Sarah Palin: 'When I do run again I will be more rogue'

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In a question and answer session following her address to the Bon Mot Book Club Wednesday night in Vancouver, Gov. Palin's choice of adverbs in response to a comment from a member of the audience may be an indication that she intends to run again for public office:

She seemed to agree with one person who suggested she allowed herself to be too programmed by Republican presidential candidate John McCain’s handlers during the pair’s bid for the White House.

“Thanks for the advice,” said Ms. Palin, at the event ostensibly to plug her book Going Rogue. “When I do run again I will be more rogue.”

Notice that she said "when" she runs again, not "if" she runs again. Not to read too much into her answer -- which may have been intended as a joke -- but what she said and how she said it only adds fuel to the fire of speculation about the governor's intentions for 2012.

More on last night's event from The Globe and Mail and The Canadian Press.

h/t: Conservatives 4 Palin

- JP

Gov. Palin will speak to NHLA convention in October

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The National Hardwood Lumber Association says that Sarah Palin has accepted its invitation to deliver the keynote address during the opening session of the NHLA Annual Convention October 13 in Vancouver, British Columbia. NHLA Executive Director Mark Barford said in a news release (PDF):

"Governor Palin supports a free enterprise system with limited government involvement and understands that industries, such as ours are a great example of America’s pioneering spirit. We are pleased and honored to welcome her as Keynote Speaker."

[...]

"Every year we strive to build a speaker line-up of top newsmakers and industry leaders. Governor Palin’s participation continues this tradition and again, we are very excited and honored to welcome her to the premier hardwood industry event."

Registration information can be found here. More convention details are here, and the NHLA webpage is here.

- JP

Sarah Palin on a 2012 run: 'If it's right, then we will pursue that'

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Sarah Palin said in an interview with Canadian network CTS TV that she will "pursue" a presidential bid in 2012 if she decides it's the best way to help everyday people with their challenges. On CNN's Political Ticker blog, CNN Political Producer Peter Hamby reports:

The former vice presidential candidate has generally avoided talking specifically about her 2012 plans, but her comments in Canada are her most forthcoming since she told Fox News in February that it would be "absurd" not to consider a presidential bid.

Palin said she and her family have had an "exciting and full ride" since the 2008 presidential campaign ended. Her travels around the country over the last year and a half, she explained, have given her a glimpse of some of the struggles that regular Americans face every day.

"If I can help provide some encouragement, some inspiration, some hope for them to get through their battles and make good decisions and get through a challenge, because that's what we've been able to do, then I am going to stay focused on that," she said in the interview, set to air next week. "Whether that's on a local level in my own little town of Wasilla, or in the Oval Office, if it's right, then we will pursue that."

[...]

Palin said her next move depends, in part, on what God has in store for her.

CTS has posted a video of its "Always Good News" program which includes the full interview here. YouTube excerpts from the interview can be found here and here.

The interview was recorded Thursday, before her appearance in Hamilton, Ontario.

- JP

Canadian TV network to air Sarah Palin Interview tonight

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An interview with Sarah Palin which was recorded when she was in Ontario last week will be aired tonight in Canada. A special edition of the program Always Good News on CTS TV (Crossroads Television System) Wednesday, April 21st at 5:30 pm EST and again at 12:00 noon EST on April 22nd:

The entire interview will also be featured within Canada's longest running daily TV program, 100 Huntley Street, airing the following Tuesday on April 27th at 9 am on CTS TV and Global.

As the only Canadian Television interview on this visit north, Connie Smith who hosts Always Good News (AGN) will be tracking Palin's meteoric rise from small town Alaska hockey Mom, to international celebrity, and most recently the darling of the Tea Party Movement that has shaken the U.S. political system with it's strong opposition to growing government and higher taxation.

"The interview was great", says Ms. Smith, "It was one of only two granted by Governor Palin. The other was a print news outlet. I caught up with her on camera after she spoke to a crowd of 900 people at Carmen's Banquet Centre in Hamilton, Ontario, recently where she was instrumental in raising $50,000 for The Charity of Hope for needy children." Connie Smith has been one of the most recognizable and engaging personalities on the air in Southern Ontario for more than 30 years. Since September 2009, Ms. Smith has been the Producer and host of Always Good News seen daily on CTS.

