“Palin is now within five points of President Obama and beats him among independents, the biggest gain of any Republican. Palin’s rise coincides with Bachmann’s fall... There was a time when the odds makers said Bachmann was crowding Palin off the field... But it could be that she unwittingly kept the grass-roots burning for Palin’s comeback.”- JP
“Michele Bachmann's positive intensity among Republicans slipped from 24% in June to 14% in July, according to Gallup... Bachmann's positive intensity now trails Sarah Palin, Rudy Giuliani, and Mitt Romney's... She's also behind Rick Perry and Herman Cain.”- JP
Because of Sarah Palin, for the first time I felt like there might be a place for a young, conservative woman like me in the political world.Walsh says the media should drop its sexist "cat fight" narrative and admit that there is room for two women in the race. Interestingly, the media has no problem with two or more men in the race and doesn't label such a "dog fight" The media would better serve its alleged purpose by reporting the policy positions and records of Palin and Bachmann rather than continue down its current misogynistic and sensationalistic path. We join Walsh in the hope that all future political contests attract more intelligent conservatives of both genders, and that more young conservative women will be inspired to join their male counterparts by getting actively involved in the political process of this republic.
And it wasn’t just me who felt this shift in American politics. In 2009, we saw the awakening of the conservative woman through the Tea Party movement. Mothers, sisters, college students and retirees—who had never been politically active before—started making signs, calling their representatives and attending town hall meetings. Women wanted their voices heard, and many organized local Tea Party rallies. Two women, Sarah Palin and Rep. Michele Bachmann , emerged as the biggest supporters of this freedom-seeking movement. But all of these strong conservative women seem to be too much for the Left—especially feminists—to handle.
Some in the media have recently questioned whether there is enough room in the presidential primary race for two women.
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But despite having a lot of beliefs in common, it’s a mistake to think Palin and Bachmann are exactly the same. Their expertise, knowledge and experience vary. Palin has executive experience from her time as governor of Alaska, mayor of Wasilla, and a town council member. She has extensive knowledge of energy policy from being the chairwoman of the Oil and Gas Conservation Commission and through her legislation for the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System. Bachmann has legislative experience from being a three-term representative of Minnesota’s 6th District, and a Minnesota state senator from 2001 to 2007. She has wide-ranging knowledge of the tax system from the time she spent as a tax lawyer for the IRS. If both women were to run, it would be up to the American people to decide which would represent them best.
The false narrative that there is only one spot for a woman downgrades the accomplishments of those who choose to run for office.
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As a former governor, Palin vetoed $237M of wasteful spending under Alaska's billion-dollar annual budget. She proposed and often convinced the legislators on both sides of the aisle to reduce burdens on individuals and businesses by eliminating nuisance taxes and various bureaucratic road blocks to success like license fees and other unnecessary costs.Flesher says such a mission promises to more easily accomplished with a candidate with years of dealing with a corrupt media in her logbook rather than with one who has not yet even managed to get acclimated to it. Whether the criteria is media wisdom, executive experience, or extensive knowledge and experience on issues like energy, Steve Flesher concludes that it is Sarah Palin whose time has come.
She achieved a record 88% approval rating by showcasing her independent streak of reaching across the aisle to Democrats in the legislative branch. Doing this made sure that fellow Republicans were, too, held accountable.
While one can appreciate Michele Bachmann's entrepreneurial experience as a job-creator, Palin's similar experience is now combined with that of an executive of a state. She knows how to utilize business experience for the greater good of job creators.
Further, as former head of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (AOGCC), Sarah Palin knows firsthand the complexities involved in dealing with often-stubborn oil giants. Her experience can be utilized to explore tapping into our own resources benefiting our economy, creating jobs, and making us less dependent on foreign sources.
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Since waiting around for the media to treat a good conservative candidate fairly is not likely to happen anytime soon, we have no choice but to accept it and fight back as we did in 2010.
