"Sarah Palin is our only charismatic leader at this profoundly dangerous time. That is why her actions are so important to the fate of the GOP, and to the future of this country and the world. Her use of Facebook to make public policy statements has been both effective and smart. Palin is using the web just as Reagan used radio and TV, to get around the murderous filter of the media."- JP
Further Proof of the Need for Energy Independence- JP
The British newspaper The Independent reported today that Gulf oil producers were negotiating with Russia, China, Japan and France to replace the dollar in pricing oil with a basket of currencies.[1] According to the Wall Street Journal, Arab oil officials have denied the story, but even the possibility of such a talk weakens the dollar and renews fears about its continued viability as an international reserve currency.[2] In fact, today a United Nations official called for a new global reserve currency to replace the dollar and end our “privilege” to run up huge deficits.[3] We can see the effect of this in the price of gold, which hit a record high today in response to fears about the weakened dollar.[4]
All of this is a result of our out-of-control debt. This is why we need to rein in spending, and this is also why we need energy independence. A weakened dollar means higher commodity prices. This will make it more difficult to pay our bills – including the bill to import oil.
In his book Architects of Ruin, Peter Schweizer points out that the Obama administration is focusing primarily on “green energy”, while ignoring our need to develop our domestic conventional energy resources.[5] We’re ignoring the looming crisis caused by our dependence on foreign oil. Because we’re dependent on foreign nations for our oil, we’re also at their mercy if they decide to dump the dollar as their trade currency. We can’t allow ourselves to be so vulnerable to the whims of foreign nations. That’s why we must develop our own domestic supplies of oil and gas.
Though the chant of “Drill, baby, drill” was much derided, it expressed the need to confront this issue head-on before it reaches a crisis point.
Bottom line: let’s stop digging ourselves into debt and start drilling for energy independence.
- Sarah Palin
[1] See http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/the-demise-of-the-dollar-1798175.html
[2] See http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125484066563367821.html
[3] See http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.e272eaa74dccc30f21c6ff7638b0f37b.461&show_article=1
[4] See http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091006/ts_afp/commoditiesgoldmetalsprice_20091006144514
[5] See http://www.peterschweizer.com/
Note: Schweizer’s book is a real eye-opener. The sections on ACORN are quite informative
We Must Win in Afghanistan- JP
For two years as a candidate, Senator Obama called for more resources for the war in Afghanistan and warned about the consequences of failure. As President, he announced a comprehensive new counterinsurgency strategy and handpicked the right general to execute it. Now General McChrystal is asking for additional troops to implement the strategy announced by President Obama in March. Hundreds of thousands of Americans have sons, daughters, fathers, mothers, sisters and brothers in harm's way in Afghanistan right now. We owe it to all those brave Americans serving in uniform to give them the tools they need to complete their mission.
We can win in Afghanistan by helping the Afghans build a stable representative state able to defend itself. And we must do what it takes to prevail. The stakes are very high. The 9/11 attacks were planned in Afghanistan, and if we are not successful there, al Qaeda will once again find a safe haven, the Taliban will impose its cruelty on the Afghan people, and Pakistan will be less stable.
Our allies and our adversaries are watching to see if we have the staying power to protect our interests in Afghanistan. I recently joined a group of Americans in urging President Obama to devote the resources necessary in Afghanistan and pledged to support him if he made the right decision. Now is not the time for cold feet, second thoughts, or indecision -- it is the time to act as commander-in-chief and approve the troops so clearly needed in Afghanistan.
- Sarah Palin
Sarah Palin comes in for a lot of abuse from sportswriters, as you might expect. Here is an item from Sports Illustrated’s website —the subject is baseball (really): “Imagine for a minute that you had free reign [sic] to add any three players to your team for the second half, while punishing a heated [hated?] rival by tagging them with three more of your choice. That’s basically the essence of this week’s revised format: three players who will heat up post-All-Star break and three who will break down faster than you can say Sarah Palin.”Nordlinger also points out that it's not only sports reporting where writers feel compelled to gratuitously work in their political jibes:
If he says so.
