Stray Dogs and Pipelines

Sarah Palin's newest Facebook post is great, but since you've more than likely already seen it, I'll lead with some pipeline news:
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TransCanada Corp. on Friday filed with regulators hundreds of pages of new information describing how it plans to obtain commitments for natural gas to fill its proposed multibillion-dollar North Slope pipeline.

The new documents show that building the pipeline could be nearly twice as expensive as TransCanada, a Canadian pipeline company, predicted three years ago. However, the new estimates -- ranging from $26 billion to $41 billion -- are within the range that has been used by state officials for the project, which many see as critical to Alaska's future economy.

The documents also reveal that the company is trying to sweeten the deal for potential shippers -- including oil producers BP, Conoco Phillips and Exxon Mobil. TransCanada says it is reducing the amount it will charge to ship the gas by $500 million per year for 25 years, or $12.5 billion. That's possibly good news for people in Alaska: lower shipping costs translate to higher royalties and tax revenue for the state and larger profits for the producers.

Despite the monumental risks of building the long-sought pipeline -- including its huge expense and new competition from shale gas producers in the Lower 48 -- TransCanada officials said Friday their project remains competitive and gas can begin flowing by 2020.

TransCanada touted its Friday actions as historic: It's the first time a company has filed detailed plans seeking federal permission to hold what is called an "open season" and seek gas commitments for the North Slope pipeline.

But TransCanada has a big competitor: In April, Denali, the pipeline company created by BP and Conoco Phillips, also plans to file the documents required to hold an open season. Both companies' plans must be approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. TransCanada's open season is expected to begin in May and end in July. Denali's would begin around July and run for 90 days.

Not unlike TransCanada, the North Slope oil producers have stayed cautiously optimistic about the gas line.

"We want to find a way to move (the gas). It really matters," said Steve Rinehart, BP's spokesman in Alaska.

He said his company will carefully review the TransCanada and Denali proposals during the two open seasons.....
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It's still too early to tell, but things are moving along slowly. I just hope the federal government doesn't get any ideas about sabotaging it to make Palin look bad. Larry Persily is in there, after all.


Anyway, on to Palin's Facebook post:
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Obamacare = Stray Dog, So Says President -

What am I missing, folks? We’re called obstructionists and made to feel uninformed in the Obamacare debate as we point out this is not a patient-driven, market-oriented approach to health care cost challenges. We’ve been saying for months that this is government takeover of our personal choices of insurers and doctors. We’re called liars when claiming that this is all about government mandates and control of up to a sixth of our economy.

And yet, shockingly, the president admitted yesterday exactly what we’ve been saying: that his Democrats and lobbyists have crafted bills that in fact will prevent us from keeping our current insurance and/or choosing our own doctor. He said:

The last thing I will say, though -- let me say this about health care and the health care debate, because I think it also bears on a whole lot of other issues.

If you look at the package that we’ve presented -- and there’s some stray cats and dogs that got in there that we were eliminating, we were in the process of eliminating.

For example, we said from the start that it was going to be important for us to be consistent in saying to people if you can have your -- if you want to keep the health insurance you got, you can keep it, that you’re not going to have anybody getting in between you and your doctor in your decision making. And I think that some of the provisions that got snuck in might have violated that pledge.

Thanks to Tom Bevan at RCP for spotting this. The president’s statement is shocking, enlightening, and in an odd and unfortunate way also encouraging. Folks, this admission tells us we’re not off-base and we need to stay vigilant so we’re not missing anything else in this scheme. This trillion-dollar government takeover of our health care system is full of “stray dogs and cats” (the president’s words, not mine), and that’s what we’ve been saying all along.

Commonsense conservatives have better ideas on how to start tackling rising health care costs. Reps. Paul Ryan, Mike Pence, Eric Cantor, John Boehner, and others have offered solutions. I commend their efforts to counter the White House’s attempt to ram Obamacare through as these Congressmen seek bipartisan, sensible solutions. I implore them to speak louder because we’re listening, and we’re counting on them!

- Sarah Palin

TPN Fires Back

Tea Party Nation, the organizers of the Tea Party Convention, is finally firing back. Texas for Palin has the full letter. Here are some excerpts from the organizer's wife, Sherry Philips:
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Judson and I have stayed silent in the face of intense media scrutiny and attacks by former members. As a wife and a mother, I have stood by my husband and family and stayed strong in the face of many baseless accusations and criticism. We have refrained from responding to many of the attacks that have been thrown at us from other "Tea Party" groups, in the belief we did not want to spread the divisions that are already hurting this movement even though that does not seem to be the consideration of some others involved in this movement. Because of the many TPN members' requests and encouragement, I have decided to provide comment about Tea Party Nation and the National Tea Party Convention. We will stay silent no longer. I hope my comments and the issues I deal with in this note will provide some clarity.

[She then goes on to explain the various organizations involved and why some pulled out, etc...]

We fully expect to break even during this event. We may even make a few thousand dollars to cover local operating costs of TPN. We have made the best of a tight budget and scaled back the price of attending this convention as much as we could without putting TPN into bankruptcy. The convention is sold out and we have a waiting list of over five hundred people. We never did this to make us rich or famous. Quite the contrary, we are patriots who love our country, our members and the people who are coming to Nashville to attend this great event.

For all of you who will be attending, we look forward to meeting you this upcoming week and we thank everyone for the support and patriotism in this fight against liberalism. God bless you all and I thank you for your prayers and words of encouragement.

Visit Tea Party Nation at: www.teapartynation.com

[Josh Painter had this to say] -

Editor's Note: We have posted this e-mail from Sherry in an effort to help Tea Party Nation get its side of the story out. As Sherry states, a few former TPN members with obvious axes to grind have been talking to liberal media outlets. What she is too gracious to say is that they have also talked to conservative bloggers, some of which have been only too happy to join their counterparts on the Left in piling on TPN. Some of these conservative bloggers, after having heard only one side of the story, rushed both to judgment and publication. Thus they are responsible for much of the negative spin that we have heard in the media about TPN and the National Tea Party Convention.

