Day By Day (December 30, 2010)

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



Support Chris Muir's pro-Palin Day By Day

- JP

Quote of the Day (December 29, 2010)

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Da Techguy:

"And how many times has Sarah Palin led from the front while other GOP candidates have waited in the wings afraid to engage? This is what a leader does. As for polls, forgetting that they are a snapshot in time people are forgetting that a presidential primary is in the works and the candidates running not named Palin need their supporters to attack her since they don’t dare to so on their own. There are plenty in the GOP how see Palin as a threat to their prerogatives and their power and will be happy to help the media along in trying to destroy her as long as they are not seen as doing so."

- JP

More Quote of the Day Honorable Mention, Part 179

"Unconventional Wisdom" Edition
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The Editors at National Review Online:

"Mrs. Obama’s 'eat your veggies' crusade is at once a remarkably shallow response and a remarkably ambitious one: She may know next to nothing about the deeper issues, but she has adamant faith that the transformative quality of political power will allow even the most ignorant politician — or politician’s wife — to ameliorate any problem, even one that has thus far proved 'impervious to clinical treatment.' By the same token, Mrs. Palin’s dismissal of that conceit contains more wisdom than is understood by political entrepreneurs of the Obama variety or by their factota in the media. Advantage: Palin."

Michelle Malkin at Human Events:

"Nanny State Republican Mike Huckabee... took a swipe at Sarah Palin last week for criticizing the White House usurpation of parental responsibility and rights... Did Huckabee miss (or does he agree with) Mrs. Obama's officious rallying cry on child nutrition: 'We can't just leave it up to parents'?"

BigFurHat at iOwnTheWorld.com:

"There is a vast difference between Sarah Palin saying that people can make smart choices and Mooshell saying it. The left doesn’t latch onto a crusade without regulations and taxes coming down the pike. THAT is the difference. Bastions of the lunatic fringe elements have already banned fast food restaurants, school boards are treating sugar as if it is heroin, the left is drooling over the prospect of being able to tax the crap out of soda, Bloomberg thinks salt is the problem. Just like the left can’t figure out that exploding deficits is not a revenue problem, it’s a spending problem, they can’t figure out that obesity is not an eating problem, it’s a lack of exercise problem – particularly in kids."

Susan Duclos at Wake up America:

"It is a food fight today between Sarah Palin and Michelle Obama, but that is one small battle in a much larger war... Sarah Palin is on the side of the parents, the people, Americans. Michelle Obama is on the side of bigger government interference."

SkinnieMinnie at Three Fingers Of Politics:

"This has got to be one of the most desperate attempts to undermine Sarah Palin to date... Author Bonnie Fuller suggests that because Palin seems content with where her two oldest children are in her life, and because she does not make higher education a big focus of her show Sarah Palin’s Alaska that the mama grizzly might view college as 'elitist.' Fuller also suggests that because the conservative politician is opposed to the first lady’s jihad against fatty foods that she might be 'anti-elitist.' ... Putting the power to select a child’s menu back in the hands of parents and not government does not make Palin anti-elitist or anti-education: it makes her a conservative."

Kempite at White House 2012:

"Sarah Palin has the attention of the people and the presence of personality to take away the steam that many other potential candidates would need to be successful. As such, many like John Thune and even Mike Pence are waiting to see what she does."

Ron Konkoma at Evil Conservative Radio:

"Most anyone with a solid double-digit IQ knows that the left's not-so-subtle suggestion that Sarah Palin (or, for that matter, anyone) would be unsuited to match intellects with our current President is a bunch of malarkey. In fact, I think that Obama's pretty thoroughly demonstrated his superficial grasp of issues and his shockingly rigid mindest - notice how frequently he seems angry at reality for not conforming to his delusions? Anyway... will any of that matter if the left succeeds at getting the average American to believe in Obama's inherent intellectual superiority? He is, after all, an Ivy Leaguer, don't you know."

Gene Lalor at American Conservative Daily:

"The only conspiracy of any consequence is the transparent plot to somehow discredit Sarah Palin via a 20 year old surrogate, Bristol Palin."

Marjorie Dannenfelser of the Susan B. Anthony List:

"Jamie Stiehm’s “Sarah Palin Is No Friend of Women in Politics” isn’t the first time feminist history has been rewritten to fit the abortion-centered model, but it is one of the more egregious instances of ignoring current events... n the House, the 112th Congress will see a 70 percent increase in the number of pro-life women representatives and a 16 percent decrease in the number of pro-abortion women. Republican Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire will fill the void of a pro-life woman’s voice in the Senate. At the state level, we’ll see a four-fold increase in the number of pro-life women governors. This wave of pro-life women leaders swept into office seems to have pushed pro-abortion feminists like Stiehm into denial, causing them to ignore the trend and distort historical fact."

Sen. Jim DeMint via Politico:

"We’ve never spoken, but [Gov. Palin] left me a nice message, and I believe she’s done more for the Republican Party than anyone since Ronald Reagan."

