Kernell Moves from Club Fed to Halfway House

Email intruder's projected release date is November 23rd.
*
The son of a Democrat state legislator from Tennessee, convicted of hacking Sarah Palin's e-mail account, has been released from a low-security federal prison and is now biden' his time in a halfway house:

A spokesperson with the Federal Bureau of Prisons said David Kernell is no longer at a minimum security camp in Ashland, Kentucky and is now under the jurisdiction of Nashville Community Corrections.

According to the Bureau, Kernell is now living in a halfway house "or residential confinement" at an undisclosed location in Tennessee or Kentucky. He is scheduled for release on November 23rd.

- JP

Sarah Palin: Biden attack on TEA Party 'vile' and 'appalling'

"Growing more debt isn't going to get us out of debt."
*
Appearing "On The Record" with Greta Van Susteren tonight, Gov. Palin pushed back against the Democrat-Left's recent demonizing of the TEA Party movement, in particular Vice President Biden's remark that the TEA Party Congressmen were acting like "terrorists." She said that the the debt limit deal is only a partial victory because it gives "the most liberal President, I believe, in US history a 2.4 trillion dollar debt increase." She also criticized Congress for breaking its pledge to post pending bills online for 72 hours prior to voting on them.


- JP

Gov. Palin's enemies further motivate her troops to fight for her

Let's make a Democrat Party hack eat some crow!
*
Not that most Sarah Palin supporters need further motivation to fight for her, but check out this excerpt from a Phoenix television station's news story:

Andrei Cherny, Chairman of the Arizona Democratic Party, predicts a low turnout for the movie.

"I think 'The Undefeated' fits as a title until she tries running for President," said Cherny. "Most people in Arizona are looking for someone more in the mainstream than where Sarah Palin is."

"I think for folks who are moderates who are in the mainstream, Sarah Palin has no appeal," said Cherny. "It's great she's on Fox and has TV shows and movies, but I think people want a serious leader."

I don't how many of you have ever participated in competitive sports, but if you have, this will be familiar to you. There's a true story which has been repeated many times in high school, college and professional athletics. It goes like this... In the run up to a big game, the coach or a player from one team talks trash about the opposing team. The coach of the opposing team clips the article containing the quote and puts it on his team's bulletin board and makes sure that every one of his players takes the time to read it. This fires up each player and motivates his team to make an "above and beyond" effort, and they go on win the game.

We believe the above quote by the AZ Democrat party chair is just one such motivator. As of this posting, there are just about 24 hours to go before the curtain goes up on "The Undefeated" in 10 cities. This is a critical time, not only for the Victory Film Group, but by extension for Gov. Palin as well. If the film does not have a big turnout for the premiere tomorrow, we will hear nothing else from the lamestream media and Palin-hating leftist websites for weeks on end.

Let's serve up a big, steaming platter of crow for that Democrat Party hack in Arizona and watch him try to digest his own spiteful rhetoric. In every way we can think of, let's motivate every Palin supporter we know to buy tickets and show up to see this film tomorrow, because crunch time is now literally upon us. A list of the 10 theaters where "The Undefeated" will have its world premiere, plus links for purchasing tickets, is here. Have you bought your tickets yet?

- JP

Gutless Grandstanding to Gig a Grizzly

'The left sinks to new lows' has become a cliché
*
Whether Sarah Palin's One Nation Tour is a quest to try to get America back in touch with its founding, or whether it's a testing-the-waters expedition is a valid question for debate. But in the active imagination of a ten year old child for whom politics is just boring stuff that adults do, it's a vacation. You don't need advanced degrees in child psychology to figure it out unless, you're a Democrat with an agenda and a cable "news" network for a megaphone.

