The Book of Sarah

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

- JP

News-Miner editorial likes Palin veto proposal

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

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

Meanwhile, through the legislature has adjourned, the Fairbanks newspaper reports that many lawmakers will be watching to see which bills or spending items they approved will be vetoed by Gov. Palin, but they'll have to wait until some time in May:

Office of Management and Budget Director Karen Rehfeld said Palin asked the Legislature to bring the public into the process of deciding which stimulus funds to accept.

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

- JP

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

The New York Post asked Gov. Sarah Palin, talk show host Glen Beck and others to write short op-eds assessing the first 100 days of President Obama, and the Post editors put them together in one big opinion piece. Here's an excerpt with Gov. Palin's evaluation of the president's first 14 weeks in office:

"Obama soared to victory on the hopeful promise of a new era of bipartisanship. During his inaugural address he even promised an 'end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn-out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics.'

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

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

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

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

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

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

"For now, Obama's back-pedal on the bipartisanship promise just makes him look insincere. But the real consequences of the mistake will be felt soon enough. As Presidents Bush and Clinton could tell him, congressional majorities do change -- and at some point, Obama will need Republicans on his side. He'd be smart to spend his second 100 days making up for the serious snubs of his first."

Not a bad job of writing, Governor. Of course she does have a journalism degree...

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

- JP

h/t: Moe Lane

You can see Kim's missiles from Fort Greely

The AP is reporting:

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

The move "will contribute to bolstering the nuclear deterrence for self-defense in every way to cope with the increasing military threats from the hostile forces," the North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman said in comments carried by the North's official Korean Central News Agency.

Diplomacy has been a miserable failure as a strategy for the West to deal with North Korea. Negotiations with the NoKors have been dead in the water since December. And, like Generalissimo Francisco Franco, they are still dead. The United Nations, in a characteristically ineffective move, announced sanctions against three North Korean companies. I'm sure that Kim is quaking in his jack boots. The UN is the Barney Fife of world cops. But Barney, at least, had a bullet and he wasn't afraid to use it.

This comes on the heels of a recent article from The Times of London:

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

The new reality has emerged in off-hand remarks and in single sentences buried in lengthy reports. Increasing numbers of authoritative experts — from the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to the U.S. Defense Secretary — are admitting that North Korea has miniaturized nuclear warheads to the extent that they can be launched on medium-range missiles, according to intelligence briefings.

At least the Korean communists, unlike their Iranian allies, are beyond the stage of trying to convince the rest of the world that their nuclear development is for the peaceful purposes of generating electricity. No, Kim makes no bones about the fact that he has the bomb and he's willing to use it. 

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

One who does not dismiss the significance of North Korea's 50 years of missile and warhead development is Alaska's Governor Sarah Palin:

"I am deeply concerned with North Korea’s development and testing program which has clear potential of impacting Alaska, a sovereign state of the United States, with a potentially nuclear armed warhead," Governor Palin said. "I can’t emphasize enough how important it is that we continue to develop and perfect the global missile defense network. Alaska’s strategic location and the system in place here have proven invaluable in defending the nation."

Governor Palin never misses an opportunity to stress the importance of Fort Greely and the need for continued funding for the Missile Defense Agency. The governor opposes SECDEF Robert Gates’ proposed $1.4 billion reduction of the Missile Defense Agency. Greely is the nation’s only ground-based missile defense complex:



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

Sarah Palin is not just a voice in the Alaskan wilderness. She is joined by Alaska's bipartisan congressional delegation of Senators Murkowski and Begich, along with Rep. Young:

"Our early opposition to reduced funding for the Missile Defense Agency is proving to be well-founded during this turbulent time," Governor Palin said. "I continue to support the development and implementation of a defensive missile shield based in Alaska. We are strategically placed to defend the critical assets of the United States and our allies in the Pacific Theater."

Her political opponents, of course, attempt to deflect her compelling argument with such nonsense as, "What does this snowbilly know? She said that she could see Russia from her house." Not only does this not address the issue, but Sarah Palin never said that. Her detractors have her confused with comedic actress Tina Fey. But this isn't the first time that small minds have been unable to distinguish between whimsy and reality. They've got nothing more than snark, and they're not afraid to use it.

- JP

Cross-posted at RedState.com

Quote of the Day (April 24, 2009)

*
Vicki McClure Davidson, at Frugal Cafe Blog Zone, on why liberal men bash Sarah Palin:

Now it’s not so much jealousy, but anger and the assumption that if a woman is beautiful and smart and not your wife and not a Democrat, she must be a whore or filled with nefarious motivations. And even if she isn’t a whore, you need to viciously smear her reputation like a lying, pimply, angst-filled teenage boy will do, someone who will never get a chance to take the high school beauty to the big prom.