For Sarah Palin supporters, this is an all too familiar story. We have seen it before in the way the former governor has been treated by self-styled "conservative" pundits and again when some McCain campaign staffers leaked a series of outrageous lies and distortions concerning Gov. Palin to a media which is always happy to get free ammunition. When that ammo comes from across the aisle, they make as much hay from it as they can, thinking that it gives the crap they dish out some kind of special "credibility."

It's all so very strange. But when multiple agendas are at work, we see some strange bedfellows indeed.

- JP

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I honestly don't know why this whole thing is such a big deal? Is it jealousy? Is it an effort to not steal thunder from CPAC? Is it a legitimate concern about hijacking? Is it a complaint because of the high price? Is it the media and the Left trying to make sure we don't get organized?

I don't know. But I don't see what the big fuss is all about. All I know is that this Politico article is one of the most loaded articles I've ever read.

Sean Hannity Interview

Here's Sarah on Sean Hannity on January 28th:



And Palin let two more Facebook hand grenades fly, the first was just an infomercial, the second sent out some major shrapnel:

On Wednesday night, the president asked us to “let him know” if we had any better ideas, and today John Boehner handed him a compilation of the policy alternatives that have been advanced over the past year. These are ideas that deserve to be considered to turn down the volume on the rhetoric and use common sense. Please take a look at Solutions.GOP.gov. You can read the compilation of policy alternatives, called “Better Solutions."

- Sarah Palin

Okay, enough Mrs. Nice Governor, bring on the good stuff:
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Stay Focused: Relocating Terrorists' Trial Doesn't Solve the Main Problem -

People are celebrating the fact that the Obama Administration is considering relocating the terrorists’ trial from New York to another American city. Yet there’s still no talk of moving the trial out of our U.S. civilian courts to where it should take place – a military tribunal.

Now the administration is backtracking in order to fix its initially blundered decision to try these dangerous terrorists in New York City despite the great danger and cost to New Yorkers. This scenario is all too common in Washington.

The tactic is to propose something so outrageous that the public will rise up and demand common sense, and then the White House “concedes” and changes its initial decision to give the impression of newfound reasonability and moderation.

But the problem still isn’t solved! The trial location debate becomes a diversion so that we’ll take our eyes off the ball. The point missed is that our President still wants to give these terrorists U.S. constitutional protections in our civilian courts, allowing them to lawyer-up on our dime.

This tactic is in the same vein as another Washington game: creating the appearance of a “crisis” in order to push for a radical solution. (“The health care crisis must be fixed by government now or we’re all gonna die! The earth’s temperature is fluctuating; government must fix this crisis now or we’re all gonna die! Private businesses made poor decisions and bureaucrats claim they’re too big to fail, so government must fix this crisis now or we’re all gonna die!”)

Politicians and lobbyists announce that there is a “crisis,” and never letting a good crisis go to waste, they propose a radical solution to fix it. The public listens intently, and in a sincere desire to help, an alternative to the politicians’ radical solution gets put forward. The politicians then “concede” and mellow out their radical solution.

The public’s attention has been diverted to tinkering on the periphery, all the while ignoring the real problem at the heart of the “crisis” that started the whole debate.

The fact is our government has a choice as to where to try the terrorists. We don’t have to try them in our civilian courts. The peripheral debate regarding in which city to try these evil, dangerous haters-of-America is a diversion. Let’s get back to the heart of the matter: what choice will our government make – terrorist trials in civilian courts or military tribunals?

- Sarah Palin

Palin's Life Agenda Good for We the People

An awesome article over at Renew America, by Kevin Fobbs:
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This is election year in Ann Arbor, the state of Michigan, and in many places all across America. One of the most crucial issues of the decade will be how to preserve life. Two years ago then-Governor Sarah Palin came out of Alaska and hit the national stage for the first time. Many liberal politically correct pundits called her an "untested" candidate, but she has turned out to be one of the most dynamic populist national political leaders that the supporters of Life have had in quite a long time.

During her unsuccessful national campaign and the many months that followed, Washington D.C. detractors as well as the pundits of the mainstream media have celebrated her premature demise because, after all, she was [finally] going back to the Alaskan tundra to only be heard from in small media snippets which would slowly evaporate over time.

Yet what the media community in the lower 48 states did not appreciate was the fact that this woman had a spark inside that God gives mothers who do not give up on life even when warned that the life she's carrying may have developmental problems. God gives mothers like Sarah Palin a special depth of caring found in the deep well of his grace.

Her internal spirit is blessed because she decided to not give up on a child who had special needs as her son Trig Paxson Van Palin does with Down Syndrome. "And it came to pass, that, when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost: Luke 1:41

Instead she could see that the small child that she was carrying was in actuality a special gift from the only one who can grant the breath of life; a caring and loving God.

This special mom — armed with a principled mission — has carried her God-inspired life belief across the nation and captured the hearts and minds of ordinary people everywhere. They are tired of national bureaucrats telling, legislating, marginalizing, and mocking them because they are life-supporting Americans of the heartland. These salt-of-the-earth supporters of life have decided that in this decade and in this election year they will determine the true political will of the people.

Sarah Palin understands the true will of the people even as her detractors call her out of touch. But she has shown by her compassion and her understanding of what countless men and women in America's cities, farmlands, suburbs, small towns, and neighborhoods have been saying all along...enough is enough! We will not sacrifice life at the beginning or at the end of life because a health care bill dictates an arbitrary measurement of the value of life.

You see, only God has that role and that responsibility and it is our job and our right to stand for life just as those who marched on January 22nd in person or participated online in the Virtual March for Life sponsored by Americans United for Life (AUL) http://www.virtualmarchforlife.com did.

Millions of Americans — conservatives, Tea Party members, supporters of life, senior citizens or people with life-threatening injuries or illnesses — should not have to sleep with one eye open in order to make certain that a letter from Washington D.C. will not force doctor or care giver to trade their life away as if it were a deal gone bad or a minor statistic on a federal government accountant's ledger.

