York: Invoking Reagan, Palin says 'this is a time for choosing again'

Gov. Palin discussed themes from Reagan's life that have resonance today
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Chief Political Correspondent Byron York covered Sarah Palin's Reagan 100 Celebration keynote address for the Washington Examiner:

Sarah Palin came here to declare that President Ronald Reagan "was one of a kind, and you're not going to find his kind again." But in a carefully-crafted speech marking Reagan's 100th birthday, the former Alaska governor drew a series of parallels -- some explicit, some implied -- between Reagan and herself, and between Reagan's time and today.

Palin was invited to speak by the Young America's Foundation, which owns and maintains Reagan's old ranch in the mountains near Santa Barbara. (The foundation is separate, and more aligned with the conservative movement, than the Reagan Presidential Library, which is also holding commemorative events this weekend.)

[...]

"This is a time for choosing again," Palin said, "and the vision we outline here is just as stark as it was in 1964."

A Palin insider says the former governor watched "A Time for Choosing" several times and was struck by Reagan's stern tone, as well as the applicability of his themes to today's events. Then, as she was working on the speech, Palin watched President Obama's state of the union and become convinced that, rather than adopt a more centrist path, Obama planned to continue pushing big-government programs. Those two thoughts, the insider says, formed the core of Palin's speech.

[...]

Lee Edwards, a Reagan biographer and fellow at the Heritage Foundation, was in the audience and took note of the fact that Palin was speaking to a strongly conservative group at the Ranch Center. She likely wouldn't be invited to speak to a more general audience at the Reagan Library, Edwards said, "because she's not a member of the establishment, and they're not comfortable with her."

"The irony," Edwards continued, "is that neither was Reagan."

Palin ended her speech by noting that she is not calling for Republicans to unite behind any specific leader. "There isn't one replacement for Reagan, but there are millions who believe in the great ideas that he espoused," she said. But of course those millions pick a candidate to represent them. And in Santa Barbara Friday night, Palin did nothing to discourage those who believe she is laying the foundation for a future candidacy. It might not be in 2012 -- remember the years between "A Time for Choosing" and the Reagan White House -- but it could be on the way.

- JP

Tony Lee: The Mama Grizzly and the Gipper

She's not Ronald Reagan, but Sarah Palin can be Reaganesque
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As Gov. Palin said in her speech at the Reagan 100 Celebration Friday night, though people are looking for the next Ronald Reagan, they're not going to find him. He was one of a kind. But, she went on to say that there is an army of Davids unafraid to tell Goliath "Don’t tread on me!" That army of Davids are Reagan's political heirs, and Sarah Palin is one of its top generals. Though there are many similarities between Reagan and Palin, Human Events' Tony Lee explains that the two have practiced politics in very different surroundings:

In many ways, Reagan was the perfect leader for his time because he had a disposition that suited the non-fragmented media landscape that surrounded him, which consisted of a mix of the top-down three major broadcasting networks and the big national newspapers such as the New York Times and national newsweeklies such as Time.

The media landscape today is more fragmented than ever. Talk radio, blogs, social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook, and cable television give conservatives not only loud and prominent outlets but also an ability to get and share information in real time without the filter of mainstream media reporters and editors. It has also made conservatives and conservatism more mainstream and much more a part of what Washingtonians call “the conversation.”

[...]

To cut through in this media megalopolis, a candidate has to be fierce, in-your-face, asymmetrical, savvy, timely, provocative, and engaging and compelling.

And no candidate has navigated this new media terrain better than Palin.

[...]

Palin often chooses to defend herself fiercely on Twitter, often unfiltered. She does this because she knows that in the media cycle we live in, defenses are often most effective when they are quick, fierce, and generate buzz to drown out the original criticism. In Palin’s case, she knows her words will get out to the mass audience faster if they come from her mouth—or her fingers.

Compared with 1980, the media today is a brave new world. In Iran and Egypt, social networking sites and new media outlets energized citizens fed up with their ruling classes. Such forces also fueled the Tea Party movement, especially by uniting moms and women across the country. And though not all of these women are Palin supporters, Palin would still probably refer to them all as “Mama grizzlies.”

Palin probably would not have been successful had she been a politician in Reagan’s era. And to be fair, Reagan probably would not have been the star politician he was had he come of age in the fragmented media era in which Palin lives.

