"If you've heard of Kathleen Parker, it is probably because of her now-famous early criticisms of Sarah Palin.... Because Parker is seen as a 'conservative'... her early criticism spawned many "even conservatives have turned on her" stories -- and emboldened the mainstream media to continue their attacks on Palin."Parker managed to keep runner-up Meghan McCain out of the top spot, which is quite an achievement in itself.
"In the air, on my way out to Interior AK to see extent of damage caused by most severe flooding in recent AK history."The governor knew the damage to the town of Eagle and other areas along the Yukon River and two of its tributaries, was even bad before taking to the air to survey it. She had declared the flooded interior a disaster area yesterday. After making her survey of the area, Gov. Palin this afternoon cancelled her plans to visit the east coast over the weekend. Instead, husband Todd Palin will represent her at the correspondents dinner and the Alaska House events.
"It's basically wiped out a town."The flooding is the worst on record in the state of Alaska. The governor's news release is here.
"I am pleased to announce that Governor Palin has joined the panel of experts," Cantor said. "When NCNA was announced last week, we spoke about a dynamic organization that worked to constantly bring in new people and innovative ideas. The launch of the National Council was just the first step in a growing effort to engage the American people in a candid discussion as we work to overcome our shared challenges with common-sense ideas, building a stronger nation along the way."Cantor appeared on Fox News today and insisted that NCNA was not a "rebranding" move, but rather an effort to "reorient" the Republican Party "back to the people." The Congressman from Virginia also discussed the inclusion of the GOP's 2008 vice presidential candidate in the group and said, "We are thrilled to have Gov. Palin on board":
"I believe that there is a sort of sadistic giddiness on the part of some true radical leftists, who are laughing behind-the-scenes about Bristol Palin's situation."- JP
"It's hard not to suspect that for her, being the anti-pregnancy ambassador is just a good excuse to get out of Wasilla."Slimy, elitist opinion writers are standard fare at the Times, but Collins is a really rotten piece of dried-up fruit. She has been attacking Sarah Palin since the Alaska governor was chosen by John McCain to be his running mate. On August 30 Collins wrote of Palin's impending nomination as the GOP vice presidential candidate, comparing the historical achievement by the Republican Party to Hillary Clinton's loss to Barack Obama in the Democrat primary race as "a step back" for women.
"Vice Admiral Barrett’s career has put him in positions to protect Alaska’s people, fisheries, and environment," Governor Palin said. "We are fortunate to have him watching over the development and construction of the Alaska natural gas pipeline. This appointment demonstrates the federal commitment to this project."U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, whose office Barett will be leaving to accept the new position, said in a statement released today that the retired Coast Guard Vice-Admiral will be missed:
"Tom Barrett leaves the Department of Transportation with my deepest gratitude for all the fine work he has done here. I was delighted that he agreed to remain in office during the transition between administrations, and his knowledge and wisdom have proved indispensable in helping us get a quick start on economic recovery and other urgent priorities."Barrett lived in Alaska for 14 years and was the commander of the Coast Guard in that state from 1999 to 2002. AGIA coordinator Mark Myers, in another statement, welcomed Barrett back to Alaska"
"I look forward to working with Federal Coordinator Pearce, Admiral Barrett, and their entire staff. Having this quality of individual involved in moving the Alaska natural gas pipeline project forward is a benefit to Alaska and the entire nation."The full news release from the governor's office is here.
"Sarah Palin is a 'polarizing figure' because that's how the media wants her to be viewed."Shawn Mallow, in a Wizbang post.
"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.The news has set off a round of speculation that Romney may run for retiring Republican Sen. Judd Gregg's seat, especially if former U.S. Senator John E. Sununu decides not to throw his hat in the ring. Many believe that this course of action would be Romney's surest possible path to the presidency. At this point, only Romney people are denying that the move to New Hampshire is another step in the process of Romney positioning himself for a run for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination.