We're not familiar with CTS TV, but it appears to be a Canadian network roughly analogous to Christian network CBN. We're not sure if CTS is part of any of the packages that satellite services such as Direct TV and Dish Network provide access to in the lower 48, but we don't think they do. We'll just have to wait for CTS TV to post the video on its Web pages. The AGN page is here.

- JP

Manitoba mayor wants the Palins to visit his town of 400

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When Sarah Palin mentioned in her fundraising speech Thursday in Hamilton, Ontario that the Palin family had connections in Canada, where "one grandfather was born in Manitoba" as part of a farming family, it gave the mayor of a small town in that province the idea to invite her to come to the community to explore the Palin family roots:

According to Brad Coe, a history buff in Hartney, Man., Todd Palin’s grandfather, Frederick William Palin, was born in the town in February 1905 before eventually living with his parents and seven siblings in the RM of Grey, in the area of Elm Creek and St. Claude.

[...]

Bruce Evans, mayor of Hartney, said it’s "neat" for the town of 400 to have a connection to Sarah Palin, who is being touted as a possible 2012 candidate for the U.S. presidency.

"Everyone is listening to what she’s saying," Evans said of Palin. "I don’t know if they’re taking it at all seriously, but news makes news. I don’t know how to go about contacting her, but I’m going to try to invite her to come."

- JP

CFP's McLeod: 'Sarah Palin could be the most genuine, real politician I ever met'

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Judi McLeod (obviously no relation to serial loser Andree) has some high praise for Sarah Palin at Canada Free Press (CFP) after meeting the former governor and Todd at the sold-out dinner in Hamilton, Ontario last week:

"I attended the event thinking that perhaps Gov. Palin was getting a little full of herself, but I was wrong."

"Sarah Palin could be the most genuine, real politician I ever met."

"If only more politicians could be more like the down to earth Sarah Palin, we’d all be better off for it."

Yes, our Sarah tends to have that effect on people who get to meet her face to face. More from Adrienne Ross at Motivation Truth.

- JP

Dr Roy's Thoughts on Sarah Palin in Hamilton

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Dr. Roy Eappen is an endocrinologist from Montreal who was in Hamilton for Sarah Palin's keynote speech at last night's charity event. Here's a few excerpts of the good doctor's take on Gov. Palin and her speech:

I had the privilege of meeting Governor Sarah Palin and her husband Todd. She was extremely charming. I told her I was a Tory blogger and a big fan. She thanked me for coming. Todd introduced himself and I said "you're the first dude" and they both laughed....

Governor Palin spoke for almost 55 minutes. She spoke of family, of politics and of Canada...

She was very complimentary of Hamilton and Canada, She spoke of the deep bonds of friendship between Canada and the United States. She spoke of the gratitude of the United States for the service of our troops and of the sacrifice of 142 of our children...

I found her speech quite moving as did the very enthusiastic audience.

Read Dr. Roy's full post and check out his photos from last night at his blog here.

- JP

Friday Morning Sarahcuda Bites for April 16, 2010

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Drill, Canada, Drill: Bloomberg's Joe Schneider reports that in her speech north of the lower 48 last night, Sarah Palin urged Canada to increase its oil production:

“Ramp up development,” she told an audience in Hamilton, Ontario. “There’s an inherent link between energy and security.”

Palin, the 2008 Republican nominee for vice president, campaigned with a slogan of “drill baby, drill” to urge greater U.S. oil exploration. She spoke [Thursday night] at a fundraising dinner to an audience of about 900 people who paid much as C$1,000 ($998) to attend.

Palin, 46, said American attitudes are changing ahead of November’s midterm congressional elections, demonstrated by the growth of the Tea Party movement seeking less government spending and fewer programs.

“There’s a shift in American politics right now,” Palin said. The tea parties “are a blast.”

And organizers had said prior to the speech that her address wasn't supposed to be political...

The Stoney Creek News had a mostly positive write-up of the governor's speech:

Former Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin applauded Canada’s wartime sacrifices in Afghanistan, praised the country’s Olympic gold-medal victory in hockey and detailed her “earth-shattering” year that included adding two new babies to her family during her speech in Hamilton last night.

