Thursday, April 30, 2009

Why Gov. Palin will not veto much of the stimulus

This editorial in today's Fairbanks News-Miner explains:
Given our legislators’ demonstrated enthusiasm for laying federal dollar on top of state dollar, they likely would override the vetoes and go home.
It as simple as that, really. Of course, the Palin-hatin' bloggers on both the right and the left won't mention that inescapable fact.

- JP

Inside Sarah's Circle: 2. Meet Pam Pryor

Second in a series in which TX4P profiles the people close to Gov. Palin. The first installment, a profile of Kristan Cole, trustee of the governor's legal defense fund, is here.

Reading news accounts of Gov. Palin, one name that is often mentioned is that of Pam Pryor. She is a spokesperson for SarahPAC, the governor's political action committee, staying on after Becki Donatelli's Campaign Solutions firm was sent packing. At first glance this may appear to be something of a surprise, since Ms. Pryor has Donatelli ties. Pryor came to SarahPAC from the Republican National Committee, where she served as a senior adviser to Becki's husband, Frank Donatelli, during last year’s general election campaign.

But the governor must has seen a kindred spirit in Pam Pryor, who may not be a fellow Alaskan, but she is a fellow evangelical. The Pryor resume includes more than 25 years in pubic relations and public affairs. She has worked in the area of government relations for non-profit organizations which were formed around the faith and community-based initiative. She has experience bringing faith and community groups together with government through the initiative by grant writing and introductions to government agencies and Congress.

Ms. Pryor began her career as a college instructor at Point Loma College in San Diego and then at Bethany Nazarene College in Oklahoma City. Her background in media includes working as a TV news reporter and anchor in Oklahoma and hosting her own radio talk show.

After moving to DC, Ms. Pryor worked as a consultant for clients ranging from Convoy of Hope to the Department of Labor (through the White House Writer’s Group) to Habitat for Humanity. She has also served on the board of the Reform Institute.

In 1995, she joined the staff of Congressman J.C. Watts of Oklahoma, serving first as his press secretary and later as his chief of staff for both his personal office and the House Republican Conference. In 2001, she was named one of the 100 most powerful women in Washington by Washingtonian Magazine. Ms. Pryor holds bachelors and masters degrees in communications from Southern Nazarene University and did post-graduate work at the University of Oklahoma.

A 2006 interview of Ms. Pryor for the PBS series "Religion & Ethics Newsweekly" is here.

- JP

Gov. Palin has been asked to join NCNA

Governor Sarah Palin has been invited to join the National Council for a New America (NCNA) a newly-formed organization described in the launch letter as "a caucus of Congressional leaders gathering the expertise of national leaders and doers."

Here's how Roll Call describes the endeavor:
"In an effort to shed the 'party of no' label, Congressional Republican leaders will launch a new initiative on Thursday outlining solutions the GOP hopes will convince Americans that they have tenable solutions to the issues gripping the country."

"The program, dubbed the National Council for a New America, which will involve town-hall-style meetings, will include not only House and Senate Republicans but also a panel of former and current state lawmakers whose roster reads like a who’s who of potential 2012 presidential contenders, including former Govs. Jeb Bush (Fla.) and Mitt Romney (Mass.). A pair of current governors, Louisiana’s Bobby Jindal and Haley Barbour of Mississippi, will also join the group, according to a letter obtained by Roll Call. Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), the party’s 2008 presidential hopeful, will fill out the panel of 'experts.'"
In a conference call this morning with reporters and bloggers, Rep. Eric Cantor and Sen. Johm McCain denied that the effort is a "rebranding" of the Republican Party:
Cantor told reporters that "what we're aiming to do is to join together in a conversation with the American people" on major looming issues such as healthcare, energy, and national security.

McCain called it an effort to include Americans across ideological spectrum -- Republicans, independents, and like-minded Democrats -- to come up with solutions to issues such as healthcare. "We're going to spread a wide tent," he said.

"This is not a Contract with America," McCain added, referring to the campaign promises that Newt Gingrich and Republicans used to win a House majority in 1994. "This is a conversation with America."

McCain also addressed reports that Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, his vice presidential pick last year, was not invited, saying that she could be involved.

"We've reached out to her," he said.
Warner Todd Huston's report on the conference call is here.

- JP

Quote of the Day (April 30, 2009)

Ann Coulter, describing Gov. Sarah Palin for "The TIME 100: The World's Most Influential People":
"The biggest red flag proving her popularity with normal Americans is that liberals won't shut up about her... There's a reason there's no 'Stop Olympia Snowe before it's too late!' movement."
- JP

Tweet Sweet: Gov. Sarah Palin Is Now on Twitter

The Telegraph's Tony Harnden observes:
Perhaps this is a tipping point for Twitter - conservative icon Governor Sarah Palin is now tweeting. Under the moniker @AKGovSarahPalin (not very snappy but there are, by my reckoning, already 32 Sarah Palin twitter accounts) the 2008 Republican vice-presidential candidate has plunged into the social networking maelstrom.

Well, plunged is a bit of an exaggeration. More like dipping a toe in really. In the 14 hours or so since she's signed up she (or whichever staffer is tweeting for her) has sent three tweets. But there's certainly an appetite out there for all things Palin - in that time she's already gained 2,012 followers.
Actually 2,250 as of this posting, but who's counting?

h/t: Moms for Sarah Palin

Update 1: At 12:30 PM CST, the number of Palin followers on Twitter has more than tripled since this was posted earlier this morning.

Update 2: Now it has quadrupled - 8,852 followers at 4:21 PM CST.

Update 3: Over 10,000.

- JP

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Gov. Palin Signs Alaska Territorial Guard Bill

A longer-term solution for the issue of pay for surviving members of the Alaska Territorial Guard has become state law. The state will provide pay for the veterans until the U.S. Congress can get its act together (I know, I know). Here's the press release from the governor's office:
April 29, 2009, Haines, Alaska – Governor Sarah Palin today signed legislation that continues retirement benefits for members of the Alaska Territorial Guard (ATG). The ATG was a military reserve force component of the U.S. Army, organized in 1942 in response to attacks on American soil in Hawaii and Alaska by Japan during World War II.

Senate Bill 89, sponsored by the Senate Finance Committee, provides temporary retirement benefits to 26 surviving veterans for their service in the ATG. The Department of Defense decided in January to discontinue retirement benefits to ATG members, but temporarily suspended its decision at the urging of Governor Palin and Alaska’s congressional delegation. The Department of Defense agreed to extend payments until April to give Congress time to devise a permanent solution through amendments to the law. Congress has not yet acted, so until it does the state will fund the payments, which total about $10,000 per month.

“It is a great honor to sign this bill into law today,” Governor Palin said. “These Territorial Guard veterans are bona fide Alaskan heroes, cut from the same cloth as the Minutemen who answered the call to defend Lexington and Concord. They have earned every cent of their retirement benefits, as well as our enduring gratitude for their service.”

The governor was joined by members of the American Legion as she signed SB 89 at Lookout Park in Haines.
- JP

Quote of the Day (April 29, 2009)

JammieWearingFool on anklebiter Kim Chatman's ridiculous complaint which claims that the legal defense fund formed last week to challenge such complaints is an ethics violation itself:
"I recall a certain president named Clinton, along with his wife, had an enormous legal defense fund. I guess only Democrats are allowed to defend themselves."
- JP

Steve Schmidt talks Gov. Palin with Hugh Hewitt

McCain senior campaign strategist Steve Schmidt was Hugh Hewitt's guest on his talk show Monday night, and among the questions he was asked were several having to do with his boss' former running mate. Schmidt said that he, unlike most Sarah Palin's supporters, considered her treatment by ABC's Charlie Gibson and CBS' Katie Couric to be fair, although he did admit that overall, she was treated unfairly by "a lot of the media" during the campaign.