Palin has mastered this landscape and run circles around her critics. In the future, Palin will have endless opportunities to harness her acumen to advance policies and lead a political movement. She may just become to her era what Reagan was to his.

[More]

- JP

Interview with Gov. Palin by CBN's Brody will Air Monday

Video clips to be posted on The Brody File Saturday
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CBN's David Brody, in Santa Barbara for the Reagan 100 Birthday Celebration, interviewed Sarah Palin at the Reagan Ranch Center:

Video clips will be on The Brody File in the next 24 hours. A full report on the interview with Sarah Palin will air Monday morning on The 700 Club.

We talked about her take on the situation in Egypt and President Obama's response, President Reagan's legacy, her faith, how she's trying to help the mainstream media and the CPAC Conference controversy.

- JP

Day By Day (February 5, 2011)

Sleeping with the...
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Good morning! It's a wonderful life if we just take it Day By Day:



Please support Chris Muir's pro-Palin Day By Day.

- JP

Video: Gov. Palin's Reagan 100 speech

"This is not the road to national greatness, it is the road to ruin"
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Video courtesy Palin TV

Partial Transcript:

Just last November the American people rose up and decisively rejected big government. We don't want it, we can't afford it, so we fired many that had forced it on us. We the people said "enough is enough." But just days ago in the State of the Union address, less than 9o days after that freedom message was sent at the ballot box -- and it was an historic election -- yet we were just told the era of big government is here to stay, and you're going to pay for it, whether you want to or not. But they can't sell it to us with the old sales pitch anymore. So this new version isn't just the tried and tired liberal nanny state of the Great Society.

Now it's much worse and it's couched in the language of national greatness which to the left is their version of American exceptionalism. It is exceptionally big government, where bureaucrats declare that we shall be great and innovative and competitive, but not by individual initiative anymore, but by government decree. It's the same old tax and spend policies, or rather now it's borrow and spend and then tax the job creators. But we'll no longer call it spending for a while. They called it stimulus, but that didn't work because clearly it didn’t stimulate anything - but a Tea Party. So now they'll call it investing. But you have to ask yourself, if government overspending is investing, then bankruptcy would be a sign of economic strength. And it just isn't so.

And they have all sorts of half-baked ideas on what to spend... er, invest our hard-earned money on for their idea of national greatness. These investments include everything from solar shingles to fast train tracks. But as we struggle to merely service our unsustainable debt, the only thing these investments will get us is a bullet train to bankruptcy.

Other memorable lines and phrases:

Crony Capitalism on Steroids... They’ll freeze spending at historically high levels.... We don't have the luxury of subsidizing failures.

This dangerous debt is breaking our economy. We need to cut spending and live within our means. And we desperately need jobs. We need a vibrant economy that makes and builds things.

Our grandparents put their faith in God, not government. They didn't retreat but tried again until they succeded.

Reagan said, "I am not a great man, I just believe in great ideas." People are looking for the next Ronald Reagan, but they're not going to find him. He was one of a kind. But there is an army of Davids. These Davids aren’t afraid to tell Goliath "Don’t tread on me!"

You can also watch the video of Gov. Palin's full speech at the C-SPAN website here. Devonia Smith has transcribed some more excerpts from Gov. Palin's speech here.

- JP

Quote of the Day (February 4, 2011)

Er, sure, dude
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Ed Morrissey at Hot Air:

"{Ron Reagan the lesser] who just promoted his new book by claiming Reagan was suffering from Alzheimer’s in office — despite an avalanche of denials from doctors, aides, and even Barbara Walters — says the notion [of Gov. Palin's speech] offends him... He writes a gossipy book about his own father with the sensational allegation of dementia in office, and Palin’s the 'soap opera' Riiiiiight. Want to bet that more people watch this speech than buy Ron’s book? Right now, two weeks after its release, it’s at … #594 on Amazon."

