In an effort to illustrate how straw polls in small venues can be skewed, Politico.com ran it’s own reader’s straw poll asking who SHOULD have won the Values Voters Summit straw poll.
Now one has to say that Mike Huckabee winning the original poll is not surprising. This is really his crowd. And one also has to factor in that Sarah did not attend the Value Voters Summit, staying in Alaska to greet her son Track who was home on leave from fighting in Iraq.
Even so Huckabee had a respectable showing with 28 percent of the 597 votes cast. There is something to be said for actually being at the venue, for sure.
These results just don’t jibe with other straw polls that we have seen though. Usually you see either one of two things, either Sarah Palin has blown everyone out, or it’s a dead heat between her, Mitt Romney, and Huckabee, obviously depending on the venue. But more times than not, it looks a lot like this Politico.com poll:
Sarah Palin 53 %
Someone else 16 %
Mitt Romney 15 %
Mike Huckabee10 %
Tim Pawlenty 4 %
Mike Pence 2 %
This is based on 24,049 votes.
It’s really too early to put much stock in any of these, frankly. The 2012 election season is still a couple of years away. And that is a lifetime in politics. Absolutely anything could happen.
We do know this, Sarah is consistently the most popular Republican among Republicans. She also drives the communists insane! But past that, Sarah Palin has had the most impact on the national debate, with absolutely the least effort. A few well worded entries of Facebook really put a crimp in the Obama regime’s plans to ram Obamacare down America’s throat. Palin had the ability to cut to the chase and get the point across like no other politician in America, on either side of the debate.
It will be interesting to see if Sarah’s effectiveness as a politician, as well as her outside the Beltway status, will translate into White House win in 2012. I wouldn’t bet against it.
Turning the water off is not just bad politics, it’s an act of domestic terror.
Former Fresno, California Mayor Alan Autry
Forgive me if I am less than diplomatic here. I am not a fan at all of the radical environmental movement. I’m even less of a fan of radical, Big Government.
Let’s cut to the chase here. The rabid environmentalists have destroyed the economy in the San Joaquin Valley of California. Not only have they destroyed the economy, they have destroyed the lives of tens of thousands of farmers, as well.
According to the California Farm Water Coalition unemployment in parts of the San Joaquin Valley reached 41 percent in August. Over 400,000 acres of some of the richest farm land on earth are now dormant and unplanted. More than one million acres are in danger of destruction. .
These government stooges have created a modern day dust bowl. They have created something the government actually worked hard to educate people against doing again some 75 years ago!
Poor planting practices and a major drought caused much of the nation’s center to turn into one big dust bowl back in the 1930's. Nothing would grow. This stretched from the Plains of Texas to the Canadian Prairie Lands. Throw in the Great Depression and it was a disaster. People’s lives were destroyed. Farms that had been in families for generations just dried up and blew away, literally. Many family farms were lost to foreclosure. American families lost everything they had.
One of the few things government got right was establishing the Soil Conservation Service, through the Soil Conservation Act of 1935. Studies were done, surveys made, and farmers were educated in best practices, so this would never happen again.
We have had more than a few severe droughts since 1935, but we have never had a dust bowl environment since, until now. And this environmental disaster is completely man-made.
Let me say that again. This is all man’s doing. Yes, there has been a bit of a drought in California. But there is more than enough water. This is not a natural disaster, you can’t blame God for this one. This is a man made disaster, you know, the name Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napoliotano wants us all to call domestic terrorism now!
A lot of us were angry when Napolitano came out with that liberal nonsense, but now I see the wisdom in it. I very much agree with Former Fresno, California Mayor Alan Autry. What Big Government has done is indeed domestic terrorism.
So what is this act of terrorism? What have the environmentalists done to destroy all of these Patriotic farmers lives? What has the federal government done to destroy the economy of the Central California Valley?