When Schmidt was asked why McCain staffers waited so long to allow Gov. Palin to appear on conservative radio talk shows, environment which would be friendly to the governor, Schmidt said that she delivered "one of the great convention speeches of the last generation by a candidate of either party," Team McCain kept her away from the talk show circuit to "build suspense."

In Schmidt's opinion, the McCain campaign staff "served her well." yes, we all noticed how well-served Gov. Palin was by the leaked lies that she didn't know that Africa was a continent and couldn't name the member countries of NAFTA, even though she had to know at least two of the three to handle the trade negotiations she concluded with Canadian company Trans Canada for a major gas pipeline deal.

When Hewitt asked Schmidt if he had to do it over again, would he still pick Gov. Palin, Schmidt reminded the talk show host that it was John McCain who ultimately made the decision to choose her:
"Well, Senator McCain made the pick. I…and it’s been reported that I was a, that I was an advocate of it, and I was. And politically, I believe it was the right thing to do in the time. [...] But no, I don’t regret it, and I still believe electorally, her pick helped the Senator in the election. And I think that when you look at all the things that we had stacked up against us, I believe it was the right pick to make, politically, still."
Read the full transcript of the interview here.

h/t: Team Sarah


- JP

Tivo Alert: American Chopper

According to the American Chopper website, in tomorrow night's episode:
Sr. takes a trip up to Alaska to research a bike and ends up meeting with Governor Sarah Palin.
Should be worth watching (Thursday, 9:00 PM on Discovery). Meanwhile, People Magazine has more here.

Update: Video including footage of the finished bike here, with a h/t to Theodore's World.

- JP

Identity Theft Alert for Jerry Taylor

Attention Jerry Taylor. A deranged *ronpaulbot has stolen your identity and is posting comments on the web using your name:
WAKE UP AMERICA!! It is time NOW, to look at the chaos the US Government has handed to us! I don't need someone else telling me what my rights are, so much as them understanding what rights they have lost. Simple Freedom! Ron Paul WILL make an excellant choice for President, not only for what he too believes in but because HE HASN'T CRIED TO WIN VOTES, HE HASN'T CLAIMED HIS RACE IS WHY HE IS RUNNING, HE HASN'T PROMISED TO CUT TAXES WHILE RAISING SPENDING IN THE GOVERNMENT, HE HASN'T USED HIS RELIGION AS A SOURCE FOR VOTES AND MOSTLY, HE HAS NOT LIED ABOUT HIS EXPERIENCE AND EXPERTISE TO MAKE HIMSELF LOOK GOOD TO VOTERS!! Fellow Americans, you should be ashamed to think that the government has your best interests in mind. Tomorrow you will still have the same jobs, the same taxes(if not more) and the same lack of services from the government in your hour of need. Stop being fooled by the naysays of America. Stand up for your rights and speak out to the beaurocrats who want to control your every moment here on Earth!
SUPPORT RON PAUL!!!!!!!!
I suspect his fondness for the Caps Lock key and use of eight exclamation points in a row is rather cleverly designed to discredit your reputation. IMHO, you should take immediate action to find this miscreant and stop him before he completely ruins your good reputation. No one will take you seriously if they believe that you are the person who is responsible for the above.

By the way, congratulations on being granted posting privileges on NRO's The Corner. While it is true that you're no Byron York, I think the infusion of more libertarian perspective into that blog is a good development. Without Mark Steyn on the roster, who knows how quickly things could deteriorate there. Unfortunately, the impostor seems to be posting there under your name also. Sad that he has little or no understanding of Alaska's unique energy situation. How can it be a terrible idea to allow that state's communities to determine their own energy needs and how best to meet them? That is a mistake that I am sure you, sir, would not make.

*Please understand that I mean no disrespect for Dr. Paul. While I don't agree with some of what he has to say, I rather like him, and I believe he does a fine job of representing his Texas district. It's only some of his followers that I have a problem with. About half of them are rational beings who use the lower case characters on their keyboards when the situation calls for it and understand that one exclamation point is usually sufficient. They are also able to properly spell "bureaucrats", "naysayers" and "excellent" - or at least they have the presence of mind to use a spell checker. These Paul followers I call "Ron Paul supporters." The other half - those I call "ronpaulbots" - are rather... er, overzealous, to put it mildly. Spelling and punctuation are not their strong suits. Reading their comments, one can almost see drool running down chins, if you get my drift. I'm sure you're among the former, but your impostor appears to be one of the latter.

Anyway, good luck with reclaiming your identity. A reputation is a terrible thing to have ruined.

Regards,

- JP

Rebuild the Party website has high praise for Palin

At Rebuild the Party, high praise for Alaska's governor:
She is the most charismatic republican stumping on the national and international scene since Ronald Reagan. Crowds of people make endless lines to see her and listen to her. She is the most popular governor in America with a steady over 65% approval rating in her state. What could prevent this lady from becoming the republican nominee for president in 2012?

Nothing!
The post predicts that Gov. Palin will run for re-election in 2010 and will win an easy victory. It says the GOP has an opportunity two years after that to have the first woman ever nominated for US president by a major party and one of the youngest republican nominees.

- JP

Palin on accepting most federal stimulus funds

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has announced that she will sign the lion's share of the state legislature’s bills to accept economic stimulus funds:
"I have been clear and consistent about my concerns with accepting economic stimulus funds as our nation incurs tremendous debt," said Governor Palin. "As I am required to certify that stimulus dollars will create new jobs and stimulate the economy, I acknowledge the legislature’s action. And now I must make sure that, by applying for funds that they’ve resolved to accept, we do not grow government but instead put people to work and grow Alaska’s private-sector economy."
The Governor said that she's satisfied that Alaska's House and Senate finance committees provided her state's citizens with ample opportunity to express their opinions on the federal money, conducting nearly 20 public hearings on the matter. She also said that the committees worked closely with her administration to research various aspects of the stimulus bill:
"We provided the public with the opportunity to weigh in and for them to understand the complicated and evolving federal requirements in this package," Governor Palin said. "My concern remains that we must acknowledge these are one-time, temporary funds, that the federal government is deeply in debt, and that we must borrow money from other countries to fund much of government."
Gov. Palin seems confidant that the legislature understands that the stimulus funds should be used to generate new private sector jobs - not to create new services or programs. She is satisfied with the inclusion of the following language into one of the measures, HB199:
"The state will not be granting additional funds to continue the programs after the federal aid is exhausted."
Again, the full press release from the governor's office is here.

- JP

Poetic Justice: Conde Nast Portfolio FAIL

Remember Portfolio, the supposedly business magazine that Conde Nast sank $100 million into? No, I didn't think you would. Here's a link to refresh your memory.

Yes, that Portfolio. Nicholas Carlson of Business Insider reports that the venture is down the tubes, and Portfolio is history. Carlson says the problem was that the editors could not stay on topic. In the midst of a major financial collapse, the magazine was printing vicious attack pieces on Sarah Palin, when it should have been examining the economic trends responsible for the recession and discussing strategies for business survival.

The FAIL, although not Epic, is just another little sign that using expensive resources for hate propaganda instead of running a business like it's a business is not a winning proposition.

- JP

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Quote of the Day (April 28, 2009)

Manley, from his excellent post, "Defending the Arctic Fox From Liberal Jackals":
"Sarah Palin is the Real Deal. She knows it, we know it and, most importantly, THEY know it - which is why they are determined to completely destroy her."
- JP

Malek: Arlen abandoned allies for another team

Republican Party heavyweight Fred Malek, perhaps Gov. Sarah Palin's most important admirer inside the GOP establishment, guest-posted today at RedState.com on the occasion of his old friend Arlen Specter's switch back to the Democrat party. Excerpts:
I have always viewed the GOP as a Big Tent Party, and appreciate the inclusion of moderates like Arlen.

