Still Not Sure About Palin yet?

Recently, this blogger wrote a post praising Townhall for showing courage in an article about the 100 conservatives most hated by the left. I contrasted that with the views of two pundits who expressed concern about Palin's electability due to the damage inflicted on her by the media. This was to demonstrate how we conservatives could stiffen our spines and act on the strength of our convictions rather than cower to the fears caused by damage already done. Even people who are not in the tank for Palin are beginning to see it: she's not weak, she's feared.

I'm not one who will automatically dismiss someone just because they don't hang out as deep in the Sarah Palin tank as I do. I listen to what others on my side say about her. I know there is not total agreement as to her credentials just yet. But, when I see intellectually honest and non-PDS infected debate, I can respect that.

A Palin skeptic just put out a piece that leads me to believe that there is still hope for good folks who may not be ready to take that Palin plunge just yet. Dave Gaultier is the kind of guy I would put into the "good conservative" but not yet ready to drink the Palin kool aid column. Here are the money lines of what he wrote (emphasis added):

Palin voices her strong support for Israel and for the U.S. taking a leadership role in the world while making sure that she is on record agreeing with the Pauls that empire building has to be a thing of the past. That makes her foreign policy quite distinct from both the realist Bush 41 and the idealist Bush 43 and is a lot more like Reaganism than NeoConservatism.

All of that said, there still remains the question of whether Sarah Palin would be a viable general election candidate given her tumultuous national political career thus far. I don't think that question has a clear answer. I do think that a fully operational Palin campaign would unite all elements of the Republican Party given what I've seen of her ideology thus far.

Time will tell whether Palin continues to emerge as a sort of First Principles classical liberal, as well as if her high negatives are set in stone, sort of like a Dan Quayle, or whether she's more like Hillary, who went from being the shrill ex-wife of every man in America to the hero of Reagan Democrats during the 2008 campaign season. In politics, anything can happen, and if Hillary can go from being a bra-burning, '60s feminist to a working class heroine, maybe Sarah Palin can make the same kind of transition in the minds of those who currently view her as suspect: white-collar, educated independents who despise Obamanomics. And while Palin has allowed folks with their own agendas to define her for far too long, as she begins to voice her true views on the issues, she seems to be in line with the majority of Americans who are returning to a small government philosophy in response to the economic and international malaise that has been aided and abetted by big government. If Palin does choose to run, she will do so in a manner that has thus far not been expected by the political or media establishment on either side of the aisle, and has the potential to make the entrenched interests on both sides quake as she presents the nation with what establishmentarians fear the most: an electable champion of freedom.

The less courageous who fear "the polarization and media smear factor" are missing the fact that the left and the media establishment fear Sarah Palin more than we fear what they can do to her. She is their biggest threat and therefore that already makes her our most dangerous weapon.

Greta Van Susteren explains this with precision when says this of a DSCC email she received:

As I looked at the money solicitation and pic of Gov Palin, I thought 'they must be afraid of her.' You don't see a picture of Gov Romney or Gov Jindal....but rather Gov Sarah Palin. The covert message is, 'if you don't give, she could win.' If they feared someone else, that other person's picture would be there. The Dems are using her to raise money.

This reminds me of something Rush Limbaugh has always said: the opposition will tell us who to nominate because they will tell us who they fear the most.  The left and the media establishment are not just at war with Sarah Palin, they are at war with all conservatives (Sarah Palin is the voodoo doll that represents this and that's why they stick so many pins in). Palin herself has always said the attacks on her are really attacks on the message. Doug Brady of Conservatives4Palin makes a similar point to the one Galtier so eloquently made in his piece when he writes Attacks on Governor Palin are Attacks on Conservatives.

The Left is well aware of the fact that Governor Palin is the one individual with the platform, gravitas, and determination to effectively criticize Obama's policies. While the other so-called leaders of the opposition cower in the shadows, terrified of criticizing The One for fear of alienating the mainstream media, Sarah Palin is working tenaciously on a daily basis to lead the fight against Obama's determination to take us down the same fiscal path as Greece or, perhaps even more dire, California.

