Todd Palin's Letter to American Conservatives

January 15, 2012

Dear Fellow Conservative:

I’m deeply concerned about our nation’s future. I believe that we must nominate and elect a President candidate this year who will stop America’s slide and fight for the values that made our nation great.

I believe that candidate is Newt Gingrich, and I am proudly supporting him for President. I deeply hope you will, too.

Just like my wife Sarah, Newt tells the American people the truth and what he believes, not what he thinks they want to hear. He doesn’t flip-flop on core issues to advance his political chances.

Like Sarah, Newt can take hits from his opponents and the media, and keep on fighting. He’s tough as nails, and he is still standing today because of the power of his ideas, not because he had the most money!

And when it’s time to stand on the national debate stage this fall, you can’t tell me any other candidate will be able to expose Barack Obama and persuade the voters of the conservative case as powerfully as Newt will!

As an Independent, it’s also important to me that Newt knows how to work with Democrats without giving up on our principles. We can’t afford to nominate a pre- packaged candidate without core beliefs -- we need a committed conservative leader who knows how to take on the establishment and create real change!

Newt wrote the Contract with America, balanced the budget four years in a row as Speaker, and reformed welfare. We need his vision and proven leadership, with his record of getting things done, in the White House.

I’m with Newt Gingrich and I would be honored if you would stand with me and cast your vote for Newt in the primary

Yours for America,

Todd Palin

Scott Conroy: Gingrich Hoping for Boost From Sarah Palin

It seems that every time our Sarah appears on Fox News, pundits and Paliniste pore over not just ever word, but every nuance they think they spot in those words and how she utters them. Tusday night's Palin appearance with Sean Hannity fits the pattern:

Despite the deeply held maxim that endorsements are overrated, Newt Gingrich and his senior aides are increasingly hopeful of gaining Palin’s support, which could mark a significant turn in the Republican nominating fight.

In a Fox News appearance on Tuesday night, the 2008 vice presidential nominee stopped just short of endorsing Gingrich but told Sean Hannity that if she were a South Carolina resident, she would vote for him “in order to keep this thing going.”

Palin’s husband, Todd, endorsed Gingrich earlier this month, and top Palin aides have told RCP that both members of Alaska’s most famous political couple speak favorably of the former House speaker in private.

In a Washington Post poll released last week, 23 percent of registered Republicans and GOP-leaning independents nationwide said that an endorsement by Palin would make them more likely to back a particular candidate, while 15 percent said it would make them less likely to do so.

But Palin’s impact among evangelical and Tea Party-leaning GOP voters could be significant in the current multi-conservative field.

Asked how impactful a Palin endorsement would be, one Gingrich aide replied succinctly: “Big.”

[Read More]

Related: Robert Costa: Sarah for Newt?

- JP

Todd Palin endorses Newt Gingrich for president (Updated)

Todd Palin told ABC News Monday that he is endorsing Newt Gingrich for president:

But Sarah Palin, the former Alaska governor and John McCain’s 2008 Republican running mate, has yet to decide “who is best able to go up against Barack Obama,” Todd Palin said.

Palin said he has not spoken to Gingrich or anyone from the former House speaker’s campaign. But he said he respects Gingrich for what he went through in the 1990s and compared that scrutiny in public life to what Sarah Palin went through during her run for the vice presidency.

Todd Palin said he believes that being in the political trenches and experiencing the highs and lows helps prepare a candidate for the future and the job of president.

He did not criticize any of the other candidates and said his “hat is off to everyone” in the Republican race.

Todd was impressed by Gingrich's determination to press on against tall odds last summer when a most of the former Speaker's staff resigned en mass, leaving their candidate on his own to run his campaign.

Todd said that Newt’s ability to overcome that obstacle and still rise in the polls demonstrated that Gingrich is a survivor. Todd Palin knows something about survival. After a high-speed crash left him with a broken arm and broken sled, he still had the fortitude to not only finish the 2008 edition of the world's longest, toughest snow machine ( that's "snowmobile" to lower 48'ers) endurance race, but to do so in fourth place. Todd added that Gingrich, unlike the typical “beltway types,” “burst out of the political arena and touched many Americans.”

Update: Todd Palin will go On The Record tonight at 9:00PM Texas Time to discuss his endorsement of Speaker Newt Gingrich with Greta Van Susteren.

