Gov. Palin Must Summit and Triumph in 2012

When Thomas Schmitz, the O4P California Coordinator and US for Palin writer learned I was going to Paris to celebrate my 15th Wedding Anniversary, he asked that I take an O4P Palm card with me and photograph myself holding it to build a dossier of Sarah images in foreign countries. It would only take a few minutes. I enthusiastically agreed. Over these past three years, I've learned that many things with Gov. Palin are not coincidental. They are Providential.

As I printed out my Eiffel Tower ticket prior to the trip, the location for the shoot jumped out at me. On the ticket in all capital letters, was the word "SOMMET." It doesn't take a genius to figure out that it is French for "Summit". Some colleagues have complained that I have a tendency to put former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin on a pedestal. Now, I was going to symbolically put her at the Summit of the tallest man-made pedestal in Europe. Putting Sarah on a pedestal? I proudly say: Guilty as charged!

After our ascent and with a flute of Eiffel Tower champagne in each of us, I begged my wife's pardon and secured it. I had to pick the place to do the shoot. I took a few shots to the west, but they came out poorly. Then, I went to the Northwest. Let's call it 340 on the compass, as I like to say when I'm in New York. Then, I noticed something my wife and I had just descended from the summit of just about an hour prior: the Arc de Triomphe...Providential. Summit. Triumph. Palin.

...Just prior to my trip to Newark Airport, I informed my writers about the failure of at least two GOP candidates to gather enough signatures to qualify to appear on the ballots of the Virginia primary. From Paris, I would learn that all the candidates save for Mitt Romney and Ron Paul failed to qualify. I'll leave it to the readers to decide whether this circumstance is a result of GOP establishment chicanery to benefit Romney, gross incompetence on the part of the campaigns that failed to make the Virginia ballot, or something else. Whatever the root cause, the outcome is an absolute and unmitigated disgrace. I noted with some interest how the mainstream and conservative media seemed to fluff over this rather significant story, indicating a desire to quickly bury it. Of course, if Gov. Palin were a candidate and this circumstance befell her, we would have been treated to a deluge of articles all the way through and past Election Day on how she was "un-electable." She would have been the lightning rod and all the other candidates would have gotten a free pass.

Now, nearly three months later, we can see the genius behind Gov. Palin's decision. You see, all these candidates have been and continue to be vetted before the electorate, something which would not have happened if she were currently on the ticket. The clock is doing its work with every second that ticks by. Passage of time is proving that Gov. Palin's decision does not change the simple fact that she is the best person and most qualified for the job of POTUS. She has the accomplishments; the leadership skills; the executive, command, and financial administration experience; she took on corruption in both parties in every position she held. Yes as a man, I say it's time for a woman to take the helm - and not just any woman, but a woman who is both ordinary and extraordinary.

This is why I find it absolutely ridiculous that anyone speaks of giving Gov. Palin a second-fiddle position such as Vice President or a cabinet position. Gov. Palin is a Transformational Leader - the type who is brought in to fix broken organizations. Her place is not second. It's first. She is to be the dominant one in any relationship. That's why she is called a leader. Period.

Compared to Gov. Palin, the field of declared candidates is Lés Miserables. When your accomplishments are of the size, scale, scope, and frequency of Gov. Palin's, yes you probably are a superhero minus the silly cape. Hero worship? Guilty as charged and proud of it.

Gov. Palin's only proper place is at Au Sommet and her only proper outcome is Triomphe. Failure is not an option. One of the many things I admire about Gov. Palin: she does something right or she does not do it all. Reaching Au Sommet could mean she ultimately runs for POTUS in this cycle of back-loaded primaries. It could mean continuing what she is doing as a private citizen rooting out crony capitalism and endorsing down-tickets ala 2010. It could mean both. It could mean something else. How Gov. Palin reaches Au Sommet does not matter to me - as long as she reaches it - and Triumphs.

As we bid au revoir to 2011, here is the 2011 Master List of Governor Palin's Accomplishments.

The 2012 Master List of Governor Palin's Accomplishments is now open.

Gov. Palin:
Sarah,

Grimper au sommet!
Climb to the Summit!

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Palin in Washington Post: Take on Elites, Become Energy Independent

The Washington Post today asked several key 2012 hopefuls who had declined to run what the would be campaigning on. Following is the complete transcript of former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin's response:

Given the concerns I have for some of the Republican field’s focus thus far, I must implore the candidates to do something that sounds self-promoting, but whatever. Candidates, please turn to Chapter Three of “Going Rogue” and read what it takes for our country to step toward energy independence. Note the lesson I share in the same chapter about taking on the “elite,” the crony capitalists and the permanent political establishment to get a job done.

Do you really realize what is at stake? What is at stake is our republic. The gravity of today’s situation is real. We count on you to lead our nation on the right path. Please let us know you realize this. Understand how the left’s terrifyingly naive assault on American industry exposes us to the mercy of foreign regimes whose prime objective is, at worst, our permanent demise and, at best, is stripping away our freedom. God has blessed America with ingenuity, natural resources and the strength of our workforce. Let’s use them. Tell voters that you understand this. Talk about this on the campaign trail. And quit gripin’ and moaning about “inside baseball” partisan machinations and maneuvering. We have other things to worry about. Stay strong. Focus on defending our republic and how we’ll re-industrialize our most exceptional nation in order to defeat the incumbent and win for America.

As published at: Washington Post Opinions December 31, 2011

H/T Ian Lazaran, Conservatives4Palin for Story Lead

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Eric Bolling, Fox Business Discusses IA Palin Ads

Fox News’ Eric Bolling interviews Brian Lerch and Kate Obenshain. They discuss the pros and cons of the new radio ad in Iowa asking voters to write-in Gov. Palin.



Video retrieved from SarahNET

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Happy Third Birthday, Tripp Palin

Happy Third Birthday, Tripp.

A lot has happened in Tripp's three years. He's seen his mother, Bristol cast with Kyle Massey for a TV show, Dance with the Stars and starred along with his mother and grandmother in Sarah Palin's Alaska.

The staff at US for Palin wish Tripp a life filled with happiness, love, and prosperity.

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SarahPAC Email Christmas Card

Following is the email Christmas Card being sent to SarahPAC donors and email registrants. It is similar to the physical card some supporters have received.

Thank you, Sarah and Todd. We wish you and your family a Merry Christmas and Successful New Year.

Paid for by SarahPAC Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee www.SarahPAC.com P.O. Box 7711 Arlington, VA 22207

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Merry Christmas!

Governor Palin today posted on Facebook:

My family and I wish everyone a very Merry Christmas! I offer this to all because Christmas is a holiday for all, whether you are a Christian believer or not. The message of Christmas is full of hope, peace, joy, and the fellowship of all mankind; so I find it amazing that every year we hear more accounts of a ramped up “war on Christmas.”

How sad and ironic that a handful of grinches are at war with the annual celebration of the birth of the Prince of Peace, whose coming was prophesied centuries earlier and was then gloriously heralded by the angels with a blessing for “peace on earth” and “good will toward men.” Even if one doesn’t believe the story, can’t one at least recognize the beauty of the message? Or at the very least, let everyone else enjoy the season without throwing a temper tantrum at the sight of a Nativity scene? People who feel affronted by a baby in a humble Manger display or a few Christmas carols have truly lost all sense of proportion and seem to be most in need of some holiday cheer.

At a time when our country is divided on so many things, Christmas unites us. It’s a beautiful part of our culture, and for many of us it’s a beautiful part of our Faith. In fact, for believers it’s “the main thing.” In today’s tumultuous times we can remember the bible’s record of Three Wise Men from the East who received an angelic message of Jesus’ birth. They may have been unsure of the message, so they sought truth. They trekked to Bethlehem to find out more. There, they found Jesus and they honored Him. The story of the wise men reminds us that today wise men still seek Him. So in this season especially, let’s seek truth.

Let’s celebrate with family and friends. Let’s shout a cheery “Merry Christmas” to everyone we meet. Let’s remember our brave men and women in uniform defending us far from home. And let’s all pray for a peaceful New Year.

From our home to yours, Merry Christmas.

-Sarah Palin

“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.” (Luke 2:14)

 

Retrieved from: http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=10150444029133435.

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Mr. Smith Goes to the Same Old Washington to Throw Them All Out

By Adrienne Ross - www.motivationtruth.com

In America By Heart, Governor Palin retells the story of the classic movie, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. I ran across that account again recently when doing research for my review of Peter Schweizer's Throw Them All Out. Her second book is filled with substantive, complicated issues, including our Founders, the Constitution, American exceptionalism, common sense conservatism, feminism, family, and faith, among other important topics. Nonethless, in the midst of all these issues of incredible import to our culture as Americans, it is most notable that she would begin this book with a synopsis of a Hollywood movie.