- JP

More Quote of the Day Honorable Mention, Part 210

"Eye of the Tiger Mom" Edition
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Anna Z:

"Palin has been attemptively corralled into a pen of shame and defeat, beaten relentlessly by a media whose hopes lie in her disappearing. Anyone else would have been intimidated and cowed by their sneers and harsh treatment. Silenced. But that's not what happened. Thankfully. Because Sarah Palin isn't just a pitbull, or a mama grizzly, she'a a Tiger Mom. And, frankly, I think we could use one just about now... I don't want politicians that think that we need them. I prefer a leader that knows that we don't... I remember a while back the president was looking for an 'a__ to kick'. I know... the jokes write themselves. But the butt to be kicked is none other than our own. And if we don't do it, there are a bunch of folks just lining up to do it for us. I'd rather it be Sarah Palin snapping us out of our slumber than the rest of them."

Angelocracy:

"I think Protecting the American Dream would be the perfect campaign slogan for Sarah Palin... When there are so many people losing homes and jobs I think the American Dream needs protecting."

Jerry Fuhrman at From On High:

"Palin 1
...
MSNBC, ABC, CNN, New York Times, Reuters, Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, NBC, Los Angeles Times, Time Magazine, Boston Globe, Slate, Salon, PBS, CBS News, Huffington Post, Arizona Republic, NPR, New York Daily News, Daily Kos, The New Yorker, Village Voice, Talking Points Memo, The Nation, Move on, Newsweek, Washington Monthly, New Republic 0"

Glenn Reynolds at Instapundit:

"Why They’d Rather Talk About Sarah Palin And Glenn Beck (Cont’d): Gallup: January Unemployment Rises to 9.8%."

Into The Morning:

"Sometimes I wonder at the intelligence of people who insist that Sarah Palin is stupid, mostly because she doesn't take fifty words to get a point across when it only takes two, i.e.'death panels'. I wonder at the fear that she will win the Republican nomination for President, instead of their handpicked choice, so much so, that they will do their own part to destroy her."

Clifton B at Another Black Conservative:

"Honestly, I don't know why every year everyone makes such a fuss about Palin skipping CPAC. When you think about it, CPAC doesn't offer Palin anything she doesn't already have."

Howard Towt at Anti-Republican Culture:

"Sarah Palin has acquired political power, and our culture is hell-bent to destroy that power. It is being done with extreme imagery and false accusations... Of the individuals arrayed against Mrs. Palin, most would say they simply have an intense dislike of her. That characterization can be examined in the context of the anonymous comments and death threats Mrs. Palin receives. Those messages don’t convey 'dislike.' They convey raw hatred. What to make of all of this? Our culture partakes in savage indecency directed at one human being in America. And that’s ok. She’s a Republican."

Jim Geraghty at NRO's Campaign Spot:

"We’re to believe Palin going to CPAC would be risky? Heck, she deals with bigger risks when she goes fishing near bears."

Spag at The Spag Report:

"I suppose it's a good thing that Sarah Palin didn't make the same mistake as Michelle Obama because she would immediately be attacked and labeled a moron by certain bitter Leftists. Mrs. Obama claimed that Charlotte was known for its 'great barbecue'. That's just not true. In fact, Charlotte is probably the least 'barbecue-ized' city in North Carolina..."

Rick at Wizbang:

"Michael Reagan can now add most of the rest of the country to the list of people Ron Reagan Jr. is an embarrassment to."

Tina at Pecan Corner:

"When faced with embryos some in the world would define as 'inconvenient', Sarah's actions said here's a reality that love will make good. And she not only followed her heart: she followed her beliefs. That's healthy. That's pragmatism. That's transformative. That's normal. And that's one reason that Sarah Palin is a Great American."

Taegan Goddard at Political Wire:

"The Palin brand has become so valuable that Sarah Palin and her daughter are trademarking their names."

Kerenthaut:

"Through rabid vitrol and death threats against Sarah and her family, the left hopes to silence her. Well guess what? She will not be silenced! Good for her! The woman has an iron constitution and nerves of steel to go with it! More likely, she is well connected through prayer to her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ... Sarah isn't using God - He is using her, instead. That is truly what the rabid leftist thugs and venom-spewing commentators can never take away from Sarah and her family!"

Right Mind:

"Rachel Maddow Reports Palin Invasion Spoof as Fact... What’s the public to do when MSNBC becomes more like The Onion than an actual media source?"

No More Cinops at Cinops Be Gone:

"Sarah Palin deserves a badge of honor not only from Tea Party members but from all ordinary folks. The deliberate arrows of smears and vicious attacks by leftist elements of the news media are historically unprecedented. They hate and fear the Tea Party members and are letting out their anger on Sarah Palin. It is personal. They also hate you for voting out many of their political clones in 2010."