- JP

Say Yes to the Sled

Via TVGuide.com:

With her presidential ambitions behind her — at least for the 2012 race — Sarah Palin is pitching a new reality series that would focus on her husband, Todd Palin, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The project would specifically center on Todd Palin's career as a championship snowmobile racer... Sarah Palin, 47, is pitching the project with Mark Burnett, who also produced her TLC reality series Sarah Palin's Alaska, which aired last year

Discovery Communications, parent company of The Discovery Channel, TLC, and A&E Networks, have passed on the project, so producers are shopping it to other channels.

- JP

Quote of the Day (September 16, 2011)

The End of Palin Derangement Syndrome?
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Alana Goodman, at Commentary Magazine:

“Now that the left has Rick Perry to worry about, is the blind hatred for Palin starting to fade? If so, that might explain why a New York Times columnist was recently so surprised to find Palin actually has ‘intelligent’ and ‘wise’ ideas.”

- JP

Quote of the Day (September 15, 2011)

Todd Palin Defense Fund Update
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Stacy McCain, at the Other McCain:

“Absolute gonzo has rarely been tried as a political strategy. However, when the going gets weird, the weird turn pro, and if Todd Palin shows up at a Joe McGinniss book signing — just for a ‘friendly chat,’ you see, rather than a felonious assault – maybe some of y’all will realize that my ‘One Nation Ass-Whupping Tour’ idea was only half-joking.”

- JP

Mark Levin - I Actually Hope Sarah Palin Gets Into This Race Now

"We conservatives... cannot leave our people on the battlefield to fend for themselves."
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Mark Levin Stands Up For Sarah Palin:

_

Mark Says He Hopes Gov. Palin Gets Into The Race:


h/t: Timothy Donovan

- JP

Statement of Brad Hanson, Todd Palin's ex-business partner (Updated)

McGinness allegation is “a complete and outright lie.”
*
Brad Hanson, Todd Palin's former business partner, has released a statement refuting one of the many lies being propagated by professional liar, plagiarist and all around creep Joe McGinness:

“This is the same old story that went around in 2008,” Hanson said in a statement released today by his publicist. “It is a complete and outright lie. Todd and Sarah Palin have been good friends for many years, and in fact we still own property together. We sold a former joint business venture for business reasons, nothing more. These attacks are shameful and those making them seem to be out only to destroy good people and make money doing so.”

[More]

Todd Palin released his own statement regarding McGinness' slimy attack on his wife's character late Wednesday night:

“This is a man who has been relentlessly stalking my family to the point of moving in right next door to us to harass us and spy on us to satisfy his creepy obsession with my wife,” Todd Palin said via SarahPAC’s Rebecca Mansour. “His book is full of disgusting lies, innuendo, and smears. Even The New York Times called this book ‘dated, petty,’ and that it ‘chases caustic, unsubstantiated gossip.”

[More]

Update: Todd Palin's full statement was provided to NBC's "Today Show" Thursday morning:

This is a man who has been relentlessly stalking my family to the point of moving in right next door to us to harass us and spy on us. He traffics in innuendo and falsehoods. A few years ago he interviewed members of Sarah's administration for a magazine article, and afterwards they said that he was the most disingenuous and intellectually dishonest writer they'd ever dealt with. He's spent the last year interviewing marginal figures with an axe to grind in order to churn out a hit piece to satisfy his own creepy obsession with my wife. I'd ask that people consider these facts when evaluating his latest lies."

"I'd ask the fathers and husbands of America to consider our privacy when one summer day I found this guy on the deck of the rental property, just 18 feet away next door to us, staring like a creep at my wife while she mowed the lawn in her shorts, unbeknownst to her that he was prying. As well as our teenage daughters while they tried to enjoy our traditional Alaskan summer days outdoors. Joe's son told the media he advised his dad not to move from the East Coast to become our next door neighbor, but said his dad 'was just waiting for Todd to be out of the picture.' Sarah has never spoken to this intruder into our lives, our friends and family don't speak to him, so we have no idea where he would come up with content for his book. He was on our doorstep one day trying to make conversation with our son until Track cut the conversation short after discerning Joe's odd behavior, and I spoke to him one time when I saw him 18 feet away, just to find out who he was. He took that conversation and reported it to the media as me 'threatening' him."

