Ronald Reagan's Legacy: Palinism is Reaganism

Since Sarah Palin first stepped on the national stage, pundits have been comparing and contrasting her with Ronald Reagan. Michael Reagan, in the excitement following Sarah Palin's RNC acceptance speech, authored an op-ed that appeared in Human Events and Townhall.com, in which he portrayed the Alaska governor as the reincarnation of his late father. One hundred and eighty degrees away,  one Conservative Lite drinker after another has disdainfully sneered, "She's no Ronald Reagan." To some extent, both of these views have elements of truth in them.

Sarah Palin -- like many of her fellow conservative "young guns" -- grew up in the Reagan era. She was born in 1964, the same year Ronald Reagan delivered his famous "A Time for Choosing" speech. She was twelve when The Gipper challenged Gerald Ford for the nomination of his party in 1976. When Reagan was elected to the White House, she was a teenager, and she was entering adulthood when he defeated liberal Walter Mondale in a 1984 landslide reelection victory. Eric Cantor, Jeff Flake, Thad McCotter and Mike Pence were children of that same generation. Michele Bachmann and Jeb Hensarling are a few years older, Paul Ryan and Bobby Jindal a few years younger, yet they are all Reagan's political children. Ronald Reagan was their inspiration, and they share his vision of America as that shining city on a hill. Sarah Palin, however, is the only one of them who was blessed with the gift of charisma to the same degree that Ronald Reagan possessed it. She is truly a political rock star.

While Sarah Palin is indeed not Ronald Reagan, she knows his playbook like the back of her hand. Palinism is Reaganism. And that's both the point and the title of an Examiner opinion piece by Rob Binsrick:

"Reagan’s appeal to the middle and to those ‘Reagan Democrats’ was not his policies but rather his optimism and more so his ‘Americanism.’ When Reagan went abroad he did not apologize for America like Obama has done, but instead he sold America as the best brand available in the world. He was completely unabashed in his pride for America and he was strong, forceful and vocal in his disdain for communism and other perceived evils in the world. Contrast that with how Obama presents America abroad and bows to leaders of communist states."

[...]

"When [Sarah Palin] starts talking about America... is when she sounds absolutely Reaganesque."

[...]

"Palin shares Reagan’s optimism about America and about Americans. As opposed to Obama’s ‘blame America first’ approach to diplomacy, Palin speaks fervently about the greatness that is the America spirit. Reagan had that ability to make everyone feel better about their country and about themselves. He not only wanted everyone to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps, he was able to convince most Americans that they could do so."

"Palin is a living example of what Reagan envisioned for all Americans – someone who could start out from humble beginnings but achieve high levels of success in life. As her book title suggests, she has lived ‘An American Life’ and it is just the kind of which Reagan would have approved."

"Palin also wears her conservatism on her sleeve and is unashamed to talk about it. The same was very true of Reagan."

Yet, as Binsrick takes pains to illustrate, both Reagan and Palin governed not as radical right-wingers, but from a center-right perspective. They had to. The realities of their respective terms in office required them to deal with Democrats and Republican Lites to push through their own agendas.

Binsrick also has a great counter punch for those who have criticized Palin's two and a half percent increase in the production tax oil companies pay to her state:

"Democrats in Congress during the Bush administration... wanted to take the money from the oil companies and keep it in Washington for the government to use, but in Palin's plan she gave the money back to the taxpayers of Alaska. Palin and Reagan correctly understood that individuals can make better decisions for themselves than bureaucrats in Washington or Juneau can make for them."

The full op-ed is here, and it's worth the read.

- JP

FOX & Friends interviews Sarah Palin in Florida

Sarah Palin took a brief break from her Going Rogue Book Tour in The Villages, Florida Tuesday to sit down with Gretchen Carlson for an interview that was aired on Wednesday morning's edition of FOX & Friends. The interview was shown in three segments, which you can view here, here and here.

- JP

KTUU interview with Sarah Palin, Part 2

Anchorage television station KTUU, where Sarah Palin got her start as a sportscaster, recently interviewed the former Alaska governor while on board the Going Rogue tour bus as it rolled across Indiana. We linked to Part 1 of the interview here.

Here's two excerpts from Part 2:

Channel 2 News: Just watching the crowds here today, cheering "Sarah 2012, president." Now you say it's not on your radar, but it's clearly on the radar of a lot of people. When people say ‘Sarah, you're going to be our next president', what do you say?

