Quote of the Day (September 30, 2009)

The Pink Flamingo:

"When you lie about someone, you end up hating that person because of your lies... The far left did everything they could to destroy Sarah Palin. They lied. They hate her."

- JP

Battle of the Books: Sarah Palin vs. David Frum

No contest.

- JP

Palin book likely to expose McCain’s incompetent campaign staffers

From IUSB Vision:

We reported that the McCain campaign communications machine became more incompetent after the Palin announcement. It seems that Palin’s book is going to give us at least some of the details.

Later we reported that many of the McCain staffers were “David Frum” types like Steve Schmidt, that had previously overtly slandered religious conservatives and others in the Reagan wing of the party.

[...]

What McCain Campaign staffers did was let their emotional hostility of the Reagan wing of the party blind them to a clear asset that could have helped Palin to introduce herself to the country in a venue that would give her the opportunity to define herself clearly.

Palin should have been given interviews with Limbaugh and Hannity first, then Greta, Beck, John Gibson and then O’Reilly, Hume and Wallace so that Palin would have had the opportunity to define herself first and hone her interview skills with progressively tougher interviews in tougher venues.

To send a person who is new and undefined on the national stage to Charles Gibson and Katie Couric who set out with clear intent to destroy her with much tougher gotcha questions than those two ever asked Edwards, Obama or Biden was foolish because since those were her first interviews, it would be by those interviews that people would have their first impression of her. As a result the McCain Campaign forfeited its opportunity to define its own Vice Presidential nominee.

[...]

This is not just communications 101 folks, this is communications for dummies.

As we pointed out in a previous post, Politico has revealed that Sarah Palin kept a personal journal during the campaign, and much of her book will ba based on this journal. For this reason, some former McCain staffers may have be looking at making a career change after the release of this book.

- JP

Rush: 'They're just paranoid of this woman'

Sarah Palin's book is now #1 on Both Barnes and Noble and Amazon (it was #3 when Rush did his show earlier today), and it is driving the Left over the edge. They also cannot stand the fact that she has been paid some big bucks for her first appearance on the lecture circuit. Excerpts from Rush's comments:

New York Post, Page Six today, which admittedly is a gossip column, but nevertheless, the headline: "Sarah's Lectures a Tough Sell." Now, this sort of dovetails with what I was telling you yesterday, that the Democrats and the media will always tell us who they fear. They'll always tell us who they're really, really worried about, and they are on a mission that is unstoppable to destroy this woman and her family.

[...]

Now, her book, 400 pages, she admits that she's got a ghostwriter. Obama did not admit that he had a ghostwriter and it's beginning to look like he did. The American Thinker has run two pieces now on how Bill Ayers wrote Dreams from My Father, or one of the two books. There have been examinations in the styles. Obama failed at writing anything prior to that. We've never seen anything else he's written but those two books. There have been a lot of people doing research into this, and the American Thinker's published a couple stories about it recently. But nevertheless Palin's book is number three on Amazon right now and it hasn't even been printed. Number three on Amazon, hasn't even gone to press yet. She turned it in four months early and we get this story in Page Six, "What a blithering idiot, nobody wants to book Palin for a lecture series." Well, they did in Hong Kong and from everything we read about it, it was a bang-up speech. They're just paranoid of this woman.

[...]

On the Barnes & Noble website, Sarah Palin's book is not set to be released for more than seven weeks but it has shot to #1 at Barnes & Noble. That puts it atop Dan Brown's new book and a book by Mitch Albom. It's #3 on Amazon. And the book is not out for seven weeks! Folks, this is going to drive them nuts. You know, the book publishing industry is notoriously leftist. It's going to drive everybody batty. I said yesterday -- 'cause I got some snarky note. "How're you going to feel, Rush, when she sells more books than you do?" I hope she sells five million copies because I want to see lunatics jump off the cliff! (laughing) They just can't stand it!

- JP

Politico: Palin "grateful" for book's early success

With her forthcoming book already the top seller at both Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com, Politico's Andy Barr was told by "a Palin source" that the former governor "is very grateful" for the strong early sales:

"This book has taken off like a rocket," the source said.

Another source, this one in the publishing business, told Politico:

"[I] cannot remember a non-fiction book taking off like this in the pre-order market. It became number one only a couple of hours after nothing more than a date announcement. It is truly unprecedented."

Sarah's supporters seem to be the only ones who aren't surprised by the response to her book...



Another quote from Barr's article:

"Much of the 400-page book is based on journals Palin kept during her vice-presidential run."

Some former McCain campaign aides should be afraid... very afraid. 

- JP

#1 at Amazon, #1 at Barnes & Noble

Sarah Palin's forthcoming book Going Rogue: An American Life has taken over top spot on Amazon.com's Bestsellers in Books list on just the second day it has been available for pre-order.

Amazon sales of the Palin memoir had been trailing those at Barnes & Noble, where it became #1 on that book seller's Top 100 Tuesday, the same day it was made available for pre-order.

Wouldn't it be something if the entire initial printing of 1.5 million copies sells out before the book even has a chance to hit the shelves? Not that the heads of Palin-hating leftists aren't already exploding... 

What we're really looking forward to, aside from the arrival of our copy, of course, is Sarah Palin's book tour, when we can get it signed.

- JP

NY Post's Page Six Sarah Palin Smear Dismissed

When you know you are on a losing streak, you try to take out your opponent via the knees right? 

Well the New York Post, a liberal rag of mindless entertainment, decided to write a “I Hate Palin because I don’t think she can sell herself and I think she is dumb” article again. I think that the New York Post and their writers are scared that they are losing money… and have to print this drivel to get some money in.

What cracks me up is how the NY Post is just frothing at the mouth concerning the speaking circuit and the amount of one hundred thousand (100,000) per speaking engagement, which if you think about it really isn’t that much.

Per NY Post:

Palin's bookers are said to be asking for $100,000 per speech, but an industry expert tells Page Six: "The big lecture buyers in the US are paralyzed with fear about booking her, basically because they think she is a blithering idiot."

Now, seeing this, we all understand that speaking engagements are going to “cost”. But if you book a building, with around 1500 seats would be about 67.00 a piece. BUT since you have to have money to rent the building which could be 25,000 for a day, which would cost in the amount of 17.00, I don’t see how this would be a problem? People pull out 100 dollars for just about anything anymore. So charging 100 to 150 dollars per speaking engagement, per person really isn’t that bad.

Also, let us talk about Speaking Engagements that include a nice dinner. Everyone knows you buy the plate before hand for whatever speaking engagement it is. So let’s say you want to hear Sarah at one of these. It is all priced out via the building it would be in, the price of employees, food and set up as well as the strip down and the speakers cost as well as the commission. Well we have all seen these types of dinners where you can pay up and including ten thousand (10,000) dollars per plate! So a room for 500 people. You have 100,000 for speaker, 50,000 for food and service, 15,000 to rent facility. So round it up to 200,000 thousand for cost of all and the cost of the plate for the Dinner Speaking Engagement is a whopping 500.00 dollars per person!

Whoa. I think the New York Post should have thought this through before they typed their smear article out.

-u

Editor's comments:

Page Six, the section of the NY Post where the smear appeared, is nothing more than a big gossip column. Gossip columnists hate Sarah Palin as much as radical leftists do because she is the antithesis of the Hollyweird glitterati they love so much. Their stock and trade is rumor and innuendo, not facts, which are (or at least used be) the stuff of journalism. The NY Post has traditionally been the most conservative of New York's three major newspapers, and the Palin-bashing engaged in by Page Six has more in common with the editorial content of the NY Daily News than the serious (i.e., news) sections in the Post.

Even liberal New York magazine, where no fans of Sarah Palin are to be found, dismisses Page Six's anonymous "source" in its Daily Intel column, titled "Why We Doubt ‘Page Six’’s Sarah Palin Story":

This story is suspicious for a few reasons:

1. The source is openly hostile to Palin, belittling her in almost every quote, so his/her intentions seem fairly suspect. Calling Palin a "blithering idiot" and saying the only people who'd want to hear her speak are "interested in moose hunting" doesn't really add credibility to your claims.

2. Politico reported about a month ago that Palin had received over 1,070 speaking invitations, which is a lot.

As was the case with Levi Johnston's Vanity Fair smears, even liberals aren't buying Page Six's pack of lies because it simply defies common logic. In light of the heavy demand for former Governor Palin  as a speaker, the gossipists' claims are pathetic.