MSNBC crackpot host Lawrence O’Donnell and radical leftist Comgressman Earl Blumenauer show that they have no problem with running a sword through Piper Palin to get to her mom:


America is broke, thanks to the likes of Blumenauer and other Democrats who have spent other people's money like drunken... well, Democrats; beltway statists have skyrocketed the national debt up to incomprehensible heights; unemployment under Obama is double what it was when Dems blamed Bush in 2005 for it being 4.5 percent; Obama is borrowing money from China to give to Greece; he loaned more Chinese money to Brazil to drill for oil that he's promised to buy from them, after shutting down domestic production in the Gulf of Mexico. With all that and much worse going on, Blumenauer and O'Donnell are obsessed with whether the National Park Service gave 15 minutes of its time to talk to Sarah Palin exclusively at a stop on her bus tour?

We always knew "progressives" had their priorities all out of whack, but the left's obsession with making war on Sarah Palin and her family is nothing less than pathological. That Blumenauer and his useful idiot O'Donnell would use MSPDS to grandstand about it while attacking little Piper Palin to sling a little mud at her mother clearly demonstrates that the left no longer cares how low it sinks below the level of the rest of humanity.

h/t: Mediacrank

- JP

Howard Dean: Sarah Palin could defeat President Obama in 2012

Warns it is dangerous for Democrats to dismiss her.
*
There is at least one prominent Democrat who takes Gov. Palin seriously. Former DNC chairman Howard Dean, in an interview with The Hill, warns that Sarah Palin could defeat President Obama in 2012:

Dean says his fellow Democrats should beware of inside-the-Beltway conventional wisdom that Obama would crush Palin in a general-election contest next year.

“I think she could win,” Dean told The Hill in an interview Friday. “She wouldn’t be my first choice if I were a Republican but I think she could win.”

Dean warns the sluggish economy could have more of a political impact than many Washington strategists and pundits assume.

“Any time you have a contest — particularly when unemployment is as high as it is — nobody gets a walkover,” Dean said. “Whoever the Republicans nominate, including people like Sarah Palin, whom the inside-the-Beltway crowd dismisses — my view is if you get the nomination of a major party, you can win the presidency, I don’t care what people write about you inside the Beltway,” Dean said.

[More]

Dean served six terms as Vermont's governor, ran unsuccessfully for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination, and chaired the Democratic National Committee from 2005 to 2009. He is considered a trailblazer in using the internet to raise funds and organize at the grassroots level.

- JP

Sarah Palin: Commander in Chief’s Appalling Action with Our Troops

"Funding NPR is not a constitutional duty. Funding our military at a time of war is!"
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Gov. Palin took to Facebook Friday to admonish the president for his continued lack of leadership. Obama's latest outrage is his threat to veto a continuing budget resolution which would guarantee funding for our troops:

Commander in Chief’s Appalling Action with Our Troops

Yesterday the House passed H.R. 1363, which funds our Department of Defense and our military for the rest of the year at their current levels. It allows for the continuation of current military operations, which is pretty important when you’re fighting three wars. It also funds the government for another week and cuts $12 billion in wasteful spending. So why would the Commander in Chief declare that he will veto this? Why would he play politics at the expense of our troops who are putting everything on the line to protect us? Memo to the President: I doubt the insurgents will stop and wait for a government shutdown to end before resuming actions. You need to fund our troops, sir.

Like me, you might be asking yourself: Why on earth would he threaten to veto funding for the troops? What is his game plan? Basically, he’ll veto military funding because he wants the rest of the government funded too. And by the rest of the government, he means things like Harry Reid’s “Cowboy Poetry.” Essentially, he’s holding military funding hostage to NPR funding. This is a perfect analogy for what is wrong with this entire budget showdown. Our federal government has strayed so far from what is constitutionally mandated that they are blind to the fact that NPR funding is not a constitutional duty. Funding our military at a time of war is!

The House GOP does not want a shut down. They just want legitimate cuts (and I would argue not even enough!). If we can’t agree to cut a billion here and a billion there, we’ll never close this $1.5 trillion deficit.

