Video: Sarah Palin Interview on Fox Business

"We have to elect fiscal conservatives..."
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Gov. Palin appeared on Fox Business over the weekend to discuss a variety of economic and political issues with Tom Sullivan:


- JP

Video: Sarah Palin on FBC's 'Money Rocks'

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Gov. Palin was a guest Thursday night on the Fox Business program "Money Rocks' with host Eric Bolling. They discussed irresponsible spending by the Democrats, coming tax increases and the Obama administration's incompetence in dealing with the Gulf Oil Disaster:



- JP

Quote of the Day (June 6, 2010)

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Thomas Schmitz:

"Never in the history of America has a politician been feared and demonized more than Sarah Palin. Why? Simply put, the elites see Sarah Palin as a threat. She represents the end of elitism rule. Armed with the sword of her common sense politics, Sarah Palin reflects and defends the values of average everyday hardworking Americans. Her sword of common sense cuts right through their fancy Ivy League degrees and ponderous resumes boasting meaningless laureates and 'think tanks' which have nothing to do with capitalism and everything to do with endless education. If you want to balance America’s budget it shouldn’t take a college degree to tell you that not spending more money than you make is a good place to start."

- JP

Sarah Palin: Out-of-control spending is weakening our nation

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In a new op-ed published on her Facebook Notes page, Sarah Palin warns that out-of-control spending is threatening America's freedom and security:

Freedom, Influence, Security Shrink as Budget Balloons

The White House recently announced its pricey Childhood Obesity Initiative to tell us what we should feed our kids. Helpful I’m sure – but most Americans would rather see government focus on other important areas right now. We know what our kids should eat: more healthy food, less junk food. There – we just saved Washington a ton of money by announcing that finding on personal responsibility.

What does demand our full attention is the newly released $3,800,000,000,000 federal budget. The president and Congress have a huge job tackling the problem staring right at us as we look at a budget we obviously can’t afford. America’s freedom and security are endangered as we become beholden to other nations, thanks to ballooning deficits and debt. One congressman just warned that our nation may become insolvent if we don’t make better decisions starting now. As noted in a New York Times article today, unless “miraculous growth” or miraculous unforeseen change is on the horizon, America’s freedom, influence, and security will continue to erode. (Personally, at this point I believe it wouldn’t hurt to ramp up our nation’s humble request for the divine miraculous change and wisdom we’ll need to see us through.)

Getting our arms around this will take all of us working together, making sacrifices, taking more personal responsibility, and sending elected leaders to Washington that we can trust. That’s why some of us may come across as strident in our efforts to call out the White House and Congress. We want to trust you, Washington; we want to work with you, but we cannot stomach some of the things being rammed down our throats. Your actions to pile on more debt make no sense, so we must question your motives and intentions. For instance, there’s just no room for expensive, dangerous, and unsustainable new initiatives like Obamacare, Cap and Tax, and a dramatically expanded federal payroll. These government-growing proposals will obviously cause more problems than they’ll solve. They are just further steps towards insolvency.

Steps towards insolvency are steps away from freedom. They’re steps towards destruction. It’s the reason we ask why we should swallow what's coming out of Washington.

The Wall Street Journal has a brilliant column by Gerald Seib today. It reads in part:

The U.S. government this year will borrow one of every three dollars it spends, with many of those funds coming from foreign countries. That weakens America’s standing and its freedom to act; strengthens China and other world powers including cash-rich oil producers; puts long-term defense spending at risk; undermines the power of the American system as a model for developing countries; and reduces the aura of power that has been a great intangible asset for presidents for more than a century.

“We’ve reached a point now where there’s an intimate link between our solvency and our national security,” says Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations and a senior national-security adviser in both the first and second Bush presidencies. “What’s so discouraging is that our domestic politics don’t seem to be up to the challenge. And the whole world is watching.”

In the 21st-century world order, the classic, narrow definition of national-security threats already has expanded in ways that make traditional foreign-policy thinking antiquated. The list of American security concerns now includes dependence on foreign oil and global warming, for example.

Consider just four of the ways that budget deficits also threaten American’s national security:

• They make America vulnerable to foreign pressures.

The U.S. has about $7.5 trillion in accumulated debt held by the public, about half of that in the hands of investors abroad.

Aside from the fact that each American next year will chip in more than $800 just to pay interest on this debt, that situation means America’s government is dependent on the largesse of foreign creditors and subject to the whims of international financial markets. A foreign government, through the actions of its central bank, could put pressure on the U.S. in a way its military never could. Even under a more benign scenario, a debt-ridden U.S. is vulnerable to a run on the American dollar that begins abroad.