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Laudner confirmed to POLITICO he'd gotten a call from Palin's advisers either Friday or over the weekend asking about meeting with him while she's in Pella for the screening of "The Undefeated."The meetings are the first sign of what Haberman calls "actual political activity" by Gov. Palin in Iowa. Haberman discounts the One Nation tour as "opaque in purpose," but the 2008 GOP vice presidential candidate did break the ice with a select group of mostly conservative New Hampshire Republicans at a seaside clambake at the end of the first leg of her bus tour early this month.
"They said I was on the list" for people she wanted to get together with, said Laudner, who has ties to staunch conservative Rep. Steve King - who, in congress, has formed an alliance with Rep. Michele Bachmann.
Laudner sounded a skeptical note about whether Palin is truly serious, or, as he said, "dancing around."
"I'd be interested to see if she's serious about a run," he said. "That'd be (question) A, and B, would it be too late. That's what it feels like, anyway. It's not too late now, (but if you) dance around until fall" it will be.
Nonetheless, he said, many conservatives are waiting to see what happens with Palin and Rick Perry, he said - discounting Tim Pawlenty as a "dead stick" and Herman Cain and Rick Santorum as "cruising along." He did not mention Newt Gingrich.
An earlier version of this post, based on an interview with Laudner, described "meetings" with Palin, which he later emailed to say was a post-film meet-and-greet with her, put together by an Iowa-based backer of the former Alaska governor.- JP
“Your candidate is getting the predictable Palin-treatment, but of course, you have so pissed off Palin supporters, you deal with it. After all, you are a serious campaign consultant.”- JP
"Look at her eye contact. I asked her when we had her on election night if she's under hypnosis. She doesn't answer the question. She looks straight ahead in that kind of zombie-like manner, like she's waiting for somebody to flash a card, like in 'Manchurian Candidate.' I mean, I don't know what her state is."Now here's Matthews January 19, 2011 calling Bachmann a "screamer" and "pretty close to a nut case":
"This kind of talk from Michele Bachmann. I don't know why she's allowed to be an extremist, and everybody is coaxing on the Right, Republicans saying the President should move to the center and be reasonable and moderate, where she's allowed to be out there as a screamer, and in many cases pretty close to a nut case."By April 5, 2011, however, "Tweety" Matthews is chirping a slightly softer tune. He says that Bachmann is preparing seriously for a presidential campaign, calls her "exciting" and "attractive," mentions her politically appealing family life, and even predicts she will be a force to be reckoned with in Iowa. But that's not the half of it. Very strangely, Matthews made the claim that “we created her here,” meaning on his MSNBC show, and when guest Jonathan Alter attacks Bachmann, Matthew rises to her defense:
"Michelle Bachmann, female candidate, may run with all of the boring guys if Sarah Palin doesn't get in... One exciting, hard right, attractive candidate against four boring guys. I think she's got a good shot at winning that Iowa caucus. Just because she's a really interesting entry right now."By June 14, 2011, Matthews had come 180 degrees on Bachmann. Gone are the slurs, replaced with such praise as "poised, informed and serious." Suddenly, "a star" is born. Her performance in Monday night's GOP debate gets rated as "great" by Matthews, who asks, "Could she be the candidate that Sarah Palin was supposed to be?" NewsBuster Scott Whitlock, noticing the sea change in Matthews' treatment of Bachmann, questions the talk show host's motives, asking, "What is Chris Matthews up to?"
[...]
What about her personal story? Forget the ideology for a minute. She's had a big family, five kids she's raised, something like fifteen foster kids she's taken in."
"Maybe the biggest story from last night was not Romney's cool or Pawlenty's retreat, but the emergence of a star, Michele Bachmann. She was, of course, created here. She came off as poised, informed, that's right, Gene, poised, informed and serious. Could she be the candidate that Sarah Palin was supposed to be?"In answer to Scott's question, what Matthews is up to, we believe, is playing the left's latest strategy, whether it comes down from high as a DNC talking point or was "brainstormed" on some newer, more secure revision of JournoList, to play Michele Bachmann against Sarah Palin. The goal is to push Bachmann so hard as to discourage Sarah Palin from getting in the presidential race, and failing that, to make sure that Bachmann knocks her out. Matthews is not acting alone. All of MSNBC is playing, and across the media, in fact, we are seeing a kinder, gentler approach to Rep. Bachmann.
