Palin slaps down NSA

The head of the National Security Agency (NSA Gen. Keith Alexander has claimed that the need for wholesale violations of Fourth Amendment rights was done in the wake of 9/11 owing to an absence of information on terrorists involved.  He has claimed a need to be able to track back on contacts of suspects which means treating everybody as a suspect. 

Sarah Palin, who we have not featured for some time has slapped down any contention that this action is keeping Americans safe, claiming that the NSA couldn’t stop two ‘pot smoking deadbeats with terrorist ties’: 

“Our government spied on every single one of your phone calls but couldn’t find two pot-smoking deadbeat Bostonians with a hotline to terrorist central in Chechnya. Really?… And it’s built an apparatus to sneak into all of the good guys’ communications but…whoopsi-daisy… It missed the Fort Hood murderer of our own troops despite this Islamic terrorist declaring his ideology in numerous army counselling sessions and on his own business cards. But, whoops, no red flags there. Really?"

The Boston bombing could have been prevented had the authorities followed up on Russian requests for information on possible terrorist links of one of the perpetrators. 

9/11 was in part allowed to occur by the same people failing to address suspicions of flying schools over gentlemen of Middle Eastern appearance who wanted to fly airliners but had no interest in takeoffs or landings.

It is highly unlikely that those who missed such simple clues are competent to get useful intelligence out of such a complex operation.  If they do, they will probably screw it up again.

That Thatcher/ Palin snub.

H/t (and image) Big Journalism.

It was stunning to hear the leftist media gloating over the fact that an audience Palin was to have had with former British PM had been rejected. The rejection was not the issue that was stunning, but the reported discourtesy in which Thatcher was alleged to have referred to Palin as a nut was. It would be extraordinary if this were the case. It now seems not to have been so.

A reader of the Guardian who was skeptical wrote to the Thatcher Foundation inquiring about it. Mentioning that President Obama has sided with Argentina and calls the Falklands the “Malvinas,” she felt that comments attributed to Lady Thatcher’s staff being used to discredit Palin, a leading US conservative seemed wrong. The reply is here:

From: Margaret Thatcher Foundation

To: ————

Sent: Friday, June 10, 2011 4:51 PM.
Subject: Mrs Palin
Dear Mr ——-,

Thank you for your message.

I have no inside knowledge of this business to offer I am afraid and certainly am not in a position to make any kind of statement on Lady Thatcher’s behalf. I’m happy though to give you my personal view.

The Guardian, of course, is not a newspaper at all sympathetic to Lady Thatcher (or to Mrs. Palin), so reports on this topic, from that source, have minimal credibility. If nothing else, would Lady Thatcher have ever described a prominent US conservative politician as ‘nuts’, or approved an ‘ally’ who used the description? I would hope that question answers itself.

Of course, sadly, Lady Thatcher’s health is not good these days and such considerations naturally dominate her schedule. That much is true. Someone once said that if you plaster together the true and the false you thereby manufacture the plausible, but in this case I don’t think even that much has been achieved by the Guardian.

On the ‘Malvinas’, the OAS never learns and the State Department endlessly seeks to curry favour with it for the sake of the a quiet life. The question is a closed one as far as we in Britain are concerned, as it is in the Falklands themselves where opinion is undivided.

Best wishes,

Christopher Collins

Margaret Thatcher Foundation

It seems likely that either the newspaper made the whole thing up, or a staffer or staffers added their own perceptions to the reporter. It is highly unlikely that Thatcher even at 85 years of age, would release such a statement.

Is blaming Palin, covering sheriff’s incompetence?

Cartoon: Glen Foden.

The Tucson shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and around eighteen others was and still is a tragedy. The unfortunate attempts by the left to spin it to their own paranoid agenda are fast turning it into a farce, or an exercise in the truly bizarre. It seems that in the eyes of the left there has to be someone other than the killer to blame, and that has to be someone on the right.

In the beginning there was speculation that the intended target was Judge John Roll as he had made a recent decision that had upset ranchers in the area. It was not difficult to see where this was heading. Despite the fact that the killer was caught right there in the act, and was known to be a relatively unstable drop out the media immediately moved to blame the Tea Party, and more specifically Sarah Palin.

The Sherriff, Clarence Dupnik was especially quick off the mark in blaming the crime, not on the killer but on “vitriol of the nation's talk radio fueling the kind of hatred that was acted out today.” This is a lawman who didn’t think to have a police presence in the area where the Congresswoman was holding a public meeting, even just to keep an eye on things.

It seems that he may have good reason to deflect the blame for this event as far away from Tucson as possible.

Loughner has been in trouble for a long time, including being tossed out of college after five run-ins with college police. Now it has been revealed by Dupnik himself that he has made death threats before and been contacted by law enforcement officers about it.