"This disaster declaration provides for the most effective rapid response from the state government to help these people in their time of need," Governor Palin said. "I am committed to helping rural Alaskans stay safe and recover as quickly as possible from this spring flood."The governor says she will issue a formal written declaration when the spring floods have receded and the rivers are free of ice. That will allow state and local officials to more accurately assess how many people have been affected and estimate the total damages.
The Chicago Tribune's political blog and others are reporting as fact that the governor is going to be Fox News' guest at the White House Correspondents Dinner in Washington, D.C., on Saturday.ADN quotes Palin spokeswoman Meg Stapleton:
But it's not clear if that's true.
"The governor may be on the East Coast this weekend to attend state events and meetings. If she is there, the governor may accept one of the standing invitations for dinner."The left-leaning McClatchy newspaper then asks whether Gov. Palin will appear at New York's Alaska House for an Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute event there and take part in NCNA listening tours across the lower 48. Again, Stapleton responds:
"If there is something that she can do that benefits Alaskans or Alaska or allows her to keep Alaskans first, she'll participate."Whenever there is an event which would require the governor to leave the state, we are treated to this sort of political theater. The actors know their parts well and don't even need to rehearse their lines, so often have they repeated them.
It's like I had some things yesterday to say about this listening touring and how they left out Sarah Palin. The Drive-Bys are all over this today. Wait 'til you hear these sound bites. I didn't even know this was happening last night because I was of course making a speech at the Heritage Foundation, but I'm getting notes, "It looks like you forced the Republicans to include Palin in their listening tour."There's much more. The transcript and MP3s are here.
-snip-
The left is still out there trying to destroy Sarah Palin. She's up in Alaska.
They're filing ethics complaints against her every week forcing her to have to have a legal defense fund! They're trying to break her; they're trying to make her go broke so she won't be able to have a political future. They're scared to death of her. If they weren't, they'd leave her alone. They'd let her go moose hunting, and that would be it. Why...? Do you see how easy the conventional wisdom is? The conventional wisdom is that Palin's a dork, that Palin's an idiot, that Palin is unsophisticated, that Palin is this or that. She doesn't know the lingo. She has a bad wardrobe. It's all of this irrelevant stuff to try to destroy her, to destroy her credibility with people, to impugn her. I just listened to what she said, and I liked what she said and I liked the way she said it. It's no more complicated than that.
-snip-
Sarah Palin could build the party, and all these moderates and independents think that she's going to be a drag on building the party. Why? Because, true, she will not attract liberals. She won't attract moderates. Thank God! We don't want 'em in our party -- and this business about polling data, 38% are independents? I ask you to remember -- and Koko, I want you to go to our archives. We drag this poll out every now and then, the Battleground poll, which shows that 60% of the American people, since, what, 2000, identify themselves as conservatives. The telling part is that 30 to 34%, 30% call themselves Republicans; but 60% call themselves conservatives. And if you look at the individual polls on individual Obama policies, you'll find that they're nowhere near as highly approved of as he is personally. There is a gold mine waiting to be tapped.
"Americans do want to pay taxes for services," he said. "Americans are looking for more government in their life, not less."Anyway, there's not much new in what he had to say. He's still attacking Palin, although he preferenced his latest criticism of her with a backhanded compliment. And he doesn't put the "blame" on the governor herself this time:
He also said that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, McCain's running mate last year, is "a very accomplished person" but became "a very polarizing figure." He said the polarization was created by Palin's advisers.I guess Gov. Palin's supporters should consider that an improvement over what Powell had to say in December, when he accused her of pushing the party to the right. I mean, we all know Alaska's governor is a strong woman, but who knew that she could push an entire political party so far in any direction?
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Federal pipeline regulators have granted TransCanada Corp.'s request to work with the regulators in advance of deciding to develop a multibillion-dollar natural gas pipeline from Prudhoe Bay to Alberta. By working with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in advance on the Alaska portion of the pipeline project, TransCanada can speed up its preparation of a formal application to have its project sanctioned. It also could speed up FERC's sanctioning, as its staff will be better versed in the project.Read the full story on the Alaska Daily News website.
"The most prominent, articulate voice for standard run of the mill good old-fashioned American conservatism was Sarah Palin."- JP