Meredith Dake at Big Journalism:

"Sarah Palin is a straight-talking, articulate (although, rarely qualified as much by the MSM), super-mom turned political pundit. President Obama is a sleek, charismatic but somewhat emotionally aloof politician who can read a teleprompter like nobody’s business (except when it references the military – then he’s a little lost). People who will be impressed but such theatrics (like 'brain-dead' liberals) which look great on camera but do little toward the preservation of our country, will be impressed by such things. Juan Williams is one of those people and yet he somehow managed to stumble on to the truth in his Palin Derangement Syndrome rant: Sarah Palin, when it comes to intellectual honesty, is miles above President Obama’s 'stage'."

Gary P Jackson at A Time For Choosing:

"Online real estate marketer Zillow.com surveyed American adults asking them who they would like to have living next door to them. As it turns out, Sandra Bullock and Sarah Palin topped the list coming in first and second respectively."

Wes Vernon at The Washington Times:

"Sarah Palin has read the writings of such intellectual giants as Milton Friedman, Alexis de Tocqueville and Whittaker Chambers and such historical leaders as Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher. In America by Heart... she cites the published letters between John and Abigail Adams in this nation's infancy as well as the speech of Calvin Coolidge... Beyond that, the 2008 Republican vice-presidential nominee - recently in USA Today - offered us her insight regarding Iran's nuclear capabilities and ambitions. Such displays of research and knowledge are not likely to prevent critics from disparaging her intellectual heft. Indeed, one is left to wonder if they would credit Mrs. Palin's gravitas if she were to author her own comprehensive encyclopedia blindfolded and without notes or research material at hand. The former Alaska governor's second best-seller brims with historically significant details (many not widely known). Moreover, she discusses at length in well-ordered terminology who she is, what she believes, why she believes it and why she pursues her very public path whether or not she ultimately joins the presidential sweepstakes 2012."

Taylor Marsh:

"Republicans were always going to pick up seats in the House and Senate, but after having Sarah Palin beat the crap out of [the Democrats] on messaging before, you’d think they’d have been prepared for a doubling down by the Right..."

Cal Thomas at the Washington Examiner:

"Sarah Palin deserves an apology. When she said that the new health-care law would lead to 'death panels' deciding who gets life-saving treatment and who does not, she was roundly denounced and ridiculed. Now we learn, courtesy of one of the ridiculers -- the New York Times -- that she was right... This rule will inevitably lead to bureaucrats deciding who is 'fit' to live and who is not... It's not a myth, and that's where Palin nailed it. All inhumanities begin with small steps... Do you see where this leads? First the prohibition against abortion is removed and 'doctors' now perform them. Then the assault on the infirm and elderly begins. Once the definition of human life changes, all human lives become potentially expendable if they don't measure up to constantly 'evolving' government standards."

- JP

SarahPAC's Tim Crawford: We Have Been Attacked

Please stand with SarahPAC
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Friends,

As many of you may already know, recently a network of Wikileaks-sympathizing hackers orchestrated crippling, albeit temporary, cyber-attacks on the websites of patriotic, law-abiding organizations around the country, including SarahPAC.com. It is widely believed that the same ad-hoc group of international cyber-criminals took down the websites of many organizations that terminated their business relationships with Wikileaks after their latest dump of compromising and classified US government information. These organizations include iconic American companies such as Visa and MasterCard as well as dotcom giants such as Amazon and Ebay’s PayPal.

The actions taken by Wikileaks’ supporters against these respected American companies show that their true intent is far from noble, and exposes their utter disregard for the collateral damage and financial fallout that resulted from their denial of service attacks. These reckless attacks on major transaction processors during the Christmas season added uncertainty to an already fragile economy and cost them money and resources that could have otherwise been used to grow their businesses and create new jobs.

These malicious hackers targeted major American companies simply for their refusal to participate in the degradation of America’s ability to engage in diplomacy and the direct endangerment of our troops through the release of thousands of battlefield reports. Gov. Palin quickly and unapologetically spoke out against the illegal and irresponsible acts that Wikileaks explicitly exists to perpetrate. After her comments, SarahPAC.com immediately became another target for cyber-attack by Wikileaks’ unofficial hacker-accomplices. In the name of defending free speech, the hackers, alleged to operate under the collective branding of ‘Anonymous’, decided to punish Gov. Palin for hers by flooding SarahPAC.com with a torrent of web traffic in order to make the website inaccessible to supporters.

The twisted logic of these self-styled advocates for free speech doesn’t seem to differentiate between releasing millions of sensitive US government documents with the intent of degrading our nation’s security and standing, and criticizing those who do so. Few times in our history have we, as a nation, faced so many security threats from such a varied and unpredictable array of rogue nations, terrorist organizations, and depraved individuals, and yet these self-styled ‘hacktivists’ are so committed to the continued release of our state secrets that they have decided to use their considerable ‘talents’ to punish those who dare speak out against the reckless endangerment of our republic through espionage.

SarahPAC was forced to spend some of our resources restoring functionality to our website and defending against future attacks, but we won’t allow our commonsense conservative message to be silenced by a few malcontents. Please help us continue to support solid conservative candidates around the country by donating $50, $75, or $100 to SarahPAC.