The federal government, Big Government, has ordered all of the water shut off to the farms. But why would they do that? That’s insane, isn’t it? Well, yeah, but we are talking the most liberal government ever assembled in America! A government filled with radicals.
You see, there is this fish, the Delta Smelt. I’m sure it’s a fine fish. This two inch long refugee from the bait hook is actually kinda cute. We don’t hate the fish. But in it’s infinite wisdom, and treachery, the federal government, Big Government, has put this minnow on the endangered species list. That’s right, a little fish we’d use for BAIT down here in Texas is now being considered almost extinct.
Species become extinct all of the time, but for every one that goes away, more new heretofore never known species are discovered. You read about them all of the time, especially water species, like fish!
This fish has no real value to the ecosystem. It’s not really food for any other fish or wildlife, and it doesn’t do anything to effect pollution, help keep the waters clean.
The problem with the Central Valley is the land is some of the best in the world for growing, but the water must be pumped in. The land must be irrigated. These tiny bait fish get drawn into the pumps and it’s all over for them.
So, because of a two inch bait fish, America’s bread basket is empty!
Almost every non-tropical fruit and vegetable you can name is grown in the San Joaquin Valley. Beautiful fruit and vegetables. In fact, much of the nation’s yearly food supply is grown right there! All sorts of nuts are grown there, like almonds and pistachios. Most of the asparagus consumed in America comes from the California Valley’s rich soil. Grapes are a huge crop and this is the birthplace of the raisin!
The world’s single largest cotton farm, at over 40,000 acres, is also located here.
Cattle and sheep ranching, as well as dairy farming, are also vital to the economy of the Valley, and the nation’s food supply. They need water too.
These Californian’s feed the world from this wonderfully blessed land. Or at least they did.
Now this land looks like the moonscape in places. It is literally turning into a desert with no water. Nothing is growing. It is a man-made dust bowl. A man-made disaster. It is also a crime against humanity.
This is rabid environmental craziness, teamed up with Big Government liberalism, run amok! The very idea that the federal government has been allowed to gain the power to do this should serve as a warning that we need to stop and think.
We need to take stock of our nation, our Republic. We need to go back to using our Constitution as a guide.
This is such a human tragedy. The very fact that Big Government can do this just goes against everything our founders stood for. In fact, we fought a Revolution, specifically, because the British were this controlling, this oppressive, this tyrannical.
Thankfully, today we don’t have to go to war. We just have to put pressure on the Obama regime and tell them to do what is right for the American people. We must put pressure on Lord Obama himself to do what is right.
Sean Hannity has aired several reports on his show, like this from Ainsley Earhardt:
The group of Patriots working to save this land and these wonderful Americans are part of the California Farm Water Coalition. Please go to their website and read just how vital this land is to our very lives, how they truly feed the nation. You can also learn more of the devastation the Obama government is allowing to happen by going to their website here.
As you can see, this once beautiful land is devastated, not by "global warming" or some other crackpot theory, but by man’s inhumanity to man. Man’s desire to dominate, to control, to oppress his fellow man. In fact, these are the same tyrants who preach global warming as reality. The funny thing is, if global warming was actually real, planting crops would be a SOLUTION to it!
The environmental crazies preach to us relentlessly that Co2, carbon dioxide, is bad, that it is the number one destructive element on earth. Of course, it isn’t. In fact, we release copious amounts of it when we all exhale! But if one was actually to believe this fairy tale of global warming, one would know that plants actually absorb Co2! Plants need Co2 like we need oxygen, they can’t live without it. It was actually a stroke of genius on our creator’s part. He made man and plants compatible, symbiotic, with plants not only absorbing our exhalations but using them to create the essential oxygen we need for life.
So one has to ask, knowing all of this, why is Obama and Big Government destroying 400,000 acres of the very crops that would help absorb the Co2!
That’s a question I can’t completely answer yet. I really don’t know what the entire motivation is. My guess is someone stands to make a lot of money out of this deal somehow. Or....
