Todd Palin Endorses Joe Miller

The ADN reports:
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Fairbanks attorney running against Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski this year is trying to drum up support for his campaign, meeting with conservatives in Washington, D.C., and advertising a "big announcement" that Todd Palin will be at his fundraiser in Wasilla this week.

Joe Miller hasn't held political office. But he made a splash in Republican Party politics two years ago, joining with then-Gov. Sarah Palin to lead an unsuccessful coup attempt against Alaska Republican Party Chairman Randy Ruedrich....

Miller said he'd work to repeal the health care law and Murkowski wouldn't.

Murkowski told KTUU-TV a month ago that the law needs to be changed but "if you just repeal and you do nothing, we will not have addressed health care reform." Miller is also critical of Murkowski's 2008 vote in favor of the Bush administration's Wall Street bailout proposal. Murkowski said at the time that she had reservations about the plan, but felt it was needed to avoid a sharper economic downturn.

Miller described Todd Palin as a friend who stands for many of the same principles that he does.

Sarah Palin's political action committee donated $5,000 to Murkowski's campaign last June. But Murkowski subsequently criticized the use of the term "death panels" popularized by Palin during the health care debate, saying it wasn't accurate. Murkowski also was critical of Palin's decision to resign from the governor's office last July, saying that she was "deeply disappointed that the governor has decided to abandon the state and her constituents before her term has concluded."
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Joe's website is here. He has a quote from Todd posted on it:

"Joe Miller isn't afraid to shake things up in order to get the job done, and that's exactly what we need in Washington today. We need reliable conservatives who have the backbone to fight for fiscal reforms, and will protect Alaska's freedoms and opportunities with a passion that matches the size of our great state."

Miller weighed in:

"Todd's a longtime friend," Miller said. "He stands for many of the same principles." Miller takes issues with Murkowski's positions and voting record, which he says promote big government and an unsustainable national debt load that will be a burden on generations to come.

"This is about a U.S. Senate seat," he said. "It's not about Sarah Palin and Lisa Murkowski." What the media will make of the situation, Miller said, is beyond his control.

I don't think Todd Palin ever independently endorsed anyone else. Maybe he has, but not that I am aware of.

Joe's also on Facebook and Twitter.

Here are pics of Joe at a McCain rally in 2008.


And this one is dated February of 2009:


And I think we know one reason why Todd and Joe get along. :)

Beating Lisa Murkowski won't be easy. Good luck, Joe!

Jews for Sarah Founder in the NY Sun

Benyamin Korn of Jews for Sarah has an opinion piece in the NY Sun.
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"What Does Sarah Palin Read Her Daughter from the Bible?" -

When Governor Sarah Palin spoke to 16,000 Christian evangelical women in Louisville, Kentucky on April 16, guess which book she mentioned as the one she reads to her daughter at bedtime?

Try the biblical Book of Esther.

That’s right — Sarah Palin, mocked and pilloried by Jewish liberals as a danger to world Jewry because of her Christian beliefs, reads to her 8 year-old from a book that most Jews should probably spend a little more time with.

Governor Palin’s Kentucky speech, to a group known as the Women of Joy, is being claimed by her critics as proof that she is too Christian. But a careful look at the speech reveals, in fact, how close to Judaism and the Jewish people she is.

To judge by some accounts in the major news media, it sounds like she made a Bible-thumpin’, foot-stompin’ appeal to the unwashed fundamentalist masses.

The Washington Post’s online religion commentator, David Waters, wrote a post called “Palin’s Christian Nation,” which began, “In a speech last week, Sarah Palin promoted belief in God as a form of patriotism [and] dismissed notions that ‘America isn’t a Christian nation’...”

And on ABC World News, anchor Diane Sawyer declared: “Tonight, a question about religion and America, occasioned by comments by Sarah Palin that are getting a lot of attention. And here is the question: Should America be defined as a Christian nation?”

Ironically, the DailyKos.com columnist “Angry Mouse" quoted Governor Palin more accurately than did the Post or ABC News.

