Posted on 02/01/2010 9:58:19 PM PST by goldstategop
Over the last couple of weeks, a number of readers asked me what I thought about Sarah Palin supporting and actively campaigning for amnesty, global warming theory, and “I would close Gitmo” Republican, John McCain. That, I can understand, since he’s the moron who idiotically catapulted the empty skirtsuit to fame in the first place.
That said, it’s not just McCain. The Sarah PAC also gave $1,000 to Team Graham, the campaign committee of amnesty supporter and “don’t torture terrorists” Republican U.S. Senator Ashley Graham, whom Rush Limbaugh appropriately calls, “Ashley Grahamnesty.” And her support is specifically for his primary.
And then there’s her support of Rand Paul, which many readers (including Shy Guy) have also contacted me about. Yup, the son of Ron Paul. While I don’t know if Paul espouses the 9/11 Truther and other wacky rhetoric (some of it anti-Israel and anti-American) of his bizarro father, it’s usually the case that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.
(Excerpt) Read more at debbieschlussel.com ...
What do you think about this? Is it conservative?
“Conservatism deals with the reality of the world as it is. Complicated and beautiful, tragic and hopeful, we believe in the rights and the responsibilities and the inherent dignity of the individual. We don’t believe that human nature is perfectible; we’re suspicious of government efforts to fix problems because often what it’s trying to fix is human nature, and that is impossible. It is what it is. But that doesn’t mean that we’re resigned to, well, any negative destiny. Not at all. I believe in striving for the ideal, but within the realistic confines of human nature…” ~ Sarah Palin
That is what she seems to be doing now.
Yes. I will take anti-partial birth Scott over open-borders McCain/Dorothy Graha-nesty and probably open borders Palin based on her friends. Abortion should be a states rights issue.
Yep. They’re the same herd that pushed Giuliani and other globalists on the extreme social left. We need a man. See my tagline. We need Duncan Hunter and many more like him—not a cluster of goddess worhippers from a weirdo, pagan town.
Don’t sugar coat it, Scott Brown campaigns on being pro abortion. He will never win the nomination of the Republican party being pro abortion.
LOL, well, you'd have to be a complete idiot not to understand Palin's support of McCain, but her alleged support for Graham - - if indeed she gives a rat's behind about him - - would be troublesome. There is something very wrong with Graham.
Ashley Graham? WTF? If you’re gonna attack Sarah Palin, at least get your names staright.
I politely disagree. It was the Democrats and their media propaganda machine who demonized the Bush years. They lied their asses off all the way through. It was their typical politics of personal destruction.
The Left has no ideas that appeal to America if they are honest. Therefore, they can't be honest. Typically, they try to avoid ideas completely and simply erect a straw boogey man to protect us from. Bush was it the last time around. In the USSR, China, North Korea, Cuba and most other Communist countries it was the United States as a whole that was demonized. Domestically, it is whomever the opposition is.
You are in danger of letting the perfect be the enemy of the good in your pursuit of the perfect conservative. That is what brought us Obama, not Bush.
To say Palin is Obama in skirts is either a complete misread or a damnable lie.
This is the ugly side of the party system. Will Ms. Palin be able to bring herself to criticize these people’s conduct later?
I don’t think Sarah can carry the women’s vote. Not how I feel but other women have told me and they are not liberals. They are very fickle voters and probably jealous of her looks and catty. Ask women about her and see what they say. Many are not very bright because Obama got the majority of their votes.
The Bush administration could have stood up better for itself but, pushing modesty to a clear fault, refrained. Cheney should have been let loose as a pit bull for this purpose at least twice a month.
Republicans and conservatives support Palin, a pro abortion Scott Brown could never win the primary, he is a Massachusetts Senator that may or may not hold onto the seat he has in 2010. I hope that he does of course, which is why I volunteered for him during the election.
The actual title of the original article is “Sarah Palin Endorses “Lindsey GrahAMNESTY”; Gives $1K to Israel-Hater.”
The “Ashley GrahAMNESTY” title here on FR is causing confusion in this thread.
The Most Popular Governor
Alaska’s Sarah Palin is the GOP’s newest star.
BY Fred Barnes
July 16, 2007, Vol. 12, No. 41
Juneau
The wipeout in the 2006 election left Republicans in such a state of dejection that they’ve overlooked the one shining victory in which a Republican star was born. The triumph came in Alaska where Sarah Palin, a politician of eye-popping integrity, was elected governor. She is now the most popular governor in America, with an approval rating in the 90s, and probably the most popular public official in any state.