- JP

NY Times tries to set up Sarah Palin

Just like a bowling pin
*
The left wing media never gives up. Their latest Wyle E. Coyote tactic in the Democrat/Media Complex war on Gov. Palin is transparent in a post by Michael D. Shear on the paper's The Caucus blog. Titled "Could Palin Use Speech to End Silence on Egypt?", the gist of the piece is that Mr. Shear wants the governor to address the situation in Egypt in her speech tonight at the Reagan 100 opening banquet:

It’s possible that Ms. Palin could use the opportunity to deliver a broadly conceived foreign policy speech that uses the turmoil in Egypt to advance an understanding of her national security beliefs that goes beyond her use of Twitter messages and Facebook posts.

[...]

How would she handle Egypt? Would she have sided more quickly with the protectors demanding freedom from oppression? Or would she, as some of her conservative rivals said they would have, been wary of an Islamist regime taking over in Egypt once its president, Hosni Mubarak, departs?

So far, Ms. Palin has been mum. She has not sent out a Twitter message about Egypt. She has not posted her thoughts on her Facebook page. There have been no slickly-produced videos distributed through the Internet on the subject.

[More]

Mr. Shear is literally trying to goad Gov. Palin into talking about Egypt tonight. The more about Egypt she might say, the more he and his state controlled media comrades would like it. Why? Because if things in Egypt go downhill -- that is, even more downhill than they already are -- after tonight, guess who they will blame? Imagine Gov. Palin devoting a considerable portion of her speech to Egypt tonight, and imagine that next week the violence escalates for any reason, culminating in several hundred deaths. They will blame her for it in a New York Times minute.

Sound far fetched? Think we're just paranoid? Consider this: All she did was mark some congressional districts on a map as part of a campaign promotion in which she was supporting the Republican challengers against Democrat incumbents. The left used it to blame her for the completely unrelated deaths and injuries to some people in Tuscon Arizona months later. The moonbat leftist blogs are still blaming her. Now do you doubt, even for a minute, that they would also blame her for, God forbid, any deaths that might occur in Egypt if she had said anything in public about the situation there beforehand? You betcha they would!

But the Mama Grizzly is smarter than the average bear, and she won't fall for it. Besides, she's speaking at an event to honor Ronald Reagan, and that will be the focus of the address she will deliver in just a few hours. Nice try, Mr. Shear Coyote.

- JP

Sarah Palin will speak at SKF Foundation Fundraiser May 2

On military support and honoring those who serve
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The Sharon K Pacheco (SKP) Foundation, which supports military families and at-risk youth, has announced on its website that Gov. Palin will deliver the keynote address May 2 at the organization's annual Patriots & Warriors Gala and Fundraiser:

The event will be held at the Infinity Park Event Center, 4400 E. Kentucky Ave., Glendale, CO, starting at 6:00 PM.

The Patriots & Warriors Gala and Fundraiser is an event with a two-fold purpose - first to honor service members and those who have given of themselves in service and/or sacrifice to our country. Americans are encouraged to nominate deserving individuals for the organization's prestigious Freedom Award, which will be handed out to the honorees during this event. To nominate someone, please visit the Foundation's website at www.SKPFoundation.com by March 15, 2011.

The second purpose of the event is to serve as the major fundraiser for the SKP Foundation, directly benefiting military families and at-risk youth. "With the economic hardships our country is currently facing, the needs are becoming greater for everyone," says Foundation President, Leo Pacheco, "and many of our previous donors simply cannot afford to donate any longer."

Governor Sarah Palin will address the audience on the topic of military support and honoring those who serve.

For tickets and more information, click here.

- JP

Nate Silver's Graphical Overview of the 2012 GOP Field

"Ms. Palin, if she runs, may find herself in a crowd"
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With the Iowa caucuses just one year ahead of us, New York Times political blogger and number cruncher Nate Silver has devised a graphical representation of the 17 most likely candidates for the 2012 GOP nomination. His spatial approach to the task shows each candidate's relative political philosophy, insider/outsider status, probability of winning the nomination (based on present Intrade numbers), position relative to each other, and from what region of the country each one hails:

One dimension is obvious: we can classify the candidates from left to right, from relatively more moderate to relatively more conservative. But another dimension that is often salient in the primaries, and perhaps especially so for Republicans next year, is what we might think of as the insider/outsider axis: whether the candidate is viewed as part of the Republican establishment, or as a critic of it.