However, in leaving the Republican Party, Arlen has abandoned people who have been his allies for another team. He has thrown in with people who have a fundamentally different vision for America, and one that I profoundly disagree with.

-snip-

I will be supporting Pat Toomey for US Senate against my friend Arlen Specter. Right now, Barack Obama and the Democratic Party are taking America in the wrong direction. And we need a strong voice in the Senate fighting for our party’s perspective against them.
I normally have very little use for moderates. Fred Malek is a rare exception to my rule of "Don't trust moderates; they will stab you in the back and walk all over your corpse." He is, first and foremost, a party guy, and his loyalty to and passion for the GOP are without peer. I'm not a party guy (I'm for conservative principles first), but I can appreciate that. And I will always appreciate him for his kindness to Gov. Sarah Palin, his admiration of her, recognition of her political potential and support of her, always talking up the governor to the Republican Party's other movers and shakers.

- JP

Palin: Properly use stim funds you insist on taking

From Jim Gerhaghty's Campaign Spot blog at NRO:

Today, Alaska governor Sarah Palin's office acknowledged the state legislature’s action to "accept economic stimulus funds with passage of House Bill 199, Senate Bill 75, HB81, HB113, and two legislative resolutions supporting receipt of the funds, House Joint Resolution 11 and House Concurrent Resolution 13."

“I have been clear and consistent about my concerns with accepting economic stimulus funds as our nation incurs tremendous debt,” said Governor Palin. “As I am required to certify that stimulus dollars will create new jobs and stimulate the economy, I acknowledge the legislature’s action. And now I must make sure that, by applying for funds that they’ve resolved to accept, we do not grow government but instead put people to work and grow Alaska’s private-sector economy.”

-snip-

“We provided the public with the opportunity to weigh in and for them to understand the complicated and evolving federal requirements in this package,” Governor Palin said. “My concern remains that we must acknowledge these are one-time, temporary funds, that the federal government is deeply in debt, and that we must borrow money from other countries to fund much of government.”

-snip-

HB199 includes intent language to that effect: “The state will not be granting additional funds to continue the programs after the federal aid is exhausted.”


The full press release from the governor's office is here.

- JP

Quick, call a lawyer!

Memo to Kim Chatman:

There's a rumor going around the internet that Gov. Sarah Palin, in a clear violation of the law, removed a tag from a pillow.

Contact your nearest left-wing legal foundation (so George Soros pays for it, and it doesn't cost you one Red cent), and ask them to further jam up the legal system and waste the taxpayers' money with unfounded allegations of an "ethics" violation by the governor.

Alinskybama will be eternally grateful, at least until that point in time when he has to throw you under the bus. Remember, Trotsky was a tool of the bourgeoisie! Any means is justified by the end.

- Comrade JP

Governor Honors Fallen Marines

A press release from the governor's office:
April 27, 2009, Juneau, Alaska – Governor Sarah Palin today paid tribute to Marines who lost their lives in the Iraq war, with a visit to the “rolling war memorial” that passed through Juneau this afternoon.

The custom-painted H3 Hummer was commissioned by the mother of Marine Lance Corporal John Martin Holmanson, who was killed in action in Iraq, along with nine others, in December 2005. The artwork on the vehicle features images of the Marines, the Marine seal and an American flag.

“What a privilege to be able to honor fallen American heroes in this manner,” Governor Palin said. “The rolling memorial is a humbling reminder – to us all – of those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice in defense of our freedom.”

During her visit to the rolling memorial, Governor Palin met with Haines Mayor Jan Hill and Holmanson’s grandfather, John Orr, also of Haines. The Hummer originally came to Alaska for the annual convention of American Legion, Alaska Department, held last week in Haines.

Photos from the event can be found here.

- JP

Monday, April 27, 2009

Quote of the Day (April 27, 2009)

Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO), responding to a question about Obama's support for Global Warming:
"That's why I campaigned for Sarah Palin and her running mate."
- JP

On Sarah Palin, Mark Twain and Think Tanks

There are those who wish to bury Sarah Palin, not praise her. Leftist Democrats, their drive-by media assassins and Republican backers of some of her potential opponents for leadership in the Republican Party have been pushing the meme that the former vice presidential candidate has no future in national politics. They want to convince others that the governor's political career has been ruined by the recent tug of war she has been engaged in with the Alaska legislature and the noisemaker tabloid media's exploitation of some problems in her family and would-be family.

If the foibles of politicians' family members were career-killers, then Roger Clinton would have surely been the kiss of death for his brother. But even the millstone of a coke-dealing sibling couldn't put the brakes on Bill Clinton's bandwagon. Americans tend to be a forgiving people, and in Bill Clinton's case, they were even willing to overlook his own sexploits and give him a second term. If having a brother who sells hard drugs doesn't dim your star, having a cat burglar for a sister-in-law and a loose-lipped almost-son-in-law should not be a long-term problem for Gov. Palin.

For a governor to have issues with a legislature is likewise not necessarily the stuff of ending a political career. Harry Truman won a stunning upset victory in the 1948 presidential election by railing against the "do-nothing" Congress, and sympathetic voters cheered him on, urging Harry to "give 'em hell." Alaskans may view their state lawmakers in the same light that Americans saw the eightieth Congress. The legislature has little to show for its session - only a handful of bills were passed of the literally hundreds which were introduced. In some respects this could be a good thing, but Alaska has serious intrastate energy issues, and the legislature failed to deal effectively with them.

The Alaska legislature's rejection of the Palin nominee for Alaska attorney general and its tug of war with the governor over filling a vacant state Senate seat are hardly tantamount to being headed for the political graveyard. Indeed, the politically-motivated "tasergate" investigation of the governor, spearheaded by a state Senator who just happened to be a Democrat supporting Barack Obama and Joe Biden while Gov. Palin was running against that ticket, set a combative tone for the legislative session. That some old-boy network Republicans sided with the Democrats against Palin was no surprise. Some of that crowd had been looking for payback, and what better way to get it than with a trumped-up ethics complaint?

Gov. Palin compromised with the Democrats over the Senate seat before the legislative session ended, and she will simply appoint an attorney general well before the next one convenes. Though her home state approval ratings are down from their stratospheric highs of earlier days of her term, they remain over 60%, a percentage most other governors would consider enviable.

The governor could well borrow a phrase from Mark Twain, for the reports of her political demise are little more than wishful thinking on the part of those who have a vested interest in seeing the GOP foolishly stake its hopes on another McCain-ish opponent for President Obama three and a half years from now... or perhaps one that resembles Mitt Romney or Tim Pawlenty. To illustrate the point, we have the case of a rare breadcrumb of intellectual honesty falling from the media's table today. Kenneth T. Walsh, Chief White House correspondent for U.S. News & World Report, writes today that Sarah Palin still enjoys strong support among conservatives, and some GOP insiders are saying that her future remains bright. That's right, Paul Bedard is not the only scribe at U.S. News who can find an anonymous "GOP insider/former Bush advisor" to help support his narrative. Not all party insiders have a dim view of the governor, as writers less biased than Walsh may try to lead us to believe. She still has strong backers, even on the mean streets inside the beltway.

That does not mean that Alaska's governor can coast to the front of the elephant walk. A "widely-held" belief among those party insiders, according to Walsh's GOP strategist source, is that Sarah Palin will be just fine if her first term as governor will be regarded as a successful one. She has two more years to polish her record, and the same amount of time to go, as the advisor phrased it, "from sexy to studious":
He says Palin should concentrate on building a conservative record of success as governor while also gradually placing herself in situations that demonstrate her knowledge of national and international issues.