- JP

Moonbat Obsessions

Charles Johnson, of LGF infamy, is moonbat-manure insane. He is as obsessed with Stacy McCain as Andrew Sullivan is with Trig Palin, which leads us to wonder if CJ gets his dope from the same dealer where Sully scores his stash. Must be some wicked weed, that -- the stuff from which psychotic reactions arise:

"Hypomania, with persecutory delusions, auditory hallucinations, withdrawal, and thought disorder, was observed in four Jamaican subjects who had increased their use of marijuana."

Persecutory delusions might make a blogger come to think other bloggers are out to "get" him, and cause him to banish them forever from his site.

Thought disorder might lead one to believe that Sarah Palin's book was ghostwritten, yet recoil in anger at the mere suggestion that Bill Ayers could have penned a Barack Obama memoir.

Auditory hallucinations would be the voices in CJ's head which seem to have persuaded him that the same conservatives who admire Justice Clarence Thomas, Professor Thomas Sowell and former Congressman J.C. Watts are somehow racists. 

Hey, don't snicker. Those same voices convinced Sully, a devout homosexualist, to become an armchair gynecologist. Now that's power! To be a paranoid moonbat conspiracy theorist, you don' need no steenking evidence, mon. All you need to do, dude, is hit some thermonuclear reefer, let your mind float and listen to the voices. The voices will explain everything. The voices will tell you what to do. The voices... The voices... The voices...

- JP

Adam Brickley on Sarahtarianism

Adam Brickley has posted an op-ed at Race 4 2012 titled Sarahtarianism, a word he's coined to refer to the classic, "pre-McCain" Palin political personna. That Sarah Palin, says Brickley, was much more libertarian than the social conservative political definition that the media applied to the former governor.

Brickley's arguments are as follows:

"1. The Huckabee Myth:  Sarah Palin is not, and has never been, competing for the same votes as Mike Huckabee."

Huckabee is something of a compassionate conservative/social conservative (think George W. Bush after a neoconectomy), while Palin is more focused on fiscal and energy security issues. 

"2. Palinistas = Fredheads"

Fred Thompson has indeed aligned himself closely with Palin, and his wife and talk show partner Jeri Thompson is a spokesperson for Team Sarah. Thompson and Palin both subscribe to the modern federalist view of a limited federal government with an emphasis on the rights and responsibilities of states and individuals.

"3. The Rudy Factor"

Rudy Giuliani has befriended and supported Sarah Palin, not Mike Huckabee or Mitt Romney. Rudy and Sarah, who were both mayors and corruption fighters, have a kind of kinship that Hizzonor shares with no other major GOP contender for 2012. Brickley says that a Giuliani endorsement of Sarah Palin would likely give her a lock on the libertarian wing of the GOP. Combine the libertarians with the Frederalists, and you have a force to be reckoned with. 

"4. New Hampshire, Baby!"

Brickley doesn't agree with the conventional wisdom which holds that Sarah Palin will concede New Hampshire to Mitt Romney so she can concentrate on winning Iowa. He argues that New hampshire folks have much in common with Alaskans, and those are voters that Palin understands best and knows how to win over. He also believes that she stands a good chance of capturing the votes of Granite Staters who voted for McCain. Finally, Brickley cites Mitt’s "potential for last-minute implosion" as reasons for Sarah to invest in a strong New Hampshire effort, as a win or strong second-place finish there would give her great momentum.

While we agree wholeheartedly with Brickley's first three points we're not so sure about the fourth one. We recall this Hotline item from May:

Sources familiar with Romney's activities say the Republican, whose 2008 presidential campaign fizzled, intends to make his primary residence at the family vacation home in Wolfeboro, NH, which is also a favorite vacation spot of Romney's children and grandchildren.

[...]

Romney has already established a beachhead in the Granite State; in March, his Free and Strong America PAC registered with the NH Secretary of State's office. The PAC made a $1,000 contribution to former GOP congressman Jeb Bradley, who won a special election for a state Senate seat that includes Wolfeboro on April 21. Bradley did not endorse in the 2008 GOP presidential primary.

Meanwhile, Romney supporters from the 2008 New Hampshire primary--which he narrowly lost to eventual GOP nominee, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ)--continue to stay in touch with each other. His state campaign manager, Jim Merrill, keeps up a busy e-mail communication with Romney supporters in the state and occasionally meets with them. "We stay in close contact," said Merrill, who added that he performs this task "on my own" and not in coordination with Romney's PAC.

"No doubt in my mind that they are doing the necessary maintenance to keep their network in New Hampshire together," noted veteran Granite State GOP operative Mike Dennehy, who was a senior adviser to McCain's 2008 campaign.

Establishing residency in NH could raise expectations for Romney's performance in the state's 2012 primary, but the state is also flush with important contests in the upcoming 2010 midterm elections, where Romney could lend a hand.

It's not that we don't think former Governor Palin could make a credible showing in New Hampshire -- she did appear at well-attended and enthusiastic 2008 campaign events in Dover, Laconia and Salem -- but Romney has a very big head start on her there. She has yet to build a New Hampshire organization (or in any state other than Alaska, for that matter), but if she's interested in making a run, now is the time for Sarah Palin to organize in the key states.

- JP

Predictions for Sarah Palin's Book

Author C. Brooks Kurtz has made some predictions for Going Rogue, Sarah Palin's forthcoming book. Here is a sampling:

I’m sure David Letterman is putting His Best Man On It in regards to the inevitable “Top 10 Revelations in Sarah Palin’s New Book.” References to moose, Levi Johnston, Willow Palin, Todd, Russia and pit bulls should be copious. Maybe they can juxtapose a Roman Polanski child-rape joke in there for good measure. I won’t be surprised if the entire week’s Top 10s aren’t dedicated to the Palin theme.

Of course, we’ll also get the nightly clown-car of CNN, Headline News and MSNBC gathering together a baker’s dozen of talking heads speculating who wrote the book, seeing as how they concluded long ago that Palin is completely illiterate. FOX will have positive coverage, though make no mistake, ol’ fair and balanced Bill will make sure and have Geraldo or Mark Lamont Hill on to bash, bash, bash away, then lament that “Ms. Palin is always welcome here at The Factor.”

[...]

Then, I suspect, once the dust settles and once all the mockery has settled down, Americans will begin finishing Palin’s book, and if it’s anything like every other thing Palin has done in the last year, it will be electrifying for some, infuriating for others, and I suspect by Christmas it will be clear whether or not Palin is running for POTUS. The initial run of 1.5 million is ambitious, but I imagine a second-printing will be ordered within days of the first, especially once the book starts getting play on talk radio, which [it] inevitably will.

- JP

Quote of the Day (September 29, 2009)

Big Hollywood's John Nolte,

"What exactly would Roman Polanski have to do in order to become a pariah in this town … I mean, besides vote for Sarah Palin?"

- JP

How to pwn a moonbat misogynist

JammieWearingFool shows how it's done:

When last heard from, Andrew Sullivan was trying to finagle out his marijuana bust on Cape Cod. That provided enough amusement. Now the deranged former "conservative" with the very unhealthy obsession over Sarah Palin is shocked -- shocked! -- Mrs. Palin managed to churn out a 400-page book in a scant four months. I think his problem is it will be a huge bestseller, far outpacing anything he could ever dream of.

Let me guess. Is Sullivan planning a book compilation chronicling the past year's bizarre, incoherent ramblings about Trig Palin?

[...]

Whatever the case, these upcoming 400 page probably give new meaning to Sullivan's pathetic existence. Look at all the fresh material there will be for him to obsess over.

Maybe when he's done with that he can check up on who the ghostwriter for Barack Obama's books [was].

Sativa Sully is one of those nasty atheists who is not content to simply not believe in God, live and let live.  No, he's a pot-smoking amateur gynecologist who is driven to trash those who do. Since Sullivan is so fond of using the term "Christianist," it shouldn't bother him to be called a homosexualist, then, should it?

- JP

Rush on Sarah's book: 'I hope she sells five million copies'

Here are some excerpts from today's transpcript of The Rush Limbaugh Show:

RUSH: I have lost my temper, which I don't like doing, when people on our side start parroting the Drive-By Media and Democrat Party version of Sarah Palin. "Oh, I hope -- I hope she's not our nominee. Oh, no! I mean, she's an idiot. Why, did you see her Katie Couric interview? She needs to study up on the issues."