Let me show you the chart, and then we can begin to work our way through it:

One can certainly debate exactly what it means to be a moderate or a conservative, and exactly where any particular candidate falls along this spectrum. Likewise, the insider/outsider dimension is somewhat blurry: is a potential candidate like Senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina, who aligns himself with the Tea Party but is also an influential senator, a part of the Republican establishment or an opponent of it? So my placement of the candidates is necessarily approximate.

With that said, it is exceptionally important to consider how the candidates are positioned relative to one another. Too often, I see analyses of candidates that operate through what I’d call a checkbox paradigm, tallying up individual candidates’ strengths and weaknesses but not thinking deeply about how they will compete with one another for votes. If you like, you can think of the circles on my chart as stars or planets that exert gravitational forces on one another, seeking to clear their own safe space in the galaxy while at the same time stealing matter (voters) from their opponents.

There are two more kinds of information embedded in the chart...

[More]

An interesting effort by Silver. We do have our reservations, mainly with his decision to show the candidates' relative strength in terms of chances of winning the Republican Presidential nomination based on current Intrade wagering a year ahead of the Iowa caucuses. But that's as useful a device as any this far out from the GOP convention at summer's end. Still, as a snapshot in time, i.e., today, it's quite a useful chart.

- JP

Jon Huntsman: 'Stand up for Sarah!'

"A beacon of light to show us the way"
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Politico's Alexander Burns has a 2008 flashback:

Jon Huntsman delivered a nominating speech for Sarah Palin at the GOP convention in St. Paul, generating footage that could end up in campaign ads in the 2012 primaries — or the general election.

- JP

Great new video: 'Here All Along'

Here's an outstanding new video from Organize 4 Palin:
*

- JP

McCormick: Iowa Awaits Sarah Palin's Decision

The candidates await a better indication of whether Sarah Palin will run
*
Bloomberg reporter John McCormick draws a contrast between the political landscape in Iowa four years ago versus what we see today. Although the farm state is enjoying a lower unemployment rate than the national average thanks in part to robust prices for corn and soybeans, Iowans are still concerned about the nation's economy:

“There is a great apprehension about the federal debt,” newly elected Governor Terry Branstad, 64, said in an interview at his capitol office in Des Moines, Iowa. “It was the premier issue in 2010. Will it be in 2012? I think so.”

No less than 17 presidential candidates from both parties had announced their intentions to run or had at least formed exploratory committees by the end of January 2007, but with the Iowa caucuses only a year away, still no candidates have formally declared for 2012. What are they waiting for? Make that who are they waiting on. Although Iowa's governor and state GOP chairman both insist there is no front runner, the political players seem to be wrapped up in a game of "Follow the Leader," with Sarah Palin cast in the role of the leader:

Campaigning for the caucuses is getting off to a slower start this election cycle, as candidates seek to save money and await a better indication of whether Sarah Palin will run.

Palin, 46, the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee and a former Alaska governor, has hinted at a possible bid.

“You kind of get mixed signals,” Branstad said. “She kind of marches to her own drummer, so I don’t have a good read on it.”

Even if Palin enters the race, Branstad predicts a “wide- open” contest. He doesn’t plan to endorse any candidate early on, he said, although he is “reserving the right” to do so later in the process closer to the caucuses.

Her potential rivals for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination appear to be looking at Gov. Palin and saying, "You first," but the 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate seems content for now to wait them out:

“There’s no question that things are starting at a slower pace than four years ago,” Matt Strawn, chairman of the state’s Republican Party, said in an interview.

Strawn attributes the slower pace to a variety of factors, including the “fluidity of the field” and the potential entry of candidates like Huckabee and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney who don’t need to work as hard at introducing themselves because they campaigned in the state four years ago.

Another unanswered question is how big a role the Tea Party movement, which helped Republicans gain 63 seats in the U.S. House in November’s election, will play.

“I think that’s a story yet to be written,” Strawn said. “There is no question that there are newly engaged activists in the state.”