[More]

Incredibly, no reporter appears to have taken the time to contact Glen Rice for comment on the McGinness allegations. But, as Sean Hannity likes to say, "Journalism is dead."

- JP

Quote of the Day (September 14, 2011)

Todd Palin's statement on Joe McGinniss' book
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Todd Palin, via SarahPAC email to media:

“This is a man who has been relentlessly stalking my family to the point of moving in right next door to us to harass us and spy on us to satisfy his creepy obsession with my wife. His book is full of disgusting lies, innuendo, and smears. Even The New York Times called this book ‘dated, petty,’ and that it ‘chases caustic, unsubstantiated gossip.’”

h/t: Andrew Malcolm

- JP

Happy Birthday, Todd Palin!

From:
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Free Republic

Sarah Palin Information Blog

US for Palin

Motivation Truth

and all of us in the Palin blogging community.

- JP

Scott Conroy: Palin Backers Use Film to Spread Message Ahead of Iowa Speech

"The central issue now is crony capitalism..."
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O4P volunteers are Sarah Palin's most powerful asset in Iowa, and the documentary "The Undefeated" may be their most effective organizing tool asset as they prepare for her Saturday speech in Indianola. RealClearPolitics' Scott Conroy reports that the group has been screening the film for small audiences in churches, libraries and private homes across Iowa all summer long:

Ladd Ventling, who serves as a county coordinator for the Iowa branch of Organize4Palin, told RCP that he spoke privately with Todd Palin for over 20 minutes about the volunteer group’s efforts during the visit by Alaska’s former First Couple to the Iowa State Fair earlier this month.

Ventling said that while Todd Palin did not say his wife planned to announce her candidacy, the Webster City, Iowa, native came away from the conversation convinced that she does indeed intend to get in.

“If they weren’t going to run, he would’ve said, ‘Thank you very much for what you’re doing, but you don’t have to do that,’ ” Ventling told RCP.

Polly Doolittle, also of Webster City, is another Organize4Palin volunteer who is working in conjunction with Tea Party of America in advance of Saturday’s rally in Indianola.

[...]

“We did a bigger showing in Emmetsburg last Saturday in a theater there,” Ventling said. “Everyone applauded when it was over. And people always want to stay around and chat and give us their opinion about what the movie did for them.”

Steven K. Bannon, the filmmaker behind “The Undefeated,” agreed with several of Palin’s Iowa volunteers who suggested that her successful 2006 gubernatorial run against incumbent Frank Murkowski, which the film recounts in detail, might serve as a prototype for a 2012 presidential bid.

“Alaska in mid-decade was like America today,” Bannon said. “You had a corrupt political class in cahoots with big oil. The central issue now is crony capitalism with this collusion of big business, big government, and big finance taking care of themselves to the detriment of the middle class.”

That last statement should serve as food for thought to those who have fancied that Gov. Palin would endorse Texas Governor Rick Perry rather than jump into the presidential race herself. Crony capitalism is one of the major issues TEA Party conservatives have with Gov. Perry. In sharp contrast, Sarah Palin's record is that of a reformer who fought such corruption both as an oil & gas commissioner and a governor.

Peter Singleton, O4P's Iowa state coordinator, says the organization has “done dozens and dozens of screenings,” and plans to do many more, mostly to small audiences of 6 to 20 people. the group's plan to increase the frequency of the showings in the first-in-the nation caucus state Iowa during the weeks after Gov. Palin’s keynote address Saturday.

- JP

Quote of the Day (August 22, 2011)

All “a twitter” about Todd Palin
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Peter Ingemi, at Datechguy's Blog:

“So lets see if I get this straight: The left, in order to ruin Sarah Palin who was at best upper middle class if even at the time, launches frivolous suit after frivolous suit in an attempt to ruin her. These complaints cost the Palins personally a lot of money. Rather than going into huge debt with a family of 5 she resigns and makes money to fight them. And that’s all her fault?”

- JP

Todd Palin: 'This family has been tested'

"Local politics is in your face every day."
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Todd Palin disclosed Tuesday that he is not pushing his wife to run or forgo at run for president. He told a small group of reporters Tuesday that she will decide on her own whether or not to seek the presidency, according to CNN producer Peter Hamby:

But he emphasized that if the former Alaska governor does choose to embark on another national campaign, he and their children will be ready.