The time to go rogue in order to support the gift of life is here. The former blue state of Massachusetts' historic election of Republican Scott Brown to the U.S. Senate has proven that going rogue did not cave in America or cause a cataclysmic collapse in the electoral process. Instead this election sent a clear and convincing message to other states: the voters drew a line in the sand. They were not going to simply walk away in frustration from advocating for protecting life as so many had done in and after the 2008 election.

"The chief purpose of government is to protect life. Abandon that and you have abandoned all." Thomas Jefferson.....

Ann Arbor, Michigan and America this is a new decade and a new focus. Sarah Palin and Tea Party members helped the country to become reacquainted with the U.S. Constitution's first line in the preamble: "We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice..."

The work has just begun, and so let us join with those leaders like Sarah Palin whose agenda for life is in support of the right to life.
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Warning: Very disturbing images in this next video. Don't watch unless you have a cast iron stomach. But whether you can look or not, it happens in America every, single day:

NOW Responds to Palin

I won't link it or copy the response, but NOW defended itself against Palin's Facebook post, basically saying that the Focus on the Family ad would not empower women, but would rather lead to Roe vs. Wade being overturned, or something like that.

Paranoid, much? The ad celebrates one mother's decision and shows an example of the amazing results of that decision. It works within the pro-choice framework. I swear, these people are just desperate.

And I'm sorry, I just don't understand how being allowed to kill your child is empowering to anyone. Murder empowering? Yeah, don't get it.

To me, abortion is murder. When someone says, "We just want women to have the right to choose," I think, "Do you want to give them the right to choose to kill their neighbor? How about their friends?" Murder is murder. If a guy can kick you in the stomach and kill the kid and face charges, or a murderer can kill a pregnant woman and it can be ruled a double homicide, that says it all.

I guess Planned Parenthood's (and perhaps NOW's) main argument would be that a human being only deserves to live if another human being wants it to live. If it's unwanted, eh, just flush it down the toilet. No biggie. It's empowering. Look at what a strong woman you are, to kill the defensless babe in your womb. Feel good about yourself?

Or maybe you should just put them out of their misery because their lives will be so horrible, like if they're born to a poor family, or a single mother. Without going into the arguments about how Tebow and Barack Obama himself are examples of the potential that life gives, let's see what Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood, was really thinking:

"Eugenic sterilization is an urgent need ... We must prevent multiplication of this bad stock."

"We should hire three or four colored ministers, preferably with social-service backgrounds, and with engaging personalities. The most successful educational approach to the Negro is through a religious appeal. We don't want the word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population. and the minister is the man who can straighten out that idea if it ever occurs to any of their more rebellious members."

The purpose in promoting birth control was "to create a race of thoroughbreds," she wrote in the Birth Control Review, Nov. 1921 (p. 2)

"Birth control must lead ultimately to a cleaner race."

"Give dysgenic groups [people with 'bad genes'] in our population their choice of segregation or [compulsory] sterilization."

"Birth control itself, often denounced as a violation of natural law, is nothing more or less than the facilitation of the process of weeding out the unfit, of preventing the birth of defectives or of those who will become defectives."

"The most urgent problem today is how to limit and discourage the over-fertility of the mentally and physically defective."

Something tells me Margaret would have killed Trig.

And who, exactly, gets to decide who is mentally and physically defective?

There are some who would take this kind of logic and extend it beyond birth. Believe it or not, there are some sick b******* (one of whom works in the White House) who have advocated that it be permissible to kill a child up to around a year old. Especially if that child is born with special needs, the parents should be allowed a time period where they would not face criminal charges if they just decided to end the kid's life and try for a new one.

I'm not making this up:



For me, the only time abortion is justifiable is if the mother's life is in actual danger. It's either the mom, or the baby. Not if the mom is depressed, or has a bad day, or has emotional distress.... That does not justify murder; I don't care what anyone says.



Now, as far as the ad goes, if Focus on the Family wants to pay for it, who is NOW to stand in their way? If they can air PETA ads that are about as close to pornography as you're going to get, they can surely air an inspiring story about a young football star. Yeah, football star. During the Super Bowl. Imagine that.

KOTUS Uses LOTUS to Slam TOTUS

Sorry for the cheesy headline. :)

The Kickboxer of the United States hammers the President in a new Facebook note:

The Credibility Gap -

While I don’t wish to speak too harshly about President Obama’s state of the union address, we live in challenging times that call for candor. I call them as I see them, and I hope my frank assessment will be taken as an honest effort to move this conversation forward.

Last night, the president spoke of the “credibility gap” between the public’s expectations of their leaders and what those leaders actually deliver. “Credibility gap” is a good way to describe the chasm between rhetoric and reality in the president’s address. The contradictions seemed endless.

He called for Democrats and Republicans to “work through our differences,” but last year he dismissed any notion of bipartisanship when he smugly told Republicans, “I won.”

He talked like a Washington “outsider,” but he runs Washington! He’s had everything any president could ask for – an overwhelming majority in Congress and a fawning press corps that feels tingles every time he speaks. There was nothing preventing him from pursuing “common sense” solutions all along. He didn’t pursue them because they weren’t his priorities, and he spent his speech blaming Republicans for the problems caused by his own policies.

He dared us to “let him know” if we have a better health care plan, but he refused to allow Republicans in on the negotiations or consider any ideas for real free market and patient-centered reforms. We’ve been “letting him know” our ideas for months from the town halls to the tea parties, but he isn’t interested in listening. Instead he keeps making the nonsensical claim that his massive trillion-dollar health care bill won’t increase the deficit.

Americans are suffering from job losses and lower wages, yet the president practically demanded applause when he mentioned tax cuts, as if allowing people to keep more of their own hard-earned money is an act of noblesse oblige. He claims that he cut taxes, but I must have missed that. I see his policies as paving the way for massive tax increases and inflation, which is the “hidden tax” that most hurts the poor and the elderly living on fixed incomes.

