'Obamacrat' David Kernell sentenced to 366 days

Plus three years probation
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A federal judge has sentenced the son of Tennessee state Rep. Mike Kernell (D-Memphis), convicted of hacking Sarah Palin's e-mail, to one year and one day in federal custody, according to a report by Knoxville television station WBIR:

David Kernell was arrested in 2008 for hacking the former Alaska governor's e-mail.

He recommended that Kernell serve his time at the Midway Rehabilitative Center on Magnolia Avenue in Knoxville, but that will be determined by the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

The judge also sentenced Kernell to three years probation.

Kernell will turn himself in at a later date.

Defense attorney Wade Davies had filed motions seeking probation at the sentencing, contending Kernell used publicly available information to guess his way into the e-mail in a prank. Prosecutors said the hacking was motivated by Palin's status as a governor and candidate for vice president.

Last spring, a federal jury found Kernell guilty of obstruction of justice and unauthorized access in the breach of Sarah Palin's e-mail this April. He gained access to her account in September 2008.

[More]

A former University of Tennessee student, Kernell described himself on his Facebook page as an "Obamacrat." He was a member of UT for Barack Obama.

- JP

Brett Arends: Is Sarah Palin Right About Inflation?

It's on its way
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Brett Arends, who writes the Wall Street Journal's ROI (for Return on Investment) column, admits that when it comes to inflation, Gov. Palin may be about to look quite perceptive:

The more interesting question is about Ms. Palin's broader point: whether inflation is on its way.

If the commodity markets are right, it sure looks like it.

[...]

Wheat prices are now surging... They've risen 36% over the past 12 months.

And there are similar patterns across other agricultural and related commodities.

Coffee has risen more than 60% in the past year. Sugar's up by more than a half. Corn: 43%. Lumber's risen by a third. Cattle: 17%. Oats: 37%. Pork bellies are up by a fourth.

"Prices across the board are surging to their highest levels since the 2008 price spike," says Alex Bos, commodities analyst at Macquarie Securities. "We have an extremely bullish cotton market, and extremely bullish corn market and an increasingly bullish soybean market."

[...]

Don Carson, analyst at Susquehanna Financial, notes that the U.S. may actually be running low on wheat. Inventories, in relation to consumption, are near record lows, he says. And Alan Knuckman, market analyst at Agora Financial, says it's ominous that prices are hitting highs around harvest time, when supplies should be at their greatest. "That's very unusual," he says.

Meanwhile -- as Ms. Palin said -- the U.S. policy of debasing the dollar is driving up commodity prices in dollar terms, as it is driving up prices for other "real" assets, including precious metals.

There is a long-running debate among economists about what really causes inflation: higher costs (so-called "cost push") or just too much money. But right now you don't really have to choose: We have both.

[More]

Which is precisely the more important point the first woman to become both Alaska's governor and the Republican Party's vice presidential candidate was trying to make: the Obama Administration cannot just continue to print paper money and borrow from China to cover its backside, while driving the dollar down. The end result of such recklessness is inflation - the wrecking ball that crushes economic recovery.

- JP

NY Sun: Sarah Palin’s Seoul

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Even the Obama-friendly left wing media was forced to admit that the president failed miserably at the G-20 summit. “Obama’s Economic View Is Rejected on the World Stage,” wrote the New York Times. “Zachary Karabell reports on Obama's mistake going into the summit,” read the subhead at the Daily Beast, which lamented the fact that the president’s letter to his foreign counterparts was doomed to “make things worse.” Obama couldn’t even manage to cut a free trade agreement with the host country of South Korea, a nation which in large measure owes its very existence to 60 years of support from the United States. Why did Obama strike out at the G-20? "It seems the skills and principles of a community organizer don’t translate well into the world of statecraft," opines today's editorial in the New York Sun:

So, just as a thought experiment here, let’s consider what might have happened had America been represented at the Group of 20 Summit not by a former community organizer but by a certain former governor of a state that, like South Korea itself, can see Russia from its door — and, in Free Korea's case, Communist China, too. The big news on the eve of the G20 was how upset our friends overseas are with the plan for a second round of money printing by the Federal Reserve. Mr. Obama took time out from his Asian travels to defend the weak-dollar policy. It turns out that the politician who challenged Mr. Bernanke most pointedly, and substantively, as the G20 was getting set for its meeting was none other than Mrs. Palin.

So one can speculate that had a President Palin been leading our delegation to Seoul, the monetary tensions would have been dissipated. The whole issue of a currency war — a competition over who can keep their currencies low and thus promote their own exports — would have been defanged. No doubt that had Mrs. Palin been leading our delegation in Seoul, her departure would have been preceded by a wave of warnings in the liberal press about our country’s trade deficit. The conceit is that we need to devalue the dollar in order to make it more attractive for foreigners to buy American products.