Let’s look at the numbers. We have a $1.5 trillion deficit this year. We’re paying $200 billion a year on our interest alone. That’s half a billion dollars per day on interest. And our $1.5 trillion deficit means that we’re borrowing $4 billion per day just to keep afloat. So, we pat ourselves on the back if we cut a billion dollars here or a billion there in discretionary spending, as we borrow $4 billion a day and pay half a billion a day in interest. The deficit for the month of February alone was the highest in our history at $223 billion. That’s more than the entire deficit for the year 2007. And there’s no end in sight. We’re not heading towards the iceberg. We’ve already hit it. Now we’re taking on water. We must find a way to get back to harbor to repair our ship of state before it’s too late.

Where is President Obama in all of this? He just doesn’t get it. His 2012 budget was a signal of that. The President’s proposed budget offered higher taxes and higher spending. A budget is supposed to be more than just numbers crunched on a spreadsheet. It’s supposed to be a credible blueprint of a nation’s priorities and direction. The President’s budget was a political document. It was designed not to ruffle any feathers or take any decisive moves to deal with the deficit problem. Instead of cutting spending, he’s moving us in the opposite direction. The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office reported that the White House was not telling the truth when they claimed that their 2012 budget reduces the deficit. It actually increases it. Instead of dealing with the hard realities we face, he just kicked the can down the road. That’s not leadership. That’s politics.

Real leadership means leading by example. It means showing an “all-in” commitment to tackling complex issues and putting in the time and effort to educate the American public. Right now the American people have not been educated about this major challenge we face. Keep in mind that perception often becomes reality, and the perception President Obama has repeatedly given off is that he can’t be bothered to deal with our debt crisis.

This is profoundly unfair to the American people. Throughout our history, we have proven again and again that we are strong enough and wise enough to do the right thing when we are properly informed. We can judge and make the tough choices when we are not spun by the media or the financial class or the political class. We the People can decide – if our leaders level with us honestly.

It’s about time the President step up to the plate and lead responsibly. Our troops who are putting themselves in harm’s way deserve a Commander in Chief who is not AWOL from the debt debate. The American people deserve a president who will take on the tough challenges and understand that funding “Car Talk” is not as crucial as funding our troops at a time of three wars.

2008 seems like such a long time ago, but 2012 is just around the corner. There is a leadership vacuum in the White House right now, but that’s nothing that another good old-fashioned election can’t fix.

- Sarah Palin

- JP

Sarah Palin: Rein In The Rodeo Clowns

That means you, Sen. Reid
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From Gov. Palin via Twitter:

"We're $14,000,000,000,000+ in debt, yet rodeo clowns still want to fund Cowboy Poetry Party.That must be 1 helluvahigh natl priority shindig"
41 minutes ago via Twitter for BlackBerry®

- JP

Quote of the Day (January 24, 2011)

Obsessive behavior is dangerous
*
Maine Conservative Voice:

"Neither Rep. Giffords nor Gov. Palin’s strength of leadership is a danger or menace to society. Those who are obsessed with their demise are... What has been most disappointing, perhaps sickening, is the willingness of Democrat leadership, most notably, Sen. Dick Durbin and Sen. Patrick Leahy, to engage in the Palin Obsession. Even in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary, these men have continued to beat an obsessive drum contending that Sarah Palin is somehow complicit in these murderous attacks... Days ago, members of the far left blogosphere were calling for the assassination of Sarah Palin and we waited…we waited…waited some more and there was no 'refudiation' of these horrible threats towards the Governor; in fact, a quick google, as of this morning, has Dick Durbin still obsessed with the Palins and Pat Leahy accused of being too drunk to give a speech on the floor of Congress."

- JP

David Karki: What the left does tells us who Sarah Palin is

Their actions reveal what their words deny
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In a North Star National opinion piece, David Karki makes an excellent point: From a purely strategic standpoint, the left's hate rage against Gov. Palin makes no sense at all. If the Democrat/Media Complex really believes that she she would be such a disaster for the GOP as a presidential candidate, then why constantly attack her instead of trying to ensure that she gets her party's nomination so Obama could go on to defeat her in the landslide they insist would ensue?

