Jerry Wilson: Sarah Palin vs. Rainy Days and Mondays

"We’ve learned firsthand she is a wonderful person."
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The musings of our Blogs 4 Palin colleague Jerry Wilson, which heretofore have been available exclusively at Goldfish and Clowns, are reaching a wider readership, as he's now also a contributor to POWIP (Piece of Work in Progress). We've long been impressed by Jerry's quality writing, and we especially like his second POWIP Post, "Sarah Palin vs. Rainy Days and Mondays," from which we present a few excerpts:

Something most all Palin detractors, and not a few people who are ambivalent about her, rail against is what they perceive as a cultish adoration of her by her devotees, one where not even a whiff of criticism is tolerated. I can’t and won’t deny this element exists. However, it does not define all who hold her in high esteem. In fact, it is a very small portion of her supporters. The vast majority of us support Palin because, as Peter’s post states, she is right on the major issues confronting our nation.

That said, there is a fortunate group among us who have an additional reason for belonging to the Palin posse.

We’ve learned firsthand she is a wonderful person.

As long as there’s hope she will in the very near future be our President, there is hope indeed.

[More]

Those who demonize Gov. Palin by attacking her character and/or her family, have either never met her or through their interaction with her, have demonstrated to the lady that it is their character flaws which are beyond redemption.

Related: See The PJ Tatler, Sarah Palin keeps getting everything right

- JP

Jerry Wilson: In Defense of Defending Sarah Palin

"She doesn’t need your approval"
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Jerry Wilson at Goldfish and Clowns responds to an Elizabeth Scalia post at First Things about what she perceives as the dangers of creating a cult of personality around politicians, namely Barack Obama and Sarah Palin. Jerry thinks it’s worth the read, but he has a couple of caveats:

There is a bit of a stretch in one part:

Her supporters do not, thankfully, regard Palin as some sort of transcendent humanoid, but to her base, Palin and her family have become sacrosanct to a troubling extreme that echoes the Obama cult: Jokes made at Palin’s expense are not jokes but “hate.” Constructive criticism (even when rendered mildly, and with acknowledgments of both her strengths, and the savaging she endured throughout the ’08 campaign) is categorized as “hate.” One either loves Palin unconditionally, or one is a heretic; doubt, or even a reasonable reservation, is an occasion of sin.

I cannot speak for all Palin supporters, and yes, I am a Palin supporter through and through. Yes, I do adore her. Not worship. Adore. For this I make no apology.

That said, I strongly suspect there are many here among us who, like myself, do not subscribe to the notion of her being 100% above reproach and everything she says or does is Holy Writ times ten. It’s an easy assumption to make that lack of criticism equals fanboy worship. No, not really. It means someone hasn’t said or done something lately that warrants criticism. If Palin says or does something I don’t like, yes I will say so.

[...]

There’s a bit of an overstatement further along in the post:

To Obama or Palin cultists, any critique must be invalidated because if you find a fault with them, you are de facto finding fault with the values and ideals of those who have invested so much of their identities into supporting and yes, “believing in” their heroes.

[...]

Yes, there are people — plenty of them — who immediately go into counterattack mode the moment someone, anyone, says anything negative about Palin. They’ve become conditioned to respond that way given how much of the negativity against Palin comes not from political or philosophical differences, but rather cheap, degrading personal shots. When this inevitably slops over — Palin is dumb, you support her, therefore you are dumb – what on the surface can appear like fanboy blather is actually legitimate self-defense.

I’m inclined to give Palin supporters the benefit of the doubt in this matter. I believe they are more than intelligent enough to support her based on her track record and political views, not a cult of personality. And, in fact, this is what they do.

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Jerry makes some very good points, and we have little of our own to add to his well-reasoned analysis, except to say that Gov. Palin is perfectly capable of defending herself. But have you noticed what happens when she does? She is excoriated by elites on both sides of the center for being so uppity as to not just suffer the slander in silence, like George W. Bush did. That really worked out well for him, didn't it? But when Sarah Palin defends herself and her children, she is ripped for allegedly "not having thick enough skin" or not being able to "take a joke." Nonsense.

So that's one reason her supporters are so quick to rise to her defense, because whether she defends herself or not, her attackers just throw more of their manure at her. Unlike many of her fellow Republicans, Sarah Palin has an actual spine, and her supporters both appreciate that character trait and endeavor to emulate it. It basically boils down to this, "We're not gonna take it." Sarahcuda is a fighter, and we fight with her. "Long live the fighters!"

