in that position. Now it's up to Parnell to work out the details.
Nothing is ever finished with one politician or one governor. It is an ongoing and hopefully continually improving process. I have long said that the state will probably have to put in some predictability on oil taxes into AGIA in order for the line to get built (not necessarily the changes under consideration, just an example). The Palin administration originally put that into their plan in the first place, but the legislature took it out.
So shut your face, Dan Fagan, as I'm sure it's already wide open.
More specific details about Parnell's proposals can be found here.
He wants the state to suspend gasoline taxes again to help Alaskans.
He wants further studies on an in-state gasline.
Lawmakers have praised his proposals, but some are encouraging him to go even further. Bottom line - now that the partisanship that surrounded Palin after the election is gone, the state of Alaska is moving forward. Palin was right.
Glenn Beck on his radio show discussing his interview with Sarah Palin. (I prefer plain audio because I like to just focus on what's being said, but if you want video, it's below):
I know a lot of people are saying that the Palin/Beck interview was her most relaxed interview, blah, blah, blah.... but I honestly thought that she was a little more guarded going into this one than she has been on a few others. Maybe it's just me.
Maybe it was the idea of meeting someone that you actually like and you don't want to ruin the like, I don't know. But that was just my impression. I think she got looser as the interview went on, but she waffled between guarded and unguarded.
You know, I didn't want to say anything, but when I saw Palin at the Wisconsin Right to Life... I don't know. Apparently, I'm the only one that felt that way because every other account was glowing - practically had her walking on water. I thought that maybe it was just because I had been up for a long time and was dog tired and out of my mind, but for me, it was as if all the star power and all the "punch" was stripped away - all I saw was a woman.
A woman who perhaps has been stabbed in the back so often she's afraid to let her guard down now. I didn't peg that at the time. At the time I was just struck by how absolutely normal she was. Average. She could have been anyone.
On the way home I sat in the car wondering how on earth it is that this person has come to be in this position. The only conclusion I could draw that night was that it wasn't her. I know this is going to sound incredibly tacky, but she's just a person; I think she was dead on when (if) she told Steve Schmidt that this whole thing was God's plan.
Maybe Sarah Palin is George Washington, then again, maybe not. Maybe (probably) Glenn is just a little overdramatic. Doesn't really matter. She's not really running this show anyway, I don't think. We'll just have to wait and see.
One thing's for sure - this woman is receiving Presidential-level criticism and has been for over a year now. You think that woman's not going to be ready for the Presidency? Think again.
Can you guess what religious nut said the following? - -------------
"Politics and morality are inseparable. And as morality's foundation is religion, religion and politics are necessarily related. We need religion as a guide. We need it because we are imperfect, and our government needs the church, because only those humble enough to admit they're sinners can bring to democracy the tolerance it requires in order to survive."
"I believe with all my heart that standing up for America means standing up for the God who has so blessed our land. We need God's help to guide our nation through stormy seas. But we can't expect Him to protect America in a crisis if we just leave Him over on the shelf in our day-to-day living.”
"Our forefathers drew on the wisdom and strength of God when they turned a vast wilderness into a blessed land of plenty called the United States of America. God has truly blessed this country, but we never should fall into the trap that would detract from the universality of God's gift. It is for all mankind. God's love is the hope and the light of the world."
"The Founding Fathers believed that faith in God was the key to our being a good people and America's becoming a great nation."
"Today, prayer is still a powerful force in America, and our faith in God is a mighty source of strength. Our pledge of Allegiance states that we are one nation under God, and our currency bears the motto, 'In God We Trust.' The morality and values such faith implies are deeply embedded in our national character. Our country embraces those principles by design, and we abandon them at our peril. Yet in recent years, well-meaning Americans in the name of freedom have taken freedom away. For the sake of religious tolerance, they've forbidden religious practice in the classrooms. The law of this land has effectively removed prayer from our classrooms. How can we hope to retain our freedom through generations if we fail to teach our young that our liberty springs from an abiding faith in our creator."