- JP

Jane Abraham on Cavuto today (Updated)

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

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



- JP

Inside Sarah's Circle: 1. Meet Kristan Cole

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

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

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

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

Trustee Cole double majored in real estate and finance at the University of Arizona, and she received her MBA degree from the University of Alaska in 1995. She has 25 years of experience in the real estate business and was a successful small business owner of a firm where she headed up a team of about 15 people. She sold the company she had purchased from her mother after building it up and then went to work for a large statewide agency, where she is in charge of its Wasilla and Palmer opperations. When asked what had made her more successful than others, she answered, "Hard work and leadership." Her prescription for success?

"Get up early, work as if it depends on you. Pray as if it depends on God, be outward focused not inward focused. Make sure that others get what they want first and you will get what you want. Be a great leader. Leadership is the difference between success and failure."

Cole has a history of community involvement, and she has served on a number of boards and commissions, including the boards of two hospitals, the Alaska Royalty Oil & Gas Development Advisory Board, the Alaska Real Estate Commission and the Agricultural Revolving Loan Fund. She currently chairs two panels, the Board of Agriculture & Conservation and the Creamery Corporation. She is also involved in charity work, most notably for the Children’s Miracle Network.

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

- JP

Addio, Becki Donatelli

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

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

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

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

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

- JP

It's offical: The Alaska Fund Trust rolls out

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

Trustee Kristan Cole explains:

"Over the past months it became increasingly clear that supporters of Governor Palin needed to help defend against the onslaught of frivolous attacks against her. These baseless accusations are designed to inhibit her ability to focus on the issues Alaskans truly care about and force massive personal debt on her and her family. I joined with fellow Alaskans in forming the Alaska Fund Trust to help alleviate the Governor's legal debt incurred while performing her job as well as eliminate the incentive for future attacks by her opponents. In doing so, we have created one of the most restrictive and transparent legal funds in history."

More about the Alaska Fund Trust here. Frequently asked questions and answers here. Additional documents and media contact information here. To make a donation of $150 or less, go here.

- JP

Official Sarah Palin Defense Fund Debuts Today

The Wall Street Journal's John D. McKinnon and Monica Langley are reporting that Gov. Sarah Palin's supporters will announce today the formation of a legal defense fund to help her pay her legal bills, respond to a rash of politically-motivated ethics complaints and perhaps boost her political standing. A dozen new ethics complaints have been filed against Ms. Palin in the past four months, by Democrats, liberal activists, and even one filer who calls herself a Republican (see here and here).

"The purpose is really to provide a legal and proper way for the governor's supporters to help her respond to these frivolous complaints that have been leveled, keeping her from being able to do her job and...really harassing her," said fund trustee Kristan Cole, a real-estate agent and longtime friend of the governor from her hometown of Wasilla.

Legal defense funds for politicians are becoming more common as scrutiny of politicians has intensified, but such accounts are sometimes less regulated than campaign funds. For that reason, the fund for the governor will operate under stringent guidelines. Donations will be limited to $150 or less and will not be accepted from corporations, state contractors, state or federal lobbyists, lobbying firms or foreign nationals. Names of donors, dates and contribution amounts will also be made available to the public. Those who are organizing the fund say that Gov. Palin wanted the fund to be more restrictive and transparent than other legal defense funds.

- JP

Liz Cheney: Sarah Palin is "terrific"

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

- JP

President Palin's Decision

Imagine that the date is April 23, 2013.

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

Here's an excerpt from that story:

At the White House, Press Secretary Adam Brickley said that President Sarah Palin stands firmly behind the decision. "It's not as if we relish the thought of prosecuting members of the previous administration," Brickley said, "but, at this point, there is a clearly established precedent..."

Intrigued? The go read all of it.

Matt Lewis has really outdone himself this time.

Bravo Zulu, Matt!

- JP

Gov. Palin looking for a new applicant for AG

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

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

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

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

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

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

- JP

PPP Poll is not believable (Updated)

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

But the website accepts at face value a poll from Public Policy Polling which is supposed to show in a hypothetical 2012 match up, how various Republican candidates would fare against President Obama:

Sarah Palin's numbers are an interesting conundrum. She easily has the best favorability among Republicans voters, with 76% saying they have a positive opinion of her. The other three range from 60-67 with the party base. But she also has the largest percentage of GOP voters- 21%- who say they would vote for Obama if she ended up being the party nominee. So for the folks in the party who don't like her that feeling is strong enough they'd rather vote for a Democrat. It adds up to a 12 point deficit for her, 53-41. Overall the electorate has a negative opinion of Palin, 42/49.