The illegally obtained information contained within the State Department cable leaks is already damaging our diplomats’ ability to advance American interests abroad and the Afghanistan and Iraq war document leaks represent a goldmine of intelligence for our most dangerous enemies to use against our troops on the battlefield. Please stand with SarahPAC against the reprehensible and downright dangerous acts of the Wikileaks organization and the cyber-intimidation of its misguided hacker allies.

Sincerely,

Tim Crawford
Treasurer
SarahPAC

Paid for by SarahPAC Not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee www.SarahPAC.com

P.O. Box 7711
Arlington, VA 22207

h/t: Ron Devito

- JP

Jeffrey Lord: Berwick Sets Up Death Panels By Fiat

"Governor Palin has been vindicated"
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It's about much more than just death panels, as if they aren't dangerous enough, explains Jeffrey Lord at American Spectator. The more disturbing issue -- and a threat to the American idea of freedom and liberty -- is the manner in which the Obama Administration intends to implement death panels. They will be forced on an unwilling citizenry by "a central government of rule-making un-elected bureaucrats":

Sarah Palin was right.

John Boehner -- make that Speaker-elect of the House John Boehner -- was right.

[...]

In other words, the 2009 charge leveled by former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin and the then-House Minority Leader Boehner that Obama fully intended to set up what Palin termed government "death panels" -- panels that Boehner said would set the government on the road to euthanasia -- is no longer a charge.

It's reality. By executive fiat -- in this case a new Medicare rule issued by Obama Medicare chief Dr. Donald Berwick.

Palin, who made the charge on her Facebook page on August 7, 2009 during the health care debates, came under a fusillade of scornful and demeaning political attacks from political opponents after pointedly saying this about the prospect of death panels:

And who will suffer the most when they ration care? The sick, the elderly, and the disabled, of course. The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama's "death panel" so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their "level of productivity in society," whether they are worthy of health care. Such a system is downright evil.

Her famous sharp criticism was enough for the plan to be quickly dropped by Congress.

Now, with Americans absorbed in a festive holiday and ignoring Washington momentarily, the Obama administration has found a way to achieve its death panel goal anyway...

[...]

Governor Palin has been vindicated. Speaker Boehner has been vindicated.

And Palin's critics in particular now have more than holiday eggnog all over their faces. Obama's Dr. Berwick has re-ignited one of the most hotly controversial issues of the entire health care debate just as a conservative ascendancy prepares to take power in the next Congress. With no less than Boehner himself taking the gavel from Nancy Pelosi as the new Speaker of the House.

What does this new rule say and do, exactly?

It inserts the federal government in end-of-life planning, precisely as Palin said was Obama's intention. Not, as was true of its original legislative formulation, every five years. But annually. No one of any sense objects to an individual and doctor having end-of-life discussions about living wills and such whenever they wish. Only the Obama administration and its obsession for control wants the government to incentivize the issue so that doctors must raise it annually, a system that on its face pressures the most deeply vulnerable of Americans in the most Orwellian of terms to end their lives.

Control and pressure. Pressure and control. This is the only two-step philosophical/political dance liberals know. It is, as it were, primal. And the Berwick Medicare rule, constructed in secret and released on Christmas Day when it no one is looking, is a perfect example -- if hardly the only example -- of how the Obama Administration views its role. Control and pressure. Pressure… and control.

Versus the conservative concept (shorthand version) of liberty and freedom.

And Palin's critics in particular now have more than holiday eggnog all over their faces.

[More]

This Orwellian nightmare serves to remind us, Lord points out, that Governor Palin took almost all of the heat for taking this issue, buried deep as it was in thousands of pages of obscure legislative doublespeak, and raising it to the national consciousness. Her critics have been proven wrong by Berwick, Reich and other authoritarian leftists. Knowing the Palinophobes as we do, no one expects them to own up and give her due credit for being right.

But nothing they say or do can change the fact that Gov. Palin clearly has demonstrated real leadership on this issue -- leadership which Lord suggests is of presidential caliber -- by sticking to her guns on a matter which "is now coming back to bite the American people in the form of a new Medicare rule on death panels -- reported of all days on Christmas day."

Oh, tidings of comfort and joy.

- JP

Day By Day (December 29, 2010)

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



Support Chris Muir's pro-Palin Day By Day

- JP

Quote of the Day (December 28, 2010)

The GOP must win the media war. At stake is the future of the Republic. Literally.
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Left Coast Ledger:

"Whether end-of-life counseling, medication rationing or simply making a choice in physicians, every aspect of your health maintenance will shortly be controlled by one or more panel of government bureaucrats who will have a final say on your future. Which amounts to what Sarah Palin infamously dubbed, 'death panels.'"