"Freedom prospers when religion is vibrant and the rule of law under God is acknowledged."
"Here then is our formula for completing our crusade for freedom. Here is the strength of our civilization and our belief in the rights of humanity. Our faith is in a higher law. Yes, we believe in prayer and its power. And like the Founding Fathers of both our lands, we hold that humanity was meant not to be dishonored by the all-powerful state, but to live in the image and likeness of Him who made us."
"Within the covers of the Bible are all the answers for all the problems men face.”
"Without God, there is no virtue, because there's no prompting of the conscience. Without God, we're mired in the material, that flat world that tells us only what the senses perceive. Without God, there is a coarsening of the society. And without God, democracy will not and cannot long endure. If we ever forget that we're one nation under God, then we will be a nation gone under."
"We are never defeated unless we give up on God.”
"We Americans are blessed in so many ways. We?re a nation under God, a living and loving God. But Thomas Jefferson warned us, 'I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just.' We cannot expect Him to protect us in crisis if we turn away from Him in our everyday living. But you know, He told us what to do in II Chronicles. Let us reach out to Him. He said, 'If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from Heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.'"
"It would seem that not only is religion lacking in the schools -- so is common sense. I wonder what a teacher is supposed to say if a kid asks about those four words on a dime -- 'In God We Trust.' Or maybe that's why they aren't being taught how to read these days."
"The image of George Washington kneeling in prayer in the snow is one of the most famous in American history. He personified a people who knew it was not enough to depend on their own courage and goodness; they must also seek help from God, their Father and Preserver."
"While never willing to bow to a tyrant, our forefathers were always willing to get to their knees before God. When catastrophe threatened, they turned to God for deliverance. When the harvest was bountiful, the first thought was thanksgiving to God. Prayer is today as powerful a force in our nation as it has ever been. We as a nation should never forget this source of strength." ------------
Did you guess, or do you give up?
That's right! It was Ronald Reagan:
That was fun. Let's play again, shall we?
Guess what religious nut said this: -----------
"I believe in one God, Creator of the Universe. That He governs it by His providence. That He ought to be worshipped. That the most acceptable service we render Him is doing good to His other children. That the soul of man is immortal, and will be treated with justice in another life respecting its conduct in this."
"Having experienced the goodness of that Being in conducting me prosperously through a long life, I have no doubt of its continuance in the next, without the smallest conceit of meriting it."
"I’ve lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing Proofs I see of this Truth — That God governs in the Affairs of Men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his Notice, is it probable that an Empire can rise without his Aid? We have been assured, Sir, in the Sacred Writings, that except the Lord build the House they labor in vain who build it. I firmly believe this, — and I also believe that without his concurring Aid, we shall succeed in this political Building no better than the Builders of Babel." -------------
Ding, ding, ding! We have a winner! That's right, it was Benjamin Franklin. That last quote was uttered in a call for prayer when the founding fathers couldn't get anything done at the Constitutional Convention. Ben Franklin, as far as we know, was not a Christian. At best, he was a Deist, and that was only later in his life. In his youth and middle age, he was an agnostic.
Let's try one more, shall we? Guess this religious nut: ------------
"It is in an especial manner our duty as a people, with devout reverence and affectionate gratitude, to acknowledge our many and great obligations to Almighty God, and to implore Him to continue and confirm the blessings we experienced. It is impossible to reason without arriving at a Supreme Being. Religion is as necessary to reason, as reason is to religion. The one cannot exist without the other. A reasoning being would lose his reason, in attempting to account for the great phenomena of nature, had he not a Supreme Being to refer to."
"The propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right which Heaven itself has ordained.”
"Make me to know what is acceptable in Thy sight, and therein to delight, open the eyes of my understanding, and help me thoroughly to examine myself concerning my knowledge, faith, and repentance, increase my faith, and direct me to the true object, Jesus Christ the Way, the Truth, and the Life, ..."