These could include participating in forums of political leaders or policy experts at prestigious universities or giving a series of speeches at think tanks or conservative gatherings. "She needs to show that she's more substantive than people think," the strategist adds.
Gov. Palin is working on it. She speaks with authority on energy issues, and her arguments for saving the nation's missile defense capabilities are both well-reasoned and compelling, especially considering the military ambitions of North Korea and Iran. She's also up to speed on trade issues, as Alaska ranks fourth among the states in trade on a per capita basis and eighth in exports as a percentage of gross state product. She has met individually with scores of trade representatives and addressed a number of international trade delegations. While she's no economist, the governor has rather wisely invested a considerable portion of her state's oil and gas revenues, enough to give Alaska some breathing room while most other states are feeling much more pain at this point in the recession. And I wouldn't be at all surprised to see Gov. Palin take the other advice of Walsh's strategist source and start making the rounds of some of the better-known conservative think tanks.

In fact, she has already been a speaker at the Hoover Institution's Board of Overseers meeting in Washington, D.C. last year, where she addressed the benefits of her pet project, an Alaskan natural gas pipeline to deliver the clean-burning fuel to the lower 48. The former vice presidential candidate has some admirers at Hoover, including Senior Fellow Victor Davis Hanson, who has written with his characteristic eloquence in her defense:
"I think Palin can speak, and reason, and navigate with bureaucrats and lawyers as well as can Obama; but he surely cannot understand hunters, and mechanics and carpenters like she can. And a Putin or a Chavez or a Wall-Street speculator that runs a leverage brokerage house is more a hunter than a professor or community organizer."
She should be welcome also at The Heritage Foundation where Rebecca Hagelin is one of that think tank's vice presidents. Hagelin has written of Governor Palin:
"What makes her absolutely appealing to ordinary citizens across the country, both young and old, is that she didn't go looking for greatness somewhere 'out there.' Instead, she sought to make a difference in the lives of the people in her path -- and in so doing, greatness found her."
Likewise, the doors of the Hudson Institute should be open for Sarah Palin. Hudson Senior Fellow John O'Sullivan had no qualms at all in connecting the Alaskan and Britain's Iron Lady:
"I know Margaret Thatcher. Margaret Thatcher is a friend of mine. And as a matter of fact, Margaret Thatcher and Sarah Palin have a great deal in common."
How about it, Governor? Shouldn't you visit these good scholars and thank them in person for singing your praises, while at the same time less accomplished beings such as Kathleen Parker, Peggy Noonan and David Frum were haplessly engaged in trying to dig your political grave? Mark Twain once said of critics:
"If a critic should start a religion it would not have any object but to convert angels, and they wouldn't need it."
Although the timeless author was speaking of literary critics rather than the political kind, somehow I think he would would still approve of such a tour, if only just to poke a stick in the eyes of the latter.

-JP

Sunday, April 26, 2009

The Book of Sarah

I must be either crazy or passionately pro-Palin. As if maintaining two personal blogs and two blogrolls in addition to writing for RedState.com wasn't keeping me busy enough, I have launched yet another web project. But I just couldn't stop myself from doing it.

Actually, it's something I've had on the back burner for some time - since well before the move back to Texas - and it's way past time to kick it in gear. It's my response to a problem, and I hope it can be at least a small part of the solution. In an earlier blog post I mentioned the sad fact that when you enter "Sarah Palin" into a search engine, what you get back is an overwhelming number of negative hits (and precious few postitive ones), thanks to the drive-by media and the anti-Palin nutroots left. There are many reasons for this.

There is a leftist bias built into most search engines, but there's more to it than that. There is an intense effort, much of it well-organized, to drive down Governor Palin's image with a barrage of negative material. There's an army of anti-Palin bloggers out there, and they seemingly never rest or sleep. They keep the drumbeat going, night and day, day in and day out. While many conservative and libertarian bloggers have defended the governor (see my link section "Sarah Palin Praetorian Guard"), they blog on a wide range of issues, and defending the governor is not something they do each and every day.

There is no shortage of Palin-specific blogs, but most of the bloggers who run them only post occasionally. Many don't post every day, and some go weeks without a new post. That leaves only a handfull of us who post several times a day. I realize that many Palin bloggers have a life beyond their keyboards. Jobs, school, family and other interests all compete for precious time in our lives. But it could be that some Palin bloggers would post more frequently if they did not have to spend so much time searching the internet for information about the governor. Such research is time-consuming for all and tedious work for some.

That's where my latest project comes in. The Book of Sarah is a website which is intended to be an online catalog of links to news stories, press releases, photos, videos, MP3s, PDFs and blog posts about Alaska's remarkable governor. It's not yet a database, because I haven't had time to add tags to put the information in searchable form. That will come later. For the time being, I'm collecting the information and organizing it chronologically.

The website is still in the very early construction phase, and like any catalog, there is no completion date, as it will always be a work in progress. My initial concentration has been on that part of the governor's career prior to the 2008 RNC convention, because that information is harder to find, and I wanted to do the heavy lifting early on. It's also information that is less well known than what has followed since the national spotlight focused on Gov. Palin. More recent links will be added soon.

I did something similar a while back when I was blogging for Fred Thompson with a site called Fredipedia and another called Fred Thompson 101. The feedback I got from other Thompson bloggers and Fred's supporters was very encouraging, so now I'm going to try to accomplish the same thing with The Book of Sarah. I'm hoping that Palin bloggers will find that the site offers useful information and saves them enough time that they would otherwise be searching the web that they will be encouraged to blog for Gov. Palin on a more frequent basis to battle the onslaught coming from the left end of the spectrum.

There are, of course, other Sarah Palin resources on the web, and The Book of Sarah is intended to compliment them. Alaska Governor Sarah Palin's Accomplishments and the Governor Palin Media Database are two of the better ones. As I said, the project is just now getting of the ground, and there are a lot of missing chapters to the story of Sarah Palin in this book. I've never been that good with time budgeting, but I'm making a real effort to devote at least a little time every day adding useful bits of information to the catalog. If you blog for Sarah Palin, or even if arguing for her on political forums is more your cup of tea, I hope you'll find the site useful.

- JP

News-Miner editorial likes Palin veto proposal

According to an editorial in Sunday's News-Miner, Gov. Palin's proposal to veto state spending for budget items which could be paid for with federal stimulus monies "might be the wisest path."

Citing low market prices for Alaska's oil and the need for the state to tap its budget reserve accounts, the editor sees this as a prudent compromise between rejecting a third of the stimulus funds outright, as the governor originally proposed, and taking all of the federal money, as the legislature wanted to do.

Meanwhile, through the legislature has adjourned, the Fairbanks newspaper reports that many lawmakers will be watching to see which bills or spending items they approved will be vetoed by Gov. Palin, but they'll have to wait until some time in May:
Office of Management and Budget Director Karen Rehfeld said Palin asked the Legislature to bring the public into the process of deciding which stimulus funds to accept.

“She will be evaluating that information and making decisions on the appropriation bills and the substantive legislation, including health records, unemployment insurance, and air quality grants,” Rehfeld stated in an e-mail. “And no, she has not said she would reject anything — she wants to make good decisions and she wants to make sure that these funds are used wisely and people understand they are one-time.”
- JP

Saturday, April 25, 2009

Gov. Palin on 'I Won' & the Death of Bipartisanship

The New York Post asked Gov. Sarah Palin, talk show host Glen Beck and others to write short op-eds assessing the first 100 days of President Obama, and the Post editors put them together in one big opinion piece. Here's an excerpt with Gov. Palin's evaluation of the president's first 14 weeks in office:
"Obama soared to victory on the hopeful promise of a new era of bipartisanship. During his inaugural address he even promised an 'end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn-out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics.'

"Too bad it took all of three days for the promise to ring hollow.