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"First of all, what did you think of her performance last night? Because we all thought she was great."
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"And she is what she is. I've always given her credit for not being, for example, a birther, who plays on cheap shots."
Naturally, being of the tea party mindset and having absolutely no trust in the media, my conspiratorial juices, which I like to refer to as skeptical intrigue, begin to flow.Can you see what's going on here? We certainly hope Sarah Palin sees it. Given her sharp political instincts, we are of the opinion that she may well be aware of it. All the more reason, we submit, for her to get into the race and get in soon. Please governor, don't let them get away with this. You have proven them wrong and thwarted their plans many times in your political career. You know what is at stake here. One of the many reasons why we support you and believe in you so earnestly is that you are a fighter. If you get in this fight, you know there are millions of us who will be in your corner, and unlike a few untrustworthy souls, we will not abandon you. You can kick their butts. And they're just asking for it.
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As for Palin, pundits on the right are fond of saying that the media will always let you know who they’re most afraid of by looking at who they go at the hardest. And there can be no doubt that Sarah Palin is that person. Just look at the frothing at the mouth taking place this week over her bus tour.
Yet, compare that to the cordial treatment that Michele Bachmann receives and it just doesn’t make sense. Unless the media has an agenda. An agenda aimed at the one they fear the most.
Then it hits me like a bolt of lightening!
I submit that the media is capitalizing on Michele Bachmann’s prominence in an attempt to supplant Sarah Palin as the queen of conservatism. By indirectly promoting Bachmann, which they do by not going at her with both guns blazing, the goal is to knock Palin from her perch and replace her with someone they do not lie awake at night exasperating over.
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Within the tea party movement, as admired as she is, Bachmann just doesn’t quite have the star power of Sarah Palin. Sure, she’s a prolific fundraiser and her negatives are nowhere near Palin’s, but at the end of the day, unless something significant happens, she’s going to have her hands full trying to unseat Barack Obama.
And the media knows this, hence their willingness to play her against Sarah Palin.
“Dear Michele Bachmann, If Ed Rollins Stays, I Go... As long as Ed Rollins is one of your advisers, I'm looking elsewhere. It troubles me to say that because I think you have a lot to offer, and I've been as disgusted with the unfair attacks on you as I am with such attacks on Palin. But Rollins spit in the face of every Palin supporter (and I use that term in the broad sense, not just people who support her for President). I cannot support a campaign run by Ed Rollins. Every time I see his smug face as your spokesman, I'll be reminded that the opening shot of your campaign was directed by him at Palin.”- JP
"Beltway political strategist Ed Rollins has a long, long track record of taking high profile jobs and promptly sticking his foot in his mouth," said Sarah PAC chief of staff Michael Glassner in an emailed statement. "To no one's surprise he has done it again, while also fueling a contrived narrative about the presidential race by the mainstream media. One would expect that his woodshed moment is coming and that a retraction will be issued soon."Rollins demonstrated incredible arrogance by first bashing Gov. Palin and then telling CNN, "In the long run we want Palin and her people as our allies." Memo to Ed Rollins: you don't gain allies by trashing their candidate of choice. Too late, Mr. Rollins. That train has already left the station, and you were the one driving it.
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Rollins, a top aide to Mike Huckabee in 2008, has a history of blunt talk, and his words exposed developing tensions between the Bachmann and Palin camps.
“The Congresswoman has nothing but admiration and respect for Governor Palin. The two enjoy a good friendship, and Rep. Bachmann looks forward to working with the Governor for the common goal of making sure President Obama is a one-term President.”Somehow we missed the apology to Gov. Palin and the rebuke of Ed Rollins in that statement.