---------
Bet you didn't get that one. Well, maybe you did. That was George Washington.
And the Left is sweating bullets over Sarah Palin?
Go figure.
Note: Quotes are tricky things, and not all quotes that float around the net as having been said by founding fathers were actually said by them. I tried to post the ones here that are legitimate. Not all of the founding fathers believed the same thing. Some were Unitarians, some were Chrstians, some were Deists, at least one appears to have become an atheist (after which the American public practically banned him from the USA).
Glenn Beck talks about how high Palin's shields were before the interview:
I have to say, I never really thought of it that way before. Think of how many people that Sarah thought she could trust that have stabbed her in the back this past year. From the McCain aides, to Alaskans and old colleagues, to a person who was in her house and almost became a member of her family. No wonder the woman doesn't seem too thrilled with the idea of running for President. No wonder she is hesitant to hire any advisors other than those from the McCain campaign who have not betrayed her.
I still haven't seen her O'Reilly interview (I'm on pins and needles though), but I fully expect to walk away energized and realizing once again that Sarah Palin is one smart cookie. This is a woman who is going to be able to use Fox News essentially as a training ground and a megaphone for conservative ideals and to promote 2010 candidates - all while they're paying her.
It's brilliant. She's essentially using the Fox News network as a campaigning arm (yes, I'm hoping this eventually turns into a campaign:) until she formally announces a candidacy (hopefully she will) and they'll be cutting her a paycheck in the meantime. All the while she will be able to get her feet wet in live television debate, national issues, and high-end media personalities that she's sure to run into in any future run. Not to mention the connections she can make. Krauthammer wanted her to study - well she just signed up for one crazy college course.
The Cuda outmanuevers everyone yet again, including me:)
Though we're more than a century removed from the Victorian era, the myth of the fragile woman is very much alive and well. Amid news that Sarah Palin will become a Fox News contributor (disclosure: I appear regularly on Fox, especially on Sean Hannity's show), her skeptics are already breathless with anxiety, fretting that she isn't hearty enough to survive the grueling rigors of punditry. Yes, punditry. Get out the fainting couches.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Republican strategist David Carney seemed to question Palin's constitution, suggesting that the less she has to do, the better. Limited appearances are "probably safer . . . than a daily show where she'd have to come up with something innovative and entertaining and provocative for 42 minutes, five days a week."
Only in the glossy, rarefied and coiffed world of television is 42 minutes of thinking considered a challenge.
Nonetheless, David Wallechinsky also seemed to fear for Palin's stamina in a Huffington Post screed. Like Carney, he took comfort in knowing the little lady wouldn't have to carry a program all by her lonesome: "Okay, she won't be having her own show - that's probably too darn hard for Palin." Washington Post blogger Jonathan Capehart worried, too, that the television gig would test Palin's mental mettle, discharging some heartwarming advice: "Palin will learn how to think on her feet. She should get used to getting to the studio thinking that she's going to talk about one thing only to find out that she's talking about something else."
Horror of horrors, anything but that.
Excuse me, but what century are these guys from? The idea that a former governor, a seasoned politician and a mother of five from Alaska isn't capable of chiming in every now and then on issues with which she is already intimately familiar is downright archaic. It's also preposterous. When did television punditry become the vaunted decathlon of the political Olympics?
As a pundit myself, I can tell you it's a job Sarah Palin can more than handle. In fact, it's a job at which she can excel. But this kind of hyperventilating over Palin's skill set isn't just antiquated and uninformed. It's also sexist. Back in the 1800s, female hysteria was a common medical diagnosis for a wide range of symptoms - from nervousness to stress, insomnia and irritability - thought only to manifest in women. Hysteria itself comes from the Greek word hustera, or uterus.
Until Freud came along and reclassified most hysteria diagnoses as general anxiety disorders, women were treated as fragile, delicate, temperamental creatures who couldn't handle the rigors of life as aptly as men. In 1873, Harvard physician Edward Clarke even suggested that educating women would physically overwhelm them - creating women with "monstrous brains and puny bodies."