Palin, the former governor of Alaska who reportedly earned about $100,000 for her evening participating, entertained about 900 people at Carmen’s Banquet Hall during the tightly controlled charity event with a mix of home-spun stories, self-deprecating humour and repeated praises [of] Canada and Hamilton.

[...]

The at times rambling, 50-minute speech by Palin touched on her faith in God, her family’s difficult experiences in the public eye, and praise for the conservative Tea Party movement in the U.S., where she has repeatedly been the keynote speaker.

“This is such a melting pot,” said Palin when introduced to the crowd, who gave her a standing ovation. “I love the diversity here. There are a whole lot of people who are named Tony.”

Palin had Hamiltonians in her corner when, [she said] as she looked out from her Sheraton Hotel room where she was staying, she saw Copps Coliseum.

“That is a great place for an NHL team,” she said, as people applauded. “I’d love to be part of that. Maybe I can put a bug in the ear of (NHL president) Gary Bettman.”

Palin, a self-proclaimed hockey mother of five kids, quoting former Notre Dame football coach Lou Holtz, said “God did not put us on Earth to be ordinary. He has given us opportunities to be productive.”

You betcha: Either the Boston Herald is taking its own Palin-Romney story too seriously, or it is impressed that some bloggers are taking it seriously. We're not sure which is the case. Some other bloggers are not convinced, but remain intrigued.

Welcome to the party, pal: From the New York Sun we learn that Obama's shabby treatment of Israel has spurred the formation of new organization, Jewish Americans for Sarah Palin:

Plans for the new group are set to be announced on Sunday...

[...]

Its aim... is to take advantage of the growing alarm within the Jewish community at what Mr. Korn, in an interview this week with the New York Sun, called an “escalation of rhetoric” criticizing the Jewish state.

[...]

He said his group was encouraged by a defense of Mrs. Palin in an op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal by the most famous neo-conservative, Norman Podhoretz, who wrote that he would “rather be ruled by the Tea Party than by the Democratic Party” and “would rather have Sarah Palin sitting in the Oval Office than Barack Obama.”

What Jewish Americans for Sarah Palin is saying, Mr. Korn said, “is that the most articulate person in the public arena today in opposition to the Obama administration’s shift in policies against Israel is Sarah Palin.”

"This is a long overdue development," says Pamela Geller. The group has already begun construction of its website.

Dude! Sarah Palin's dad Chuck Heath was a crowd-pleaser at the Veterans Park Tea Party at Veterans Park in Hoover, Alabama last night. The Birmingham News reports that he talked about how his daughter's rock star status has brought an end to the family's privacy. According to Heath, one letter was delivered to the Palin's house with the simple address of "First Dude, Alaska."

¡Adios! is too good a word: Palin-hatin' gutter comic George Lopez said on Larry King's show:

"If Sarah Palin wins and runs for president in 2012, I have a, on a reliable source, as the head of all the Latinos, we will voluntarily go back to Mexico if she becomes President of the United States."

We know some Latinos who have said rather emphatically that Lopez doesn't speak for them. And we appreciate the contributions Latinos in general have made to Texas culture. But in the specific case of Lopez, when Sarah Palin becomes president, we will personally volunteer to drive the jerk to the border crossing of his choice.

On a clear day: Best signage observed at the Boston Tea Party: "I can see November from my house."

- JP

Hamilton Spectator: ‘Down to earth’ Palin impresses

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Daniel Nolan of The Hamilton Spectator has one of the first press reports on Sarah Palin's appearance at a fundraiser for a children’s charity in the Ontario city Thursday night before a sellout crowd of 900 who paid $200 each for their regular dinner tickets:

“I hope I didn’t cause a fuss,” Palin said with a smile tonight as she walked into the fundraiser for the Charity of Hope with her husband, Todd.

“I never cause a fuss.”

[...]

A lineup of well-dressed people greeted her when she arrived at Carmen’s at about 4:30 and she went down the line shaking hands and welcoming people to the event.

Among the crowd were former Ontario Premier Mike Harris, Tim Hortons co-founder Ron Joyce, Haldimand Norfolk Conservative MPP Toby Barrett, local philanthopists Charles and Margaret Juravinski and Canadian Idol winner and Hamiltonian Brian Melo.