Mrs. Palin, however, has a plank in her political campaign that would address the trade deficit in a way that neither Mr. Obama, nor any other Democrat, has been prepared to endorse. She wants to move to domestic energy production, opening up the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve and close-in (and safer to drill in) coastal regions for production. Mrs. Palin has a hard-earned canniness about the energy sector that can be matched by few other politicians in the country. She knows that our oil imports are a major part of our trade deficit. So while pursuing a sound-dollar policy that, at least in theory, could hurt our exports, she’d pursue a domestic oil policy that would help our trade deficit.

[More]

It’s not just idle speculation, conclude the editors, to imagine our allies among the G-20 nations reacting positively to an American president "who had a clear and savvy world view and knew where he, or she, was going."

h/t: Benyamin Korn

- JP

Day By Day (November 12, 2010)

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Good Morning! It's a wonderful life if we just take it Day By Day.



Support Pro-Palin Day By Day

- JP

Quote of the Day (November 11, 2010)

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P.J. Orvetti of NBC Washington:

"During an appearance on MSNBC’s 'Andrea Mitchell Reports' Wednesday, Gov. Bob McDonnell [R-VA] said he believes Sarah Palin 'is qualified' to be president: 'I think Sarah Palin’s been a mayor, she’s been governor of a state. I happen to be partial and think governors make great chief executive officers and have the experience to be good chief executive officers of the United States.'"

- JP

More Quote of the Day Honorable Mention, Part 152

"Change the Culture" Edition
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Peter Roff at USNews.com:

"The battle over the chairmanship of the Appropriations Committee is not the only one drawing attention from conservative leaders, Tea Party activists, and the people who want to change the culture in Washington. Another battle has broken out over who should chair the influential House Committee on Financial Services. The early assumption that Alabama Republican Spencer Bachus would take over the panel has been set aside now that California’s Ed Royce has entered the race and has won, it should be noted, the backing of former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. Palin’s interest may be more personal than political. After all Bachus did tell a local Alabama paper that her involvement in the recent round of primaries cost the GOP control of the Senate. It is however also true that Royce opposed the Troubled Asset Relief Program while Bachus voted for it twice, something that Royce’s backers point to as an important philosophical difference between the two men."

Mark J. Goluskin at Right View from the Left Coast:

"Spence. May I call you Spence? You are flat out wrong... Good Lord, man! You have got to get off the Karl Rove/Michael Gerson talking points."

Michelle Malkin:

"Last we heard from former Bush speechwriter-turned-Washington Post line columnist Michael Gerson, he was attacking Tea Party activists and yours truly for criticizing his old boss/mentor Karl Rove’s Christine O’Donnell-bashing... Well, Rove’s Beltway water boy took to his WaPo perch again this weekend to re-litigate the midterm election results on behalf of his boss and damn the Tea Party movement, Jim DeMint, and Sarah Palin... Rove has questioned Palin’s 'gravitas' for promoting her home state of Alaska in a multi-part TV series. Yes, God forbid Republican women look like they enjoy their lives and their families and the natural resources and gifts America has to offer outside of D.C. and away from the boardroom. How out of touch can these Beltway boys be?"

Dan Riehl at Big Journalism:

"Does Gerson now want us to believe that Palin can so alter a Senate race less than a week out from an election, especially after the establishment threw everything behind Castle for months? That’s foolishness."

The Pistolero at Live from the Alamo City:

"It could never have been the fault of the Republican establishment that got so out-of-touch that they forgot why they were sent to Washington and who sent them there, thereby starting the chain reaction that led to last Tuesday's tea party-fueled anti-incumbent blowout. Apparently it was all Sarah Palin's fault the national Republicans lost their way to the extent voters handed two branches of government to the Democrats, even though Palin hadn't even advanced to state-level politics in Alaska as the Republicans ascended in Washington. She must be really powerful to have had that effect, eh?"

William Teach at Pirate's Cove:

"Perhaps [the media] should look at their own record on treating female Republicans, such as Sarah Palin. Who, BTW, has destroyed a Wall Street Journal writer."

MK Freeberg at House of Eratosthenes:

"This is one of the special concoctions, in which Palin herself has felt inclined to revisit something, tempted by the opportunity to lay an awesome smackdown upon a smarmy WSJ Palinphobe.... So we have a situation here: If food costs have been going up, Palin is right and Reddy is wrong; if they have not been, Reddy is right and Palin is wrong. Well, not only have food prices being going up but the Wall Street Journal said so. So Reddy is not only wrong, but gloriously wrong. He’s been exposed as not even bothering to read his own paper. We just got done with that 'Party Like It’s 1773' thing where the Palin haters made absolute fools out of themselves, by flying on the seat of their pants and letting their passions take them for a ride. Next time they make the same noises, they want us to pretend it didn’t happen and we somehow accommodate them. So now we are to pretend food costs have not been going up."

