Recently a couple of Washington elites, Republican “strategist” and Fox News talking head Karl Rove and columnist and Fox News commentator Charles Krauthammer have decided to weigh in on all things Sarah Palin.
Karl Rove “The Architect” [of WHAT I have no idea] has stated that writing books and having a so-called “reality show" just doesn't display the proper “gravitas” befitting a United States President. Note these GOP elites, just like the dishonest media, refer to Sarah's travelogue as a “reality show” in the pejorative. It's a dishonest attempt to compare a show about the beauty and magnificence of Alaska, with a look into the Palin family's life, with Jersey Shore, or the Real Housewives of wherever.
It's pretty sad. But it's all these people have. No ideas, no substance. Just petty snark. Here's a hint for ya Karl. Snark doesn't equal gravitas either pal!
Charles Krauthammer, the very epitome of the Beltway elite, who has no idea what life outside the Washington bubble is about, has recently said Sarah's two best selling books, and her mega-hit TLC show are “distractions” and if she wants to be taken serious she needs to “study up.” I guess that's an improvement from last year when, after framing the ObamaCare debate with two powerful words,[death panels] Charles declared that Sarah should “leave the room.”
Nothing elitist about that at all. Nope, no way.
With those two little words Sarah changed the entire debate. And while ObamaCare was passed, it was the fight of Obama's life, took multi-billion dollar bribes to get votes, and will be repealed before it ever takes full effect. Thanks to Sarah Palin firing people up, and keeping them fired up, more people now than ever are demanding this dangerous legislation be repealed. The direct result of her unrelenting campaign against ObamaCare, and other dangerous initiatives, are the recent historic elections.
But Charles is the smart one. Don't you DARE to forget that.
I guess Charles can't lower himself to read the dozens of op-eds in many of the nation's largest and most influential newspapers Sarah has written, on ever major issue of our time. I'm sure it's beneath Charles to go over to Facebook and read the hundreds of notes, read by millions, on serious issue. Why the man might have to rub elbows [if only online] with us commoners.
For her part, Sarah was invited on Bill O'Reilly’s show, the night after Krauthammer once again made a fool of himself. She was brilliant in her refudiation of these little Washington elites.
In case you missed it, the occasion of Krauthammer's appearance on the O'Reilly Factor was to handicap the 2012 GOP field. Predictable, for an elite, Charles declared Mitt Romney the front runner, but admitted he was not going to be successful because of RomneyCare. [yeah, that took some real genius to figure out!] So when pressed, Krauthammer professed him man crush on Mitch Daniels.
I haven't written much about Mitch Daniels, because it's hard to stop laughing long enough to type anytime he is mentioned as a serious presidential contender.
Daniels was George w Bush's Director of Budget Management. [let that sink in a minute] Recently, when asked about this by Fox News' Bret Baier, in the context of how fiscally irresponsible the Bush years were, Daniels kinda did the “wasn't my job man” dance. You know, because the Director of Budget Management for the President of the United States has nothing to do with all that money stuff!
Daniels has also famously called for a “truce” on all social issues. [because the democrat's social engineering NEVER costs us any money] Daniels is strongly in favor of a European style value added tax [VAT] on all goods and services. This national tax would be in addition to the income tax.[let THAT sink in a moment]
Just the other day Daniels also said we should ignore the abortion issue, because it gets in the way of the money stuff. I don't know about you, but to me, the right to life is the most basic human right there is. It's a fight we should never give up, not for one second.
In other words Mitch Daniels is not a serious candidate. But he's “smart.”
I'm still trying to figure out why Charles Krauthammer's opinion, especially on what and who is “presidential” even matters. Krauthammer's biggest claim to fame is he used to be a speech writer for far left presidential candidate Walter Mondale. [and yet, Charles is allowed to pass himself off as a Conservative]
Mondale was Vice President to mega-failure President Jimmy Carter. He ran against President Ronald Reagan in 1984.
How formidable was Krauthammer's man, Mondale? Ronald Reagan won 49 states and 525 electoral votes. [out of a possible 538] Mondale won his home state of Minnesota and it's 13 electoral votes by only 0.18%, and the District of Columbia. Literally a hand full of votes going Republican in Minnesota could have given Reagan a 50 state sweep!
That Krauthammer sure can pick em, huh!
These elites who are constantly sniping at Sarah Palin do so, not because they honestly think she isn't “presidential,” [whatever the hell that means] but because they have an agenda. The Republican establishment fears Sarah Palin. Not the lady, as much as what she represents. Like Ronald Reagan before her, Sarah is a movement Conservative. She doesn't just talk the talk, she walks the walk. She is the real deal and has put the principles of Reagan Conservatism into practice every day of her 20 year career as a public servant.
Sarah is also a reformer. Has been since her earliest days as a member of the city council in Wasilla. The GOP elites know she sent a bunch of dirty Republicans to the hoosegow over the massive corruption she uncovered. The fact they were members of her own party mattered nothing to her. This scares both parties in Washington, but scares the Republican establishment the most. When Sarah Palin says she would go to Washington to “shake things up” she means it! [and they know it]
Sorry to ramble on, I promised this would be about Sarah Palin's Alaska, and it is.
You see, I laugh at these little elites like Rove and Krauthammer, who think doing a wonderful show about Alaska, and life living in what is truly the last frontier, is somehow beneath a serious person.
I guess these two idiots never heard of Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom!