Strawn cautioned Palin against waiting too long to decide or campaigning in Iowa for only a few months.

“Iowa caucus-goers expect to see candidates here early and often, and they expect the chance to interact with them,” he said.

Palin was last in Iowa on Nov. 27 for a stop on her latest book tour. Before that, she visited in September, when she gave the keynote address at the Iowa Republican Party’s largest annual fundraiser.

But if Gov. Palin can capture the lion's -- or in this case, Mama Grizzly's -- share of Tea Party support in The Hawkeye State, she will have an advantage over the rest of the field. The Tea Parties are relatively well organized, and if she can seamlessly transition that activism into her campaign organization in Iowa, she will save a good deal of time otherwise spent in organizing. The time saved can be put to better use practicing the kind of retail politics that are required of all candidates in the state. And if the pundits don't think Sarah Palin can play the game of retail politics, they need a crash course in Alaska Political History, circa 2006.

- JP

Day By Day (February 4, 2011)

True Colors
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Good morning! It's a wonderful life if we just take it Day By Day:


Please support Chris Muir's pro-Palin Day By Day.

- JP

Quote of the Day (February 3, 2011)

The left's addiction to Palin is really something to behold
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Clifton B at Another Black Conservative:

"So what does Milbank do on day one of his Palin Free Month? Talk endlessly about her on ABC News."

- JP

Tantaros: Sexism not an issue for libs if Palin or Bachmann targeted

Misogyny, to libs, knows no bounds, as long as it's looking to the right
*
Andrea Tantaros figures that Sen. Chuck Schumer saying that the three branches of government are the House, the Senate and the president is "perhaps the dumbest thing I have ever heard a politician say." Burt just imagine if a Republican woman had said that:

She would be called stupid. She would be mocked on cable news and spoofed on "Saturday Night Live." Her credibility would be questioned, and if she were attractive, she'd be discounted as a dingbat or a bimbo.

But that's not the case here. Schumer's gaffe was met with little fanfare or ridicule from the mainstream media. His interviewer, Candy Crowley, a shrewd veteran journalist, didn't even question his error.

Granted, mistakes are made on live television. And Schumer was probably tired. People in the public eye talk so much that they are prone to more verbal flubs than the rest of us. For example, when President Obama said there were 51 states, and mispronounced corpsman ("corpse-man," he said). But while Republican women like Sarah Palin and Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) have been impaled for lesser missteps, Schumer and Obama can always expect a pass.

GOP women have been called names for doing a lot less than Schumer, or for doing nothing at all...

[...]

The most egregious example, of course, is their despicable treatment of Palin. When Palin shouted at a Tea Party rally this past fall that, "We're going to party like it's 1773!" the left was quick to pounce, calling her an idiot. "She's so smart," came the sarcastic Twitter commentary from Markos Moulitsas, founder of the liberal blog Daily Kos.

But it turns out that Palin is smart - smarter than Moulitsas, anyway. The Boston Tea Party happened that year. So even when Palin gets it right, she is accused of getting it wrong, while her smug liberal critics escape relatively unscathed. Maybe if they spent more time studying history and less time trying to humiliate Palin, we wouldn't have such glaring examples of a double standard.

These days, it seems like the last acceptable form of prejudice is expressing hatred toward Republican women without fear of retribution.

[More]

- JP

C-SPAN will carry Gov. Palin's Reagan 100 Keynote Address

Just what we were hoping for...
*
Via Twitter, C-SPAN has announced that it plans to cablecast both Sarah Palin's keynote address Friday and Dick Cheney's Saturday speech from YAF's Reagan 100 Celebration at the Reagan Ranch Center in Santa Barbara.

- JP

More Quote of the Day Honorable Mention, Part 209

"Libs of Constant Sorrow" Edition
*

Jon Friedman of MarketWatch, via Newsmax:

"It's clear why American liberals hate Sarah Palin. It's obvious why she gets under their skin. The woman is on their minds all the time. Palin has emerged as the spokeswoman of the right — a speaker for all seasons and all situations... The woman is a 2011 phenomenon. She makes news without lifting a finger. Every politician should be so lucky. Can the Palin juggernaut be stopped? Probably not... Do Not Underestimate Sarah Palin..."