He condemned lobbyists, but his White House is filled with former lobbyists, and this has been a banner year for K Street with his stimulus bill, aka the Lobbyist’s Full Employment Act. He talked about a “deficit of trust” and the need to “do our work in the open,” but he chased away the C-SPAN cameras and cut deals with insurance industry lobbyists behind closed doors.

He spoke of doing what’s best for the next generation and not leaving our children with a “mountain of debt,” but under his watch this year, government spending is up by 22%, and his budget will triple our national debt.

He spoke of a spending freeze, but doesn’t he realize that each new program he’s proposing comes with a new price tag? A spending freeze is a nice idea, but it doesn’t address the root cause of the problem. We need a comprehensive examination of the role of government spending.

The president’s deficit commission is little more than a bipartisan tax hike committee, lending political cover to raise taxes without seriously addressing the problem of spending.

He condemned bailouts, but he voted for them and then expanded and extended them. He praised the House’s financial reform bill, but where was Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae in that bill? He still hasn’t told us when we’ll be getting out of the auto and the mortgage industries. He praised small businesses, but he’s spent the past year as a friend to big corporations and their lobbyists, who always find a way to make government regulations work in their favor at the expense of their mom & pop competitors.

He praised the effectiveness of his stimulus bill, but then he called for another one – this time cleverly renamed a “jobs bill.” The first stimulus was sold to us as a jobs bill that would keep unemployment under 8%. We now have double digit unemployment with no end in sight. Why should we trust this new “jobs bill”?

He talked about “making tough decisions about opening new offshore areas for oil and gas development,” but apparently it’s still too tough for his Interior Secretary to move ahead with Virginia’s offshore oil and gas leases.

If they’re dragging their feet on leases, how long will it take them to build “safe, clean nuclear power plants”? Meanwhile, he continued to emphasize “green jobs,” which require massive government subsidies for inefficient technologies that can’t survive on their own in the real world of the free market.

He spoke of supporting young girls in Afghanistan who want to go to school and young women in Iran who courageously protest in the streets, but where were his words of encouragement to the young girls of Afghanistan in his West Point speech? And where was his support for the young women of Iran when they were being gunned down in the streets of Tehran?

Despite speaking for an hour, the president only spent 10% of his speech on foreign policy, and he left us with many unanswered questions. Does he still think trying the 9/11 terrorists in New York is a good idea? Does he still think closing Gitmo is a good idea? Does he still believe in Mirandizing terrorists after the Christmas bomber fiasco? Does he believe we’re in a war against terrorists, or does he think this is just a global crime spree? Does he understand that the first priority of our government is to keep our country safe?

In his address last night, the president once again revealed that there’s a fundamental disconnect between what the American people expect from their government, and what he wants to deliver. He’s still proposing failed top-down big government solutions to our problems. Instead of smaller, smarter government, he’s taken a government that was already too big and supersized it.

Real private sector jobs are created when taxes are low, investment is high, and people are free to go about their business without the heavy hand of government. The president thinks innovation comes from government subsidies. Common sense conservatives know innovation comes from unleashing the creative energy of American entrepreneurs.

Everything seems to be “unexpected” to this administration: unexpected job losses; unexpected housing numbers; unexpected political losses in Massachusetts, Virginia, and New Jersey. True leaders lead best when confronted with the unexpected. But instead of leading us, the president lectured us. He lectured Wall Street; he lectured Main Street; he lectured Congress; he even lectured our Supreme Court Justices.

He criticized politicians who “wage a perpetual campaign,” but he gave a campaign speech instead of a state of the union address. The campaign is over, and President Obama now has something that candidate Obama never had: an actual track record in office.

We now can see the failed policies behind the flowery words. If Americans feel as cynical as the president suggests, perhaps it’s because the audacity of his recycled rhetoric no longer inspires hope.

Real leadership requires results. Real hope lies in the ingenuity, generosity, and boundless courage of the American people whose voices are still not being heard in Washington.

- Sarah Palin

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I am honest-to-goodness speechless. Wow. Just, wow.

Meghan McCain and Laura Ingraham

Meghan McCain is finally going to talk about Sarah Palin. She's got a new book coming out (Palin seems to be a huge draw for book sales these days) where she's going to spill it all. In a speech in Florida, she had this to say:
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“I liked Sarah,” McCain said, “To me she represents a lot of feminist ideals. Our politics differ.”

She added, “I can’t stand here and say I hate her…I think anybody that underestimates her at any point is very foolish.”

McCain said she couldn’t comment any further because she plans to go into great detail about her experiences and conversations with Palin in her new book, "Dirty Sexy Politics: A True Story," due to be released in August. The book is about life on her father’s campaign.

When questioned about the accuracy of the campaign stories in Mark Halperin and John Heilemann’s bestseller, Game Change, McCain quipped “My book will be much more accurate,” after admitting she had only read the excerpts of Game Change.

McCain was also asked if she thought Palin could win the presidential election if she ran for office in 2012.

“Oh sure,” McCain answered, “I honestly haven’t seen another candidate so far that I believe has the panache.”
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In case you didn't know, "panache" is - "A word of French origin that carries the connotation of a flamboyant manner and reckless courage."

In other news, Scott Brown claims that he's never talked to Palin and they never reached out to each other. So, is Scott Brown lying, or were all those reports that Palin called him on election night lying?

And I finally re-uploaded that Laura Ingraham piece on Bristol vs. Oprah. I just did two vids this time:

Idiots!

And this is why conservatives suck.

The media and the Left, in my opinion, have been ginning up false controversy over the Tea Party Nation Convention. "Oh, my goodness! Look at how much it costs! The guy in charge wants to make money! They're hijacking the movement!"

And what do conservatives do?

"Oh, my goodness! Look at how much it costs! The guy in charge wants to make money! They're hijacking the movement!"

Times like this I just want to scream at the top of my lungs, "Would you all just SHUT UP!"

Thank you.

Now, calm down. Breathe. Let me explain something to you - The TPNC is an event in Nashville where there will be workshops and speeches for anyone who maybe wants to learn how to organize better, etc.... or if you just want to hear the speakers. The price is steep, and the event is for-profit. Period.