Sarah Palin: You know, I don't think that they're necessarily looking at me as an individual, just as that hockey mom from Alaska; they're looking for a voice, though. They are looking for someone who has the energy and the backbone to stand up for the everyday, hard-working American who just wants government back on their side.

They want common-sense conservative solutions to health care challenges, and to the growing deficit and debt in our nation. They want a very strong military, strong national defense. And I think some of them are looking at me right now as kind of a representation of that. But I know that I don't have to have that title or any title in order to make that difference and to support others who perhaps will be in office at that point to make that difference."

[...]

Channel 2 News: Getting back to you and the presidential race, it's still too early to call, but I've heard your opponents say, ‘If she runs, if she's the head of the GOP ticket, that's an automatic win for the Democrats. She's like Barry Goldwater in '64, an ultra-conservative candidate that can't win'. What would you say to that?

Sarah Palin: You know it's funny that I would be characterized as this ultra-conservative candidate. I think it's a very common-sense conservative agenda that I have. And it's quite simple too. And that's what drives people crazy is I'm going to talk simply about it.

And a lot of politicians want to convolute things, and politicize things and make things more complicated for the voter than they need to be, and there's an agenda behind that. But, it's a common-sense conservative agenda that I have. It's just believing more in the inherent power and intelligence and value of the individual, in the small business, and a family, than in government. And if that's an ultra-extreme conservative agenda, then so be it. To me it's just common sense.

Video and transcript of Part 2 are here.

- JP

When the elite establishment hates a common sense conservative

Ben Shapiro, in a Townhall.com column:

What would you think of a candidate the Baltimore Sun calls a symptom of "the right, the radical right, which cherishes notions that often are too simple, too negative and too risky"? What would you believe about a candidate one liberal columnist calls "patently ridiculous … frivolous"? What would you say about a candidate one writer says is incapable of "accuracy or depth"? A candidate who "cater[s] to the fears and anxieties of the great middle class"?

Would you back a candidate one New York Times columnist calls "primitive"? That The New Republic calls an "ignoramus"? That The Nation labels "the most dangerous person ever to come this close to the presidency"?

Would you support a candidate even moderate Republicans despise? A candidate whose simple legitimization by the party constitutes a "political dance macabre … the dance of death for the Republican Party"? A candidate described by a moderate competitor as plagued with a "penchant for offering simplistic solutions to hideously complex problems"?

You might simply dismiss such rhetoric as just more shots fired in the assault on Sarah Heath Palin, but you would be wrong. The intended target was another Republican former governor, one Ronald Wilson Reagan, and the rounds were fired at a time when Palin was in her early teenage years.

And, as Shapiro makes a point of reminding us, Reagan was no loser, but a conservative candidate who won big, in a 1980 blowout of Jimmy Carter in which the incumbent only managed to garner 49 electoral votes, and again in 1984 with a landslide of such Biblical proportions that liberal Democrat Walter Mondale carried only his home state of Minnesota and was awarded a paltry 13 electoral votes:

Here's the problem for the liberal media establishment and their erstwhile allies in the Rockefeller wing of the GOP: their hatred and scorn does not ensure their victory. Every Republican who does not have any Ivy League degree, who draws significant crowds, who does not pay homage to government spending and social libertinism, is derided as a boob and a fool. "Ridicule," said Saul Alinsky, "is man's most potent weapon."

Shapiro's point is that sometimes, ridicule is a tactic which backfires on those who attempt to employ it:

Ridicule does not work when the times are too serious to merit the quick and easy dismissal of a promising candidate. It does not work when a candidate is simply too likeable to be pilloried as a budding mass murderer (the Democrats achieved that image with Goldwater, but they failed with Reagan). It does not work when a candidate is seen not just as an ideological warrior, but also as a truly human hero by millions across the country.

The $64,000 Question, as people used to say in The Gipper's day, is can Sarah Palin pull off an electoral victory which, if not a Reganesque landslide, is at least an Alaskan avalanche? That, as people still like to say, remains to be seen. Shapiro predicts that if the economy continues to tank due to the Democrats' printing monopoly money and profligate spending, and if Afghanistan becomes dithered into a quagmire reminiscent of Vietnam, moose hunting and Levi Johnston won't matter much to the American voter.

We would add Joe Biden's three letter word -- j-o-b-s -- to all of the above. If unemployment remains in the double digits, Kathie Couric's questions will not be one of the overriding concerns on the minds of the electorate. Sarah Palin might well be paraphrasing the words of Gen. George S. Patton three years hence: "Alinsky, you magnificent bastard! I read your book."