MRED at Invincible Armor:

"OMG. Dead man walking? The language! The thought! The threat must be right out of lesser people than the lefty Milbanks of the world. I blame Sarah Palin for the thoughts that caused the words to come out of ElBaradei's mouth! Is there anything she can't do?"

James Delingpole at Telegraph Blogs:

"Of all the many qualities Sarah Palin has, the best of all is this:
She drives liberals totally crazy. So crazy, in fact, that Washington Post lib... Dana Milbank is boycotting Sarah Palin for the month of February and urging other journalists to do the same. But here on Telegraph Blogs we’ve decided to do the opposite. Every day a blogger will mention her. Welcome to Sarah Palin Month on Telegraph Blogs, everybody. It’s there to celebrate. It’s there to annoy."

Jennifer at Cubachi:

"Is this really a Palin-free month, if there are two straight days of [Milbank] denying he’s mentioning Palin?"

Vancant at What If?:

"Today, Democrats are pulling out every stop to prevent Sarah Palin from being on the 2012 ballot. Ever stop to wonder why? They're afraid of her and what she stands for. They know that she could and would win... If she's so incompetent, why not praise her ever so gently; encourage her to run; encourage those 'dastardly' Republicans to make her their point person. Then step back and watch her disintegrate... Gosh, if Sarah is everything the Democrats say about her, they should be setting up an election fund to enable her to run for office. But we all know why she's being attacked so. She is the Democrats' worst nightmare come true; she's Freddy on the Democrats' 'Elm Street'; She's the next President of The United States -- she will be POTUS in 2012."

Stacy McCain at The Other McCain:

"In Desperate Bid to End Cairo Violence, Levi Johnston’s Sister Agrees to Pose Nude"

Palinpatriot to Hillbuzz, via NBCBayArea.com:

"Then I decided to respond in a different way. A more positive way. In a way that would really neutralize those who put the posters up. I wanted to really screw with their heads. A supportive poster of Sarah Palin in San Francisco?? Yes! That was the best way to respond! It would make people really scratch their heads. They would be complete puzzled by it."

Rodney Graves at Wizbang:

"This is a large part, and perhaps the crux, of why the LSM hate Sarah Palin: her plain spoken truths eviscerate the narrative the LSM would have us accept as right thinking."

Brock Lawley:

"Here is a woman who carries all the symbolic freight of America’s culture war. It has become her fate to symbolize everything that some people like, and others detest about this country’s red states... Sarah Palin has been criticized not only for her record and positions but for her intelligence, her accent, her body, her clothes and even her fitness as a mother. And all this in a time of history celebrated as progressive and forward thinking on the issues of women and power. Many of us watched as her sudden rise provoked a kind of hysteria among liberals and media elite that can only be seen to the objective eye as venomous and cutting. The vicious snobbery and breathtaking double standards will certainly have media consequences for years to come."

Kathy Shaidle at NewsReal Blog:

"River in Egypt: Rachel Maddow blames Glenn Beck for her own stupidity... At least she didn’t blame Sarah Palin."

Dan Riehl at Big Hollywood:

"The thought of an homage to Reagan’s Ranch left me thinking about Sarah Palin’s recent travelogue from Alaska, which some in the establishment viewed as un-presidential. Somehow I doubt they would dare say the same thing about former President Reagan drawing strength from his ranch. It’s also worth noting how his Crawford ranch played such a significant role in the presidency of George Bush. The theme of a rugged outdoorsman, or perhaps one day a woman, and the American spirit, and even the presidency, goes all the way back to Teddy Roosevelt, if not further."

PJ-Comix at DUmmie FUnnies:

"Yes, every day of the month the moonbats suffer from PMS (Palin Madness Syndrome). It causes the DUmmies to believe just about anything -- anything bad -- about Sarah Palin. Thus they will fall for even an obvious piece of satire written about Mama Grizzly, thinking it is true."

Van Helsing at Moonbattery:

"A veteran stands accused of trying to use fireworks to blow up a mosque in the Muslim colony Dearbornistan. Now we all see what menaces Islamophobic patriots can be. But wait — Roger Stockham sounds a lot like a Muslim convert moonbat. He served prison time for threatening to kill George W. Bush; once declared a 'jihad' against the VA office in White River, Vermont; says his Muslim name is Hem Ahadin; and was suspended from a VFW post in Imperial Beach, California for smoking marijuana. A psychiatric evaluation found that Stockham is nutty as a Snickers bar. But at least he's Caucasian; that's all the media needed to portray Jared Loughner as a Sarah Palin fan."