It's a free market. Got a problem with the price? Don't go. It's as simple as that. As for profiting off of the Tea Party movement, are you mad at Glenn Beck? You think he's not profiting off of all this stuff? What about CPAC? They charge money. I can't afford to go to CPAC, does that mean I'm mad at the event for "taking the conservative movement away from the little people"? What garbage.

It's a load of bull. It's the opposition trying to divide us over something stupid and conservatives suck because they march right into it. The very people, the Tea Partiers, who know that the media is biased and doesn't represent hardly anything correctly, are falling in lockstep with their interpretation of the TPNC.

It's enough to make me pull my hair out by the roots.

Bachmann and Blackburn are looking at pulling out. I don't blame them for this, as it has to do with the fact that they are candidates for political office and therefore they have to abide by a certain set of rules when it comes to for-profit events. My hair-pulling is reserved for the hand-wringing of the conservative blogosphere and many grassrootsers who should know by now that we have an enemy and should be able to recognize the tactics of that enemy.

Ugh. Okay, I'm done now.

McCain/Hayworth - Pot vs. Kettle?

Article in the Wall Street Journal. Excerpts:
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Mr. McCain is likely untouchable in a general election, but the smaller GOP electorate is challenging. A Rasmussen Reports survey last year found that 61% of core GOP voters thought he was "out of touch" and only a third believed he was doing a good job representing conservative values. Since then, his high-profile opposition to ObamaCare and a raft of TV ads has likely helped boost his numbers.

Nonetheless, former Congressman J.D. Hayworth is convinced his state's senior senator is vulnerable. Mr. Hayworth served 12 years in Congress until he was ousted in the 2006 Democratic landslide, in part because he was also seen as "out of touch" with constituents....

But Mr. Hayworth is confident he can catch up by portraying the 2008 GOP presidential nominee as someone who has "enabled" Barack Obama's agenda on economic and foreign policy.

"I'm giving Arizona Republicans a clear choice between a consistent, common-sense conservative . . . or someone who describes himself as a maverick, but is a moderate," he told the Washington Times yesterday.....

The outspoken former congressman may have talked a good game when he was in the House. But when it came to federal spending he -- more than Mr. McCain -- was an "enabler" of questionable budget items. It was Mr. Hayworth, not Mr. McCain, who voted for a 2003 prescription drug benefit that added enormously to the nation's future liabilities.

It was Mr. Hayworth who voted for bloated farm and highway bills, while Mr. McCain opposed them. It was Mr. Hayworth who was a consistent seeker and supporter of pork-barrel Congressional earmarks. Mr. McCain, on the other hand, never requested earmarks in appropriations bills and often led a crusade against those he felt were improperly slipped into bills.

All of this will make for a lively Republican primary and national political reporters can be counted on to portray the race as a moderate veteran against a "Tea Party" upstart. But the reality is a lot more complicated. Let's just say either man would have trouble convincing Barry Goldwater, Arizona's nonpareil conservative, that he was Goldwater's true heir.

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Huh. I've been wanting McCain to lose this race. Now I'm not so sure.

Laura Ingraham on Bristol Palin vs. Oprah: UPDATED

Bristol and Tebow. Now why couldn't she have found a guy like that?

UPDATE:

I deleted the Laura Ingraham vids because the echo was bugging me to death. I'm gonna try to have them up again by tonight because I like them, but I like them clear so I can actually listen to them. Anyway, back to our regularly scheduled programming....

Palin's latest Facebook post:
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Women's Rights Groups: Your Double Standard is Showing -

Women’s Rights groups, like NOW, commendably call out advertisers and networks for airing sexist and demeaning portrayals of women that lead to young women’s diminished self-esteem and acceptance of roles as mere sexed-up objects.

What a ridiculous situation they’re getting themselves into now with their protest of CBS airing a pro-life ad during the upcoming Super Bowl game. The ad will feature Heisman trophy winner Tim Tebow and his mom, and they’ll speak to the sanctity of life and the beautiful potential within every innocent child as Mrs. Tebow acknowledges her choice to give Tim life, despite less than ideal circumstances.


Messages like this empower women! This speaks to the strength and commitment and nurturing spirit within women. The message says everything positive and nothing negative about the power of women – and life. Evidently, some women’s rights groups like NOW do not like that message.

NOW is looking at the pro-life issue backwards. Women should be reminded that they are strong enough and smart enough to make decisions that allow for career and educational opportunities while still giving their babies a chance at life. In my own home, my daughter Bristol has also been challenged by pro-abortion “women’s rights” groups who don’t agree with her decision to have her baby, nor do they like the abstinence message which she articulated as her personal commitment.


NOW could gain ground and credibility with everyday Americans, thus allowing their pro-women message to be heard by more than just their ardent supporters, if they made wiser decisions regarding which battles to pick. They should call attention to and embrace the Tebow’s message, instead of covertly and overtly disrespecting what Mrs. Tebow, Bristol, and millions of other women have chosen to do (in less than ideal circumstances).

My message to these groups who are inexplicably offended by a pro-woman, pro-child, pro-life message airing during the Super Bowl: please concentrate on empowering women, help with efforts to prevent unexpected pregnancies, stay consistent with your message that for too long women have been made to feel like sex objects in our “modern” culture and that we can expect better in 2010. But don’t let your double standard glare so vividly as to undo some of the good to which you could contribute.

And CBS: just do the right thing. Don’t cave. Have the backbone to run the ad.

To the Tebows: thank you. America is listening. We appreciate you.

- Sarah Palin

Sarah on Sarah Palin Radio Interview Now Up

Here's the Sarah Palin interview. The podcast is now up on Sarah Palin Radio. Sorry I missed the ad:

POW! Obama's Gonna Hurt Tomorrow

The Kickboxer in Chief leaves Obama dazed on the mat.