"Start with Obama's big meeting with top congressional leaders on his signature legislation -- the stimulus -- on the Friday after his inauguration. Listening to Republican concerns about overspending was a nice gesture -- until he shut down any hopes of real dialogue by crassly telling Republican leaders: 'I won.' Even the White House's leaking of the comment was a slap at the Republican leadership, who'd expected Obama to adhere to the custom of keeping private meetings with congressional leadership, well, private.

"It's only gone downhill from there. The stimulus included zero Republican recommendations, and failed to get a single House Republican vote.

"It's not just the tactic of using Republicans for bipartisan photo-ops, and then cutting them loose before partisan decisions, that irks Obama's opponents. The new president wasted no time rushing forward with policies and legislation guaranteed to drive Republicans nuts. The first bill he signed into law was the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act -- a partisan hot-button that drew all of eight Republican supporters in the entire Congress. Then there was the swift reversal of Bush policies on abortion and embryonic-stem-cell research -- issues dear to the Republican base.

"And when Obama and the Democrats in Congress took up SCHIP -- the children's health-insurance bill that Republicans say vastly expands government's role in health care -- they had an easy chance for real bipartisanship. After all, the bill had been hashed out in the previous Congress, and a bipartisan accord was reached before President Bush responded with a veto. Did the Obama team push for the compromise version in the 111th Congress? Nope. They went back to the drawing board, ramming through the Democrats' dream version.

"Of course, the lack of bipartisanship isn't limited to Capitol Hill. Obama has taken gratuitous swipes at the Republicans who recently decamped Washington, blaming President Bush for everything from the economy and the war to the lack of sufficient puppies and rainbows. And who could forget the Rush Limbaugh flap -- in which Obama's top advisers, including chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, orchestrated a public relations campaign meant to undermine the Republican National Committee chairman, Michael Steele, by framing talk-radio personality Limbaugh as the real head of the Republican Party.

"For now, Obama's back-pedal on the bipartisanship promise just makes him look insincere. But the real consequences of the mistake will be felt soon enough. As Presidents Bush and Clinton could tell him, congressional majorities do change -- and at some point, Obama will need Republicans on his side. He'd be smart to spend his second 100 days making up for the serious snubs of his first."
Not a bad job of writing, Governor. Of course she does have a journalism degree...

Update: Or is Meghan Clyne who has the j-degree? Or both? The NY Post drops a stich, and a number of us bloggers faithfully dropped it too. The difference is, they get paid the big bucks, and we do it for love.

- JP

h/t: Moe Lane

Friday, April 24, 2009

You can see Kim's missiles from Fort Greely

The AP is reporting:
North Korea has restarted its nuclear facilities to harvest weapons-grade plutonium, an official said Saturday, in an escalation of the communist state's standoff with the international community over its nuclear and missile programs.

The move "will contribute to bolstering the nuclear deterrence for self-defense in every way to cope with the increasing military threats from the hostile forces," the North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman said in comments carried by the North's official Korean Central News Agency.
Diplomacy has been a miserable failure as a strategy for the West to deal with North Korea. Negotiations with the NoKors have been dead in the water since December. And, like Generalissimo Francisco Franco, they are still dead. The United Nations, in a characteristically ineffective move, announced sanctions against three North Korean companies. I'm sure that Kim is quaking in his jack boots. The UN is the Barney Fife of world cops. But Barney, at least, had a bullet and he wasn't afraid to use it.

This comes on the heels of a recent article from The Times of London:
The world’s intelligence agencies and defense experts are quietly acknowledging that North Korea has become a fully fledged nuclear power with the capacity to wipe out entire cities in Japan and South Korea, the Times of London reported.

The new reality has emerged in off-hand remarks and in single sentences buried in lengthy reports. Increasing numbers of authoritative experts — from the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to the U.S. Defense Secretary — are admitting that North Korea has miniaturized nuclear warheads to the extent that they can be launched on medium-range missiles, according to intelligence briefings.
At least the Korean communists, unlike their Iranian allies, are beyond the stage of trying to convince the rest of the world that their nuclear development is for the peaceful purposes of generating electricity. No, Kim makes no bones about the fact that he has the bomb and he's willing to use it. 

The Obama administration doesn't seem to be sufficiently "up on the wheel" about the stunning and dangerous elevation of North Korea to full-fledged nuclear power status. It is cutting back on missle defense and taking the posture that our most critical threat comes from sources other than rogue nations. At a time when the world is getting more dangerous, Obama is cutting back on critical defense programs and weapons systems. The political Left always dismisses any cautionary talk of what the NoKors have been up to. Their standing talking point is, "North Korea's latest missile test was a failure. Nothing to see here, folks. Don't worry, be happy. Move along."

One who does not dismiss the significance of North Korea's 50 years of missile and warhead development is Alaska's Governor Sarah Palin:
"I am deeply concerned with North Korea’s development and testing program which has clear potential of impacting Alaska, a sovereign state of the United States, with a potentially nuclear armed warhead," Governor Palin said. "I can’t emphasize enough how important it is that we continue to develop and perfect the global missile defense network. Alaska’s strategic location and the system in place here have proven invaluable in defending the nation."
Governor Palin never misses an opportunity to stress the importance of Fort Greely and the need for continued funding for the Missile Defense Agency. The governor opposes SECDEF Robert Gates’ proposed $1.4 billion reduction of the Missile Defense Agency. Greely is the nation’s only ground-based missile defense complex:



Critics of missile defense take the "can't do" approach, as if these arguments are some kind of rationale for not taking every precaution we can to defend our country. The same sort of arguments were being made in 1914, "Aeroplanes are not reliable weapons platforms. The bombs they carry are not accurate. There is no future for military aviation." Yet we now have precision-guided bombs and missiles which can penetrate a building and be detonated inside it. It's a good thing the naysayers did not prevail in those early days of military aircraft development nearly a century ago.

Sarah Palin is not just a voice in the Alaskan wilderness. She is joined by Alaska's bipartisan congressional delegation of Senators Murkowski and Begich, along with Rep. Young:
"Our early opposition to reduced funding for the Missile Defense Agency is proving to be well-founded during this turbulent time," Governor Palin said. "I continue to support the development and implementation of a defensive missile shield based in Alaska. We are strategically placed to defend the critical assets of the United States and our allies in the Pacific Theater."
Her political opponents, of course, attempt to deflect her compelling argument with such nonsense as, "What does this snowbilly know? She said that she could see Russia from her house." Not only does this not address the issue, but Sarah Palin never said that. Her detractors have her confused with comedic actress Tina Fey. But this isn't the first time that small minds have been unable to distinguish between whimsy and reality. They've got nothing more than snark, and they're not afraid to use it.

- JP

Cross-posted at RedState.com

Quote of the Day (April 24, 2009)

*
Vicki McClure Davidson, at Frugal Cafe Blog Zone, on why liberal men bash Sarah Palin:
Now it’s not so much jealousy, but anger and the assumption that if a woman is beautiful and smart and not your wife and not a Democrat, she must be a whore or filled with nefarious motivations. And even if she isn’t a whore, you need to viciously smear her reputation like a lying, pimply, angst-filled teenage boy will do, someone who will never get a chance to take the high school beauty to the big prom.
- JP

Jane Abraham on Cavuto today (Updated)

Team Sarah Co-Founder Jane Abraham appeared on FNC's "Your World With Neil Cavuto" today.

Jane discussed the newly-launched Alaska Fund Trust legal defense fund and the recent barrage of baseless "ethics" complaints the anklebiters have filed against her:



- JP

Inside Sarah's Circle: 1. Meet Kristan Cole

First in a series in which TX4P profiles the people close to Gov. Palin.