The Governor writes on page 2:

In case you've forgotten, Mr. Smith is about an American Everyman, Jefferson Smith, who goes to Washington to fill the Senate seat of a corrupt senator who died in office. The political machine chooses Smith because he is an ordinary man, a nonpolitician, and they think they can control him. But he holds fast to his ideals--the ideals of the American founding--and eventually defeats the machine. The movie was made in 1939, but its message is timeless: there may be corruption in politics, but it can be overcome by decent men and women who honor America's founding principles, the way the American people do.

[...]

Jefferson Smith loves the words of the Declaration of Independence, not because he's mindlessly pro-American, but because, as he says, "behind them, they...have a little bit of plain, ordinary, everyday kindness and a little lookin' out for the other fella, too." He understands that those words are a gift, not just to Americans, but to all humanity. But that gift is being corrupted by special interests and forgotten by Washington.

[...]

Americans love Mr. Smith Goes to Washington because it's about an ordinary man who stands up to power and says, We're taking our country back.

Having never seen the movie, her words, combined with Schweizer's book, which uncovers the corruption so prevalent in Washington today, sparked a desire to see it for the first time, and so I did. It could have easily been a book set in 2011. The graft we see today in Congress--the so-called honest graft that Governor Palin has been highlighting and railing against recently--was as real and tangible at that time as it is today. Corruption is nothing new, and it's not confined to one particular side of the aisle.

On page 261 of America By Heart, the Governor writes:

There's plenty of blame to go around for how we got here. Americans know in their hearts that both political parties are at fault. Both parties contributed to the overspending and government growth that is robbing our children of their future. Worst of all, both parties are part of the Washington culture of entitlement. This is the corrupt mind-set that has members of Congress writing tax laws for the rest of us, but failing to pay their own taxes, and crooked legislators being caught with their fingers in the till, refusing to live by the same laws and standards as the people who pay their salaries.

For those who know the movie, Mr. Smith, played by James Stewart, managed to win a battle on the floor of the Senate; however, the battle for ethics in government continues to this day. If it were just a movie showing good triumphing over evil, that would be inspirational, but knowing the movie is just as relevant over 70 years later makes it a resounding call to action, and makes it all the more clear why Governor Palin is committed to helping usher in the "sudden and relentless reform" for all of America that she helped bring to Alaska.

To summarize, Jefferson Smith writes a bill for a government loan to build a national boys' camp. The loan will be paid back through donations, and is highly popular. The problem is his plan steps on the graft scheme of corrupt politicians, which he soon discovers. He quickly becomes the enemy of what they assumed would be an easy opportunity to line their own pockets, and they will stop at nothing to remove this threat and destroy his credibility. He responds:

Mr. President, I stand guilty as framed because section 40 is graft! And I was ready to say so. I was ready to tell you that a certain man in my state, a Mr. James Taylor, wanted to put through this dam for his own profit, a man who controls a political machine, and controls everything else worth controlling in my state. Yes, and a man even powerful enough to control Congressmen--and I saw three of them in his room the day I went up to see him.

Though not the same scenario, the scheme in Jefferson Smith's day to capitalize personally off land brings to mind what Peter Schweizer discusses in his chapter, "This Land is My Land." He writes on pages 54-55:

Members of Congress have used federal earmarks to enhance the value of their own real estate holdings in several ways: by extending a light rail mass transit line near their property, by expanding an airport, or by cleaning up a nearby shoreline. Federal funds have been used to build roads, beautify land, and upgrade neighborhoods near commercial and residential real estate owned by legislators, substantially increasing values and the net worth of elected officials, courtesy of taxpayer money. Not only is this legal--by the bizarre standards of the Permanent Political Class--it's also deemed "ethical."

He names Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, Congressman Bennie Thompson, Senator Charles Schumer, and (then) Senator Hillary Clinton, among many others, who have used earmarks to profit personally, and on pages 68-69, he writes:

Leveraging your power for a land deal is one of the best paths to honest graft.

[...]

But there can be little doubt that the political class is the only group of people in America who can get away with using taxpayer money to increase the value of their real estate, while declaring they are doing it in the public's interest.

Again, different set of circumstances, but definitely the same spirit.

Even in 1939, the media played a large role in setting the narrative against the anti-establishment. Jefferson Smith's good name was smeared through the help of the lamestream media, though, of course, that term wasn't used. The media refused to report the truth or simply made things up. To boot, efforts to spread the truth by his young supporters resulted in vicious attacks upon the children. It sounds all too familiar, doesn't it?

Mr. Smith went to Washington to make a difference, but the people weren't ready for the "sudden and relentless reform" he embraced. They deemed him unsophisticated, unqualified, and unimpressive. No doubt, he would have embraced the words Governor Palin so passionately spoke during her RNC speech:

I'm not going to Washington to seek their good opinion. I'm going to Washington to serve the people of this country. Americans expect us to go to Washington for the right reasons, and not just to mingle with the right people.

The same need exists in 2011. Crony capitalism, insider stock tips, land deals, and corruption of every kind must continue to be highlighted, and it needs to be stopped in its tracks.

America needs more people like Jefferson Smith, in whatever capacity they chose to effectively lead, who are willing to lay themselves down, to spend themselves, to be the voice crying in the wilderness--not for personal aggrandizement, but for a pure respect for what's right. America needs more people like Mr. Smith who love the history of our country, who stare in awe at the Capitol Dome every time they see it, and who feel like ants when standing before the Lincoln Monument. In other words, America needs more people who choose to operate from a servant's heart. In addition, America needs more people like Mr. Smith who, when faced with a threat to American decency and truth, aren't afraid to call it like they see it, take on the establishment, and fight to the end to make sure corruption and greed don't succeed in destroying the future we desire for our progeny.

Now that I have read Throw Them All Out and watched Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, I'm not at all surprised that Governor Palin has asked us all to read the book and has named the film one of her favorites. Together, they shine a light on the ongoing battle for the moral, fiscal, and constitutional soul of America. It will, no doubt, be a tough challenge, but it's one that's worth it. The Governor is much like Mr. Smith in many ways, and like him, she loves this country, our history, and our potential--and she has given more than most to preserve its greatness for those yet to be born.

As Jefferson Smith states:

I want to make that come to life for every boy in this land. Yes, and all lighted up like that, too! You see, you see, boys forget what their country means by just reading "the land of the free" in history books. And they get to be men - they forget even more. Liberty's too precious a thing to be buried in books, Miss Saunders. Men should hold it up in front of them every single day of their lives and say, "I'm free to think and to speak. My ancestors couldn't. I can. And my children will." Boys [and girls] want to grow up remembering that.

(Cross-posted at MotivationTruth)

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Gov. Palin on Bolling: Not Too Late to Jump Into 2012

"You know, it's not too late for folks to jump in. Who knows what will happen in the future?” former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin said near the close of her two-segment interview with Eric Bolling of Follow the Money from her home in Wasilla, Alaska. Bolling had questioned Gov. Palin if she would be entering the race even after Iowa and New Hampshire. Gov. Palin will not currently endorse a declared candidate.

Ed. Note: Since announcing she would not seek the 2012 GOP nomination on October 5, Gov. Palin's public and written statements on a 2012 run have been a clear and resounding "no regrets," "I can shake things up better from the outside," and "thank you again for your support and respect for this very difficult decision." While tonight's statement does underscore what Gov. Palin could do, we need to keep our powder dry and not jump to conclusions or spread rumors that she will do it. "Could" does not mean "will."

Most of the interview focused not on 2012 or the the candidates, but on the Keystone XL Pipeline, North Korea and the leftist war on Christmas and Christianity.

About the pipeline, Gov. Palin said, "there is nothing wrong with it, except that Obama would be forced to bend his political will to create these jobs. Look at who is in his administration....Joe Biden voted against the Trans-Alaska Pipeline." The XL Pipeline is "engineered and ready to go," but Obama is beholden to the environmentalist lobby. "Politics is trumping common sense....It's 100% political," she said. Energy independence is a national security, jobs and economics issue, Gov. Palin said.

Shifting to the payroll tax cut, Gov. Palin said it should be extended as long as possible. "Most people are fed up with governments taking more money from our paychecks."

Regarding CBS editing out Obama's statement that he is one of the best presidents Gov. Palin said, "I think there's a reason CBS did him a favor and edited that out....He failed our country and failed our economy. His economic activities have done nothing but fail." She added that "we need to take care of ourselves and make sure our own investments are wise. Never look to the government."

On the death of North Korea's Kim Jung Il and the succession to his son Kim Jong Un, Gov. Palin said, "If you're a praying man, pray for unity on that Peninsula. It's the opportunity for progress and peace across the region." She said North Korea's missile launch after the death of Kim Jung Il "should be all the more reason to be wise in our foreign policy and take care of ourselves." Gov. Palin cautioned against being dependent on foreign nations and reiterated her position that we need to be energy independent using conventional and renewable sources.