Mr. President: Please Try, "I'm Listening, People," Instead of "Listen Up, People!" -

We’ve now seen three landslide Republican victories in three states that President Obama carried in 2008. From the tea parties to the town halls to the Massachusetts Miracle, Americans have tried to make their opposition to Washington’s big government agenda loud and clear. But the President has decided that this current discontent isn’t his fault, it’s ours. He seems to think we just don’t understand what’s going on because he hasn’t had the chance – in his 411 speeches and 158 interviews last year – to adequately explain his policies to us.

Instead of sensibly telling the American people, “I’m listening,” the president is saying, “Listen up, people!” This approach is precisely the reason people are upset with Washington. Americans understand the president’s policies. We just don’t agree with them. But the president has refused to shift focus and come around to the center from the far left. Instead he and his old campaign advisers are regrouping to put a new spin on the same old agenda for 2010.

Americans aren’t looking for more political strategists. We’re looking for real leadership that listens and delivers results. The president’s former campaign adviser is now calling on supporters to “get on the same page,” but what’s on that page? He claims that the president is “resolved” to “keep fighting for” his agenda, but we’ve already seen what that government-growth agenda involves, and frankly the hype doesn’t give us much hope.
Real health care reform requires a free market approach; real job creation involves incentivizing, not punishing, the job-creators; reining in the “big banks” means ending bailouts; and stopping “the undue influence of lobbyists” means not cutting deals with them behind closed doors.

Instead of real leadership, though, we’ve had broken promises and backroom deals. One of the worst: candidate Obama promised to go through the federal budget “with a scalpel,” but President Obama spent four times more than his predecessor. Want more?

Candidate Obama promised that lobbyists “won’t find a job in my White House,” but President Obama gave at least a dozen former lobbyists top administration jobs. Candidate Obama promised us that we could view his health care deliberations openly and honestly on C-SPAN, but President Obama cut deals behind closed doors with industry lobbyists. Candidate Obama promised us that we would have at least five days to read all major legislation, but President Obama rushed through bills before members of Congress could even read them.

Candidate Obama promised us that his economic stimulus package would be targeted and pork-free, but President Obama signed a stimulus bill loaded with pork and goodies for corporate cronies. Candidate Obama railed against Wall Street greed, but President Obama cozied up to bankers as he extended and expanded their bailouts. Candidate Obama promised us that for “Every dollar that I’ve proposed [in spending], I’ve proposed an additional cut so that it matches.” We’re still waiting to see how President Obama will cut spending to match the trillion he’s spent.

More than anything, Americans were promised jobs, but the president’s stimulus package has failed to stem our rising unemployment rate. Maybe it was unfair to expect that an administration with so little private sector experience would understand something about job creation. How many Obama Administration officials have ever had to make a payroll or craft a business plan in the private sector? How many have had to worry about not having the resources to invest and expand?

The president’s big government policies have made hiring a new employee a difficult commitment for employers to make. Ask yourself if the Obama Administration has done anything to make it easier for employers to hire. Have they given us any reassurance that the president will keep taxes low and not impose expensive new regulations?

Candidate Obama over-promised; President Obama has under-delivered.

We understand you, Mr. President. We’ve listened to you again and again. We ask that you now listen to the American people.

- Sarah Palin
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That had all the punch of another speech. Hmmmm. What one was it?.....

Underbelly Day - Anklebiters and the Supreme Douchebag

First up, Andree:
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Superior Court Judge Patrick McKay ruled on Friday that former Gov. Sarah Palin did not violate state law by using private e-mails to conduct state business.

The lawsuit filed by longtime Palin critic Andree McLeod questioned whether Palin attempted to get around the public records law through broad exemptions or private e-mail accounts. McLeod claimed the governor used private e-mail accounts to keep the records out of the public archive on purpose....Palin’s staff maintained her use of the account was perfectly legal....

Assistant Attorney General Michael Mitchell told McKay that state officials should be able to decide what is or isn't subject to public disclosure. In urging the case be tossed last month, Mitchell said that if the use of Yahoo or other non-state accounts are to be banned for state business, the Legislature, not a court, should say so.

On Friday, McKay agreed. "The Legislature is free to take up the matter," McKay wrote, "but as the statutes are currently written, private e-mail accounts may be used to conduct state business, subject to the same laws and regulations related to preservation as e-mails originating from state servers."
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Celtic Diva is screaming at the top of her lungs about executive privilege and this ruling, etc....

Calm down and try to have a rational thought, for once. The judge ruled according to the law. If you have a problem with how the state does e-mail and executive privilege, lean on the legislature to change the law. The judge can't invent law based on her opinion or yours.

I don't know what they think they'll find. She's not Governor anymore, so it's not like it makes a difference anyway. This is just a mindless attempt to get any dirt possible to destroy Palin. Period.

Personally, I'd love to see all of Palin's emails. They fascinate me. I guess we can thank them for a couple of peeks into the way Sarah does business anyway.

And now we turn to the Douchebag General, the one, and (thank goodness) the only, Levi Johnston.


From pudgy and clueless to, well, insert your favorite phrase. Didn't take long, did it?

Before I proceed, a disclaimer: I do not know Levi. He may be a perfectly nice person. I don't know the situation, all I know is what I've seen. All I can do is draw conclusions based on the information in front of me. And now, we begin....

You know what was telling for me? When Levi went on CBS and said that he didn't understand why the Palins were so upset with him about the Vanity Fair article and other things. He seemed genuinely bewildered. After all, it was just little stuff. Just little stuff. The Palins are huge celebrities now, why shouldn't he get a piece of that pie? Why should the Palins be mad that he make a few bucks off of trashing them a little bit?

It was just little stuff.

I saw that and I thought, "Wow. This kid honestly doesn't get it. He's got to be either young and stupid, or the most selfish human being on the planet. He's nineteen years old, and he has no concept that the universe is bigger than he is."

Levi, hate to break it to ya, but in the 2008 election there were more important things on the line than whether or not you got to keep your mullet.

And what is the ever-dredged-up excuse for the "trash for cash"? "She drug me to the RNC, so she deserves what she gets."

You must be joking. What a flimsy excuse to trash your child's family. Before reporters knew Levi's last name, they were calling every likely baby daddy in the phone book named "Levi" to see if it was you. As if your life would have been easier had you skipped the RNC.