There is now a post in “The Cholla Jumps,” which though unconfirmed adds another dimension to the storyline:

Jared Loughner has been making death threats by phone to many people in Pima County including staff of Pima Community College, radio personalities and local bloggers. When Pima County Sheriff’s Office was informed, his deputies assured the victims that he was being well managed by the mental health system. It was also suggested that further pressing of charges would be unnecessary and probably cause more problems than it solved as Jared Loughner has a family member that works for Pima County. Amy Loughner is a Natural Resource specialist for the Pima County Parks and Recreation.

If true, it raises the specter of the local sheriff using his influence to protect a family member of an employee of the local authority that he is responsible to. In other words it is nepotism. It appears, if this is true that if anyone other than the killer is to blame it is Dupnik himself.

It is not surprising that he wants the blame to be laid on Sarah Palin.

Olbermann takes on Bristol; loses.

Illustration; this weeks MSNBC ratings.

When Palin was picked for the VP nomination Lemuel Calhoun predicted that the left would be vicious in attacking her family, especially with regard to Trig who was born with Downs Syndrome: "Do not doubt me in this, I may have underestimated McCain but one literally can not have too low an opinion of left-liberal Democrats. There is absolutely no moral depth to which they are not compelled to dive."

If Lemuel got anything wrong, it was overestimating the depth they wouldn’t sink to, they were much worse than he thought possible. I recognized the possibility, but had no clue as to how far in their derangement they would go to attack the family. It is not that long ago we saw the smarmy creep Letterman sink to the depths of attacking Piper Palin with sexual innuendo at the age of around 8 but hey, dirty old men are about that sort of thing anyway. It is possible that it is not a liberal thing, just a Letterman thing.

Recently there have been suggestions that Bristol’s efforts in Dancing With the Stars has driven the left insane after all of those accusations of a vast right wing conspiracy, Tea Party vote rigging and so on. This is completely wrong. The left were completely incoherently deranged long before she took her first step onto the dance floor.

Bristol Palin has now acquired the most celebrated award it is possible to achieve for any conservative chick, or guy for that matter. Much to the envy of all of those of us who have strived unsuccessfully for many years, she has been awarded the coveted, “Worst person in the world” award, from Keith Olbermann. It is of course becoming rather passé owing to the frequency it comes up, but hey, an award is an award.

The real class thing about her is, that while most of those who receive it tend to bask in the kudos of having done so, she has put Olbermann down in a more effective way than even a .45 between the eyes:

Courtesy; Hot Air.

“Accusing me of hypocrisy is by now, an old canard. What Mr. Olbermann lacks in originality he makes up for with insincere incredulity. Mr. Olbermann fails to understand that in order to have credibility as a spokesperson, it sometimes takes a person who has made mistakes.

Parents warn their children about the mistakes they made so they are not repeated. Former gang members travel to schools to educate teenagers about the risks of gang life. Recovered addicts lecture to others about the risks of alcohol and drug abuse. And yes, a teen mother talks about the benefits of preventing teen pregnancy.

“I have never claimed to be perfect. If that makes me the ‘worst person in the world’ to Mr. Olbermann, then I must apologize for not being absolutely faultless like he undoubtedly must be.

“To Mr. Olbermann let me say this: you can attack me all you want. But you will not stop me from getting my message out about teen pregnancy prevention. And one day, if you ever have a daughter, you may change your mind about me.”

Note; Olbermann is on MSNBC so you may not be aware of him.

Update; Bristol and John Ziegler slam Olbermann on BAM. (The second clip is the better one.)

Palin’s Obama put down, Greetings from the 57 States.

Recently sufferers of Palin Derangement Syndrome, have started out to have a field day three times over her statements which they have claimed to be symbolic of ignorance and a lack of ability to lead etc, etc, etc.

The first was her use of the word “refudiate,” especially after she tweeted to the effect that Shakespeare often invented new words. The hysterics went on for a while, until the Oxford American Dictionary came out and declared it the best new word of the year, and gave the following reason:

"From a strictly lexical interpretation of the different contexts in which Palin has used 'refudiate,' we have concluded that neither 'refute' nor 'repudiate' seems consistently precise," the statement read. "'Refudiate' more or less stands on its own, suggesting a general sense of 'reject.' "

The second was when she urged the Tea Party, “not to party like its 1773 yet.” This was taken to indicate that she had no knowledge of history, until it was pointed out by some spoilsport that it obviously alluded to the Boston Tea party, which occurred in that year. The term “Party like its 1773” has been around for some time, but I read the more plebian stuff that the elites would not dream of viewing.

