Thursday, June 30, 2011

Sarah Palin Is Still The GOP's Biggest Star And Only Leader


By Gary P Jackson

Craig Robinson of The Iowa Republican has a great recap of the Pella. Iowa world premier of The Undefeated

Here are some excerpts:

Pella took center stage as Sarah Palin made a visit to the community of 10,000 to view a new documentary about her political life, "The Undefeated." Below are my thoughts about what took place there yesterday.

The Setting

The setting couldn’t have been more perfect. The City of Pella is worth a visit at any time of year, especially in the early spring when its millions of tulips are bloom. But even after the tulips are gone, the vibrant city known for its Dutch heritage still impresses those who stop in the southern Iowa town.

The heart of the city is populated with locally owned stores. There isn’t a big box store in sight of the downtown. Instead of cars being lined up at a Starbucks, people grab their coffee at Smokey Row. People travel from near and far to get Dutch letters and baked goods from the Jaarsma Bakery. If sweets and baked goods are not your forte, there is always Ulrich’s Meat Market.

Pella was the perfect setting to unveil the new Palin documentary, The Undefeated, because, in many ways, it could be said that the community of Pella is undefeated.

[ .... ]

The community, which has 2400 more registered Republicans than Democrats, embraced the movie premier and Palin visit. The day before her visit, the movie producer and other advance staff could be heard laughing throughout the downtown with public safety officials. As always, the community of Pella put its best foot forward as the spotlight shined upon its picturesque city.

The Movie

Last week, I talked to a member of the media who had seen a preview of "The Undefeated" and was unimpressed. Most of the complaints were technical in nature. They were also offended by the unrated version’s language that opens the movie. The movie begins showing the vicious attacks on Palin, most of them from the liberal elite from Hollywood. The version shown in Pella was lightly toned down with the offending curse words being bleeped out, but the effect of displaying the vitriol this woman faced, mostly just for the fact that she’s a conservative woman, was still shocking and a bit overwhelming to watch.

My initial thought while watching the movies was, where was this three years ago when Palin was on the Republican presidential ticket? The movie does an excellent job of telling the story of Palin’s political career, the odds she faced, the victories she achieved, and the price that she ultimately paid.

After watching the film, you come away with a better understanding of what Palin did in Alaska that thrust her into the national spotlight. The documentary showcases the victories she achieved in the first 20 months as governor. Then it shows how, after being demonized by the liberal left, she was no longer able to accomplish anything.

The Star: [emphasis mine]

Palin was amazing in Pella yesterday. As she and Todd made their way though various shops in the downtown area, onlookers would stop to say hello, ask to take a photo, or get an autograph. Palin took it all in stride. Even though she is a huge media sensation, she is somehow able to remain grounded. Nothing illustrated that more than the bug splattered Chevy Malibu that they drove to Pella.

The media couldn’t help but try and compare Palin to Michele Bachmann, who officially launched her presidential campaign on Monday. They both connect to people, and both have star power, but having seem them both in Iowa in the span of 24 hours, it’s clear that Palin will always be the original female GOP star. That’s not an insult toward Bachmann, but Palin’s star shines brighter.

I thought it was pretty remarkable that Palin, who is a national political phenomenon, came to this small Iowa town, strolled through the town square, watched a two-hour movie with 300 plus locals, and then spent several hours meeting people and shaking hands at the cook out that followed the movie premier. The people just flocked to her in Pella last night, and she handled it all with grace.

Palin must have posed for a thousand photographs last night. In addition, she also autographed hundreds of books, tickets, and even a baseball. While she could have left at any time, she patiently worked through the crowd until she hit the door of her car. The crowd loved her. Nobody went home disappointed.

Read more here.

This article hits the nail on the head. Sarah Palin has a rare quality that we will need to win in 2012. She's undeniably a media superstar. She can draw a crowd anywhere. She connects very well with people. And lets face it, if she's in town, she's the story, the media all but ignore other candidates, and even the President of the United States, if he's close by.

But there's more to Sarah Palin than that, she was also a superstar Governor. She had the highest approval rating of any Governor, and possibly any elected official, in the entire United States. She did this by working hard and getting things done. She took on corruption, including corruption among Republicans and Big Oil. She cut spending by record amounts. And she did it in good times, while her legislature was begging her to spend, spend, spend.

You know, we look at a few Governors out there today trying to cut spending, and get excited, but we must remember, these Governors have no choice. Their states are on the verge of bankruptcy. Alaska was flush with money, but Sarah foresaw a time when it wouldn't be. She was way ahead of the curve. Her insight left Alaska with a $12 billion surplus.