For crying out loud, do you people not understand what all that means? I have been for a couple of years -- well, a year, ever since McCain chose her. I have been pointing out that the Democrat Party and the media will tell us who they fear most -- and they're not afraid of Huckabee, and they're not afraid of Mitt Romney and they're not afraid of Rudy Giuliani. But they have gone out of their way to destroy Sarah Palin. They have gone out of their way to destroy me. The sound bite roster today is half me in the Drive-By Media yesterday. Half me! I hope Sarah Palin sells five million copies of her book. It's going to be interesting to see just what connection she does have with the voting base, conservatives and Republicans. I hope she sells five million copies. I hope it does great. It will be interesting to see because that will just send them into an even greater tizzy on the left.

[...]

Now, I'm not a Republican, in terms of I'm a conservative first, and I'm certainly not elected to anything. We shouldn't let them set the agenda 'cause that constantly puts us on the defensive. It's offense, offense, offense, offense. And that's why the Sarah Palin thing was so obvious to me. There was one particular time, there were some people that started talking to me, and these are Republicans first, but they're also conservatives, but they're Republicans first with electoral politics on their minds, winning elections is the important thing to them. Which, of course, is not bad, but how you win them and what you're going to do after you do so is just as important to me. And to sit there and accept the premise put forth by everybody on the left that Sarah Palin is an idiot just offended the hell out of me. She was the only one that excited anybody on the Republican side at all during the presidential ticket.

Now, the press would love to have some stupid, uh, the press would love to have some old line moderate Republican running the show like McCain. By the way, a Rasmussen poll out today: 61% of Arizona Republicans say McCain out of touch with the party base. Well, duh. It's an important poll for him because he's running for reelection. Sixty-one percent of Arizona Republicans say that McCain is out of touch with the party base. Here comes Sarah Palin, she does the Katie Couric interview; she's being made fun of on Saturday Night Live all over the place by Tina Fey. I was on Barbara Walter's top ten personalities of the year, whatever it was last year, and Tina Fey was on the list because of her imitation of Palin. Tina Fey made the top Ten Most Fascinating People of the Year because of her impersonation of Palin. Why not put Palin in there? I mean without Palin being on the scene Tina Fey wouldn't have had somebody to impersonate to make Barbara Walters' top ten list. But it just really irritated me. It happened, I can't tell you, even through the spring and summer of this year, "I don't think we can have Palin, Rush," because everybody thinks that what the press says about somebody seals the deal. "Rush, the press has already destroyed her."

No they haven't. They're trying to. Why are you going to let them? Don't you understand that's who they're scared to death of when they go after her and they go after her children? Some of the most despicable things -- the Democrats want to lecture us about civility?

[...]

One of the most frustrating things to me to this day, despite the weakened state, despite the obvious, journalism is dead as we've known it, despite the fact that they're in the tank, so many people on our side are still worried what the New York Times says. Still worried about what is on the evening news as though we gotta conquer that before we'll ever succeed, you gotta get the New York Times to like our candidates; we gotta get the Main Street press to like our candidates. It's never going to happen. We set ourselves up for constant failure if that becomes the way we validate ourselves. I get sick and tired of the defensive nature of this. So we have to sit here and listen to people, "Sarah Palin, some idiot there, Sarah Palin, her books, do you think she'll out sell you?" I hope so. It would be fascinating to see.

- JP

The story behind the title of Sarah Palin's book

Lynn Vincent, Sarah Palin's collaborator on her forthcoming book Going Rogue: An American Life, shared the story behind the book's title with the Wall Street Journal's John Fund:

Ms. Vincent didn't reveal any details about the book, but did acknowledge it will describe Ms. Palin's frustration over her treatment by the staffers she inherited from the McCain campaign after her surprise pick as the GOP vice presidential nominee last year. Ms. Palin was booked on grueling interviews with hostile reporters while talk-show hosts such as Glenn Beck couldn't even get through to her aides. Mr. Beck tells me he was stunned when he picked up the phone one day just before the election to discover Sarah Palin was on the other end of the line. "She explained that she had been blocked from reaching her audience, so she was now 'going rogue' and booking her own interviews," Mr. Beck told me. "I was thrilled she had burst out of the cage they'd built for her and we were finally talking."

Given that history, Going Rogue is, as Fund says, a fitting title for Sarah Palin's book. We doubt that McCain insiders such as Mike Murphy, Nicole Wallace and others who ragged on the vice presidential candidate are looking forward to its release.

- JP

Once again, Hollywood jabs Sarah Palin

- By Warner Todd Huston

We've seen it before. Hollywood seems to need to find a way, any way, to jab Governor Palin as much as possible. Case in point we have the soon to be released movie titled "Did You Hear About The Morgans?" starring Hugh Grant and Sarah Jessica Parker.

Right in the trailer for this new laugh riot film is a jab at Palin. But it is a typically illogical jab, one that makes no sense at all. But it IS a jab and I guess logic isn't necessary to the good folks in Hollyweird if it results in a jab at Palin.

The premise is that Hugh and Jessica are a married couple from New York that witness a Mafia hit and end up in witness protection in Wyoming. The jab comes in when Parker sees her first woman in a cowboy hat and worriedly says, "Oh my God it's Sarah Palin."

Guffaws all around, eh?

Of course, the whole thing is idiotic. Sarah Palin is not known for cowboy hats. Sarah Palin is not from Wyoming. Sarah Palin is not a south westerner at all. I would suggest that even idiot New Yawkers are aware that Palin is Alaska personified, not Wyoming!

It is also a little incongruous that the movie is portraying Hugh Grant as a married man. I thought all he cared about was prostitutes?

I also have to say that Sarah Jessica Parker is looking very old in this trailer. This woman is not aging well, to be sure.

That's Hollyweird for ya.

- WTH

Sarah Palin's Book Now Available for Pre-Order

Going Rogue: An American Life is now available for pre-order from Barnes & Noble (here) and Amazon.com (here). The book has been climbing up the Barnes & Noble 100 since it became available for pre-order Tuesday morning, and it's already at #2. 

We ordered ours from B&N, which has the publisher's book jacket blurb on its page:

Sarah Palin burst onto the political scene at the height of the 2008 presidential campaign and overnight became a national sensation. Adored by the right, bitterly reviled by the left, she is the most polarizing figure to emerge in American politics in decades. Yet for all the dirt digging and gossip that has surrounded her, very little is actually known about who she is, what she believes, and above all, about her plans for the future. In her new book, Sarah Palin tells the story of her Alaskan upbringing, her marriage and family life, her political career, her religious beliefs, and her meteoric rise to national prominence. With her customary blunt common sense, she sets the record straight about the many myths and lies that have been spun around her and lays out her vision for an America that is strong, independent, and free.

We don't think the initial printing of 1.5 million copies will be sufficient to satisfy demand, so if you want a copy, pre-ordering should guarantee that you won't have to wait for a second printing to get yours.

h/t: Whitney at The Palination

Update: Less than two days in pre-order, and Sarah's book is already #1 at B&N and #2 at Amazon.com.

- JP

Michael Wolff: The Palin plan is working

Newser.com founder Michael Wolff, although he doesn't really understand Sarah Palin, has nevertheless written an op-ed which is going to cause much gnashing of teeth among Palin critics, including those at Vanity Fair, where Wolff is a columnist. Some choice excerpts:

While the usual political news sources have seen everything going wrong for Palin—scandal, personal oddness, intra-party hostilities, myriad family problems—everything, in fact, has been going right for her. The Palin plan is working.

She’s built a capable staff that’s shielding her and providing her with some basic political professionalism —- she made her foreign-policy debut in Hong Kong last week without incident. She’s touring the country on behalf of local Republicans, building up a bank of politico IOUs. She’s got a fund-raising effort going that’s aping the Obama Internet campaign (she may be the savviest buyer of search terms in politics). And, with her blowout book, she’s going to secure personal wealth as well as mightily advance her brand.

Also, contrary to the early reports of her demise, she seems to be having the time of her life.

[...]

Sarah Palin is just getting started.

Listen. Hear that grinding noise? All those teeth are going to need capping, a bonanza for dentists.

- JP

Sarah Palin: The Ace Of The Base

Politico's Michael Falcone, in an article published Tuesday morning, reports that the GOP base is still wild about Sarah:

Despite a torrent of criticism from the media, Democrats and even some in her own party, Sarah Palin remains the hottest brand name in politics.

[...]

She remains extremely popular with the GOP grass roots, and most Republican Party leaders would jump at the chance to have her headline one of their events.