Priscilla at GeeeeeZ!:

"We will be watching who in the GOP is demonizing our grassroots movement, Sarah Palin, Jim DeMint, or Michele Bachmann, for that matter. I would remind you that there is an election in two years..."

Michael Goodwin of the New York Post:

"Germany, China, Russia, Brazil and Japan and most of the world's central banks are on Palin's side. They warn of a potential global disaster of rampant inflation and protectionism. They're also calling America a hypocrite because the cash surge will cheapen the dollar, a form of currency manipulation the United States finds abhorrent when China does it. The rising chorus of criticism is a 'global backlash' against Bernanke, says The Wall Street Journal. Its editorial page concludes that Palin has effectively managed to put the case for a strong dollar 'back to the center of the American political debate,' where it belongs, and adds: 'She shows a talent for putting a technical subject in language that average Americans can understand.' True story."

Patrick J. Buchanan at the American Conservative:

"Bernanke is not just risking inflation. He is inducing inflation... Sarah Palin has nailed cold what Bernanke is about..."

Melissa Clouthier at Liberty Pundits:

"These people -- who wouldn’t dream of sullying their eyes by watching Fox News, or marring their baby ears by listening to Rush Limbaugh, or harming their little minds by entertaining an idea put forth by Sarah Palin, or hell, even Chris Christie -- seem to hate anything traditionally, unabashedly American. So closed off and insulated in their hermetically sealed bubble of superiority, shamelessly condescending to the 'unwashed masses'. They scorn God, Family, Country and Patriotism. That’s for fascists -- never mind that the fascists they’re describing are about 70% of the American public."

Liberal professor Joan C. Williams, guest blogging at the Washington Post:

"How did New Deal Democrats become Tea Party Republicans? The answer: class conflict... Sarah Palin knows how to bond with these white nonunion voters. Unless Democrats want Palin as president, they need to stop alienating those voters."

Gary P. Jackson at A Time For Choosing:

"Sarah Palin brings with her a unique set of life experiences, having grown up in the rugged last frontier, couple with the common sense that also made Reagan one of our greatest Presidents, and you have a powerful leader who can certainly make a great President in her own right. This is why the radical left, as well as elements of the Republican Party want to stop her. Sarah Palin connects with the American people because she is one of us. A local gal done good. The epitome of the great American story."

John Tantillo, "The Marketing Doctor," at FoxNews.com:

"Imagine this scenario... Hillary Clinton [vs.]... Sarah Palin... Colin Powell... as Hillary’s VP, and Marco Rubio joining forces with Palin. Wow."

John at The City Square:

"Liberals and their sexual fetishes... The latest cover for Mother Jones magazine shows how liberals in the media see Sarah Palin... Why do they do this? Does it indicate relationship issues? Support for that idea comes from a McDaniel College study which found that children of liberal parents were less able to form close positive relationships."

- JP

Politico: First stops on 'America by Heart' book tour revealed

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With Gov. Palin's second book offical release date of Nov. 23 less than two weeks away, many of the governor's supporters have been waiting for news of a new book tour. Wait no longer. According to Politico, the America by Heart book signing tour will kick off in Phoenix on the 23rd, and stop in 16 cities over a nine-day stretch:

Among the destinations sure to get buzz: Des Moines and Spirit Lake, Iowa.

Palin’s strategic schedule includes a stop in Tulsa, Okla., on “Black Friday” — the day after Thanksgiving — and then four more stops during that big shopping weekend.

The tour has more of a heartland concentration than the 35-city tour for her memoir “Going Rogue” (the best-selling nonfiction book of 2009) and adds such markets as Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, South Carolina and Tennessee.

The venues include the giant book chains — Borders, Barnes & Noble and Books-a-Million. But the former Alaska governor will also sign books at all-American locations like Walmart, Sam’s Club, Costco and Kroger.

[...]

Here’s the list of stops:

Nov. 23: Phoenix, AZ
Nov. 26: Tulsa, OK
Nov. 27: Norfolk, NE.
Nov. 27: Des Moines, IA
Nov. 28: Andover, KS
Nov. 28: Dallas, TX
Nov. 29: Houston, TX
Nov. 29: New Orleans, LA
Nov. 30: Baton Rouge, LA
Nov. 30: Little Rock, AR
Dec. 1: Brentwood, TN
Dec. 1: Lexington, KY
Dec. 2: Spirit Lake, IA
Dec. 2. Carmel, IN
Dec. 3: Cincinnati, OH
Dec. 3: Columbia, SC

This is probably just the first leg of what will be an extended tour, and we expect other cities and dates to be announced later, if this tour will be anything like the first one. Also, we see some of the same cities from the '09 tour on the list, but some new ones as well.