The third was her reference in an interview to North Korea being Americas ally. Had it been said by someone on the left, it would have been dismissed as a ‘mis-statement’ by the media, but being Palin it was blown up as a display of ignorance of geography. She has answered it by highlighting a whole lot of Obama flubs with her message: “A Thanksgiving Message to All 57 States”

My fellow Americans in all 57 states, the time has changed for come. With our country founded more than 20 centuries ago, we have much to celebrate – from the FBI’s 100 days to the reforms that bring greater inefficiencies to our health care system. We know that countries like Europe are willing to stand with us in our fight to halt the rise of privacy, and Israel is a strong friend of Israel’s. And let’s face it, everybody knows that it makes no sense that you send a kid to the emergency room for a treatable illness like asthma and they end up taking up a hospital bed. It costs, when, if you, they just gave, you gave them treatment early, and they got some treatment, and ah, a breathalyzer, or an inhalator. I mean, not a breathalyzer, ah, I don’t know what the term is in Austrian for that…

The best part is that each one is a Youtube link to him actually saying it.

She maintains that she didn’t have the time to do one for Joe Biden, who has a great many classics out there. During the Presidential election, there was some speculation by the more paranoid elements that the right would be so racist as to assassinate Obama. He took this seriously, and in a devilishly cunning move made Joe his VP, thus guaranteeing his safety. All of the extreme far right knew Obama was the only thing standing between them and a Biden Presidency.

Quadrant online features Palin.

Photo from Quadrant Online.

Quadrant Online is one of the best online journals I have encountered for the serious reader over the years, with well-researched articles giving fearless commentary on the issues of our times. In the latest issue there is a feature on Sarah Palin by Steven Kates who teaches Economics at RMIT University in Melbourne.

Normally when Palin is featured over here the press tend to do their research by going to the usual sources; MSNBC, The New YORK Times, etc with predictable results. In this case the author has taken the time to actually get an understanding of the subject. While I don’t entirely agree with him on all of it, it is in the main a pretty good representation of her:

Suppose Sarah Palin couldn’t make the simplest public statement without a teleprompter. Just suppose. Suppose she suggested that the people of Austria spoke Austrian or that there were fifty-seven states in the USA. Suppose she really had said that she could see Russia from her front porch. Suppose she had done that, or had spelled potato with an e at the end. Well, we can all agree that any and all of those would clearly make her or anyone else unfit to be President.

Wait, wait. Let’s have another look at the business about the teleprompter. Perhaps it would be a bit hasty to condemn someone as unfit for the presidency for using such modern technologies even in a kindergarten classroom, but should someone write notes on the palm of their hand before making a major speech, nothing would obviously make them less fit to be President than that.

There are at least three matters that follow from this. There is first the malign influence of the established media in the United States on the conduct of American politics. Second is how we, mere citizens, can ever get to know, really know, what we need to know about the people who run for office.

Finally, what do we know from her book about who Sarah Palin is and whether or not she has what it takes to be President of the most powerful nation on earth? ...

Until I read this extract from her book, I was unaware of her knowledge of the free market:

Within six months of taking office, President Obama put the United States on track to double its already staggering national deficit. The new debt, which will burden future generations, is immoral ...

Where is all the money going to come from? It can come from only three places. Government borrows it, government prints it, or government taxes the people for it ...

We tried growing government back in the 1930s, and it didn’t work then either. Massive government spending programs and protectionist economic policies actually helped turn a recession into the Great Depression. New Deal-like spending plans aren’t the only blast from the past we see today. With the government takeover of parts of the banking industry and the auto industry, we see the return of corporatism—government collusion and co-option of big business.

No one person is smart enough to control and predict markets. The free market is just that: free to rise or fall, shrink or expand, based on conditions that are often outside of human control. Government interference in market cycles is just as dangerous as government-directed programs that encourage permanent dependency. In both cases the rewards for responsible behavior and penalties for irresponsible behavior are removed from the scene. This is the lesson I tried to convey to Bristol when we discussed her plans for the future.

The author has a great deal of respect for Sowell who is one of my favorites:

.... That five pages previously she has quoted Thomas Sowell gives me a fair idea of where such ideas may have come from. But it is not that she read such concepts in Sowell that matters (if that is indeed what happened) but that when she did come across them, those were the ideas that stuck and remained.

Sowell is one of the most articulate conservative intellectuals of our time (and interestingly for me, his first book, like my own, was on Say’s Law). That she would find an affinity with Sowell, understand with perfect clarity what he had written and then condense the points so well, is entirely to her credit. ....

It is well worth the read.

Palin and forgiveness.

I’m heading away again tomorrow, and leave you with this for your enlightenment. Pamela Geller over at Atlas Shrugged reports:

H/T Steve Maloney.

Considering Obama and his operatives are beind the campaign of harassment, ethics charges and attacks on her and her children, Sarah Palin is nothing short of divine. The election is over.

It is time to repair friendships with the other party.

Gov. Sarah Palin is doing her part.