Politico interviewed nearly 50 GOP officials and politicians from all parts of the country, and found that Republicans have very favorable impressions of the former Alaska governor:

Westerners have a particular affinity for Palin, with many noting that she embodied the values of freedom and self-reliance.

[...]

“People saw her as one of them — someone who could relate to an everyday person. She’s not one of the political class,” said Heidi Gansert, the Nevada House minority leader. “I also believe that women appreciated her message and what she’d accomplished in her political career and family life. A woman who has a young family, who is able to become the governor of Alaska — a lot of people, women who worked the everyday jobs with their families — they know that she’s experiencing the same things they are.”

Evangelical Christians and rural and small-town Republicans also hold Palin in high esteem.

“The ones who are most supportive of her are what I would term the very conservative, libertarian-leaning voters of southern Nevada — of which there is a very large contingent,” said Bernie Zadrowski, the chairman of Las Vegas’s Clark County Republican Party. “You might also classify them as the constitutional wing of the party.”

Even in the Northeast, she enjoys considerable support:

Charles M. Webster, the state GOP chairman in Maine, said Republicans there are very enthusiastic about Palin largely because they can see themselves in her.

[...]

A New Hampshire state senator predicted: “If she showed up tomorrow in New Hampshire, they’d be lined up across the state.”

Palin's appeal to everyday Americans is especially strong in the South:

In Florida, Pasco County Republican Party Chairman Randy Maggard agreed that Palin’s down-to-earth style also connected with many Gulf Coast Republicans.

“The people I talk to that like her say she relates to them because they don’t really look at her as a politician in Washington,” Maggard said. “They look at her as a mom who was in business who happened to get into politics. They feel like they can relate to her.”

[...]

Since Palin’s talents are easily translated into fundraising, like many other party chairs, Palm Beach County, Fla.’s Sid Dinerstein said he’s ready to roll out the red carpet for her.

“She’s the most popular politician in America today,” Dinerstein said. “We would beg her to come to Palm Beach. There’s nobody who can raise money like Sarah.”

Another Palm Beach County Republican, state committeeman Pete Feaman, argued that Palin has been misunderstood and that, at least among Republican voters, her support is durable.

“Republicans love Sarah Palin whether she’s a presidential candidate, a governor or an ordinary citizen,” he said. “It’s interesting that inside-the-Beltway people have no clue how much she is really loved.”

Still, many Republican party officials are committed Mitt Romney supporters, and if she wants the GOP nomination for 2012, it's the former Massachusetts governor who will be Sarah Palin's toughest opponent.

- JP

Quote of the Day (September 28, 2009)

Dan Riehl, on dope fiend Andrew Sullivan's demand that he produce evidence proving Bill Sparkman was a child predator:

"The man spent an entire year channeling the womb of Sarah Palin... now suddenly he wants evidence before one is permitted to speculate?"

- JP

What Catholic Bishops could learn from Sarah Palin

Excerpted without comment from Frank Walker at Catholic lay blog PewSitter.com:

Sarah Palin is starting to slowly re-appear on the world scene. Now that she is free of the hopeless McCain campaign and no longer tied up in Alaska, she’s presenting a clear ideology with a potent delivery. It's a pure antidote to the current American pathology. Many U.S. Catholic leaders, so key to the liberal government’s ascendance, should try to hear what Sarah is ready to teach the country.

[..]

From their holy offices many bishops are keen to promote uncontrolled immigration, an end to capital punishment for brutal killers, subsidized housing, and free healthcare even at the expense of the Catholic conscience. When we hear bishops condemn abortion today, we must ask ourselves if his Excellency has a sincere interest in what he is saying based upon his actions, or whether he is just using genocide to rally the faithful toward another deadly statist cause.

In her Asian speech Sarah Palin mentioned government re-distribution and its flaws. Considering all the compromises bishops have been making in the name of social justice, perhaps Mrs. Palin in her common sense way could teach from the lives of Christ and St. Mary Magdalene. It was not a small, simple thing for Magdalene to be changed by Jesus. She showed her gratitude with a priceless jar of perfume at the house of the Pharisee. Even with this extravagance, her loving affection, and the entirely humble spectacle the honor and appreciation could never repay. Regardless, the apostle Judas, humiliated by the scene and envious of the "misused" money, took what he saw as a weak moment to publicly challenge, "Why was not this ointment sold and given to the poor?"

Even for someone without any faith there was much to envy in Jesus. Judas must have been that way. He held the money bag, he was a thief and the other apostles had to go to him for what they needed. Although ill-gotten, that perfume still belonged to Mary. She had not stolen it. She broke the jar for Jesus. He had not asked for it. Where were Judas' rights in the matter? This exchange was not his to possess or to advise. Perhaps after years of deciding the fate of other people's money, he'd forgotten to whom things belong; he elevated his own choice and wisdom.

Speaking critically of the current U.S. political climate, Sarah Palin has said, "There is no justice in taking from one person and giving it to another." Some of our bishops might learn a thing or two from Palin. It sounds like she grasps the scriptural story of Mary Magdalene, Jesus, and Judas. I wonder whether some of our bishops do.

- JP

Going Rogue: An American Life - on shelves Nov. 17th.

Yep, Sarah's book is finally done, about to go to the printers and coming to a bookstore near you!

Per AP/Yahoo

The 400-page book is the first for Palin, who has been an object of fascination since Republican Sen. John McCain chose her as his running mate during his 2008 presidential bid. The book will be titled Going Rogue: An American Life.

A huge first printing of 1.5 million copies has been commissioned by Harper, an imprint of HarperCollins.

Keep your eyes open for it, I have a feeling there will be a few more prints coming about.

- u

Updates...

Andrew Malcolm:

"Many in the mainstream media will also be eager to see how the Republican hockey mom praises them for their objective portrayals of her all last fall."

Allahpundit:

"Which avid audience will buy more copies, the Palin-lovers or the Palin-haters?"

Pamela Geller:

"I cannot wait.... watch the left grand mal seize. I love this!"

YankMcCain.com:

"It might be nice to read the thoughts of the person doing all the heavy lifting on the Republican side back then."

Ruby Slippers:

Wonkette writes:

'The title is… wait a second, we’re just getting our cyanide pill ready here, for when the post is over, because that’s what we’re going to do, take a cyanide pill…' 

Well don't let us stop you.

Mike Allen:

The phrase has its roots in an Oct. 20 story by Slate's John Dickerson, with the lead: "Has Sarah Palin 'gone rogue'?"

A little Star Wars trivia...

In Episode IV: A New Hope, as a pilot in the rebel forces, Luke Skywalker flew with "Red Squadron." By Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, that X-wing group had become known as "Rogue Squadron." In the Star Wars "extended universe" Rogue Squadron is prominently featured in a graphic novel series, a nine-volume paperback novel series, and several video games. The unit is depicted as consisting of "the best pilots and the best fighters."

Sarah Palin is a rebel and the best fighter against the Obamanation.

- JP

Obama to ATG veterans: Forget you for your service

Erika Bolstad of Anchorage Daily News reported last week:

In a strongly worded message to Congress outlining presidential priorities for a military spending bill, the Obama administration said Friday it disapproved of including money for pensions for 26 elderly members of the World War II-era Alaska Territorial Guard.

Reaction is coming in, and it's not positive for our inept leftist president.

Our friend Lisa Graas asks:

"What on earth is wrong with this president?"

Moonbattery has an answer:

"I think the problem is that these veterans were defending Alaska, which is not only full of people bitterly clinging to their guns and Bibles, but is also the state that elected Sarah Palin governor. For the petty, vindictive tinpot in the Oval Office, this means they deserve to be punished."

In January, then Governor Palin wrote a letter to the rookie president on behalf of the veterans:

Dear Mr. President:

It was with great concern that I learned of the recent decision by the Department of Defense to rescind the program that currently provides retirement payments to veterans of Alaska's Territorial Guard (ATG). This unfortunate decision was made without any notice to those affected and will cost a group of elderly Alaska veterans a significant portion of their retirement income at a time when the cost of living, particularly in rural Alaska, is substantially higher than in the rest of the United States.

In 2004, Congress fully vetted this issue and decided that service in the ATG was the same as military service. This is the right and proper way to honor these brave individuals who answered the call of duty during times of great national peril.