I found this still-revelant quote from a 1992 New York Times profile of Rollins: “One thing I respect about Ed is that he doesn’t leak,” said James Lake, a Washington lawyer and longtime associate who is advising the Bush re-election team. “He does more damage on the record than any leaker that I’ve ever seen.”Jonah Goldberg tweets:
"Ed Rollins would be better suited being Anthony Weiner's press secretary."Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin, no Palin fan buy any stretch of the imagination, advises that perhaps the Congresswoman should drop Rollins like a burning ingot:
Bachmann has a reputation on the Hill as a tough boss. Perhaps she’ll keep Rollins around, but no one would think ill of her if she canned him. In fact, the sign of a good executive is the willingness to cut dead wood that is dragging the team down.Greta weighs in:
A campaign for President should be about the candidates’ positions on issues and we have very important issues to discuss and debate. Rollins’ start with Congresswoman Bachmann makes him look like a has been resurrecting old tactics. She won’t look Presidential with him. She will look strong if she dumps him now and says “not my campaign.”Blogger and Cornell Law Professor William A. Jacobson posted this today:
A successful career and lifetime of achievement is turned into a caricature based on a handful of misstatements or mistakes. That's what Rollins is doing to Palin, and it's what will be done by others to Bachmann.John Hayward, in a Human Events op ed Tuesday:
Michele Bachmann has a chance to carve out a successful insurgency campaign by uniting the non-establishment base of the party, particularly if Palin does not run. Bachmann's chance will disappear quickly if Ed Rollins' smash-mouth tactics towards Sarah Palin continue much longer.
It seems like an odd tactical mistake to try appealing to people who like both Bachmann and Palin by trashing Palin. I would imagine some of them will view that as a species of contempt, as if their own support for Palin were not based on sound matters of policy. If a Palin supporter is going to gravitate to Bachmann, it will happen because they view her as a superior champion of the causes they believe in, or because Palin doesn't enter the race. The Rollins approach implies that Palin's supporters are as unserious as he claims Palin is.Ace opines:
What is this, a bid for the coveted Andrew Sullivan endorsement?- JP
This is horrifically stupid. I am not on Team Palin but if I were part of someone's campaign I would not be deliberately alienating Palin supporters, who already are alienated and feel betrayed by a party which increasingly refuses to take their preferred candidate seriously.
I think this is read not just as a snub of Palin, which would be one thing, but as a snub of Palin supporters -- primary voters -- on a personal level, a rejection of them and their own values, which is, of course, intensely personal.
And Rollins, and this other unnamed aide, just told them all they could go to hell and he didn't have any regard whatsoever for their beliefs or opinions.
Rollins will be fired by the end of next week.
It started when moderator Bret Baier asked Cain about a statement Cain made in an interview in January in which Cain said that as president he would rely heavily on whatever his generals and the experts told him should be done in the war. "You're running for president," Baier said to Cain. "After almost ten years in Afghanistan, you don't have your own plan yet about what you would do in Afghanistan?"York says Cain's answers on the foreign policy questions revealed "an astonishing lack of preparation on a key national security issue." Cain faces a situation not unlike that which Gov. Palin ran up against as a vice presidential candidate in 2008. She had been a successful governor, and as such was strong on economic issues -- especially energy-related ones. Though most governors are constitutionally bound to balance their states' budgets, they had never been required to demonstrate expertise on foreign policy before Sarah Palin was put on a presidential ticket. Yet she was running for vice-president at the time, not the presidency. But now the goal posts have been moved, and the successful candidate for the GOP nomination will have to have some foreign policy chops. It's not the kind of knowledge a candidate can acquire from a crash course on CDs or by attending college by correspondence. Gov. Palin has been working on it for two and half years now, and she recently raised the bar by hiring on Peter Schweizer to help her put the finishing touches on what we hope to soon see as a comprehensive Palin Doctrine, one which reaches far beyond her clear and commendable five point test of whether to commit U.S. troops to action overseas.
"No," Cain answered. 'Because it's not clear what the mission is. That's the bigger problem. It's not clear what the mission is…"
Baier followed up: "How would you define winning in Afghanistan right now, as you're looking at it as a candidate?"
"My point is," Cain explained, "the experts and their advice and their input would be the basis for me making that decision. I'm not privy to a lot of confidential information."
It was an unusual way of approaching the question, to say the least. Was Cain saying that he couldn't answer any questions about foreign policy, because he didn't have the kind of classified information that only presidents have? When Cain met with reporters after the debate, he explained that he approached Afghanistan like he would a business decision. "A good businessman does not make a decision without considering all of the facts," he said. "I haven't been privy to all of the confidential information to make that decision."