But let's not let logic get in the way of PDS, shall we? After all, nothing is your fault. Nothing is due to the fact that sometimes life just sucks. No. It's all the fault of that horrible Sarah Palin.

Sarah Palin forced you to knock up her daughter. Sarah Palin forced your mother to deal drugs. Sarah Palin forced your father to leave home. Sarah Palin forced you to lose your job. Sarah Palin forced the media to camp out on your front lawn. Sarah Palin forced you and Bristol to fight and break up. Sarah Palin is the cause of every problem you've ever had and ever will have.

Never mind that Sarah Palin had five kids of her own to deal with, a grandchild, a state to run, anklebiters to shake off, a debt running up daily, etc.... Yeah. Pretty sure putting Levi's life back together was the last thing on her mind.

Oh, and for those who say Sarah used Levi - what on earth do you think you're doing? Do you think you're helping the kid? Do you think pandering to the boy and giving him excuses to ruin his life is going to help him?

You don't care one cent about Levi. You just want him to do your dirty work. You're just foaming at the mouth in anticipation of what you construe to be him bringing the Palins down. Once he's served his purpose, you'll leave him in the gutter that you've dragged him to.

As for Levi's big secrets, I say, spill 'em. Come on, Levi. Don't give me this, "Sarah hates my guts and would shoot me if I knocked on her door, but I'd never hurt her" garbage. You say you've got dirt, let's see it. Write that book. Lay it all out. A good hunter doesn't wound his prey and then leave it to suffer until it dies. A real hunter finishes off his kill. You've already stuck the knife in Sarah's back, you might as well give it a good twist. Come on, Levi, turn that sucker. Wiggle it around, make sure you hit all the main arteries. You say you've got the info to destroy her? Do it. If you're gonna go scum, might as well go full scum. No more halfies. If Sarah really is the monster you make her out to be, you'll be doing the country a service. If she's the sick mental patient some claim she is, you'll be doing her kids a service. Come on, Douchebag - spill it.

Wassa matter? The Palin-haters await. You are their last great hope - the last little sliver of frost left from that iceberg. Your followers are hungry for some Palin-meat. Don't let them starve to death.

What? Why are you just standing there? Don't tell me that on top of everything else you're a coward too.

Pathetic.

You know what it reminds me of? Elijah and the prophets of Baal. "Just cut yourselves a little more. Just shout a little louder. Maybe he's on vacation. Maybe he's taking a nap. Surely if you just beg another hour or two, he'll wake up and consume your sacrifice."

I'm sure Levi loves his son. How can you not love your son? But Levi was vulnerable after breaking up with Bristol and Sarah simply had her hands too full to make sure his life was in order along with everything else she had to deal with at the time. And who stepped in to fill that gap? Let's just say a couple of people who made sure to channel Levi's troubles and the bitterness that had to be there right in Sarah Palin's direction.

"You know why all this is happening, don't ya kid? Sarah Palin dragged you to that Convention."

Not that the Palin family is guiltless. After Levi's first interview or so, I actually was against the knee-jerk reaction many had against Levi. In that first round, I don't think Levi was trying to be a scumbag. He was just a dumb kid. But after a year of constant attacks, he got lumped into the enemy camp. This allowed Rex and Tank to say, "See? Sarah really doesn't care about you. She called you a liar," etc.... And the rest is history.

Levi doesn't seem to really know anything. "I don't know, my lawyer knows. I don't know, my lawyer knows. My lawyer told me." Levi, Tripp is not your lawyer's son. Does your lawyer go to the bathroom for you too?

You've still got a chance to fix this. You're still young. There's still plenty of time. But you have to make up your mind. Are you going to continue to listen to those who give you an excuse to duck your responsibilities, or are you going to man up, no matter how difficult that may be?

I'm not saying it will be easy. Child support is no picnic and dealing with a family that probably isn't too thrilled with you right now isn't fun either. But you do what you have to do.

Life sucks, sometimes. Your life kinda sucks. But your decisions are your own. You think the Palin family hasn't gone through h*** this last year? You're not the only one who's got problems, you know. I know it's convenient to blame it all on one person, but it won't fly forever.

If you continue down this path of being played for a fool, you will live to regret it. And it won't be anything that anyone else does to you; it will be your realization of what you've done to yourself.

Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying,

I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. And they said, What is that to us?

And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself.*

*And no, I'm not saying that Palin is the Messiah and that Levi will hang himself. It's called an analogy. Just in case the idiots poke their heads in.

SP Video (Audio) Sunday

Today I've got audio clips. The first is Palin's Press Conference after Trig was born answering reporter's questions about the birth. Really cool stuff. The second is an interview I found of Sarah's sister Heather talking about autism with an autism organization during the 2008 campaign:





A really good article in the New York Times (believe it or not) here. Excerpts:
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The governor, thin to begin with, began an elaborate game of fashion-assisted camouflage. When Vogue photographed her, five months pregnant, for a profile in January, she hid in a big green parka. At work, she wore long, loose blazers and artfully draped accessories.

"All of a sudden she had this penchant for really beautiful scarves," recalled Angelina Burney, who works across the hallway from the governor in Anchorage.....

On March 5, as she was leaving her office for a reception, she shared the news with three reporters.

"We're expanding," the governor said brightly, said the deputy press secretary, Sharon Leighow.
"You're expanding state government?" one of the reporters asked.

"No, my family's expanding," she said. "I'm pregnant."

The trio fell silent, dropping their eyes from the governor's face to her belly.

"You're kidding," one finally mustered.

She assured them she would not take much time off: she had returned to work the day after giving birth to Piper, the child in tow. "To any critics who say a woman can't think and work and carry a baby at the same time," she said, "I'd just like to escort that Neanderthal back to the cave......"

Palin marched through the day. At a news conference, a reporter asked the six Republican governors present to raise their hands if they would refuse to serve as McCain's vice-presidential nominee. Palin was one of two who kept their hands down.