Prior to World War II, Alaska's territorial Governor was authorized by Congress to organize a two-branch military response organization - the organized National Guard, and the ATG, which would mobilize to help defend Alaskans in the event of an invasion. An estimated 6,600 men and women, mostly Alaska Indians, Eskimos, and Aleuts, responded to that call Instead of hunting, trapping and fishing, they patrolled rural Alaska and served as the eyes and ears of the Army for more than five years without pay and benefits.

It took our nation almost 60 years to have these defenders of our territory honored for their time in the ATG, and for their service to be counted the same as federal military service. While most died waiting for their recognition, some have survived to receive their honorable discharge from the United States Army.

Now they are being told, again, that their ATG service is not worthy of federal recognition, and that is not right.

These people are our heroes.

The stellar service of these mostly rural, mostly Native, soldiers is to Alaska today what the service of the militia at Lexington and Concord was to New England.

I urge you to remember all that these valiant members of the ATG sacrificed while defending this country and ask that you reconsider this decision and immediately reinstate the retirement benefits that Congress already recognized in 2004 and that these heroes have certainly earned.

Thank you for considering my views.

Sincerely,
Sarah Palin

Alaska's legislature passed a bill earlier this year to temporarily pay the vets pending a more permanent fix by the U.S. Congress, but, according to ADN:

"The White House said Friday it didn't think it was 'appropriate to establish a precedent of treating service performed by a state employee as active duty for purposes of the computation of retired pay.'"

But the vets, at the time of their service, were not "state employees" as Alaska was then a U.S. Territory. Midwest Conservative Journal:

"Barack Obama once taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago. If any of my children had ever taken a course from him, I’d be calling the school and demanding my money back. How is it logically possible to perform “state service” when one doesn’t live in a state?"

A Time For Choosing:

"To diminish these brave Alaska Natives as 'state employees' is to diminish all of the brave men and women who served their nation in all sorts of ways during [WWII]."

"For those that don’t know, the Japanese attacked and invaded Alaska’s Aleutian Islands at the same time the battle of Midway was about to take place. It was part diversion, part payback for Doolittle’s bombing of Tokyo."

[...]

"To purposely cut these aged men off, in the twilight of their lives, goes against everything America stands for. In fact, as this cuts off not only a substantial part of their paycheck, but other benefits, such as medical, one might even say this is sort of a death panel, especially knowing that winter is coming, and heating fuel is quite expensive in Alaska."

"I can’t speculate what makes Barack Obama such a heartless and cruel man. I do know that once again, Obama’s radical, communist upbringing has shown itself front and center."

Ace of Spades HQ:

"The president is willing to spend billions reforming taking over the healthcare system but can't spare a few bucks to pay 26 elderly guardsmen an average of $600 a month for the rest of their lives? So yeah, I would say this more than 'borders' on insensitive. It defines it."

"Just when I thought the Obama administration has lost the ability to surprise me."

"Priorities - In other news, the president plans to visit Copenhagen to lobby in support of Chicago getting the 2016 Olympics. A report from Henry Waxman from 2006 estimates the cost of flying Air Force One at $56,518 an hour."

We have long been of the opinion that Jimmy Carter was, hands down, the worst U.S. president in history. But after less than a year in the office, Barack Obama is giving Grits a run for his money. As bad as Carter was -- and he was terrible -- he at least had some degree of respect for our military veterans, having himself served in the Navy. We cannot say the same for clueless President Zero.

- JP

Sarah Palin's World View

"Palin's worldview takes shape in Hong Kong," an article posted on foreign Policy magazine's The Cable blog, remarked that the 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate's Asian speech...

"...included some of the most critical statements about the Chinese Communist Party by an American political leader in years."

The FP post also included several excerpts from Palin's speech. One which we found significant seems to put some distance between her and the neoconservative world view of the George W. Bush administration:

"I am not talking about some U.S.-led "democracy crusade." We cannot impose our values on other counties. Nor should we seek to. But the ideas of freedom, liberty and respect for human rights are not U.S. ideas, they are much more than that."

When the Democrat-Media Complex isn't obsessing over the fact that it hasn't been made privy to Palin's specific geographic location at any specific point in time, some news manages to emerge from their reports, provided one bothers to wade through the mostly gratuitous criticism of the former governor. From the AP, which since the closing days of August, 2008, has become an acronym for "Anti-Palin":

Her 90-minute speech Wednesday at an investment conference touched on issues from financial markets to health care, Afghanistan and U.S-China relations. It was generally considered more moderate in tone than those Palin delivered during her 2008 campaign for vice president as Republican John McCain's running mate.

Considering that a vice-presidential candidate's traditional role is to act as an attack dog so the presidential candidate can take a "higher road" it should not be earth-shaking news that Palin's Asian speech was more moderate in tone than her stump speeches during campaign season. Really, AP.

While it is becoming apparent to all but those with their hands over their eyes that Barack Obama is in way over his head, Sarah Palin is bolstering her credentials. It seems to us not so much that she is redefining herself, as the title to a new op-ed by American Thinker's James Lewis would indicate, but rather that she is finally free to refine and discuss her own world view. This was not possible when she was cast in the subservient role as McCain's understudy, nor as governor of Alaska was she free to talk about foreign policy matters.

Lewis defines Palin's Hong Kong address as "well-crafted":

It's well worth reading the whole thing. Palin showed Reagan's classic simplicity and directness, and like the Gipper's best talks, she went straight to the heart of today's political battle. Unlike Mitt Romney, who is extremely sharp but much too stiff and patrician, Palin is an American conservative in the classic mold, a populist in her natural style, but extremely bright, thoughtful, and increasingly sophisticated. Foreign policy speeches should have careful phrasing and nuances, and then hit a few big ones out of the ballpark. This one was a winner.

Palin spoke in Hong Kong, the most cosmopolitan city in China. By addressing China in both a fair and a tough-minded way she is likely to make a favorable impression. I would think that the Chinese and Japanese are more impressed by clarity and honesty than by flattery and evasions. So you can be sure it is being read all over Asia.

Since the election campaign, it seems that Sarah Palin recruited a top-notch team of advisors and political talent. The Hong Kong speech goes straight to her alleged weakness in foreign affairs, and it is a very good first step toward re-making her media image to be more substantive. The truth is that most of our media heads would not recognize foreign policy substance if it hit them right between the eyes. But they know the image of substance, and the Hong Kong speech was good on both appearance and reality. She demonstrated "gravitas" -- in the pop slogan of the early Bush years. We need more of the same, but she has now shown convincingly that she can do it.

Sarah Palin's world view is already being measured against those of other world leaders. Lenny Cacchio at Morning Companion was struck by "the stark contrast" between Palin's view of the world and that of Marxist dictator Hugo Chavez:

"The opposite of a common-sense conservative is a liberalism that holds that there is no human problem that government can't fix if only the right people are put in charge. Unfortunately, history and common sense are not on its side. We don't trust utopian promises; we deal with human nature as it is."

– Sarah Palin

“Those who want to go directly to hell, they can follow capitalism. And those of us who want to build heaven on earth, we will follow socialism.” 

-- Hugo Chavez.

[...]

The problem with the modern secular humanist’s take on perfectibility is the danger it poses in practice. If one is in government and views human nature as intrinsically good, or at least perfectible without God, that person will have a different approach to such characters as Mahmoud Achmanidijad or other lesser terrorists. They become “misunderstood”, people who can be talked to, even appeased into peace.

[...]

On the other hand, if you view human nature as inherently flawed and self-centered, and not perfectible by human means, you must set up a system of checks and balances, limiting the chance that any single, flawed individual will gain too much control.

[...]

Interestingly enough, this is one of the basic differences between classical conservatism and neo-conservatism, which itself has a messianic belief that establishing democracy around the world is all that is needed to bring peace. Think of the Bush Doctrine and its inspiration found in Natan Sharansky’s book The Case for Democracy, which heavily influenced President Bush’s thinking on the subject.

Libertarians must fight this tendency as well, some of whom believe that the more liberty people have, the better society will be. I love liberty, but there can be no such liberty without the rule of law. Ideally, that law would be the perfect law of liberty that James mentions in his epistle. Or, as John Adams says, "Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."

The political pendulum is always in motion, though its movement can be so slight as to be difficult to perceive at times. It has proscribed an arc away from Ronald Reagan's world view which brought America economic recover and growth while, along with the compatible world views of Margaret Thatcher and Pope John Paul II, brought the fall of the Soviet Union and the blessings of liberty to millions of Eastern Europeans. The pendulum has been out of balance now for two decades.

