Posted on 12/30/2009 10:22:00 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
2009 was an extraordinary year in which ordinary people did extraordinary things not because they were the easy things to do, but because they were the right thing to do. The people ranged from young Hannah Giles who jump-started her journalism career by donning a hooker’s garb to bring down the racketeer influenced corrupt organization known as ACORN, to Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger III, who culminated the decades of his life that he worked toward airline safety simply by landing a engineless plane on the Hudson River.
Michael Paul Mizzone, a carpenter’s business representative, pulled Josef R. Bruckuf, 82, out of a burning house, severely burning himself in the rescue. Police Sergeant James Crowley refused to buckle under presidential pressure and apologize for arresting a belligerent man. Economist Douglas W. Elmendorf refused to buckle under presidential pressure to cook the books for Obamacare.
The list of such candidates was long as the United States and Canada are nations that still celebrate and nurture rugged individualism. We still produce people like Stephen McIntyre who demand proof before they sign onto the global warming fad.
And lest we forget, the Netherlands gave us Jasper Schuringa, who saved Flight 253. The Dutch have our gratitude.
While each of the finalists was deserving, there can be only one man of the year — Sarah Palin. In the pantheon of people who stood up this year for that which is right, no one else stood taller or looked better.
She endured the most and came to symbolize the majority of American citizens who are stunned by the attempt to rapidly dismantle this great nation of ours and transform it into another Euro-weenie socialist country that apologizes for trying to save the rest of the world over the years.
The cynic in me said I should honor the person most responsible for reviving the conservative movement — Barack Obama. His arrogance and over-reach gave people pause. The plunder of the treasury in February caused even apolitical people to question his true motives. His slide to 44% approval among voters came lightning quick and we all know that thunder follows lightning.
But conservatives make lousy cynics. Skeptics yes. We refuse to act now, think later. This is why so many of us were cool to the theory of global warming. Climategate proved us correct. We may be suspicious, but being conservative means never saying things will not get better someday. Usually tomorrow. Conservatives are patient. Wait till next year became the battle cry by August. We shall see how that works out in November.
This post originally was written as the runner-up slot. Most readers thought Sarah Palin would be the first Man of the Year of the Don Surber blog, but I had other plans. Just as in the Miss Alaska contest a quarter-century ago, she would be the runner-up. Rush Limbaugh’s CPAC speech was a magical moment in American history and so he would win.
The more I thought about it, though, the more I realized that while Rush Limbaugh deserved the award, Mrs. Palin did even more for the conservative movement, and therefore for America, this year than even he did. In the final days, they switched places.
Naming Sarah Palin as Man of the Year is the only logical conclusion to a year when Americans who petitioned their government for a redress of grievances were smeared as “un-American” by the people who are temporarily in charge.
And still the people rose up.
Mrs. Palin has endured more slings and more arrows than any other politician in America. She may not have gone into any burning buildings, but she was singed nonetheless. Had Obama’s mansion deal received one-tenth the scrutiny that her shopping for clothes received, we conservatives would be grousing today about President Hillary. All things considered, Mrs. Clinton would have been the better president than this one.
The personal attacks on Mrs. Palin this year were so vile that if she were the Rutgers women’s basketball team, David Letterman would have lost his job. But CBS put profits above decency. Letterman had no problem calling her a slut and her daughter a slut on national TV; it upped his ratings as liberal misogyny is alive and well and profitable.
His offer of a half-assed apology with an invitation to come on his show and boost his ratings was met with an the iciest No of the year, so cold that it actually shocked him into giving a real apology.
Mrs. Palin moved on, marching to the beat of the American drummer. She caught hell from the left for another year, and began firing back. Her Facebook posts are well-written and thought out. Tagging Obamacare as having “death panels” rattled the lefty cages and woke up Americans to the rationing of health care that was right around the bend.