Her rise is a great (and rare) story of how adherence to principle—especially to transparency and accountability in government—can produce political success. And by the way, Palin is a conservative who only last month vetoed 13 percent of the state’s proposed budget for capital projects. The cuts, the Anchorage Daily News said, “may be the biggest single-year line-item veto total in state history.”
As recently as last year, Palin (pronounced pale-in) was a political outcast. She resigned in January 2004 as head of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission after complaining to the office of Governor Frank Murkowski and to state Attorney General Gregg Renkes about ethical violations by another commissioner, Randy Ruedrich, who was also Republican state chairman.
State law barred Palin from speaking out publicly about ethical violations and corruption. But she was vindicated later in 2004 when Ruedrich, who’d been reconfirmed as state chairman, agreed to pay a $12,000 fine for breaking state ethics laws. She became a hero in the eyes of the public and the press, and the bane of Republican leaders.
In 2005, she continued to take on the Republican establishment by joining Eric Croft, a Democrat, in lodging an ethics complaint against Renkes, who was not only attorney general but also a long-time adviser and campaign manager for Murkowski. The governor reprimanded Renkes and said the case was closed. It wasn’t. Renkes resigned a few weeks later, and Palin was again hailed as a hero.
Palin, 43, the mother of four, passed up a chance to challenge Republican senator Lisa Murkowski, the then-governor’s daughter, in 2004. She endorsed another candidate in the primary, but Murkowski won and was reelected. Palin said then that her 14-year-old son talked her out of running, though it’s doubtful that was the sole reason.
In 2006, she didn’t hesitate. She ran against Gov. Murkowski, who was seeking a second term despite sagging poll ratings, in the Republican primary. In a three-way race, Palin captured 51 percent and won in a landslide. She defeated former Democratic governor Tony Knowles in the general election, 49 percent to 41 percent. She was one of the few Republicans anywhere in the country to perform above expectations in 2006, an overwhelmingly Democratic year. Palin is unabashedly pro life.
With her emphasis on ethics and openness in government, “it turned out Palin caught the temper of the times perfectly,” wrote Tom Kizzia of the Anchorage Daily News. She was also lucky. News broke of an FBI investigation of corruption by legislators between the primary and general elections. So far, three legislators have been indicted.
In the roughly three years since she quit as the state’s chief regulator of the oil industry, Palin has crushed the Republican hierarchy (virtually all male) and nearly every other foe or critic. Political analysts in Alaska refer to the “body count” of Palin’s rivals. “The landscape is littered with the bodies of those who crossed Sarah,” says pollster Dave Dittman, who worked for her gubernatorial campaign. It includes Ruedrich, Renkes, Murkowski, gubernatorial contenders John Binkley and Andrew Halcro, the three big oil companies in Alaska, and a section of the Daily News called “Voice of the Times,” which was highly critical of Palin and is now defunct.
One of her first acts as governor was to fire the Alaska Board of Agriculture. Her ultimate target was the state Creamery Board, which has been marketing the products of Alaska dairy farmers for 71 years and wanted to close down after receiving $600,000 from the state. “You don’t just close your doors and walk away,” Palin told me. She discovered she lacked the power to fire the Creamery Board. Only the board of agriculture had that authority. So Palin replaced the agriculture board, which appointed a new creamery board, which has rescinded the plan to shut down.
In preserving support for dairy farmers, Palin exhibited a kind of Alaskan chauvinism. She came to the state as an infant, making her practically a native. And she is eager to keep Alaska free from domination by oil companies or from reliance on cruise lines whose ships bring thousands of tourists to the state.
“She’s as Alaskan as you can get,” says Dan Fagan, an Anchorage radio talk show host. “She’s a hockey mom, she lives on a lake, she ice fishes, she snowmobiles, she hunts, she’s an NRA member, she has a float plane, and her husband works for BP on the North Slope,” Fagan says. Todd Palin, her high school sweetheart, is a three-time winner of the 2,000-mile Iron Dog snowmobile race from Wasilla to Nome to Fairbanks. It’s the world’s longest snowmobile race.