- JP

More Quote of the Day Honorable Mention, Part 178

"The Devil's in the Death Panels" Edition
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Freedom Fighter at Joshuapundit:

"Sarah Palin was exactly right when she mentioned that ObamaCare featured rationing and Death Panels -- and now we have it confirmed by no less a source than Pravda-on-the-Hudson. Originally, the language on the so-called 'end of life planning' -- AKA death panels -- was removed before ObamaCare was shoved through, although the provision for those Independent Medical Advisory Boards was left in, which amounted to the same thing. However, President Obama sneaked the language back in under the guise of regulation, so MediCare is now going to pay doctors who advise patients on options for end-of-life care, which includes directives to forgo what's termed 'aggressive life-sustaining treatment.' ... To paraphrase lunatic and ex-congressman Alan Grayson, Obama and the Democrats just want you to die quickly."

Kim Priestap:

"The death panels Sarah Palin talked about may have found their way back in to ObamaCare... By regulatory fiat, ObamaCare will pay doctors to talk to their Medicare patients about end of life care."

Kenneth Schortgen Jr at Examiner.com:

"Sarah Palin, who was a staunch advocate against the potential of death panels because of her son Trig, saw the the removal of these panels from the bill simply an end-around play that would eventually be instituted by the President in an Executive Order, or by a regulatory agency outside the power of Congress... It appears that Palin's fears were correct in that the New York Times has confirmed President Obama is looking hard at implementing the death panels through regulatory bodies starting on January 1st."

TheRightScoop:

"Sure, right now it’s just voluntary, but that’s just the boot heel in the door. We all know how this game will end. It’s all about cost. Sarah Palin was right then and she’s still right."

J.D. Longstreet at Right Side News:

"Obama is a fast learner... He is going to rely on his Czars and his regulatory agencies to pass into law the control over US citizens necessary to 'fundamentally transform' (Obama’s words) America into the socialist utopia he dreams about... Remember the 'Death Panels' we were warned about by Sarah Palin and other conservatives. It was the so-called end-of-life plan written into the original ObamaCare Plan. When the public learned about it, all heck broke loose and the democrats were forced to drop it from the ObamaCare plan. But never fear. Obama is doing an end run around the national legislature, the Congress, and forcing it on the American people, anyway! ObamaCare supporters refer to it as a 'quiet victory.' See what I mean?"

Bryan Preston at Pajamas Media:

"Sarah Palin took and continues to take heat for the 'death panels' rhetoric, but she was right. She was smart enough to see what Obama intended, and she was strong enough to take the heat for pointing it all out, and never backed down. Just thought I’d point that out."

RedStateVT:

"Sarah Palin Will Now Accept Your Apology... Funny how all the things that Republicans (including Sarah Palin) warned about Obamacare – and for which they were derided – are now coming to pass. Cost will go down. Sorry, they will go up. The insurance mandate is not a tax. Oops, it is a tax. Not death panels. Well, yeah they are sort of death panels..."

Steven Ertelt at LifeNews.com:

"The death panels initially came under fire when former vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin used the phrase to describe the advance care planning consultations found in Section 1233 of the bill before the final version received Congressional approval."

Jack Cashill at American Thinker Blog:

"FOX News commentator and former White House Press secretary Dana Perino... found it 'very discordant' that one day Palin could be seen camping on her reality show or heard tweeting about some 'cute thing' and then the next day produce 'a very serious and thoughtful piece about a nuclear Iran.' Concludes Perino about the USA Today piece on Iran, 'It doesn't sound like her when you read the materials.' This multi-tasking seems beyond Perino... Whether Palin actually wrote the piece on Iran I cannot say, but like just about everything attributed to Palin, it is as sensible and straightforward as Palin herself. She could easily have written it. In Palin's memoir, Going Rogue... there is... not a sentence in the book Palin could not have written herself... The same cannot be said about the literary pretensions of Barack Obama."

myiq2xu at The Confluence:

"Now the conventional wisdom on the left is that the GOP establishment is attacking Palin because they are afraid that if she is the 2012 nominee she will lose in the general election. That’s wrong. They are scared ____less that she’ll win."

Ira Stoll at The Future of Capitalism:

"The Wall Street Journal has an editorial inexplicably siding with Michelle Obama against Sarah Palin on the issue of Mrs. Obama's campaign against childhood obesity... The Journal says Mrs. Obama has eschewed coercion. But there's nothing optional or non-coercive about the $275 million in tax dollars that are being taken by government force from taxpayers and used to subsidize new firms. I've been meaning to get to Philadelphia to check out this supermarket and, more importantly, ask other stores in the neighborhood how they feel about having their tax dollars taken to subsidize a new competitor that Mrs. Obama and the Treasury secretary like because it offers produce from local farmers. But for those of us out in the real economy trying to start businesses without the benefit of Treasury grants or 39% tax credits — well, let's just say that from here it looks like Sarah Palin understands what Michelle Obama and Timothy Geithner are up to a whole lot better than do the editorial writers of the Wall Street Journal."

Flood at My Big Mouth:

"Frankly I think Sarah has done Michelle all wrong; one look at the first lady and you'd very quickly decide that she holds no prejudice against smores."