On the home page of the Alaska Fund Trust website, there is a quote from Kristan Cole, who is the trustee of the new official legal defense fund for the Alaska Governor's office. So who is Kristen Cole?

We learn from a Greta Susteren interview that Cole shares a close friendship with Gov. Palin that goes back to 1970 when both women were elementary school children. They now live just seven miles apart, and their friendship has grown closer since both have grown, married and had children. In private, Cole calls the governor "Sarah," and Gov. Palin calls her "Krissy."

Kristan Cole is married to Brad, and like their friends Todd and Sarah, the couple have five children. She's a licensed single-engine private pilot and likes to ski and play golf. Like Gov. Palin, Cole has competed in beauty contests. She won the Miss Alaska pageant in 1982 and was Mrs. Alaska in 1988.

Trustee Cole double majored in real estate and finance at the University of Arizona, and she received her MBA degree from the University of Alaska in 1995. She has 25 years of experience in the real estate business and was a successful small business owner of a firm where she headed up a team of about 15 people. She sold the company she had purchased from her mother after building it up and then went to work for a large statewide agency, where she is in charge of its Wasilla and Palmer opperations. When asked what had made her more successful than others, she answered, "Hard work and leadership." Her prescription for success?
"Get up early, work as if it depends on you. Pray as if it depends on God, be outward focused not inward focused. Make sure that others get what they want first and you will get what you want. Be a great leader. Leadership is the difference between success and failure."
Cole has a history of community involvement, and she has served on a number of boards and commissions, including the boards of two hospitals, the Alaska Royalty Oil & Gas Development Advisory Board, the Alaska Real Estate Commission and the Agricultural Revolving Loan Fund. She currently chairs two panels, the Board of Agriculture & Conservation and the Creamery Corporation. She is also involved in charity work, most notably for the Children’s Miracle Network.

Now Kristan Cole has one more important title to add to her resume: Alaska Fund Trustee.

- JP

Addio, Becki Donatelli

WaPo's Chris Cillizza, in his political column The Fix, reveals that Becki Donatelli's consulting firm, Campaign Solutions, and Alaska governor Sarah Palin's political action committee, SarahPAC, have parted company.

The way Chris tells it, the separation was a voluntary decision made by Campaign Solutions. That's the face-saving explanation, anyway. Some Washington insiders aren't so sure that it's the accurate one. Regardless of who said "goodbye" first, the parting of ways follows a series of strategic and philosophic differences between Donatelli's firm and the governor's people in Alaska.

Interestingly, word of this comes on the same day that the official legal defense fund for Gov. Plain was announced. The fund, named the Alaska Fund Trust, was formed by Alaskans and will be run by Alaskans, not Beltway types. The breakup with Campaign Solutions could be a move to also bring SarahPAC more under the control of people closer to the governor, i.e., Alaskans and those in the nation's capitol whose loyalty to Gov. Palin is longstanding.

Disagreements between Palin staffers in Alaska and Campaign Solutions advisors have resulted in some embarrassing situations for the governor, most all of which involved invitations for her to attend several political events when actually she was unable to leave the state. The impression given was that her Washington people were telling event promoters that she would appear, although her staff in Alaska had never confirmed that she would be free to show up for the events.

Hopefully, that should all be in the past, and we will see well-coordinated teamwork between Alaska and Washington D.C. that works in the Governor's best interests. The shedding of old McCain campaign baggage should lighten the load.

- JP

It's offical: The Alaska Fund Trust rolls out

The Alaska Fund Trust is the name of the official legal fund designated to defend the integrity of the Alaska Governor's Office from a series of coordinated, politically-motivated attacks against Governor Sarah Palin, her family, and state-employed colleagues. These nuisance "complaints" are nothing more than baseless accusations which have cost the state of Alaska more than $1 million in public funds to defend, and Governor Palin has incurred more than half a million dollars in personal debt just to defend her official actions as Governor.

Trustee Kristan Cole explains:
"Over the past months it became increasingly clear that supporters of Governor Palin needed to help defend against the onslaught of frivolous attacks against her. These baseless accusations are designed to inhibit her ability to focus on the issues Alaskans truly care about and force massive personal debt on her and her family. I joined with fellow Alaskans in forming the Alaska Fund Trust to help alleviate the Governor's legal debt incurred while performing her job as well as eliminate the incentive for future attacks by her opponents. In doing so, we have created one of the most restrictive and transparent legal funds in history."
More about the Alaska Fund Trust here. Frequently asked questions and answers here. Additional documents and media contact information here. To make a donation of $150 or less, go here.

- JP

Official Sarah Palin Defense Fund Debuts Today

The Wall Street Journal's John D. McKinnon and Monica Langley are reporting that Gov. Sarah Palin's supporters will announce today the formation of a legal defense fund to help her pay her legal bills, respond to a rash of politically-motivated ethics complaints and perhaps boost her political standing. A dozen new ethics complaints have been filed against Ms. Palin in the past four months, by Democrats, liberal activists, and even one filer who calls herself a Republican (see here and here).
"The purpose is really to provide a legal and proper way for the governor's supporters to help her respond to these frivolous complaints that have been leveled, keeping her from being able to do her job and...really harassing her," said fund trustee Kristan Cole, a real-estate agent and longtime friend of the governor from her hometown of Wasilla.
Legal defense funds for politicians are becoming more common as scrutiny of politicians has intensified, but such accounts are sometimes less regulated than campaign funds. For that reason, the fund for the governor will operate under stringent guidelines. Donations will be limited to $150 or less and will not be accepted from corporations, state contractors, state or federal lobbyists, lobbying firms or foreign nationals. Names of donors, dates and contribution amounts will also be made available to the public. Those who are organizing the fund say that Gov. Palin wanted the fund to be more restrictive and transparent than other legal defense funds.

- JP

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Liz Cheney: Sarah Palin is "terrific"

- JP

President Palin's Decision

Imagine that the date is April 23, 2013.

Also imagine an Associated Press story with that date on it.

Here's an excerpt from that story:
At the White House, Press Secretary Adam Brickley said that President Sarah Palin stands firmly behind the decision. "It's not as if we relish the thought of prosecuting members of the previous administration," Brickley said, "but, at this point, there is a clearly established precedent..."
Intrigued? The go read all of it.

Matt Lewis has really outdone himself this time.

Bravo Zulu, Matt!

- JP

Gov. Palin looking for a new applicant for AG

In an e-mail to the Fairbanks News-Miner, a spokesperson for Sarah Palin says the governor is "in the review process" to designate a new nominee for the office of Alaska attorney general.

Sharon Leighow says Gov. Palin wants to appoint someone with integrity, vast legal knowledge and experience who must be a strong advocate for Alaska.

Alaska lawmakers last week voted down Wayne Anthony Ross, the governor's previous nominee for the office, after a smear campaign against him by Palin's political enemies swayed the legislator's opinions. Just last year, the Alaska House honored Ross with a unanimous citation which described the lawyer as "a distinguished Alaskan" and "a vocal proponent of free speech." The citation also characterized Ross' career as being "dedicated to defending individual rights."

Leighow says though there has been a considerable interest in the position by applicants, the governor is working under no deadline to fill the position now that the legislative session has adjourned.

In a related story, Gov. Palin's administration has released an opinion by the state's acting attorney general stating that the governor's original appointment of Tim Grussendorf to fill the state Senate seat vacated by Kim Elton of Juneau is still a valid one because the Senate Democrats never legally rejected it.

The decision comes after Gov. Palin and the Democrats agreed to a Sunday compromise which assigned the seat to former Juneau mayor Dennis Egan.

- JP

PPP Poll is not believable (Updated)

I really hate to bite the hand that directs traffic to me. After all, the GOP 12 folks were nice enough to link to my cross-post at RedState.com about the AR-15 the NRA will present to Gov. Palin next month.