Either way, Mr. Haass says, “it reduces our independence.”

• Chinese power is growing as a result.

A lot of the deficit is being financed by China, which is selling the U.S. many billions of dollars of manufactured goods, then lending the accumulated dollars back to the U.S. The IOUs are stacking up in Beijing.

So far this has been a mutually beneficial arrangement, but it is slowly increasing Chinese leverage over American consumers and the American government. At some point, the U.S. may have to bend its policies before either an implicit or explicit Chinese threat to stop the merry-go-round.

Just this weekend, for example, the U.S. angered China by agreeing to sell Taiwan $6.4 billion in arms. At some point, will the U.S. face economic servitude to China that would make such a policy decision impossible?

Please read the rest of Seib’s column here. Our out-of-control spending is weakening our country. We can no longer afford to kick the can down the road to the next generation. We need to have a serious discussion about our spending priorities before it's too late. Commonsense conservatives have a sincere desire to work with the White House on these challenges, and we’re thankful for those in Congress making the offer to help.

- Sarah Palin

Welcome to the 1930s

At A Tangled Web, David Vance says the 1930s are happening again, thanks to a toxic mix of  "economic luddism and political incompetence":

The dollar is heading south, the deficit is heading north and Obamanomics are proving as ineffective as those [pursued] in the 1930's by FDR.

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As Sarah Palin points out the dollar decline is directly linked to rising US indebtedness and dependence on foreign oil. “We can see the effect of this in the price of gold, which hit a record high today in response to fears about the weakened dollar,”

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The neo-Keynesians are wreaking havoc and proving that they have learned none of the lessons of history. You just cannot spend your way out of a spending induced recession and yet Geithner and the gang imagine otherwise.

Indeed. As Vance points out, Both Hoover and FDR failed to get it right 75 years ago, and millions of Americans got stuck with the bill. 

"The Wizard of Oz" made it's screen debut in 1939, and we are most certainly not in Kansas anymore, TOTUS. But on a more serious note, the 1930s was a decade that saw the rise of fascism overseas, complete with massive military buildups by Germany and Japan. Despite those foreboding events, the prevailing desire for neutrality in the U.S. made it a sleeping giant which would only be awakened by Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto's daring attack on Pearl harbor which crippled the American Pacific Fleet.

- JP

Obama corporatism: Too much too soon

The results of new independent polls from credible opinion research houses indicate that Americans, concerned about Obama's radical spending and abortion policies, appear to be moving to the right. The usual obligatory disclaimers: It's only four polls. We need to see more data before we can identify any trends, if they do indeed exist. But there is reason for conservatives and right-leaning independents to find encouragement here.

The first survey, a Fox News poll conducted by Opinion Dynamics (PDF), found that fully 78 percent of Americans believe that when President Obama says "investment" it means spending their tax dollars, not saving them.

A majority (54 percent) of voters think Obama and the Democrats propose too much of an increase in spending, while only 6 percent want them to spend more. 35 percent say federal spending is "about right."

By party affiliation, 85 percent of Republicans and 61 percent of independents think the increase in spending under the Obama administration is too high, while 61 percent of Democrats say what the president proposes to spend is about right.

60 percent of those surveyed say the president's proposed cuts in government waste don't go far enough, including 84 percent of Republicans, 66 percent of independents and 38 percent of Democrats.

Given Obama's criticism of the Bush administration deficits during the presidential campaign, some 28 percent of Americans say they are surprised Obama is increasing the nation's deficit. More than twice as many -- 68 percent -- are not surprised.

The poll's most significant finding, however, has to do with the involvement of the federal government in the lives of American citizens, and it strongly suggests that Colin Powell has grossly misinterpreted the attitudes of the American people on this issue:

"Former Secretary of State Colin Powell recently made news by saying that Americans 'want more government in their life.' Americans disagree. Most -- 71 percent -- say they want less government in their life. A much smaller number (17 percent) fall in the category described by Powell."

Another finding by Opinion Dynamics:

"By 55 percent to 33 percent Americans think the federal government's increased involvement in U.S. auto companies is a bad thing, which is higher than the number that thinks the government's involvement in the U.S. financial industry is bad (47 percent bad thing, 38 percent good thing)."

