Sarah Palin: No One Ever Won A Game Only Playing Defense

Sarah Palin has issued a statement condemning the corrupt, blood libel media:

Lamestream Media: Reload or White Flag?

"Let’s keep pivoting around media bias, and not get distracted with the vulgar personal shots. Call out lies and set the record straight, but always keep the ball moving. No one ever won a game only playing defense."

Upon my return from an outstanding and productive trip to India and Israel, I’ve been inundated with requests to respond to petty comments made in the media the past few days, including one little fella’s comment which decent people would find degrading. (I won’t bother responding to it though, because it was made by he who reminds me of an annoying little mosquito found zipped up in your tent; he can’t do any harm, but buzzes around annoyingly until it’s time to give him the proverbial slap.)

I’ve given this a lot of thought, and I’d like to share my thoughts on the never-ending issue of media bias.

When it comes to responding to the media, the standard warning is: Don’t pick a fight with people who buy ink by the barrel because calling out the media and holding them accountable is a risky endeavor. Too often the first instinct is to ignore blatant media bias, crudeness, and outright lies, and just hope the media instigator will grow up and provide fairer coverage if you bite your tongue and not challenge the false reporting of an openly hostile press. But I’ve never bought into that. That’s waving the white flag. I just can’t do it because I have too much respect for the importance of a free press as a cornerstone of our democracy, and I have great respect for the men and women in uniform who sacrifice so much to defend that First Amendment right. Media, with freedom comes responsibility.

Friends, too often conservatives or Republicans in general come across as having the fighting instinct of sheep. I don’t. I was raised to believe that you don’t retreat when you’re on solid ground; so even though it often seems like I’m armed with just a few stones and a sling against a media giant, I’ll use those small resources to do what I can to set the record straight. The truth is always worth fighting for. Doing so isn’t whining or "playing the victim card"; it’s defending the truth in fairness to those who seek accurate information. I’ll keep attempting to correct misinformation and falsehoods about myself and my record, and I will certainly never shy from defending others who are unfairly attacked. This is in the name of justice.

But two decades in politics have taught me that when it comes to picking battles, often it’s best to ignore the truly petty, ugly personal media shots because engaging in a counter argument with disreputable, intolerant people doesn’t vindicate me; it merely gives those people the attention they seek. It wastes my time and it distracts from what we should focus on.

We must always remember the big picture. The media has always been biased. Conservatives – and especially conservative women – have always been held to a different standard and attacked. This is nothing new. Lincoln was mocked and ridiculed. Reagan was called an amiable dunce, a dangerous warmonger, a rightwing fanatic, and the insult list goes on and on. (But somehow Reagan still managed to win two major electoral landslides, and this was in the days before the internet and talk radio when all he had were three biased network news channels spinning reports on him. If he could do so much with so little and still be such an optimistic and positive leader, then surely we can succeed with the new media tools at our disposal.)

Let’s just acknowledge that commonsense conservatives must be stronger and work that much harder because of the obvious bias. And let’s be encouraged with a sense of poetic justice by knowing that the "mainstream" media isn’t mainstream anymore. That’s why I call it "lamestream," and the LSM is becoming quite irrelevant, as it is no longer the sole gatekeeper of information.

Let’s keep pivoting around media bias, and not get distracted with the vulgar personal shots. Even with limited time we can try to call out lies and set the record straight, but always keep the ball moving. No one ever won a game only playing defense.

I’ll keep correcting false reporting, and I’ll defend others to the hilt; but I won’t spend any more precious, limited time responding to personal, vulgar, sexist venom spewed my way.

Today, our country is faced with seemingly overwhelming challenges. We have an unsustainable and immoral $14 trillion debt problem which, combined with a self-inflicted energy crisis, could bring America to her knees. The President of the United States is manipulating an energy supply by refusing to develop our U.S. energy resources. Shouldn’t that be the media’s focus today? Wouldn’t you like more information on the deficit that for last month alone was the highest in our history at $223 billion? That single month’s deficit was more than the entire deficit for the year 2007!