"We need a tougher president," Gov. Palin said harkening back to Ronald Reagan's, "we win, you lose." She said, "Obama does not have that in him. We got what we voted for. He said he would sit down with our enemies without precondition."

As with the Shannon Bream interview, Gov. Palin expressed her support of Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow's on-field prayers. "I am pro-Tebow. I am proud of him. He is not ashamed of his savior. Jesus will rock your world if you give it all to him. You should try it sometime." Gov. Palin said Tebow is a good role model and thanked him for being bold in his faith. She told an anecdote about a father with his four sons in tow who look up to Tebow. She suggested that those who don't like Tebow's public expressions of faith may be bothered by their own consciences.

About the apparent war on Christmas, Gov. Palin said, "atheists don't need to show up to the party and Christmas is about Christ's birth." She made reference to the Seinfeld episode in which Dave Putty told Elaine Bennis that he was not the one going to Hell. Gov. Palin and Eric Bolling concluded the interview by "Tebowing" - a new verb that has entered our lexicon which means to assume the prayer position Tebow uses on the field.

Video retrieved from SarahNET.

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Happy Hanukkah

Governor Palin today posted on Facebook:

As Jewish families gather this week to celebrate the Festival of Lights, Todd and I would like to wish them a very Happy Hanukkah. This beautiful holiday commemorates the story of the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem, following years of struggle by the Maccabees, when one-day’s worth of consecrated oil miraculously lasted for eight. This story never ceases to inspire because it reminds us of the power of faith, hope, and perseverance.

The modern State of Israel is the living embodiment of the Hanukkah miracle – a country that was not expected to survive the onslaught of its enemies, and which has not only survived but thrived as a beacon of freedom, tolerance, and innovation. In a region consumed by chaos and oppression, Israel continues to be a light of inspiration. As Jews around the world sing “Maoz Tzur,” we remember that our nation, too, was conceived in faith in our “mighty stronghold.” Let us cherish the values and warm bonds of friendship that unite us in this season.

- Sarah Palin

Retrieved from: http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=10150438678128435.

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The GOP With and Without Palin

-from Patrick's World USA

Having started a new job and trying to keep up with a side business that can be a headache sometimes, I've not had much time to blog or do my BlogTalk radio show. But, I also have to admit that without Sarah Palin in the race, there's not much that I can add to what the great folks out there in the blogosphere are saying. My motivation for blogging was to add mine as another supportive voice for the Palin cause. Without Palin in the race, there's not much for me to do really.

This leads me to something that I was thinking about for the last couple of weeks. Apparently, I wasn't the only one thinking about it as Conservatives4Palin points out. They picked up on an interview of Tea Party Express leader Amy Kremer by MJ Lee where Kremer says:

The grassroots conservative movement has yet to throw its support behind a Republican presidential candidate because “we don’t have the female Ronald Reagan running — and that’s Sarah Palin,” said Amy Kremer, chairwoman of the Tea Party Express.

“We haven’t engaged in presidential politics yet because the movement hasn’t coalesced around anybody, so we’re just sitting back and waiting,” Kremer added.

For the past few weeks, I have been struggling with my own dissatisfaction over the direction of the Republican Party and the Tea Party. This is not to say that they're not working to unseat Obama or that they have stopped pushing for limited Constitutional government. The troubling part to me is that neither the GOP or the Tea Party have one leader that they can coalesce around.

The Tea Party has always prided itself on being a leaderless movement. Until now, the Tea Party has been united despite not having a leader. But now that the Republican Party doesn't have a clear leader, the Tea Party like the rest of the conservative movement has been a movement divided by candidate preferences even though it remains staunchly anti-Obama and anti- big government.

There's nothing wrong with people choosing their own candidates. But, we all know people who were in lock step with each other about Sarah Palin who are now backing a different candidate than we are. The person who may have shared my thoughts, quoted my articles or retweeted a link as a sign of agreement may today be the person who is arguing Rick Perry or Rick Santorum when I may be thinking about backing a different candidate.

It's so odd and so surreal to think that if I strongly backed another candidate or even leaned toward another candidate that people who I once locked arms with might argue with me. This doesn't mean we're still not friends or that we won't end up uniting again to go up against Obama next year. But, again, it's just so odd to not have that tying thread which Sarah Palin was to us all.

Because of Governor Palin, I have made some very awesome friends on here. I hope to continue those friendships into the future, Palin or no Palin, because I am convinced that there is still greatness left in America as evidenced by the mere existence of these people.

While we will all tend to disagree from time to time, we all recognize that America would be a better place if Sarah Palin led us back to that shining city on a hill and put an end to not only the national nightmare that is Barack Obama, but put an end to business as usual in Washington. Sarah Palin was a two for one special: someone who could destroy the Democrats and liberalism while cleaning up and reforming the Republican Party at the same time. Sudden and relentless reform? You betcha!

That's why everyone on the left and in the GOP establishment were just crapping their drawers at the mere thought of her running. They knew that at the snap of a finger, millions of us would have poured out of the woodwork. It would have looked like a scene from Braveheart. There would have been pundits asking where all the Palinistas came from?

We've been here the whole time. We built an army over the past three years. We would have gone to war for Governor Palin. There would have been no sacrifice too great to demotivate or deflate us. The world was about to see something they haven't seen since the Reagan revolution.

Which leads me to this. What was the Republican Party before Sarah Palin became a national figure? What is the Republican Party now that she's not running?

Before Palin, the Republican Party was a mess. It had lost its way having become drunk on the Potomoc water. It never fought or spoke out loudly enough in advance of the housing and financial crisis. The principles of conservatism weren't being adhered to or spoken of much in the halls of Congress.

While Sarah Palin remained a potential candidate following her run for vice president in 2008, we were a strong party. We took back a swath of seats not only in Congress, but in state houses and state legislatures across the country. America was hopeful again because we knew Obama couldn't push anymore of his economy busting stimulus and health care craziness through Congress anymore.

Now that Sarah Palin isn't running, the Republican Party is becoming a mess again. You can put eight Republicans in a room and all eight of them will pick a different candidate for president. Republicans know what they want. Conservatives know what they want. If what they want was up on that stage last night, they'd be behind her. Instead, they're all trying to find pieces of what they want in each candidate and are ultimately going to end up going with the least common denominator.

The Republican nominee selection process is not so much about choosing the best person, it's about choosing the least worst person. The 2012 election will be a referendum on Obama, not a coronation of Romney, Gingrich, Perry or anyone else.

While Palin remains a voice for our philosophy, without power she cannot stop the party from returning to business as usual once Obama is defeated. We will all breathe a sigh of relief when Obama is ousted in the election. But it will only be then that the real fight will begin. If we sit back and allow the Republican Party to return to business as usual, we're screwed.

When you see Tea Party patriots like Nikki Haley and Christine O'Donnell endorsing Mitt Romney, it makes you scratch your head. The Tea Party is a leaderless party, but all movements eventually seek out a leader whether consciously or unconsciously. Palin would have become that leader. Without her, they wander in the wilderness. The discipline isn't there. There's nothing wrong with Republicans supporting Mitt Romney (he is a Republican after all). But when Tea Party members do it, it makes you wonder if the lights went out and now everyone is just bumping into each other.

I don't want to sound like I'm not supportive of Governor Palin's right to make her own career and family decisions. There is always a day down the road for her to come back into political life if she so chooses. And, if she so chooses, we will be there for her. Yet, one can see what's been happening since she decided not to run. It's not her fault. It is what it is. But, without her running, we're just falling apart.

We can do the self improvement stuff without her. We can do the grassroots stuff without her. But, we can't run this country without her. There are rare times in history when great leaders come into existence and this is one of them. We pray that someday Sarah Palin recognizes her greatness and takes the helm of a ship that is in dire need of a top notch captain.

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Gov. Palin on Fox News: No Enthusiasm Yet to Endorse

"My endorsement will be with sincerity and enthusiasm. I'm not there yet, and a personal endorsement does not amount to a hill of beans compared to the wisdom of the American voter," former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin today said in a telephone interview with Shannon Bream of Fox News.

Gov. Palin said "it is exciting to see what will happen in Iowa," predicting that Michele Bachmann and Rick Santorum both of whom she described as "known conservatives" "will do better than RINO pundits predict." Gov. Palin said that Ron Paul with his dedicated, hard-working support base will also do well but predicted that Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich will likely remain the front runners after the Iowa caucuses.