- JP

Quote of the Day (November 24, 2009)

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Amy Geiger-Hemmer:

"When Sarah Palin talks about the greatness of America, Obama is quick to criticize it. When Sarah Palin talks about the strength of the American people, Obama is quick to apologize to anyone or any country that will listen for what he believes to be America's faults... Palin has served as a lightening rod to energize those who love America and disagree with Obama's socialist visions. It is becoming apparent that our country will not sit back quietly and let America be ruined."

- JP

Sarah Palin: A war tax? Is Congress serious?

In another post on her Facebook Notes page, Sarah Palin described calls by two top Congressional Democrats for a "war tax" as "Scary. Nonsensical. Unacceptable." Rep. David Obey of Wisconsin and Sen. Carl Levin of New York have each proposed that a  surtax be imposed on the wealthy to pay for U.S. military operations in Afghanistan:

Congress Never Ceases to Amaze

Really? A tax on national defense? I hear liberal Congressional proposals and I, like most Americans, wonder if they’re serious. We’re going to put a price tag on security?

With Congress and President Obama spending money on everything at breakneck speed, it’s interesting that they are only now getting nervous about spending – but only when it comes to providing the necessary funds to complete our mission in Afghanistan. They don’t need a new “war tax” to fund a strategy for victory in the war zone. They simply need to prioritize our money appropriately.

I find it telling that the Pelosi-Reid Congress is only cost-conscious when it comes to our national defense. Scary. Nonsensical. Unacceptable.

- Sarah Palin

- JP

National Media Downplays Size of Palin Crowds

Don Irvine at Accuracy In Media says that reports by the national media are downplaying the size of the crowds that gather at her book signing events. Irvine cites an ABC story on the Fort Wayne, Indiana event headlined "Hundreds Line Up to See Sarah Palin on Day Two of Book Tour":

"In this story ABC News has been very careful to only mention how many people received wristbands and not to give an overall crowd estimate so as to more closely match the headline which was meant to downplay Palin's popularity."

Local television station WANE quoted Meijer's store management as saying that a crowd of some 1,500 people had assembled at the Fort Wayne location in hopes of getting the 2008 Republican VP candidate to sign their copies of Going Rogue.

- JP

Sarah Palin posts more book tour photos on Facebook

Sarah Palin tonight posted more photos taken by Shealah Craighead from the Going Rogue book Tour on her Facebook Notes page:

More "Going Rogue" Book Tour Photos

Met many wonderful Americans yesterday in Alabama and North Carolina (including some of our brave men and women in uniform at Ft. Bragg) and today in Florida. I also got a chance to chat with Greta Van Susteren along the way. Please enjoy the photos [here]

- Sarah Palin

Sarah Palin's return to The Villages

Randy Highsmith, Chairman of the 2012 Draft Sarah Committee, was mentioned in coverage of the Sarah Palin Going Rogue Bus Tour's stop in The Villages by the Ocala Star-Banner today:

Randy Highsmith drove roughly 80 miles, spent the night in a parking lot hunkered down in a sleeping bag and waited more than hour with several hundred people as storm clouds gathered overhead — all just to spend just a few seconds in the presence of his icon.

And he loved every minute of it.

Highsmith was ecstatic shortly after leaving the Barnes & Noble bookstore in The Villages, where he met former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, whose book tour landed in Florida on Tuesday.

Palin’s visit to The Villages was sandwiched between appearances in the Jacksonville suburb of Orange Park and Orlando.

“She’s my political hero,” gushed Highsmith, tightly embracing two autographed copies of Palin’s memoir, “Going Rogue: An American Life,” and a handful of bookmarks. “I think she is as amazing as she is on TV.”

Highsmith had driven down from High Springs to The Villages on Monday night, arriving about 11 p.m. with his daughter, Alyssa, and father-in-law, Earl Mock.

There, the trio discovered that 114 people had already beat them to a spot in the store’s parking lot, awaiting Palin’s scheduled stop at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Last year’s Republican vice presidential candidate, who remains coy about her future presidential ambitions, had already provided Highsmith a reason to be thrilled by the book.

He serves as the national chairman of a group — 2012draftsarahcommittee.com — that hopes to see Palin to run for president, and Highsmith’s organization drew kudos from Palin in the book for its support of her.

“Not since Ronald Reagan have I been so excited about a political candidate,” Highsmith said. “I think she’s the standard-bearer for conservatives for 2010 and beyond.”