Shane Vander Hart at Caffeinated Thoughts:

"Right before Christmas Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee doubled down on his support of Michelle Obama’s Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act by defending Mrs. Obama from Sarah Palin... We do have an obesity problem. But I would say it is Governor Huckabee, not Governor Palin who misunderstand what Michelle Obama is trying to do... The problem is what role does the government play in such matters. Governor Palin gets it, Governor Huckabee at least with this issue doesn’t... Governor Palin has it right when she says that the Obamas don’t trust people 'to make decisions for their own children.' We’ve seen two years that the Obamas favor more governmental control. Michelle Obama does try to tell people what to eat, and she has pushed the government’s desires onto people through this act. When will [Huckabee] recognize that this bill is unconstitutional and a further encroachment of government into people’s every day lives?"

Martha R Gore at Examiner.com:

"It is going to drive the haters crazy to learn that Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin made the list of the top ten most admired people."

Manhattan Infidel:

"Stunned by recent incidents of schoolyard bullying, and heeding the cry of Hollywood to do something, the House passed a resolution calling for an end to 'all bullying and unnice behavior' in the entire United States 'unless said bullying is directed at a monster such as Sarah Palin.' ... The House resolution, in addition to banning bullying, mandates that all sporting events must contain at least five nonathletic nerds who throw like girls. Also, whenever possible games must end in a tie to ensure that 'everyone feels good about themselves and those who would have lost aren’t traumatized.'"

- JP

Paul Hollrah: Ten ‘Mama Grizzlies’ and a ‘Fat Guy’ Are the GOP's Future

The strongest leadership potential in the GOP is in its women and minorities
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Paul R. Hollrah, a senior fellow at the Lincoln Heritage Institute, in a guest post at fellow Oklahoman Bob McClarty's blog, bemoans what we here in neighboring Texas like to call the modern Republican Party's "spinal gap." But he also recognizes that the GOP has a small but strong core of fearless leaders that can help rebuild it into a political army of the willing and able:

On the Republican side of the aisle in Congress we find few truly courageous and outspoken members. Sens. Tom Coburn and Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma, Jeff Sessions of Alabama, and Jim DeMint of South Carolina are notable exceptions.

[...]

As matters now stand, the shortage of testosterone among conservative and Republican men has become so critical that, as Republicans move to capture the ground that Democrats have relinquished, the strongest leadership potential in the Republican ranks is to be found among women and minorities.

Among the most effective and outspoken conservative elected officials, dubbed “Mama Grizzlies” by former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin are Senator-elect Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.); Rep. Michelle Bachman (R-Minn.); Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.); Attorney General-elect Pam Bondi (R-Fla.); Gov. Jan Brewer (R-Ariz.); Governor-elect Mary Fallin (R-Okla.); Governor-elect Nikki Haley (R-S.C.); Governor-elect Susana Martinez (R-N.M.); and Congresswoman-elect Kristi Noem (R-S.D.).

[...]

They are joined by a growing number of strong and eloquent black conservatives, including former corporate CEO Herman Cain; Republican political strategist Angela McGlowan; Lincoln Institute President Jay Parker; conservative columnist Star Parker; conservative author, Rev. Wayne Perryman; National Black Republicans President Frances Rice; Congressman-elect Tim Scott (R-S.C.); Congressman-elect Allen West (R-FL); and economics professor Walter Williams.

[...]

Other than Newt Gingrich, the only man in the ranks of Republican leaders who appears to have what it takes to go toe-to-toe with liberals, Democrats, and their bought-and-paid-for special interests, is Gov. Chris Christie, the “fat guy” from New Jersey.

[...]

On Feb. 28, 1854, some 30 devout abolitionists, opponents of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, met in a small one-room schoolhouse in Ripon, Wisc., to create a new political party… the Republican Party. And if a lack of strong leadership and a departure from Republican principles demands that we do it all over again we have a good beginning. We have ten Mama Grizzles and a fat guy from New Jersey to build on.

[More]

- JP

Day By Day (December 28, 2010)

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



Support Chris Muir's pro-Palin Day By Day

- JP

Quote of the Day (December 27, 2010)

Democrats would have preferred to keep this under wraps
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Joy Tiz at CFP:

"Sarah Palin was excoriated for making the entirely correct observation that when a government controls health care, rationing becomes inevitable. Democrats squealed like stuck pigs, but dropped the execrable end of life counseling language from ObamaCare... On Christmas Day, the NYT revealed the resurrection of the death panel by way of the unelected bureaucrat... It’s a short hop to pressuring patients to cooperate with their doctors in agreeing to opt out of all but the most meager palliative care."

- JP

Gallup Poll: Sarah Palin more admired than Michelle Obama, Oprah

"The big win goes to Palin"
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President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton were the "most admired" man and woman in America in 2010, according to the results of an annual Gallup poll. For Hillary Clinton, this is her ninth consecutive year at the top of the list of most admired women in the U.S. Here's Abe Greewald's take:

Now for the fun part: Guess who has the No. 2 spot. None other than George W. Bush. Normally, there’d be nothing remarkable in the last president being the second-most admired man in the country. But because the anti-Bush attack machine had so doggedly tried to paint him as a frightening historical outlier it’s stunning to see him treated like any American president. So much for the validity of an eight-year long, millions-strong politico-cultural movement.