"This family has been tested," Palin said. "When people talk about how she was just plucked up out of Wasilla, you have to look at her career. Every step in her career is another step for the family, and we were prepared.

"These kids grew up around the mayor of small town," he added. "Local politics is in your face every day. It's not like you get on a plane and fly to D.C. or Juneau."

The normally-reserved Palin opened up about his family for a few moments after he and Sarah pulled over their "One Nation" bus at Coffee Express, a charming café in the central Pennsylvania town of Dillsburg.

Palin said there is a list of "pros and cons" that the family is weighing. "But this country, we have to get back on the right track," he said.

[More]

Todd agrees with Sarah Palin that she still has plenty of time to decide whether or not to compete for the GOP presidential nomination and ultimately the White House.

- JP

Todd and Sarah may ride with the Rolling Thunder vets (Updated)

"She's trying to rent a motorcycle"
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Blue Star parents Todd and Sarah Palin may be riding with tens of thousands of Rolling Thunder veterans Sunday:

The former Alaska governor, who is the subject of a lot of overheated speculation about whether she will run for president in 2012, has accepted an invitation to participate in the annual Rolling Thunder memorial ride this Sunday, an official says.

“As far as I know, she is trying to rent a motorcycle, so she can ride with her husband,” said Nancy Regg, a spokeswoman for Rolling Thunder.

Gregg says the tentative plan is for Palin to join up with the ride at the Pentagon at 7 a.m. The ride kicks off at noon, and hundreds of bikers will snake through D.C. to the event’s main stage, which will be between the Reflecting Pool and the Korean War Veterans Memorial on the Mall. The program is scheduled to kick off at 1 p.m.

Gregg said Palin is currently not scheduled to speak at the event and watchers should not expect any type of “political statement” from Palin during Rolling Thunder.

Warning, Todd: Speaking from personal experience, riding a motorcycle can be downright addictive. If you rent a chunk of American Iron for the RT ride, you might just want to get your own Harley or Victory (Arctic Cat doesn't build two-wheelers, AFAIK) for surfing the Maricopa County roads. The temptation is greater, of course, in Arizona, where one can ride all year long, unlike Alaska, where motorcycles have to hibernate for 7 to 10 months out of ever 12.

But one scoot is never enough. How about his and hers Harleys? Maybe even get one of them fitted with a side car so Trig and Piper can enjoy the ride, too. Then perhaps a dirt bike for the desert... Whatever you do, don't get a copy of Bruce Brown's "On Any Sunday" DVD. To watch Steve McQueen jumping the sand dunes on his 400 Husqvarna is nothing less than inspirational...

Update: An FYI for Palin-hatin' leftist liar Andrea Mitchell of MSPDS - Sarah and Todd Palin were invited to participate in the ride.

Related: Rolling Thunder Riders Praise Sarah Palin's Participation in Rally

- JP

Rumor of the Week: A second Palin home in Arizona (Updated)

Welcome to Rancho Espejismo*
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The more fanciful of the lastest crop of Sarah Palin rumors seem to originate in Arizona. The state Democrat Party recently tried to raise some money by claiming that Gov. Palin would move to The Canyon State and run for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by retiring John Kyl. If you liked that one, you're going to love this one:

Has Sarah Palin bought a house in north Scottsdale?

For months, rumors have circulated in Arizona political circles that the former Alaska governor and possible 2012 presidential contender either was shopping for homes in Scottsdale or had already bought one.

A just-closed deal on a secluded luxury home in far north Scottsdale might fit the bill, and talk has begun that this may be the one. It's an 8,000-square-foot, dark-brown stucco home with a guard gate that can keep unwanted visitors away. It has six bedrooms, five bathrooms, a six-car garage, a swimming pool and spa, and a full basement with a home theater, billiards room and wine cellar.

Safari Investments LLC paid $1.695 million cash for the home in a deal that appears designed to cloak the identity of a high-profile buyer.

[...]