A few may seem unfamiliar to those in other parts of the country. Brentwood, TN, for example, is an affluent suburb of Nashville. Carmel, IN is just up the road from Indianapolis. But Spirit Lake, IA is an intriguing location for a stop on the tour. The city of 5,000 is not a suburb of, nor located very near, any major population center. It's up at the top of the state in Iowa's Great Lakes region, just south of the Pawlenty Minnesota state line.

Heartland, baby, heartland.

h/t: Andrew Malcolm

- JP

James Pethokoukis: Emergence of Palinomics hints at 2012 run

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James Pethokoukis, the Money & Politics columnist for Reuters, writes that the the politics and timing of Gov. Palin's recent op-eds and speeches dealing with monetary policy and the dollar are the latest additions to a mounting stack of evidence that the 2008 GOP vice presidential candidate will make a run for the White House:

Indeed, the campaign team for putative Republican frontrunner and former banker Mitt Romney is assuming she will be in the race. And her upcoming, much-hyped reality television show, “Sarah Palin’s Alaska,” will no doubt play like an extended campaign commercial.

If Palin does run, her views leave her — not for the first time — well positioned to exploit the zeitgeist. Voters right now seem dubious of Big Anything, be it Government, Business or Money. In her 2009 book, “Going Rogue,” Palin offered a rehash of 1980s Reaganomics — low taxes, less government spending, strong dollar. That’s in sync with her recent Fed-bashing. But she also attacked “corporatism” in which government and business conspire against entrepreneurs and consumers. This view fuels Palin’s critique of Obama’s financial reform plan, which she portrays as a creation of Wall Street designed to perpetuate bank bailouts.

Palinomics seems to be rooted in “free-market populism,” a version of conservative thinking that is pro-market rather than pro-business. Palin is a big fan of one of its champions, the University of Chicago’s Luigi Zingales. So it’s easy to imagine her campaigning against corporate tax breaks, say, or in favor of limiting the size of banks. That might not attract much campaign cash from Manhattan bankers or Washington lobbyists, but it could be a compelling formula in the new Tea Party-infused Republican party.

[More]

More to come as the punditocracy continues to try to divine what is written in the tea leaves...

- JP

PPP: Gov. Palin leads in Texas, Wisconsin, West Virginia and Maine (Updated)

And a close second in Florida and Minnesota
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The latest batch of GOP presidential primary polls conducted just prior to the midterm elections by Democrat research firm Public Policy Polling finds Mitt Romney ahead in Florida, Tim Pawlenty "surprisingly weak in his home state" of Minnesota, and Sarah Palin leading in Texas, Wisconsin, West Virginia, and... Maine? Yes, Maine! More from PPP's Tom Jensen:

The most important state to the nomination process on this list is Florida and there Romney's ahead with 28% to 22% for Palin and 15% for Newt Gingrich and Mike Huckabee. It should be noted that although Romney does have the lead, it's a much less lofty one than what he posted in a March PPP poll of the state when he had 44%. The only other candidates included in that poll were Palin and Huckabee and we're finding more and more as we do these polls that when new folks are added into the mix it tends to hurt Romney more than anyone else. His support is less solid than Palin's and Huckabee's so even though he looks like a very nominal front runner at this point, he's also the candidate most likely to see his support collapse as things heat up.

Tim Pawlenty leads the field in his home state of Minnesota but his performance is surprisingly weak. He gets 19% with Palin right on his heels at 18%, Huckabee at 14%, and Gingrich and Romney each getting 11%. These numbers are reflective of the overall trouble we found for Pawlenty at home in our final preelection poll of the state- his approval rating was under water and voters overwhelmingly said they didn't think he should run for President. Partially because of Pawlenty's declining popularity Democrats seem to have picked up the Governor's office there in an otherwise awful year for the party. Palin actually leads Pawlenty 20-18 with conservatives but the Governor leads overall thanks to a 27-10 advantage with moderates. It is no coincidence that Romney is in the basement in this state- we've found several places now that where Pawlenty is unusually strong the victim seems to be Romney because of a greater split in the vote among GOP centrists.

Palin holds small leads in the remaining states. Most noteworthy is her strength in Texas and West Virginia, which suggests a bid from her could really hurt Mike Huckabee in the South. In Texas she gets 22% to 20% for Huckabee and 15% for both Gingrich and Romney. In West Virginia she's at 25% to 22% for Huckabee and again 15% for both Gingrich and Romney. These margins are obviously very close but they nevertheless pose trouble for Huckabee and perhaps even more so Gingrich if she ends up making a bad because strength in the South would be vital to either of their prospects.