Read the rest of the story here.

- JP

Ex-Convict and Felon Martha Stewart Disses Sarah Palin

by Ian Ransom

Martha Stewart says Sarah Palin is "boring," "confused" and "dangerous" in the same breath wherein she admits she doesn't watch Sarah Palin's interviews and "wouldn't if you paid [her]". So I guess that means she lets other people form her judgments for her? Who are we kidding; Stewart probably pays someone to do that. There's probably an office at Martha Stewart Omnimedia: "Official Opinion Former." And the office is very, very chilly.

Ho hum.

It's the same, tired line used by neurotic, self-designated "elitist" liberals who never bother with things like rationality, common sense, or basic respect, and who instead believe that their fleeting, loony emotions--combined with whatever superficial "buzz" happens to be floating around one of their smug cocktail parties--makes them "informed" and possessive of intellect. It would be hilarious, if it weren't so tragic for the nation, for the human race. Why not respectfully disagree with Palin on a specific policy, or choose not to comment at all, instead of launching catty ad hominem remarks and behaving like a person who was raised without manners?

For all of her regal posturing and anal-retentive "elite cookie" baking, convicted felon and ex-jailbird Martha Stewart is, we must allow, personally knowledgeable regarding what represents "danger" to American society. In this interview clip, I'd say she also looks indelibly confused herself.

Genuinely conservative American women, in my experience, are far less likely to be so tactless and shallow when push comes to shove. Sarah Palin is a fine, exemplary human being first, but she also exemplifies the best when it comes to her gender. Sarah Palin walks through the world with good cheer and a smile, working just as hard as Stewart, whose bitterness seems written all over the face of a woman who, it would appear, has not been able to buy much happiness or Wisdom with all of her money--even, apparently, any parcels possibly gained via legally deemed ill-gotten means.

Happy Thanksgiving, Martha. You have shown yourself to be a foolish follower, and an utterly graceless individual, despite your tiresome pretensions and forced haughtiness. Are American conservative women and their values of interest to you? Do you want them to purchase your products? Some women do know how to stick together for the common good, and Stewart (along with her fellow superior specimens) may just witness that phenomenon firsthand.

Wouldn't that be a "good thing."

- Ian

The Making Of An Unlikely Palinista

As someone who describes herself as black, liberal, feminist and a former ACORN/Project Vote employee, Anita MonCrief seems the unlikeliest of Palinistas. She backed Hillary Clinton during the primaries and then gave her support to Obama when it became clear that he had the votes necessary to wind the nomination.

Writing for Hot Air's Green Room, Moncrief says her reaction when John McCain chose Sarah Palin as his running mate, her initial reaction was one of anger:

"With all the liberal self-righteousness that I could muster, I attacked her experience, her knowledge of foreign affairs and all things Palin. It was a purely irrational response born out of the bitterness of not being able to have Hilary Clinton as my candidate. I ignored Palin’s innate charm, grace and beauty. I found myself secretly laughing with her and admiring her spunk but would never admit it."

What changed Moncrief's opinion of Sarah Palin?

As the fight against ACORN became ugly and people began to spread lies and take sides, I finally understood Palin. She is a lightening rod for anyone who does not stand for truth and wants to maintain a status quo or move toward socialism.

When I found out the title of her book was Going Rogue, that stuck in my head, because that was the gist of the situation. Palin defies expectations, speaks from the heart and shoots from the hip. As former McCain staffers began to attack her, I identified with her.

If The Arctic Fox can "Palinize" someone as liberal and feminst as this woman, just think how many independents she has the potential to win over! Read Anita Moncrief's article in its entirety here.

- JP

'Going Rogue' Outsells 'Living History' in First Week

From Joe Tirella of FOXNews.com: 

Sarah Palin, a favorite target of late night comedians and "Saturday Night Live" for more than a year, is having the last laugh. Her memoir, "Going Rogue: An American Life," has become the publishing sensation of the holiday season.

The 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate's autobiography has sold more than 700,000 copies in its first week of release -- including 300,000 on the first day alone.

Palin, a less-than-one-term Alaska governor, has even outstripped initial sales of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's memoir, "Living History." The former first lady moved 600,000 copies of her 2003 autobiography in its first week of publication. But Palin came up short against two-term President Bill Clinton, who sold 900,000 copies of his 1008-page tome, "My Life," in the first week.

