Lee Cary: Palin v. Rove and the Battle for the GOP's Future

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In an opinion piece for American Thinker, Lee Cary holds that the battle for the future of the Grand Old Party is being fought between opposing forces led, on one side, by the grassroots Tea party movement, and, on the other, by the Republican elite. Sarah Palin is perhaps the foremost champion of the former, and Karl Rove represents the latter. Rove has been critical of both Gov. Palin and the Tea Parties, dissing her as lacking "gravitas," which blasting Tea Partiers for being "not sophisticated." Here's the problem with Rove's arguments, in Carey's view:

Ronald Reagan once hosted the television program "Death Valley Days," pushing 20 Mule Team Borax cleaner. The liberal media questioned his gravitas through both terms. Rudy Giuliani is leading a troupe of motivational speakers across the nation, promising to teach time management, leadership, and several other "skills" -- almost everything except how to stir-fry. Fred Thompson is hawking reverse mortgages to seniors. Mike Huckabee is playing average guitar on his FOX show. None of these former presidential candidates is wading hip-deep today in the Gravitas River that Rove claims does not flow through Alaska. So what's up with Karl?

This assault on Palin comes, lest we forget, from the same advisor who either did not make the case or was unable to persuade Bush 43 to stand up and fight back against the relentless criticism from Democrats and the legacy media during six of Bush's eight years as president. Why the aggression now against Palin and the TPM?

Here's a possible explanation. "Bush's Brain," and the architect of the compassionate conservative strategy of George W's 2000 presidential campaign, is feeling the ground shift under his feet. As a consequence, the gyrocompass of his once-highly regarded political judgment is broken.

On Tuesday night, he'll have his signature whiteboard out charting numbers, but the Rove magic has faded some. He appears to be suffering from a severe case of Beltway Insideritis. It strikes when those who've been comfortable with their status as powerful political influencers lose some of their...gravitas...and become mere observers of the events they wish they could influence, but can't.

If that's the case, then Karl's just one among a cadre of certified conservative pundits, in the media and among the professional camp followers of the pols, who don't understand a grassroots movement they neither initiated nor can control.

[More]

Tomorrow morning, after the midterm election results have been digested and analyzed, that struggle for the heart, soul and future of the Republican Party will no longer be a series of skirmishes. The battle will be on in earnest.

- JP

Sarah Palin: The real heroes of this election are Tea Party Americans

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Via Palin TV, Gov. Palin was on Sean Hannity's radio program Thursday:


Help Palin TV acquire more Sarah Palin videos. Contribute here

- JP

Sarah Palin: 'Corruption is never compulsory'

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Here's Gov. Palin on Fox Business' "Follow the Money" with Eric Bolling, in a Monday night segment captured by Palin TV:



Support Palin TV

- JP

Quote of the Day (September 29, 2010)

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David Freddoso at the Washington Examiner:

"Someone needs to tell Matt Taibbi that Medicare isn’t a voluntary program... Oh, some great gotcha journalism here in Rolling Stone. Ambush conservative senior citizens at a Sarah Palin speech and call them welfare queens because they’re on Medicare... Taibbi’s sophomoric wit might have been enough to confound an elderly couple in Kentucky, but I doubt it. Assuming that he accurately related the content of his conversation with the Wheelocks, they were probably shocked by the fact that this big city guy was such an idiot."

- JP

Gov. Palin tells Greta how the Tea Party movement intimidates both the GOP and Dems

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More video from Sarah Palin's Monday night guest spot with Greta was aired on Tuesday's show.

Part 3: Who's More Rattled By the Tea Party?



- JP

Video: Sarah Palin 'On the Record' with Greta, 9/27/10

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Part 1: ObamaCare and Taking Back the 20:


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Part 2: The GOP & the Tea party movement, endorsements, Bristol on DWTS:



- JP

Gov. Palin and Rush Limbaugh will be Greta's guests Monday

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According to Fox News Insider, Sarah Palin and Rush Limbaugh will be Greta's guests Monday night "On the Record":

"The Tea Party impact: Is the grassroots movement signaling a changing of the guard in D.C.? Former Governor Sarah Palin and Rush Limbaugh have expert insight."