Another Sports Illustrated writer was sizing up Heisman prospects, ranking them, 1 to 10. He said he “had more trouble picking the No. 10 candidate than Sarah Palin had choosing a Supreme Court ruling she opposed.” A writer for a college-football site had occasion to write, “Sarah Palin could be thrown out there against John Kenneth Galbraith in an open forum debate on economic reform, and if it’s in that time slot on CBS, it would go down to the wire.” (Actually, to borrow an old line, Galbraith knew more than Palin about economics — and also more that simply isn’t true.) An SI writer, soliciting reader mail, asked specifically for “Sarah Palin jokes.” Why not?
An NRO reader told me, “I stopped reading the New York Times in the ’80s, when the cooking columns started saying things like, ‘Just as Reagan should have known it was time to [do X], you must carefully monitor the exact time to [do Y].” I even received complaints about chess columns.Rock musicians have been making political pronouncements at their concerts for years, but Nordlinger cites an example of a chamber music recital where a composer, instead of discussing his music which was about to be played, assailed the audience with a crescendo of Bush-bashing.
And a woman from Nashville registered the following: “Conservative women also have to put up with this when reading one of the expensive, glossy women’s mags such as Cosmo or Glamour. You’re reading a lovely little article on vintage purses, the best under-eye creams, boyfriend woes, etc., and — there it is. A Palin slam. A reference to Dick Cheney shooting someone. A joke about a Republican getting caught in a scandal. A glowing reference to Michelle Obama.”
And would you like to hear about another unsafe zone? Let’s go on a city tour. Recently, a newlywed couple I know traveled to New York to spend a few special days. They took an open-air bus tour, and the guide peppered his commentary with anti-Republican jibes. For example, as the bus cruised up Sixth Avenue, he pointed out Fox News, calling it “the voice of evil.” That certainly says to conservative-leaning couples, “Happy honeymoon!”
A New York Times story from September of 2008 which said that the Wasilla Bible Church had "come under fire" turned out be frighteningly prophetic, as less than a hundred days after the Times story was published, the church was torched in what was likely a hate crime now mostly forgotten.We're not the only voices shouting in the wilderness on the shameful lack of progress in the investigation. Our friend Mode Lane at RedState.com noted this morning that it has now been ten months since the church the Palin family attends was torched:
[...]
Whatever assistance ATF has provided to the task force hasn't helped bring the perp or perps to justice. It is now nine months since the crime, and no arrests have been made. Who cares? It's not like Obama's church was burned or anything. If, God forbid, that had happened, the lowlife responsible would have already served most of the first year of a long, long sentence.
Somebody attempted to murder several women and children via arson, and it’s becoming depressingly clear that that person (or persons) has gotten away with it clean.The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has an office in Alaska:
This offends me. It should offend you.
"The GOP getting advice from idiot Steve Schmidt is like the Pittsburgh Steelers or New England Patriots asking Matt Millen to make the team’s 2010 draft selections."- JP
The panel was discussing the Sarah Palin book, Going Rogue, when Maddow offers her criticism of Lynn Vincent, Palin's ghostwriter. Maddow explains that Lynn Vincent "co-authored a book with a guy who is widely believed to be , and I believe him to be, a white supremacist. So she's [Palin] chosen Lynn Vincent who has written a book with a white supremacist to write her book." Robert Stacy McCain and Lynn Vincent co-authored Donkey Cons: Sex, Crime, and Corruption in the Democratic Party in 2006.Melissa Clouthier, Little Miss Atilla and a long list of people who know RSM have rallied to his defense. Stacy may be a pit bull wearing Chapstik, but he's not any kind of racist. It's obvious what Maddow was trying to do, as Miss Atilla pointed out:
"Any chance that this old allegation about McCain is simply being trotted out to slander Palin—the racist who married a native American?"At Saber Point we find agreement that Maddow has lowered herself by resorting to the old liberal slander schtick of guilt by association, but McCain isn't guilty of anything to associate with, unless you count pimping for his tip jar, but that's just a weak attempt on our part to bring a little levity to this latest incidence of lefty nastiness.
Let's apply Rachel's despicable reporting standards to Rachel. "Rachel Maddow is widely believed to be, and I believe her to be, a crack whore." Therefore, Sarah Palin's book was criticized on the air by a crack whore. Are you going to believe a crack whore? Especially one who looks like your younger brother? Of course not.Dude! That is so Alinsky...