The rest of the world cannot understand how, after bitter election campaigns, American politicians can kiss and make up.

For instance, Gov. Palin has invited, to her great state of Alaska , the men who defeated her, Barack Obama and Joe Biden, along with their wives. She has set up a moose hunting trip for their enjoyment and hired three prominent experts in their field to assist them.

Dick Cheney will carry the gun, Ted Kennedy will drive them back to their cabins each evening, and Bill Clinton will entertain their wives.

Sarah is such a good sport! She thinks of everything!

These guys are evil, I hope Palin is not holding her breath waiting on the tarmac.

Back to work.

Well I'm heading back to Hill End.

This one is an old one, not the one I work in.

This is where I work.

Just to keep you amused in my absence, I am posting Ben and Bawbs take on Ben's Top 10 Ways Sarah Palin Is Better Than David Letterman

Ben's Top 10 Ways Sarah Palin Is Better Than David Letterman.

10) Palin's glasses make her look smart. Letterman's make him look like Radar O'Reilley.

9) Palin has been a TV reporter, city council-woman, mayor, commissioner, and governor. Letterman's been doing the same shtick for 27 years.

8) Palin wrestles grizzlies before breakfast. Letterman feeds pigeons in Central Park. (Actually he has an assistant do it for him.)

7) Palin can see Russia from her house.* Dave can't see ANYTHING with his face in Obama's ass.

6) Palin's state of Alaska craps bigger than New York City.

5) Palin's kids are a teen-age mom, a 14-year-old girl and a special needs child. Dave's kid is a bastard.

4) Palin has big boobs. Letterman is one.

3) Palin could shoot, skin and eat Letterman before his bodyguard knew what happened.

2) Better to be a "slutty flight attendant" than a dorky baggage-handler.

And the Number 1 way Sarah Palin is better than David Letterman is... (Drum roll, Bawb.)

Completely up to you! Post your suggestions below.

If you can come up with a no. 1 visit them and say it.

Levi Johnson, a paid off spiv.

I have until now avoided comment on the Levi Johnson/ Bristol Palin break up, it’s a family matter and therefore private, or what passes for privacy in the ranks of the well known or well heeled. Regrettably that has ceased to be the case after recent developments in the media. The break up of the engagement was a non-issue to me as I personally feel that the reasons for the marriage were all wrong.

A couple of years ago I was at a barbecue and talking to one of my mates over a few beers, when he mentioned that his daughter was getting married the following day. After the usual good wishes he told me that she was eighteen and that he felt she was too young, and thought that she ‘had to’ get married. I mentioned that I thought it was a bad idea, as most guys in that situation end up thinking they were “trapped into marriage.” He replied, “Bloody hell, that’s right, I always felt like that.” It’s a pity, because until they separated I thought of them as a great couple who were made for each other.

The reason for my belief that it is a political issue is not simply that Levi Johnston is trashing Sarah and Bristol Palin on the Tyra Banks show, the female version of Jerry Springer, and anywhere else he can find someone to air his dribble. Toads like that exist outside the political world as well. If the show had paid him to do it, it would not be political, just a sleazy TV channel paying a slime ball to tell the sort of stories that the sort of people who watch it want to see.

The show however appears not to have paid him as Tyra Banks has denied compensating the family in any way for this trip. Bear in mind at this time, he did not go to New York alone, he was accompanied by his mother and sister. The estimated cost of the trip for three people plus accommodation would amount to at least ten thousand dollars, which is a lot for an unemployed kid to outlay, especially after buying his brand new red Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck. Its doubtful as to whether his mother had the wherewithal to pay for it from her now shut down drug pushing operation; she has some heavy legal bills.

So where is the money coming from?

The only people who would derive benefit worth paying for this is, firstly the television channel, (already denied), and the political enemies of Palin, the left. The left has already shown the world that it is prepared to smear the Palin children in order to get at their mother, so this seems to be the logical choice in this case.

I am not claiming that Obama, Axelrod, and Emanuel are making direct payments to the Johnstons; I doubt they would be silly enough to keep such activities at less than arms length. They have bagmen for that so they can keep it deniable. There is an incredible amount of money out there for the purchase of political favors, particularly given the enormous amounts the government is tossing around at the moment.

What would to the Johnstons seem a large amount of money would be piffling to the sort of people looking for bailouts, or large slabs of pork. For these people a small investment in the Johnstons could be returned by the government many times over. Levi would be well advised to hold onto as much of his ill gotten gains as he can, after all this source of income is only available while he can deliver the sort of stuff that his paymasters can use, and that has a shelf life.

There is more on this subject at Ron Devito's blog, and at Draft Palin 2012

Petition for Sarah.