In spite of Freud, the fragile woman myth is perpetuated even now - and not just by Jean Paul Gaultier's hideously named "Fragile" perfume for women, which I recently came across, but also by the amateur Palinologists who can't resist putting Sarah on the couch.
What, exactly, are they afraid will happen at Fox? That she'll collapse into a fit of giggles on "Hannity"? Or that a national security conversation will devolve into one about menstrual cramps? Or that after one or two "you betchas" she'll run out of things to say? It's true, she misspoke on the campaign trail a few times, calling Joe Biden "O'Biden," for one, and fumbling in a few interviews. But so did everyone. Biden himself could barely pronounce his running mate's name and had so many gaffes there isn't space to recount them here. Everyone flubs their lines once in a while, but it's no reason to call a doctor.
This is a woman who - inexplicably, if you believe these guys - became the first female and youngest governor of Alaska. She also, incidentally, ran for vice president of the United States, single-handedly resurrecting a dying campaign, delivering powerful speeches, adroitly handling Joe Biden in a televised debate, and navigating the blood-soaked waters of the liberal press. If her ad-libbed "pit bull and a hockey mom" joke during the Republican National Convention speech was any indication, she can think on her feet just fine.
Clearly, for the skeptics, the hand-wringing over her future at Fox is little more than wishful thinking. A number of strategists, including CNN's Paul Begala, have decided the move to television means she won't likely run for office in 2012. Also wishful thinking.
Whatever Sarah Palin's future holds, her Victorian-era detractors can rest assured she won't likely suffer any mental breakdowns on national television. She may be a woman, but she's no shrinking violet.
In the event that C4P does not post this awesome article, I am posting it right now. By Ben Shapiro at Townhall.com (with my favorite parts highlighted): ----------
Over the weekend, former John McCain campaign strategist Steve Schmidt told "60 Minutes" something shocking about McCain's former running mate, Sarah Palin. It seems that when Schmidt met Palin after McCain selected her, he was surprised that she was so calm. Schmidt apparently asked her how she could remain so tranquil in the face of such a monumental life change. She responded, "It's God's plan."
Naturally, the media went bonkers over this revelation. The New York Times approvingly reported comic Jimmy Fallon's one-liner: "God responded: 'What? Really? Don't bring me into this.'" The Week asked whether Palin was "simply devout -- or delusional?" The Nation suggested that Palin was "a little bit dimmer than we thought."
Nothing is quite as shocking to media establishment types as someone who actually believes that God takes an active part in individual human destinies. If you thought the media's reaction to this was absurd, think what their reaction would have been if they had been around during the days of Moses.
One can envision the headlines from local newspapers: "Exiled Prince Claims God Sent Him to Free Slaves: Advisers Say Moses' Staff Flying at Half-Mast." (British newspapers would report it slightly differently: "Jewish Nut Job Invades Royal Palace On 'God's Mission': Pharaoh Tells Him to go Jump in the Bloody Nile.")
The truth is that it is a common article of faith in virtually all major religions that God guides the footsteps of each and every human being. Benjamin Franklin, a not-so-religious theologian, said that the American Revolution could be successful only with the direct help of God. As he put it, "The longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth -- that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid?"
Yet nowadays, it is considered trite to point to the influence of God in human lives -- unless you are liberal. Then it is considered perfectly normal. How many athletes do we see who thank God after each touchdown? How many actors who win Oscars thank God?
Even certain beloved socialist presidents believe in divine intervention on a personal scale. For example, when then-Sen. Barack Obama gave an anti-war speech, Sen. Harry Reid approached him to congratulate him. "That speech was phenomenal, Barack," said Reid. Reid describes what happened next: "Without the barest hint of braggadocio or conceit, and with what I would describe as deep humility, he said quietly: 'I have a gift, Harry.'"
It is worthwhile asking: a gift from whom? Gaia? Santa Claus? The Easter Bunny?