Gov. Palin grew up in Wasilla, where as star of her high school basketball team she got the nickname “Sarah Barracuda” for her fierce competitiveness. She led her underdog team to the state basketball championship. Palin also won the Miss Wasilla beauty contest, in which she was named Miss Congeniality, and went on to compete in the Miss Alaska pageant.
At 32, she was elected mayor of Wasilla, a burgeoning bedroom community outside Anchorage. Though Alaskans tend to be ferociously anti-tax, she persuaded Wasilla voters to increase the local sales tax to pay for an indoor arena and convention center. The tax referendum won by 20 votes.
In 2002, Palin entered statewide politics, running for lieutenant governor. She finished a strong second in the Republican primary. That fall, she dutifully campaigned for Murkowski, who’d given up his Senate seat to run for governor. Afterwards, she turned down several job offers from Murkowski, finally accepting the oil and gas post. When she quit 11 months later, “that was her defining moment” in politics, says Fagan.
Her campaign for governor was bumpy. She missed enough campaign appearances to be tagged “No Show Sarah” by her opponents. She was criticized for being vague on issues. But she sold voters on the one product that mattered: herself.
Her Christian faith—Palin grew up attending nondenominational Bible churches—was a minor issue in the race. She told me her faith affects her politics this way: “I believe everything happens for a purpose. In my own personal life, if I dedicated back to my Creator what I’m trying to create for the good . . . everything will turn out fine.” That same concept applies to her political career, she suggested.
The biggest issue in the campaign was the proposed natural gas pipeline from the North Slope that’s crucial to the state’s economy. Murkowski had made a deal with the three big oil companies—Exxon, BP, ConocoPhillips—which own the gas reserves to build the pipeline. But the legislature turned it down and Palin promised to create competition for the pipeline contract.
She made three other promises: to end corruption in state government, cut spending, and provide accountability. She’s now redeeming those promises.
Palin describes herself as “pro-business and pro-development.” She doesn’t want the oil companies to sit on their energy reserves or environmental groups to block development of the state’s resources. “I get frustrated with folks from outside Alaska who come up and say you shouldn’t develop your resources,” she says. Alaska needs to be self-sufficient, she says, instead of relying heavily on “federal dollars,” as the state does today.
Her first major achievement as governor was lopsided passage by the legislature of the Alaska Gasline Inducement Act, which is designed to attract pipeline proposals this summer. The state is offering $500 million in incentives, but the developer must meet strict requirements. The oil companies have said they won’t join the competition.
Palin’s tough spending cuts drew criticism from Republican legislators whose pet projects were vetoed. But her popularity doesn’t appear threatened. “It’s not just that she’s pretty and young,” says Dittman. “She’s really smart. And there’s no guile. She says her favorite meal is moose stew or mooseburgers. It wouldn’t shock people if that were true.”
Fred Barnes is executive editor of THE WEEKLY STANDARD.
I had liked Sarah briefly but I don’t think she has what it takes to win and I really question her judgment after announcing support of the anti free speech, pro amnesty McCain.
The entire thread is stupid. Debbie Schlussel claiming an endorsement in the headline, for a race a half decade in the future, turns this into something of a trolling thread.
Palin Speaks to Investors in Hong Kong
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2346270/posts
The Chinese Connection via the CLSA: Sarah Palin Enters the Lion’s Den
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/bloggers/2345119/posts
That was so frustrating. To let it stand without challenge was to accept it as true.
I was also miffed that he did not pursue the Clintons for their legal and patriotic transgressions, like taking campaign cash from China in exchange for our military secrets.
That was really what the impeachment was all about but the special prosecutor law required that Ken Starr bring charges on the first prosecutable offense he found. Although the evidence room was full of stuff of the China deal the Lewensky thing, the lies to the judge, was the first provable case so he had to bring it.
The Democrats grabbed that and called it "just about sex, everybody does it" and stubbornly refused to look at the China evidence.
Bush could have followed up on that and many other things about the Clintons. Instead, he chose to be Mr. Good Guy.
I've been highly critical of her for the McLame endorsement. And I'll criticize her for anything else she does I disagree with. I don't think we should put her on a pedestal.
But, seriously? Do you really think that? That giving a little money to LINDSAY Grahmnesty makes her equal to BHO? Woah dude.
This is all about trying to redefine Palin as a RINO. My friends, stop with the nonsense. Nobody is buying it for a second. Pro-life, pro-2nd Amendment, fiscal hawk, strong national defense, capitalist: from there you call Palin a RINO. Doesn’t add up.
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