After a little over a month of the Obama Presidency we are getting an insight into what is to come. Massive deficit spending, mainly on Democrat wish lists and moves to seize guns from law-abiding citizens are just the beginning. Americans are beginning to realize that they have been conned, lied to, and been defrauded even in their electoral practices.

Unless the press badly needs to be bailed out itself in 2012 even they will have to admit that the Obama presidency by that time will be the worst since FDR, and possibly worse than that of Andrew Johnson.

A petition has been organized to call on Sarah Palin to run for the office of President of the United States in 2012. The USA will desperately need a financially responsible President who supports the concept of smaller non-interventionist government to pull itself back from the brink of government conducted by those with such delusions of relevance that they believe that every aspect of life has to be regulated, supported, inspected, prohibited, subsidized, supervised, watched, directed, administered, spied on, or managed by them.

It is time for a return to common sense. Palin is the way to go.

The petition can be found here.

Palin; Conservative of the year.

Anne Coulter is not a favourite of mine, sometimes she comes across really well but is a rabid histrionic on others. This is one of her better days reporting on the ‘Human Events’ “Conservative of the Year,” award for 2008. She demonstrates her ability to use biting sarcasm to make her point: -

When McCain chose our beauteous Sarah as his running mate, the maverick was finally acting like a real maverick -- as opposed to the media’s definition of a “maverick” which is: “agreeing with the editorial positions of the New York Times.”

….. And then our heroic Sarah bounded out of the Alaska tundra and it became a completely different race. This left the press completely discombobulated and upset. They didn't know whether to attack Sarah for not having an abortion or go after her husband for not being a sissy.

I assume Palin was chosen because McCain had heard that she was a real conservative and he had always wanted to meet one -- no, actually because he needed a conservative on the ticket, but that he had no idea that picking her would send the left into a tailspin of wanton despair.

But if anyone on the McCain campaign chose Palin because she would drive liberals crazy, my hat is off to him!

True, Palin made some embarrassing gaffes.

She complained that we didn’t have enough “Arabic translators” in Afghanistan -- not realizing the natives don’t speak Arabic in Afghanistan, but rather a variety of regional dialects, the most common of which is Pashtun.

Speaking to military veterans one time, Palin said, “Our nation honors its unbroken line of fallen heroes -- and I see many of them in the audience here today.”

She bragged about passing a law regulating the nuclear industry that it turned out never became a law at all.

Some days Palin said Venezuela's dictator Hugo Chavez should suffer "regional isolation" -- but then on others she’d say she supported the president’s meeting with Chavez.

She told one audience about recent tornados in Kansas that had killed 10,000 people. In fact, a dozen people were killed in the tornados.

She referred to the “57 states” that make up the U.S.

Speaking of her eldest daughter’s pregnancy, she said Bristol was being “punished” with a baby.

As you probably know -- or guessed by now -- none of these gaffes were uttered by Palin. They are all Obama gaffes. Luckily, he made them to a star-struck press that managed not to ask him a difficult question for two years. …..

Palin was a kick in the pants, she energized conservatives, and she made liberal heads explode. Other than his brave military service, introducing Sarah Palin to Americans is the greatest thing John McCain ever did for his country. …..

Definitely one of Coulters better days and I recommend the full article, but following on from this is an interview with Palin herself by the Human Events editor, John Gizzi in which she gives her views on the bailout: -

I would have done what the GOP [senators] did yesterday and said ‘no’ to additional bailout efforts of one industry [the automobile industry, whose proposed federal bailout was stopped in the Senate December 11]. Picking winners and losers in Washington, D.C., is a dangerous thing to do when you’re talking about a system that supposed to be based on free enterprise. When you talk about rewarding for work ethic and good management decisions and then consequences are the results of the opposite of that, and those decisions lead to some mistakes that are made in some industries, taxpayer bailouts should not be looked to as the be-all, end-all solutions.

But back then, weeks ago, when that initial bailout [of financial institutions] was proposed, remember, it was considered at the time a rescue and not necessarily a bailout. Without having as much information as everyone has now, I did support that initial effort that was going to come from Congress. Of course, we saw [Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben] Bernanke and others appear to change the rules right away, it seemed like, after that initial rescue plan or bailout was given the green light, then everybody in the public, including me, started hearing that the rules were changing on where those dollars would go and what the criterion would be. Unfortunately, that leads to distrust of decisions our politicians make on our behalf and bureaucrats make on our behalf.

Now the situation has changed, and I think the GOP did the right thing yesterday in saying, “Look, we still want more information before one industry -- in this case, the auto industry -- gets more taxpayer assistance until everybody knows what those dollars would be used for and how it will lead to success in this industry.”

Chambliss wins Ga; Dems fail to destroy Palin.