On Tuesday, "Going Rogue" was the No. 1 bestseller on both Amazon.com and Barnesandnoble.com. It also was Amazon's No. 1 bestseller in several categories, including biography, history, and non-fiction. And after ordering an initial print run of 1.5 million, Palin's publisher HarperCollins said last week that it ordered an additional million copies.

Despite claims by Palin critics that her memoir would not make a profit because it has been so deeply discounted, Jim Milliot, the business and news director of Publisher's Weekly, told FOXNews.com that Palin's publisher is still likely to make at least $4 on every copy of her book it sells. and because sales of Going Rogue will soon surpass 1 million copies, HarperCollins will quickly earn back the reported $5 million advance it paid the 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee:

"I think it's safe to say this was a good investment for the publisher," says Milliot.

The publication and brisk sales of Going Rogue have not only made the former governor of Alaska financially independent, but the launch of the book is a vehicle for her to possibly rekindle her political career:

"This book has allowed her to reclaim her political narrative," says Robert Costa, a William F. Buckley Jr. Fellow at the National Review, who has been blogging about Palin's book. "She has reclaimed her own story by writing it."

- JP

The Sarah Palin Going Rogue Book Tour In Florida

The Florida Times-Union reported that the line of Sarah Palin fans was moving along steadily in Orange Park this morning after an uproarious greeting for the 2008 GOP vice presidential candidate. former Governor Palin was at Books-a-Million signing copies of her new book, "Going Rogue." Her was with her as the Palin tour bus pulled into the Orange Park Mall.

Meanwhile FReeper Kristinn Taylor was one of a thousand people standing in line at the Barnes & Noble store in Orlando hoping to get a wristband which will allow the lucky holders to get their copies of Going Rogue signed by Sarah Palin.

Reporting to The Radio Patriot by telephone, Kristinn said there were already 600 people queued up when he arrived at 7:45 a.m. in a line that was seven blocks long:

“After they opened the doors at 9 a.m. we finally turned the corner to the front of the building, and have half a block to go,” Kristinn said.

“The people in line are roughly 50-50 male-female. Chris Matthews will be disappointed to learn that there are minorities in line also waiting to meet Sarah Palin. The crowd is in a good mood and of course, we’re not leaving piles of trash, and in all other ways are well mannered.

The Radio Partriot is posting updates as Kristinn phones them in.

- JP

RNC Chaiman Steele: Give Sarah Palin a break

RNC chairman Michael Steele came to Sarah Palin's defense in an appearance on MSNBC today, where he told the media to "give the woman a break." Steele was grilled by partisan liberal Democrat Andrea Mitchell, and the topic of discussion turned to Sarah Palin at about the 7:25 mark in the video clip below:

"She's someone who's going to be a part of our political future as a party and that's a good thing," Steele told MSNBC. "I'm excited about it."

When Mitchell rather disdainfully pointed out that Palin "did quit as governor" Steele responded:

"I thought it was a smart move for her to make so she can focus on the future and let Alaska focus on its future without her leadership being a distraction to the good people of the state." 

The chairman expressed his confidence in the qualifications of his party's 2008 vice presidential candidate to run again for national office:

"I'm still mystified by the fact that people look at this woman who was a successful mayor, a successul energy person for Alaska, a successful governor, and they think she doesn't have the gravitas to do it."

Steele also lambasted the media for its treatment of Palin:

"Give the woman a break. She's been under an enoromous amount of scrutiny. The disrespect shown to her I don't think we've evern seen in politics before, certainly for a female candidate. And I think people need to check themselves when it comes to Sarah Palin."

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

h/t: The Hill's Blog Briefing Room

- JP

A former liberal on the sexist attacks on Sarah Palin

Excerpts from a Robin of Berkeley op-ed at American Thinker:

Like most feminists, it was a no brainer to become a Democrat. Liberal men, not conservatives, were the ones devoted to women's issues. They marched at my side in support of abortion rights. They were enthusiastic about women succeeding in the workplace.

As time went on, I had many experiences that should have made me rethink my certainty.

[...]

What finally woke me up were the utterances of bitch, witch, and monster toward Hillary Clinton and her supporters early last year. I was shocked into reality: the trash talk wasn't coming from conservatives but from male and female liberals.

I finally beheld what my eyes had refused to see: that leftists are Mr. and Ms. Misogyny. Both the males and the females don't care a whit about women.

[...]

Then along came Sarah, and the attacks became particularly heinous. And I realized something even more chilling about the Left. Leftists not only sacrifice and disrespect women.