Alan Kierman, an attorney with the Phoenix law firm of Mack Drucker & Watson, is listed on property records as the contact for Safari Investments. Asked point blank by The Arizona Republic if Palin and her husband Todd Palin bought the north Scottsdale house through the company, Kierman said he had no comment.

[...]

Requests seeking comment from Palin or her aides made Friday and Saturday through her political action committee, SarahPAC, were not successful.

This highly speculative article, mind you, is not from some blogger who's been out in the desert sun with his iPad too long, but from The Arizona Republic, the state's largest newspaper. Perhaps it was just a mirage. Really, just because Bristol bought a house in Maricopa, doesn't mean that Todd and Sarah have to buy one too. From what we hear, there's plenty of room at her place to put Mom and Dad up when they have business in Arizona. Besides, Bristol is spending a lot of time in Los Angeles these days, so the parents would have the place to themselves.

It must really be a slow news day in Arizona for the old Republic (est. 1890) to go there. Based on nothing but pure conjecture after an anonymous buyer purchases an upscale property in Scottsdale, two reporters with apparently nothing better to do try to link that real estate transaction to the Palins. It makes us wonder what they're teaching at the Connect The Invisible Dots School of Journalism these days. Whatever happened to having two confirmed sources before running with a story? That must have gotten discarded along with reporting known facts fairly and non-passionately.

*That's Spanish for "mirage"

Updates...

1. Jennifer Parks of Phoenix television station KNXV reports:

Saturday outside a North Scottsdale home speculated to be the new property belonging to Sarah Palin, a black SUV with Alaska plates pulled up and asked our ABC15 crew to leave the area immediately.

The driver wouldn't comment on whether Palin plans to move in so she can set up shop for a possible 2012 presidential run.

2. From SarahNet and Palin Twibe via Twitter:

via SarahNet.net Video: Was Sarah Palin was IN Arizona Last Week? We post, you decide. http://dlvr.it/SdlSz #palin

3. Looks like the real estate deal is the Palins for real.

- JP

Congratulations, Track and Britta

Like mom and dad, high school sweethearts tie the knot
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Word comes from People.com that Track Palin, the 22-year old son of Todd and Sarah, and Britta Hanson, his 21-year old high school sweetheart, were recently married in in Hatcher Pass, Alaska:

"Our families couldn't be happier!" the Hansons and Palins tell PEOPLE in a joint statement. "These are two hard working, humble, active, studious young adults who grew up together. We're tickled that after two decades of friendship we proudly witnessed their marriage, knowing their new life together will be blessed."

The couple will have a larger wedding celebration this winter at Alaska's Alyeska Ski Resort "when extended family and friends from the Lower 48 can travel north for a long ski weekend," says the statement from Sarah and Todd Palin and the Rev. Duane and Elizabeth Hanson.

[More]

Track, who was deployed in Iraq with a U.S. Army Stryker Brigade for a year, is now in the Army Reserve and plans to enroll at the University of Alaska after the commercial fishing season. Britta is a U of A nursing student.

- JP

Winder: A Picture of Servant Leadership at its Finest

As The Cypress Times' Publisher John G. Winder observes, many repeat the old saying that a picture is worth a thousand words. Few however, actually do a picture justice with their thousand words. Winder is the rare exception, and his commentary on the following photograph is both insightful and moving:

This was a picture of determination, perseverance, faith and the beauty of life in the midst of death. This too was a picture of the kind of leader I want for our nation as we move forward into ever turbulent times.

This is Sarah and Todd Palin who went to Birmingham, Alabama to serve along with other volunteers from Rev. Franklin Graham’s Samaritan’s Purse. This poignant photograph shows Todd and Sarah praying along with J.L. Price, a Birmingham man who some would say lost everything in the horrific tornadoes that tore apart the South last week.

J.L. Price could be seen as representative of all of America over the past several years. With gas and food prices rising, the economy shaky, and our children’s children swimming through a quicksand of debt, some might look at America and say we have lost, or are at the very least, in the rapid process of losing everything.

Yet, when I look at this photo of J.L. Price, I don’t see a man who lost everything. I see a man who has faith and therefore has everything, not the least of which is hope, courage and perseverance.

I see alongside J.L. Price a woman who could be anywhere in the world, doing anything she wished, doing anything else other than choosing to be sweating under the physical strain of manual labor in a steamy tornado ravaged town in Alabama.