Sarah Palin... is not "far right" ideologically -- she is solidly in the mainstream of conservatism.Ace recalls Democrat rhetoric from the 1980s and 90s that Medicare reform would would put your grandparents on a cat food diet and put them out with the homeless to die in the streets. His second reason for the elites to try to paint Sarah Palin as a far-right extremist:
As for the case that she is extremist in tone -- what on earth could they possibly be thinking of? I can only think of two things.
First, the "death panel" coinage, which is perfectly accurate and perfectly par-for-the-course as far as political invective.
The other thing that comes to mind... is that she alone dared to dared to... stand up and clearly declare that Barack Obama was incompetent, inexperienced, and utterly unprepared for the Presidency, and a left-winger to boot.Yes, in her RNC acceptance speech, Sarah's relatively mild criticism -- especially compared to what the Dems said about President Bush at their 2004 convention -- of then-candidate Obama so angered liberals -- "including liberals like David Brooks" -- that they will never forgive nor forget.
All that has now been proven by subsequent catastrophe.
"I’m pretty obviously not a Palin supporter. Still, there’s something almost surreal about the comments of men like Murphy and Brooks. Sarah has her fans, they admit, but insist that this group can’t win her the nomination. They literally laugh at the possibility. But, again, where is the evidence? If such a sizable portion of the Republican electorate still likes and listens to Palin- after all of the negative press- doesn’t this suggest that she has more than a few vocal fans? I’m not convinced Sarah Palin will win the Republican nomination. I’m not even sure she’ll run. But, I am sure that the Republican establishment couldn’t find milk on a dairy farm."Thomas Lamb remains unimpressed by Schmidt:
"When you pull out of Michigan the very night your V.P. nominee has her debate, this should tell people that this guy isn't too bright."At The Tree of Mamre, another Screwtape Letter has been discovered:
Dear Steve Schmidt,- JP
You don't know me, but I'm the one who got you your last job. Indeed, one could say that I am your current employer...
Who's accusing who of being white trash? Letterman joked that Sarah Palin, then Alaska's governor, had the style of a "slutty flight attendant" and commented that, while attending a Yankees game, "during the seventh inning, her daughter was knocked up by Alex Rodriguez."ZING! Tell me how you REALLY feel Doc! Actually it would probably be worth the read as this article was. But Doc. Peele is right, who is Letterman to talk when he doesn't have his personal life in order. As in his mariage, his child, the news on him screwing his staff (yuck) and of course he fact that someone was trying to blackmail him.
Why does a man in his late fifties have a baby out of wedlock when he is living with the mother? Most parents figure their child will appreciate their being married - that it avoids needless embarrassment from the kid's schoolmates down the road.
John Coale, a Democrat and personal friend to the governor, insisted that Schmidt "couldn't stand Sarah from day one" and alleged that Schmidt and "his people" had "screwed up the ABC and CBS interviews."We can't wait to read what Sarah Palin has to reveal about the various players for Team McCain come November 17.
Charlie Black, a close adviser to McCain during the 2008 campaign and a lobbyist based in Washington, was less confrontational about Schmidt's comments but did note that the criticism of the former governor "reminds me of the things some Republicans said about [Ronald] Reagan in 1977."
Maybe it’s time that women gave Sarah Palin another look. Palin, back in the headlines for rushing out a new book ahead of schedule this fall, is fresh, open-minded, a centrist and a party noncomformist. Hey, sisters in women's advocacy: Let's end the decades-long cold war with Republican women candidates. If we want progress to be made on issues of importance to women, our organizations need to master a skill at which men have always been adept: negotiation.Ms. Siskind is taking quite a beating in the comments section, where Obama's far-left attack squads are pelting her with smears and lies about Sarah Palin. The last thing leftist loons want to talk about is the failed Obama presidency when it's so much easier for them to just bash Governor Palin and Ms. Siskind for daring to say anything positive about her. We've never been Michael Savage fans, but perhaps he was on to something when he said that "liberalism is a mental disease."
[...]
Sadly, for women, things haven’t panned out all that well with this administration. Despite receiving 56 percent of women's votes, President Obama's record on women's issues thus far is sparse, and suggests something that he either has a tone-deaf nature—or, if you’re inclined to a more sinister view, that he may be uncomfortable with women.