The best answer I can come up with – assuming that there in fact is any logical reason for this and that the far left isn’t simply stark raving mad – is that they do in fact see Sarah Palin as a legitimate threat to their power and existence. A big enough threat, in fact, that they must do whatever is necessary to keep her from getting in the race in the first place, regardless of how much self-inflicted public relations damage they incur in the process by using such over-the-top, scorched earth tactics. So big a threat, in fact, that the risk of having their media allies’ smear campaign backfire by inadvertently turning Palin into a martyr via blood libeling her is worth taking.

You’ll never get anyone on the left to admit this, of course. But if Palin is who they say she is, then they should not be doing to her what they’re doing – quite the opposite, in fact. The left’s actions toward and horrible treatment of Sarah Palin tell us all who and what they believe her to be: an existential threat to them so great that anything goes if it helps to destroy her. Nothing is beyond the pale.

She cannot be allowed to even get as far as primary debates – which will inevitably be dubbed “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” given how thoroughly weak and uninspiring the rest of the GOP field is – lest even those small opportunities to show her real self explode the phony image that the media has manufactured with its non-stop propagandizing against Palin.

Moreover, she would have the energy, huge crowds, and celebrity buzz that Obama had in 2008 while Obama would just look older (aided by the grey hair and accelerated aging the presidency inevitably inflicts on all who hold the office) and out of fashion, yesterday’s news. One certainty in politics today is that youth wins and age loses – witness Clinton/Dole, Bush/Gore, Bush/Kerry, Obama/McCain. The one who appeared to be younger, more energetic, and more vibrant won every time. Against any other candidate, Obama would still be on the good side of that equation. But against Palin, it would be the reverse. Admittedly, he wouldn’t be on the bad side by much, but he would be there. And it’s not a desirable place to be.

Not to mention that there would inherently be big momentum, perhaps unstoppable momentum, behind the first female major-party presidential nominee. The campaign would be historic, by definition. (A fact many have seem to forgotten, though I can forgive the left as they honestly believe Bill Clinton was black and Clarence Thomas was not.) It would cancel out at least a good chunk of the advantage that Obama would have against “just another white guy.”

[...]

So, when the Democrats and their media allies unleash their next slanderous verbal assault against Palin, just remember that what they are doing tells you who they really think Sarah Palin is. Their actions reveal it even as their words deny it.

[More]

- JP

Ann Coulter: Mud Libel

"Shouldn't we at least bring Bill Maher in for questioning?"
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Ann Coulter finds it remarkable that the very same Democrats and their media minions who had accused Gov. Palin for the extremely unhinged Jared Loughner's handiwork in Tuscon, went on to slam her for her "silence" and then became even more enraged when -- after a respectful period of mourning, prayer and waiting for the facts to be revealed -- she actually did speak out:

Last Tuesday, the night before Palin responded, MSNBC's Keith Olbermann mocked Palin's silence throughout his show:

-- "And why is the ever self-promoting Miss Palin so quiet?"

-- "And it's quiet, isn't it?"

-- "It's too quiet."

-- "The silence is deafening from the great Northwest."

It was deemed an admission of guilt that she hadn't spoken about the Tucson shooting or denied the accusations that she had inspired the shooter.

The next day, Palin posted a video response, and Keith immediately attacked her for "the worst timed political statement ever." It's almost as if liberals would attack Palin whatever she did.

Olbermann sneered about Palin's use of the phrase "blood libel," scoffing, "This, to Sarah Palin, is analogous to what is happening to her." No, not only happening to her, but to all right-wingers, tea partiers, Republican politicians, and conservative radio and TV hosts -- all of whom have been accused of complicity in murder.