[...]

And speaking of the 2008 election, the Democrats’ national nightmare, Sarah Palin, came in second to Hillary. Palin beat out none other than omnipresent cultural goddess Oprah Winfrey, who came in third (Both beat out First Lady Michelle Obama, who came in fourth).

To my mind, the big win goes to Palin. For all the pundit chatter about her not being a viable contender for president, the public admires her more than the most beloved media personality in the country. Like Oprah, Palin channeled her talent to connect with Americans toward its most efficient use. The Tea Party allowed her to showcase her ability, raise her market value, and serve a cause she believes in: America. Right before the eyes of antagonistic columnists and hostile comics she became the credible face of the most transformative political movement the country has seen in decades.

[More]

The USA Today/Gallup poll was conducted by telephone December 10-12, 2010, with a random sample of 1,019 adults 18 years of age and older.

- JP

More Quote of the Day Honorable Mention, Part 177

"Death Panels Don't Have No Mercy" Edition
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bc3b at Be John Galt:

"When Sarah Palin coined the phrase 'Death Panels' [last] year the left in general – and the media in particular – went nuts. PoliFact, which is owned by the far-left St. Petersburg Times, 'honored' Palin with it’s Lie of the Year Award. Well, according the the New York Times, the newspaper of record for the left, 'death panels' are on their way by executive order... Think PoliFact will be issuing
an apology soon? Nah!"

B. Daniel Blatt at GayPatriot:

"Sarah Palin Was Right..."

John Hayward at Human Events:

"Palin was able to shame the Democrats into dropping aggressive end-of-life counseling from ObamaCare during passage, but like everything else about the most disastrous bill of the modern era, it was a lie. The Times approvingly reports that the Administration is quietly restoring these provisions through regulation, specifically a Medicare policy that will 'pay doctors who advise patients on options for end-of-life care, which may include advance directives to forgo aggressive life-sustaining treatment.' And just who will be writing those 'advance directives?' I’d say the odds of this Orwellian government naming it the 'Life Panel' are better than even."

Jennifer at Cubachi:

"Juan Williams on Fox News Sunday, claims Sarah Palin is not a match, intellectually, for Barack Obama... So who does Juan think will be a formidable candidate for the GOP? Mike Huckabee. Oh spare me."

Whitney Pitcher at Conservatives 4 Palin:

"If you juxtapose President Obama’s experience, policies, and record against Governor Palin’s experience, stances and record, then I suppose Williams is right. Governor Palin cannot stand on the 'intellectual' stage with Obama, and rightfully so. While President Obama’ s supposed intellect has made us a less secure nation in every sense of the word, Governor Palin’s gubernatorial record and stances would lead America to [be] a more financially stable and more secure nation. Governor Palin stands on the stage of common sense, practicality, and smart governance. Juan Williams and President Obama can exit stage left."

FireAndreaMitchell:

"Juan Williams is [a] left wing nut... and always takes swipes at conservatives whenever he gets the chance, especially Sarah Palin... So why should I have been surprised when yet again Williams made another asinine statement on Fox News Sunday..."

Joe Newby at Examiner.com:

"Who else can send the entire Democratic Party-media complex into a seething, incoherent rage with a single Facebook note? But Williams gave Fox viewers a taste of a potential match-up between Palin and Obama. If this is the tactic liberals intend to use, they might want to look back in history a few years. There was another Republican attacked as a stupid war-monger, but Americans elected him to not one, but two terms as President. His name was Ronald Reagan."

ZIP at Weasel Zippers:

"Juan Williams: Sarah Palin 'Can’t Stand on the Intellectual Stage With Obama'… Obama’s teleprompter unavailable for comment…"

Marc Lacey at The NY Times:

"Edward Farrell, Maricopa’s vice mayor and a fourth-generation resident, gave Todd Palin, Ms. Palin’s father, a tour of Maricopa earlier in the year and was under the impression that he was looking for a house for the entire family. 'I left the meeting thinking that maybe he and Sarah were looking for a place to live,' said Mr. Farrell, who was surprised when he learned that [Bristol] Palin was listed as the buyer."

Meghan Spielman at American Honey:

"Sarah Palin is a very controversial figure with both conservatives and liberals, but I don't care what other people say. I like her!"

Jim Meyer at Red County:

"The elitist know-it-alls -- both leftist and alleged conservative -- who bash Governor Palin do so primarily because she's a decided non-elite who has never done anything in her life or her political career the way THEY think it should be done. She didn’t obey THEIR rules. She didn't follow THEIR formula. She didn't paint by THEIR numbers. She didn't do things THEIR way, and yet she has succeeded anyhow. Governor Palin's continuing story of personal success totally perplexes and frustrates elitist snobs on both ends of the political spectrum. And they react to her the way all arrogant, conceited and narrow-minded people do when confronted with someone they don't understand and can't tolerate: By attacking her."

Cathy Lynn Grossman at USA Today's Faith & Reason blog:

"Sarah Palin is the top religion newsmaker in 2010 to many Faith & Reason readers..."