We know Obama has some certifiable loons in his Cabinet and employed as Czars. Obama’s recently confirmed Regulatory Czar Cass Sunstein, yes this one actually was confirmed by Obama’s democrat/communist Senate, believes that animals have rights, and should be able have a lawyer and sue people! You have John Holdren, Obama’s Science Adviser, who has advocated forced abortions and adding sterilents to the nation’s drinking water to control human population growth! That is as long as the sterilants didn’t harm animals. And we all know about the insane ramblings of Obama’s recently departed Green Jobs Czar, Van Jones, a self avowed communist who has advocated overthrowing our constitutional government.
Even so, as insane as these typical Obama appointments are, one has to know something else, besides insanity is involved here. Something more sinister.
Has anyone caught on, that while Obama is trying to destroy the greatest health care in the world, and pass an economy killing cap and tax bill, a bill that would double or triple energy costs and cause the price of every single product and service we purchase to skyrocket, has anyone noticed that Obama is doing absolutely nothing to create real jobs, real wealth, real stability.
These are radical communists roaming the halls of the White House. By destroying the economy, not allowing us to use our natural energy resources like oil, natural gas, and coal. By destroying our nations’s ability to feed itself. By doing all of this, they are creating multiple crisises they can use to justify completely usurping our Constitution and as Barack Obama has said on many occasions "remake American society."
We are already broke, a debtor nation. We must rely on other nation’s economies to fund our government’s activities.
We are incredibly rich in natural resources. We have deposits of oil equal to the Middle East, natural gas deposits that equal the entire world’s oil supply, and over 250 years worth of coal! And yet, radical environmentalists, teamed up with the democrat/communist party, use the full force of Big Government to deny America of the ability to fuel the engines of freedom, democracy, and our economy. Just like we are forced to depend on other nations for our money, we are forced to depend on other nations for our energy.
And now, radical environmentalists, teamed up with the democrat/communist party are using the full force of Big Government to deny the nation the very food we need, all 300 million of us, for our very survival.
Let me recap, Big Government, the tool of the democrat/communist party, has made the United States of America, the greatest, strongest nation on earth, totally dependant on someone else for all of our money, most of our energy, and now much of our food! The last time we were in this predicament we were still a British colony!
To what end.......
All I know for sure is over 40,000 hard working Patriotic Americans, strong men and women who have literally helped feed America for their entire lives are now standing in lines at food banks eating canned goods from China!
These aren’t lazy welfare sponges, shiftless louts. These are the people who are the very heart and soul of America. The very fabric! These men and women have toiled in the hot sun working the earth to make sure all of us can eat.
Now they have no jobs, and no hope, all because some mindless drones have decided a fish is more important than the entire human race.
Or at least they are using it as an excuse!
This folks, is the danger of Big Government, and Barack Obama and his democrat/communist party are the absolute champions of Big Government. And if you put the pieces together, one starts to understand the end game here.
On Thursday night Sean Hannity went to the San Joaquin Valley and interviewed a number of those whose lives are being destroyed by Barack Obama’s Big Government. Please take time to watch these videos, they are essential.
Comedian Paul Rodriguez says, "We could feed the world with this valley!" "The only thing growing here is despair," Rodriguez says. "We grew more food with less water, and for our reward, you cut the water off!" Rodriguez, who supported candidate Barack Obama, asks this very poignant question: "What’s up with that?"
This makes me sick to my stomach. Big Government, teamed up with environmental extremists and the democrat/communist party, are destroying peoples lives in some mad thirst for power. This thirst to fundamentally "remake America" in the image of Karl Marx and Saul Alinsky!
We are in the middle of the worst recession in 25 years, we have Barack Obama and his buddy Jeff Jones crafting a one trillion dollar stimulus bill to "create jobs." We have hard working Californians who are all but on their knees begging to work, but Lord Obama is denying them the human dignity of that work.
