Maggie Gallagher: Sarah Palin's Girl Power

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In her latest column for Townhall.com, Maggie Gallagher says Sarah Palin's speech at the Susan B. Anthony List breakfast "blew her away":

It was an extraordinary speech.

Sarah Palin is something genuinely new on the American scene, and what's more, she clearly knows it.

Palin understands that she is building not just a new political movement, but a new cultural identity. She dubbed it "frontier feminism," and it was the theme she carried through from beginning to end.

[...]

Women can do anything. We can bear children under less than ideal circumstances. Like Sarah and her "strong and independent" daughter Bristol. 2010, Sarah Palin announced exuberantly, is the year "when commonsense conservative women get things done for our country."

I don't know if it's true or not. But I'll tell you one thing: Sarah Palin had me at the word "Trig."

The unedited original Maggie Gallagher column was published at Townhall.com.

- JP

TRS Video: Sarah Palin's SBA List breakfast speech

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Sarah Palin spoke to the Susan B. Anthony List's "Celebration of Life" breakfast Friday morning in Washington, D.C. Here's the video, courtesy of TheRightScoop:



The unedited original C-SPAN video of her address, complete with preliminaries and introduction, is here.

- JP

Weigel: Sarah Palin gets personal in SBA List speech

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In what he describes as "a fast-paced and revealing" address Friday morning to the pro-life Susan B. Anthony List, Washington Post blogger David Weigel reports that Sarah Palin's address was part campaign speech and part personal reflections on learning that Trig would be born with Down syndrome and how eldest daughter Bristol could cope with an unplanned pregnancy:

"I never ordered up, planned on, being the mother of a son with special needs," said Palin. "I thought, God would never give me something I couldn't handle."

Trig, said Palin, was "the best thing that ever happened" to her and her family. She recalled looking into her newborn son's eyes and imagining what he thought: "See, God knows what he's doing! He gave me to you, and He gave you to me! See, it's going to be good."

[...]

She praised her daughter Bristol "for having to endure some public humiliation, bless her heart, there on the national stage," and informed the crowd of Bristol's pro-abstinence slogan, "pause before you play."

On politics, Palin was pugnacious and confident, reminding the crowd that she'd endorsed Senate candidate Carly Fiorina in California and that she'd be in South Carolina to endorse dark horse gubernatorial candidate Nikki Haley.

"There's a whole stampede of pink elephants coming down the road," said Palin, "ETA November 2010!"

Palin contrasted the candidates she was supporting with antiabortion Democrats who, after a tussle, ended up backing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

"We won't forget those who buckled at the last moment in exchange for a nonbinding executive order from the most pro-choice president in history," said Palin, referring to retiring Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.). "Our new pro-life pro-woman majority will actually be pro-life when it counts, when those voters are needed."

Updates: More coverage from the Washington Post here.

- JP

Sarah Palin Braves Beltway Friday for Pro-Life Fundraiser

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Sarah Palin will venture deep into D.C. Friday to headline a sold out fundraiser for the Susan B. Anthony List at the Ronald Reagan Building, just down the street from the White House. The pro-life organization is also the parent group of Team Sarah. Lynn Sweet writes at Politics Daily:

Palin is such a draw that the annual Susan B. Anthony event was revamped from a tea to a larger "Celebration of Life Breakfast," with some 550 attending, the most the room can hold. Tickets range from $150 to $25,000, which includes a VIP reception. A spokesman for the group told me Palin is not charging for her appearance.

"We are thrilled that Governor Palin will be joining the Susan B. Anthony List for our May fundraiser," said General Chairman Jane Abraham in a statement. "As a mother, wife, and successful leader -- she embodies what it means to be a pro-life feminist today. From moms at the PTA to women leaders in the boardroom, Sarah Palin continues to serve as a role model for what it means to be a true American woman leader, and we are honored to have her stand with us."

The breakfast begins at 9:30 a.m. Beltway Time.

- JP

Two new Sarah Palin events announced

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From Team Sarah comes news that Gov. Palin will be the keynote speaker for the Susan B. Anthony List’s May 14 Celebration of Life Breakfast at the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, D.C.

“Susan B. Anthony would be proud of Governor Palin’s consistent, passionate witness for women and the unborn, and especially her commitment to the families of children with special needs,” said Susan B. Anthony List President Marjorie Dannenfelser. “Governor Palin is the modern personification of the authentic leadership modeled by early women’s rights trailblazers like Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Our nation’s earliest women leaders understood that women’s rights could never be advanced at the expense of the broken rights of innocent unborn children.”

“Governor Palin sees the value, necessity, and joy inherent in every human life,” continued Marjorie Dannenfelser, “and that quality rises above and beyond politics.”

Tickets can be purchased online at www.sba-list.org/breakfast.

Gov. Palin will also speak at the 50th Anniversary Gala fundraiser hosted by the CSU Stanislaus Foundation at California State University, Stanislaus on June 25:

The black-tie evening will begin with a reception at 6 p.m., followed by a five-course dinner and dancing.

For ticket information, the number is 209-667-3131.

- JP