But if Cain could only formulate a policy position after receiving presidential-level briefings -- did that mean he might never have a position as a candidate on Afghanistan? "That's probably the case," Cain said. Perhaps sensing that might be a problem down the road, he then explained that he might be able to put together "some sort of strategic approach" from publicly-available information. "What I'm saying is I will not be pushed into spitting out a plan so people can say, this is his plan."
First off, Bachmann's idea of promoting herself into Republican congressional leadership for the 112th session that opened Wednesday was rebuffed by those same leaders, who did involve other more team-oriented "tea party" advocates. Rhetorical bomb-throwers a la Republican National Committee Chair Michael Steele tend to attract unwanted attention and shrapnel to those standing nearby.U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar's term is up for renewal in 2012, and like many of her Democrat colleagues in the upper chamber, Andrew reminds us, "her fate will be tied closely to the popularity of Obama, the prime target of Bachmann for the next few months."
Second, Abraham Lincoln and George H. W. Bush aside, Americans have not shown any historical proclivity to elect House members to the White House. (Mike Pence take note.)
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Palin's splashy primary endorsement of Nikki Haley in South Carolina last year ignited the surge that got the state legislator the nomination and the governor's job. Haley and her statewide organization might remember this come next year's early South Carolina GOP presidential primary.
And even if Bachmann's purported pondering does not result in presidential primary competition with pal Palin in 2012, it will raise Bachmann's national profile, not normally an easy thing to do for a representative from just any 6th Congressional District.
But, wait, do you know what else happens in 2012?
A Minnesota Senate race.
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Former Nevada state Assemblywoman Sharron Angle (R) raised an eye-popping $14 million between July 1 and Sept. 30 for her challenge to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D), a stunning number that far eclipses the cash-collection totals of other prominent candidates seeking Senate seats next month.ABC's The Note:
Tea Party-backed Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-MN, raised an extraordinary $5.4 million in the third quarter, possibly smashing a congressional fundraising record for a three-month period while pushing her total fundraising haul for this election cycle to almost $10 million.- JP
I would like to take this opportunity and thank the author who has taken note of our successful fundraising quarter. Every donor is a blessing and symbolizes the hope I hold that we can and will get our country back on the right track.Well said, Congresswoman. Read the full opinion piece by Rep. Bachmann here.
However, I would respectfully disagree with some points when it comes to former Gov. Sarah Palin’s fundraising ability. It is important to recognize Palin’s effect on our fundraising numbers. Our successful fundraising is due, in part, to the fact that she dedicated her time and efforts to come to Minnesota in April to help my reelection campaign.
My race wasn’t the only race that Palin worked hard to raise money for. She’s lent her presence to raising money for nonprofits and political groups, as well as other candidates. Her effect on all aspects of politics shouldn’t be undersold. We are all grateful for her support of constitutional conservatives around the nation.
As to my campaign’s fundraising, I know House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has a very different plan for my life — something other than serving in the House. Pelosi is no small threat. This is why Palin graciously agreed to make me one of the first 2010 candidates for whom she campaigned.
KSTP notes correctly that an incumbent under 50% in a poll is usually a red flag, but not when the main challenger is below 40%, and a three-way race makes that dynamic a little different anyway. They also correctly note that Bachmann hasn’t really begun to campaign, while Clark has TV ads running already...More here.
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Clark is a tax-raising Democrat, not exactly what MN-06 usually sends to Congress in any year. Bachmann just completed a big fundraising quarter that gives her a big war chest to fund those ads, which will flood the zone closer to the election.
KSTP also describes this result as putting Clark “within striking distance,” but nine points is a long distance to strike.
We movement conservatives and the Tea Party are about to get rolled. We are going to get sucked in by candidates like Huckabee, who just realized the error of his ways in pardoning a criminal who murdered four Seattle police officers; Romney, who is a perfect reflection of whatever is going on in the body politic; and Gingrich, who uses every technical buzzword to convince people he is some kind of new idea machine.Valentine argues that Gingrich, Romney, and Huckabee, if they manage to get elected, will not significantly change the direction of the country. But Gov. Palin, Rep. Bachmann and the Tea Party are, like Ronald Reagan, "the real deal" for real change. Read Jay Valentine's complete op-ed here.