Regular readers know who Jeff Jones is. Jones, along with domestic terrorist and Barack Obama mentor William Ayers were the co-founders of the ultra-violent Weather Underground. They are life long Marxists, communists. When these two realized they couldn’t blow up enough stuff to destroy America and turn it into a Marxist state, they decided on a different path.
William Ayers has become a "respected educator." Ayers writes books and lectures would-be teachers on education, infecting young minds with radical Marxist ideology.
Jeff Jones chose the "green movement" as the way to institute a communist revolution. Jones is part of the Apollo Alliance, a group of radical environmentalists, whose goal is to "remake America" using the environment as an excuse. Departed Green Jobs Czar, and self admitted communist revolutionary, Van Jones (no relation) is also a member of the Apollo Alliance.
Then you have Barack Obama, whose stated goal is to "remake America" and create a "green economy."
As stated, Jones wrote much of the nearly $1 trillion stimulus package that Barack Obama was in such a hurry to have signed he convinced Congress to never even read it before passing it! And Obama started his political career in William Ayer’s living room, and set on the board of two "education foundations" where he, Obama, helped funnel tens of millions of dollars to ACORN.
What I am trying to say here, is the environment has absolutely nothing to do with what is happening to the American Patriots who are suffering greatly in the San Joaquin Valley of California. Fellow Americans who have fed our nation for generations.
This must not stand.
We cannot and will not be forced to depend on third world nations for our very survival. We are continually having issues from imported food. Bacteria like salmonella run rampant throughout these third world imports. It is unconscionable that a nation that can feed the world, and has, is being forced to become no better than an undeveloped colony.
This is a matter of national security. We must have a secure, safe food supply.
Californians are suffering. Men and women who are simply asking for the human dignity of putting in a good day’s work for a good day’s pay are forced to stand in line, for hours on end, for food imported from China, just to survive.
This is more than simply un-American, it is a crime against all humanity.
According to the Global Museum on Communism, close to 100 million people have been killed by communism worldwide. We will not let the brave men and women of the San Joaquin Valley become part of that statistic!
I urge every reader to contact Congress and demand they come to the aid of these outstanding Patriotic Americans, the very salt of the earth. Do not take no for an answer, and do not take speaking to an underling for an answer. Demand to speak to your Congressman and Senators. Demand they make this right!
Barack Obama could turn the water back on with the stroke of his pen. Obama has written many Executive Orders since taking office that further his far leftist agenda. He must sign that Executive Order. He must sign it now!
"Progressive" is becoming more of a dirty word, but all political labels – except "being like Ronald Reagan" - are falling into disfavor with many U.S. voters, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.
"Liberal" is still the worst and remains the only political description that is viewed more negatively than positively. Being like Reagan is still the most positive thing you can say about a candidate.
So says the latest Rasmussen polling on the subject. Now for conservatives, "like Ronald Reagan" has been the only acceptable position for a politician to have, for a long, long time.
I’m sure the David Frums, Peggy Noonans, Colin Powells, and Kathleen Parkers of the world are hyperventilating right about now, as they are the ones always telling us the "era of Reagan is over." I guess they are wrong once again! Shocking, huh?
It’s been twenty years since the great Renaldus Magnus, as he is affectionately known, has sat in the Oval Office, so why is he just as appealing today as he was back in his prime? I think it’s because Reagan was such a strong leader, and just a great man, but that is probably way too simplistic.
Ronald Reagan was part of the American consciousness for most of the last century. I won’t attempt to write a biography here, there are plenty out there for folks to read and enjoy, but some of the highlights of Reagan’s career and how we came to love the man are certainly something to talk about.
Reagan was an actor, and while some called him a "B-Movie Actor," he also gave us one of the most memorable characters of all time when he played George Gipp in the movie "Knute Rockne, All American." While the movie itself was about famed Notre Dame coach Knute Rockne, one of the most memorable performances was Ronald Reagan playing George Gipp. Gipp was a great football player who died too young of a strep infection.