Romney may not have a complete strangle hold on New England- Palin gets 23% in Maine to 18% for Romney, 16% for Huckabee, and 14% for Gingrich. Those numbers should give folks who think there's no chance Maine Republicans would nominate someone far right against Olympia Snowe in 2012 second thoughts. And finally Palin gets 18% in Wisconsin to 15% for Huckabee, 14% for Gingrich, and 12% for Romney. Pawlenty has his best non-Minnesota performance so far at 8%, not surprising given that it's right next door. And Pawlenty's unusually strong Wisconsin number helps to explain Romney's unusually weak Wisconsin number.

[More]

We find it significant that in many of the states where others are leading, Gov. Palin is running a strong second, for example in Minnesota (where Pawlenty's lead over her is within the margin of error) and Florida (where the Romney lead is right at the MOE). In Rep. Michelle Bachmann and Senator-elect Marco Rubio, she has powerful conservative friends in both states.

PPP is serious about polling the primaries. They have released polls in 12 states, with Romney leading in 5 (California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, New Hampshire), Gov. Palin in 4 (Maine, Texas, West Virginia, Wisconsin), Huckabee in 2 (Illinois, Pennsylvania), and Pawlenty in 1 (Minnesota.) Jensen promises that his company will have results from a final batch of six polls -- including Alaska, Kentucky, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio and Washington -- out early next week.

Full results are available here as a PDF document.

h/t: Hot Air

Update: Susequent PPP polling (PDF) shows Gov. Palin also leading in Ohio and Washington State. She second to Huckabee in Kentucky and tied for second behind Gingrich in North Carolina.

- JP

Michelle Malkin: Tina Fey recycles Palin rape kit lie

That one was debunked two years ago
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Is the left so lacking in actual arguments to use against Gov. Palin that is must continually recycle DNC talking points that have been completely debunked? Apparently so, reports Michelle Malkin, who catches Hollyweirdo Tina Fey going back to the poisoned well of "campaign lies spread by the Soros-supported Internet smear machine":

Last night, comedian/actress Tina Fey won a humor award for her Sarah Palin schtick and used her acceptance speech to indulge in a broader swipe at the conservative women’s revolution in politics.

Via Newsbusters:

Comedienne and actress Tina Fey on Tuesday thanked former Alaska governor Sarah Palin as she accepted this year’s Mark Twain Prize for American Humor.

According to the Washington Post, she then mocked conservative women “first to nervous laughter and then to not much laughter at all”:

In her acceptance speech, Fey touched on her best-known bit — her Palin imitation –and offered some mock hands-across-the-political-divide commentary. The rise of conservative women in politics, she said pointedly, is good for all women, “unless you don’t want to pay for your own rape kit . . . unless you’re a lesbian who wants to get married to your partner of 20 years . . . [or] unless you believe in evolution.”

[...]

Maybe the joke bombed because the joke is on Fey.

The “rape kit” canard was totally dismantled two years ago...

[...]

Fey went on to say: “I would be a liar and an idiot if I didn’t thank Sarah Palin for helping me get here tonight. My partial resemblance and her crazy voice are the two luckiest things that have ever happened to me.”

Well, I certainly agree about the “liar” and “idiot” parts.

We love the “first to nervous laughter and then to not much laughter at all” description, especially coming as it does from the left-wing Washington Post. Perhaps Tina's tired old one-trick pony needs to be put out to pasture.

- JP

Kathleen McKinley: Blogging 'Sarah Palin’s Alaska!'

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Kathleen McKinley, who will be blogging "Sarah Palin's Alaska" (along with a liberal counterpart) for the Houston Chronicle, says that while she's a big fan of the governor, she doesn't put anyone on a pedestal:

The last thing I would want for conservatives is for us to get all star struck over someone like the left did with Obama. Sarah and Obama are people just like us. They aren't superheros. We can admire them for their virtues, but let us never forget that they have their vices as well. Just as we all do.

On the other hand, people are welcome not to like Sarah and to disagree with her. But maybe we could elevate the discourse and not resort to 3rd grade name calling as this WaPo reviewer does:

"Who is this woman, this fruit bat in fleece and Gore-Tex.."

Good grief. Why doesn't he just write, "I hate Sarah Palin," and be done with it? Sometimes I am amused at the amount of hatred that Sarah generates among the left, because she is laughing all the way to the bank, but most times I am just sad that we have come to a point in society where calling someone a "fruit bat" is considered a "review" by the Washington Post.

[More]

The Chron's blogging of "Sarah Palin's Alaska" can be followed at its Tubular web page.

- JP

Today Show: Is Sarah Palin's Alaska a step toward White House?

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In this clip from NBC, Sandra Sobieraj Westfall, who interviewed Gov. Palin for People Magazine, is the guest:


h/t: C4P

- JP

Larry Elder: Of Course Sarah Palin's 'Unfit'; She's a Republican

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In his latest Townhall.com column, Larry Elder makes the case that the left's "Sarah Palin is not ready for prime time" meme is difficult to take it seriously. It's all about liberals' uneven application of standards:

Barbara Walters gushed over John F. Kennedy Jr. and foresaw a political future for him. Never mind that the young man had flunked the New York bar exam -- twice.