9 PM Texas Time, with a replay at Midnight.

- JP

Christopher Massie's vetting of Sarah Palin

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Christopher Massie's CFP op-ed, "Vetting Sarah Palin—The Assignment of a Lifetime" is one of those pieces of work about which the oft-repeated blogger admonition to "read the whole thing" takes on special meaning. For it is simply one of the most outstanding articles ever written about Gov. Palin.

Massie sets the table for his editorial feast by by pointing to the attacks on Christine O'Donnell by heretofore conservative stalwarts Karl Rove and Charles Krauthammer. By attacking Ms. O'Donnell, the pair are by proxy waging war on Sarah Palin, who has become somewhat of a mentor for candidate O'Donnell. The author then moves on the significance of the timing of the attacks, coming as they do at a time when a larger war is raging -- one between the new guard (the TEA Party movement) and the old (the establishment -- for the very soul of the Republican Party. He points out that a crucial in an even greater war is fast approaching. The battle is the midterm elections just a few short weeks away, and this war is for the very heart and soul of the republic. Gov. Palin, says Massie, is supplying much of the momentum for the TEA Party movement.

And so his vetting of Sarah Heath Palin begins. Massie take conducts a historic tour through her political career, from her beginnings as a city councilwoman, through her terms as a mayo, on to the governor's office and into the presidential campaign of 2008. The unifying thread which runs through all of these stages is her fight against the corrupt status quo of political establishments each one of these venues. Sarah Palin's abiding faith in God saw her through these many battles and allowed her to keep her strong character and personal character intact.

But her own political party has pulled out all of the stops in its effort to stop her, and in the process has even adopt the political playbook used by the Democrats. Now the national Republicans have embraced the same Alinsky rules used against them by the Democrats to try to destroy Sarah Palin and the TEA party movement:

As this nation heads towards November, a crucial turning point in American history, Palin’s foes are making hay. Political strategists the likes of Karl Rove and Charles Krauthammer have emerged from the old boys’ network closet. The most infamous, nepotistically-influenced, former Palin competitor Lisa Murkowski has announced she will run again this November—as a write in. In these days, it is wise to recall the actions of Harry Reid in 2006 when he summoned then-Senator Obama, instructing Barack it was the Party’s intentions to have him run for the Presidency (even though it would not be until the summer of 2008 that Reid would publicly endorse the Senator from Illinois).

The Democrats (led by Reid) would have done anything to defeat Hillary—and they did it stealthily. The GOP is taking a page from that book. There is an all-too-familiar episode re-playing itself for voters to witness this season. The GOP loathes Sarah Palin. And the Party is now setting about to deeply unsettle those successful candidates she has promoted. The evidence is glaringly obvious. Murkowski has been unleashed; Rove and Krauthammer are doing their bidding. The events unfolding are towards one goal: the destruction of Palin’s bid for the Presidency.

Enough excerpts. Follow this link to the original opinion piece. Bookmark it, read it, email it to friends, no matter whether they are left right or center.

It's that good.

- JP

Study: Tea Partiers Prefer Palin for President

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The Daily Caller's Alex Pappas reports that a new survey of the Tea Party movement released today reveals that Sarah Palin is the overwhelming choice of conservative grassroots activists for president in 2012:

Among the “229 Tea Party supporters” surveyed by the Sam Adams Alliance, Palin brought in 23 percent when up against 19 other candidates, according to the report. It is the first of three studies commissioned by the free-market non-profit group to analyze Tea Party activists before November’s midterm elections.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney followed with 9.2 percent, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie took in 8.7 percent and Newt Gingrich garnered 7.7 percent of Tea Party activists’ support.