When Palin first took to the stage at the Republican National convention, the Democrats immediately recognized just what a serious threat to them she represented. Her attacks on Obama were stinging and effective, and suddenly the GOP was energized and ready to take on all comers. Worse for them she represented a new force on the national scene, a charismatic figure from outside the beltway with whom the electorate could identify with as one of their own.

The choice of Palin as VP nominee was probably one of the most inspired choices ever made in a Presidential election. While only the most optimistic of us could have hoped for a win under the circumstances, I believe that she was probably the reason why we were able to hold off a real disaster at the polls, it could have been much worse. Disillusioned conservatives and libertarians came back to the fold and in the process denied the Barr/Root ticket the three million votes many of us were predicting.

The result was of course one of the most vicious campaign of personal attacks, vilification, ‘investigation’, innuendo, downright lies, computer hacking, obscenity, and illegal acts, ever perpetrated in a Presidential campaign being launched, not only against her but her children as well by the Obama campaign.

In the Senate race in Georgia, outright victory was narrowly denied to the Republican candidate Saxby Chambliss by the Libertarian candidate who got around three percent of the vote. The result was a runoff election between Chambliss and the Democrat candidate Jim Martin, which was critical to both parties as a Democrat win would have granted that party a filibuster proof majority and the ability to do whatever they wanted without fear of serious opposition.

They went all out for it, with Bill Clinton and Al Gore, stumping for Martin and Obama doing radio ads and automated phone calls for him.

John McCain, Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee, helped Chambliss but at the end of the day Palin arrived and was greeted by rock star type audiences, really carrying the day. The end result was the Democrats lost in a thirteen point flogging, a great result which should provide new impetus to the GOP.

While the DNC will undoubtedly continue with their underhand efforts to undermine Palin as that is their nature, it is clear that she has weathered the storm easily, and the public at large has rejected those efforts. Despite everything she is still a force to be reasoned with.

Jeri Thompson on Team Sarah.

I was impressed by Fred Thompson in his rather brief effort for the GOP nomination, but didn't see a lot of Jeri Thompson who impresses me in this interview done in late October. Jeri is co founder along with Jane Abraham of 'Team Sarah', a coalition of diverse women dedicated to advancing Governor Sarah Palin's Vice Presidential candidacy.

Team Sarah contacted over one million women voters in battleground states -- Minnesota, Florida, Missouri, North Carolina, New Mexico, Colorado, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

She handles the leaks issue well here.

"Do you think she's been mishandled by the McCain camp?"

".... I will say this for her, whoever was leaking, saying that she didn't trust anybody, she was right not to trust that person."

Palin hits back at "Jerks."

Sarah Palin is not one to mince words and has told it like it is in a recent interview. It is all too common for some of those involved in unsuccessful campaigns to lay the blame on anyone other than themselves after an election. These people started leaking information to the detriment of Palin, and hence the whole McCain campaign in the lead up to the election. Voters savage perceived dissention within campaigns and that undoubtedly cost us dearly on the day.

It was probably not enough to actually cost the election as a whole, but could have cost some of the more closely fought states, possibly even Florida where we lost by less than 200,000 votes. Add to that the effect it might have had in some of the closer Congressional and Senate votes, where we now have to fight it out against incumbents next time, and it becomes clear that these people have to be rooted out and never be allowed into the inner circle of a campaign again.

Palin, in her acceptance speech did more to slam Obama than the whole of McCain’s effort during the entire election. While McCain was trying to win without antagonizing Obama, Sarah was out there, “Kicking and a' gouging in the mud and the blood and the beer.” Palin is a fighter, and that is what wins elections. In this case she had to take on the Democrats, the media, some of the most disgusting tactics ever used by the left, while getting back-stabbed by “unidentified campaign sources.”

This is from the Australian ABC: -

Alaska Governor Sarah Palin has fired back against post-election claims by aides to Republican presidential candidate John McCain that she thought Africa was a country, not a continent, calling the anonymous sources "jerks."

Ms Palin, Senator McCain's running mate in their unsuccessful White House campaign, told CNN the allegation "is not true." She said the leaks could have come from people who helped her with preparation for her debate against Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden.

She said she remembered having conversations during debate preparation about Africa and the North American Free Trade Agreement.

A Fox News report cited unidentified campaign sources who said Ms Palin did not know Africa was a continent and could not name the three countries in NAFTA - the United States, Canada and Mexico.

"I think if there are allegations based on questions or comments that I made in debate prep about NAFTA or about the continent versus the country when we talk about Africa there, then those were taken out of context, and that is cruel and mean-spirited, it's immature, it's unprofessional and those guys are jerks," Ms Palin said.

Matt Lewis at ‘Town Hall’ makes an interesting point that these treacherous bastards have probably done this because they have an agenda that does not include Palin in the next campaign: -

... How do I know the attacks on Palin are a calculated preemptive strike from supporters of a potential 2012 Palin foe -- not from a McCain loyalist? Aside from my personal knowledge that some of this stuff (not necessarily the Newsweek leaks, but other mockery) is coming from supporters of a potential competitor -- it also makes perfect sense.