"Dumb" former President George W. Bush, caricatured as a slacker in an Oliver Stone movie, made better grades in college than did Al Gore, his opponent in 2000. Gore dropped out of divinity school after earning five F's. Then he entered law school and dropped out. He won a Nobel Peace Prize for his anti-global warming crusade, and his documentary won an Academy Award, but Gore got a D in science at Harvard. Bush also scored higher on his verbal SAT than did Rhodes scholar and "brainy" presidential candidate Bill Bradley.

"Dumb" former President Ronald Reagan majored in economics. But the late Sen. Edward Kennedy, who ran for the presidency, got expelled from Harvard for hiring someone to take a Spanish test.

"Dumb" Republican former President Gerald Ford was ridiculed as a bumbling doofus by Chevy Chase on "Saturday Night Live." Democratic former President Lyndon Baines Johnson famously quipped that Ford, who played football for the University of Michigan, "spent too much time playing football without a helmet." But Ford graduated from Yale Law School, the same school that produced Bill and Hillary Clinton.

The worldly and literate Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., who ran for president in 2004, didn't exactly kill on his military aptitude test. He got half the questions right and half the questions wrong -- dead average. He explained his poor showing by insisting, "I must have been drinking the night before."

Vice President Joe Biden's 1988 quest for the presidency evaporated when he plagiarized a speech by a British politician. When someone questioned his academic credentials at a campaign stop, the offended Biden claimed that he had a full academic scholarship at law school and graduated in the top half of his class. In fact, he had a need-based half-scholarship and graduated near the bottom -- 76th out of 85.

Biden, in his political career, has stacked up enough gaffes for a dozen politicians...

[More]

If she decides to run, says Elder, Gov. Palin will face the same tough challenges as other candidates, with one major exception: "She'll not benefit from the selective standard that liberals apply when evaluating 'their own.'"

- JP

Andrew Malcolm: Sarah Palin's favorable rating rises again

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Our friend and esteemed colleague Andrew Malcolm at Top of the Ticket has noticed that Gov. Palin's favorable ratings are up again, but he reminds who the real decision makers are at this stage of the game:

Republicans are the ones who'll be attending the Iowa caucuses, slogging through the snow to New Hampshire's voting booths and going in short sleeves to vote in South Carolina, where Palin was a key factor in electing the state's new Republican governor, Nikki Haley.

Unless Howard Dean changes his mind, the GOP competition will draw the concentrated media publicity for months on end while the White House golfer complains about the Republican House and tries to convince people that 9% unemployment is way better than 9.6% unemployment.

In the determining area of Republican support, even without announcing a candidacy, Palin currently destroys her potential competitors, according to AP's findings.

This fuels verbal insanity among the woman's critics, who profess so much disdain for Palin that they can't resist attacking her at every opportunity. All of which, of course, makes her even more popular among fans. And intrigued bloggers.

Forget that without holding an elective office but talking common-sense "tea party" conservatism, Palin helped to lead the successful national "Fire Pelosi" GOP bus tour while helping elect a majority of those she endorsed, many of them women, raising millions of dollars and knocking off 18 of her 20 targeted Democrats in the largest midterm political slaughter since 1938 -- which was even before Joe Biden was born.

Fact: Palin is now viewed favorably by nearly 8 of 10 (79%) Republicans or Republican-leaning independents, while only 17% see her unfavorably.

[More]

As Andrew pointed out, the rest of the pack is eating Mama Bear's dust. Huckabee is second at 74-10, Romney (64-18) and Newt Gingrich (68-21) are fighting it out for third place. Way back in the pack are Tim Pawlenty (28-13-59%), Haley Barbour (27-14-58%), Mitch Daniels (24-13-63%) and John Thune (20-10-70%).

But regardless of how the numbers stack up for the various would-be GOP candidates, count on the lamestream media to put a lot of negative spin on Gov. Palin's chances. Andrew, btw, stands apart from that crowd. He was the only blogger/columnist for a major media outlet to post that George W. Bush refudiated the NY Daily News hit piece which alleged that the former president had said her selection as John McCain's '08 running mate was a poor choice. Dubya told Rush Limbaugh in an interview Tuesday that he never said anything of the sort. The salivating media was quick to spread the NYDN lies, but not so much the truth. That makes Mr.Malcolm exceptional, in our opinion. But of course we already knew that.

- JP

Sarah Palin: Happy Veterans Day

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As posted on Gov. Palin's Facebook Notes page:

Happy Veterans Day

On this Veterans Day, please take a moment to remember all those who served in uniform past and present. Though the words in this famous poem are about a soldier, they apply to every member of our armed services. God bless them all. May we never forget the sacrifices made to secure our liberty.