Gov. Palin expressed frustration that "some in this field have had the opportunity to engage in sudden and relentless reform at the state and Congressional levels" but did not seize it and then speak about their plans and intentions moving forward. "Without naming names," Gov. Palin said this frustration could apply to the entire field of candidates.

Gov. Palin said the Tea Party remains a strong grassroots movement committed to following the Constitution and that the Tea Party will continue to grow.

When asked about Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow's prayers on the field, Gov. Palin responded, "I am so pro-Tebow. He knows that Jesus of Nazareth will rock your world and I admire his boldness."

Video retrieved from SarahNET.

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No Plea Deal for Stalkers of Palins

A federal judge yesterday rejected a plea deal for father and son stalking team Craig (48) and Shawn (20) Christy, because he determined they were a public menace, according to widespread media reports.

The Christys were arrested on August 19, 2011 for violating the terms of a restraining order which barred them from contacting anyone in Alaska except their own legal counsel. The judge rejected the plea deal, because the Christys also harassed Gov. Palin's attorney, John Tiemessen.

"While one person may be the object of their ire at one point, it clearly shifts to others," Burgess said, saying the men had harassed and threatened children, law-enforcement agents and judges. "They seem undeterred," Yereth Rosen of Reuters reported.

Burgess rejected the plea deal, because he did not believe probation would be sufficient to stop the Christys' stalking.

The father and son duo had been harassing and threatening the Palins and Kristan Cole, and made threats against Obama and Senator John McCain, according to widespread media reports. The Christys stalking included vulgar calls to Gov. Palin’s home; sending the Palins receipts from a gun purchase and telling them of his intent to purchase a one-way ticket to Alaska. Shawn Christy in fact made a brief round trip to and from Anchorage at a cost of $700 around the time of Gov. Palin’s birthday. Shawn Christy also threatened to rape the former Alaska Governor.

According to the Reuters report, Shawn Christy suffers from cognitive dysfunction possibly resulting from his brain being damaged by Lyme Disease. The Christys will stand trial on January 3, 2012 unless a new plea agreement is reached.

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Outing and Throwing Out the Permanent Political Class

By Adrienne Ross - www.motivationtruth.com

People are often drawn to others who share the same values, interests, and passion--often referred to metaphorically as a fire in the belly. I am not surprised, therefore, that Governor Palin employs Peter Schweizer as her foreign-policy adviser. His commitment to exposing corruption in government mirrors her own. She, of course, determined years ago that something must be done about it. She took action, even to her own detriment, stating often, "In politics, you're either eating well or sleeping well." She continues to choose a good night's sleep--and apparently so does Peter Schweizer. His new book, Throw Them All Out, outs corruption in Congress that ought to outrage every honest American.

Having just finished the book myself, I encourage everyone to do what Governor Palin asked of us: read the book. On every page, I was doing exactly what Governor Palin is doing in this video from 15:17 - 15:24 as Eric Bolling discusses the issue with her. The unethical behavior these politicians so arrogantly engage in leaves one shaking her head--again and again. I do not consider myself naive, certainly not a utopianist. Nor do I believe that to be the case for most of my fellow Americans, as evidenced by Congress's dismal (dis)approval rating. However, I was indeed both shocked and appalled as I read. I do expect more from our elected officials. The insider trading and crony capitalism running rampant highlights the key word in the title: they all need to go. There's a stench emanating from Washington, and it's not confined to any particular side of the aisle. The Permanent Political Class is not partisan, just pathetic.

Throw Them All Out will educate and irritate, fascinate and frustrate, enlighten and yes, frighten. The idea that those who hoist themselves as representatives of the American people are more committed to enriching themselves than to exemplifying ethical behavior is disheartening at best. Schweizer takes no prisoners, withholds no names, and throws these people under the bus--where they belong.

He is careful to state that the insider trading they participate in is not illegal--for members of Congress, that is. Anyone else who would dare trade on information obtained in private would go to jail, and rightly so. These people, with access to taxpayers' money, get away with it, however. They benefit personally from it. They very often come to Congress as average, everyday Americans. They leave rich, and they have us and the laws they exempt themselves from to thank for it. Now that a bright light is being shone on it, we must do more than just hope that something will be done. To borrow--and slightly alter--a phrase, we need more than hope; we need change. On page 137 of Throw Them All Out, Schweizer quotes Federalist No. 57:

If this spirit is ever corrupted to the point that it will tolerate a law which does not apply to both the legislature and the people, then the people will be prepared to tolerate anything but liberty.

Governor Palin has been studying this corruption for years, is drawing attention to it, and says it must end. In a Wall Street Journal article that was published on November 18, she states in no uncertain terms:

No more sweetheart land deals with campaign contributors. No gifts of IPO shares. No trading of stocks related to committee assignments. No earmarks where the congressman receives a direct benefit. No accepting campaign contributions while Congress is in session. No lobbyists as family members, and no transitioning into a lobbying career after leaving office. No more revolving door, ever.

What part of "no" do we not understand? I think it's safe to say she's prepared to fight.

Furthermore, in USA Today this week, she writes:

Our permanent political class relies on an apathetic and uninformed public to get away with this stuff. But if there is one issue that unites Americans across the political spectrum, it's absolute disgust with the corruption of our elected leaders. Congress and the White House need to earn the American people's trust again. We the people are not going to give up until we get the sudden and relentless reform we deserve or, as the book says, "we throw them all out" in 2012.

Governor Palin, of course, knows a thing or two about throwing people out. In Alaska, as chairman of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, she faced the decision of whether to eat well or sleep well when the blatant corruption of Randy Ruedrich, an AOGCC commissioner, led her to make a career-changing choice. On page 96 of Going Rogue, she details the situation:

When [Governor] Murkowski tapped me for the commission, he quickly named me chairman. That meant I also became the ethics supervisor of the staff, a job that turned out to be more than just a compliance title. When a staffer hinted that Ruedrich seemed to spend a lot of time running the Republican Party from his new AOGCC office, plus dealing with GOP operatives as a National Republican Committeeman, I mentioned it to the party boss-slash-commissioner.

Then another problem cropped up: Reudrich involved himself in adjudicating two cases that were closely intertwined with his old Doyon illegal dumping case. Commissioner Seamount and I urged Ruedrich to recuse himself, but he refused. An administrative assistant took me aside to say she suspected Ruedrich of sharing confidential commission information with a coal bed methane company we were supposed to be regulating. She was right: he was passing agency information to the company's lobbyist.

When Governor Palin's attempts to handle things quietly didn't yield results, she did what she had to do to eradicate the corruption. The Going Rogue account continues on page 99:

Nothing happened.

So I had to make something happen. I prayed long and hard. I loved the job. And I had to consider that by making any drastic moves I would be crossing swords with the most powerful men in my own party. My political career would be over. My whole future was before me. But I also knew I couldn't sit there and be a party to all of this.

I knew what I had to do, so I resigned--stepping away from the ethical lapses and hierarchical blinders to effect change where I could--on the outside.

[...]

Out of a job but sleeping well again, I knew that any shot I might have had to become a GOP insider was gone, which was fine, but I wanted Alaskans to be able to believe in the party ideals again. I knew the GOP planks made the strongest foundation upon which to build a strong state and country.

With this type of record, I have every confidence that what Peter Schweizer's research has uncovered has placed an even hotter fire in the Governor's belly. Reading the book should spark one in each of ours as well. From Nancy Pelosi to John Kerry to Dick Durbin to Judd Gregg to John Boehner, Ben Bernanke, Warren Buffett, and on and on, the "honest graft" is dishonorable. The corruption involves various industries, including--but not limited to--energy companies, credit card companies, railroad companies, and banking companies.

And perhaps the most deplorable of all is the involvement of President Obama and his administration. The big favors enjoyed by those who donated big bucks to his campaign speaks volumes and again leaves the reader shaking her head. Meanwhile, he continues with his class warfare campaign and demonization of job creators. Could this be part of the reason Governor Palin called him a "phony"?

Schweizer, on page 150, writes:

In our system of government, the legislative branch polices itself and the President is allowed to skirt conflict of interest laws because, well, he's the president. It is time for that to change.

I'm looking for the sudden and relentless reform Governor Palin so often talks about. Many of us have been so focused on the 2012 presidential election, but it's going to take more than that. Replacing President Obama with just another crony capitalist won't do. What difference does it make whether there's a 'D' or an 'R' behind a name, if the game remains the same? After reading this book, I appreciate more what Governor Palin said about changing the entire team, not just the uniform.

Speaking of teams, there seems to be more outrage at unethical behavior in sports than in government. Why isn't every media outlet incessantly focused on what's going on, encouraging the passage of these bills Governor Palin wrote about in her USA Today article, and demanding responses from members of Congress? Why do we spend more time discussing betting on games by professional baseball or basketball athletes? Shouldn't members of Congress be held to an even higher standard? Shouldn't the money that really belongs to we the people and the integrity of elected office matter? Indeed it should, and it must.