Even if the attacks on Palin were true (they are not), no McCain loyalist would ever leak this stuff -- because an attack on Palin is also an indictment on McCain's judgment.

The attacks are coming from disgruntled McCain staffers, to be sure, but these folks have other loyalties ...

Sounds right to me.

Palin Cleared.

Report Backs Palin in Firing of Commissioner 

ANCHORAGE — A report released on Monday by a state board found that Gov. Sarah Palin did not apply improper pressure to try to dismiss a state trooper who was her former brother-in-law and did not violate state ethics laws in the firing of her public safety commissioner.

The report by the Alaska Personnel Board contradicts the conclusions last month of a separate inquiry into the matter overseen by a bipartisan legislative panel. The earlier inquiry found that Ms. Palin had breached a state ethics act by pressing to have the trooper, Mike Wooten, fired. The panel said, however, that the governor was within her rights to fire the public safety commissioner, Walt Monegan.

The personnel board’s report, based on an investigation led by an independent counsel, Timothy J. Petumenos, concluded that there was no evidence to prove Ms. Palin or any state employee had acted improperly in Mr. Monegan’s dismissal.

The report said the legislative inquiry had based its conclusions on an incorrect interpretation of state ethics laws and on insufficient evidence. The lawmakers who ordered the first inquiry stood by their report on Monday.

In a statement about the new report, Ms. Palin’s lawyer, Thomas V. Van Flein, said, “The governor is grateful that this investigation has provided a fair and impartial review of this matter and upholds the governor’s ability to take measures when necessary to ensure that Alaskans have the best possible team working to serve them.”

The rest of this report goes back over the previous enquiry, of course it makes sense for the liberal media to give the one that suited them better another run.

Palin "we don't want another Big Spender."

Obama has been caught out on his fetish for redistribution of wealth, by Joe the plumber. One thing tha has also come out is the fact that the McCain/Palin team are not as the Dems would have you believe another term for Bush.

In the video below Palin makes it clear that she has no love of the Bush fiscal policy. "We don't need another big spender in the White House."

The London Times on Palin.

Patrick Joubert Conlon is one of the best sources of those snippets of information I generally miss, how the hell he manages it will never know, but here’s a beauty.

Amid the Obama fascination of Europe, the Times comes out with some reality: -

It's hard to make a reasoned and fair judgment about the Alaska Governor because she has been the victim of one of the nastiest, most sustained and comprehensive slime-jobs ever performed by a hyper-partisan national and global media. ….

Palinphobia is so shot through with condescension and ideological incomprehension on the media's part that trying to cut through to the reality of her political message is not easy. …

As for the anti-intellectualism she seems to represent, this is a favourite old saw not only of the Left but also of the whole Establishment crowd. There's an unshakeable view among the coastal elites that real wisdom is acquired only by circulating between the ivy-encrusted walls of scholarship and the Manhattan and Hollywood cocktail set.

But there's real wisdom among those derided Americans who have never even ventured to the coasts, but whose steady consistent voice and values have been truly responsible for America's many successes.

Some of the weaker Republicans are going into premature post mortems at the moment and looking for someone (other than themselves) to blame for an election that is not even lost. I doubt that McCain is conceding, and Sarah certainly won’t, she’s a fighter and will do her best to get us over the line.

This was always going to be a difficult one, especially with the press being determined to get their own result and becoming the propaganda wing of the DNC. These candidates have done bloody well just to be competitive, never mind closing for the kill.

There are many who, if this thing is lost will blame the candidates. My suggestion is to read Teddy Roosevelt’s “Man in the Arena” speech, and in a lot of cases ask “Did I do enough myself?” or in a lot of cases, “Should I have at least done something?”

Do you know this ?

I just got this from Viv Forbes, and while it was brought up early in the campaign, it is worth reiterating. Palin probably has the Governorship most responsible for the national security of the USA.

-Question: What is America's first line of missile interceptor defense that protects the entire United States?

-Answer: 49th Missile Defense Battalion of Alaska National Guard.

-Question: What is the ONLY National Guard unit on permanent active duty?

-Answer: 49th Missile Defense Battalion of Alaska National Guard.

-Question: Who is the Commander in Chief of the 49th Missile Defense Battalion of Alaska National Guard?

Answer: Governor Sarah Palin, Alaska

-Question: What U.S. governor is routinely briefed on highly classified military issues, homeland security, and counter terrorism? 



-Answer: Governor Sarah Palin, Alaska.

Question: What U.S. governor has a higher classified security rating than either candidate of the
Democrat Party? 