Not all the criticisms of her were without substance. Many of us remain puzzled by her decision to resign abruptly as the governor of Alaska. But her campaign for the 2012 presidency continues despite this misstep. She stood up for what is right and held her head high as she marched forward — ever forward.
Half the people of the United States love her for hanging in there. They love her for sharing their values of home, hearth and country. They love her for being of the the people, by the people and for the people.
Oh, not the elites and the elitist wannabes. The little potty-mouthed drones on the left think they are so sophisticated as they mock 14-year-old girls, babies with Down syndrome and people who shop at Wal-Mart. The Washington Post’s book reviewer bragged that she did not read Sarah Palin’s book. Ignorance is now a status symbol for the left.
Ordinary people did read her book and they were impressed. The people who shop at Wal-Mart bought 1 million copies of her autobiography in just 2 weeks. Thousands of them stood in line by the thousands in the freezing nights of November and December just to get her autograph. She is of them — a hockey mom who is naive, unsophisticated and learning just how rotted from within America’s political system has become. She beat corruption in Wasilla. She beat corruption in Alaska. And well, she finished 2009 with a higher approval rating than The Won.
She did this despite nearly universal adulation in the press for him and nearly universal condemnation in the press for her.
The people know the elites hate her. Dumping on her has gone beyond the point of reason. The Tina Feying of her backfires anymore. We get it already. The more they mock her, the deeper the resolve of her fans. The odd thing is, her detractors slam her because Sarah Palin boosts ratings. They are trying to stop the hurricane with a beach umbrella.
Her appearance on Oprah Winfrey pushed Oprah’s ratings — which have sagged since Oprah publicly endorsed Obama — up by 68%. Mrs. Palin gave Oprah her highest ratings in 2 years, easily topping the appearances by anyone named Obama.
She is genuine. Her beliefs in freedom, in independence and in community service reflect how she was raised. She does not hide who she is. There are no ulterior motives. There is no one underneath her bus.
The question anymore is not whether she is ready for the presidency — unlike our current president, she has had her mettle tested in fire several times now and passed with quite more than a gentleman’s B+ — but rather the question is whether she is too pretty to be president.
Sarah Palin, Man of the Year of the Don Surber blog for 2009.
The other finalists:
Rush Limbaugh, Man of the Year Runner-up.
Kenneth Gladney, Man of the Year Finalist No. 3.
Glenn Beck, Man of the Year Finalist No. 4.
Douglas W. Elmendorf, Man of the Year Finalist No. 5.
Jim Justice, Man of the Year Finalist No. 6.
23 Carnegie Medal heroes, Man of the Year Finalist No. 7.
John Boehner and Mitch McConnell, Man of the Year Finalist No. 8.
Chesley Burnett “Sully” Sullenberger III, Man of the Year Finalist No. 9.
Hannah Giles, Man of the Year Finalist No. 10.
Stephen McIntyre, Man of the Year Finalist No. 11.
Rick Santelli, Man of the Year Finalist No. 12.
James Crowley, Man of the Year Finalist No. 13.
Andrew Breitbart, Man of the Year Finalist No. 14.
Jasper Schuringa, Man of the Year Finalist No. 15.
“She seems to be learning quite quickly.”
You are polite and fair to me in your comments, BCC, and it looks to me like you may be a little over-polite to Sarah. I’m probably just more along the “once bitten, twice shy” curve, but my latest example of Sarah being Sarah is the John Wooden/John Wooden Legs quote in her book (http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/12/01/palin-book-attributes-leftist-native-americans-quote-to-uclas/). Attention to detail, preparation and such. She knew the liberals would be coming at her book with the long knives, but she still made such an obvious error.
It was not a retreat. It was, as Chesty Fuller put it, "an advance in a different direction."
It proved that Governor Sarah Palin is bigger than any political hack because she does not regard any perquisite of office above the interests of her constituents.
Well said...and one of the primary reasons I have nothing but the utmost respect for Mrs. Palin.