Yet each, when the winds came in from the west, was quite different. Moderate, perhaps? Or nonpartisan? Or just a reflection of what they thought might get them elected.
Critical thinking demands that we remember these people in their milieu -- what were they in different times? When times were liberal, they were, well, less conservative. When the press said people demanded less partisanship, Newt and Hillary traveled and spoke together, almost holding hands.
It is time we realize that there are "movement conservatives" and there are opportunistic conservatives. Sarah Palin, Michele Bachmann, and a host of emerging new candidates are movement conservatives.
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The changes needed in America require saying "no" in a big way and being vilified in the press. Our leaders need to be able to stand up to massive left-wing media resistance and not compromise the core.
This can be done only by a movement conservative.
"Feminism has backfired on the left. The heralded 'Year of the Woman' (was it 1992?) was supposed to introduce a new breed of female politician that would inevitably steer the country in a progressive direction. Instead, the best and most effective female politicians have been conservative, many entering the public sphere after raising families, clear evidence that the traditional way of life is in no way as stultifying as the radfems insisted. Palin, Bachmann, and now Brewer are setting the political standard for millennial America. We are fortunate to have them. Now if only we can get some of the males to try whatever it is they're drinking."- JP
"Cupp was asked why former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin has been such a lightning rod for the liberal media.
“I think for many reasons,” she says. “One, the liberal media always have a difficult time dealing with pretty, conservative women. They just don’t know what to make of it. She can’t be that smart because she’s too pretty. She can’t be galvanizing because she’s too dumb.
“Two, they’re frustrated by the fact that this is a self-made woman. They spent eight years telling us that George W. Bush was this nepotism experiment gone wrong. Well, here’s a woman who came from nothing, who worked her way up to become a successful wife and mother, had an amazing political career — the first female governor of Alaska and the youngest.
“This is unequivocally an accomplished woman, and the right kind of accomplished woman if you ask the liberal media — the kind that did it on her own. That bothers them because they really dislike her policies.”
Commenting on why conservative women like Palin and Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann draw such vicious comments from the left, Cupp remarks: “I think it takes a lot of courage in today’s day and age to stand up as Michele Bachmann and Sarah Palin have and say look, I believe there’s a traditional role for the family. I believe in traditional values. I’m a proud Christian.
“That is an act of courage today, sadly. And I think the liberal media wants to position a Bachmann or a Palin as somehow backwards or lost in time, unsophisticated, a relic.
“Conservatism rightly resists the changing tide, the changing social mores. The whole idea of conservatism is to preserve what we think is good. So these flag bearers like Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann, women no less, I think are really throwing mud in the eye of the liberals who would rather see them locked up in some museum.”
"Let's do the rest of the nation a favor and keep her in Congress," Palin said.As one of our readers commented, they should have named this rally "Bachmann-Palin Overdrive." Someone at the WSJ must have been reading his mind.
"Let me ask you, Minnesota, do you love your freedom?" Palin boomed to a rapturous response.
She got an equally loud response when she asked, "are there any Tea Party Americans here today?" She called the Tea Party movement "a beautiful grassroots movement sweeping across the country ... The Tea Party is growing and steaming" having enlisted "people who are deeply concerned about the path our country is on."
Referring to campaign appearances during the 2008 campaign, including her debut at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Palin said, "I love being here because you all sound like me -- or I sound like you."
Referring to one of President Obama's biggest gaffes on the campaign trail, Palin said she imagined that "some of you are probably proud to cling to your guns and religion."
Palin and Bachmann hit the stage about 2:45 p.m to an explosive roar of approval and stood before a massive American flag, facing a sea of waving blue Bachmann campaign signs.
GOP officials said they handed out more than 11,000 free tickets and ticket holders began streaming into the hall two hours before the 2 p.m. event began.
Noting the turnout, Bachmann shouted, "take that liberals!" Speaking of the upcoming midterm election, "there is hope, there is change -- real change coming to this country this November."