Sarah Palin's world view is consistent with those of Reagan, Thatcher and the late Holy Father. She has been praised for possessing exceptional political skills. She will need them if she intends to bear the standard of the Republican Party as the first true conservative candidate for the presidency since Ronald Reagan. If she can accomplish that formidable task, voters will be able to choose between her world view and that of Barack Obama, one that seems to reward our enemies and punish our traditional allies while dropping our defensive guard at the same time. In that time of choosing, the fate of the free world may hang in the balance.

- JP

Sarah Palin Was Right #8: Obama's Missile Defense Cuts Are Reckless, Part 2

I mentioned a couple days ago about the problematic issue with Iran, its nuclear facilities and missiles, while Obama is dismantling ours. It's a situation which shows that Sarah Palin was right about missile defense.

Now that we have been threatened by North Korea, which bluffed and now warned by Iran… how off is Sarah Palin now concerning Missile Defense in our own country? Even Defense Secretary Gates is beginning to wonder what the deal is and is saying that letting Afghanistan go is a bad idea, even after the administration and Congress ended production of the F-22 air superiority fighter. What is Congress thinking now? Meanwhile, Obama seems to be letting the Gitmo detainees out one at a time to keep from drawing attention.

It really doesn’t matter. We are at the mercy of what Iran's mullahs may do. Israel has long urged the U.S. to stand up and take action, but sadly it looks as though the tiny democracy is on its own. But the United States is under the missile bubble as well. Yet Obama just grins and campaigns as usual, this time for an extended school session. Isn’t there something more pressing than worrying about the length of the school year? How about keeping Americans and their children safe?

I also mentioned that Venezuela is seeking its own uranium, possibly with help from Russia. I said that China would be involved. It seems I was right about that as well, but one country that I thought would be on our side, India, is preoccupied with building up its own nuclear arsenal, and it's anyone's guess when Pakistan is going to get into the mix.

So while all this is going on in the world, we should be on high alert. But, no, House Democrats are too focused on their push to give healthcare to illegals. Where was Obama's plan to grant them U.S. citizenship?

None of this is good news. In fact, this is depressing news. Is there anything positive about the Obama Administration's lemming march over the cliff?

I hope Sarah Palin and others who value the nation's security, will we speaking out on these issues at upcoming events. This is not the time for silence, nor is it the time to look past the issues that are staring the world in the face.

As I was writing this, the Iranians fired two medium range missiles. Say an Our Father. (The 23rd Psalm might also be appropriate. - JP)

From Reuters.com:

Iran has test-fired medium-range missiles, state TV reported on Monday, a day after the Islamic Republic's elite Revolutionary Guards launched short-range missiles as part of several days of war games.

So, Mr. President, should Americans be concerned about the mad mullahs and their missiles yet?

- u

Quote of the Day (September 27, 2009)

Jim Vicevich:

"As it turns out, Palin wasn’t the one we had to worry about when it came to foreign policy. It was the One... I can assure you she would not have given up the missile defense in Europe without something in return. Come to think of it, she wouldn’t have given it up at all."

- JP

A Song for Sunday: Down to the River to Pray

- JP

There they go again... making more things up

In her final speech as governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin asked the drive-by media to "quit making things up." They weren't up to the challenge.

Posting on the Chicago Tribune's blog The Swamp, Mark Silva shows that he is able to leap to tall conclusions in a single bound:

Palin is talking about "real change." And, she says, "you don't need a title to do it." Judging from her remarks in Hong Kong, one wonders if she feels she needs a party to do it -- or one of the big-two parties.

This talk has the feel of a Ross Perot 2.0 -- while we remain mindful of the fact that, while Perot captured one fifth of the vote his first time out, he also helped get Bill Clinton elected president.

"There is suddenly a growing sentiment to just "throw the bums out" of Washington, D.C. - and by bums they mean the Republicans and the Democrats," Palin suggested in her address to the CLSA investors conference.

Silva so doesn't get it. He doesn't get Sarah Palin, and he doesn't get the grassroots movement. Yes, we want to throw the bums out, but we have to replace them with someone, don't we? Who does he think we have in mind to replace them with, imaginary candidates representing a third party that doesn't even exist? 

As we stated here over a month ago:

Sarah Palin has never advocated forming a new political party, nor has she ever said anything about joining an existing minor party. She's a Reagan Republican, and as such, she is no doubt aware of Reagan's warning about third parties and has taken it to heart. Many have misinterpreted her pledge to campaign for conservative candidates regardless of their party affiliation. In our opinion, that is just a hint at what is yet to come from the 2008 GOP vice presidential candidate.

Ronald Reagan drafted the blueprints for conservative electoral success years ago. Just because the Republican Party has forgotten how to follow them is no reason to give up on the GOP. The answer is to rebuild the Reagan coalition of conservatives of all stripes, and then bring libertarians, independents and blue collar Democrats on board. Once the troops are assembled, Sarah Palin can lead them into battle to take back the Republican Party. The GOP has the database of voter lists, donors and precinct workers. It has the connections to the volunteers who man the phone banks, canvass their neighborhoods and put the yard signs on their lawns. The Republican Party is already registered and organized in all 50 states and 3,143 counties, parishes (Louisiana), boroughs (Alaska) or independent cities in the nation. It is just plain foolish to think for even a moment that reinventing all of those wheels would be any quicker or easier than taking back the GOP 

Such third party talk as Silva is trying to start up is sheer nonsense, and we question his motives for doing so. It's not to difficult tell which way he leans. Silva has referred to Hanna Giles and James O'Keefe as "a pair of conservative vigilantes" and has criticized our "gun-happy culture which encourages the resolution of simple domestic disputes with the pulling of a trigger."

This is the same liberal media which, according to a recent poll by St. Mary University, played a very or somewhat strong role in helping to elect President Obama, according to a whopping 89.3 percent of respondents, and appear to be coordinating efforts to diminish Sarah Palin's record, according to a 57.6 percent majority of those surveyed. Who do they think they are fooling?

- JP

As Conservatism Rises, The Faux Right Kicks and Screams

Donald Douglas, on "The Glorious Grassroots Conservative Comeback":

Check out David Frum's essay yesterday, for example, "Scorched Earth Conservatives." The post is a response to David Horowitz at FrontPage Magazine, and Frum argues that "the conservative intellectual movement has become subservient to the political entertainment complex." Frum is particularly incensed by Glenn Beck's ascendancy, but Frum has had Rush Limbaugh and Sarah Palin in the gunsights all year; and he lumps all those heavy-hitters together to allege that they are " inviting the Ron Paul contingent to take over as the new base and face of conservatism and Republicanism."

This is so patently stupid it obviously strains credibility. Indeed, the big deal last week was the potential feud between Beck and Limbaugh, and Sarah Palin has frankly emerged as the most prominent advocate for the U.S. military on the political right today (see, "Remembering 9/11: We Are Americans"). Ron Paul's hardly a Palin ally.

What we're seeing on the left - and the Charles Johnson/David Frum condominium is fundamentallly a left-wing project - is fear and horror that conservatives are making a comeback. And what's also interesting is that the right's unapologetic partisan pugilism isn't really new at all.

Folks might take a look at Ronald Brownstein's book from last year, The Second Civil War: How Extreme Partisanship Has Paralyzed Washington and Polarized America. Brownstein's introduction compares former House Minority Leader Tom Delay to Markos Moulitsas of Daily Kos. Under Delay, GOP partisanship was no less sharp and uncompromising that what we're seeing in today's tea party movement and anti-ObamaCare activism...

[...]

While Brownstein decries the "polarization," it's the case that an aggressive agenda against Democratic-socialism has long been in place on the hardline conservative right. And while the Johnson/Frum types endlessly denounce alleged "extremism" and "racism," the truth is that the grassroots right is winning the debate.

The conservative revival we are witnessing in this country has the Faux Right in a rage. They have worked for two decades to destroy Reagan conservatism and to remake the Republican Party in the image of Democrat Lite. Now more and more Americans are realizing that these ersatz conservatives have much more in common with The Left's radical elite than they do with the cause of ordinary Americans.

It's a reckoning that's been long in coming.

- JP

Chuck Heath to stump for Danny Tarkanian in Nevada

From the website of Danny Tarkanian, candidate for the U.S. Senate:

"Danny is proud to announce that Chuck Heath, father of former Republican vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin, will be in Nevada to campaign for him the first weekend of October."

More info here.

- JP

What's that sound?