Again, I encourage each person to read Schweizer's book. Read it, share it, and embrace the anger derived from it. But don't just get angry. Sudden and relentless reform is needed. I did a lot of shaking of the head and rolling of the eyes as I read, but that simply isn't enough. The question I'm asking myself now is: "What can you help do about it?" I agree with Peter Schweizer's words on page 165-66:

If we accept crony capitalism with a shrug and an eye roll, we might as well accept a world of bribery and out-and-out vote buying. Crony capitalism has a corrosive effect on our politics, our economy, and our character. And we don't have to accept it.

Cross-posted at MotivationTruth

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Isn't it Funny That No One is Lying About Sarah Palin Anymore?

We should all take notice at how the smears and the vitriol directed at Sarah Palin coming out of the mainstream media have stopped. Since she's not running, they have nothing to fear; and, as such, they no longer need to push their lies onto the American people in the hopes of throwing her off track.

That sudden halt to the hits coming from Politico, Huffington Post, Mother Jones and even the GOP establishment is nothing more than a collective sigh of relief coming from crony capitalists, socialists and political insiders who once trembled with fear and spent many a night in a cold sweat when the possibility of her running existed.

While Governor Palin continues to write and speak out on the issues, the dirt merchants have turned their sites on folks like Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney. They size up the current field and tell us who they fear on a daily basis.

This is proof positive that the media lies and that no right thinking voter in America should trust anything they hear online or on TV. As the Obama campaign plans to use nearly a billion dollars to smear whoever the GOP nominee is, we must constantly remind the American people that no matter what they say about the GOP candidates, it's a smoke screen designed to help Obama get reelected.

The man behind the AstroTurfing campaign designed to shoot down Palin's vice presidential run is now hard at work looking at monkeys' asses on poles.

Let's never forget how America got into this mess in the first place. Remember the lessons of 2008. Be relentless in educating the American people that this goes beyond just being a battle of ideas. This is the future of our nation at stake. This election is huge. No matter what, we must oust Obama.

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How to Vet Candidates Using the Clock

"[The debates] offer that window into what that candidate stands for. That's very important. It helps the media. It helps us as voters be able to vet a candidate so that we're not stuck with someone like we're stuck with now in the White House - someone who hasn't been vetted - Barack Obama....But, these debates with the 10-second soundbites that we're supposed to be able to describe what our foreign policy is or perhaps what the Palin Doctrine would be in a 10-second soundbite - that doesn't do a whole lot of people a whole lot of good."

-Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin
September 29, 2011, Freedom Watch

"The cream of the crop has not risen yet in this very fluid primary process..."

-Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin
November 15, 2011, On the Record with Greta Van Susteren

"I think today, my personal endorsement probably doesn’t amount to a hill of beans - today at this point in the race. Maybe, as the weeks progress, it would become a little more significant..."

-Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin,
December 1, 2011, Hannity

“I am not ready to make an endorsement. This is a long process. Iowa is not the end. It is the beginning."

-Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin,
December 7, 2011, Hannity

The Clock
One of the best vetting tools in any contested primary is simple passage of time. With this method, you use your eyes, ears, and the clock to observe how a candidate performs in debates, fund-raisers, rallies, and unscripted interviews. When Gov. Palin says it is too early for her endorsement and the "cream has not risen to the top," she is using the clock. You can use the clock to determine if you even want to bother vetting a candidate's voting and financial records, or you can vet records and use the clock simultaneously.
Many aspects of a candidate's suitability for the office being sought are simply not going to be found by vetting records. A person's character, temperament, leadership methodology, impressions of colleagues who have worked with a candidate, and statements that indicate readiness or lack thereof reveal themselves only over an extended period of time.

Voters expect candidates for any office to give a straight answer to a question without hemming, hawing, "stopping to think," double-talking, telling different versions of the same story, rationalizing, back-pedaling, or lying. While gaffes can be distracting trivialities, they can be fatal to a campaign. History is replete with examples of fatal gaffes from failed campaigns of both parties. In this primary cycle, two candidates destroyed their own respective commanding leads, because their gaffes telegraphed both an inability to give a straight answer and rank lack of knowledge of various issues. One of the two candidates has already left the race. His numbers were already in the single digits when he was accused of having an affair, which allegedly ended within the past year. The other candidate is polling in the single digits.

Though character matters, most voters are more concerned with a candidate's ability to discharge the duties of office. In a scientific Fox News Poll which sampled 911 likely voters on Gingrich, Romney and Obama, 64% of the sample responded that they do not consider prior adultery a disqualifying factor. See question 41 on the 14th and final page of the poll. In my observation, when "personal pursuits" affect the job, reveal blatant hypocrisy, result in egregiously bad decisions or outrageous behaviors, voters tend to be far less forgiving. In my opinion, voters tend to be far less forgiving if the behavior is more recent.

If an elected representative or candidate's non-official pursuits involve or reveal illegal activity, it's generally game over.

A Time and a Place...

Voters who live in an early state such as Iowa with its caucuses less than a month away should now be very far along in their vetting process and close to choosing a candidate. With later states, half or more of the candidates will already have been winnowed out and long forgotten. Voters in these states are better served using the clock, then switching to web-based vetting tools around a month before the primary to focus on candidates who are relevant.

Using the clock too late precludes proper vetting of voting and financial records. But, vetting a candidate's records too early can lead to prematurely supporting someone, resulting in time, money, and emotional energy squandered. Why? The candidate may look suitable on paper, but you're not giving the clock a chance to do its work and reveal those things that won't be found in the voting and financial records.

First Time Running for Office?
If your chosen candidate is running for office for the first time, there is no voting record to vet against stated issues and financial data may be sparse. With first-time candidates, their conduct in the private sector and how they perform during the campaign will be about as much as the average citizen has to work with. This is an instance where the clock is the only viable option. Where possible, you want to refer to official public records, not just media reports (witness how many got it wrong with Gov. Palin), but there simply is little the average voter can vet with first-time candidates.

Many public records are either not free to access or require a steep learning curve to learn how to access them. Is it reasonable to expect John or Mary Q. Public to search criminal records, civil court filings - that is conduct a complete background check - on a first-time candidate for any office? Probably not. Is it reasonable to expect professionals to perform such a check, as with a SarahPAC endorsement? Yes.

In the case of the NY-13 Congressional election last year, the GOP ticket during the primary consisted of Michael Grimm and Michael Allegretti. Both men had never held office before, so there was really very little to go on. Grimm had the better message and numerous key endorsements, Gov. Palin's among them. He easily won the primary and I had been campaigning for him since Gov. Palin's endorsement some six weeks before the primary. In NY-13, our 2010 GOP primary vetting was done using the clock. Allegretti made several critical mistakes and gaffes, leading him to a crushing defeat. Grimm went on to win the general, defeating the well-financed and Obama-backed incumbent Michael McMachon (yes, there were three Michaels in this race).


Intellectual Honesty
The point of vetting is to use the mind to make a reasoned decision. When we vet, we must be intellectually honest. For instance, if we have been saying that Obama is a lousy President because he lacks prior executive experience, it is intellectually dishonest to extol candidates on our side who also lack executive experience. Similarly, it is intellectually dishonest to berate one candidate's flip-flopping behavior while ignoring, excusing, apologizing for, or soft-pedaling another candidate's flip-flops simply because we don't like the first candidate.
With Vetting, the Mind Should Lead
Likability is emotion-based; it's a "heart thing." It's also the kind of "heart thing" that easily leads to intellectual dishonesty. It further leads to convoluted and indefensible positions when brought into the vetting process. When we vet using the clock, we need to keep checking ourselves. Are we thinking everything through? If you're talking in terms of "like/dislike," "love/hate," even "support/non-support" - that's your heart talking. When we vet, the heart needs to take the back seat and the mind needs to take the leading role. If you can say, "I've examined 'candidate X's performance on the stump and found he/she does/does not really understand (insert issue here)" that's your mind talking. Most of us say we "feel" a certain way about something, when we should more properly say we "think." Feeling is not synonymous with thinking. Anything to do with vetting should be guided by thought process, not emotion.
In Closing...
Vetting candidates is our responsibility as voters. Because Gov. Palin has referenced vetting numerous times, as Palinistas, we have an elevated responsibility to vet candidates for all offices and to do so in a way that to the best of our knowledge aligns with her methodology. This series gave you the general principles and some tools to vet voting records, financial data and observe candidate performance on the stump to make a reasoned and informed decision.
This year, we have the entire House up for election and 33 Senate seats. That's 488 people aside from the President and Vice President. We also have state and city elections. See the big picture and not just POTUS. Proper vetting is one of the underpinnings of sudden and relentless reform. If we truly want better government, the onus is on us to make it happen. We make sudden and relentless happen by our vetting process and at the ballot scanner.