Now I'm going to tell you something I've kept to myself for years. None of you ever knew George Gipp. He was long before your time, but you all know what a tradition he is at Notre Dame. And the last thing he said to me, "Rock," he said, "sometime when the team is up against it and the breaks are beating the boys, tell them to go out there with all they've got and win just one for the Gipper. I don't know where I'll be then, Rock," he said, "but I'll know about it and I'll be happy."
Pat O'Brien as Knute Rockne
Win one for the Gipper became part of the American lexicon. As for Reagan, the Gipper nickname stuck, and became just another affectionate name we know him by.
Reagan was much more than just an actor though. He was President of the Screen Actors Guild, and a solid spokesman. He was also a democrat, who famously said: "I didn’t leave the democrat party, the democrat party left me."
And Reagan, who had a sharp wit, never missed the chance to have fun with that:
In fact, one of the things that we all loved about Ronald Reagan was his ability to speak well and deliver great one liners as well as funny stories.
But Reagan was more than a good line and a bright smile. Reagan was also someone who loved America with all of his heart. He saw America as a "shining city on a hill" the world’s last best hope. Reagan was always concerned that Americans understood our great gifts of freedom, and kept a constant watch for things that would cause Americans to lose those freedoms.
"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free."
Ronald Reagan
What really sets Reagan apart, at least for me, is how not only were his warnings appropriate for their time, but can be applied to today’s events as well. In fact, it’s uncanny how the same things Ronald Reagan warned us about, communism and the slightly less oppressive socialism, are still real threats today.
For example, no one understood the danger to freedom and liberty that socialized medicine posed better than Ronald Reagan. Back in 1961 as they had been trying for decades, the democrat party was trying to shove socialized health care down an unwilling America’s throat. Reagan took part in the "Operation Coffee Cup Campaign" and went on a speaking tour, forcefully warning about the dangers of allowing the government to control health care.
Anyone who has actually read H.R. 3200, the most likely version of Obamacare to pass, knows Reagan was right then, and even more right now! Obamacare is nothing less than a complete and total usurpation of the Constitution. It totally remakes American society, turning it into a communist state, with a centrally controlled government, and centrally planned economy.
America was designed to be a lose confederation of states, coming together as a Republic for mutual benefit, but with each remaining sovereign. It’s what the 10th Amendment to the Constitution is all about. Once Obamacare is passed, states rights, and most individual rights go right out the window.
If we as Americans are to retain our freedoms and liberties, it is imperative that we listen to Ronald Reagan. It is imperative that we stop the government’s attempt to "reform" health care.
Now I am not saying health care doesn’t have it’s issues. It does. But health care in America is still the best in the world, and has the highest quality, and is available in the most timely manner, to the greatest number of people.
There are common sense plans out there. Plans that include major tort reform, and the ability for Americans to shop for insurance nationwide rather than just within their state. There are thousands of insurance companies nationwide. The Obama regime claims to want "more competition" for the consumer’s dollar. What better way than to open the door for all Americans to shop all of the various insurance companies nationwide?
Ronald Reagan didn’t just warn us about socialized medicine though. Few understood better than Reagan that liberalism was a losing proposition. That liberalism made absolutely no sense whatsoever. That liberalism was a contradiction all unto itself.
"Well, the trouble with our liberal friends is not that they're ignorant; it's just that they know so much that isn't so."
Ronald Reagan
In another speech that absolutely applies today, Ronald Reagan speaks out on the dangers of allowing liberals to be elected to positions of responsibility.
In 1964 Reagan gave this speech at the Republican National Convention in support of Barry Goldwater, the candidate for President. The speech, titled "A Time For Choosing" is one of the most iconic of all time. In fact, it has come to be known simply as "The Speech."
If I had my way, this video would be required viewing by every school kid in America. It would be a required course, in fact, to get a high school diploma, and there would be advanced teaching on it in colleges and universities nationwide.
It’s just that important!