He surely hasn't surrounded himself with many. Of his 24 Cabinet picks, only six were women. Perhaps even more telling are President Obama's czar picks, which do not require Senate confirmation. Of the 35-40 picks he’s made to date, only three have been women. That’s less than 10 percent.
Here's what we know: Sarah Palin did not have a governor's seat handed down to her, she earned it. She understands what it is to be a woman having to fight obstacles—some overt and others subtle—that only a woman can understand.
I know I'll hear from critics who claim that Palin would not share my policy views. But what makes them so sure? As governor of Alaska, didn't Sarah Palin appoint Justice Morgan Christen, who is pro-choice and a former board member of Planned Parenthood, to become Alaska's second female Supreme Court justice? Granted, it’s only 2009, and we are three years away from the next presidential election. But doesn’t that give us ample time to open a dialogue and explain why women's issues are so important to our country's future?
"Palin's much anticipated memoir, to be released next month, is poised to solidify her appeal to the embattled evangelical psyche. Just look at the title: Going Rogue. With the book already in the No. 1 slot on Amazon, the pitch seems to be resonating."- JP
"The power brokers are all scared to death of her. Book sales mean something, as well as huge internet hits for every Palin article. There is a growing and new populist movement. A fly over country commando troop, ready to storm the Washington power palace with pitch forks in hand."Down on the Pharm:
"Enough Ragging on Sarah Palin for writing a book with a collaborator. Sarah made no claims to the contrary. On the other hand, Obama has claimed to have written Dreams of My Father himself... Bill Ayers wrote it from material supplied by Obama."Hyscience:
"We're talking about a book that's not even out yet, and Politico's Ben Smith is already attacking her co-author as a staunch conservative, devoted evangelical Christian, and intensely partisan Republican from far, far outside the Beltway. As though there's something wrong with being a conservative Christian Republican?"Political Pistachio:
"Sarah Palin's popularity continues to take off like a rocket, and the liberal left remains in denial... Sarah Palin is a fresh voice of conservatism, and the people love her for it."Never Yet Melted:
"Palin is having the last laugh over the Post attack piece’s 'blithering idiot' insult. Apparently, she is getting hundreds of speech requests at her new $100,000 speaking fee."Althouse:
"The 'rogue' is specifically a horse that resists being controlled by others. It is exhibiting its own will, and not the victim of happenstance. Now, fate touched Palin when McCain choose her, and she did get into trouble when she exhibited will, and the maverick's people called her 'rogue'"Responsibility:
"It seems that Mrs. Palin still has all the Liberal’s knickers in knots as they keep lobbing grenades at her. As the old Air Force bombardiers used to say, 'The closer you get to the target the heavier the flak.'"Moonbattery:
"Sarah Palin's book, Going Rogue, hits Number 1 on both Barnes and Noble and Amazon's pre-order list. She finished the book four months ahead of schedule, and didn't have to hire an unrepentant Marxist terrorist to write it for her."Giovanni's World:
"I’m guessing that Steve [Schmidt] got spooked by Sarah Palin when 60,000 people showed up for one of her rallies, while his boss was drawing crowds in the hundreds."Talk Wisdom:
"It will be quite interesting to see how Palin handles all of her critics in her book. Maybe there is time left for her to include something about how much of a lying, cheating, sexual pig David Letterman is?"Charles Cooper:
"Palin has this knack for sending the liberal-left into knee-knocking spittle-inducing convulsions. More than any other Republican, Palin stirs passions. Most important, she has the sort of sass that attracts big crowds of true believers willing to open their wallets for her. Can you say that about the likes of Tim Pawlenty or (gasp!) Bobby Jindal? Not with a straight face."Adrienne Ross:
"The last time I checked, Going Rogue: An American Life was already number one on both Barnes and Noble and Amazon. And the last time I checked, Governor Palin didn't need an endorsement from Oprah Winfrey to make that happen."The Dame Truth:
"She’s a crowd pleaser and remains a huge draw; with a best selling book and several groups dedicated to drafting her to run for POTUS, it’s bound to get interesting, and the best part is seeing all those in Fringe media with egg on their faces as she continues to climb effortlessly to the top of the best seller lists and beyond."The Minority Report:
"Unbelievable but if a weasel like Steve Schmidt is saying it's a catastrophe then my belief is that she's actually viable... This preemptive bashing is all due to the fact that 1) she's extremely popular and 2) these idiots know she's not going to hold back about them in the book. All the more reason to look forward to reading it."Dark Knight:
"You want to see where the electorate’s sentiments are? Compare Palin’s book sales with those of liberals. She is going to bury them, even if the unions starting buying Teddy’s book in bulk and having them delivered straight to recycle."- JP
There an old adage, “Say anything you like about me just spell my name right” I have no doubt in recent months this has crossed Sarah Palin’s mind more than once.After a year of vicious personal attacks on Sarah Palin, liberals have come to the point where they're preaching to the already converted. Independents and blue-collar Democrats are tired of hearing them trash Sarah, Todd and the Palin kids. They would rather to hear the Left explain to them just how voting for Barack Obama, like the liberals urged them to do, has made anything better for them or their families. But leftists don't want to face such realities and instead go back to calling Sarah Palin everything but a child of God. That's not what swing voters want to hear right now.