It's far worse than that: many are perpetrators.

The Left's behavior towards Palin is not politics as usual. By their laser focus on her body and her sexuality, leftists are defiling her.

They are wilding her. And they do this with the full knowledge and complicity of the White House.

We've seen lost of instances ourselves. Chris Matthews and Howard Fineman snickering as the former likened Sarah Palin to a mail-order bride. The Newsweek cover and even worse inside that issue of the magazine. David Frum. Andrew Sullivan. Letterman. Bernhard. Maher. And these are just a few examples. There is much more of it. And it gets even worse on scores of look-alike nutroots blogs run by radical leftists.

These lowlifes must be held accountable. They've been getting away with it for far too long.

Before the link to Robin's full opinion piece, please be advised that it is raw and not family-friendly. But it should be read by every warrior in Sarah's army. Know the enemies, even if that knowledge churns your stomach. Such knowledge is essential to defeating them.

The full article is here.

- JP

More Quote of the Day Honorable Mentions, Part 11

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Flopping Aces:

"Then you have the AP hiring 11 fact checkers to comb through her book. Or Newsweek using a photo of Sarah in running shorts, taken for Runners World magazine, for it’s cover in an obvious attempt to minimize her. And last but not least, a book review of her book by the Washington Post written by someone who didn’t read her book... The lengths the left is going to drag Sarah through the mud just proves how very scared they are."

Melissa Clouthier:

"Oprah doesn’t ask Sarah Palin substantive questions. Oprah asks Oprah questions–about Levi coming to Thanksgiving, about her marriage, etc... Rush’s interview, in contrast... asked her substantive policy questions. Guess what? She didn’t stumble. She flowed. It was great to listen to, really, and heartening. Rush asked her questions on everything from national security, foreign policy, oil exploration, health care and illegal immigration. Not one stutter. Not one hiccup. She was flawless. It wasn’t just her form. Her substance was pure, unapologetic small-government conservative. She... sends a chill down the spines of Democrats and Republican establishment types. They are right to fear her. She is formidable."

Emmett Tyrrell:

"Put the politician who sees China's economic development as 'an accomplishment unparalleled in human history' next to the politician who notes that her state borders Russia (and Canada, too), thus giving its governor occasion for at least some foreign policy knowledge... Is there a difference in their qualifications? Well, yes, the pulchritudinous Ms. Palin in 2008 had more executive experience than Mr. Obama, having been both a small-town mayor and a governor. In fact, as President Obama comes up on his first year in office, former Gov. Palin still has more executive experience. Why is no one laughing?"

The Anchoress:

"Love Sarah Palin or not, one has to admit the press is so undone by her that they are both aggressive and passive-aggressive in their hate, and they betray themselves continually in all sorts of ways. They betray their snobbism; they betray their spitefulness, and most emphatically, they betray the fact that our “fourth estate” is populated mostly by perpetual adolescents."

Gay Patriot:

"It’s amusing to watch Democrats and associated leftists get worked up into a lather at there mere mention of Sarah Palin’s name. We’ve got critics bringing her up in the comment sections of posts which don’t even mention that charismatic and accomplished woman. And Democratic National Committee (DNC) operatives have gone into overdrive to lambaste the woman who did more to reform her state in her first two years as Governor than Obama did to reform his in twelve years serving in its state senate or as the state’s U.S. Senator. Guess attacking Sarah Palin is a lot easier than defending Obama’s policies."

Jackie Seals:

"I just stood in line eagerly waiting for Sarah Palin to arrive. I then see Norah O’Donnell... Seconds later I met her...One of the many faces of liberal media bias.... She had me read my shirt and then proceeded to ask me 'Did you know Sarah Palin supported the bailout?' To be 100% honest I was like, are you kidding me? She is trying to use my shirt against me.... Norah also claims I told her I voted (on her twitter). That is not true. She never asked my age or if I voted. I’m 17 I couldn’t have voted…and I don’t live in an ACORN district so I didn’t have a chance to even register illegally."

The Frontiersman:

"What the Republican Party should be doing, if it hopes to take advantage of the wounds Democrats are suffering, is embrace Sarah Palin. She’s a vote-getter. She draws a crowd wherever she goes. She speaks the language of people who feel like they aren’t being heard. And that’s no small part of this nation’s people — on either side of the political fence."