Although activists tend to support GOP candidates for president, the report found that some — who largely identified as Republicans before they joined up as Tea Partiers — have dropped their party affiliation with the GOP as they became more involved in the movement.

Among new activists polled, 74 percent originally identified themselves as Republican, with 20 percent saying they are independents. But since claiming to join the movement, there’s been a near 30-point drop in affiliation among Tea Partiers with the Republican Party, according to the group, with many activists switching to independent, Tea Party or Libertarian party labels.

Read the full Daily Caller article here.

- JP

Roger Simon: I was right about Sarah Palin

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In an op-ed published by Politico, Roger Simon says, "I told you so." Here are some excerpts:

More than 13 months ago, I wrote a column that began: “Sarah Palin can be the Republican nominee in 2012. I am not saying she will be, but she can be. Those who underestimate her do so at their own risk.”

[...]

Now, more than a year later, I have not changed my mind about Palin’s political potential. This is not based on the polls — especially a recent one showing her in a 46 percent to 46 percent tie with Obama in a hypothetical 2012 face-off. I don’t believe such polls tell us anything meaningful.

I am basing my belief now, as back then, on Palin’s ability to connect with the base of her party. Name a bigger name in the Republican Party today. Heck, name any name in the Republican Party today.

[...]

Since unsolicited advice is a columnist’s stock in trade, I had seven suggestions for Palin, back last summer when she was still governor of Alaska: Dump Alaska, surround yourself with people smarter than you are, pick a handful of issues and stick to them, study up, don’t believe you can’t do it, don’t go changing and don’t worry about failure.

Whatever Palin has been doing since then seems to be working. And I have noticed a certain change in how the media are viewing her. In a recent column giving advice to journalists, Marc Ambinder of The Atlantic wrote: “Be humble about conclusions. ... Sarah Palin may not be ready to be president today, but that doesn’t mean she won’t be ready to be president tomorrow.”

In even better news for Palin, her political opponents continue to dismiss her. Mark Halperin wrote in Time magazine recently: “An adviser to Mitt Romney ... says of Palin, ‘She’s not a serious human being.’”

Which leads me to believe that Romney needs to get himself some new advisers.

Read Simon's full Politico piece here.

- JP

Kathryn Lopez: What Women Don't Want

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What women don't want is Obama's fundamental transformation of the republic Dr. Franklin said the founders had given us if we can keep it. With her "Mama Grizzlies" video, Sarah Palin has sent a clear message that women are determined to keep it. In order to accomplish that, they might well make a transformation of their own. They have the tea parties as a vehicle to drive first principles home in what is shaping up to be a landmark political year. And more than "a few good men" are willing to fight by their sides. Kathryn Lopez gives her take on all this in her latest Townhall.com column:

Good advertising is not everything in politics, but it sure doesn't hurt. Kellyanne Conway, a prominent pollster and CEO, says that Palin "is calling for a 'Moms' Mobilization' to encourage millions of women like her to tell Washington to tighten its belt the way they have ... Palin is a good messenger for this mobilization because she is one of them. They may like her -- or not -- but they are LIKE her: a working mom with no Ivy League degree, who thinks Washington's 'new math' does not add up."

Many political observers thought Palin's video was the opening salvo -- or, at least trailer -- in the media star's 2012 presidential campaign. When, days later, her PAC issued impressive second-quarter fundraising results, that speculation only continued. But to focus on Palin is to underestimate what's going on in American politics.

It's not just Palin or even the scads of other attractive woman who are running for office as Republicans; this "year of conservative women" is manifesting itself in a big way in the Tea Party movement...

[...]

John Paul II called it the "feminine genius." Alexis de Tocqueville chivalrously observed it in us: "If anyone asks me what I think the chief cause of the extraordinary prosperity and growing power of this nation, I should answer that it is due to the superiority of their women."

The rise of the mama grizzlies hardly spells the "end of men," Claremont's Pitney emphasizes, knowing that one prominent magazine recently declared just that. It's simply confirmation, once again, of the complementarily of the sexes and the gifts each one brings to the table, essential even for politics.