Palin, now a Fox News contributor and darling of the surging conservative movement in the United States, wore a two-piece black dress when she entered the ballroom just before 7 p.m. to give a speech on family values. Her husband, a commercial fisherman, wore a dark tuxedo.

Before the dinner, Palin had her photo taken with more than 100 people who had paid $1,000 for the privilege plus an autographed copy of her best-selling book Going Rogue.

Many who met with the mother of five for a few minutes described qualities that probably led McCain to pick her as his running mate in August 2008.

“I tell you, the thing I like about the lady is that she’s down to
earth and totally outgoing,” said Charles Juravinski.

Organizers said that by Friday they should know how much money the event raised for the charity.

More press coverage from the Toronto Star and Canwest News Service.

- JP

Sarah Palin to speak on family and community in Ontario tonight

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Sarah Palin will speak in Canada this evening at a Hamilton, Ontario black-tie fundraising dinner:

Tickets were priced at $200 and all 850 have been sold for what is being billed as "An Intimate Evening with Sarah Palin."

Palin is expected to speak for at least 20 minutes followed by a question-and-answer session with Connie Smith, a veteran Hamilton TV personality.

"She has talking points," said Dennis Concordia, a spokesman for CARSTAR Automotive Canada, one of the event's sponsors. "It's going to be all about community and the role of family in society, because first and foremost, she's a mother."

[...]

There is growing speculation that Palin, a champion of the conservative Tea Party movement in the U.S., is considering a run for the U.S. presidency in 2012.

A portion of the proceeds from the event — originally slated to go to two area hospitals — will be donated to a Charity of Hope, a Hamilton children's organization that supports United Way, Kiwanis Boys and Girls clubs and the YMCA.

Organizers hope ticket sales, along with a silent auction of books and posters autographed by Palin — who recently joined Fox News as a pundit — will help raise at least $25,000.

Although Gov. Palin's speech will be about the importance of family and community, she is also expected to talk about Canadian and U.S. relations. Still organizers say they don't believe her address will be very political.

Most of the tickets were sold to Ontario residents but some Americans from New York and Michigan are headed north to attend the charity event.

- JP

Thursday Morning Sarahcuda Bites for April 15, 2010

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Dems' Dumpster Diving Docs Disputed: As we reported last night, the claim by two CSUS students that they found pages from Sarah Palin's contract in a campus dumpster have been disputed by the university's president. Hamid Shirvani says the paperwork was not part of Sarah Palin's speaking contract, but an unsigned copy of an earlier version of the agreement:

"Somebody took pages four to nine of an earlier contract, unsigned, that the vice president for advancement threw in her recycling trash bin," Shirvani said as he spoke on the matter for the first time. "This is not the contract. There's no price on it."

Tuesday, several students opposed to Gov. Palin's June 25 speaking engagement at the school appeared at a news conference with State Senator Leland Yee, a Democrat from San Francisco, and a pile of documents, including bank stubs, financial spreadsheets and five pages of what Yee and the students claimed was part of the Palin contract.

Looks to us like another loaded cigar has made some Democrat heads explode. Wyle E. Coyote goes off the cliff again...

Not a Kernell of Truth: The son of a Democrat state Rep. in Tennessee will finally go to trial next week for wire fraud and intentionally accessing Sarah Palin’s e-mail account back in 2008. Gov. Palin will travel to Knoxville to testify for the prosecution. Reports from AP here and Knoxville's WATE here.

What side of the cable are you on? An interesting study of the demographics and political orientation of those who watch cable television finds that viewers of the History Channel, Discovery and TLC are very right-leaning:

Discover magazine's Razib Khan concludes, "It makes more sense now that TLC has Sarah Palin’s new show if they knew their viewer demographics well."

Moonbats Mahr, Matthews Make More Mindless MSNBC Misogynistic Madness: NewsBuster Geoffrey Dickens notes just how low a couple of pieces of human filth can sink in front of televisions cameras. Disgusting.

Palinmania, eh? Sarah Palin's next event is a fundraiser tonight in Hamilton Ontario:

It will benefit the Charity of Hope, an organization that helps children.

[...]

About 9-hundred people are expected to attend tonight's 200-dollar a plate dinner.

The governor has donated some memorabilia to be auctioned off at the event for the children's charity.