And a shout-out to the Lakeshark:
“vicious beyond anything I’ve ever seen in politics to date”?
Medgar Evers, JFK, MLK, RFK, George Wallace, and Ronald Reagan all caught bullets. Ford tried, but Squeaky Fromme missed him. And that’s just the ones I can remember easily. Guess I’ve seem more politics, to date, than you have.
For the past coupe of decades, I’ve been paying attention not only to what people say, but to how they say it. This is because:
1. A liberal argues like a liberal—always.
2. A liberal trying to pass himself off as a conservative can be identified by the differences between the positions he thinks conservatives hold and those they really do. A liberal never gets this right—ever. He also argues like a liberal when pretending to support conservative positions.
3. A conservative, or a person on the road “up from liberalism,” argues like a conservative when arguing conservative positions, but like a liberal when arguing residual liberal positions (A residual position is a liberal one that he has not yet sloughed off on his journey to the right.)
(From “dsc’s Rules for Observing Debate with Liberals)
So, what does “argue like a liberal” mean, anyway?
Well, there are a few things that both liberals and others tend to do when arguing in favor of a liberal position. In no particular order, some of these are:
1. Refuse to examine sources that argue against their position. (wild horses couldn’t pay me to read any politician’s book)
2. Ignore opponent’s arguments, then (a) continue to make assertions that have already been answered (Maybe Sarah should have, etc.) and (b) claim that those answers were never offered (And y’all still aren’t answering my question) when actually they have been.
3. Exaggerate or fabricate offenses against civility, as though that had anything to do with the merits of the arguments (thanks for the CAPITAL-LETTER internet yelling)
— I found three capitalized words. One was the word “really,” capitalized for emphasis and hardly an attack, and the other two were the names of two prominent Republicans, also capitalized for emphasis. IOW, the complaint re “Internet yelling” is unfounded.)
(and for the asterisk-ized swearing)
The US is in danger of going under, and you’re worried about a little vulgarity? I doubt it. I think Thomas Sowell tells us why those two complaints were made:
“It is amazing how many people think that they can answer an argument by attributing bad motives to those who disagree with them. Using this kind of reasoning, you can believe or not believe anything about anything, without having to bother to deal with facts or logic.”
4. Attribute statments to others that they never made. (Coming soon)
flowerplough may be a conservative, or he may be a liberal. Don’t know yet. It is interesting, though, that in answering Governor Palin’s supporters he argued like a liberal.
“but she still made such an obvious error.”
Did she? Is that nest of vipers at the other end of that link your only source for that? If so, it would behoove one to bear in mind dsc’s first axiom of liberal behavior: All liberals lie all the time.
But suppose it is true, and we put absolutely the worst possible interpretation on it. What are we left with? A giant yawn.
The dims are serial felons — all sorts of corruption, drug abuse, involvement with prostitutes, extortion, rape—both statutory and forcible—even murder, and the worst they can some up with on the Cuda is that she misattributed a quotation?
Well, let’s all hike up our skirts, jump up on chairs shrieking, and pretend that this is worthy of a moment’s notice.
Speaking of jamming, the leftards have jumped out there and repeated this so often that the first ten pages of Google search results offer only shots at Palin.
BTW, if you’re a conservative, what in the world are you doing hanging out with the scum at that site, and how do you keep from hurling every ten seconds?
“make assertions that have already been answered (Maybe Sarah should have, etc.) and (b) claim that those answers were never offered (And y’all still aren’t answering my question) when actually they have been.”
Simplify it for me, then, dsc. My question(s) have been answered? I musta missed it. Please tell me who’s done already told me. What do you, yourself, think Sarah will do the next time she faces vicious, withering, draining political attack? She already cut her losses and advanced in the opposite direction in Alaska. Couldn’t stand the heat, got out of the kitchen. What’ll Sarah do next time the going gets rough? Just as the second divorce is usually easier, so will be Sarah’s second surrender?