Read K-Lo's full op-ed at Townhall.com.

- JP

Bob Lonsberry: 'I am a Sarah Palin Republican'

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Veteran newsman, talk show host and blogger Bob Lonsberry proudly proclaims:

I am a Tea Party Republican.

And I am a Sarah Palin Republican.

Which is to say, I am a free-standing, Constitution-loving American who is not going to be intimidated into silence.

Sarah Palin does not lead people, she reflects people’s values. We do not follow her, she and we together follow a set of principles we learned at our parents’ knee. We like Sarah Palin not because she is the smartest or the best spoken or the most experienced, we like her because she is one of us.

She doesn’t have a Harvard heart.

She has an American heart.

We get her, and we know she gets us. And in her gut, she is going to think and feel the way we feel. She is the girl next door, and if the girl next door can be the backbone of America, then why can’t she be the leader of America?

Read the rest of Lonberry's "manifesto of the day" here.

- JP

Lloyd Marcus: Sarah Palin is the conservative voice America has been waiting for.

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Though they've been told a thousand times that the Tea Party movement has no one leader, the liberal lamestream media continues to ask Tea Party spokespersons the question, "Is Sarah Palin the leader of the Tea Party Movement?" Tea Party troubador Lloyd Marcus says says the media won't stop asking the question because it is hoping to cath someone off guard who will answer "Yes." That's what the out-of-touch journos are hoping for, because they so desperately want to brand both Gov. Palin and the Tea Party movement as "a bunch of extremist fringe loonies":

In their arrogant, elitist, coastal, PETA membership, New York Times reading and “smarter than us common Americans” minds, the liberal mainstream media can not grasp the concept that Sarah Palin is the voice of most Americans. Thus, Tea Party patriot’s great love and admiration for her. Palin is the conservative voice America has been waiting for.

It’s a voice that the leftist media both loathes and fears, because it challenges their every assumption about what is right and good about America.

Palin boldly speaks out against political correctness and stands up for conservative principles and values. Not since Ronald Reagan has a politician so unapologetically championed conservatism. With all due respect to her femininity and beauty, Sarah Palin is the, long awaited, John Wayne of the Conservative movement. If only more of our “walk on eggs, careful not to offend and pandering to political correctness” male conservative politicians would take a cue from this extraordinary woman…

No, Palin is not the leader of the Tea Party Movement. But, not because she is unqualified. Sarah is extremely qualified. Palin is not the leader of the Tea Party Movement because it does not require a leader at this time. Self-appointed leaders are frauds. True leaders are selected by the people. If, or when the Tea Party movement demands a leader, Palin is a very strong contender.

So why is Sarah Palin the liberal mainstream media’s great white whale they are fanatically and irrationally committed to destroy? Sarah Palin equals America as our Founding Fathers intended it to be: built on godly principles, freedom and respect for individual rights.

By contrast, the liberal mainstream media are disciples of the religion of Progressivism, promoting their new vision of a “fundamentally changed” America; anti-God, anti-Capitalism, anti-individual, with a leviathan government in total control of our lives. Not only is America under attack by Islamic religious zealots, we are being attacked by Progressive religious zealots as well. I will take it a step further to say the campaign against Sarah Plain is really a battle of good verses evil.

Gov. Palin continues to be an inspiration to Tea Party patriots to fight to take back out country, Marcus says, "so Progressives, be afraid. Be very afraid."

- JP

Sarah Palin endorses Tea Party candidate Clint Didier (Updated)

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In a new post on her Facebook Notes page Thursday, Sarah Palin endorsed former NFL player Clint Didier, who won two Super Bowl rings as a member of the Washington Redskins:

The Right Game Plan for Victory in America with #86

I’m proud to support Clint Didier as he willingly puts it all on the line to serve Washington state in the U.S. Senate for all the right reasons! This selfless, inspiring commonsense constitutional conservative will help put our country on the right track.