There's the courage issue again. It raises the question if we can't stomach the media torrent on her now, how would be able to stomach the media vitriol that would quickly move from her to whoever else would take her place as the biggest threat if she was not chosen to be the nominee in 2012? I say screw it and have a set now when it counts and stand up for Sarah Palin and our philosophy.

Yes, putting up with the attacks on Sarah Palin requires courage and require us to be able to stand up and not let the media win by destroying her or by making us believe she's damaged. It's almost as if we should elect Sarah Palin president just to stick it to the mainstream media and give them the Palin presidency they have stooped so low to prevent just as payback for their lies and smears. Anything less would be a victory for them.

I have been known to be quick to unsheathe the rhetorical sword and to be a little too happy on the rhetorical trigger when it comes to those who diss Palin. After watching Palin get beat on by the lamestream media the way she has, one can't help but to feel like an abused animal ready to show teeth and pounce at the slightest provocation. She is us and she is willing to fight for us. This explains why Palnistas are willing to fight to the death for Sarah Palin. Sarah Palin is willing to fight to the death for our conservative values. What if all conservatives were like that?

I know there are conservatives out there who will support candidates other than Palin for the 2012 presidential nomination. We don't have political parties and primaries in this country so a small group of people can get together in a back room and select our candidate for us. We're also not robots. The competition that the primaries will bring will be Palin's and all the other candidates' opportunity to prove to us who should lead us into the ultimate battle for that shining city on a hill.

We have a strong bench this time around - much stronger than the bench we had in 2008. If Palin can beat this bench in the 2012 primaries, many more will be able to trust fully in her ability to be president. It's going to require her army to fight hard and for her to run a good campaign.

If Sarah Palin has to build a tent big enough to get the votes needed to win the nomination, This blogger sure as heck better be able to build a tent at least big enough to get this blog a few back links and a mention or two on Twitter where I storm in on the ever coveted 2000 followers mark (almost enough to drown out the sound of crickets on my Twitter page). This blogger will continue to pay attention to the conservative voices that are out there even if they are not yet convinced of Palin's viablity. I know they are fair and intellectually honest because they are conservatives. They may still question her, but they don't trash her. She has not evolved to the point in their minds where they can get behind her yet. But she can still get there.

If you want to know what we're going to have to endure, I can tell you about the sweaty palm moments of Troopergate, the VP debate, the resignation and all the lies that have been printed about her in the media as "breaking news." Taking the country back is going to be nail biting, edge of your seat kind of stuff whether you like it or not. We can't be out on the ledge every time the MSM says something bad about Sarah or any other conservative for that matter. Trust me on this. Faith, a few bottles of Jim Beam, a heart full of political courage and a mind full of political armor says we can handle the ride if Sarah Palin is given the chance to lead us to victory in 2012.

Sarah Palin Speech at the Oil Palace

via EyeblastTV

Sarah Palin Speech at Stanislaus University

A good quality recording of Governor Palin's speech at Stanislaus via Conservatives4Palin

You'd Think for $200,000 Stanislaus University Would Have Had Better AV (Updated)

The sophomoric remarks coming out of a more freshman mentality from the technicians on the Fox 40 live video feed had to play on the nerves of any institution that would have made $200,000 and couldn't have figured out a way to run the mic through the board and have a cone to catch the crowd's reaction. The idiots who posed as "AV Specialists" for Stanislaus University were nothing more than a bunch of kids making stupid jokes about Sarah Palin while they screwed up the audio and couldn't get the volume level right, or hold the camera properly. So is that why Stansilaus University needs the money? Apparently they're either a little short on funds or a little short on brains.