On the day of the Arizona massacre, Arizona Rep. Raul Grijalva blamed the "Palin express." The father of Gabrielle Giffords, one of the victims, blamed "the whole Tea Party." The sheriff of Pima County, Clarence Dupnik, who had failed to lock Loughner up despite repeated arrests and other contacts, blamed "the vitriolic rhetoric that we hear day in and day out from people in the radio business and some people in the TV business." (Dumbnik also said: "We're not convinced that he acted alone.")

A comment on Gawker the day of the attack said: "Palin ... you now have more than just elk blood on your hands."

The next day, New York Daily News columnist Michael Daly wrote, with stunning originality: "Palin may have the blood of more than some poor caribou on her hands." (See -- he changed "elk" to "caribou.")

In an especially prissy "Special Comment" the night of the shooting, Olbermann said that if Sarah Palin "does not repudiate her own part in amplifying violence and violent imagery in politics, she must be dismissed from politics." Ditto for Rep. Allen West, ex-candidate Sharron Angle, Rep. Giffords' opponent Jesse Kelly and "the Tea Party leaders."

[More]

- JP

Alexander: Democrats Forget They Put JD Hayworth in Crosshairs

The abject hypocrisy of the left
*
At Aaron Goldberg's website Intellectual Conservative, Rachel Alexander documents the left's abject hypocrisy in attacking Sarah Palin for her "Take Back The 20" map:

The Democrats are politically exploiting the shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords by attacking Sarah Palin for setting up a list of "targeted" Democrat members of Congress last year. They conveniently forget that defeated Democrat Congressman Harry Mitchell did the same thing to JD Hayworth a few years ago right here in Arizona, running a campaign ad featuring JD Hayworth in the crosshairs of a rifle.

- JP

IBD Editors: A Divisive Sheriff

Isn't Dupnik trying to have it both ways?
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This editorial at Investors.com speaks for itself:

It's bad enough that a fine congresswoman is shot down by a crazed assassin. But do those whose job it is to prevent such awful things have to insert their own base politics into the tragedy?

As a key law enforcement figure in the assassination attempt against Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik, a Democrat, might be expected to show some caution in commenting on the violent swirl of bitter, unsubstantiated and outright false accusations made by Democrats on the left against the Tea Party, Sarah Palin and conservative bloggers.

Blaming the Tea Party or Sarah Palin — or anyone on the right — misses the mark. As has been noted too many times to mention, accused shooter Jared Loughner seems to be a schizophrenic, a paranoid — a man who suffers severe delusions and violent fantasies.

Though described by former friends as a "left-wing pothead," his rantings were in fact insane. Yes, he was a 9/11 Truther and had a keen interest in both Hitler's "Mein Kampf" and Marx's "Communist Manifesto," but he had no known ties to any political group.

Even so, Dupnik couldn't resist targeting Republicans and the Tea Party as somehow responsible for Loughner's murderous actions.

[...]

Dupnik's outrageous remarks are made even more so because it's at least partly his job to make sure that a congresswoman who has in the past been threatened should have some kind of official police or sheriff's presence at her Arizona functions.

[More]

Related: "Report: Sheriff Knew About Loughner’s Actions & Previous Threats – Failed to Act" at Gateway Pundit

- JP

Glenn Reynolds: The Arizona Tragedy and the Politics of Blood Libel

Where is the decency in blood libel?
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Law professor and and pioneering political blogger Glenn Reynolds has authored an excellent opinion piece for the Wall Street Journal on the opportunistic attempt by the Democrat political/media complex to use the Tuscon mass murders against the opposition. The tactic, predicts Reynolds, is doomed to failure:

Shortly after November's electoral defeat for the Democrats, pollster Mark Penn appeared on Chris Matthews's TV show and remarked that what President Obama needed to reconnect with the American people was another Oklahoma City bombing. To judge from the reaction to Saturday's tragic shootings in Arizona, many on the left (and in the press) agree, and for a while hoped that Jared Lee Loughner's killing spree might fill the bill.