I'm a bit more skeptical about the results of this poll than the good people at GOP 12 for several reasons:

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

By more accurate polls, I mean that PPP doesn't even show up in this list of the 23 most accurate polling firms, as determined by Panagopoulos at Fordham University:

The following list ranks the 23 organizations by the accuracy of their final, national pre-election polls (as reported on pollster.com).
1. Rasmussen (11/1-3)**
1. Pew (10/29-11/1)**
2. YouGov/Polimetrix (10/18-11/1)
3. Harris Interactive (10/20-27)
4. GWU (Lake/Tarrance) (11/2-3)*
5. Diageo/Hotline (10/31-11/2)*
5. ARG (10/25-27)*
6. CNN (10/30-11/1)
6. Ipsos/McClatchy (10/30-11/1)
7. DailyKos.com (D)/Research 2000 (11/1-3)
8. AP/Yahoo/KN (10/17-27)
9. Democracy Corps (D) (10/30-11/2)
10. FOX (11/1-2)
11. Economist/YouGov (10/25-27)
12. IBD/TIPP (11/1-3)
13. NBC/WSJ (11/1-2)
14. ABC/Post (10/30-11/2)
15. Marist College (11/3)
16. CBS (10/31-11/2)
17. Gallup (10/31-11/2)
18. Reuters/ C-SPAN/ Zogby (10/31-11/3)
19. CBS/Times (10/25-29)
20. Newsweek (10/22-23)

Public Policy Polling is a Democrat polling organization. Unlike Rasmussen, they have a vested interest in the outcomes of their surveys. I'm not accusing them of fudging their numbers. Just saying that they are not without their biases.

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

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

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

- JP

"Sarah Palin controls their lives..."

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

Here are excerpts, but read the whole thing (emphasis mine):

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

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

-snip-

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

- JP

The Alaskan Hunter

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



It's been dubbed "The Alaskan Hunter."

Very nice piece of work!

Photo h/t: CalGuns.net

- JP

The Johnstons don't help their case on Larry King

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

King: Do you have a lawyer?

Levi: No.

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

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

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

Levi: I don't know.

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

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

[Commercial Break]

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

King: Now he says you do have a lawyer.

Sherry: Yes, we do.

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

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

King: Is the lawyer going to file charges?

Sherry: We haven't got that far yet.

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

Levi: No, we...

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

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

King: Why not, Mercede, why not?

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

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

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

King: Because you have every right to go forward.

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

Equally significant is this from one of Levi's friends:

"If Levi could get a million bucks, it would be worth telling all he really knows."

Yeah, tell lies and go for the quick and dirty money. That's just the sort of dad every mother wants to have in her child's life, isn't it?

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

- JP

Don't Forget the Eye of Newt and RINO Tails

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

At The Confluence, Afrocity found something else of significance in Newt's answers:

Newt’s recent slight of Palin is not an isolated case. When interviews among other GOP males are examined collectively, their responses towards Palin tells a similar story. Palin’s former presidential running mate John McCain, exhibited a common air of discomfort and unresponsiveness when questioned about Palin’s political future within the Republican party. On one Jay Leno appearance McCain failed to even mention Palin’s name when asked who were the “rising stars” of the GOP.

It's not just GOP males, Afrocity. Exhibit A: Kathleen Parker. Exhibit B: Peggy Noonan. Exhibit C: Kay Bailey Hutchinson. And liberal females have been even more vicious in their attacks on Sarah Palin.

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

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

- JP

Palin responds to Tomkins nuisance complaint

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

Here is the statement from Gov. Palin's office:

April 22, 2009, Juneau, Alaska – The Office of the Governor today expressed outrage that yet another baseless ethics complaint has been filed as part of an alarming new development in Alaska politics.

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

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

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

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

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

The relevant section of the ethics act follows:

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

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

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

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

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

- JP

Attacks on Sarah Palin and what you can do

From a recent RedState.com member diary:

Meet Sondra Tompkins from Anchorage, Alaska..

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

Seems nice enough. But as we all know, “reliable Republican”, when written in a newspaper, means they are a democrat, have voted mostly democrat, and contributed money to the democrat party.

Tompkins has joined a small group of Palin-haters who have previously filed ten nuisance complaints against Governor Palin for what they contend are ethics violations. Six of the bogus complaints have been dismissed, and several are pending. They force the governor to retain legal counsel, and they have cost her $500,000 in legal fees. This is why an official legal defense fund is being organized to help Palin pay her attorneys.

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

The diary states the problem:

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

And I do mean non-stop!

So what is my point?

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

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

Not one ounce of effort from the party.

And offers a solution:

If the Republican Party is not going to help defend Governor Palin, or other conservative leaders, then I say we stop funding the Republican party!

Perhaps if Palin supporters would redirect their donations which would otherwise go to the GOP to SarahPAC instead (and her official legal defense fund, once it is up and running), the GOP will wake up and smell what's brewing.

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

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

- JP