Let's hope that Stanislaus University has higher goals of education for their audio visual department and uses some of the money they made off Sarah Palin appropriately. If they take just a small fraction of the money and invest it in some low grade material (not as low grade material as was used tonight), they could still find kids smart enough to get a good sound check and position the microphones so as to get a better feed than they tonight miunus the couple of dufuses laughing at Sarah Palin on the open mic. Unless of course, San Francisco can't find any.

Ah, maybe she shouldn't have gone. Normally, I would say yeah. But Sarah Palin gave one hell of a speech as she delved intellectually into the thoughts that should be going through most college kids' minds at the time. What does Alex de Tocqueville think? What's the difference between liberalism and conservatism? Why is it funny that she doesn't have the right straw? Who was Ronald Reagan and why was he so great?

That all got lost in translation when people walked in front of the camera and we watched as they bumbled helplessly for minutes during the feed.

The next time a University asks Sarah Palin to help them make money, let's hope it goes to higher education and equipment and not to propping up the stupidity that the common denominator of current American politics is so set on arriving at. They would have spent better money buying coffee for the protestors outside than they did on the AV guys streaming the video. At least we would have expected the protestors to be idiots.

UPDATE: After reading this statement from Fox 40, I am even more appauled at the conduct of reporters at the Palin speech. I offer my utmost apology to the students of Stanislaus University for mistaking them to be the voices on the audio. However, one would be more easily inclined to attribute the behavior of those whose voices were captured on the feed to immature people more likely to be of student age than to professional reporters who are supposedly trained in gathering news and disseminating information.

Apparently, reporters in today's "media" tend to act more like frat boys than professionals. And that showed. The only thing missing on the video was a keg and scantily clad women.

This clearly proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that the media already has a pre-conceived anti-Palin bias. The glaring evidence of this makes one wonder if Palin should ever let media into another event again. It's obvious from the buffoonery that these reporters didn't hear a single word she said. Instead of paying attention to her, they paid attention to themselves and their childish remarks.

Stanislaus University should have provided the media with a clean feed. It would only be fitting of an institution that was cashing in big time on Palin's appearance. However, criticism of the university should end there and not be extended to any department or any group of students.

Cal State Stanislaus Thread (Updated)

Sarah Palin's speech is streaming on Fox 40.
UPDATE: Palin to speak at 8:30 PDT.
UPDATE: @HeyTammyBruce will be doing a Special Tammy Radio Report podcast including her speech for everyone. Everyone click on the link above for details and to respond with a tweet thank you to Tammy.


-ABC News 10 Sacramento: Sarah Palin Stanislaus St. appearance is money-maker

-CBS5 San Francisco: Sold-Out Crowd At Palin's CSU Stanislaus Speech

-Motivation Truth: Stanislaus Protest Planned, an Exercise in Futility; Updated

-Sacramento Bee: Full Pre-Speech Coverage

-The Yankees are going to beat the Dodgers tonight (sorry, had to throw that one in)

I'm waiting to find out what the topic is. I'm doing in depth research (I sent out a tweet lol).

Liberals heads will spin for sure. I'm guessing she let the media in because she's going to criticize them. If she can convince the non-Palinista that the media is just trying to destroy her, it will help her in the eyes of the general public.

The protestors mean nothing. They are protesting nothing. They're just kool aid drinking libs with no lives and nothing better to do. You can't do anything about them anyway. Especially when, after running out of all possible reasons to protest, they figured it would just be a general lie protest about Palin being a racist or a Nazi or something.

Rock on, Sarah. Break a leg (that's Californian for have a great speech).

Quotes of the Day 06/25/10

Bob Lee posts this on Sarah Palin's Facebook page:

You Leftists thought you had brought Sarah Palin to "the eve of destruction", but what you actually did was to let the sun shine in as the dawn of an American conservative renaissance emerged in the heart, mind, and soul of a political dynamo, Sarah Palin. You have unleashed the dogs of war. You will soon be hoisted by your own petard.