It’s the Soldier, not the reporter,
Who has given us the freedom of the press.

It’s the Soldier, not the poet,
Who has given us the freedom of speech.

It’s the Soldier, not the politicians,
Who ensures our right to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.

It’s the Soldier who salutes the flag,
Who serves beneath the flag,
And whose coffin is draped by the flag.

- JP

WSJ's Gigot: Sarah Palin 'leading the pack' on monetary policy

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The Wall Street Journal's Paul Gigot and James Freeman discuss Gov. Palin's "consistent message" on financial matters on "Opinion Journal Live." Gigot says the former Alaska governor "shows a very sophisticated understanding of monetary policy" and "she's leading the pack" of potential 2012 presidential contenders on the issue:


- JP

Day By Day (November 11, 2010)

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Good Morning! It's a wonderful life if we just take it Day By Day.



Support Pro-Palin Day By Day

- JP

Quote of the Day (November 10, 2010)

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J.E. Dyer at Hot Air's The Green Room:

"It was a wild spring day in an advanced course on statistical analysis... [when] our professor asked us for a simple definition of inflation.... I’d say almost half the class... had earnestly weighed in... before he finally blew the whistle, metaphorically speaking, and gave us the definition he had in mind. 'People. Inflation. Inflation. Prices go up. That’s it! That’s all I’m looking for.' ... Shoppers don’t stand in the grocery store, holding a tray of chicken breasts priced 15% higher than they were a month ago, and think, 'Well, the Bureau of Labor Statistics says that the annualized average rise in prices is only 0.6%, so the price on this package of chicken doesn’t really matter to me.' In the end, the supreme economic tiebreaker is the human being, confronted with the price marked on the item on the shelf. You can only ignore that factor for so long before there has to be a reckoning. Sarah Palin has that right."

- JP

Gov. Palin slams ObamaCare, praises Perry at Dallas event

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Wednesday night at Dallas’ Majestic Theatre, Sarah Palin called on the newly elected Congress to work to repeal ObamaCare, referring to it as the "mother of all unfunded mandates":

Preaching a message of life, Palin -- the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee and a leader in the Tea Party movement -- told a crowd of about 800 people gathered at the Majestic Theatre that last week's midterm elections were a mandate on Congress to repeal a healthcare bill that she believes includes federal funding for some abortions.

"The ramifications of this bill [are] horrendous," she said during a program called "An Evening of Hope" put on by Heroic Media, a Texas-based conservative nonprofit group that promotes alternatives to abortion. "We have to fight back against this federal takeover."

Palin called Barack Obama "the most pro-abortion president to occupy the White House."

Palin praised Republican Gov. Rick Perry, who spoke briefly at the event, for fighting against federal control and for standing up as an anti-abortion governor.

"The governor is talking good stuff about this Lone Star State," she said, adding that she loves the title of Perry's book, Fed Up! Our Fight to Save America From Washington.

"Your governor has been a leader in trying to protect you ... from what is coming out of Washington, D.C.," Palin said.

[More]

After her speech, Gov. Palin joined a panel discussion that included Texas Gov. Rick Perry , Attorney General Greg Abbott, Dallas lawyer Kelly Shackelford and Dallas minister Stephen Broden. The program was moderated by WBAP-AM (820) radio personality Mark Davis. Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert introduced Sarah Palin and welcomed her to the city.

- JP

More Quote of the Day Honorable Mention, Part 151

Special "Dramamine" Edition
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Ed Morrissey at Hot Air:

"Emboldened by her successful debate with a Wall Street Journal reporter over monetary policy, Sarah Palin continues today to blast the Federal Reserve and the Obama administration over the second round of 'quantitative easing.' ...Palin suspects that Obama’s ride on the QE2 also gives him a free ride on debt, allowing the President to avoid making tough decisions — and warns that the rest of us should start taking our Dramamine... The Fed has run out of options to deal with monetary policy in an environment where Congress won’t reform spending and entitlements and a President demands even more deficit spending. In the face of a political establishment that refuses to acknowledge fiscal reality, the Fed has set sail on the QE2 for Weimar, or at the very least, Greece. There isn’t enough Dramamine in the world for those choppy seas."

National Inflation Association:

"Sudeep Reddy wrote an article criticizing Palin's comments about food inflation... NIA finds it unfortunate that Reddy has been brainwashed into believing the government's phony consumer price index (CPI) numbers."

The IUSB Vision Weblog:

"A rule that is taught in every journalism school is this, when you write on a person and/or a subject be sure to check your own paper's archives on the issue and subject. Apparently Sudeep Reddy at the Wall Street Journal was absent the day that was covered in class…and missed the question on the test... Sarah Palin on the other hand, has a journalism degree and... is correct about food prices; any of us who do some of the shopping and/or work retail know this very well... American Business Analytics & Research tells the Salem-News that if the government still calculated inflation the way it was calculated during Carter and Reagan (changed under Clinton) the inflation rate would be 10%."