With only the barest outline of events available, pundits and reporters seemed to agree that the massacre had to be the fault of the tea party movement in general, and of Sarah Palin in particular. Why? Because they had created, in New York Times columnist Paul Krugman's words, a "climate of hate."

The critics were a bit short on particulars as to what that meant. Mrs. Palin has used some martial metaphors—"lock and load"—and talked about "targeting" opponents. But as media writer Howard Kurtz noted in The Daily Beast, such metaphors are common in politics. Palin critic Markos Moulitsas, on his Daily Kos blog, had even included Rep. Gabrielle Giffords's district on a list of congressional districts "bullseyed" for primary challenges. When Democrats use language like this—or even harsher language like Mr. Obama's famous remark, in Philadelphia during the 2008 campaign, "If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun"—it's just evidence of high spirits, apparently. But if Republicans do it, it somehow creates a climate of hate.

There's a climate of hate out there, all right, but it doesn't derive from the innocuous use of political clichés. And former Gov. Palin and the tea party movement are more the targets than the source.

[...]

I understand the desperation that Democrats must feel after taking a historic beating in the midterm elections and seeing the popularity of ObamaCare plummet while voters flee the party in droves. But those who purport to care about the health of our political community demonstrate precious little actual concern for America's political well-being when they seize on any pretext, however flimsy, to call their political opponents accomplices to murder.

Where is the decency in that?

[More]

- JP

Unbelievable: Democrats Using Gifford's Shooting For Fundraising

-By Warner Todd Huston
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An extreme, left-wing Democrat group calling itself 21st Century Democrats has had the gall to send out an email blast using as a fundraising tool Saturday’s criminal shooting of Representative Gabrielle Giffords in Arizona. Judge John Roll and four others were killed in the incident, one of them a 9-year-old girl, but these Democrats are ignorant enough to be using this incident to try and squeeze donations from its supporters. Some might think the action of 21st Century Democrats is itself a crime -- a crime against decency.

The email blast sent out Sunday morning to its supporters tells members that "we don't know yet" why Jared Loughner shot Gabrielle Giffords but goes on to lay the blame on Sarah Palin and Gifford's opponent in the past election for using "violent imagery" in his campaign.

The email goes on to ask members to "join us in sharing your thoughts and prayers to the Congresswoman and her family by visiting our website where we have set up a page for you to do so." Naturally once you click on the link you are redirected to a page that prominently displays the group's DONATE NOW button. It is not in the slightest way discreetly designed. As soon as you go to this so-called prayers page you see a large button asking for donations and another one underneath it urging visitors to "sign up" for email blasts and information.

Disgustingly, 21st Century Democrats is using this crime in a fundraising effort.

Gauche is hardly a strong enough word to describe this action.

21st Century Democrats is no unheard of fringe group, either. Styling itself as one that is "building a progressive majority from the grassroots up," it is interesting to note that some major top-down players in the Democrat Party founded the group. The group was created in 1986 by Senator Tom Harkin, a powerful Democrat from Iowa, and was co-founded by left-wing pundit Jim Hightower and former Illinois Congressman Lane Evans. These folks are hardly "grassroots" sort of folks.

Worse, even as this email blast accuses Sarah Palin and former candidate Jesse Kelly for using "violent imagery" and for "targeting" Giffords, this group is associated directly with The Daily Kos, run by Markos Moulitsas who used precisely that same sort of "targeting" rhetoric last year during the campaign for the midterm elections.

In 2009 21st Century Democrats joined the Service Employees International Union, The Daily Kos and others in a new political action committee (PAC) called Accountability Now PAC.

Will 21st Century Democrats quit this PAC now that it has become aware that Markos Moulitsas used the same "violent imagery" and "targeting" rhetoric against Gabrielle Giffords? Will this purported "grassroots" groups founded by powerful members of Congress avoid charges of hypocrisy and stand on its supposed principle?