Meghan Stapleton on Sarah Palin's Facebook Page:

One might think that creating a trust fund to collect money to pay legal fees should not be that complicated, but it turns out, it is exceptionally complicated. You should know that as many as seven lawyers were involved in the process; some of whom were and are nationally prominent experts in creating legal defense funds, in evaluating federal and state election laws, state trust law, federal and state tax laws, state reporting requirements and state ethics requirements. It is a sad commentary on public life today when the legal system can be used as a political weapon against an elected official, and it takes a battalion of lawyers to figure out how to fund a defense and counter-attack.

Townhall Magazine (via Texas for Sarah Palin):

Though try as they might to silence her—with attacks on everything from her outspoken criticism of the current administration to her bra size—Palin is a light that will not be snubbed out. Much to the chagrin of the liberal elites and leftist reformists, Palin’s down-to-earth independence, patriotic spirit and no-nonsense, can-do attitude will only continue to propel her popularity.

Jedediah Bila:

Much like many other supposedly pro-woman organizations (see NOW and Planned Parenthood for details), the priority of EMILY’s List is to foster a pro-abortion culture in America. A close second is to promote a comprehensive, far-left agenda under the guise of doing what’s best for women. Palin and Bachmann may be at the top of their figurative hit list, but don’t expect the likes of Nikki Haley or Sharron Angle to be too far behind.

Tammy Bruce:

I suppose when lots of money has been spent with a goal of finding something, anything, on Governor Palin, anything will literally do. Interestingly, it does seem the investigator himself understands the final absurdity of the entire Get Palin exercise. While finding the shocking of the use of the word “Official” for the fund, the report notes the governor acted in “good faith” and relied upon the advice of attorneys when setting up the fund.

Ed Morrissey:

At any rate, the probe has now concluded, and the only change Palin will have to make is to return the money the fund received before July 26, 2009, when she resigned as Governor, and find other trustees. As far as an ethics slam goes, this isn’t even weak tea. It’s more an indication that Alaska really needs to address its Byzantine ethics regime, which forces public officials to privately fund their own defense and then makes the legal code surrounding that effort so confusing that three top-notch law firms couldn’t figure it out.

So, in other words, while Alaska state personnel investigator contortionists found something of slight issue with the fund itself, the governor’s actions are not at issue. Again.

I figured I'd get some truth out there. I'm not a paid member of the media, but then again who knows how much my liberal left wing editors would make me twist to make Palin look bad if I was.

I hope the world sees the truth about how the Katie Couric's and the New York Times' of this world omit facts pertinent to a case like the Alaska Fund Trust ethics complaint. This is a textbook example of how the media is deliberately trying to mislead us. They are afraid of Sarah Palin. They are afraid that their socialist agenda could be thwarted by someone with the following, the stature and the power that she has. Good. Let's keep it that way. The more the media lies, the more they disgrace themselves. By 2012 we should have volumes of mainstream media lies that we can present to the American people.

Remember ACORN during the 2008 presidential election? How could you. The mainstream media completely ignored real fraud while trying to drum up stuff on Sarah Palin during the Troopergate "story" or should I say "plant."

Well it's happening again. While testimony at the Blagojevich trial is damning to Rahm Emanuel and President "I knew he was trying to sell my Senate seat" Obama, the lamestream media turns a blind eye and instead focuses on the Alaska Fund Trust story. Obama is blatantly involved and aware of Blagojevich's shenanigans? Nothing to see here. Palin's legal defense fund is illegal? Yup, stop the presses and report no further. Forget that little minor detail about her 9 law firms advising her and that she acted in good faith. And that if she didn't use the word official, every Tom, Dick and Harry would have set up a legal defense fund in her name and there could have been compliance issues galore. So she used the word "official." And because some goof thinks that people would mistake that as an official Alaskan government fund, she has to shut the fund down and start a new one.

Big deal.