The real stunner, however, is found in the results of another survey. For the first time since the Gallup Poll began asking the question in 1995, a majority of adult Americans have identified themselves as pro-life. In addition, fewer of them think abortion should be legal under any circumstances. 51 percent of Americans now call themselves "pro-life" and 42 percent "pro-choice":

"The new results, obtained from Gallup's annual Values and Beliefs survey, represent a significant shift from a year ago, when 50 percent were pro-choice and 44 percent pro-life. Prior to now, the highest percentage identifying as pro-life was 46 percent, in both August 2001 and May 2002."

"The May 2009 survey documents comparable changes in public views about the legality of abortion. In answer to a question providing three options for the extent to which abortion should be legal, about as many Americans now say the procedure should be illegal in all circumstances (23 percent) as say it should be legal under any circumstances (22 percent). This contrasts with the last four years, when Gallup found a strong tilt of public attitudes in favor of unrestricted abortion."

This dramatic shift toward the pro-life position is not an "outlier" - it has been confirmed by two other studies. Gallup asked the same abortion questions that are in its Gallup Values and Beliefs survey on a separate Gallup daily tracking poll from May 12-13, with nearly identical results. Gallup also points out that a Pew Research Poll also indicates a significant change in Americans' attitudes about abortion:

"...a recent national survey by the Pew Research Center recorded an eight percentage-point decline since last August in those saying abortion should be legal in all or most cases, from 54 percent to 46 percent. The percentage saying abortion should be legal in only a few or no cases increased from 41 percent to 44 percent over the same period. As a result, support for the two broad positions is now about even, sharply different from most polling on this question since 1995, when the majority has typically favored legality."

The shift in abortion views, when measured by party affiliation, can be accounted for by Republicans and independents who lean Republican, among whom identification as "pro-life" increased by fully 10 points over the past year, up from 60 percent to 70 percent. while the  views of Democrats and Democrat-leaners has essentially remained static.

When examined by ideology, the increase in pro-life sentiment is found among those who consider themselves conservatives and moderates. Gallup found no change in the abortion views of political liberals.

A year ago, Gallup found that more women considered themselves to be pro-choice than pro-life, by 50 percent to 43 percent. 49 percent of men last year identified as pro-choice and 46 percent as pro-life. Today, because of an increase in pro-life sentiment among both demographics, according to Gallup, both women and men are more likely to identify themselves as pro-life:

Men and women have been evenly divided on the issue in previous years; however, this is the first time in nine years of Gallup Values surveys that significantly more men and women are pro-life than pro-choice.

So what does all this polling mean? Without more specific data, one cannot say with 100 per cent assurance, but the Fox/Opinion Dynamic results regarding spending and the involvement of government in the lives of Americans and businesses suggest that Obama and the Democrats are over-reaching. They are transforming the nation's economic system into a form of corporatism that is scaring the daylights out of many moderates and conservatives. Obama surprised both groups. The former are suffering from buyers remorse in the extreme, most of them having voted for Obama. Most of the latter were expecting a different form of collectivism from Obama, i.e., socialism.

Explaining the change in attitudes about abortion is more problematic. Gallup says it is possible that Obama's abortion policies may be driving Republicans and independents away from the pro-choice position, while Democrats generally support everything Obama is doing as president.

Some early reaction to the Gallup Polls reported by Politico includes comments from some  Republicans who have had high profiles in the media and affirmed their support for life in front of the national audience:

"This is promising news," Gov. Sarah Palin (R-Alaska) told Politico through a spokeswoman. "Every life is precious and has purpose."

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"The American people are saying loud and clear they want leaders who believe in the sanctity of life and cherish it even at the earliest stage," former Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee said in a statement to Politico.

"Over the last few months, Republicans have been trying to rebrand themselves," he said. "This is a clear indication that we do not need to rebrand by moving left toward the middle but instead remain steadfast in our commitment to human life."

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Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the Susan B. Anthony List, agreed with Huckabee, saying the poll shows "that those who blame pro-lifers first when the party loses need to throw out that idea."

"For the Republican Party, it's the independents and the moderate Republicans that are trending pro-life," she said.

Obama "has gone way too far in a direction that people don't want to go on this issue," added Dannenfelser. "Obama's policies and his nominees are running in the exact opposite direction of the polls.

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Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele told Politico through a spokeswoman that "we have a long way to go, but will continue to work to promote pro-life values."

Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, to no one's surprise, disagrees:

"It's one poll, and I look at more than just one poll."

Actually, it is three polls, two by Gallup and one by Pew, that indicate a dramatic shift in the attitudes of Americans about abortion. Ms Keenan may whistle through the graveyard (grim metaphor intentional) all she wants, but it is significant that for the first time since 1995, more Americans take the pro-life position than the pro-abortion one.

- JP