Clearly, even our atheistic President Obama -- a man who avers that religious folk cling bitterly to their God because they're poor and downtrodden -- believes that occasionally, the Deity rests his hand on someone's shoulder. Unfortunately, unlike Sarah Palin, Obama also believes that God's presence is redundant to his own.
There's a reason the media elites allow liberals to get away with God-talk. It's because the media elites know that liberals aren't particularly serious about their God-talk. Everyone could see Bill Clinton crossing his fingers behind his back when talking about God, just as everyone can see President Obama laughing behind his hand when he mentions religion.
It's those benighted morons of the religious right who truly threaten the media elites. The right's suggestion that God stands behind the vast flow of history scares the living daylights out of the liberal establishment because it threatens their own sense of control. After all, it is not God who made Barack Obama president of the United States -- it is the editorial board of the New York Times. And it was not God who discarded Hillary Clinton like a used tissue -- it was the brilliant men and women of the alphabet networks.
If the media elites are wrong -- if God is indeed a driving factor in history -- then things may not go as the media elites plan. Sarah Palin may indeed meet with success rather than media-ordained failure. The tea parties may indeed become a mainstream movement, rather than the fringe movement the media wishes them to be.
And that scares liberals. Because in the liberal view, no divine presence can be directing things. For the left, the only gods behind history are the gods of economics (see Thomas Friedman and Karl Marx), multiculturalism (see John Dewey), genes (see Richard Dawkins) and environment (see Al Gore and Jared Diamond).
Here's a newsflash for liberals: Incredible as it may seem, Palin's view represents that of the vast majority of mankind. People across the globe agree with Palin that their lives fit into God's grand scheme. When liberals laugh at Palin on this score, they risk laughing at billions. And even liberals should understand that billions can impact the flow of history.
Seriously. Loggers convention, bowling convention, and now the wine and spirits convention. Hardly conventional, no pun intended. LOL! Beverage World. Unbelieveable.
Contrast all of these with the Fox News analyst thing, and you get quite a picture. She's going outside of the Beltway, and yet poking her head into it to state her opinion on things via Fox News.
It would appear that right now her prime objective is to raise some money, which is perfectly understandable. If she's going to run for anything or support others who want to run for anything (or just provide for her family for the rest of her life) she's going to need it. The irony is that this has all been made possible because of the anklebiters that tried to make her go bankrupt. It reminds me of a video I watched soon after Palin resigned. I don't agree with every viewpoint in it, but it does address the irony:
The concern I have is that this might damage her outside-the-Beltway, just-like-us image. On the other hand, the sad reality is that money is power.
All I know is that I want this woman to run for President. All of these steps (some of which might make me nervous) I don't really care about so long as the road ends in the White House. I don't want her to sit on her laurels and just make money, though she has every right to do that and I wouldn't blame her if she did. I want that woman in the Oval Office.
Yes, I will support Sarah no matter what she does. But she was meant for things far greater than being a commentator on Fox News. As long as she uses these things as stepping stones and not a goal, I'm cool with it. If it's a goal, sorry, not cool with it. She's got more in her than that.
I'm not going to get a chance to see O'Reilly tonight, but one thing I am excited about - Sarah for a full hour on Glenn Beck tomorrow. That I will get to see. Glenn has got to be absolutely giddy. Giddy. He's only been waiting for this for a year and a half. I wouldn't be surprised if he kissed her shoes.
TMZ caught up with Palin in the airport. Shock! Is that Meg Stapleton I spy with my little eye? But I thought Gryphen said that Meg was about to bail on Sarah! Oh, where will I go to now for my concrete, sure-thing information?
And some random guy getting a vid of the Palins at Sarah's "Farewell" Address:
I'm working on Tammy Bruce vids. Should have them up within a couple of hours.
First I want to address a rumor on Palingates that the Palins have some tabloid stuff coming out (like in People or something). They say it's for Bristol and Tripp, I don't know. They're using it as moral equivalency ammunition for Levi's publicity.