I hope everyone who gets their checks back immediately sends them off to the new fund. Let's get the new fund back up to the $390,000 that was in the old fund. Let's encourage Sarah Palin to use the money and pay off her legal bills and then match the donations with SarahPac money to fire off ads that rip the media and rip the Democrat establishment.

Swords unsheathed, everyone! Assume formation!

----------------------------------------------------
Please join The Shining City On A Hill Project. It's open to everyone who is on Facebook.

Also, let's keep some tabs on the Dirtbags on Twitter. Remember, they have freedom of speech. But let's just know our enemy and build our army, grow the Shining City project and get out there and start strafing the web and Twitter with positive information about Sarah Palin. Shoot her a tweet. Counter balance these lowlifes by tweeting something positive to @SarahPalinUSA

God bless America, our Shining City on a Hill!

The Shining City On A Hill Project

I have a new Facebook group called The Shining City On A Hill Project. Please go check it out and participate if you like. You can post things or make comments. Most of all it will be a great place for discussion about what we have to do to take back our country.

Okay, latest Sarah Palin news: She has decided to settle the ethics complaint regarding her legal defense fund by dissolving it and setting up a new one which, although the first one didn't do this, is more clearly defined as not a fund representing her as the governor or giving the impression that it is an official Alaskan Government site. Meghan Stapleton explains on Sarah's Facebook page:

The Personnel Board initially appointed an “independent” investigator. That investigator, we later learned, had connections with, and was associated with President Obama. The Personnel Board had hired President Obama’s personal law firm as an “independent” investigator to review whether a fund created to raise money to eliminate a debt incurred as a result of Governor Palin’s opposition to President Obama was appropriate. We objected to both the illegal leak and the blatant political influence, and a new investigator was appointed.

The new investigator spent considerable time reviewing the old information and collecting new, but I think it proved to be too difficult to reverse an already-public decision. He concluded that the Trust fund violated Alaska law in two respects. His biggest heartburn was that we used the word “official” on the website.

There was a point where it appeared that people around the country wanted to start legal defense funds for Governor Palin. The support and good will the people of this country have shown to the Palins is inspiring. But a concern was raised whether all these other potential funds would comply with various laws, including donation limits, limits against contributions from lobbyists or contributions from foreign nationals. So we used the word “official” in the website to distinguish the Alaska Fund Trust from ones we were not sure would be compliant. In our view, that was a solid and common sense reason to use the word “official,” but the investigator believes that it made it appear that the website was sponsored by the State of Alaska, and thus would be a use of Governor Palin’s ”official” office to raise money. We are not terribly persuaded that really would be the case or that any member of the public could be confused, but we respect the investigator’s evaluation of this point and it is not worth fighting about. Again, Governor Palin’s prime directive was simple – if this fund could be set up lawfully, she would support it. If not, it would not have her support.

So rather than fight the issue any further, Palin decided to dissolve the Alaska Fund Trust and set up a new fund. Money from the old fund will be refunded.

Governor Palin can lawfully raise money now through a brand new – not official but let’s call it “real” – legal defense fund without any risk of offending an investigator or state law. And such a fund now exists at http://www.sarahpalinlegaldefensefund.org/donate.php.

Once again we see another issue of stupidity and layers upon layers of costly and unnecessary government bureaucracy. When a team of lawyers and legal experts can't figure out how the law works, it's a clear example of how dysfunctional government really is. If there is any thanks to be metered out, it should go to the ankle biters who spent all their time and energy helping Palin get out from behind that God forsaken desk in that hellhole of a governor's office stained by Alaska's bottom feeding ingrates and out into the lower 48 where we really appreciate her. We thank you for helping create the monster that will now destroy your progressive liberal agenda. You are lowlifes and you deserve nothing but mysery.

Townhall Shows Courage

I love Dick Morris and Andrea Tantaros. Don't get me wrong. These two have defended Sarah Palin rather vigorously in the past. Their credentials with this section of the Palin army remain intact. They are great conservatives. However, they are also political analysts who have concluded that although unwarranted and unfair, the toll the media and left wing smear campaign has taken on Sarah Palin hurts her viability as a presidential candidate.