Flight of the Imagination: There's quite a media buzz (like flies) over what Gov. Palin said when asked in Boston about teaming up with Mitt Romney for a 2012 White House run. She replied in a manner that was consistent with Reagan's 11th Commandment. People shouldn't try to make too much out of it. As Ed Morrissey commented, "Something tells me Sarah was having some fun with reporters..."

- JP

Moore: A Palin presidency would be good for Canada

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Charles W. Moore, in an op-ed published by the New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal, says that Sarah Palin has become "a force to be reckoned with - not just in U.S., but in North American politics":

Ms. Palin, currently a Fox News commentator, whose memoir, Going Rogue, is a bestseller, actually has a strong pro-Canadian record, although she's granted little credit for it in Obama-besotted Canuck public perception.

As governor of the border state of Alaska, after signing an agreement granting TransCanada pipeline US$500 million to help launch a new 2,700-kilometre pipeline project to carry natural gas from Alaska to Alberta, Ms. Palin affirmed her desire to "grow the relationship we have with Canada," observing that the NAFTA has enhanced job-creation and growth in both countries.

[...]

In Calgary Ms. Palin, speaking without notes, opened by highlighting commonalities shared by Alaska and Alberta with their respective histories of independent thinking and economies heavily dependent on energy production. She also cited her own Canadian roots, noting that both of her great-grandfathers were Canadian prairie born and bred, one from Manitoba, the other from Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan - quipping: "that must be where my love of moose came from." (A member of the U.S. National Rifle Association, Ms. Palin is an avid hunter and outdoorswoman).

Ms. Palin also recalled that when she was young, fellow Alaskans would travel to Whitehorse in Canada's Yukon for medical treatment. She praised Vancouver's successful Winter Olympics, graciously congratulating Canada's dramatic men's hockey gold medal victory over the American team, and riffing on her own family's affinity for the game.

She praised the Harper government's approach in balancing response to calls for environmental reform, particularly cutting carbon emissions, with the economic realities of energy production, predicting that cap-and-trade proposals to reduce emissions will lead to fewer jobs and heavier tax burdens.

Moore reminds his readers that in the middle of 1977, the very idea that Ronald Reagan, with whom Sarah Palin has much in common, could win the presidency by a landslide in 1980 would have been unthinkable, and he cites both Reagan and Harry S. Truman as evidence "that one doesn't have to be a 'public intellectual' to be an effective and successful president.

Moore's conclusion: Don't count Sarah Palin out yet, and a Palin presidency would likely be good for Canada, "regardless of what many Canadians think they think" about her.

- JP

Solberg: Sarah Palin is a force to be reckoned with

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Monte Solberg, Toronto Sun columnist and former Member of Parliament, writes that his opinion of Sarah Palin has changed. Citing Gov. Palin's Calgary speech in which she declared that our faith should be in ideas, not politicians, Solberg says he no longer doubts that the 2008 GOP vice presidential candidate is the one to carry these ideas forward:

Having now seen her in action, what I now see is that her conservatism is in her bones, people relate to her and most of the mainstream media will never get her.

She has radar for the aspirations of regular people, causing her to speak past many journalists and what she probably thinks are their dorky questions. Many in the media could spend hours listening to Barack Obama pontificate about Copenhagen or his outreach to the Muslim world. Palin couldn’t care less. She’s all about controlling spending, lower taxes, safe streets and borders and practical solutions for the environment, healthcare and education. That’s it.

Terrific timing

She thinks governments should do a few things and do them well. Politicians, she noted, lose focus. O Canada, is she ever right.

Describing the Palin approach as "local, affordable and direct," Solberg says that Gov. Palin understands what motivates people "better than Obama, Bush or Clinton what moves people, and in that sense is more like Reagan":

She seems more committed to small, common-sense government than any of them and could potentially rally the public to chasten a spendthrift Congress.

Though the columnist observes that Sarah Palin doesn't have a lock on the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, "she is a force to be reckoned with."

Read the full Solberg commentary here.

- JP

Ssrah Palin subject of Maclean's cover story

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Leftist magazine Macleans out of Canada will have Sarah Palin as the subject of its next cover story:


Will it be a hit piece? Since Macleans has never had an honest or a positive word to say about Gov. Palin, we're inclined to say, "You betcha!" If we're wrong, we'll be delighted to admit it.