D. B. Light at Light Seeking Light:

"James Taranto writes: 'In truth, PolitiFact was more vulnerable to the charge of lying than Palin was, for its highly literal, out-of-context interpretation of her words was at best extremely tendentious...' So the lying Left branded the truth-teller as a 'liar' and the MSM swallowed the lie uncritically. Just another day in liberal-land."

Morgan at House of Eratosthenes:

"Moderates very often are seduced into being anti-freedom. You can’t call them useful-idiots, because moderates who do this aren’t quite so useful. Now, if you want to be right only one time out of a hundred — ask a GROUP of moderates what is moderate, and allow them to discuss it among themselves before they get back to you. Then they’ll start trying to impress each other. In all likelihood you wont get a coherent answer back, they’ll just come to a consensus that Sarah Palin is a moron, we need to stop hearing about her, and let’s keep talking about her constantly until we’re not hearing about her anymore. When do the moderates feel that they are most powerful? When there is a perceptible fatigue with 'all of the fighting'; that the 'two sides need to get along, and work together to get things done.' When do the liberals feel powerful? In exactly the same situation. They feel that all of the arguing has been done, and they are right to feel this way; they’ll simply package the liberal solution up, as the definitive answer to 'all the fighting,' the moderates will believe it uncritically and thus be taught to parrot the liberal line. As if it were their own."

- JP

The Fix: Gov. Palin explains why she won't attend CPAC

Not that she even needs CPAC anyway
*
With speculation in the lamestram media alread rising to a fever pitch over Sarah Palin's decision not to attend C-SPAN, the governor emailed The Washington Post blog the Fix Thursday with an official explanation:

"February is our busiest winter month and with all the prior obligations and outside travel already scheduled for the month I had to forgo some of the opportunities in the Lower 48."

It was indeed a scheduling issue, not a personal one or any other reason, as CPAC's David Keene had said:

"We're disappointed that she couldn't make it year. It's due to a scheduling issue. We look forward to having her next year, and she expressed interest in wanting to be there this year."

Not that she even needs CPAC anyway, as even The Fix's Rachel Weiner has to admit:

"...unlike some other potential nominees, Palin doesn't need to raise her profile. She can draw press wherever she goes."

[...]

"Even in her absence, however, Palin will have a significant influence. She is, as we have written, the prime mover in the presidential race and until she makes clear whether or not she will run in 2012, she will be a presence at any gathering of would-be presidential aspirants -- whether she is actually in attendance or not."

Blogs 4 Palin blogger Jerry Wilson had already pointed this out in his post January 30 at Goldfish and Clowns:

"...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."

- JP

Don Surber: Obama hare, Palin tortoise

The death panels idea is not far-fetched
*
Our out-of-touch president could lose all 50 states to Sarah Palin next year, comments the Charleston Daily Mail's Don Surber, who says Obama is the hare, and Gov. Palin is the tortoise:

Sarah Palin learned first-hand as a governor that “government health care will not reduce the cost; it will simply refuse to pay the cost.”

Medicaid — run by the states but funded in large part by Congress — pays as little as 70 cents on the dollar for services rendered. That unpaid 30 cents is passed on to privately insured patients, who then see their premiums soar. This then gets twisted into the government making the case for government-run health care since it saves money.

The death panels idea is not far-fetched.

Britain calls its death panel NICE. It denies drugs for sick patients saying Avastin and other medications are too expensive.

Obama already is playing NICE by revoking approval of Avastin retroactively — based on price, and not on the safety or the competence of the drug.

That is a death panel, plain and simple.

Of course, most conservatives knew this. Why credit Sarah Palin?

Because she got attention.

And she roped-a-doped the president.

[...]

So the president and his smug buddies — Rahm, Axelrod and Gibbs — went after Sarah Palin tooth and tong, rather tackle the legitimate criticisms and worries. People who have lived through the Depression and World War II know that money is not unlimited. Talk of “saving” $500 billion from Medicare comes out of their hides. Instead of reasoning with them, Obama mocked their concerns.

[ More]

- JP