Andrea Tantaros writes:

Though many believe she's set her sights on the White House in 2012, Palin ...would be far more influential as a talk show host than she would be as a presidential candidate...

I say this not because Palin is incapable of being an impactful politician, but because she has been profoundly hindered by the left's hateful and perplexing obsession with demeaning and destroying her at all costs.

Dick Morris writes:

But Sarah comes with a lot of baggage, largely the doing of the liberal, sexist media. It will be tough to beat Obama. It will be tougher still to do so while overcoming her negatives, however unjustified they may be.

Both writers articulate a thought that has been going around as of late. Their writing of it is not the first I've heard of it, but their articles are the best written examples of it.

As analysts, they are doing their job in pointing this out to us. However, they also fall prey in their opinion to the hidden germ that the mainstream media and the left has spread and until now has gone undetected.

We all know that most people are beginning to figure out that the media lies. People know that Sarah Palin is not getting divorced, hasn't gotten breast implants, is the mother of Trig and is not guilty of the ethics violations filed against her while governor of Alaska. Yes, I still have friends who think Sarah Palin shoots wolves from helicopters and the best one yet: she kills turkeys. Unfortunately, the girl who thinks she shoots wolves is a liberal and the turkey guy watches Joy Behar. This proves my point that there is nothing you can do about the kool aid drinkers. But there is still hope for winning over those who right now sit on that "yeah, I like Sarah Palin, but..." fence.

The hidden germ is the notion that Palin's numbers are just not there for a successful presidential bid because of the damage the media and the left has done to her. And that is the germ the media and the left have really been trying to spread. They don't care that you don't believe their lies about Sarah Palin. They only care that they've told enough of them, astroturfed the blogosphere enough and gotten in zing after zing in the mainstream media so that you buy into the illusion that yeah, these stories are lies, but if there are that many people who don't like her, she can't win.

And if you cave like Tantaros or Morris, they win.

Like I said, I love both writers. I just want them to understand that fighting for the right means sticking it to the mainstream media and the left and giving them their worst nightmare rather than letting them dictate a sidestep to what the real narrative should be: answering the question whether Palin has been working hard to get herself up to speed for the job and can she earn the right to the presidency with more hard work and a good solid campaign in the primaries. Let's not write her off so fast because of the stupid media attacks.

Let's take a quote out of Townhall and understand where we're really headed with Sarah Palin.

Though try as they might to silence her—with attacks on everything from her outspoken criticism of the current administration to her bra size—Palin is a light that will not be snuffed out. Much to the chagrin of the liberal elites and leftist reformists, Palin’s down-to-earth independence, patriotic spirit and nononsense can-do attitude will only continue to propel her popularity.

Now that's more like it. That's the courageous conservatism I like to see from my friends on the right.

If anything, we should elect Sarah Palin president just on G.P. Regardless of how strongly you feel about Sarah Palin, if you hate liberalism there would be nothing worse, no deeper a wound, than for the left and the mainstream media to watch President Palin take the oath of office in 2013.

Read more here.

H/t to Texas4Palin for the Townhall article.

Dick Morris Explains the Conservative Wimp Factor

Dick, don't be such a wuss.

"But Sarah comes with a lot of baggage, largely the doing of the liberal, sexist media. It will be tough to beat Obama. It will be tougher still to do so while overcoming her negatives, however unjustified they may be."
-read Dick Morris' article here


This is where conservatives need to show their core. Why are conservatives like Morris wimping out because of "unjustified baggage?" Let's fight that. Let's not cower from that. Let's go after it and change minds that have been poisoned by the liberal media. In two years, Sarah can wipe that that out with a consistent message and no media filter. It can be done. People thought Reagan would get beat up because the press hated him too.

Let's get a set, conservatives, and throw the media to the curb by backing Sarah no matter what.

Read more here.