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How to Vet Candidates: Financial Records

It doesn’t surprise me. I’ve seen this kind of crony capitalism before. It’s is the same good old boy politics-as-usual that I fought and we defeated in my home state. I took on a corrupt and compromised political class and their backroom dealings with Big Oil. And I can tell you from experience that sudden and relentless reform never sits well with entrenched interests and power-brokers. So, please you must vet a candidate’s record. You must know their ability to successfully reform and actually fix problems that they’re going to claim that they inherited.

-Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin
September 3, 2011, Indianola, IA

If you've vetted a candidate's voting record, the next step is to vet financial records. "Forensic accounting" is a discipline unto itself, and while the average voter cannot be expected to be the next Peter Schweizer, we can examine some basic records and apply common-sense. We are looking for:

• Expenses reasonable and customary vs. outlandish and extravagant.
• Irregularities that could suggest embezzling funds.
• Irregularities that could suggest cloaking sources of income.
• Understating income or expenses.
• Income from trade, industry or interest groups who benefit from legislation sponsored or voted on. This is a tell-tale sign of reg neg and possible crony capitalism.

To keep this simple, three websites are key to vetting financial records to the level of a very well-informed voter if not a semi-professional level.

Federal Election Commission Disclosures

The Federal Election Commission website houses income, disbursement and other financial data pertaining to candidates, campaigns, 527 organizations and Political Action Committees. Palinistas who donate to SarahPAC (listed as "Sarah PAC" - two words - Committee Number C00458588), should be familiar with its filings. Just as investors should understand that in which they invest, donors should understand that to which they donate. For instance, Palinistas should know that SarahPAC stumps for candidates who support its principles and that monies from the PAC cannot legally be used for purposes outside SarahPAC's purview, such as a campaign for any office by Gov. Palin. A campaign would have to be done with separate monies.

Like all government sites, the FEC site has a bit of a learning curve, before you are able to find the desired information. If you are comfortable navigating the FEC site, reading and understanding SarahPAC's filings, you are ready move on to other candidates and committees to apply what you've learned from reviewing SarahPAC's filings.

FEC Website

Open Secrets

Open Secrets is operated by the Center for Responsive Politics and is an excellent way to vet financial information pertinent to federal candidates and committees. Being privately owned and operated, it is somewhat easier to navigate than the FEC site. I used it almost three years ago for a campaign financing study and it is a goldmine of valuable information. Considering that I had only been supporting Gov. Palin all of six months at the time and was a complete newbie to elective politics, the site is easy to use.

Open Secrets

Follow The Money

Follow the Money is used for vetting financial records of state candidates. Like Open Secrets,
Follow the Money is a non-partisan organization. The website has several tools that help you see who is lobbying to include well-heeled individuals. Tools of particular interest include:

• Independent Spending - track independent spending on elections.
• Industry Influence - see how different industries influence candidates and legislative action.
• Legislative Committee Analysis Tool (L-CAT) - "illustrates the intersection of campaign money with the laws that affect everyday life." If you're seeking evidence of crony capitalism, L-CAT will most likely find it.
• Lobbyist Link - see what lobbyist's employers gave to candidates.
• Point of Influence - shows if a campaign gets most of its funding in-state or from out-of-state sources.
• Top 10,000 Donors - top 10,000 donors to federal and state campaigns.

Follow the Money

The Final Installment

We'll discuss using the clock as a vetting tool in our final installment of this candidate vetting series.

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Gov. Palin on Bolling: Candidates Should Attract Diverse Voters

Candidates "can't just be preaching to the choir...Candidates should not be afraid to debate in front of the nation regardless of who the host is," former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin said tonight in a wide-ranging two-segment TV interview with Eric Bolling of Follow the Money from her home in Wasilla, Alaska.

Gov. Palin was referring to Donald Trump's proposed debate which Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman both declined. She said both candidates should reconsider their attendance and if she were a candidate would be attend so as to get her message out to a diverse audience which includes independents and those who are "not into the inside baseball."

Bolling said that he does not consider either Newt Gingrich or Mitt Romney true conservatives and queried Gov. Palin as to how someone like him should proceed with the field of candidates. "You and so many Americans are in the same boat," she said. Our choice is between "being socialist" or "being a nation of free men and free markets."

"You are looking for the perfect candidate," she continued. "We're going to have to support the GOP nominee."

Like Hannity before him, Bolling asked Gov. Palin if she was going to endorse a candidate before or after Iowa. She reiterated that her endorsement will not come before Iowa and that Iowa is the beginning, not the end. She said that Gringrich has risen in the polls because he has reached out to Tea Party and Constitutional conservatives, who in turn have forgiven some of his past political sins. Romney has yet to reach out conservative voters.

But, Gov. Palin warned that Gingrich cannot pretend to be a DC outsider when he was an insider. She said that he had in fact done good things as an insider, such as balancing the budget during the Clinton administration, and he needs to remind voters what he has done to reform corruption.

Gov. Palin said whoever rises to the top must campaign on sudden and relentless reform. "If you've been part of the problem, you are not going to get my support or the support of Constitutional Conservatives."

"Any of the candidates would be infinitely better than Obama." Further, Gov. Palin noted that all the candidates have cut budgets, taxes or fought for smaller, more limited government. "I have studied their records." She said a good bellwether on where conservatives might go would be to see who Ron Paul endorses if he leaves the race. Though Gov. Palin disagrees with Paul's foreign policies, she agrees with his domestic spending policies.

Gov. Palin also again said that she did not believe this had become a two-candidate race. "History shows that the winner or second place in Iowa doesn't necessarily get the nomination."

In the second segment, Gov. Palin said that it was typical that Nancy Pelosi and others in Congress would lie about their insider trading - a practice that is illegal for every US citizen outside of the Congress. She said that this activity is appalling and accounts for why people of modest means leave the Congress unusually wealthy. Bolling spoke about how Senators and Representatives were calling and trading stocks after meeting with Treasury Secretaries - accessing both tax payers' money and inside information.

The loans given by the Obama administration to campaign bundlers and friends are also a form of crony capitalism. Gov. Palin referenced Peter Schweizer's Throw Them All Out and said it's time to do precisely that.

About Obama's forthcoming 17-day trip to Hawaii, Gov. Palin said he is "deaf, dumb, and blind" to what is going on in the nation. She predicted "he threw the number 17 days out there just to tick people off, then will come back in 15 days to address some issue in the White House and look like the hero."

Video retrieved from SarahNET

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Gov. Palin on Hannity: "Obama is Phony," No Endorsements

"I'm very encouraged by these poll numbers and we will have a candidate rise to the top to beat Obama. We want passion...solutions proposed...to undo what Obama has done to this country," Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin said tonight in her single-segment TV interview with Sean Hannity as her fireplace roared in her Wasilla, Alaska home. Gov. Palin was referring to a poll in which a generic GOP candidate would beat Obama 49% - 41% if the election were held today.

Hannity recited a list of Obama's negative statements about the Republican Party and Gov. Palin responded, "you gave examples of more of Obama's hogwash. He doesn't mean it and he doesn't walk the walk. He is a phony. Obama is a phony."

Gov. Palin acknowledged that her ticket "missed the boat during the last go-around," but said unlike in 2008, Obama does have a record.

Hannity asked Gov. Palin if she ready to make an endorsement.

"I am not ready to make an endorsement. This is a long process. Iowa is not the end. It is the beginning. We can't be complacent with this poll....Obama will have $1 billion 90% of the lamestream media in his back pocket," Gov. Palin said.

He followed up by asking Gov. Palin specifically if she would support either Newt Gingrich or Mitt Romney.

"At the end of the day, I will support the GOP nominee," Gov. Palin said, adding that any of the independents and unsung candidates would be better than Obama.

Even the lamestream media might be souring to Obama. A coworker informed me about a hard-hitting column written on October 30 by Matt Patterson, a columnist for the Washington Post, the New York Post and the San Francisco Examiner, in which he refers to Obama as an "Affirmative Action President" and discusses Obama's lifelong lack of accomplishment in all of his pursuits.

Video retrieved from SarahNET.

H/T Michael Monahan for lead to Affirmative Action President article.

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“Smoking Gun” in Fast & Furious?

Governor Palin today posted on Facebook:

For anyone following the Obama administration's scandalous cluster-of-an-operation Fast & Furious, which resulted in the deaths of innocent people, please see the article excerpted below. (And in my humble opinion, I do believe the anti-2nd Amendment characters working in the Obama administration purposefully used their Fast & Furious gun walking operation to propose more gun control regulations.)

 

Scour this article and let me know if you too think this might be a “smoking gun” in the Fast & Furious case.