All I can say is, "Hey, Levi wanted it public, he's gonna get it public." (grin)
Now, on to this newest curveball - Sarah is going to be a contributor on Fox News.
My first reaction - "Please, oh, please, oh, please don't become just another talking head."
I must always work through these things. Let's see, Pro's:
1. Exposure.
2. Opportunity to get familiar with national media like she did with Alaska media.
3. It's Reaganesque.
4. She will be seen by those who do not access the new media and have an opportunity to familiarize herself with those who cannot bring themselves to think unconventionally.
5. As she becomes a more familiar face, a lot of the junk about irrelevant things like Bristol and Levi might fade away.
6. This could be a great step for the 2010 races.
7. She will be surrounded by national topics and issues and will be able to flesh out her positions on those issues.
Okay, now for the Cons:
1. Danger of becoming just another talking head.
2. Possibility of losing the advantage of being different. Unlikely, but possible.
3. Might lose a watt of radioactivity. A temporary setback that could turn into a major asset down the road.
Musts:
1. She must, and most likely will, maintain her star power. This means avoiding overexposure by remaining only a contributor and not a journalist or a show host.
2. Must not drown in the white noise of the media.
3. Must continue to be bold and not turn sappy like Huck. Must be a Reagan with the media - not a Huckabee.
4. Must not relinquish role as LEADER. This is her most important role. She must continue to lead.
I'm sure by the end of the day (or the week) I will wonder why I ever had second thoughts.
Sarah has spent the last year shoring up her base. She has reintroduced herself and told her story with her book - now it's time to show the nation and the world that she's not a psycho looney bent on killing wolves for the fun of it. It's time to capture the Lower 48 the way she captured Alaska. Time to spread outward, and just in time for the 2010 elections.
I guess I always knew that Sarah would have to move into the mainstream eventually. I just didn't know it would be so soon. She always was mainstream until the 2008 election made an ultra-conservative wingnut out of her. Time to take step two in repairing her image and proving herself. Not to mention the connections she can make over there.
Reagan took this path. Hopefully Sarah follows his lead.
Question: Does this mean she's gearing up for 2012, or has she decided to wait until 2016? It's a multi-year deal, but that could mean a two-year deal, and who knows the stipulations involved.
Most likely she's keeping all doors open at this point. This will also enable her to take the "box office poison" out of her Katharine Hepburn. Maybe.
Maybe I'm feeling what Alaskans must have felt when they found out that their favorite Governor was going to run for Vice President. Excited, but sad to lose her.
For the last year and a half, she has belonged to us exclusively. Facebook, Twitter, and the new media have been her primary outlets. Now she moves to capture the rest of America. She has secured her base - now she charges a new field.
It's like watching a kid go off to college. You knew that it was inevitable, and you even know that it's a good thing. But you will miss the previous chapter. Oh, well. One chapter closes, another begins. And each chapter gets better than the last one:)
In light of the recent "revelations" by Schmidt and others, I thought I'd let Sarah tell her side of things. From Going Rogue, starting on page 279: -----------
Mark sequestered a small debate prep team in a hotel room with the curtains drawn, blotting out the sunlight. My experience had taught me that you can work well with a diverse team, even people you don't know, if you make the atmosphere upbeat and positive. Whoever was leading this team, though, turned it into a high-pressure penalty box.
I understood the stakes. I knew that the McCain ticket was on the ropes and that top campaign staffers were unnerved. I got that. But I had a different perspective than some of the principals on the team as to how we should deal with this reality.
We were all wired pretty much the same way - intense and focused - but when things weren't going well, the last thing I wanted to do was sit in a darkened room and hear strange people yelling at one another.....
During debate prep, I had been given stacks of five-by-eight index cards....It was funny because on one side of each card, there was a question and on the other side there were a whole bunch of what most people would consider nonanswers:
FRONT OF CARD: What will it take to win the war in Afghanistan?