- JP

Quote of the Day (March 9, 2010)

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Joshuapundit:

"What Governor Palin likely found ironic was that after thirty years of national healthcare, a number of Canadians are making the trip the other way to get the care they need. But that kind of irony would be lost on a leftist tool with foam on his or her lips..."

- JP

Chuck Heath weighs in on family's health care decisions in decades past

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Sarah Palin's dad Chuck Heath adds some context to dampen the leftist hysteria over her family crossing the border into Canada for medical treatment when Gov. Palin was just a small child (See Say Anything and C4P): 

Palin's father said Monday they had little choice, given their location in Skagway.

"There was no road out of there at that time," said retired teacher Chuck Heath, reached by phone in Wasilla. "The ferry schedule was very erratic. We had no doctor in Skagway. The plane schedule was very erratic. The winds dictated whether the planes could come in or not."

[...]

Palin's father said his family probably boarded the train for the Whitehorse hospital only twice - once when a daughter had rheumatic fever, and once when his son, also named Chuck, severely burned his leg and an infection set in.

"We much preferred to use our facilities because my insurance didn't cover anything in Whitehorse. And even though they have socialized medicine, I still had to pay the bill, being an American citizen," Heath said.

[...]

The train in the 1960s often was the only option for getting to a doctor, Skagway Mayor Tom Cochran said.

[...]

"If you can't fly to Juneau - and a lot of times you can't, especially in the winter - they're going to get you to a medical treatment facility if it's an emergency, and that's normally where Whitehorse comes into play," Cochran said.

The Left, by continuing to try to manufacture a scandal every time Sarah Palin speaks, is demonstrating how petty, mean and vindictive it is. Wyle E. Coyote rides crashes and burns again...

- JP

Coincidence? Big Media hypes four bogus Palin "scandals" in one week

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It's been a busy week for the hit squads attempting to destroy Sarah Palin. In the past seven days, no less than four bogus Palin-centered "scandals" have been manufactured by the nutroots Left and promoted by the state-run media. Three of these have been cataloged on one post on Free Republic:

Socialized Sarah:

During a speech Gov. Palin delivered in Calgary, she mentioned that as a 6-year-old child, her family crossed the border to seek medical care for her brother in Canada.

The media and the lefty bloggers claim that Sarah Palin is a hypocrite, as if a six-year-old made the decision to seek emergency care for her brother to treat a burned foot.

Though some media outlets later correct the story and put it context, the leftists are still howling about it on their websites.

Say anything and C4P are getting the truth out.


Planet Alaska:

Gossip sites falsely report that Palin is pitching a proposed docu-drama series about Alaska to the networks. Sarah Palin and members of her family would allegedly be portrayed in various locations around Alaska.

Reuters and other statist media outlets pick it up and run with it. By now, the docu-drama has become a "reality" show, and numerous sites such as Mediaite hysterically claim that Gov. Palin wants to promote herself and her children using a lowbrow television series.

To their credit, some media outlets report the truth. The former governor, Mark Burnett and Robert Barnett were in L.A. meeting with network heads pitching a documentary about Alaska. A source close to the governor states that the proposes series is not a reality show, nor will it be about her or her family. It is rather about the people, geography, wildlife and wonders of Alaska. The source says the focus of series would be on Alaska, and it will be similar to a nature series on the Discovery Channel:

"It will not be focused on the Palin family, Alaska is going to be the star," the source said. "It will be more ‘Planet Earth’ than 'The Osbournes go North.'"

A Swarm of Locusts:

This one apparently started when an E-online gossip reporter claimed that Gov. Palin and her entourage descended upon an Oscar gift suite "like locusts," Greedily plundering swag, making unreasonable demands on everyone and generally behaving badly.

Other gossip sites latch onto the false story. Huffington Post and other liberal blogs spread it across the Leftosphere, and the state-run media also runs with it without bothering to do any fact-checking.

But at least a couple of entertainment reporters report correctly that Gov. Palin made a $1,700 donation to the Red Cross and donated all of the swag (save one item) she had been given to charity. Silver Spoon co-owner Melissa Lemer released a statement detailing the true story of Governor Palin's visit.