Suzanne Fields:

"Harry Truman was urged to resign no sooner than he was sworn in to make room for 'somebody smart.' Ronald Reagan was widely regarded by the elites as an 'amiable dunce.' The tea party crowds are looking for a populist leader who shows a little faith in the decency of the little people and the democratic processes, whom Andrew Jackson called 'the humble members of society -- the farmers, mechanics and laborers,' who want the obstacles removed that keep them from realizing their abilities. Matthew Continetti... says the time is ripe for a politician with imagination to separate the good populism of free enterprise from the bad populism of loony theories. Palin, he writes, can give voice to those millions who don't want government aggrandizing the powerful and risking fiscal imbalances but 'who do want public policies that create the conditions for a general prosperity.' Sarah Palin is poised to move on. Where she goes and how she gets there will determine who follows."

David Limbaugh:

"It seems the mainstream media's favorite pastime is to ridicule Sarah Palin. Of all the screeds I've read, I don't think any are snarkier than The Washington Post's Sally Quinn's 'On Faith' blog post 'Sarah Palin's rogue Christianity.' Do we need further proof of the secular orientation of our dominant media culture than the fact that Quinn, an avowed atheist, pens the Post's 'On Faith' blog? That would be like featuring a column by Fidel Castro on free enterprise and individual liberties."

Kathryn Ciano:

"[David] Frum told 'The News Hour with Jim Lehrer' Nov. 18 that '[Palin] is a woman who has got into a position of leadership by sending very powerful sexual signals. And we see that in the way that men like her much more than women do'... Frum wants to inject Palin’s public persona with a Salem witch trial mentality. She must be a witch, your honor; she came to seduce me in my dreams... Insecure men have long objectified the women around them... Frum’s claim that Palin has forced sexuality on us reflects his own uncreative 'scholarship'. This cheap attack is the punditry equivalent of a schoolboy dipping a compatriette’s pigtail in ink. It’s unnecessary. It’s weak."

Roger Stone:

"The continued attacks on Sarah Palin by campaign Aides to Senator John McCain are almost beyond belief... Most outrageous is an attack on Palin by early McCain Advisor, John Weaver who said 'Sarah Palin reminds me of Jimmy Stewart in the movie Harvey, complete with imaginary conversations,' Weaver told the Politico... This is the same John Weaver who burned through $18 million of McCain campaign cash, leaving the campaign broke before votes were cast in the first Primary... Sarah Palin stands head and shoulders above the pathetic losers in the McCain camp who have turned attacking Palin into a cottage industry."

Pamela Geller:

"What a blessing this great American woman is. She is a blessing to Obama's curse. Her position on Israel counters Obama's anti-semitic policy of ethnically cleansing Israel of the Jewish people... Palin supports the Jewish homeland against Islamic jihad and has been consistent on this... Jewish leadership was wrong not to back her - they actually disinvited her to anti-Ahmadinejad rally in NY before the election. Move over, kapos! I am so behind Palin for president because she represents America's true hope of a noble, moral, exceptional country. The GOP needs a cluebat."

BlackConservative:

"What Sarah has done by embracing the Tea Party movement, and the conservative movement is divide the party. She has drawn a line in the sand and stated clearly, and unabashedly that she stands with the conservative wing of the conservative party, and that it is more important for us to be a party with values and principles, than a party that is willing to stand for anything and fall for everything. This is the key to revitalizing the Republican Party-as much as some of us would at times want to pack our balls and go home, the only way for conservatism to have a political voice is within the structure of the Republican Party. Thus, we need to take our party back from the McCain wing of the party that wishes to tell us, like they told Sarah, to sit down, shut up, and bat our eyelashes for the cameras."

VotingFemale:

"One of the photoshop pics of Sarah has a KKK uniform grafted on her standing in the middle of a sea of supporters touting only white racists support her. Only problem is… there is a black woman within 10 feet of her... Oh and get this… they call me a racist, call Sarah a racist, and have a blogpost calling Michael Steele the n-word... Engaging in a battle of wits with Left Wing Loons like that would be like bringing an A-10 Warthog to a spitball fight!"

Joe Clarke:

"MSNBC's Nora O'Donnell, reporting from a book store selling Palin's book Going Rogue, was astonished how "white" those people who were standing in line to buy the book, and how 'no minorities' could be seen in the autograph line... Nora, as a member in good standing of that Proud White Self Loathing Liberal Club, went on to report to Chris Matthews, 'I think there is a tribal aspect to this thing'... The oddest thing about the MSNBC folks bragging on their 'Blacker Than Thou' attitude is the fact that almost the entire gang of MSNBC regulars are as cracker faced as you can find."