She cited several examples of recent overreaching by those who want America to be more secular. She mentioned a Wisconsin judge’s assertion that National Prayer Day is unconstitutional, and she referred to President Obama’s statement that America is not a Christian nation.

Here’s the key sentence: “And then, you know, hearing any leader declare that America isn’t a Christian nation, and poking an ally like Israel in the eye, it’s mind-boggling to see some of our nation’s actions [in] recent days, but politics is truly a topic for another day.”

What? Poking Israel in the eye? What’s that doing in the middle of that remark? And how was it omitted from the Washington Post account?

The Israel remark is there because to Sarah Palin, the well being of Israel and the Jewish people is an integral part of her worldview. Israel is not just another cold run-of-the-mill foreign policy matter, like trade with Mexico or aid to Sri Lanka. What happens to Israel matters to her as a Christian. Threats to America’s moral fiber and threats to Israel’s national security are all part of the same challenge that she wants Americans to address.

Governor Palin takes her Bible seriously. Not in the sense of someone who wants to impose her beliefs on anyone else, but simply as someone who believes that both the Hebrew Bible an the New Testament provide moral guideposts for our lives. She reads the Book of Esther to Piper because she wants her daughters to emulate Jewish history’s most famous heroine.

In her speech to the Women of Joy, Palin included a few quotes from the New Testament. But Jewish scripture figured much more prominently. She quoted twice from Psalms, as well from Proverbs and Malachi. She spoke to Piper about how Esther, an orphan, overcame steep odds and difficulties in order to save the Jewish people. And she took issue with President Obama’s policy of “poking our ally Israel in the eye.”

Fear-mongers with political agendas want to drive a wedge between Governor Palin and American Jewry. Sometimes they do it with quotations that leave out key sentences. Sometimes they do it with distorted depictions of her religious beliefs.

Jews have nothing to fear from Sarah’s Palin religion. But we have plenty to fear from those political leaders who not only have no interest in Esther or Proverbs, or Sarah, but who think that poking Israel in the eye makes for good foreign policy.

Mr. Korn, formerly executive editor of the Jewish Exponent at Philadelphia, is director of Jewish Americans for Sarah Palin, and editor of JewsForSarah.com.

Palin Leads While GOP Cowers

An article by Dan Calabrese in the North Star National - Sarah Palin leads on domestic drilling when it’s hard; and the rest of the GOP?:
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The Gulf of Mexico oil spill is a good test for the spines of today’s Republican Party. One Republican has already passed the test, and as usual, that’s Sarah Palin. The signs from the others are not encouraging.

A day after pundit Charles Krauthammer declared “drill, baby, drill” to be history in light of the spill, and two days after the Obama Administration halted all domestic drilling (gee, what a surprise), Palin came out and invoked her moral authority as an Alaskan who lived through the Exxon Valdez spill.

Yes, Palin says, the spill is horrible, as was the Exxon Valdez, which was why she took steps as a regulator in Alaska to put tighter controls on the oil companies. But she still comes to the same conclusion she’s touted before: We need domestic drilling.

No matter how horrible the British Petroleum spill proves to be, it won’t change the economic reality. We are putting our economy and our national security at risk when we rely on the likes of Venezuela and Saudi Arabia to get the oil we need. And it is insane to do this when we can and should drill for oil on our own lands and in waters we control.

This drilling can be done safely and cleanly. It obviously wasn’t in the case of the BP explosion, but it can and it should.

But where are the leading Republicans – Palin excepted – to come out and say that? Where is Mitch McConnell? Where is John Boehner? Where is Bobby Jindal? (OK, we know where Jindal is, and it’s where he should be – managing the crisis off the shore in Louisiana. But it sure would be a powerful act of leadership for Jindal to reiterate even now that we still need domestic drilling, wouldn’t it?)

It appears your average Republican luminary doesn’t want to touch this for the same reason Republicans usually lose their nerve. They figure anyone who stands up and endorses domestic drilling now will get absolutely murdered by the Democrats and the media. They figure all the election momentum is going their way right now – and indeed it is – and it makes no sense to risk it by making a controversial statement about domestic drilling in the aftermath of a horrible spill.