Mark Vogl at America Today:

"The 'smart' people, the Ivy Leaguers, the Bushes and the Clintons, and the Obamas, and the McCains and the rest of you...you are the ones who have brought our nation to the brink of catastrophe. You are the ones who created the huge deficits. You are the ones who have our nation in two wars. And you are the people who have allowed tens of millions of illegals into the nation, and tens of millions of jobs to leave the nation. No, we really don't care what you think, or what you say. Sarah, give us a chance, just get your name on the ballot... let us do the rest."

David C Beach at BLN:

"Hello Sarah Palin, though I never knew you at all, you had the grace to hold yourself while those around you crawled. They crawled out of the woodwork and they shouted insults at your name, they lied about your record, and they drove themselves insane."

Rob Port at SayAnythingBlog:

"Her point is that the Sarah Palin of her various op/ed pieces doesn’t 'sound' like it came from the Sarah Palin who goes camping on her TLC program. Which means, what? You can’t enjoy camping and fishing and have serious thoughts about Iran’s nuclear program? The intent here is to suggest that Palin isn’t smart enough to have her own opinions, and that her serious policy writings are the words of someone else. Which is pretty unfair as even Perino admits that plenty of politicians use speech writers and other advisers to craft their policy writings... Frankly, I love that Palin is in the mix. I don’t always agree with her, but she’s a wild card. She challenges the establishment and the status quo, and that’s exactly what Republicans need."

- JP

Day By Day (December 27, 2010)

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



Support Chris Muir's pro-Palin Day By Day

- JP

Quote of the Day (December 26, 2010)

"She has it. They want it. They can’t get it. It is that simple."
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Dr. Gina Loudon at Big Hollywood:

"What is clear is that Palin has tapped a connection with 'real America' in a Reaganesque manner that makes any politician jealous. She understands the culture, and she knows what it takes to keep ones name at the center of conversations. She engenders just the right amount of criticism to keep her fans rabidly defensive. Her detractors wind up looking like yipping, hysterical Chihuahuas with pink, spiky collars in pathetic attempts to appear menacing. Meanwhile, poli-star wannabe’s from Michael Moore to Meghan McCain are salivating as their pathetic attempts to pedal their way to relevance falls far short of what only comes naturally to Sarah Palin—Poli Super Stardom. She has it. They want it. They can’t get it. It is that simple."

- JP

NY Sun: Gov. Palin's beat on ‘Death Panels’ is confirmed by NY Times

Is she smarter than the media and the Congress, or just more honest?
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Sarah Palin scooped the corrupt media in August, 2009 with a series of Facebook statements warning that the Obama administration intended to ration health care. Now, sixteen months later, we learn that since Obama won't be able to achieve rationing by legislative means (since the next House of Representatives with its Republican majority, would never go along with it) , it will do so through regulation. An editorial in today's New York Sun credits the New York Times with confirming Gov. Palin's warnings:

At the time, Mrs. Palin’s prophecy touched off an enormous hue and a cry among the liberal intelligentsia, so much so that the scheme was dropped in Congress. Yet even though it was dropped by Congress the New York Times is reporting that “the Obama administration will achieve the same goal by regulation” and will start doing so January 1. The Times says that the government “will now pay doctors who advise patients on options for end-of-life care, which may include advance directives to forgo aggressive life-sustaining treatment.”

It seems to be the administration's conception of democracy that after the Congress so pointedly left this out of the Obamacare legislation the scheme can be advanced by regulation. The point is underscored in Robert Pear’s dispatch in the Times, which quotes one of the congressmen originally advocating for the so-called death panels, Earl Blumenauer of Oregon, as saying of the regulatory approach, “we won’t be shouting it from the rooftops because we aren’t out of the woods yet” and warning that the regulation could yet be “modified or reversed.”

No doubt the defenders of Obamacare will argue that this kind of advance directive is hardly a death panel. Participation is voluntary; it’s but “advice.” However, since the “aggressive life-sustaining treatment” being decided upon would be paid for by the same government that is funding the advice on whether to go for it, one can see that this is a step toward exactly the kind of death panel that Mrs. Palin warned about. She used as a proxy for all of us the fate of down-syndrome children like her own son Trig.

So how was Gov. Palin able to see this coming when so many others could not and many more were in denial? The Sun's editors say it doesn’t matter:

It’s enough that she was just ahead of the others, and the point is one to mark. She has become, at a relatively young age and by whatever means, a savvy woman. We noticed it, say, when she suggested the best way to handle the question of the West Bank settlements was to let the Israelis decide, a policy the administration is now following. We noticed it when she went to Hong Kong and warned about the collapse in the value of the dollar and spoke of the importance of gold.

It was apparent when she dove in before other politicians and the intelligentsia and warned about the dangers of the Federal Reserve’s second round of quantitative easing. And when, in advance of the BP oil-spill disaster, she’d been campaigning to develop our onshore energy resources. And when she began branding as her own the idea of commonsense, conservative constitutionalism — a year before a resurgent GOP is preparing to open the 112th Congress with a reading of the entire text of the Constitution.