But the website accepts at face value a poll from Public Policy Polling which is supposed to show in a hypothetical 2012 match up, how various Republican candidates would fare against President Obama:
Sarah Palin's numbers are an interesting conundrum. She easily has the best favorability among Republicans voters, with 76% saying they have a positive opinion of her. The other three range from 60-67 with the party base. But she also has the largest percentage of GOP voters- 21%- who say they would vote for Obama if she ended up being the party nominee. So for the folks in the party who don't like her that feeling is strong enough they'd rather vote for a Democrat. It adds up to a 12 point deficit for her, 53-41. Overall the electorate has a negative opinion of Palin, 42/49.
I'm a bit more skeptical about the results of this poll than the good people at GOP 12 for several reasons:

The PPP poll is at odds with results from more accurate surveys. Rasmussen, for example, found Gov. Palin's favorable to unfavorable rating to be 52/46 at the end of January. This is within the margin of error of a CNN poll which reported a 49/43 favorable/unfavorable ratio for the Alaska governor just after the election.

By more accurate polls, I mean that PPP doesn't even show up in this list of the 23 most accurate polling firms, as determined by Panagopoulos at Fordham University:
The following list ranks the 23 organizations by the accuracy of their final, national pre-election polls (as reported on pollster.com).
1. Rasmussen (11/1-3)**
1. Pew (10/29-11/1)**
2. YouGov/Polimetrix (10/18-11/1)
3. Harris Interactive (10/20-27)
4. GWU (Lake/Tarrance) (11/2-3)*
5. Diageo/Hotline (10/31-11/2)*
5. ARG (10/25-27)*
6. CNN (10/30-11/1)
6. Ipsos/McClatchy (10/30-11/1)
7. DailyKos.com (D)/Research 2000 (11/1-3)
8. AP/Yahoo/KN (10/17-27)
9. Democracy Corps (D) (10/30-11/2)
10. FOX (11/1-2)
11. Economist/YouGov (10/25-27)
12. IBD/TIPP (11/1-3)
13. NBC/WSJ (11/1-2)
14. ABC/Post (10/30-11/2)
15. Marist College (11/3)
16. CBS (10/31-11/2)
17. Gallup (10/31-11/2)
18. Reuters/ C-SPAN/ Zogby (10/31-11/3)
19. CBS/Times (10/25-29)
20. Newsweek (10/22-23)
Public Policy Polling is a Democrat polling organization. Unlike Rasmussen, they have a vested interest in the outcomes of their surveys. I'm not accusing them of fudging their numbers. Just saying that they are not without their biases.

And finally, no other polling firm shows Gov. Palin with higher unfavorables than favorables, which again calls the results of this PPP poll into question. If you look strictly at PPP numbers, the 42/49 favorable to unfavorable results of this poll show a sharp improvement over what PPP reported last month, when it showed favorable/unfavorable numbers for Palin of 50/39. If you believe PPP's numbers, then you have to believe that both the governors' favorables and unfavorables increased by 8-10 points in 30 days.

And that seem far-fetched to me. Even if recent negative press had been successful in driving down her numbers,  Palin's unfavorables would have increased, and her favorables would have declined, which they did not. I'll wait for the next time Rassmussen, the most accurate pollster, runs the numbers on Sarah Palin again, thanks.

UpdateVidemus Omnia reports that Allahpundit at Hot Air has sipped the Kool Aid and bought into this questionable poll lock, stock and barrel. But Allah always is quick to believe the worst about Gov. Palin.

- JP

"Sarah Palin controls their lives..."

An excellent post at Why Mommy is a Republican. The deranged Palin-haters, desperate smearers and serial bogus ethics complaint filers have beclowned themselves.

Here are excerpts, but read the whole thing (emphasis mine):
The first time I stumbled accidentally upon an anti-Palin blog was after reviewing my stats to see which sites were linking to me. I noticed I was getting a lot of visitors from one site in particular that I had never heard of (and it will continue to remain nameless since I am not in the business of reputation destruction). I clicked the link and got my first look at a genuine, full-fledged, Palin-bashing blog.

The blog in question had linked to a poll we had published regarding Sarah Palin. I was surprised to find that there were many visitors to this anti-Palin blog. Palin-bashers are almost always women and this place was full of them. Women were commenting with glee about the crucifixion of Sarah Palin, the frivolous ethics complaints (which they don't recognize as frivolous, of course), the trashing of her reputation by her former future son-in-law, etc. Lots of women were posting daily and frequently there about how awful they think Sarah Palin is. Simply put, Sarah Palin can do NOTHING right in their eyes.

-snip-

These poor women don't get that a person they despise is, without lifting a single finger and without the tiniest intention to do so, controlling them. Simply by being who she is, the person they love to hate, Sarah Palin controls their lives without even intending to. How ironic that they spend so much time thinking about Sarah Palin. They have devoted their daily lives to her. What irony.
- JP

The Alaskan Hunter

Here's a photo of the custom AR-15 that TX4P reported Monday will be presented to the Governor by the National Rifle Associaiton at its May 14 NRA Foundation Banquet:



It's been dubbed "The Alaskan Hunter."

Very nice piece of work!

Photo h/t: CalGuns.net

- JP

The Johnstons don't help their case on Larry King

Levi Johnston's much-hyped appearance on CNN's Larry King show last night didn't seem to do much to help his case. Here's an excerpt of the dialog from the first segment of King's show:
King: Do you have a lawyer?

Levi: No.

King: Why Not? [...] Why wouldn't you hire a lawyer to fight for your rights as a father?

Levi: We're not in a big fight with the Palins. I mean... I still like the family very much. I think we can work things out. I don't think either one of us wants to go to the lawyers and fight things out.

King: Why can't you take your baby - it's your baby - Why can't you take your baby for a weekend?

Levi: I don't know.

King: But you're not interested in finding out legally why you can't.

Levi: If it keeps going like this, I think we're going to have to.

[Commercial Break]
After the break, Levi admits that he had not been honest with King and does indeed have a lawyer. In the next segment, Levi is joined by his mother Sherry and his sister Mercede:
King: Now he says you do have a lawyer.

Sherry: Yes, we do.

King: Don't you think you should now press for his rights as a father?

Sherry: Well, that is what we're going to have to do next. We were just hoping that we wouldn't have to. We really didn't want to have to go this way. We were hoping that we could all come to an agreement and all get together and be there for Tripp.

King: Is the lawyer going to file charges?

Sherry: We haven't got that far yet.

King: Levi, do you and Bristol have a formal child custody agreement? It's our understanding that in Alaska both parents have equal rights regarding custody unless a court orders it otherwise.

Levi: No, we...

King: So according to the law, you and Bristol have the same rights to Tripp.

Levi: Right. No, we don't have anything like that. We haven't went to court or done anything at all.

King: Why not, Mercede, why not?

Mercede: I don't know. I don't know. I hope it happens soon, to be honest. I want that baby in my life as much as he does.

King: Are you hesitant to force action? Do you feel that you're at the wrath of the governor or not?

Sherry: Yeah, well we don't want to... We want to keep this on the lowdown and not stir trouble, but obviously if things don't change, that's our next action when we get back, to go forward with that I guess.

King: Because you have every right to go forward.
Never mind that Lewd Larry is a sleazebag to ask some of the intimate questions he did. Let yourself get over King's outlandish comment to Levi that he isn't doing other interviews. And don't even wince over Levi's ridiculous boast that he's "a gentleman" who doesn't "kiss and tell" when that's all he's been doing lately. Don't let your blood boil over King inserting himself into a unfortunate situation involving the two families by pushing the Johnstons to go all litigious on the Palins. Here's what is most significant about this sordid slab of television at its worst: Denying that he has a lawyer - and then later admitting that he has retained a lawyer after all - doesn't speak well for Levi's veracity on anything that he has said on television or in the tabloids.

Equally significant is this from one of Levi's friends:
"If Levi could get a million bucks, it would be worth telling all he really knows."
Yeah, tell lies and go for the quick and dirty money. That's just the sort of dad every mother wants to have in her child's life, isn't it?

Update: Despite all the hype, Lewd Larry's ratings were down last night compared to his numbers for the previous night. Perhaps what used to be the private lives of two teenagers has reached the TMI threshold for most Americans.

- JP

Don't Forget the Eye of Newt and RINO Tails

In a recent Christianity Today interview of Newt Gingrich, the former Speaker of the House didn't mention Sarah Palin nor any other Republican woman as potential GOP leaders until prodded to do so by the interviewer. I was somewhat taken aback that when Newt was cornered and had to come up list a couple of Republican women, he tossed out the names of Linda Lingle and Kay Bailey Hutchinson. I thought it was significant that Prof. Gingrich, who recently converted to the Catholic faith, could not or would not name a pro-life woman.

At The Confluence, Afrocity found something else of significance in Newt's answers:
Newt’s recent slight of Palin is not an isolated case. When interviews among other GOP males are examined collectively, their responses towards Palin tells a similar story. Palin’s former presidential running mate John McCain, exhibited a common air of discomfort and unresponsiveness when questioned about Palin’s political future within the Republican party. On one Jay Leno appearance McCain failed to even mention Palin’s name when asked who were the “rising stars” of the GOP.
It's not just GOP males, Afrocity. Exhibit A: Kathleen Parker. Exhibit B: Peggy Noonan. Exhibit C: Kay Bailey Hutchinson. And liberal females have been even more vicious in their attacks on Sarah Palin.

There's as much class warfare as there is misogyny at work here. And there's too much of both to be found in the two major political parties.

Gov. Palin is the only Republican of either gender who has the ability to reunite the old Reagan coalition which was so successful in two national elections. Blue collar Democrats and libertarian conservatives trust her, but they don’t trust a GOP which has been under RINO control since The Gipper retired to his beloved ranch in California in 1988.

- JP

Palin responds to Tomkins nuisance complaint

Gov. Sarah Palin's office issued a press release late Wednesday night expressing outrage over the eleventh in a series of politically-motivated bogus ethics complaints filed in a coordinated effort to harrass the governor and generate negative publicity about her. Palin spokespersons called this tactic being used against her an "alarming new development" in Alaska politics.

Here is the statement from Gov. Palin's office:
April 22, 2009, Juneau, Alaska – The Office of the Governor today expressed outrage that yet another baseless ethics complaint has been filed as part of an alarming new development in Alaska politics.

"In the past several months, we have seen an orchestrated effort by the governor’s opponents to make differences of opinion and ideology almost criminal," said Mike Nizich, the governor’s chief of staff. "Governor Palin has spent a considerable amount of time and money fighting ethics complaints – and no charge has been substantiated. I hope that the publicity-seekers will face a backlash from Alaskans who have a sense of fair play and proportion. I served six previous governors, and I've never seen anything like the attacks against Governor Palin."

The latest ethics complaint against the governor alleges that she entered into a "contract" outside of her official duties in regard to a political action committee and that her recent trip to Indiana also conflicted with those duties.

"These allegations are categorically false and ridiculous, and are an abuse of the Executive Ethics Act," Nizich said.

"We are blessed to live in a democracy in which everyone has the right to free speech, to petition their lawmakers, to vote, to run for office and, yes, to allege misconduct by public officials," said Bill McAllister, the governor’s communications director. "But obviously the purpose of this complaint and the previous ones is to distract the administration and the public, and to paralyze the Department of Law and the executive branch."

"There's a core hypocrisy in nearly all of the ethics complaints brought against the governor, including this one. The ethics act clearly states that complaints, when filed, are to be confidential. Ms. Tompkins publicized her filing on several blogs, breaking the letter and the spirit of the law. While there are no penalties in the statute for this illegal behavior, Alaskans of all political persuasions should be appalled that the people who are alleging unethical behavior by the governor are repeatedly doing so unethically."

The relevant section of the ethics act follows:

"Sec. 39.52.340. Confidentiality. (a) Except as provided in AS 39.52.335, before the initiation of formal proceedings under AS 39.52.350, the complaint and all other documents and information regarding an investigation conducted under this chapter or obtained by the attorney general during the investigation are confidential and not subject to inspection by the public. In the case of a complaint concerning the governor, lieutenant governor, or attorney general, all meetings of the personnel board concerning the complaint and investigation before the determination of probable cause are closed to the public. … The attorney general and all persons contacted during the course of an investigation shall maintain confidentiality regarding the existence of the investigation."

Under the Legislative Ethics Act, publicizing an ethics complaint against a lawmaker would result in the automatic dismissal of that complaint. The Executive Ethics Act does not contain that provision.

While the latest complaint concerns 36 hours that the governor spent out of state this month, her opponents have spent months filing ethics complaints and records requests in a volume that constitutes a pattern of harassment and that has negatively impacted the Department of Law, McAllister said.

He noted that the governor left Alaska only twice during the recently completed legislative session -- for a total of just four days, including travel time -- and that during both trips she conducted state government business.

"Governor Palin hasn’t done anything that any other governor in the nation hasn't done," McAllister said. "I hope Alaskans can see through this stunt."
- JP

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Attacks on Sarah Palin and what you can do

From a recent RedState.com member diary:
Meet Sondra Tompkins from Anchorage, Alaska..

Now, if you do a quick Google search, you’ll see Tompkins continually described as a “reliably Republican voter”. And a “child disability advocate and mother of a special needs child.”

Seems nice enough. But as we all know, “reliable Republican”, when written in a newspaper, means they are a democrat, have voted mostly democrat, and contributed money to the democrat party.
Tompkins has joined a small group of Palin-haters who have previously filed ten nuisance complaints against Governor Palin for what they contend are ethics violations. Six of the bogus complaints have been dismissed, and several are pending. They force the governor to retain legal counsel, and they have cost her $500,000 in legal fees. This is why an official legal defense fund is being organized to help Palin pay her attorneys.

Tomkin's sham of an eleventh complaint charges that Gov. Palin's recent "partisan" visit to Indiana was "purely to benefit personal interests, had no benefit for the State of Alaska and was in direct conflict with her official duties." It fails on all three points. (1) In Indiana, the governor addressed a right to life dinner, but she devoted a considerable portion of her speech to promoting Alaska and encouraging Americans from the lower 48 to visit there, which would (2) bring tourist dollars to the 49th state. (3) She was only away from Alaska for only 36 hours, during which time the legislature was idle anyway, and her presence was not required.

The diary states the problem:
Governor Palin has had a non-stop assault on her by both the left wing loons and the RINOs in the Republican party since the day the election was over with.

And I do mean non-stop!

So what is my point?

My point is the Republican party needs to learn how to protect it’s own.

The Republican party is whining because the Governor hasn’t brought her star power to help them, but she hasn’t received even the slightest back up from Republicans.

Not one ounce of effort from the party.
And offers a solution:
If the Republican Party is not going to help defend Governor Palin, or other conservative leaders, then I say we stop funding the Republican party!
Perhaps if Palin supporters would redirect their donations which would otherwise go to the GOP to SarahPAC instead (and her official legal defense fund, once it is up and running), the GOP will wake up and smell what's brewing.

Conservatives have been looking for ways to take the Republican Party that Ronald Reagan built for them back from the spineless moderates who have been in control of it since The Gipper left office. This would be a good first step.

Update: Jim Geraghty is another who can't believe the sheer pettiness of this complaint, posting "How Dare Sarah Palin Give a Speech in Indiana!"

- JP