I see servant leadership at its finest. I see servant leadership based on faith.

[...]

This is the kind of president I want for me, my wife and our family. This is the kind of president I want for our nation. I want someone who rolls up their sleeves and gets down in the dirt with the rest of us in order to serve our nation.

I want someone who knows who we are and will lead with the courage that is derived from faith, love and yes, hope. Real hope.

[More]

- JP

Palins pitch in with Samaritan's Purse volunteers in Alabama

Rev. Graham: "I appreciate their willingness to bring hope to people in need.”
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From Rev. Franklin Graham's Samaritan's Purse Today Blog, we learn that Todd and Sarah Palin joined other Samaritan’s Purse volunteers Wednesday to assist tornado victims in Birmingham, Alabama:

“I came here to work hard,” Todd said. “There’s no point in being here if you’re not going to work hard.”

After getting a safety briefing and talking with volunteers, the Palins joined a crew assisting homeowner J.L. Price. The couple helped haul off brush and debris, and with the rest of the crew, prayed with Mr. Price.

“It feels great to be working out here,” Sarah said. “I hope more people sign up with Samaritan's Purse so they can be blessed like I am today.”

The Price home took a direct hit from a tornado and sustained extensive damage.

“It’s hard to imagine anyone surviving this,” Todd said. “What a terrifying time it must have been for them. This just really gets you.”

[More]

Pitching in to help with Samaritan’s Purse relief efforts is getting to be a regular activity for the Palins. Last year they joined Rev. Graham for two-days in Haiti, and in 2009 Gov. Palin and Graham distributed food to hungry families in Alaskan during an unusually harsh winter.

Samaritan's Purse has a short video posted on Facebook.

- JP

Quote of the Day (May 1, 2011)

The joke — at least on this night — was on someone else.
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Roxanne Roberts and Amy Argetsinger at The Washington Post:

“She stood in a ornate corner of the French Embassy at the Bloomberg/Vanity Fair after-party, radiant in a navy suit, trademark glasses and hair down, engaging warmly with anyone who dared approach (She’s so much prettier and softer in person, they whispered). Husband Todd stood nearby; handsome, relaxed and chatty. It was Brand Palin at its best.”

- JP

Sarah Palin visits old city, says she 'absolutely supports Israel'

"She really connected to the story of the Jewish nation"
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The Jerusalem Post reports that Gov. expressed her support for Jews praying openly on the Temple Mount on a visit to the Old City of Jerusalem on Sunday with Likud chairman Danny Danon and Western Wall Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz served as her guides. When told that Jews were not allowed to pray openly on the Temple Mount and about the Arab riots that followed Prime Minister Netanyahu's decision to authorize the creation of an exit from the Western Wall tunnels in 1996, the 2008 GOP vice presidential candidate asked her guides, "Why are you apologizing all the time?":

Palin expressed regret that she would not be able to visit Nazareth or Bethlehem on her brief stay in Israel. She promised that she would soon come back for longer.

"It's overwhelming to be able to see and touch the cornerstone of our faith," Palin told reporters upon exiting the tunnels. "I'm so thankful to be able to be here, and I'm thankful to know the Israel American link connection will grow and strengthen as the peace negotiations will continue."

Rabinowitz said that Palin prayed at the point closest to the Holy of Holies
and left a note with a personal prayer. Unlike when then-presidential candidate Barack Obama visited the Western Wall in July 2008, no one removed her note from the wall and gave it to the press.

"She said that she absolutely supports Israel and that America is the biggest friend that Israel has," Rabinowitz said.

When Rabinowitz shared the story of Purim with Palin, she told him it was especially meaningful to be at the Kotel on Purim.

Danon said that Palins' visit to the Western Wall Tunnels was very exciting. He called upon Obama to make his first visit to Israel as president as soon as possible.

"She really connected to the story of the Jewish nation," Danon said. "She knows the material but there's nothing like standing in front of those big stones and hearing about the connection. I know that she loves Israel, and after a visit like this, she has a personal connection to the Western Wall."

[More]

Todd and Sarah Palin plan to visit the Old City again on Monday, touring Gesthsemane and the Mount of Olives. Monday evening they will have dinner with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara at their official residence in Jerusalem.

h/t: Jennifer

- JP