Even though Sarah Palin was not the first politician to discuss these issues, The Sun's editors point our that she did manage to elevate a number of them to the national debate. Gov. Palin, who earned a degree in journalism, say the editors, understands one of journalism’s core principles: "It’s not a scoop until it’s played like a scoop."

- JP

Kelly: Obama Groupies Oprah, Matthews Spread Media's Anti-Palin Gospel

Americans are not the Danes, nor do we do share the left's view of Big Government
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William J. Kelly comments on Oprah Winfrey's thinly veiled diss of Sarah Palin in today's issue of Parade Magazine. The lamestream media, he says, "are already lapping it like swine."

Asked by Parade whether the prospect of Gov. Palin running for President scares her, the Obama sycophant replied, “It does not scare me because I believe in the intelligence of the American public”:

So, is Oprah saying that the American people are too smart to vote for Palin? Is she also saying that intelligent people want Obama’s Big Government agenda that Palin is opposed to? If she is, did she bear witness to the recent Midterm Election Massacre of 2010 that symbolized the complete and utter rejection of the President and the progressivism he’s been force-feeding us? If that is indeed what the Queen of All Media is saying, someone may need to screw her head back on.

MSNBC’s Chris “Tingles” Matthews probably got a thrill up his other leg when he read the transcript of Winfrey’s comments. He praised the talk show diva saying, “Isn’t it incredible how Oprah can deliver a zinger like that while in the same sentence, offering such an uplifting portrait of us?” Yes, all hail Oprah.

Like Oprah, Matthews is known for his gushing adoration of Obama. He even cries during his speeches and compares him to Jesus. During the 2008 Election, Matthews said of then Senator Obama, “I’ve been following politics since I was about 5. I’ve never seen anything like this. This is bigger than Kennedy. [Obama] comes along, and he seems to have the answers. This is the New Testament.”

[...]

Oprah gushes over Denmark’s free healthcare, free education, and unemployment security, where if you lose your job the government pays up to 90% of your salary for four years.

[...]

What Oprah doesn’t mention is that Denmark’s taxes are the highest in the world – between 50-75% of your income. It is no secret that President Obama and the mainstream media look to Europe’s socialist model for inspiration, hoping to eradicate American capitalism once and for all. In the video, Oprah, too, is giddy with excitement to be with those bicycle-riding Danes who share her worldview. But Americans are not the Danes and we do not share this view of Big Government. It is not our cultural identity to believe in the equality of outcomes, just the equality of opportunity. That is Sarah Palin’s view as well. However, to an Oprah Winfrey or a Barack Obama, those who do not share their view are simply not intelligent or sophisticated enough to understand what they are trying to do or how they are – sigh – trying to make the world a better place.

As much as the mainstream media has what Bernard Golberg calls "A Slobbering Love Affair" with Obama, Kelly points that they’re salivating over more opportunities to attack Gov. Palin every day during the next two years, just as they have done on a daily basis since August of 2008.

- JP

Latest Bristol Palin rumor: She may enroll at ASU

"Where The Bold Saguaros Raise Their Arms On High..."
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From TMZ.com:

"Bristol Palin is telling friends she may enroll at an Arizona college once she moves in to the home she just bought in the Grand Canyon state..."

Obligatory disclaimer: Internet gossip sites are notoriously poor sources of information on all matters Palin. Fact-checking apparently isn't part of their standard reporting process, and they are far more often wrong than right. Sometimes, they just make things up out of thin air.

On the other hand, ASU has an outstanding program in Broadcast Journalism and Mass Communications, plus several well-regarded Business programs, including one with a concentration in Communications, if Bristol is interested in pursuing either path toward a degree. The university has facilities in downtown Phoenix in addition to the main campus in the suburb of Tempe. She was taking business courses when she lived in Anchorage and was working in a dermatologist's office.

Ron Devito reminds us that clan Palin has family connections in Arizona. Also, Thomas Van Flein, formerly a Palin attorney, will be going to work for Congressman-elect Paul Gosar, who will be representing the 1st Congressional District. CD-1 is adjacent to -- but doesn't include -- the Phoenix metro area. Gov. Palin endorsed Dr. Gosar in his GOP primary race and continued to support him through the general election contest, in which he defeated incumbent Democrat Ann Kirkpatrick.

- JP

Day By Day (December 26, 2010)

It's not your father's military anymore...
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Good morning! It's a wonderful life if we just take it Day By Day.



Support Chris Muir's pro-Palin Day By Day

- JP

Quote of the Day (December 25, 2010)

"I think she deserves Person of the Year for 2010"
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Patrick Roberts at Irish Central:

"My person of the year 2011 is Sarah Palin. No one has played the media at their own game and defeated them as handily as the former Governor of Alaska... She has the virtue that everyone continues to underestimate her, believing she has no chance at the Republican nomination in 2012. I beg to differ as I have said here on numerous occasions. I think 2011 will be another banner year for Palin at the end of which she will be poised to win Iowa and New Hampshire and sweep the Republican nomination."

- JP