I'll bet you'll know the answer to that already.

CLICK HERE to see a screen capture of the email message sent by 21st Century Democrats.

(Originally posted at BigGovernment.com)

-WTH

Warner Todd Huston is editor of Publius' Forum and a contributor to Texas for Sarah Palin as well as Big Government, Right Wing News, and a number of other websites.

Brer Donkey should be careful what he wishes for

What could possibly go wrong?
*
A political tale:

"I've got you this time, Brer Elephant," said Brer Donkey, jumping up and shaking off the dust. "You've outsmarted me for the very last time. Now I wonder what I should do with you?"

Brer Elephant’s eyes got very large. “Oh please Brer Donkey, whatever you do, please don't vote for Sarah Palin in the primaries.”

“Maybe I should raise your taxes,” mused Brer Donkey. “No, with the House under your control, I probably can't do it. Maybe I'll create death panels by executive order instead.”

“Tax me! Euthanize me! Do whatever you please,” said Brer Elephant. “Only please, Brer Donkey, please don't vote for Sarah Palin in the primaries.”

“If I'm going to euthanize you, I'll have to wait for ObamaCare to go into effect,” said Brer Donkey. “And I don't have time for that. But I know that illegal aliens pouring across the borders will drive you right out of your mind, so maybe I'll declare amnesty for them instead.”

“Tax me! Euthanize me! Let the invaders in. Do whatever you please,” said Brer Elephant. “Only please, Brer Donkey, please don't vote for Sarah Palin in the primaries.”

“Vote for Sarah Palin in the primaries, eh?” said Brer Donkey. “What a wonderful idea! You'll be torn into little pieces!”

h/t: Free Republic, concept by FReeper USFriendInVictoria

- JP

Ignorant Democrats don't know Sarah Palin from Tina Fey

We're shocked...
*
From NRO's Katrina Trinko on The Corner:

In a snide press release [Tuesday] (via David Weigel), Democrats use professional photos of those who agree with them and an unflattering photo of Palin to argue that the only serious position on New START is approval.

“The individuals in the first group have over a century of foreign policy experience between them,” the statement continues, “and have worked closely on U.S.-Russia relations for decades. On the other hand, Palin can see Russia from her house. Apparently, that’s good enough for many Senate Republicans.”

As Ms. Trinko points out, Gov. Palin never said she could see Russia from her house. That was a Tina Fey line from "Saturday Night Live."

We can't decide which is more troubling. That Democrats cannot tell the difference between the real world and a television comedy program, or the only other possible explanation - that they are lying. Either way, to paraphrase Capt. Louis Renault (note to Democrats: he's just a cinematic character, not a real person), "We're shocked, shocked to find that Democrats are either woefully misinformed or being disingenuous!"

- JP

Palin vs. Gravel 2012?

Former Senator from Alaska considering primary challenge to Obama
*
"It is our destiny!" tweets Richocet's James Poulos. While Poulos is likely twittering with tongue in cheek, the former Alaska Senator and 2006 Democrat presidential candidate (he also tried and failed to run for the White House on the Libertarian ticket in 2008) told The Daily Caller in an interview via e-mail that he is weighing a primary challenge to President Obama in '12:

Progressives who view President Obama’s recent tax compromise with Republican leadership as a betrayal have suggested in recent days that a primary challenge to Obama in 2012 is not unimaginable. TheDC reported that some progressives have been floating names like Howard Dean, Russ Feingold, and even actor George Clooney as possible contenders.

Gravel, who served in the Senate from 1969 to 1980, also stated that he believes that members of the U.S. government “may certainly have participated with the obviously known perpetrators” of the September 11th attacks. “Obviously an act that has triggered three wars, Afghan, Iraqi and the continuing War on Terror, should be extensively investigated”, Gravel continued, “which was not done and which the government avoids addressing.”