[...]
Candidate’s families have traditionally been off limits to political pundits' criticism, not for the Palins; even Palin’s young autistic son and adolescent daughters were subject to the left's attacks. Thus proving yet again the left is morally bankrupt without any sense of decency.
All we can say to those on the left who continually bash Sarah Palin. Please, please don’t stop; if not for your continued attention Sarah Palin wouldn’t be the new American Icon she [is] becoming.
[...]
The left just doesn’t get it; rather than discrediting Sarah Palin with their campaign of character assassination, they’re actually promoting her to a higher status than she would be able to do on her own.
[...]
As my dearly departed Shoshone Grandmother would say, There are none as blind as those who will not listen! Liberals have a tendency to ignore anything not written in their playbook as not being worthy of consideration. That may be alright when addressing their constituency but when they’re trying to win over the masses it isn’t the most effective strategy. No one wants to be a 24/7 listener with no input into the conversation; that amounts to lecturing and not communication.
[...]
Whatever Sarah Palin decides to do or not do will be fine with her true admirers. If nothing else she has the Liberal left in a cold sweat worrying about the 2012 presidential election.
Last week, Sarah Palin made an important speech to a major financial audience in Hong Kong. It was clearly an opening bid for presidential candidature. But what sort of Republican is Palin and would she be acceptable to the Republican Party, let alone a majority of American voters?To answer one of Browne's rhetorical questions, no, we don't think that Sarah Palin is a true libertarian, but she is a libertarian conservative. Actually, she is what we would call a New Federalist, but the differences between libertarian conservatives and New Federalists are so slight that they may be little more than semantic.
[...]
Sarah Palin is definitely from outside Washington. Also, she is an attractive woman, filled with self-confidence and proven magnetism.
However, the Republican Party is deeply split between the traditional big-government establishment and the small-government libertarians, who seem to be gaining ground fast not only in America, but also in Germany and France.
In her Hong Kong speech, Palin spoke as a libertarian Republican capitalizing on the increasing support shown for Ron Paul's politics. She also praised Reagan and Thatcher, two notable libertarian conservatives. But is Palin really a libertarian or has she been pandering to her libertarian conservative audiences?
If Palin is a true libertarian, how possibly can the Republican establishment accept her?
At present, it appears that Palin is disapproved of very strongly by the powerful Republican establishment.
[...]
However, polls show an increasingly strong resentment of big government. The high taxes and falling consumer demand resulting from it appear to fly directly in the face of economic recovery. There is a growing appetite for the small government and small business that history shows lead to lower taxes, higher employment and prosperity.
If Sarah Palin is a true libertarian Republican, she could be set to ride a massive popular wave. She is certainly a possible candidate.
If the Republican Party establishment truly wants to regain power, it may have to accept a route led by a libertarian and decidedly "provincial" woman. They may wince, but Sarah Palin may be the only one capable of returning them to the White House.
Every movement needs its scholars, the engineers of its philosophy. It also requires representatives, people who can get elected to office and implement its ideas. To get those representatives elected, there must be people who can master the scholarship, make it understandable to people who aren’t political junkies… and add a little extra zing, a jolt of electricity to capture the imagination of those non-political people.Read the unabridged version at Hot Air.