This does not bode well for the prospects of governance under Republican leadership. Indeed, it sounds a lot like the last time they were in charge. If Republicans won’t say and do the things that need to be said and done whenever a) it would jeopardize an advantageous political position; or b) the media would beat up on them for it; or c) both; then the Republicans can’t do the things the country needs them to do.

We need more domestic drilling, including off-shore, but when the GOP was in charge, they didn’t make it happen. We needed market-oriented health care reform, but it was easier for the GOP to do little or nothing on the issue, so they left the door open for Democrats to create a socialist behemoth the first chance they got. We need to get federal spending and entitlements under control, but that’s too hard because the media and the Democrats will say you hate Grandma. So the GOP did nothing.

Real leadership is what you do when it’s right but it’s also hard. McConnell, Boehner and company have never been known for this, and now we have the latest example as to why.

And if you don’t understand why so many people adore Sarah Palin, here’s Exhibit A. Many people understand we need to drill, baby, drill, but right now it takes courage to say so. While most Republicans run for the tall grass, Palin speaks the truth.

It’s hard not to respect that, or her, and by the same to token, it’s hard these days to respect just about anyone else – Paul Ryan excepted – in the Republican Party.

Palin on the Oil Spill

Palin put out this statement last night via Facebook:
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We’ve all been shocked and saddened by the tragic events in the Gulf of Mexico. My heart breaks for coastal residents who are facing fears of the unknown impacts of the oil spill.

As an Alaskan, I can speak from the heart about the tragedy of an oil spill. For as long as I live, I will never forget the day the Exxon-Valdez ran aground on Bligh Reef and millions of gallons of North Slope crude poured into the waters of our beautiful Prince William Sound. The spill was devastating to so many Alaskans who, like my own family, make their living on the water from our commercial fishing industry. “Heartbreaking” was the word my husband Todd, an Alaska Native and trained oil spill responder, used to describe the scene as we watched it unfold on land and water that we feel is sacred.

Alaskans understand the tragedy of an oil spill, and we’ve taken steps to do all we can to prevent another Exxon tragedy, but we are still pro-development. We still believe in responsible development, which includes drilling to extract energy sources, because we know that there is an inherent link between energy and security, energy and prosperity, and energy and freedom. Production of our own resources means security for America and opportunities for American workers. We need oil, and if we don’t drill for it here, we have to purchase it from countries that not only do not like America and can use energy purchases as a weapon against us, but also do not have the oversight that America has.

In the coming days, there will be hearings to discover the cause of the explosion and the subsequent leak. Actions will be taken to increase oversight to prevent future accidents. Government can and must play an appropriate role here. If a company was lax in its prevention practices, it must be held accountable. It is inexcusable for any oil company to not invest in preventative measures. They must be held accountable or the public will forever distrust the industry.

This was the position I took as an oil and gas regulator and as Governor of Alaska when my administration ramped up oversight of the oil industry and created a petroleum-systems-integrity office to monitor our oil and gas infrastructure for potential environmental risks. I took a lot of heat for the stand I took “against the oil industry” (which is how political adversaries labeled my actions). But we took tough action because there was proof of some improper maintenance of oil infrastructure which I believed was unacceptable. We instituted new oversight and held British Petroleum (BP) financially accountable for poor maintenance practices. We also filed a Friend-of-the-Court brief against Exxon’s interests for its decades-old responsibility to compensate Alaskans affected by the Valdez spill, and I took other actions “against” the industry which ultimately helped hold it accountable.

All responsible energy development must be accompanied by strict oversight, but even with the strictest oversight in the world, accidents still happen. No human endeavor is ever without risk – whether it’s sending a man to the moon or extracting the necessary resources to fuel our civilization. I repeat the slogan “drill here, drill now” not out of naiveté or disregard for the tragic consequences of oil spills – my family and my state and I know firsthand those consequences. How could I still believe in drilling America’s domestic supply of energy after having seen the devastation of the Exxon-Valdez spill? I continue to believe in it because increased domestic oil production will make us a more secure, prosperous, and peaceful nation.