Just the ticket for leftist Dems who don't think Obama is radical enough! Gravel, you may not remember, saw to it that the Pentagon Papers were entered into the congressional record back in 1971. The curmudgeonly Alaskan also praises WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange as something of a modern day Daniel Ellsberg:

“The revelations of Wikileaks are not an endangerment to American troops in our far flung Empire, but they truly are an embarrassment to America’s political leadership today.”

There's no love lost between Gravel and Gov. Palin, that's for sure. But an all-Alaska showdown for the presidency in 2012, as much as it would make for good copy, is not likely. We doubt that a 911 conspiracy theorist could win the nomination, even of the moonbat Democrat party. But then again, Dean, Finegold and Clooney don't appear to be likely contenders, either.

- JP

AfterMath: Happy Thanksgiving!

Who needs turkey?
*
Talented cartoonist Rich Terrell imagines our Sarah serving up a roasted Democrat icon for Thanksgiving:


Published with the kind permission of Rich and Lucy. View more of Rich's work here.

h/t: American Thinker Blog

- JP

Dennis Prager: Why I Now Vote Party, Not Individual

*
In a election day Townhall.com op-ed, Dennis Prager explains why he now votes for the party, not the person:

For better or for worse, the notion of voting for the candidate rather than the party is now mostly naive idealism. The Democratic Party is now fully left-wing, and is simply the American version of any European Social Democratic party. It is the party of ever-expanding government. (The Republican Party, in contrast, is -- at long last -- the party of small government.)

[...]

This is my response to the liberal media, which have portrayed virtually every popular conservative in my lifetime as a mediocrity at best, a dummy at worst. In not one case -- from Ronald Reagan to George W. Bush to Sarah Palin -- was the media's depiction accurate. To give but one example, George W. Bush can probably run rings around Vice President Joseph Biden in his understanding and knowledge of history and of the world.

But even if the media's depictions were accurate, it wouldn't matter to me. I will take common sense and values over intellect any day and in any election. Left-wing intellectuals have abysmal track records when it comes to confronting great evil in the world. Their willingness to fight tyrants and despots is one of consistent and abject moral failure.

Take the left's favorite Republican to depict as a dummy, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.

This country would be in considerably better shape if Palin were either vice president or president. Palin would have confronted Iran rather than place her faith in negotiations and the United Nations. She would not have sought to impose a peace on Israel (as if peace can ever be imposed by outsiders on any countries, let alone upon those in which one of the parties seeks to annihilate the other). She would not have bought into Keynesian economics and spent nearly a trillion dollars largely to keep overpaid and overcompensated government workers voting Democrat. She would not have expanded the number of government agencies and "czars" to the point that this country may well be governed for the next two years not by congressional laws but by unelected and unaccountable federal agencies. She would not have declared a date by which America will leave Afghanistan and thereby ensured that fewer and fewer Afghans fight alongside America. She would not have signed a 2,000-page bill about anything, let alone health care. She would have expanded oil drilling in America so that we can actually begin the long journey to energy independence, not the imaginary journey to windmills and solar panels. She would never have considered taxing energy, the engine of our economy, on the increasingly absurd claims that human carbon dioxide emissions will bring the planet to ruin.

So, it is time for us Americans to realize that the old days of choosing the better candidate are gone. The Democrats have, at least in this way, achieved their goal of rendering us more European -- we will have to vote by party.

[More]

- JP

Quote of the Day (October 31, 2010)

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Common Sense Journal:

"I’m all for respecting people with whom you disagree, but it’s almost always the leftists/Marxisists/'progressives'/Democrats who are smearing the opposition instead of addressing their arguments, whether it’s (unbelievably) Democrats/liberals making fun of a poor innocent child who has Down syndrome and whose mother is Sarah Palin, or Democrats attacking conservative women who run for office with sick and sexist 'jokes' which aren’t funny."

- JP