When I was a kid growing up, millions were glued to the TV on Saturdays to watch this adventure show hosted by Marlin Perkins, of the St Louis Zoo, and sponsored by the Omaha, Nebraska based insurance company. Every week we watched as Perkins and his crew showed us another adventure. Much like Sarah's show, there was a bit of a “reality” component, as well. These were great shows.
I wasn't a big fan, but millions also watched the many Jacques Cousteau underwater adventures that featured as much, or more , family interaction [“reality”] as does Sarah Palin's Alaska.
For the life of me, I can't recall a single human being questioning whether Marlin Perkins or Jacques Cousteau were “serious people”.
Look, times change, and styles change. OF COURSE Sarah Palin's Alaska may have a slightly different style than the two celebrated shows mentioned above, but so what? Everything gets modernized and updated for current times. Nothing in the media is like it was 40-50 years ago, including the news media where these nay-saying pundits get to spout off!
I for one greatly enjoy seeing Alaska in high definition!
As for being a serious outdoors woman somehow not being “presidential,” if that was true, why is it “serious candidates” like Mitt Romney and John Kerry [who served in Vietnam] go through such ridiculous kabuki theater to pander to the American people by pretending to be “life long hunters”?
Who can ever forget the pathetic attempt by John Kerry [ a Vietnam vet] to look “with it” when he walks into a shop asking: "Can I get me a huntin' license heyah?"
These guys, Romney and Kerry, who aren't sure which end of a gun to point at the target, are “serious people” but Sarah Palin, who has hunted, fished, and lived the frontier life since childhood is not?
Give me a break.
Someone else who might give Rove and Krauthammer's notions a pretty strong rebuff, if he were with us today, is President Theodore Roosevelt. Roosevelt is just as well known for his love of the outdoors, and his adventures as a hunter and fisherman, as he is for his exploits in Cuba during the Spanish-American war, or as President.
Like Sarah Palin, Roosevelt loved the land and all of the wildlife. Not sure how many people today even know that the “teddy bear” all children grow up loving, was named for President Roosevelt, after an incident involving a bear cub, while the President was in Mississippi to resolve a border dispute between Mississippi and Louisiana. You can read that wonderful little story here.
I doubt Sarah and Teddy would see eye to eye on most politics. Roosevelt was a progressive who believed in big government, and overstepped his authority on many occasions, and Sarah, of course, is a Conservative. But the two share a love for the great outdoors, and a penchant for reform.
I can imagine the President who created the concept of a nation parks system would enjoy the notion of a President today who shares his love and respect for the great outdoors, even if that President happens to be a girl!
Sadly, I doubt little elites like Rove and Krauthammer will ever get it. That's all right, the American people do.
Let me leave you with this:
Larry Johnson wrote this over at No Quarter. I think it speaks well to the impact of Sarah Palin, and Sarah Palin's Alaska:
A Sarah Palin Christmas
Don’t kill the messenger. I’m just reporting what I saw. Last night we hosted a Christmas Party at our house for the nurses who work for my wife. My wife is a nurse manager and has a staff of 67 (the fact that no human being should have to write fitness reports on 67 people is another matter for another time).
Among the more than 50 people crowded into our house were a small group of teenagers, boys and girls. I have a pool table in my basement alongside a nice 50 inch flat panel TV. Playing eight ball and watching some tube. Life is good. It is a sort of man cave environment. Three of the teenage boys were eager to play billiards and I obliged them. A fourteen and fifteen year old tandem of Irish twins played me and a ten year old boy.
Now you’re asking, I'm sure, what the hell does this have to do with Sarah Palin?
When the billiards match concluded (yes, I beat up on the 14 and 15 year old boys) the boys decided to sit down and watch some tube. It is not your normal system and the remote is not easy to figure out so I offered to get them the channel they wanted. Imagine my shock when all three–the ten year old boy, the fourteen and the fifteen year old–requested SARAH PALIN’S ALASKA. I have HBO, Showtime, Encore and NFL Network. Although I do not subscribe to the Playboy channel it was late enough at night that I’m sure Showtime had a nude fest on somewhere.
Yet, despite all of those options, the boys wanted to watch Sarah Palin’s show. Hell, I did not even realize it was on. These guys knew where and when the show was on. That tells me something about the Sarah phenomena. She is resonating with a segment of society I never imagined would have a clue about her.
One of the boys did confess that he found Sarah’s daughter, and I’m quoting here, “HOT.” I found that reassuring in that one would expect teenage boys to be thinking about girls.
Democrats beware. All of your attacks on Sarah Palin and your attempts to demonize her or demean her intellect are likely to backfire. You know Sarah is a genuine phenomena when you are confronted with the fact that three boys with a chance to watch anything on TV choose to watch Sarah.
How’s that for a Christmas story?
For those not familiar with Johnson, here's his bio:
Larry C. Johnson is a former analyst at the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, who moved subsequently in 1989 to the U.S. Department of State, where he served four years as the deputy director for transportation security, antiterrorism assistance training, and special operations in the State Department’s Office of Counterterrorism.
He left government service in October 1993 and set up a consulting business. He currently is the co-owner and CEO of BERG Associates, LLC (Business Exposure Reduction Group) and is an expert in the fields of terrorism, aviation security, and crisis and risk management, and money laundering investigations. Johnson is the founder and main author of No Quarter, a weblog that addresses issues of terrorism and intelligence and politics. NoQuarterUSA was nominated as Best Political Blog of 2008.
This is someone who's career has been based on making observations and analyzing trends. While Johnson doesn't say it here, I think we can all see the obvious:
Sarah Palin's Alaska [and Sarah Palin herself] are more relevant [an influential] than Karl Rove and Charles Krauthammer.
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