We still have a 16% real unemployment rate. We had 2.9 million home foreclosures last year alone, with this year predicted to be even worse. Americans who are struggling to make ends meet are now hit by rising food and energy prices – exacerbated by the Fed’s decision to drop that $600 billion money bomb known as QE2 on us. Gas has already hit $4 per gallon in some areas. And let’s not forget that our men and women in uniform are deployed far from home today. From Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, to who-knows-where tomorrow under a clouded, confused Obama Doctrine, our armed forces are in harm’s way, defending our interests and protecting our freedoms.

Now these are the real concerns to Americans. These are times when real leadership is needed. We must never be distracted from these real concerns.

Petty comments from the small-minded are used to distract. Stay focused, America. Don’t wave any white flag. Simply put, let’s spend our precious time on causes that are worthy.

- Sarah Palin

This is some strong medicine! It's interesting that she talks about the way Reagan was treated by the media [and the Republican Party] in the lead up to the 1980 elections. We often talk about how the coming 2012 presidential election, and the way the left, the media, and the Republican elites attack Sarah, reminds of the 1980 elections. With Obama playing the part of Jimmy Carter, it's like deja vu all over again!

The left, the media, and the GOP country clubbers pulled out all stops to defeat Ronald Reagan. He represented a threat to their very existence. For it's part, after Reagan won the nomination, and had George H.W. Bush forced on him as his Vice President, the establishment STILL wanted to defeat him, and ran John Anderson as a third party candidate! That's how desperate the establishment wanted to protect it's stranglehold on the Republican Party.

This same full court press is being used against Sarah Palin today. As bad as the blood libel media is, the elites in the Republican Party are the most vile, and most hateful towards Sarah. The establishment started attacking Sarah way back in 2008 when she was first announced as John McCain's running mate. The GOP elites have nothing but contempt for true Conservatives anyhow, but with Sarah Palin they have even more contempt than usual.

Sarah Palin represents a serious threat to the GOP establishment. They know what she did in Alaska, and how she took on the corrupt Republican Party up there. They know she had no problem whatsoever sending her fellow Republicans to prison. The establishment knows that Sarah Palin will shake things up in Washington just as she did in Alaska. She will change the way things are done!

The media attacks on Sarah are becoming less effective. Once you accuse someone of mass murder, and they get past that, there is nothing you can do to really hurt them. Much like the GOP, all the media has left is to call her "stupid" or recycle four year old, and long refuted talking points.

Ronald Reagan was called the "Teflon President." This was because bad news never stuck to him. The media themselves gave him that name. What they didn't realize, is through all of their attacks and lies, they made him so. They so turned off the public with their juvenile attacks, the American people, who saw a great leader turning the nation around, just tuned them out.

Fewer Americans trust the media today than at any time in memory. As people learn more about Sarah Palin's actual record, actual accomplishments, and actual abilities, and compare them to the caricature the media has created of her, the less credibility the media has. The same goes for the Republican establishment. Both have been so vile, and so wrong in their attacks, as the truth becomes known by more and more people, these attacks serve to inoculate Sarah. Provide her protection from further baseless attacks. These attacks have lost all effectiveness.

Sarah Palin is a fighter. The left and the GOP aren't used to fighters. As she rightly points out, most Republicans have the fighting instincts of sheep! They are the most go-along, get-along bunch of squishes alive. This is why the nation is in the shape it is in today. It's not for nothing that Sarah used basketball terminology in her first paragraph. She is a championship winning basketball player and helped take her underdog high school team to a big victory over the perennial champion. For those that don't know the story, Sarah played this game on a yet undiagnosed broken foot, and scored the game winning shots. This symbolizes the never-say-die attitude that Sarah has carried throughout her entire life.

Though she's still playing it close to the vest, we see this strong statement, and the references to Reagan, as yet another sign she is getting ready to announce her candidacy for President. She's letting her enemies know they don't stand a chance.