Pajamas Media's Jennifer Rubin has her ear to the ground and says if you listen carefully, you can already hear the 2012 campaign underway:

Last week, Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney appeared at the Foreign Policy Initiative conference to lay out their case against the president’s approach to foreign policy and align themselves with a forward-leaning, free-trading, and American values-based foreign policy vision. Tim Pawlenty has been throwing some shots at Romney over his Massachusetts health care plan (Romney hasn’t bothered to respond) and Mike Huckabee is everywhere — in Israel and on Fox News most visibly. Sarah Palin pushed “death panels” into the public debate, both horrifying her opponents and cementing the attachment of her fans. And in Hong Kong she too talked foreign policy last week, taking issue with the president’s defense cuts and emphasizing the importance of free trade and human rights as part of America’s international agenda.

According to Rubin, there are four themes that the more likely GOP challengers are working from:

1. Obama's lack of executive leadership experience has become all too obvious.
2. Obama is no moderate, but rather the far left radical Sarah Palin told us he was.
3. Obama now owns the economy, complete with its alarming debt and unemployment.
4. Obama's foreign policy, which belittles America, is a failure.

That last point, Rubin says, will be hammered home by the Republicans as they offer an optimistic vision for the nation and its future:

Each in his or her own way will sound Reagan-esque themes as Palin did in her Hong Kong speech: restore America’s defense budget (which Obama is determined to take down to 3% of GDP), go forward with full funding for missile defense, counter Russian aggression, and defend human rights and democracy against despots. Obama thinks American exceptionalism is cringe-inducing chauvinism; Republicans know it to be the foundation of a successful foreign policy.

Rubin doesn't expect any GOP candidate to announce for 2012 until the 2010 congressional races are behind us and and all their implications of their results have been thoroughly analyzed. But the four campaign themes she citied all come under the same general heading -- this is not the “change” most American voters had in mind when they marked their ballots for Obama.

- JP

Quote of the Day (September 26, 2009)

Doug Ross:

"Considering that Sarah Palin needs utter only a single statement -- and political hacks, the mainstream media, Hollywood celebrities and lefty blogs react with foaming-at-the-mouth fury -- I'd say she's learned much from Alinsky."

- JP

Sarah Palin Was Right #7: Obama's Missile Defense Cuts Are Reckless

Today as I watched the blogs, the news, and any reports coming in I noticed that only a few places seemed to be alarmed about Iran, until Ahmadinejad started fielding questions -- FoxNews.com, HotAir.com, and DrudgeReport.com. Jawa Report and a few of the blogs that keep an eye on radical Islam always have something, so when it bleeds over to the more main stream and conservative media, it is worth taking notice. It has now gone viral, even in Europe.

Nuclear weapons, yellow cake uranium and the fact that Iran has two different areas in which they are converting the uranium into weapons grade, for nuclear weapons. And now Venezuela is helping with the search of yellow cake uranium for itself and I am sure with Russia’s help as well as China’s and possibly North Korea, well honestly is scares the absolute shit out of me. Please excuse my language. I don't scare too easy. I have been almost stomped by moose, charged by grizzlies, in two different commercial plane crashes and washed down rivers as well as almost drowned three different times. This is more adrenaline-pumping than any of those. Especially since we, as in the United States, have known about it for years. Great!

The process to get the yellow cake uranium into weapons grade takes months and sometimes over a year. Even then it is slow as they have to slow down the process due to temperature that can make the uranium stable enough to assemble into a warhead. It can take quite a long time. Three years is about the longest, but it has been known to take about nine months to build a complete nuclear weapon.

Sarah Palin had already chastised Obama about the missile defense. God help us as we know he and Gates didn’t listen to the warnings. Now we are in a quandary. What can we do, since most of us hard working Americans KNOW Obama will not do anything for the sake of America and Americans?

Do we stock up on food, water, ammo, fuel, as well as blankets and clothing?

Should we be worried? Or let the supposed “intellectuals” take this power struggle to its fullest extreme?

Honestly, I would rather be like the song I am listening too then have to worry about this. But this is what we are dealt with. I hope it doesn’t come to anything... caustic.

h/t: FoxNews for pic.

- u

New Sarah Palin website: PalinVision

Lisa Graas grew tired of having to weed through the garbage every time she did a search for "Palin" at YouTube, so she decided to do something about it. Lisa has launched a new website which is a virtual archive of positive YouTube videos about Sarah Palin. Lisa promises, "No commentary, just videos."

Great idea and another valuable Sarah Palin web resource. We recommend you visit PalinVision here and add it to your Sarah Palin bookmarks.

- JP

Fredo, you broke my heart. You broke my heart.

From CNN's Political Ticker blog:

"Sen. John McCain is co-hosting a fundraiser for his former 2008 Republican primary rival Mitt Romney next Wednesday in Phoenix."

Those Arizonans wishing to attend the VIP reception will have to cough up $3,000 each, making the $300 per plate luncheon seem like something of a bargain in comparison. Proceeds go to Romney's Free and Strong America PAC.

The two men fought like tomcats during the 2008 GOP primary, but Politico's Ben Smith figures that this is McCain's way of thanking Mitt for being "a very good soldier" in the general election.

Allahpundit opines:

"The politic thing to do would have been to hold off on fundraisers for anyone else until he’s done one for Sarah PAC. Although that, of course, presumes that Sarah PAC wants him for a fundraiser, which it may not. Given the base’s contempt for McCain and the ‘Cuda’s emerging positioning as a libertarian populist in 2012, the Maverick brand may be something she’s trying to edge away from."

conservative brother -- who also "senses an anti-Palin motive behind it" -- wonders if McCain's support could be "the kiss of death" for Mitt politically:

"Trust me when I say this. McCain picked Sarah Palin out of necessity not out of desire. The same way half the McCain campaign camp resented Sarah, I believe John felt and still does feel the same way. If Sarah Palin does run for the Republican nomination, her biggest opponent will be Mitt Romney. If John and Mitt are indeed teaming up in a preemptive strike against a possible Palin candidacy, their strategy is going be backfire. Most of McCain's support last year came from people who supported Sarah Palin and those who didn't want to vote for Barack Obama. I talked to a lot of people last year who voted for McCain, and none of them voted for McCain, because they liked him. He was nothing more then the 'anyone but Obama' candidate."

As Allah says, the more distance Sarah Palin can put between herself and John McCain right now, the better for her future political prospects. In her Hong Kong speech, Sarah identified herself with the grassroots movement which gave rise to the town halls and tea parties, and these activists don't have much use for McCain.

- JP

Olbermann still pushing "kill him" lie a year after it was discredited

Hysterical MSNBC moonbat Keith Olbermann is still pushing the discredited "kill him" meme nearly a year after it has been debunked by the Secret Service. Last week on his ratings-challenged cable television program, Olbermann and guest Melissa Harris-Lacewell, a Princeton University professor, were rationalizing ways to justify labeling any criticism of president Obama as "racist" when the unhinged host dredged up a favorite moonbat meme -- "kill him." After showing a video clip of Sarah Palin criticizing Obama for his connections to unrepentant domestic terrorist Bill Ayers, Olbermann commented:

"So when calls to kill him rang out at some GOP rally, who could legitimately claim that it had to be isolated from that context?"

But only one lone person at the rally, a liberal reporter, claims to have heard that shout. It is absent from video and audio recordings of the event, and the Secret Service, after having investigated the allegation, dismissed it:

Agent Bill Slavoski said he was in the audience, along with an undisclosed number of additional secret service agents and other law enforcement officers and not one heard the comment.

“I was baffled,” he said after reading the report in Wednesday’s Times-Tribune.

He said the agency conducted an investigation Wednesday, after seeing the story, and could not find one person to corroborate the allegation other than Singleton.

Slavoski said more than 20 non-security agents were interviewed Wednesday, from news media to ordinary citizens in attendance at the rally for the Republican vice presidential candidate held at the Riverfront Sports Complex. He said Singleton was the only one to say he heard someone yell “kill him.”

“We have yet to find someone to back up the story,” Slavoski said. “We had people all over and we have yet to find anyone who said they heard it.”

But Olbermann, like all good leftists, knows his Lenin:

"A lie told often enough becomes the truth."

And so, for nutroots bloggers who hang on Olbermann's every word for inspiration, this discredited lie has become their truth. That he and they still invoke it nearly a year after it has been discredited only shows how divorced from reality these moonbats have become.