Please visit Clint’s website here, and follow him on Facebook and Twitter.

Let’s get behind #86!

- Sarah Palin

Didier's pro football career spanned much of the decade of the 1980s. He was a tight end for the Skins for six seasons, and also played one season with the Green Bay Packers. He now shares head coaching duties with Wayne Riner at Connell High School in Connell, Washington, where the two led the Eagles to the finals four times, winning the state championship in 2002 and 2009, and taking runners-up honors in 2006 and 2007.

Didier, a Tea Party candidate and libertarian Republican, seeks to dethrone incumbent Democrat Patty Murray from the U.S. Senate. When he's not coaching football and campaigning for the U.S. Senate, Didier runs the family farm he came home to work after the end of his NFL career.

Updates: David Weigel has more on this race, and C4P has a good Didier video up.

- JP

Lloyd Marcus: Sarah Palin is the John Wayne of the Conservative movement

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Loud Marcus, Tea Party troubadour and spokesman, has written an opinion piece for American Thinker on what Sarah Palin means to the Tea party movement and to the greater conservative movement as well. We've excerpted the first few paragraphs:

Is Sarah Palin the leader of the Tea Party Movement? This is asked as a "gotcha" question by the liberal mainstream media of every spokesperson of the Tea Party Movement. The liberal mainstream media is so far out of touch with the majority of Americans, their rationale is: if they can get tea partiers to say a wacko like Palin is their leader, it will confirm that the movement is nothing more than a bunch of extremist fringe loonies.

In their arrogant, elitist Bicoastal, ACLU-joining, New York Times-reading and "smarter than common Americans" minds, the liberal mainstream media can not grasp the concept that Sarah Palin is the voice of most Americans. Thus, Tea Party patriot's great love and admiration for her. Palin is the conservative voice America has been waiting for.

Palin boldly speaks out against political correctness and stands up for conservative principles and values. Not since Ronald Reagan has a politician unapologetically so championed conservatism. With all due respect to her femininity and beauty, Sarah Palin is the, long awaited, John Wayne of the Conservative movement. If only more of our "walk on eggs, careful not to offend and pandering to political correctness" male conservative politicians would take a cue from this extraordinary woman.

No, Palin is not the leader of the Tea Party Movement. But, not because she is unqualified. Sarah is extremely qualified. Palin is not the leader of the Tea Party Movement because it does not require a leader at this time. Self appointed leaders are frauds. True leaders are selected by the people. If, or when the Tea Party movement demands a leader, Palin is a very strong contender.

I witnessed firsthand the power of Palin's presence and the emotional effect she has on patriots...

Read Lloyd Marcus' AT commentary in full here.

h/t: Roy

- JP

Pilgrim, are you a Bush Republican or a Perry Republican?

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Bernie Quigley has an interesting take on the realignment going on the GOP right now. Think Palin passion, Perry proficiency and Pataki perspective. Pataki? As in George Pataki, former governor of New York? Bernie's serious. Read on:

There can be seen now two schools of Republicans: Bush Republicans and Perry Republicans. This took form in Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s recent primary race when Dick Cheney, George H.W. Bush, Karl Rove and Karen Hughes (W’s proxy) lined up behind Kay Bailey Hutchison and Sarah Palin lined up behind Rick Perry. Perry won in a landslide. But the sides had already been drawn up for and against in Doug Hoffman’s Conservative Party challenge in NY-23. It was the moment of the significant turning. Palin and Perry were there, and Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty showed up after the brush was cut, while Newt Gingrich and the party regulars lined up behind the traditional Republican. But George Pataki, former governor of New York, was there first. The Bush clan is now sidling up to Tea Party types; Cheney to Rubio in Florida, Mitt Romney to Nikki Haley in South Carolina. But George Pataki was there first. think Palin passion, Perry proficiency and Pataki perspective. Pataki? As in George Pataki, former governor of New York? Bernie's serious. Read on:

He told The Hill that he won’t rule out a presidential race in 2012. He’d be a great addition to a line that would hopefully include Perry, Palin and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal. That would leave Mitt Romney holding the coat for the Bush people. But all of these others add substance and character to what is the sea change known as the Tea Party. It is heartland-based, and the American century ahead will find its strengths and prosperity in the American heartland.