BACK OF CARD: The world is better off for the fact that the Taliban no longer rules Afghanistan. I said to the prep people, "Okay, but what they're asking is, what will it take to win the war?"
"Right," somebody said. "But you don't have to answer the question....."
The bottom line is these were political answers - and I couldn't force myself to play it safe and sound like a politician. On top of that, there were probably ten cards for every single topic with a different set of nonanswers on every one. So in the end I'm thinking - Okay, which nonanswer do you want me to give?
Or here's an idea - I could give a real answer....
I kept a stack of the cards as a souvenir. I wish I had kept them all because I scribbled a lot of notes in the margins, probably some not fit for public consumption....
I liked my simpler style because it meant I never had to spin, I never had to B.S., and, good or bad, I never had to struggle to remember what I had said the last time....
What I should've said was, "Look, I get it. Our numbers aren't good, this debate is a big deal, but this stuffy, dark hotel room with a bunch of crabby guys isn't working. So get some fresh air and let's come back and tackle this with clear minds...."
All I needed to hear was what John's position was on any particular issue. Then I could either formulate a response that would support it wholeheartedly or carefully articulate my own slightly different perspective....
[After Steve Schmidt suggests that flying in a nutritionist for Sarah will solve everything, Sarah sits there and thinks to herself] -
I'm a forty-four-year-old, healthy, athletic woman raising five kids and governing a large state. Sir, I really don't know you yet. But you've told me how to dress, what to say, who to talk to, a lot of people not to talk to, who my heroes are supposed to be, and we're still losing. Now you're going to tell me what to eat?....
[After the transfer of debate prep to McCain's ranch] -
During rehearsals, I accidentally called Randy "Senator O'Biden" - a slip-of-the-lip combination of Obama and Biden. The blunder struck too often, even tripping up campaign staffers. (Jay Leno later made the same slip on his new talk show, so we were in good company.) We laughed about it but knew that if I said it even once during the debates, it would be disastrous.
Then somebody said, "You ought to just call him Joe."
"Oh, I can't just call him Joe!" I said. Senator Biden was a senior statesman. He'd been sitting in the U.S. Senate since I was nine years old. I believed calling him by his first name without his permission would be disrespectful.
Randy seemed to read my thoughts and offered a solution. "In every debate, you cross the stage and shake hands with your opponent," he said. "When you shake hands, just as him for permission to call him Joe. He's certainly going to say yes, because he's a gentleman."
So that's what we decided to do. We had no idea my mic would already be hot when I walked onstage, crossed over to his turf, and said, "Can I call you Joe?"
The "expert" postdebate analysis was that my question was a cleverly devised strategy to disarm my opponent. Yeah, right....
Now, my friends and family sure knew the truth....And those campaign folks, especially those who had vetted and chosen me, also knew the truth. But as the story grew legs, they didn't lift a finger to correct the record. I couldn't understand why until I realized that by the end of the campaign, the wardrobe fairy tale had become convenient. By then, with Obama soaring and our own ticket in free fall, one or two of the campaign's big dogs were already packing their parachutes....
[Randy confronted Schmidt at the end of the campaign] -
Randy finished reading the story. "I don't believe this!" he yelled. "Those guys have gone too far this time!"
It may not be unusual for major-ticket advisors to struggle internally over who calls the shots, or to offer only tepid public support to one half of the ticket or the other, Randy later told me. But it is unheard of for campaign staffers to brazenly throw a candidate under the bus with sleazy anonymous comments.
Randy stormed toward Schmidt's office and confronted his secretary. "Where is he? I want his cell number right now....."
Randy slammed the door and told Steve what he really thought. "It is unbelievable that advisers - senior advisers - are calling the press and telling them the vice presidential candidate is a diva! This is unprecedented! It's unacceptable!...."
Randy laid out a very simple case: "Picking a running mate was John's most important decision, and being loyal to John means being loyal to his pick. That makes what's going on absolutely atrocious!"