Sarah even cut her own staff, famously getting rid of the cook and other staff at the Governor's Mansion. She also refused a pay raise [taking her from $125,000 to earning $150,000 per year] the legislature approved for both her and the Lt. Governor. [who also refused] All-in-all, Sarah cut the executive office budget by $1 million, as compared to the previous two Governor's spending.

Sarah also got huge things done like ACES and AGIA. The former revamping the way Big Oil paid Alaska for the oil they take out of the ground, the latter putting in place the mechanism to create a natural gas pipeline from Alaska to the lower 48, the largest construction project in North American history, and a 30 year dream of the Alaskan people.

Sarah got more significant things done in her time as Governor than most Governors and even most Presidents do in their entire careers.

You combine the media savvy of Sarah Palin with the abilities as the best Governor/CEO in the country and you have a winning package, not only for 2012, but for many decades to come.

You see, the thing Sarah Palin is able to do, that no other politician in the country can, including Obama, is excite people to the point of truly wanting to get involved. Those familiar with Organize4Palin, know that thousands of volunteers nationwide are building a ground game for 2012, just on the HOPE Sarah Palin will run for President. These aren't paid staffers. They are regular people who see a real leader and are willing to work hard to do anything to help her win.

But, there's more. Sarah Palin has a profound effect on young people, boys and girls. Witness Youth for Palin, a growing group of real patriots whose writing we're proud to feature here. These young women and men are excited about Liberty and Freedom. They will be the future leaders of our country.

As someone who still has great reverence for Ronald Reagan, Sarah Palin really excites me in a way no other can. She is the embodiment of Reagan. We know she's studied Reagan since her youth. Now she's using her star power to get younger folks, who didn't have the pleasure of living when Reagan was President, to understand the principles he used to save America after the turbulent Carter years. She's also reminding the older folks as well.

Simply put, Sarah Palin is today's gold standard of Conservatism and leadership. She has the ability to not only revive the Reagan Revolution, but create her own as well. As great as Reagan was, I firmly believe Sarah Palin has what it takes to raise the bar even higher. Sarah's unique pioneer roots, as well as her natural ability as a CEO, give her something we only see once, maybe twice, in a lifetime.

Sarah Palin can connect with the common man, because she's one too. She can also stand with the world's great leaders because she is one of them, too. Few can claim this sort of power and ability. And Sarah has the charisma and star power to bring the nation with her as she works to fundamentally RESTORE the nation to it's founding principles.

I rarely trust politicians or put an ounce of faith in them. I trust Sarah Palin completely and have faith in her. I've been following Sarah's career since her earliest days as Governor. A lot has happened since then. I've never been disappointed in how she's handled whatever came her way. She's proven to have a certain ability to always do the right thing, even when it was incredibly hard.

Sarah has also proven, without a single doubt, that she is one of the best tacticians out there. She has a political savvy that not only wins elections, but also wins hearts and minds. She proved as Governor that she could get things done by working with the democrats, without having to compromise her principles. The last President we had who could do this was Ronald Reagan. Reagan got incredible things done with a democrat Congress. Sarah got incredible things done facing not only democrats, but a hostile Republican Party. [sending their buddies to prison helped that along]

With Sarah Palin as our nominee, not only will she beat Obama in a landslide, her coattails will be long. Sarah proved in 2010 she can deliver. We saw one of the biggest nationwide political re-alignments in our nation's history, and Sarah played a huge part in this.

There are a lot of democrat Senators up for re-election in 2012. With the leadership and star power Sarah has, we can win enough of those seats to have a strong Republican majority in Congress. With this majority, Sarah will be able to restore our nation. She will put us on a path of energy independence. Real energy independence. She'll put in policies that will grow our economy and create jobs. Good jobs. Durable jobs. Most importantly, she will slash spending like you have never though imaginable. She'll ride herd over wayward RINOs, and get a lot of democrats on board as well. Sarah won't be bashful cutting any and all wasteful spending.

Leadership in Washington is almost non-existent. You don't even have to take your shoes off to count how many real leaders are in our nation's capitol, and none of them are at the top. Leaders like Sarah Palin do not grow on trees. When they come along, it is our duty as Americans to see they are put in office. Sarah Palin is the key if we want to see America restored. No one else has what she brings to the table. No one has the mix of star power and natural ability to govern, and govern well.

This is Sarah Palin's time. This is our time too.

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