- JP

Will Sarah Palin speak at CPAC?

What is "the right thing" to do about CPAC this time?
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As February approaches, the annual speculation about whether Gov. Palin will speak at CPAC has started up again. At Politico, which depends heavily on speculation, Ben Smith notes that even though the governor is not scheduled to speak at any of this year's CPAC events, he interprets SarahPAC's co-sponsorship of a CPAC 2011 reception to mean that Gov. Palin and David Keene have "patched things up."

Although a couple of choice speaking slots still have "TBA" status on the CPAC agenda, Jerry Wilson is convinced that Sarah Palin will not attend:

"...it must stick firmly in the throat of Washington insiders and wannabes that Sarah Palin can bypass them without missing a beat. She can pick her spots, selecting such prizes as being the keynote speaker at a high profile sanctioned event marking Ronald Reagan’s one hundredth birthday. She speaks to more people in a second with one Facebook page than all the speakers at CPAC combined will reach in a year. Simply put, Palin doesn’t need CPAC. And she doesn’t seem all that inclined to make an appearance there because it’s been elevated to mandatory status by those seeking to enhance their own status."

We honestly don't know whether she will show up at CPAC or not, nor does anyone else but Gov. Palin and perhaps a few of her closest aides.

- JP

Jerry Wilson: Different day, same Allahpundit BS about Sarah Palin

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Our Blogs 4 Palin colleague at Goldfish and Clowns unloads on Allahpundit Callouspundit:

Let us return to the patron saint of beta males and his latest jab at a woman who accomplishes more while brushing her teeth in the morning than AP will in the entirety of his life span on this planet.

Back-handed pseudo-compliments? Of course.

Poorly-hidden accusations of her playing the victimization game? Naturally.

Cheap-shot labeling (“retail politician”)? Certainly.

Whining in the comments about how any word to the contrary of his sniveling is nothing more than drivel from Palin worshipers? On cue.

Be proud, Michelle Malkin, for bringing this bozo back from the blogging graveyard...

"Patron saint of beta males" -- wish we had thought of that. Read Jerry's full post here.

- JP

The Hound of the Bloggervilles

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We tried doing this the nice way. We really did. We removed inflammatory comments and posted a call for a show of respect. Sadly, it was to no avail. It's hard to get a dog to listen when he's too busy barking, it seems.

So here are two excellent comentaries on the hysterical, Palin-biting, CPAC-defending, mindlessly-barking David Keene Terriers (A David Keene Terrier -- also known as "CPAC Water Dog" -- is a hound about the size of a Jack Russell Terrier, but with none of the latter breed's virtues).

From our Blogs 4 Palin colleague Jerry Wilson at Goldfish And Clowns:

"There’s another aspect to the 'Palin’s personally insulting me by not going to CPAC' meme that’s more than a tad disturbing. In recent days a rather nasty fuss has been raised by those complaining about Palin’s perceived snub, centered on whining about Palin supporters being this lot of mindless drones who worship the ground she walks on, believe she gives infallibility lessons to the Pope and must be immediately defended to the death and beyond against any and all critiques. In fact, the kvetchers are the ones behaving like those who Jesus referenced with the illustration of children in the marketplace whining about people not following their song’s lead. Certainly there is an element, as is present with every public figure, within the Palin posse of those who believe she can do no wrong. However, dismissing her supporters en masse due to the excesses of a few is condescending and just plain rude."

And from the esteemed David L. Riddick, posting from across the pond on Conservatives 4 Palin:

"Poor Allah... he bleeds for other bloggers who, in merely trying to be helpful to Palin by questioning her motives, her judgement and her political common sense over the CPAC and the Tea Party Convention affair, have been shocked and wounded by respondents who have questioned the bloggers’ own motives and judgement. It is classic Allah, a cri de coeur, glistening with heartfelt sincerity, pleading the unfairness of bombing the bomb throwers."

Meanwhile, those fiendish capitalists from Tea Party Nation are sending out e-mails urging people to donate to and volunteer for Scott Brown's campaign. Yes, but what's their real motive in doing this? It simply must be nefarious, because someone with a dull axe blade told some bloggers that those evil TPN people cannot be trusted. Their eyes are too close together or something... 

- JP