- JP

Quote of the Day (September 25, 2009)

The Astute Bloggers:

"Palin is the most powerful potential force in American politics. And unlike Obama and his Chicago Machine-Shadow Party/ACORN-SEIU Axis, Palin is a force for good."

- JP

Reaction to Sarah Palin's Hong Kong Speech, Part 4

Our final round of reaction to former Governor's Palin's Wednesday address:

Flopping Aces:

"Quite a better speech than the apologies and narcissism Obama put on display in New York!"

National Review editor Rich Lowry:

"Palin is an authentic, powerful voice of the populist right and in the speech she implicitly connects its call for limited government and sensible fiscal policy with America's role as a world power."

Give Us Liberty:

"Palin may or may not be the leader we seek, for now she is our rally point..."

The Xliberal's Blog:

"I chose to highlight the part on the Tea Party Movement because she basically boiled down what the movement is all about and the reason why... Americans of all political parties were out there marching and fighting the good fight"

Way Up North:

"I still say she reminds me very much of Ronald Reagan - and that's not a bad thing."

Big Lizards:

"There simply is nobody else on the American political stage who is as clear, as blunt and bold, as realistic, and as morally straightforward as Sarah Louise Palin -- not Mitt Romney, not Mike Huckabee, not Michael Steel (sic), Rep. Eric Cantor, Gov. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota, Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, and not even Gov. Haley Barbour of Mississippi... no one today comes closer to the Reaganite vision than Mrs. Palin."

Jim’s Blog:

"Sarah Palin is a politician who has her finger right on the pulse of the ordinary American."

Obama Information:

"China’s capitalism was drastically accelerated by Ronald Reagan working with Deng Xiao Ping in the 80’s by loosening trade between the two countries. Sarah Palin knows this too, and she capitalized on it in her Hong Kong speech."

Dan Riehl:

"She's far too attractive to be a cross between Thatcher and Reagan... but does she have their stuff? Someone seems to think so."

Doctor Zero:

"While Palin expounded on political and economic liberty in simple, but forceful, terms, Obama was offering disposable nonsense... to the petty thugs and tyrants at the United Nations"

KillerSite Blog:

"I guess she does read some newspapers… that’s strange, the MSM told me she’s a know nothing?!"

The Federal Observer:

"Whether she is Executive Office material or not, or even considers running for the preidency in the future, is not the issue with me - but the fact that she is expanding her horizons - says much about the Lady."

- JP

Moderate Madness and the Decline of the GOP

Good op-ed from last November by  Patrick Ross at New University. Most of the points he makes are just as valid today as they were ten months ago:

It says a lot that the media and the hacks inside the McCain camp have circled the wagons against Palin. The insiders, being their usual traitorous selves, are trying to slough off the blame for their miserable performance so that they can continue working campaigns and attending state dinners. It’s also telling that the worst they can come up with are petty personal smears...

[...]

The moderate and liberal Republicans got everything they wanted this election: an equivocating campaign about global warming and Joe the Plumber, no personal attacks – including the total exclusion of Jeremiah Wright from official discourse – and a nominee whose claim to fame is voting with the Democrats. Look where this behavior has gotten Republicans over the last 12 years: Bob Dole went down to insurgent, anti-moderate conservatives voting for Ross Perot, Bush narrowly won against candidates as weak as Al Gore and John Kerry and it all culminated with a candidate so “mavericky” that he defeated himself.

Even before Palin’s nomination, polls indicated that moderates were breaking for Obama in excess of 60 percent. Ronald Reagan won landslides with conservatism, not by courting back-stabbing independents like Colin Powel (sic)

McCain’s loss will be harmful in the short term, but it has thoroughly discredited the moderate heads of the party and is going to force a groundswell of reform for the GOP. People on the inside are obviously scared, as is evident by the panicked rush to blame Palin, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and anybody else who didn’t genuflect to the messiah. Conservatives have been Balkanized. It’s time to flush the moderates before they crush the GOP.

We disagree with the author on one point. He equates moderates and independents by labeling Colin Powell an independent, which the former secretary of state is not. Many independents are unaffiliated conservatives, libertarians or right-leaning centrists. Powell is a liberal Republican who claims to be a moderate. Moderates are simply liberals who like to pretend that they are something else.

But we are in agreement with Ross that moderates have nearly destroyed the Republican Party. Even worse, together the big-spending wing of the neoconservative faction, they have split Ronald Reagan's winning coalition into feuding tribes. We believe Sarah Palin may just be the leader who can unite them, as Chief Pontiac united the Chippewa, Potawatomi, and Ottawa nearly 250 years ago.  

- JP

How a Common Sense Conservative views the world

The Beaufort Observer, which serves Beaufort County, North Carolina, has published an editorial we want to share with you. The editors criticize "the elite media" for reporting their version of what for Governor Palin said in her Wednesday address in Hong Kong rather than what she actually said, excerpts of which are easily accessed from several good web sources.

The Observer's editors liked what the 2008 GOP vice presidential candidate had to say:

She called for renewed fiscal discipline. She correctly described what the Tea Party Movement is all about. She hit the nail on the head in her characterization of the War on Terrorism and what needs to be done to confront it.

[...]

And she articulated a "China Policy" that few could challenge.

Here's the best part:

But what is most startling about Palin's speech in China is to contrast it to Obama's speeches at the same time at the UN. He apologized for America. He offered appeasement. Palin talked about how proud she is of ordinary Americans and how America should be a partner with freedom loving people across the globe. But her view is that America would enter into those partnerships from a position of strength; both economically, militarily and with shared values of support for freedom and liberty. If you read her words you can just as easily imagine Ronald Reagan saying exactly the same thing to the Soviet Union.

And the money quote:

The contrast between Palin's vision and Obama's is stark and astounding.

We recall a former president who stumbled over "the vision thing." That will not be a problem for Sarah Heath Palin. 

- JP

Reaction to Sarah Palin's Hong Kong Speech, Part 3

Here's round three of reaction to former Governor's Palin's Wednesday address:

TIME's Swampland blog:

"Palin is trying to capitalize on an increasing nervousness amongst Americans that the government is growing too big. A recent Gallup poll found that the number of Americans worried that the government is doing too much has reached the highest point in more than a decade -- 57%."

targana.com:

"Praising the conservative economic policies of former U.S. President Ronald Reagan and former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, she gave a general defense of capitalist systems."

The Jersey Nut:

"Seems to me like Sarah is running as a 'Tea Party Republican" - not part of the Washington crowd, a women who owes favors to no one, and an American who values her freedom to live her life as she sees fit without interference from a government that feels it is best suited to direct the lives of its individual citizens. Could be a winning formula in 2012."

The Shanks Dimension:

"Good Reviews. She got the usual digs from American Democrats who attended."

Pamela Geller:

"Her remarks were breathtakingly fresh, commonsensical, and distinctly American."

Anthony Dalke at Race 4 2012:

"I happen to believe this Sarah Palin could, if she decides to run in 2012, win over Independents – especially those of the Tea Party variety – and capitalize on the feelings of disenfranchisement and angst brewing among much of the American public."

Conservative American:

"Palin is smart like a Fox. Despite all the liberal commentators who promised you her resignation was the end of her career, she’s still going strong."

Taylor Marsh:

"Reviews also saying she was 'well-prepared' -- sure to drive Palin haters to distraction"

American Banking News:

"As far as her comments on economics, there was a lot to like about Sarah Palin’s understanding and solutions."

MarketWatch:

"Notwithstanding the horrific press bashings she's endured -- perhaps even because of them -- Palin remains as hot a political commodity as the right has."

Andrew Malcolm:

"Palin was reportedly well-received and folksy at times, but gone was any hard-edged partisanship so familiar from the campaign a year ago."

Patrick Joubert Conlon:

"Excellent. Brilliant... I think Palin has wised up and started to surround herself with smart people (and good speech-writers) who will bring out the best in her."

Axis of Right:

"The Palin that showed up at this speech was poised, spoke intelligently on many major issues, and set the stage (in my opinion) for 2012. Her themes spoke of the positive impact of the American people and the negative impact of Government. While attacking the problems, she conveyed optimism that America would meet this current challenge and emerge even stronger than before."

Stepping Right Up!:

"There will be no apology tour on the world wide stage forthcoming from Sarah Palin. She will leave the apology tour up to President Obama. After all, he does it so well."

A Time For Choosing: 

"Sarah also articulates conservatism, real conservatism better than anyone out there today. This too is something she shares with Reagan, along with an unabashed love for America, and an unbridled optimism."

- JP