Well, let’s all hike up our skirts, jump up on chairs shrieking, and pretend that this is worthy of a moment’s notice.
Funniest thing I've read all day.
“My question(s) have been answered? I musta missed it.”
I answered the question to which you earlier referred in note 35.
“Couldn’t stand the heat, got out of the kitchen.”
H.L. Mencken wrote, “It is hard to believe that a man is telling the truth when you know that you would lie
if you were in his place.”
There is a corollary: It is hard to believe that a man won’t pussy out when you know that you would pussy out if you were in his place.
I’m not sure that this is applicable here, though, since Palin’s resignation showed courage rather than cowardice.
Only a fool goes down with her ship when she can live to fight another day. Resigning was brilliant.
Of course it was; they can't touch her now. What are they going to do - throw more mud? That's been done and overdone, and she's walked through all of it. So has the entire family, for that matter.
The last bunch of wild horses I saw couldn't pay for feed let alone pay someone to read a book.
That's okay, lots of people have difficulty sitting down and reading a book whether written by a politician or by anybody else. Government schools have pretty well beaten that sort of thing out of our kids. It's too bad too... think of all the stuff that will have to be reinvented because someone didn't like to read.
I'm lucky -- I grew up before television so I had to either read or live in ignorance. Now I can wait for the book to come out on tape or (even later) as a movie. Though after reading some things and then watching the movie I'm glad I still read. Movies are always much different and usually worse than the book.
"Going Rogue" was read aloud on some program last week I believe, so it's out there if you're interested. It's a decent story and easy to follow. The first half tells why she holds the views she does and the second tells about the campaign, the election and her subsequent resignation. If you really want to know both sides of the question you need to read/listen to the book. If you're satisfied with half the story then don't. You have to understand though, if you're not interested in hearing both sides of the issue your opinions will be pretty much disregarded.
She did. Her book Going Rogue: An American Life is frying some fish. See it as a cook book.
Read it.
Bon appetit.
“That’s been done and overdone”
There is an element over there on the loathsome left that never seems to get enough.
I’m expecting great things from the Cuda.
If I could add one more thing to the list of characteristics of a liberal argument? They always try to maneuver the discussion so that you end up having to try to convince them of something. Then they simple refuse to be convinced, and you end up doing all the work of beating your head against a wall. It's a rope-a-dope tactic, and one that needs to be constantly guarded against.
Regardless, as a male I will be more than pleased when our first female President is sworn in. For I am convinced that no one is more qualified to be POTUS than Sarah Palin.
I think it still has to do with the old boy network, for women in general have smaller fingers and a bit more agility. Nevertheless, becoming a surgeon is a long, hard road for anyone. Babies must figure into the equation too, for that biological clock doesn't stop ticking.
One area of surgery where women have made inroads is in dentistry. Some of the best oral surgeons I've met are women. And a practice in dentistry probably has fairly regular hours that one might plan a family around.
I agree with you about Palin. Now whether the good old boys will let her run is another matter. But, if they listened to their constituents, she's be a certainty.
Happy New Year!
That looks like a bit of fly poop in my pepper compared to having my boots pissed on and being told it’s raining.
“I answered the question to which you earlier referred in note 35.” And your answer is “next time she will be positioned to deal with it.” And that’s it? And I should agree with you and shut up, or even, I should agree with you and trust her?
Sorry, dsc, sorry Sarah, my trust has to be earned. Sarah’s established a bit of a precedent of not over-preparing (going in like to Couric/Gibson interviews expecting to be lobbed the same sort of softballs Obama got) and of cutting and running, and I’d like to see her put in some hard work (no ghost writer) toward trying to swing her movement’s advance back around to the first direction a few times. Like I done told Blue Collar Christian, maybe I’m “once bitten, thrice shy”, but I don’t trust any politician much. Maybe I’d do well in Missouri.
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