In her lunchtime speech, Palin held forth on the trillions of cubic feet of gas in the Alaskan Arctic, competitive bidding over pipeline construction and natural gas combustion. As she left the podium, Governor Rick Perry of Texas joked, "You're not going to give birth, are you?"

Palin just laughed.....

In fact, Palin was not in labor, and her doctor thought she had time. So the governor flew to Seattle, continued to Anchorage and then drove to a small hospital near her hometown, Wasilla — a journey of at least 10 hours.

"She wanted to get back to Alaska to have that baby," said a friend, Curtis Menard. "Man, that is one tough lady...."

Parents who were in the next delivery room said the scene looked like any other, with no security detail in sight. The three Palin daughters came and went, and as Todd Palin passed through the corridors, he stopped to accept congratulations....

Her hesitation gone, Palin glowed with maternal pride. "Sarah was absolutely ecstatic," said a friend, Marilyn Lane. After months of reflection and prayer, friends say, the Palins, who are Christians, had come to believe God had chosen to send them Trig....

Palin's three-day maternity leave has now become legend among mothers. But aides say she eased back into work, first stopping by her office in Anchorage for a meeting, bringing not only the baby but also her husband to look after him.

Many high-powered parents separate work and children; Palin takes a wholly different approach. "She's the mom and the governor, and they're not separate," Cole said. Around the governor's offices, it was not uncommon to get on the elevator and discover Piper, smothering her puppy with kisses.

"She'll be with Piper or Trig, then she's got a press conference or negotiations about the natural gas pipeline or a bill to sign, and it's all business," Burney, who works across the hall, said. "She just says, 'Mommy's got to do this press conference.' "

Palin installed a travel crib in her Anchorage office and a baby swing in her Juneau one. For much of the summer, she carried Trig in a sling as she signed bills and sat through hearings, even nursing him unseen during conference calls.

Todd Palin took a leave from his job as an oil field production operator, and campaign aides said he was doing the same now.

At her baby shower, Palin joked about her months of secrecy, Lane said. "About the seventh month I thought I'd better let people know," Palin said.

"So it was really great," she continued. "I was only pregnant a month."
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Here's a link to the Heather Bruce interview. They play a song before the interview begins:

Click Here To view AutismOne The Candy Store Special Guest Heather Bruce who is the older sister of Sarah Palin!

Palin Projection

The recent hubbub over Palin stumping for McCain has got me thinking about a problem that we knew existed among Palin's detractors, but now it's clear that it exists among her supporters as well: projection. People on both sides of the Palin aisle are guilty of seeing in the woman exactly and only what they want to see.

Anyone with a pair of eyes or ears over the last two years knows that Palin loves John McCain, that she holds no personal animosity towards John McCain, that she would never say anything bad about John McCain, and (in the aftermath of "Visorgate") she supports John McCain's reelection. She has said all of these things all along. When Palin's supporters were ready to hang McCain for not committing wholeheartedly after the election to support her if she ran in 2012, Sarah Palin came out and defended John McCain.

Do I want Palin to stump for the man? No. Do I wish she would just donate to his campaign and leave it at that, or not donate at all? Yes. Am I shocked and dismayed and disappointed and ready to drop Sarah Palin because of this? Absolutely not! I knew all along that this is where she stands. I may disagree with it, but I was never under the illusion that she was going to do anything else. So why is the conservative blogosphere buzzing about this?

It's a classic case of projection. We're all guilty of it. I'm guilty of it. While Palin's detractors view her as a wolf-killing Godzilla that's going to force them all to become Pentecostals, her supporters tend to see her as Reagan reincarnated and that she's going to storm into Washington with the carcass of a dead grizzly strapped to her back and a bazooka over her shoulder as she single-handedly slays any and all who are not purebred conservatives. The Glenn Beck/Tammy Bruce projection of Palin.

Sarah Palin has never once said that she is running for President. Whether you agree with it or not, Sarah Palin has been consistent in her support of John McCain. So if any of you have sour grapes about any of this, you have no one to blame but yourself. You've created a Palin in your mind that never actually existed.

When C4P first got started, there was a mission statement drawn up. One of the things in that statement was that we are not blind followers of Palin who actually have no idea of what she stands for. The opposite is true. We have researched her. We know exactly what her record is, how she works, and what she stands for, and that's why we support her.

What is the reality of Sarah Palin? Did she clean house in Alaksa? Yes. But she also worked with everyone, Democrats, Independents, and Republicans. Is she a conservative? Yes. But she has no problem working with those who are not. She is not an ideologue. She is a pragmatist. How on earth do you think she had such a high approval rating in Alaska? Do you think it's because everyone in Alaska is uber-conservative?

I find it very revealing that the McCain aides said that they didn't look at Palin to play to the conservative base, although that was the assumption. They actually chose her because of her ability to appeal to Independents. If you look at her record you will see that.

Perhaps this comes as a disappointment to some who have envisioned Sarah as their conservative or libertarian Messiah. Ladies and gentlemen, she is not "The One." She never claimed to be. There is no "One." There is us. All of us working together to try and salvage something of freedom and hope and opportunity and liberty in this country for the next generation.

Let's get an accurate description of Sarah Palin from Uncle Ted:



P.S. I love this blurb in Mark Steyn's article on President Obama:

The most striking aspect of his performance was how unhappy he looked, as if he doesn’t enjoy the job. You can understand why. He ran as something he’s not, and never has been: a post-partisan, centrist, transformative healer.

That’d be a difficult trick to pull off even for somebody with any prior executive experience, someone who’d actually run something, like a state, or even a town, or even a commercial fishing operation, like that poor chillbilly boob Sarah Palin.

At one point late in the 2008 campaign, when someone suggested that if Governor Palin was “unqualified” then surely he was too, Obama pointed out as evidence to the contrary his ability to run such an effective campaign. In other words, running for president was his main qualification for being president.

The irony? Palin actually has a record of working across party lines and of being able to bring people of all different ideologies together to accomplish a goal that moves things forward. Palin has the record to match Obama's rhetoric (minus the stupid stuff like rolling back the seas and the healing of the planet, of course).