Canned Lies:

Mediaite, citing a dKos contributor and purveyor of an anti-Palin book as a source, claims that during Sarah Palin's appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, NBC sound technicians played canned laughter soundtracks to give the impression that she was being well-received by the audience. The source says that she didn't go over well on the show.

The usual leftist blogging suspects spread the claims like wildfire, many of them headlining their posts to claim that Gov. Palin was "a flop" on Leno's show. As usual, the statist Big Media simply took the rantings from the leftist websites and spread them around the world.

But others who were in the audience that night dispute the claim, saying that the audience laughed at Gov. Palin's jokes and applauded in all the right places. Further, NBC issues a statement denying that any audio enhancement were made for her appearance. And the ratings for Leno's show that night are high, proving that Sarah Palin was anything but a flop.

Are we the only ones who detect a pattern here? Big Media is taking bogus reports right off of gossip columns and leftist blogs and reporting them as news.  Everytime you think the once-honorable Fourth Estate couldn't become more corrupt, it sinks even lower into the septic tank. 

- JP

Say Anything: Is Sarah a Socialized Medicine Hypocrite? Not Really.

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Rob Port on the latest Palin non-scandal:

The Washington Post reports, as though it were news, that Palin refers to an instance where her brother was, in the 1960’s, once taken to Whitehorse (in Canada’s Yukon province) to get a burned foot treated.

This is supposed to be news because Sarah Palin is an outspoken opponent of government-run health care systems including Canada’s. So, you know, how could she.

Well, here’s the most immediate problem: Sarah Heath, who was to one day become Sarah Palin, was born in 1964 in Idaho. Her family moved to Skagway, Alaska while she was an infant. At the most, she would have been 6 years old when her brother was taken to Canada to get treated for his burned foot.

I don’t think the six-year-old Sarah was calling the shots on where her family got health care.

[...]

Once again, the media’s hatred for all things Palin trumps logic, reason and fact.

Read Rob's full post at the Say Anything Blog.

- JP

Calgary Herald: Calgary crowd receptive to Palin

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The Calgary Herald, repeating a mistake made in the introduction given for Sarah Palin, misreported that her speech tonight in Alberta's largest city was "her first public appearance outside the United States since stepping down as governor of Alaska," but it wasn't. The first woman to be the Republican Party's candidate for vice president spoke in Hong Kong late last September almost a month after resigning her office.

Gov. Palin nevertheless was in the heartland of Canada's oil and gas industry, and her message of lower taxes, free markets and energy development was delivered to a receptive crowd:

While the 2008 Republican vice-presidential candidate's speech in Calgary dealt in part with her push for more domestic energy development, her doubts over climate change science and her view that environmental issues needed to be balanced by economic progress, Palin's talk was also interspersed with jokes that drew laughs from a packed house.

She noted that soon into her run on John McCain's presidential ticket that her patience wore thin with the "mainstream media." She noted a reporter said Palin had a bit of a Canadian accent. Palin said she responded, "So."

"That interview didn't go very well," Palin told Saturday's crowd of more than 1,000. "Not many of them did."

But the former vice presidential candidate's remarks on energy and the environment were the real red meat for the Calgary audience. She repeated one of her familiar 2008 campaign themes that oil, natural gas and clean coal must continue to be developed along with renewables for an "all-of-the-above approach":

Her concern, she said, is waiting for unfriendly regimes to develop their resources. Relying on those puts the United States in a less safe and less prosperous position, she said.

"We've got the become more energy independent," she said.

Gov. Palin also mentioned the Climategate scandal, remarking that it made "settled science feel a little unsettled." She warned that cap-and-trade legislation intended to reduce greenhouse gases would actually result in job losses and higher taxes.

After her address, the governor participated in a question-and-answer session with Senator Pamela Wallin, a member of Canada's Conservative Party.

More coverage from the Calgary Sun, the Canadian Press and CTV.

- JP

Quote of the Day (December 21, 2009)

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Arthur Weinreb:

"The April 15 gala is going ahead and Sarah Palin is still set to speak. But instead of the two Hamilton area hospitals being the beneficiaries of the funds raised, the money will go to The Charity of Hope, a children’s charity. So far none of the children who will benefit from the funds raised by The Charity of Hope have complained about Sarah Palin."

- JP