The fledgling spirit of the Tea Partiers, like Tamino, may need three words for guidance on its journey to maturity. Those words might be: passion, perspective and packaging. Palin provides passion and Perry the comprehensive abilities of a well-run and healthy state manager. But Pataki provides perspective. His recent six-stop tour, Revere America, geared to repealing ObamaCare, adds class and character to this grassroots movement.

Read the full Quigley at The Hill's Pundits Blog.

- JP

Fox News Video: Sarah Palin on the hacker trial, states' rights vs. federal power

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Sarah Palin appeared on Fox News' "On the Record" Friday night, discussing the e-mail hacking trial, immigration, and states rights vs. federal power, with host Greta Van Susteren:



Update: A transcript of the interview is here.

- JP

Michael Graham: Let the party begin!

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Boston Herald columnist and WTKK-FM (96.9 Boston Talks) host Michael Graham says he can see Palin Derangement Syndrome from his house:

You’ll see it too if you come to Boston Common tomorrow morning when Sarah Palin and the Tea Party Express roll into town. I’ll be broadcasting my radio show live during the event and I’ve been asked to be part of the program as well. But what I’m really looking forward to is seeing the gathering of hate-spewing, anger-crazed lunatics.

Or as they’re more commonly known, “Massachusetts liberals.”

What - you think the Tea Partiers are angry? You obviously haven’t picked up the latest copy of the Weekly Dig, a local “progressive” publication that invited readers to design signage to welcome Palin and push back against Tea Party hate speech.

Among the signs published are several featuring a word very similar to “witch,” a couple of swastikas, a Hitler mustache and - in an odd move by anti-Second-Amendment liberals - one with an American flag, a bleeding tea bag and numerous bullet holes.

Stay classy, Boston liberals!

These unhinged leftists, says Graham, claim that Gov. Palin and the Tea Partiers are name-calling idiots, so...

"... the only responsible, progressive thing to do when they come to Boston is to show up at their rally, wave idiotic signs and call them names."

Here's a preview of some of those idiotic signs the wacko left will be waving. Don't expect the lamestream, state-controlled media to get as wee-wee'd up over these signs as the ones the Tea Partiers will be carrying. That would be fair and balanced reporting, a practice which died about the same time that journalism was lowered into the grave.

Don't expect the media running dogs to mention that some of the organizations demonstrating against Gov. Palin are Red Star front groups, either. That's a side of the left in this country that the Obamunist media dare not expose, lest folks get the right idea or something.

Angry, race-baiting "progressives" have been organizing their protests for weeks, so there's no telling what these Loony Tunes leftists will do Wednesday when the Boston Tea Party, 2020 edition, gets going. One thing you can take to the teller -- it will be nasty. Nasty is as nasty does.

Read Graham's full Herald column here. And if you plan to attend, don't forget to bring along your camera to document any moonbattery committed by the unhinged ones.

- JP

Sarah Palin gives Michelle Malkin a shout out

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In a tweet Monday, Gov. Palin gave a nod to Michelle Malkin:

"We'll be @Boston T-Party Wed 2support movement 2make D.C.hear the people;Thx Michelle Malkin&others who reveal opposition efforts 2movement"

On her website today, Malkin posted a detailed expose titled "Crash course: Your illustrated guide to the Tea Party saboteurs."

Update: More from the Red Mass Group here.

- JP

Fox News Video: Lamestream Media Takes Aim at Tea Party, Palin

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A video of a segment from Sunday's "Fox Newswatch" program on FNS:



- JP