Schmidt started in again, telling Randy what an awful pick I was - the "postpartum" problems, the wardrobe "scandal," "legal exposure" for Todd on Troopergate, whatever he meant by that. Somehow the Palins were responsible for all of the campaign's problems.
"That is absolutely outrageous!" Randy said. He started to walk out of the office, but Schmidt issued a threat that was veiled enough for deniability but clear as day if you were on the receiving end: if there were any more leaks critical of anybody in the handling of Sarah Palin, then a lot more negative stuff would be said about Sarah Palin....
At the time, I was just focused on finishing strong. I want to believe the tension between Schmidt and the B Team was a result of less-than-ideal circumstances in the pressure cooker of a national campaign, and that it wasn't personal. But as I realized back in my Wasilla mayor days, life is too short to hold a grudge. If I ever see Schmidt again, maybe I'll bring him a white Peace Lily.
Okay, I'm going to try to be fair about this whole 60 Minutes thing. First off, it is absolutely hilarious that 60 Minutes does a huge interview with numerous staffers about an irrelevant private citizen.
Secondly, I don't think that they were necessarily sitting down just to trash Palin. Did they try to make her the scapegoat after the campaign? Oh, yeah. Listen to this interviewPalin gave to the Bob and Mark Show right after the election. You can hear the transformation in her voice as she begins to realize that she's the one who's going to be thrown under the bus. "It's flippin' bizarre...." Listen to all three parts. I couldn't tell you off the top of my head which part it's in.
I say this in defense of the McCain aides - they had no idea what they were getting into. The vetters knew Palin's record, etc.... but the aides weren't in on all of that. Well, Schmidt was in on some of it.
The communication in the campaign was horrible. And Palin is not a typical politician. She probably did blindside the junk out of them and scare them to death in some cases. They didn't know her. They didn't know how to deal with her. Not to mention the campaign was full of people who had vendettas and a pessimism to beat the band.
Oh, well. Their loss:)
You know what cracks me up? Schmidt complaining about how the staffers had to mop up Palin's "messes" like her statements on the Troopergate thing.
How long has this guy been working on campaigns? Hello! This is what staffers do. Candidates say stuff and staffers scramble.
I wonder how many staffers scrambled when Joe Biden talked about how he likes to go to a restaurant that's been closed for years and years.
I wonder how many staffers scrambled when Michelle Obama said that this was the first time in her adult life that she was proud of her country.
I wonder how many staffers scrambled when Barack Obama said there were 57 states (actually 58 - he had one more to go).
Schmitty - do us all a favor and grow up.
Leaving Schmidt aside, check this douchebag out:
Well, looks like that "mentally limited" VP candidate is going to outsmart all of you.
Maybe this was part of her devious plan all along. "I'll get on as VP and then I'll blow it! Hahahahahaha! And then I'll come back and beat the tar out of all of their sorry butts! Hahahahahaha! I'll blow the Couric interview to make them think I'm stupid; that way they will constantly underestimate me and never guess how smart I am! Hahahahahahaha!"
God: Judeo-Christian principles and, yes, how they have applied to our system of government. Guts: Those intrinsic things that we feel down in our inner-most being; the things we know are right, and the courage to defend them. Sarah Palin: The name speaks for itself.
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Disclaimers seem to be fashionable these days, so here's mine:
If you think that anything on this blog is in any way connected to Governor Palin herself, you're nuts. These are all my own stupid opinions. Palin probably doesn't even know I exist, nor does she care.
There, that should do it.
Oh, and don't assume that my posts from a year ago reflect the exact same opinion I hold now. I don't have time to go back and update every time I change my mind for the one or two people who are going to click on that post in the future.
I know it's up in other places, but I could not believe my computer screen. SEIU members for Scott Brown:
In the event that C4P does not post this awesome article, I am posting it right now. By Ben Shapiro at Townhall.com (with my favorite parts highlighted):
In light of the recent "revelations" by Schmidt and others, I thought I'd let Sarah tell her side of things. From Going Rogue, starting on page 279:
