"...any lingering doubts or disagreements any Republican might have with the Governor become irrelevant when one reads the assemblage of snippy innuendo, predictable negative-insider-quotes and the elitist, snobbish tone of pretention that underpins the entire piece. And there's reason to believe that it' s not just Republicans like me who feel this way."- JP
"I like running alone and having the Secret Service with me added a little bit of pressure. I'm thinking I gotta have good form and can't be hyperventilating and can't be showing too much pain and that adds a little more pressure on you as you're trying to be out there enjoying your run. Then I fell coming down a hill and was so stinkin' embarrassed that a golf cart full of Secret Service guys had to pull up beside me. My hands just got torn up and I was dripping blood. In the debate you could see a big fat ugly Band-Aid on my right hand. I have a nice war wound now as a reminder of that fall in the palm of my right hand. For much of the campaign, shaking hands was a little bit painful."As one of Ace's commenters quipped, Gov. Palin actually admits that she fell down, while the arrogant John Kerry would have blamed a Secret Service agent for tripping him.
"This bill does not offer enough flexibility to states to meet national standards and goals. Flexibility is particularly important for Alaska. Our cold climate and rural populations make it difficult for Alaskans to implement technologies that work elsewhere. Again, this is a case of one size doesn’t fit all."Gov. Palin added that some of the language will likely result in stricter federal regulations that don't necessarily address any problems.
When the Heritage Foundation did its analysis of Waxman-Markey, it broadly compared the economy with and without the carbon tax. Under this more comprehensive scenario, it found Waxman-Markey would cost the economy $161 billion in 2020, which is $1,870 for a family of four. As the bill's restrictions kick in, that number rises to $6,800 for a family of four by 2035.The bill was passed by the House of Representatives in a close vote Friday. A similar measure is under consideration in the U.S. Senate. Governor Palin's statement indicates that she will make the state's concerns about the legislation known to Alaska's congressional delegation.
The VF hit piece, written by "a dishonest guy," quotes "a slew of senior members of McCain's campaign team" bashing Sarah Palin. None of these McCain staffers has the courage to put their names behind their attacks, of course.
As Rush Limbaugh observed, "John McCain’s campaign staff has spent more time attacking Sarah Palin than it did attacking Jeremiah Wright, Bill Ayers…and Obama himself."Michelle Malkin called the Palin-bashers inside the McCain campaign "classless cowards":
"At least all the Hollywood and Manhattan Palin-haters were willing to sign their names and put their faces on their attacks."Six months later, and there they go again. Unable to man up and admit that they ran one of the worst presidential campaigns in U.S. electoral history, these disgusting losers are repeating their hearsay attacks on Gov. Palin.
"Former Mitt Romney presidential campaign staffers, some of whom are currently working for Sen. John McCain and Gov. Sarah Palin's bid for the White House, have been involved in spreading anti-Palin spin to reporters, seeking to diminish her standing after the election. 'Sarah Palin is a lightweight, she won't be the first, not even the third, person people will think of when it comes to 2012,' says one former Romney aide, now working for McCain-Palin. 'The only serious candidate ready to challenge to lead the Republican Party is Mitt Romney. He's in charge on November 5th.'"The Prowler added:
"Some former Romney aides were behind the recent leaks to media, including CNN, that Governor Sarah Palin was a 'diva' and was going off message intentionally."The Romney supporters in the McCain campaign had access to internal polling which indicated well in advance of the November 4 election that McCain had no chance to win. So they began working to position their man Mitt for a run in 2012.
"One of the first stories to hit the national airwaves was the claim of a major internal strife between close McCain aides and the folks handling his running mate Sarah Palin."These aides loyal to Romney inside the McCain campaign, said The Scoop, reportedly saw that Palin would be a serious contender for the Republican nomination in 2012 or 2016, which made her a threat to another presidential quest by Romney.
"I’m told by very good sources that this was indeed the case and that a rift had developed, but it was between Palin’s people and the staffers brought on from the failed presidential campaign of former Gov. Mitt Romney, not McCain aides."
"The sources said nearly 80 percent of Romney’s former staff was absorbed by McCain and these individuals were responsible for what amounts to a premeditated, last-minute sabotage of Palin."
"Here’s what I think: I think there are some staffers on the McCain campaign who seriously screwed up the roll out of Sarah Palin, to which Governor Palin herself objected. These staffers are now out trying to finish her off thinking, as typical D.C. types do, that if they don’t do it to her, she’ll do it to them. They just never understood who Palin is or what she is about."A list of key McCain campaign people is here. The next step is to go through the list name by name and identify the ones who jumped on McCain's bandwagon after jumping off of Romney's. To quote McCain himself, "You will know their names."
"Likewise, I do think there are some staffers and others who expect Mitt Romney to run again in 2012, they decided McCain could not win, and decided to undermine Sarah Palin and her chances hoping it would ingratiate themselves with Mitt Romney. This also explains people like Kathleen Parker, who lusts the magnificent hair."
Randy Scheunemann, director of foreign policy and national security for the McCain-Palin campaign and who played Joe Biden in Mrs. Palin’s debate prep, was happy to push back against the Vanity Fair piece, saying she was an impressive and capable candidate.Update 3: Pam Geller weighs in, as does Mike Sargent.
He recalled her performance in the vice-presidential debate where she "held her own and went toe-to-toe" against Mr. Biden, a candidate with much more experience in debates and decades of public service. She was "incredibly hard-working and concerned she’d do a good job for John McCain who was a national hero and plucked her from obscurity," Mr. Scheunemann said. "That weighed on her every day."
"It’s disheartening and dishonorable anyone who worked for John McCain would participate in this kind of character assassination against his running mate," Mr. Scheunemann said.
Jason Recher, who worked closely with Mrs. Palin as a vice presidential candidate, said "The mean tone of this article is completely false, this is not the Sarah Palin I knew and spent two and a half months with." He also said he was tired of reporters using information about Mrs. Palin from people unwilling to go on the record.
David Welch, deputy research director for the McCain-Palin ticket, said he was "shocked to read the Vanity Fair article about Governor Palin and the allegations made against her by former staffers" and complained "significant parts of the story are based on half truths and gossip from staffers who refused to go on the record."
None of these men were approached by Vanity Fair to discuss their experience working with Mrs. Palin for Mr. Purdum's piece.
"The Pew results reveal strong levels of support for Palin among evangelicals, but overall her support from self-described conservatives actually ebbed a bit from their highs last autumn during the late stages of the presidential contest. Oddly enough, since then her approval actually improved from 18 percent to 24 percent among Democrats, though this may be a result of a sympathetic boost resulting from David Letterman's jokes about Palin and her family earlier this month."Oh, we have no doubt whatsoever that Gov. Palin's approval ratings among the group that was previously most opposed to her were helped by creepy Dave. I predict that her numbers will improve even more among Democrats thanks to the recent mocking attacks on her and Baby Trig by some of the most unhinged elements of the radical far left.
There are still people of good character who call themselves Democrats, and they are offended by the antics of some of the morally bankrupt partisans out on their party's leftmost margins. Think blue collar Democrats, religious ethnic Americans and parents of all kinds who would not want their own children mocked in such a manner as the kooks have done to Baby Trig.
These self-destructive radicals will be the agents of their own undoing. Keep it up, all you Blue Divas, Mudflatulents and admitted Immoral Moronities. Don't change a thing that you're doing. Keep shooting yourselves in the lower extremities until you no longer have legs to stand on. I'll be making more popcorn.
"Mothers generally don't lose when they are seen as standing up for their kids. Furthermore, members of ideological bases love it when leaders of their parties are assertive and ready to, pardon the expression, "get in the face" of members of the other party -- as Palin did with Kerry."Of course conservatives love it when a Republican goes mano a mano with the rabid attack dogs of the left. It is such a rare occurrence that we find it not just refreshing but exhilarating. George W. Bush suffered in silence, and look what it got him.
"A respected friend was talking to me about the most recent Palin controversy the other day and told me, You just don’t get it; you’re not a parent. If parents identify with Sarah Palin, that may indeed do her more good in 2012 than any number of intelligent energy-policy proposals (or even being a better governor than Arnold)."Weak-kneed pundits who pretend to be conservatives (Debra Saunders et al) claim that it is a mistake for Gov. Palin to stand up to her attackers. They would prefer that she just allow her enemies to destroy her without lifting a finger in her own defense or that of her family. George disagrees:
Palin is doing two things: Inoculating herself against any possible photo situations that include her kids -- and making Democrats very nervous about any comments they might be inclined to make about her. Her high school basketball nickname wasn't "barracuda" for nothing. Baring her teeth both in protection of her young and defending herself against a male politician -- even if it's in "good fun" -- is smart politics.Darn right it is. Who do people root for - the spineless character who lets everyone walk all over them or the Rocky Balboa full of fight who refuses to be beaten?
"Defense Dept plan to stop progress @ AK Ft Greely missile silos may be reversed w/new Senate bill. I'll support efforts to halt defense cuts"The Obama Administration had proposed a $1.2 billion cut for missile defense, and the U.S. willingly complied in its version of the National Defense Authorization Act for 2010.
The 32 percent cut in interceptors protecting US soil from North Korea, Iran, and other rogue threats represents a major decrease in the security of American citizens. The cuts to important programs will inhibit progress towards a comprehensive missile defense program.Gov. Sarah Palin and Alaska's U.S. Senators Mark Begich, a Democrat, and Lisa Murkowski, a Republican, have been urging the administration to make all of of the silos at the Fort Greely missile defense complex fully operational as originally planned.
"The governor's office has not publicly announced the new appointment, and has been slow to announce the hiring of the last three communications directors."Perhaps the rather annoyed tone of Forgey's piece stems from the fact that he got scooped. Alaska Ear floated the rumor way back on June 6 that Murrow would replace McAllister. Here at TX4P, the Ear's buzzworthy note prompted us to do a little digging, and we found Murrow listed as the Palin communications director on the website of Murrow's book publisher. We reported on June 10 that Murrow had the job in our profile of the new communications director. Forgey appears to have become curious after the Alaska Budget Report newsletter talked with Murrow. So weeks after a gossip column and a little blog down in Texas reported the news, and only after reading that Murrow had the job in a newsletter, the Empire's intrepid Pat Forgey finally figured it all out.
"There's a lot of support for the project both in the administration, as well as in Congress, both the House and the Senate and, frankly, both Republicans and Democrats. It's a project that clearly had a lot of support in 2004 when the enabling legislation was passed, and in 2006 when I was nominated and confirmed. And the project itself has a great deal of interest. We get calls often from legislative offices saying, 'Is there something we can do to help?' In the Senate energy bill, there are sections about the pipeline. Frankly, the ideas for those all came from members on the Hill; they weren't things that we put forward. We're gratified that there's bipartisan support."Pressed by Bolstad about whether federal support is real or just political posturing, Pearce emphatically stated that the support is genuine:
"I think it's strong support. I'll give you an example. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, after his confirmation, the pipeline was one of the first things he asked to be briefed about. And we've seen that in a number of agencies. People want to get to work on this project. Everybody supports it; it's a great project, it's huge, lots of opportunities for lots of people to be involved."Pearce also said that that the recent announcement that ExxonMobil will partner with TransCanada on the signature project of Gov. Sarah Palin is important, not only because the oil giant brings cash and technical expertise to the table, but more importantly it means that all of the major North Slope producers are now party to either AGIA or the Denali project.
"You see analysts saying, 'The money's not there, the prices aren't in the right place for a project of this magnitude, there are shale deposits looking very promising in the Lower 48.'"
"The beauty of commercializing our gas is it's going to tie into a system of pipelines that's already in place. Conventional natural gas production in western Canada is declining. The pipes are already there. Our gas will replace the gas that's in decline, coming into upper Midwestern markets that neither the shale gas nor LNG, frankly, are coming to on a massive scale. So we have almost a ready-made market. People are dependent on there being gas coming through those lines and nobody envisions that they will be taken out of service. Both companies have said, looking at the early modeling they've done, they believe they can deliver gas into market at an economic tariff."
"Look how they've mercilessly stalked the Palin family for almost a year now. Recall how this whole controversy erupted? With the awful, just reprehensible Photoshops of Baby Trig? Hey, no problem for the Democrats. The leftists are fully down with it! And it's understandable. "Sarah Palin is the most dangerous threat to the Obama administration with no close second." And to the radical left as well."I don't know which is worse. The sickos who photoshop such despicable manure or the morally bankrupt Obloggers and Obamediabots who try to excuse them by saying its no big deal.
"...polar bears are more numerous now than they were 40 years ago. The polar bear population in the southern Beaufort Sea off Alaska’s North Slope has been relatively stable for 20 years, according to a federal analysis."The governor said that the bears were "magnificent animals, not cartoon characters" that are "worthy of our utmost efforts to protect them and their Arctic habitat," but added that putting them on the endangered species list was the wrong way to do it.
Less than two weeks before the agency formally submitted its pro-regulation recommendation to the White House, an EPA center director quashed a 98-page report that warned against making hasty "decisions based on a scientific hypothesis that does not appear to explain most of the available data."NewsBusters.org's P.J. Gladnik has news of more suppression of inconvenient truths. This time it's a polar bear expert who has been forbidden from presenting evidence which supports what Gov. Sarah Palin has long been arguing -- that the numbers of most polar bear populations have either been increasing for the past few years or remain at optimum levels:
The EPA official, Al McGartland, said in an e-mail message (PDF) to a staff researcher on March 17: "The administrator and the administration has decided to move forward...and your comments do not help the legal or policy case for this decision."
The e-mail correspondence raises questions about political interference in what was supposed to be an independent review process inside a federal agency--and echoes criticisms of the EPA under the Bush administration, which was accused of suppressing a pro-climate change document.
Alan Carlin, the primary author of the 98-page EPA report, said in a telephone interview on Friday that his boss, McGartland, was being pressured himself. "It was his view that he either lost his job or he got me working on something else," Carlin said. "That was obviously coming from higher levels."
Dr. Mitchell Taylor has been researching the status and management of polar bears in Canada and around the Arctic Circle for 30 years, as both an academic and a government employee. More than once since 2006 he has made headlines by insisting that polar bear numbers, far from decreasing, are much higher than they were 30 years ago. Of the 19 different bear populations, almost all are increasing or at optimum levels, only two have for local reasons modestly declined.
Dr Taylor agrees that the Arctic has been warming over the last 30 years. But he ascribes this not to rising levels of CO2 – as is dictated by the computer models of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and believed by his PBSG colleagues – but to currents bringing warm water into the Arctic from the Pacific and the effect of winds blowing in from the Bering Sea.
He has also observed, however, how the melting of Arctic ice, supposedly threatening the survival of the bears, has rocketed to the top of the warmists' agenda as their most iconic single cause. The famous photograph of two bears standing forlornly on a melting iceberg was produced thousands of times by Al Gore, the WWF and others as an emblem of how the bears faced extinction – until last year the photographer, Amanda Byrd, revealed that the bears, just off the Alaska coast, were in no danger. Her picture had nothing to do with global warming and was only taken because the wind-sculpted ice they were standing on made such a striking image.
Dr Taylor had obtained funding to attend this week's meeting of the PBSG, but this was voted down by its members because of his views on global warming.
This is how the left deals with research and researchers that don't echo their party line. They suppress and then try to ignore. If the researcher makes too much noise over being excluded, then it's time to invoke Rule 5 and Rule 12 from Alinsky.
This is exactly the formula the left has followed regarding Gov. Palin's polar bear policy. They bombard the web, crying "Palin hates polar bears." These people are so divorced from reality that they probably will tell you that "eevill woman" hates unicorns and rainbows also.
Update: A vindicated Gov. Palin tweets:
"Suppressed EPA memos may help explain why r position on climate change & polar bear population became controversial/misunderstood. Read 'em"- JP
"At least Sarah Palin knows how to put on a flight suit. I bet Biden would have put the helmet on backwards."- JP
"We stand corrected, the truth is every Democrat hopes Governor Palin is in the public eye for a long, long time, especially on the 2012 presidential ballot. Lately it's been Vice President Cheney that everyone hopes would lose the cameras and go for a long leisurely hike on the Appalachian Trail. And good grief, if anyone thinks John Kerry is afraid of strong, smart women, they sure haven't met his brilliant wife and two independent daughters. It sounds like getting crushed these last two election cycles cost some of these Republicans their sense of humor."Interesting statement. Ms. Seth admits that (1) John Kerry doesn't always mean what he says; (2) He really thinks that Gov. Palin is a "strong, smart" woman; (3) Dick Cheney has been so effectively kicking the Democrats' behinds on the issues that they wish he would just go away; and (4) the Senator from Taxachusetts is so arrogant that he speaks for "everyone" and their hopes.
The latest Kerry flip-flop is the second Palin victory in as many weeks over two high-profile leftists. By standing up to David Letterman's creepy sexism, she forced him to apologize two weeks ago. Now, by giving Kerry a taste of his own medicine, she has forced him to admit that the Senator's words have an expiration date (a characteristic he shares with President Barack Obama).
"We cannot spare this woman – she fights."
h/t: C4P
- JP
"LtGen Campbell & I now n Germany=visit wounded warriors seek to do more to help these deserving patriots than mere visit they sacrifice much"This will be the second time that she has gone to Germany. In July, 2007, on her return trip from Kuwait, the governor stopped to visit wounded troops at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center.
Soldiers from the 'Land of the Midnight Sun' got a huge morale boost when Alaska's governor, Sarah Palin, and the state's adjutant general, Maj. Gen. Craig Campbell, trekked the approximately 5,000 miles to see their National Guard troops from the 49th state and to show their support for the service members of the Multi-National Task Force-East KFOR 11 mission.Gov. Palin seemed to enjoy her time with the troops also:
"Guard promotion ceremony capped great day; far away overseas it's our Bethel/Fbnks/Valley/Anch/Kodiak/Kotz + more troops represnting us well"Details and photos of the visit by the governor and Alaska's Army National Guard adjutant general, Maj. Gen. Craig Campbell here.
"Two weeks after David Letterman's forced apology to Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska, and days after Governor Mark Sanford of South Carolina teamed with Senator John Ensign of Nevada for admittance to the 'Adulterer/Hypocrite Hall of Shame,' Palin is starting to appeal to more and more Republicans…and Americans. As well she should."- JP
"Met w Lithuanian Minister of Defense, Rasa Jukneviciene. She's a conservative in Parliament here for Change of Command & peacekeeping exercz"The story on the Ministry's web page contained a paragraph on the meeting:
While in Camp Bondsteel Lithuanian Minister met with the Governor of Alaska Sarah Palin visiting the US forces. High officials met for a discussion on participation of their countries in international operations.Nothing much new there, but the story led us to this great photo of the defense minister and the governor engaged in conversation:
"He looked quite frustrated and he looked so sad. I just wanted to reach out to the TV and say 'John Kerry, why the long face?'"One of the Camp Bondsteel soldiers captured a good part of the governor's address here.
"As commander-in-chief, Governor Palin is the one we look to for leadership and inspiration while serving and defending the sovereign boundaries of Alaska."- JP
"Too bad," Kerry said, "if a governor had to go missing it couldn't have been the governor of Alaska. You know, Sarah Palin."Even joking that you are hoping for a member of the political opposition to disappear is... nasty.
June 25, 2009, Anchorage, Alaska – Governor Sarah Palin is in Kosovo visiting approximately 140 Alaska Army National Guard aviators who are deployed for 12 months on a peacekeeping mission.- JP
The 1st Battalion, 207th Aviation Regiment is providing aviation support with UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters to U.S. forces and coalition forces. This is an air assault mission in which the unit will be tasked with various duties including passenger and cargo airlift, external sling load deliveries, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. “I am happy to pass on the message of sincere thanks from all Alaskans,” Governor Palin said. “We are so proud of their service.”
A part of Governor Palin’s duties while she is in country is to inspect the troops and ascertain how the experience in Kosovo will better prepare these service members for missions within Alaska and future deployments overseas.
“As commander-in-chief, Governor Palin is the one we look to for leadership and inspiration while serving and defending the sovereign boundaries of Alaska,” said Lt. Gen. (AK) Craig E. Campbell, Adjutant General of the Alaska National Guard. “We thank the commanding general of the Multi-National Task Force East for the invitation to visit and for his hospitality while in country.”
The 1st Battalion, 207th Aviation is the most deployed unit in the Alaska National Guard, having previously deployed elements to Kosovo in 2004, as well as fulfilling missions in Iraq, Guatemala, Haiti and Honduras.
"So humbling to see our troops over here making great sacrifices (their family sacrifices, too) for the cause for freedom. Please honor them"- JP
A week after a high-profile uproar with comedian David Letterman over the late-night host's joke about her daughter, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is again sharply responding to the appearance of her children in the public sphere.The CNN blog then goes on to quote Palin spokeswoman Meghan Stapelton from a statement that was published on the governor's Facebook page.
Palin's latest response comes after liberal Alaskan Blogger Linda Kellen Biegel doctored a photograph of the former Republican presidential candidate with her 1-year-old son Trig, who suffers from Down Syndrome.
Biegel, who blogs in support of the Alaska Democratic Party under the name "Celtic Diva," superimposed a picture of conservative Alaskan radio host Eddie Burke over Trig's face in an apparent effort to show how close the radio host is with the Alaskan governor.
A respected friend was talking to me about the most recent Palin controversy the other day and told me, You just don’t get it; you’re not a parent. If parents identify with Sarah Palin, that may indeed do her more good in 2012 than any number of intelligent energy-policy proposals (or even being a better governor than Arnold).- JP
"Having a 16 point advantage with primary voters over the man who would probably be your toughest competitor is no small thing."She's definitely on a roll.
[...]
"What this adds up to is that Sarah Palin is in a very strong position for 2012 and would, at least for the moment, still have to be considered the candidate to beat for the Republican nomination."
"Travel now to bring appreciation from their Alaska family & Natl Guard leadership to heroes in US European Command's area of responsibility"We had wondered whether Gov. Palin was going to return to the Middle East to visit her state's Guard troops deployed there after she tweeted:
"Got Fed ok for Adjutant Gen Campbell, Command Sgt Major Choate and me to travel to our Ak Army Natl Guard troops on Wed. Glad to go to them"But now it seems that she's headed for Europe. The U.S. European Command -- USEUCOM -- has a wide area of responsibility:
Prior to the formation of Africa Command in October 2008 the area of responsibility (AOR) of the United States European Command covered more than 13 million square miles and included 91 countries and territories. This territory extends from the North Cape of Norway, through the waters of the Baltic and Mediterranean seas, most of Europe, parts of the Middle East, to the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa. Several other countries and territories were considered to be part of the USEUCOM area of interest (AOI).An interactive map of the USEUCOM AOR is here.
Effective 01 October 1998, the AOR of USEUCOM expanded to include six Western Slavic and Caucasus states of the former Soviet Union; Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine. Another six European countries and territories are considered to be within EUCOM’s Area of Interest [AOI]. This is an area of concern to the Commander because of the possibility of current or planned operations. This could also include areas occupied by forces that could jeopardize the accomplishment of the mission. These were Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.
On 17 April 2002, Defense officials announced changes in the Unified Command Plan. US European Command (EUCOM) will increase its area of responsibility. EUCOM will include the remainder of the Atlantic area off the East Coast to the shores of the Europe, he said, and it will pick up primary responsibility for Russia. Previously, Russian relations were handled in the Pentagon. U.S. Pacific Command (PACOM) will help European Command with the far eastern part of Russia and will add Antarctica to its area of responsibility.
"Got Fed ok for Adjutant Gen Campbell, Command Sgt Major Choate and me to travel to our Ak Army Natl Guard troops on Wed. Glad to go to them"The 2008 GOP vice presidential candidate's tweet didn't say exactly where she would travel to visit the toops. But one has to wonder why she would need permission from the Feds to visit her own state's Guard troops unless she's talking... er, tweeting about going overseas to do it. The only other place we can think of that she might need federal permission to visit Alaska Army Guard troops is Fort Greely. The missile base, however, is a hundred miles from Fairbanks, so a visit to the facility would not involve much in the way of travelling. Also, Gen. Cambell should not need federal permission to visit Greely.
In July 2007, Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) traveled to a U.S. military base in Kuwait to visit Alaska National Guard soldiers who provide logistical support for our operations in Iraq. On her return trip, she stopped to visit wounded troops at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany.Detachments of the Alaska Guard have been sent to both Iraq and Afghanistan since 2005. An infantry battalion was deployed to the middle east in 2006, and another infantry company deployed to Iraq in 2007. The governor's son Track deployed with his regular Army unit in 2008. The Alaska Army National Guard's aviation units have also seen a series of company sized rotations to Iraq.
"While Letterman is descending, Governor Sarah Palin is seeing her star rise. Some may disagree with Governor Palin on political issues; but few will disagree that Palin is a gifted politician. And whether she had sense of the cultural shift underway, or just had incredible timing, the Letterman Limit has catapulted Palin to a new level. She somehow understood that the people of this country would have her back as she went to battle. When she spoke out to defend her daughters, millions of mothers and fathers heard their own voices."- JP
Via The Anchorage Daily News' ubiquitous Sean Cockerham:"The state has dismissed an ethics complaint filed by Andree McLeod against Kris Perry, a close adviser to Gov. Sarah Palin and the director of the governor's Anchorage office."According to the dismissal, Perry was included on the trips to liaison with the governor's office in Alaska, thus keeping Palin in contact with state business:
"McLeod charged that Perry did political work on the state's time. Her complaint focused on Perry's travels with the governor on the vice-presidential campaign trail and afterwards."
"The complaint was dismissed by the attorney general's office. (McLeod said it went to the AG's office rather than the personnel board because it was a complaint against a state employee rather than the governor or lieutenant governor.)"
"The dismissal said there was no evidence 'suggesting that Perry misused her state time in any substantial way or did not intend to benefit the public interest when accompanying the governor on her trips.'"
The record clearly shows that Ms. Perry gave far more of her personal time to the state of Alaska than she may have used state time, if any, for non-state related or unavoidable personal activities," said the dismissal.A full PDF copy of the letter of dismissal is here.
"It is outrageous to file an ethics complaint against a state employee who sought and obtained ethics guidance in advance," Mike Nizich, the governor’s chief of staff, said. "This is not about ethics. This is not about holding the governor or state employees accountable. This is pure harassment."Such harassment is costing Alaska's taxpayers large sums of money. Gov. Palin's office says that over the past two years, the state has spent millions of dollars processing ethics complaints, public records requests, and related lawsuits
"There is nothing that she has done that leads me to believe she will seek reelection. If you’re Palin, once you’ve flown first class, you don’t go back to coach. She’s been to the show and certainly seemed to like it there."Halcro doesn't mention that when Gov. Palin flies commercial, she always flies coach. Barr does mention that Halcro is considering another run for governor, but would probably decide against doing so if the governor does decide to opt for a second term. Halcro finished third in the three-way race in 2006, garnering only 9.46% of the vote.
"We don’t think she’s running," said a Washington-based Democratic operative who is closely watching the gubernatorial race.As for Gov. Palin herself, she's not saying. When asked by Wolf Blitzer in a CNN interview earlier this month, she replied that she is not "going to do anything yet":
"[There is a] 50-50 chance she runs for governor," said a former Palin staffer involved in state Republican politics, noting, "If Sarah Palin has proven anything in her career, it’s that she is full of surprises."
"What I’m trying to get done for Alaska right now is to get that Alaska gas line built," she said. "We need those energy sources flowing through North America. That’s what my focus is."The bottom line is that only Governor Palin knows what her next major political move will be, and she doesn't have to share that information with anyone until next spring at the earliest.
"Whether you want to call it running for president or not, she’s doing it," said the former Palin staffer. "If she runs for governor, though, she is going to have to answer the question: Are you going to get elected and then take off for Iowa?"We remind TX4P readers that beyond establishing SarahPAC, Gov. Palin has not yet built any national political infrastructure for a presidential run. She does have a book tour tentatively scheduled for the spring of 2010 to promote the memoir she's working on. That tour gives her a good excuse to visit such prime political real estate as Iowa and New Hamshire. If she intends to run in 2012, she will have to start building state and county organizations soon. But at this stage of the political game, anyone who says Gov. Palin will or will not run for reelection is just speculating.
Chloe Mercer, who graduated Lawrence High School last month, said Latham's class was her favorite and said he was fair despite his decision not to show Obama's inauguration in class.Latham also said that Gentry asked him about a "McCain-Palin" bumper sticker on his car:
"He chose not to show it, but he printed out Obama's speech and we read it and discussed what we felt was good about it," Mercer told FOXNews.com earlier this month. "[Latham] was fair. He listened to all sides of every issue. He actually made print-outs of every candidate and how they felt on certain hot-button issues."
"She said, 'I don't know how you could support that woman,'" Latham said. "That was the beginning of what was going on. They were trying to find a reason to get rid of me."District Superintendent Randy Weseman said that the initial decision not to renew Latham's contract was the result of "inconsistencies in the evaluation process."
"To make a long story short, they didn't do what they were supposed to," Weseman said. "Obviously there are implications to procedures not being followed."Latham will return this fall to the high school, where he'll continue teaching American history and government for a second consecutive year. Since the contract renewal became official late last week, Latham, a teaching veteran of 20 years, said he's received countless well-wishes from students and teachers alike.
Latham conducted himself in a "respectful and dignified" manner throughout the process, Weseman said, adding that the "injustice" claimed by Latham had been confirmed.
Lawrence High School Assistant Principal Jan Gentry was arrested during the weekend for driving under the influence of alcohol, according to the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office.h/t: TX4P Reader pabluni
A sheriff’s deputy stopped the 53-year-old Gentry for a traffic violation about 10:19 p.m. Saturday on westbound U.S. Highway 56 near East 400 Road in eastern Douglas County. She was arrested and booked into the Douglas County Jail, where she was released on $250 bond and ordered to appear in court June 5.
Lawrence school district Supt. Randy Weseman said he was still investigating the situation and could not yet comment about how the incident might affect Gentry's job.
This is the sixth in a series in which TX4P profiles the people close to Gov. Palin."Mr. Chairman, I am Annette Kreitzer from the capital city of Juneau, Alaska. I have with me a few of my close friends. And apparently a few more of Sarah Palin's friends. Mr. Chairman, it's a great day to be a Republican. It's a great day to be a woman. It is a -- it is a great day to be a Republican woman. So Mr. Chairman, I am proud to move that Sarah Palin be nominated by acclimation by this convention for the office of vice president of the United States."The motion was quickly seconded, and Mitch McConnell called for the voice vote. The crowd went wild, and Sarah Palin, Governor of Alaska, officially became the first woman ever nominated to be the vice presidential candidate of the Grand Old Party.
Kreitzer began her career in government in 1983, working for a Fairbanks legislator. After a seven-year hiatus, she returned to Juneau as Committee Aide for the Senate Special Committee on Oil and Gas and then served as the Committee Aide for the Senate Labor & Commerce and Resources committees. Most recently Kreitzer served as Chief of Staff for former Lieutenant Governor Loren Leman.She also served as Senate Finance Subcommittee staff for the Departments of Revenue, Environmental Conservation, and Natural Resources. Ms. Kreitzer was the Governor’s appointee to Rural CAP (2002 - 2007); represented the Alaska Senate on the National Conference of State Legislatures Chemical Weapons Study Group (1998-1999); and served on the Governor’s Safety Advisory Council (1994-1997).
She remembers noticing extra weight on the governor before she announced her pregnancy and not really knowing how to handle that. "I'm not going to tell her, 'Governor, you look like you're putting on a few pounds.' " But Kreitzer couldn't imagine any other explanation. "She's 44, [so] pregnancy never came into my mind." Palin is usually so stylish, Kreitzer said, but at some point before she decided to reveal her pregnancy, Kreitzer noticed that she would often wear track suit tops. Later on, those tops made sense, Kreitzer noted.The Anchorage Daily News also has this video of an interview with the Commissioner from the convention floor.
"As the chief information officer and commissioner of the Department of Administration, part of my charge from the governor is to keep costs down. I am very familiar with her philosophy of smaller government. I don't have to be told something twice. So I have to work with other commissioners to help them understand why they should support what I want when their team doesn't want what I want, but their way would cost the state more money. I think it would be very easy to marginalize a chief information officer in government, even at a cabinet level, because there are so many other issues the commissioners are dealing with. But I believe the governor has my back. It comes down to prioritizing and focusing on what's the most important thing we need to accomplish. If you don't have that, you can't move forward in good times and efficiently use all your resources."Like the governor, Commissioner Kreitzer is a no-nonsense leader who doesn't suffer fools lightly. Our favorite Kreitzer quote from the interview: "I learned how to deal with difficult people because I was one."
"Whether it is the 2nd amendment, local control over energy resources, building codes, education standards and formulas, environmental legislation or spending and taxation, Sarah Palin is and always will be the original tea party champion. She has not wavered from her federalist values and her belief in the founding principles of the constitutional relationship between States and the Federal government."- JP
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Monday for Coeur d'Alene Mines Corp by upholding a government permit that will allow the company's Alaska gold mine to deposit rock waste into a lake on federal land.Earlier today, Governor Sarah Palin, in anticipation of the high court's decision, had tweeted:
In a closely watched environmental case, the justices overturned a U.S. appeals court ruling that had invalidated the permit for Coeur's underground Kensington Gold Mine northwest of Juneau.
In 2005, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers granted the company's Alaska unit a permit to put 4.5 million tons of rock waste, or mine tailings, into the lake over a decade.
The Corps of Engineers, not the federal Environmental Protection Agency, has the authority to permit the slurry discharge, and the Corps acted in accordance with the law in issuing the discharge permit to Coeur, Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote in the Supreme Court's majority opinion.
"U.S. Supreme Court ruling comes down on Kensington Mine project today; stand by for good news on responsible development & great jobs for AK"The case is a complicated one and deals with several issues, including whether the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers permit issued to Coeur was valid, and what the definition of "fill" is. Basically, the slurry that the company will pump into the lake is z mixture of water and crushed rock.
Court's ruling a green light for responsible resource dvpmt. Kensington to produce up to 370 needed jobs for AKns. http://tinyurl.com/mbnd2j"- JP
TV audience ratings come out and guess what? They're shockers! The old guy got a brief boost all right during the controversy. In fact, he drew larger audiences for three of the week's five nights.Take that, all of you media pigs who defended Letterman and dissed Gov. Palin in your columns and on your blogs. Take that, every one of you who said the governor "started" a war with Creepy Dave that she could never win. Take that, you clowns who wrote that there's too much of Sarah in the news, while the sick sexist slug you defended is on network television every weekday night. And take that, those of you who opined that Gov. Palin was unwittingly helping Creepy Dave vault to the top of the ratings.
But over at another network -- we'll call it NBC -- his competition, a young new guy who'd only been on the job for 10 shows, still won the entire week.
More Americans chose to watch this tall new guy who never mentioned the stink than the grumpy old one who started it. According to Nielsen Media Research, the new host also won among key demographic groups too, like 18 to 34 year olds and 18 to 49.
Hilarious.
"An investigator for the state found that Palin hadn’t violated the ethics regs when she wore a jacket coat bearing the logo of Arctic Cat snowmobiles, her husband’s sponsor in a major snowmobile race. Palin called the complaint frivolous. 'Idiotic' would be more like it."- JP
"Frankly, we've tired of the Sarah Palin act."Not sure who Martin means by "we" here. At the top of his hit piece, he makes a reference to his colleagues, so I can only assume that "we" in this case refers to himself and other leftist idiotarian media lapdogs for Obama who are driven by their false sense of superiority and hatred to constantly attack Gov. Sarah Palin.
"She wants to be taken seriously, but when you're spending more time getting into a back and forth with a doggone comedian rather than trying to shore up your leadership skills, then it's clear you're playing out of your league."She released a couple of statements and answered some questions from journalists, so she really hasn't spent as much time on the Creepy Dave thing as Roland Martin and his "colleagues" who have spent much of their time defending the late night show host in a losing effort. She spent considerably more time working on and talking about her progress on getting a pipeline built which will transport Alaskan natural gas to the lower 48, and thus helping her country become considerably less dependent on foreign sources of energy. But her leadership on energy was largely ignored by Roland Martin and his colleagues.
"Prior to politics, Reagan was a B-list actor who really found his calling in politics. Watching Palin now is like watching one of those corny Reagan movies you might find flipping through the satellite one late night. You stop for a second, watch this person try to act, and just give a dismissive laugh and keep moving on."Not content with just dissing Gov. Palin, Martin can't resist slamming the late President Ronald Reagan, who is an easy target for a coward like Martin. The man is dead, after all, and can't fight back. Martin has plenty of room in heart for hate, even including the leftover hatred he clings to for a dead president. So he trashes dead men and live women. As far as class acts go, it's Roland Martin FAIL!
"Yeah, that's pretty much my reaction to anything Gov. Sarah Palin does these days. She's just a B-list actress playing a politician, making one bad movie after another."
SINCE President Obama took office in January, CNN has seen its ratings drop. And one reason has to do with Campbell Brown. The host of "No Bias, No Bull" has been on maternity leave for the past month, and in her absence, the show with substitute host Roland Martin has nose-dived. Sources say he has complained the network doesn't promote him enough or book him high-profile guests.So not only does Roland Martin FAIL on basic humanity and as a CNN substitute host, but he blames his failure on others.
"This is not about any one website. This is about helping Governor Palin, and at the end of the day, the story should be that many groups and websites rallied to help an honest and decent public servant."Among those many websites, we want to give a shout out to our fellow Bloggers for Sarah Palin member sites which fully participated in the webathon. They are: Caffeinated Thoughts, House of Eratosthenes, Republican Catholics, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin's Accomplishments, Texas for Sarah Palin, The Book of Sarah and The Spyglass.