Our hearts go out to all Americans along the coast affected by this recent tragedy, especially those who lost family members in the rig explosion, and our prayers go up for a successful recovery. May spill responders be safe.

- Sarah Palin
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Here are a couple of clips from an interview Palin gave to C-Span while she was at the NGA's Winter Meeting in February of 2008 regarding the Exxon spill:

And here's Palin in June of 2008 reacting to the decision the Supreme Court finally handed down:

In Going Rogue, Palin said that she was pleased that they had finally gotten a decision from the courts. This was criticized by some as a contradiction with what she said in June of 2008. However, she was obviously happy that after years and years of legal tag that they had finally gotten a decision and some repayment of the damages, although she wishes (given her reaction after the fact) that the victims would have gotten more. As she said above, "At least there is some closure at this time."

Palin at CSU and A Rant

Bill Mattos has a good column up at WestsideConnect. Check it out.

I disagree with Bill on one thing: Oh, "yes we can" blame Yee and Brown for stirring up a huge media and legal controversy that wastes taxpayer time and money for political points. If they're willing to do it now, they'll be willing to do it in office.

One of the things that strikes me when I see things like this is how I probably wouldn't have even cared about it a couple of years ago. It was politics back then, the political game that everyone played. I guess you could say that I was where Bill is now. Palin is the one who turned me on to "no more politics as usual." It's the "crazy" idea that politicians are the servants, not the masters of the people.

They are supposed to be working for us and doing the job that we elected them to do. It is disgusting that they waste our time and money on power plays and their own ego.

People called Palin a "quitter" for leaving office when she could no longer serve. To this day they say that she just couldn't take the heat, that she was just doing it for the money, etc... But look at the situation in Alaska: 26 ethics complaints filed on Palin (one is still pending months and months later). All so far have been dismissed as lacking merit. One was settled with no finding of any wrongdoing on Palin's part.

The Alaska Department of Law can't just throw an ethics complaint in the trash, even if it is ridiculous on its face. They must do their job and take it seriously and spend the time and the money and the man-hours to basically waste Alaska taxpayer money.

Meanwhile, the legislature refused to pass a simple bill that would have stopped the abuse of the ethics complaint process.

A legal defense fund was established to help pay not only Palin's legal fees, but also those members of her administration who also faced complaints. The only problem is that it's unusable. Almost a year after she announced that she was stepping down, the legal fund is still frozen because a complaint lodged against it has still not been resolved.

We know that the complaints would have kept coming. Being a government official, there would have been no book tour. The revenue from her book sales might have been enough to cover her legal fees (by the way, the book wouldn't have even come out until about now), but what about the fees of those affected in her administration who don't have best-selling books?

And forget the money aspect of it, what about the time involved, and the fact that Palin couldn't go anywhere of do anything without fear that it would cost her another bucket-load of money because some loser might make up their mind that what she did was unethical. A complaint was filed because she answered a reporter's question in her office, for Pete's sake.

The tactics of the Far-Left hacks bent on Palin's personal destruction were making it impossible for Palin to appropriately govern her state. It was hurting Alaska. If she left, she knew that it could very well be the end of her political career. But the attacks would no longer be able to hurt her state, and that was the bottom line.

I also hear all the time the argument that she's a half-term Governor who broke her vow to her constiuents to serve four years. That argument doesn't hold water.

Guess what? If she had become Vice President she would have also been a half-term Governor who "broke her vow" to her constituents by not serving four years. As would Janet Napolitano and anyone else who has ever left an office.

As Palin said in the interview excerpt below, it's accepted to leave office for another political position, but it's apparently not accepted to leave office to fight outside of the system.

This brings me to Palin earning 12 million dollars since resigning.

First off, she's a private citizen. She can earn whatever she wants. It's really nobody's business.

Secondly, personal wealth means that the Left can never again use the threat of personal bankruptcy as a weapon against her.

Meanwhile, Mitt Romney just bought a house in California for 12 million.