Riley at Virginia Virtucon:

"Palin’s monetary policy harkens back to Reagan, Kemp... I cannot point to any other potential 2012 Republican presidential candidate who is espousing supply-side, pro-economic growth policies the way that she has been."

Right Wingnut at Right Speak:

"Once again, Sarah Palin has shed new light on an issue that could have serious implications for our country for generations to come. I know, I know...Paul Ryan and a few others have tried to make their voices heard on the the dangers of QE2 for a while now. However, they don't have the power to draw attention to an issue in a way that reaches mainstream America... Given that he's an 'economic genius,' I'm anxiously waiting to hear Mitt Romney's position. Now that Sarah Palin has led the charge, he will most likely conclude that the coast is clear, and issue a statement through his spokesperson sometime in the next few days."

The Editors at Investors Business Daily:

"An unlikely assortment of people ranging from Sarah Palin and Paul Volcker to Rep. Paul Ryan and World Bank head Robert Zoellick all believe quantitative easing is a big mistake. So do we."

Tom Maguire at JustOneMinute:

"Maybe Sarah Palin really does shop for groceries... The WSJ correctly notes that over the past year the CPI for food prices has increased only modestly... But the WSJ does not look at the quarterly report for food prices in Alaska as prepared by the University of Alaska (Fairbanks) Cooperative Extension (described on page 6 of 8 by the Alaska BLS). And what do we discern? From June 2009 to June 2010 food prices in Wasilla jumped by 11.7%. Yike!"

Ira Stoll at Future Of Capitalism:

"In the fight between Sarah Palin and the Wall Street Journal's Sudeep Reddy over food inflation, the Los Angeles Times is siding with Governor Palin..."

Dana Loesch at Big Journalism:

"Sudeep Reddy couldn’t tangle with Palin’s correct assertion that the Fed’s choice of inflation (one of a couple ways this administration believes to be the panacea for a recession: inflation, tax hike) actually contributes to the toxic environment which has scared businesses and investors from further revenue growth and job creation, so Reddy relies on straw man to afford the jab... If the liberal media spent as much time trying to hold the Fed as accountable as they try with Palin and their straw man arguments, perhaps we would have greater transparency and accountability in our economic system."

Elizabeth Scalia at The Anchoress:

"In my continuing quest to remain a dispassionate observer of Sarah Palin... I’m happy to acknowledge the former Governor’s extremely well-played strikeback at a reporter who clearly was so eager to attack her that he left himself wide open for her riposte. She quite deftly scored a 'very palpable hit.'"

Gunpowder Chronicle:

"Maybe Reddy should have gotten his [butt] out of the office and actually gone to a grocery store. There, he would have found while prices may have risen only a little, package sizes have been decreasing for over two years. Have you tried to buy a half gallon of ice cream lately? Noticed the size of the razor blade packages? Frozen pizzas are smaller. Frozen meal sizes are down. Cereal box sizes are down. Crackers and cookie packaging sizes are down. Have you seen soda prices lately? In my area, a twelve-pack of cans averages $4.00 – more expensive than some beer. Reddy obviously doesn’t know how the CPI works, because the CPI does not take into account the size of packaging as a factor in price. And as any Towson University freshman in Microeconomics 101 will tell you, when package size goes down but the published price stays the same, this is a price increase."

Bluegrass Pundit:

"If you are going to slam Palin for getting the facts wrong, make sure she didn't get them from your own paper."

Sissy Willis at Liberty Pundits:

"But while Ruling Class effetes navel gaze, Country Class warrior Sarah Palin herself has been doing her homework, and she's dancing circles around those who would accuse her of being just another pretty face. Yesterday she caught the seasoned eye of the Wall Street Journal's editorial board, who praised her critique of the Fed's latest round of quantitative easing."

Aurelius at Pundit Press:

"If you read the article, Palin stated that food prices increased over the last year. They did. The HuffPo cries foul, saying that the prices didn't rise that much, but obviously their lies cannot hide the fact that Palin was correct."

Devonia Smith at Examiner.com:

"Sarah Palin, self described 'humble housewife' can both read and write - she wants Sudeep Reddy of the Wall Street Journal to know. Both are handy skills for buying groceries and checking the prices to fill the cupboards of an average American family, on a budget... Reddy is quoting from September’s increase in food prices... of the Labor Department and Commerce Department... Ahhh, therein lies the problem. Reddy is quoting on overall prices, not the items that families, who cannot live on bananas or even moose stew alone, might purchase. We're betting that Sarah isn't concerned with how stable the prices are for the liquor for a White House gala but focused on how an an average family of four, with a decrease in income, is far more likely to need that ground chuck and drop the beverages."

- JP