 

ATF officials didn't intend to publicly disclose their own role in letting Mexican cartels obtain the weapons, but emails show they discussed using the sales, including sales encouraged by ATF, to justify a new gun regulation called "Demand Letter 3". That would require some U.S. gun shops to report the sale of multiple rifles or "long guns." Demand Letter 3 was so named because it would be the third ATF program demanding gun dealers report tracing information.

 

On July 14, 2010 after ATF headquarters in Washington D.C. received an update on Fast and Furious, ATF Field Ops Assistant Director Mark Chait emailed Bill Newell, ATF's Phoenix Special Agent in Charge of Fast and Furious:

 

"Bill - can you see if these guns were all purchased from the same (licensed gun dealer) and at one time. We are looking at anecdotal cases to support a demand letter on long gun multiple sales. Thanks."

 

On Jan. 4, 2011, as ATF prepared a press conference to announce arrests in Fast and Furious, Newell saw it as "(A)nother time to address Multiple Sale on Long Guns issue." And a day after the press conference, Chait emailed Newell: "Bill--well done yesterday... (I)n light of our request for Demand letter 3, this case could be a strong supporting factor if we can determine how many multiple sales of long guns occurred during the course of this case."

 

This revelation angers gun rights advocates. Larry Keane, a spokesman for National Shooting Sports Foundation, a gun industry trade group, calls the discussion of Fast and Furious to argue for Demand Letter 3 "disappointing and ironic." Keane says it's "deeply troubling" if sales made by gun dealers "voluntarily cooperating with ATF's flawed 'Operation Fast & Furious' were going to be used by some individuals within ATF to justify imposing a multiple sales reporting requirement for rifles."



The Gun Dealers' Quandary

 

Several gun dealers who cooperated with ATF told CBS News and Congressional investigators they only went through with suspicious sales because ATF asked them to.

 

Sometimes it was against the gun dealer's own best judgment.

 

Retrieved from: http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=10150414989148435.

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SarahPAC: Get Signed Undefeated for Christmas

SarahPAC Supporter,

We stand at the edge of an uncertain future. From the uncertainty of the millions of unemployed to the uncertainty of future tax burdens for small business owners, it is clear that we must now fight against the fundamental transformation taking place against all that has made America truly exceptional. We must bring certainty back into the lives of the American people.

To do this, SarahPAC will continue to be a driving force in the discussion for reforms that tackle the problem of crony capitalism and promote free markets, smaller government, domestic energy development, and removing the excessive tax and regulatory burdens that have left American industry more uncertain and less prosperous.

With the 2012 elections right around the corner, now is the time to join Governor Palin and SarahPAC’s continuing efforts to take our country back.

If you give a gift of $100 or more to SarahPAC, we will send you a copy of "The Undefeated" DVD signed by Governor Palin to show our appreciation for your ongoing support.

With the holiday season upon us, this collector's item is the perfect gift for a friend or family member and if your gift is received by December 18th, we guarantee delivery of the DVD by Christmas!

With your donation of $100 or more to SarahPAC, you will not only be receiving this exclusive signed copy of "The Undefeated," but you will also have a direct impact on the 2012 election cycle by ensuring that Governor Palin and SarahPAC have the resources needed to help elect conservative candidates and send them to Washington.

The future of our country belongs to those who are willing to fight for it, and with your vital support we can continue to help elect commonsense conservatives who will do what is necessary to ensure that America’s prosperity is renewed.

Once again, I ask you to take this stand with us.

Thank you for all you do for Governor Palin and SarahPAC,

Tim Crawford
Treasurer, SarahPAC

 

Paid for by SarahPAC Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee www.SarahPAC.com

P.O. Box 7711
Arlington, VA 22207

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How to Vet Voting Records

"I have great respect for the wisdom of the people....the American voter doing their own homework, knowing who these candidates are, what they represent, what their experience provides them - they will be making up their own mind."

-Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin
December 1, 2011, Hannity

An incumbent seeking re-election or a candidate having served in a prior office has a voting record. The purpose of examining voter records is to assess:

• Congruency of stated position in campaign materials and actual voting record.
• Integrity or lack thereof.
• Consistency of position on issues vs. "flip-flopping."
• If a change in position on an issue is heart-felt or motivated by political expediency.
• Possible evidence of crony capitalism or other forms of corruption when assessed along with financial data. A key indicator is the legislation benefits a business or industry and there are major campaign or PAC contributions from interests associated with the business or industry. You likely need to cross-reference voting records and financial data to see this.

Note that legislators have a penchant for attaching amendments to bills that have nothing to do with the bill itself. A legislator might vote against a bill that seemingly aligns with your values because of these amendments. So, you may need to look up public statements about the decision to see if this factor was operative. Similarly, many bills are deceptively named. Just because the name sounds like something you agree with does not mean that it is. If something about a candidate's vote on a bill causes alarm bells to ring, investigate further.
Remember that no one in the House or Senate can truthfully claim to have cut a budget. Gov. Palin noted this in her December 1, 2011 TV interview with Sean Hannity and Eric Felten's The Ruling Class: Inside the Imperial Congress detailed how "services baseline" budgeting works back in 1993. Nothing has changed since then.

At the federal level, both the House and Senate provide complete official roll call voting records, so if your candidate has served in the House or Senate, you will find the voting record here. These records are organized by the legislation or resolution voted on. You cannot go to one of these sites and search a particular person's complete record, so using these sites fast becomes a real chore. Some Representatives and Senators do list their complete voting records, but it is not common practice.

We should push our elected representatives to post their complete voting records, not just at the federal level but at the state and municipal levels as well. We should also be able to see complete voting records, not just sponsored or introduced pieces of legislation.
US House of Representatives
US House of Representatives Roll Call Votes
US Senate
US Senate Roll Call Votes
Project VoteSmart
Project VoteSmart is a non-partisan organization consisting of an equal number of liberals and conservatives. A search on a person's name will pull up the voting record, and in some cases financial disclosures. VoteSmart has a Political Courage Test which virtually no major candidate of either party has taken. Thus, nearly every candidate will have "Lacks Courage" under his or her name. Is this an indictment of all candidates of both parties, or is it more an indictment of VoteSmart? We'll leave that question for our readers to decide.

For the 2012 POTUS election, VoteSmart offers a tool known as VoteEasy which asks you to answer 20 questions about various issues and rank their level of importance to you. Based on your answers, the algorithm will pick one or more candidates who supposedly most closely align with your position on the issues. How reliable is it? All I will say is run it and judge for yourself. I certainly would not stake my voting position on VoteEasy, but it can be valuable as a starting point.

The VoteSmart site does a very good job with highlighting voting records of those candidates who have House or Senate experience. It also goes to the state and municipal levels, though not as comprehensively.

Project VoteSmart

VoteEasy
Cross-Referencing VoteSmart, Senate and House Sites
The easiest way to vet a candidate with House or Senate experience running for re-election or for POTUS is to first use Project VoteSmart. This is because VoteSmart will pull up the voting record associated with a candidate. If a candidate voted a certain way on a piece of legislation that you determine warrants further investigation, you can go to the appropriate site and search on the legislation to read its text. By doing this, you can see if the candidate in fact "flip-flopped" or found an amendment to a bill or act objectionable.
State and Municipal Offices
State and municipal records are much harder to track down than House and Senate records. Each state and city site has its own quirks and there will be a learning curve in accessing them. As the offices get smaller in scale, the records get more scarce. Some states and cities may not have this information online, making vetting a real chore.

Still, the procedure is similar to the federal offices. In New York State, all legislation sponsored by a state Senator or a State Assembly member is available online. The same is true for the New York City Council. But, finding how these elected officials voted on legislation they did not sponsor is very difficult. Sponsored legislation should give you enough information to make a reasonable assessment.

Here are some examples using New York State and New York City:

New York State Senate: Diane Savino

New York State Assembly: Matthew Titone

New York City Council: use the advanced search. You can find sponsored legislation, by picking the council member's name off the drop-down menu and it's organized by first name first.

Executives: Governors and Mayors
Executives sign and veto legislation, thus they have a "voting record." Visit the state gubernatorial website and the city's mayoral site where the official served. Executives do more than sign and veto legislation, however. The governor is the president of a state and the mayor is the president of a city. Executives fill appointed positions, administer budgets, and manage crises. A governor has ultimate command over the state's National Guard units and the state police. A mayor has ultimate command over a city's police and fire departments. Executives sign ceremonial proclamations. Don't pooh pooh these. Just ask any sitting or prior executive how riled up a voting bloc gets if a pertinent proclamation is forgotten or omitted one year. These proclamations reflect somewhat on issues that may be important to the executive. Everything matters when vetting, even those items that on the surface appear petty.
When you vet someone who has executive experience, you need to look beyond "voting record" - legislation signed and vetoed - to consider all facets of the executive's job and how well he or she performed in these areas. Gov. Palin's accomplishments throughout her life, for instance have been thoroughly compiled and continue to be updated. The point in using Gov. Palin's accomplishments for this exercise is not to compare others to her, but to see the various aspects of what an executive does.