Answer: Governor Sarah Palin, Alaska.

According to the Washington Post, she first met with McCain in February, but nobody ever found out. This is a woman used to keeping secrets. She can be entrusted with our national security, because she already is.

Now We All Know!

‘Joe the Plumber’ Ads. ‘

The McCain campaign has hit pay dirt with its latest advertisement, “I am Joe,” which brings out ‘the American dream’ of succeeding in bringing dreams to fruition.



The two greatest coups of the McCain campaign have been, (1) nominating Sarah Palin for VP, as Sarah is someone most Americans identify as “One of us,” and, (2) the appearance of Joe the Plumber, the average guy who just wants to work towards a better future, whose willingness to stand up for himself resulted in the Obama admission of wanting to spread your wealth around.

Joe is every individual in America and worldwide, who has ever dreamed of a better future from his or her own efforts. Joe represents all Americans who have ever worked to advance themselves. Joe is not a creature of the state, not a liberal, he is an anathema to liberals, an independently minded individual, Joe, is a sovereign entity.

America’s greatness has never come from government. America’s greatness has come from the ambitions, hard work, ideas, and plans of the average American who dared to hope for the exceptional, generally in spite of the government.

In America in its true sense, success is not guaranteed it is worked for. America in its true sense and in its philosophy, is not the result of a great government, it is a state of mind. It is a sense of liberty, where free people are at liberty to work for their dreams, some succeeding, some failing and trying again.

It is the effort of every American who has ever dared to hope for a better future, or has ever exhibited an entrepreneurial spark, who have made a great nation.

Joe the plumber, you are America.

Obama/Ayres and liberal media beatup.

Buttons from the 1972 Democrat primaries.

HT Libertarian Republican.

It all started when The Scranton Times-Tribune reporter David Singleton reported that while congressional candidate Chris Hackett at a Palin rally was addressing the crowd and mentioned Obama’s name a man in the audience shouted “kill him."

The press has had a field day on the claim that McCain is running a hate campaign aided by Sarah Palin. Baghdad Keith Olbermann has given a well rehearsed emotional lecture to us on the hatefulness of the rabid GOP supporters and their calls to kill Obama.

Congressman John Lewis has had his bit to say (Brackets Mine): -

……… George Wallace, (D, AL) who also became a presidential candidate. George Wallace (D, AL) never threw a bomb. He never fired a gun, but he created the climate and the conditions that encouraged vicious attacks against innocent Americans who were simply trying to exercise their constitutional rights. Because of this atmosphere of hate, four little girls were killed on Sunday morning when a church was bombed in Birmingham, Alabama.

This of course alludes to the activities of the KKK, (D, AL) and tries to pin them on the Republicans. Sorry john, but George and the KKK, were yours.

Precious (D, IL) brought it up in the debate: -

Obama: ….. that he was troubled with what he was hearing at some of the rallies that your running mate was holding, in which all the Republican reports indicated were shouting, when my name came up, things like "terrorist" and "kill him," and that you're running mate didn't mention, didn't stop, didn't say "Hold on a second, that's kind of out of line."

The problem is that they are lying and have been caught out, “The Times Leader”: -

Secret Service says "Kill him" allegation unfounded.

SCRANTON – The agent in charge of the Secret Service field office in Scranton said allegations that someone yelled “kill him” when presidential hopeful Barack Obama’s name was mentioned during Tuesday’s Sarah Palin rally are unfounded. .....

Agent Bill Slavoski said he was in the audience, along with an undisclosed number of additional secret service agents and other law enforcement officers and not one heard the comment.

“I was baffled,” he said after reading the report in Wednesday’s Times-Tribune.

He said the agency conducted an investigation Wednesday, after seeing the story, and could not find one person to corroborate the allegation other than Singleton.

Slavoski said more than 20 non-security agents were interviewed Wednesday, from news media to ordinary citizens in attendance at the rally for the Republican vice presidential candidate held at the Riverfront Sports Complex. He said Singleton was the only one to say he heard someone yell, “kill him.”

The Secret Service are pretty serious people, and are charged with responsibility for the safety of all nominees and are bound to take such things seriously. There is no chance that they would cover this up.

There will always be the odd emotional inarticulate idiot who gets carried away and is an embarrassment to all involved. McCain shut two of them down a few days ago, and was rewarded by the liberals with reports that he praised Obama, then attacked him and then praised him again, suggesting that he was losing it.

For those liberals whining about ‘unfair’ tactics try the following from Andrew Sullivan and your fellow Obama supporters in this video, (for those sensitive to disgusting biological insults, don’t go there) : -

Sullivan; “"It's obvious that it's Bristol's baby and, if it isn't then it's obvious that Palin is a sick and twisted bitch for bearing a deformed fetus and she's fanning the flames of hatred to get Obama killed”