- JP

Former Gov. Palin to spend Thanksgiving in Washington State

Sarah Palin will spend Thanksgiving in the Tri-Cities (Richland, Pasco, and Kennewick) area of Washington State. It's not a stop on her Going Rogue book tour, but rather a respite from the rigors of the road.

According to television station KEPR, former Governor Palin's parents, Chuck and Sally Heath, are originally from the Tri-Cities, and Sarah's Aunt Katie lives there. The Thanksgiving gathering will also be a family reunion of sorts, with about 50 relatives expected at Aunt Katie's house.



- JP

Cultural left fears Sarah Palin more than they hate her

Claude Sandroff, in an opinion piece for American Thinker, writes that the attempt to dismiss Sarah Palin's real accomplishments represents the low ebb of the cultural left, and it shows that they fear her more than they hate her:

[The] deep, joyful, personal connection Palin makes with the middle class is crudely trivialized by the lamestream media, to use Palin's phrase, as white trash populism. In a bizarre, recent instance of this mindset, Chris Matthews actually provided real-time commentary focusing on the racial make-up of the huge crowds awaiting Palin's first book-signing stop in Grand Rapids. ''Well, they look like a white crowd to me...Not that there‘s anything wrong with it, but it is pretty monochromatic up there...no surprise in terms of the ethnic nature of the people showing up. Nothing wrong with that. But it is a fact."

The fact that MSNBC would this give this cruel, deeply disturbed, fulminating racialist a public forum (though a small one) attests to how venomous our media culture has become. Yet it is Palin who is caricatured as divisive by the left and as superficial even by some putative conservatives. Where Palin's opponents go people are usually angry.

One of the great challenges when writing about Palin is to keep focus on her concrete accomplishments (the energy related legislative agenda she advanced and passed were masterful), while avoiding the traps set by the those intent on reducing her to a mere social firebrand. It is ever the goal of the "elitist loons", a phrase used by Palin to describe John Kerry, to so stigmatize her. Whether by printing an overtly sexist image of her on the cover of Newsweek or by David Brooks insisting that she remains a "joke," the overt goal is to ridicule her beyond redemption.

[...]

As the lamestream media carp away, thousand of eager admirers, including many young women, line up for Palin's signature at every stop. As these young women decide how to comport themselves, as women or as politicians, they could choose a worse model than Sarah Palin.

The soul-nourishing formula that seems to work for Palin is to combine a personal, unthreatening evangelical Christianity with the centrality of family. And then she works very hard, staying true to laissez-faire capitalist principles -- common sense conservatism -- by emulating the much-admired "steel spine" of Ronald Reagan.

The complete American Thinker op-ed by Claude Sandroff is here.

- JP

KTUU interview with Sarah Palin, Part 1

Anchorage television station KTUU, where Sarah Palin got her start as a sportscaster, recently interviewed the former Alaska governor while on board the Going Rogue tour bus as it made its way across Indiana. Here's an excerpt:

Channel 2 News: "What would you do (with AGIA) if you were still governor?"

Sarah Palin: "We need to remind the lawmakers of their enthusiasm and that overwhelming support to get this gas line off the dime, the project. Other administrations, they've been talking about it for decades in Alaska; we know that there is the need. And Alaska has the ability now to get the thing built. We have a great partner in TransCanada Alaska (and) Exxon, (the) largest company in the world wanting to partner with the best pipeline building company in the world."

"There is nothing wrong with the proposal, we can sit around and keep talking about it, but Alaskans are expecting that their lawmakers remember what they voted for, remember all the hard work that lawmakers put into crafting the bill with the administration and adopting it, and let's move forward. Otherwise, we're just going to be like any other decade in Alaska when we're just talking the talk thinking that at some point this dream of a gas line will be built. That's ridiculous because we have the tool already in AGIA to actually, physically get the thing done."

A full transcript and video of Part 1 of that interview is here.

- JP

Quote of the Day (November 23, 2009)

*
Steve McGough:

"Now remember, this is not the Democratic National Committee crying about the current popularity of Sarah Palin, this is President Obama whining and moaning about a private citizen who is on a book tour. Begging for money – a half million dollars mind you – proves the current administration sees Palin and the conservative movement as a serious threat. They see this movement as a crisis, and you know good ol’ Rham Emanuel is not one to let a crisis go to waste."

- JP