There are many ways to be provocative. Some of those methods are rude, or confrontational. The only memorable moment in President Obama’s address to Congress on health care reform came when a previously obscure Republican representative couldn’t stomach any more mendacity, and called him a liar. It was an ill-mannered outburst, for which the Congressman apologized… but it was also devastatingly effective. It got people buzzing, and because the Congressman was correct, his outburst prompted furious last-minute adjustments to the President’s legislative proposals, along with weakening the already soft public opinion of those proposals.
The most aggressive provocateurs walk a tightrope across a canyon of bad taste and controversy. Glenn Beck says some wild, hilarious, and outrageous things, in his desperate struggle to awaken rubber-frog voters before the waters of mega-state socialism boil them alive. He’s also been spectacularly right about some very important things, like the Van Jones scandal. Even as Beck reaches new heights of popularity, and drags sleazy characters like Jones out of an administration that major media outlets worship as flawless, a couple of soft-spoken young people with a video camera shock America into action against ACORN, an organization they should have become enraged about long ago. Sometimes you don’t have to say anything to be provocative – you just have to show Americans something their media gatekeepers didn’t want them to see.
Sarah Palin is provocative by her very existence, having followed none of the scripts prepared by the media, or the bitter vampires of McCain’s campaign staff. She electrifies people by speaking with confidence and cheer, to convey ideas that strike the average listener as simple common sense… and which make them realize how radical and deranged the world outside their window has become. Palin’s recent speech in Hong Kong was upbeat and plain-spoken, describing an America of liberty and opportunity, and frankly addressing the murderous evil of our terrorist enemies. The speech becomes electrifying when you realize these ideas would be as incomprehensible to the current Administration as Quaddafi’s lunatic rant before the United Nations.
Palin’s famous “death panel” commentary was powerful because it brought the midnight whispers of an unpleasant truth into the public consciousness. The provocations of someone who used to carry the ancient banner of a great political party must be delivered with elegance and wit… especially if they contemplate taking up that banner again.
"In the first nine months of the Obama Administration, it is Palin who has set the standard in facing down the Left."- JP
"A lot has been said lately about the idea that Sarah Palin is positioning herself as a the libertarian in the 2012 field... This is exactly I have been saying for months, and exactly how I have seen a potential Palin run shaping up for years (VP run or no VP run)."Will Sarah Palin be able to bring libertarians and conservatives together to start rebuilding the coaltion that Ronald Reagan led to win two successive lopsided presidential election victories?
"So – that is my view of the brave new world of “Sarahtarianism” – which is really nothing more than the classic Sarah Palin finally emerging on the national stage. We’ll see just how libertarian she can get when we see her upcoming memoir Going Rogue, but I’m guessing that she will use that book to complete the transformation we’ve all been talking about."Some libertarians are still not comfortable with Palin, largely due to a perception that she is too close to the neoconservatives, as Phil Manger observed in an op-ed that was mostly supportive of the former governor:
"She was accompanied to Hong Kong by Randy Scheunemann, a foreign policy advisor to John McCain and advisor to former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Scheunemann was also president of the Committee for the Liberation of Iraq, an organization that beat the drums for the Iraq invasion. Palin's pre-McCain-campaign views on Iraq were not very clear, although I got the impression she was harboring some doubts. I worry that she might be taken over and 'managed' by neocons, like she was during the campaign."But it was in that same Hong Kong speech that Sarah Palin said some things which should go a long way to allay such fears, according to Allen Caeden:
"Sarah Palin deliberately took numerous swipes at neo-conservatism in her Hong Kong speech. She gave the finger to George Bush’s 'compassionate conservatism' by using the term 'common-sense conservative' to describe herself, and she flat out rejected the golden egg of neo-conservatism which is to spread democracy around the world; she stated unequivocally that this is not the job of the United States. This was two fingers held up at once; one to George Bush and the other to the neo-conservatives in the Beltway."Her exact words were:
"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."Sarah's publisher promises that in her forthcoming book Going Rogue, she will present "her vision for an America that is strong, independent, and free." Reagan conservatives and libertarians alike are waiting to see if that vision resonates in both camps. We're betting that it will.