Using New York State as the example again, here is the list of Governor Andrew Cuomo's signed legislation, and Gov. Cuomo's initiatives, including budgets. Here is Project VoteSmart's Key Issues Summary on Gov. Cuomo. There are a fair number of bills vetoed, and you can see he used the line item veto on a budget vote. I learned something new writing this. I had no idea my home state has the line item veto.

New York City's Mayor, Michael Bloomberg does not list legislation signed or vetoed, but he does list his accomplishments, issues that matter to him, and his executive orders.

While state and city sites are excellent resources for sitting executives, finding the accomplishments of a prior governor or mayor will require some real digging, because much of that information is archived.


Google (or Bing, or whatever) is Your Friend
For instance, just on a Google search, I saw that my councilwoman, Deborah ("Debi") Rose received the endorsements of Planned Parenthood, NARAL, and NOW and is favorably predisposed to the Working Families Party. She is a hard leftist and her sponsored legislation (mainly resolutions) confirms that. All this came up without my even having to open the links, but I could see the links themselves were authoritative. Using a search engine is a good supplementary tool for vetting voting records.
The Next Installment
The next installment will show you how to vet financial data and why you should cross-reference it with voting records.

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How to Vet Candidates: General Principles

So, people - the voters - [have] a lot of responsibility on their shoulders. They need to do their homework. They need to study a candidate's record - see what they have done in the past to give you a glimpse into the window of where they intend to bring this country in the future.

-Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin

Freedom Watch, September 29, 2011

It is incumbent upon us to properly vet candidates running for all elective offices so that we can make informed decisions based on facts. In less than 60 days, Gov. Palin taught us - her supporters - some hard but valuable lessons in politics and life. Gov. Palin has often said that our support of her was not so much about her per sé but about her common-sense Constitutional Conservative message. With her decision to not seek the 2012 GOP nomination, Gov. Palin taught us that no person alive is indispensable - not even the best the person for the job - and not even once-in-a-lifetime leaders. She taught us that we cannot always get what we want and we need to adapt to changing circumstances. As much as she asked us to trust her vis-á-vis her decision, Gov. Palin asked of us something even more difficult: to think for ourselves, to make informed decisions, and to trust in ourselves. If Gov. Palin is the Mamma Grizzly and we are her cubs, consider this as the Mamma Grizzly teaching her cubs how to hunt and survive.

Purpose

This series is not about strictly about the 2012 POTUS race. As a reminder, US for Palin will not endorse a 2012 POTUS candidate unless Gov. Palin does. Despite what unnamed "insiders" claim, no one except Gov. Palin knows if she will endorse anyone during the primary season, and there are equally strong arguments against her doing so as there are for it. While our oft-stated reason is deferring to Gov. Palin's leadership and following her example, we also believe it is your vote and your obligation to do your own vetting and make your own decision. We respect our friends and colleagues who have chosen to support one candidate or another publicly or privately. We also respect our friends and colleagues who are actively seeking Gov. Palin to mount a reconsidered run, though we don't ourselves feel comfortable with continuing to push the matter in light of her public and written statements on her 2012 POTUS decision. Finally, this site's mandate is to support Gov. Palin, her family, staff, organizations, products and activities. It does not matter to us how she unlocks her highest potential and self-actualizes as long as she does it. Gov. Palin is and has been our Shadow President irrespective of what office she seeks or doesn't seek. This is yet another reason why publicly endorsing candidates absent a Palin endorsement is outside the scope of US for Palin's mission.

The purpose of this series is to provide you as a voter with the tools to make a more informed decision on all elections moving forward and for all offices from city council all the way to POTUS.

Due Diligence

In the business world, investors go through a procedure known as "due diligence" to determine if a corporation or a project is worthy of investment and worth putting their money to risk. The principals in a venture or the officers of company seeking financing are also personally vetted to give investors some assurance that nothing untoward will happen with their money.

Vetting candidates is our conduct of due diligence, and even in this era of heightened political awareness, involvement and activism, few voters actually do it. Ignorance of how to vet, and voter apathy are the two most likely reasons. When voters believe that there is no fundamental difference between any set of candidates in a race, many will simply not bother voting, much less vetting. Voter apathy leads to the election of precisely the kind of people we don't want in office and it becomes a vicious cycle.

"People get the kind of government they deserve." If we don't vet candidates and a flawed candidate gets the job, we have no one else to blame but ourselves. If we sit on the sidelines out of disgust and the candidate we don't want gets elected, whose fault is it? Our actions in elections at all levels of government have consequences.

Voter Vetting vs. Professional Vetting

Voter vetting is nowhere near as exhaustive as the professional vetting that candidates seeking endorsements or campaign support undergo. The vetting of Gov. Palin by the McCain campaign cost over $50,000. Candidates seeking Gov. Palin's endorsement also undergo professional vetting, which costs thousands of dollars. Gov. Palin's careful and disciplined approach to endorsements was responsible at least in part for the 68% success rate in her 81 endorsements of 2010 with an astounding 90% for the Take Back the 20 subset.

The average voter will probably never vet any candidate to this level, but several free tools are available to help voters make a more informed decision and we'll discuss them in the next installment.

Beefs and Endorsements

Speaking of endorsements, be aware that personal beefs may influence a politician's endorsement decisions. For instance, a co-worker told me that my former Borough President Guy Molinari has a running feud with Newt Gingrich that is over two decades old. Molinari recently referred to Gingrich as being "evil" and likely will not be at Staten Island Gingrich event December 3 so as to avoid a confrontation that could reflect on the Romney campaign. Molinari endorsed Mitt Romney and will have a leadership role in Romney's New York primary campaign. My Congressman, Michael Grimm is a long-time friend of Molinari's and looks to him as his mentor. Grimm endorsed Romney, much to the consternation and dismay of his conservative base.

Voters outside Staten Island may be unaware of the animosity between Molinari and Gingrich, but it may be a factor in local voters' decisions, and it could ripple down to other well-known local politicians' endorsements of a 2012 POTUS candidate.

Poor Vetting Practices

Having campaigned for two Congressional candidates and the McCain-Palin campaign, I have come face-to-face with some of the most shallow and ridiculous reasons why people choose a candidate, with the top three being: physical attractiveness, the sound of the candidate's voice, and the candidate living in the same neighborhood/city as the voter. Some people pick candidates just on hunches. Some people are completely ignorant as to which candidate has which platform and vote based on what they don't know. Shock jock Howard Stern went into a Manhattan neighborhood and recited the McCain-Palin campaign platform to people on the street. To a one, the interviewees thought the platform was Obama's! Other people pick candidates based on sound-bites they hear on radio and TV, YouTube videos, or juicy one-liners in the paper or on the web. Some will take the time to read campaign materials, but go no further.

If we are to improve our government at all levels, we as voters need to do much better than this!

Campaign Materials Are the Starting Point - Not the End

Many voters go to a campaign website or brochure and if they like what they see, vote on that basis. Campaign materials are always self-serving for the candidate - any candidate - for any office. Reading campaign materials exclusively to form a decision is a poor voting practice.

As a voter, what you want to get from campaign materials is the candidate's stated position on various issues. Knowing the stated position, if the candidate has served in office prior, you will want to examine the candidate's voting record and we'll examine how to do that in the next installment.

Be Careful with Special Interest Groups

When vetting candidates, you want to rely on non-partisan, official, unbiased, and authoritative sources. Be careful with special interest groups or political organizations including Tea Party Groups. Remember, there is no political party on any ballot called "Tea Party." The Tea Party is a grassroots effort and many organizations use the name "Tea Party." Some Tea Party organizations have aligned themselves with one candidate and will smear all others in an effort to help their chosen candidate win. Other Tea Party organizations may prefer a different candidate. Special interest groups who have chosen to back a candidate will also do what they need to do to benefit their chosen candidate. It's human nature.

Do your own vetting and draw your own conclusion!

WikiPedia

WikiPedia is not authoritative, because anyone with a computer can change any entry. WikiPedia is generally not acceptable for academic papers; and it's not acceptable in US for Palin stories. That said, the reference lists on WikiPedia's entries may point to more authoritative sources. In other words, use WikiPedia as a springboard to reach authoritative sources, but don't use it as the source of your information.

The Next Installment...

In the next installment, we will discuss how to review voting records and research financial data on candidates for various offices.

H/T Michael Monahan for lead to information on feud between Molinari and Gingrich.

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