What is rather chilling, is how we can listen to Ronald Reagan 45 years later, and apply absolutely everything he is saying to our current situation.
This might help explain why "like Ronald Reagan" is still the best thing you can say about a politician!
Here’s a bit of an exercise for you. After watching the video, write down just how many things Reagan was talking about, that not only exist in our current climate, but are even a greater threat today. Reagan understood all too well just how dangerous it was to allow government to grow too large and too powerful.
Ronald Reagan also warned that the "once honorable democrat party" was on a strong march towards socialism, or Marxism, as he called it. Today, we understand it as communism, plain and simple. We now have a President who was raised by communists, mentored by communists, and is now surrounded by, and seeks advice from, self avowed communists.
"A socialist is someone who has read Lenin and Marx. An anti-socialist is someone who understands Lenin and Marx"
Ronald Reagan
We are left asking ourselves just how in the hell this happened!
Ronald Reagan was an inspiration to America at a time when we needed it the most. America was in a slump. The American moral was as low as it had ever been, and current national embarrassment, Jimmy Carter, had all but destroyed the economy forever. Carter had also allowed our military readiness to become dangerously low.
Our foreign policy was a joke. Under Carter, radical Islam was able to come to power in Iran and the greater Middle East. We are all suffering to this day because of Carter’s failures in this area. And frankly, our current White House occupant is following Carter’s lead.
I always laugh at the imagery surrounding Barack Obama. We were told when he was elected that the sea levels would lower, the skies would be brighter, and it would be rainbows and unicorns for all.
Well, I remember just how defeated Americans felt during the Carter years. Just how bad it was. We actually had a "misery index" concocted by the media just to tell us how bad our life sucked on any given day. Double digit unemployment, double digit inflation, and double digit interest rates on loans was the way of life in America.
Ronald Reagan represented real hope. It truly was "morning in America" once Reagan was elected. Reagan brought an intangible, an "it" factor with him that many leaders will never have. Reagan exuded optimism. He was our oldest President ever to take office, and yet he was the very picture of virility. Reagan was both a strong and forceful leader and America’s father figure, a kind man with a reassuring smile that simply told you everything was going to be just fine.
In no time America’s moral was high. America’s confidence was on the rebound. People were very proud to be Americans again. I remember those days well, and they were simply electric. The new feeling of optimism was amazing. You honestly felt like you could achieve anything.
I was a young man back then, but the feelings of this energy effected me greatly. Reagan had so much confidence that it spilled over onto the rest of us. It made us all see that absolutely anything was possible.
Now it took more than a few years for America to start to recover from the Carter fiasco, in fact, almost all of Reagan’s two terms. If a person were to go back, and just look at raw numbers, they would see that much of Reagan’s presidency saw economic numbers, that until the Obama presidency, wouldn’t have been all that stellar, but compared to where we had been, there were great.
The greatest affirmation of the difference Reagan made, and the love for him back then, was his 1984 re-election. Now Reagan won an absolute landslide when he defeated Jimmy Carter in 1980. Reagan won 44 of 50 states in a three way race that saw Republican John Anderson run as an independent. Anderson being what we would call a RINO today. Reagan got 50.7 percent of the raw vote and Carter got 41 percent.
In 1984 though, the American people rewarded Reagan with an incredible 49 state win against former Vice President Walter Mondale, who barely won his home state and carried D.C. The Electoral College victory was 525 to 13, raw vote 58.8 percent to 40.6. To me that says it all about the confidence America had in Ronald Reagan.
History tells us that Reagan wasn’t a perfect man, but he was a great man. Reagan was able to shepherd American through some tough times. He defeated the Soviet Union without firing a shot. He brought new confidence to America, something that had been lacking. In time, it was the Reagan revolution that would end the 40 years of disastrous democrat party control of Congress, leading to a stunning victory for congressional Republicans in 1994.
It was truly Reagan’s moral compass though, his strength and integrity, that made him such a great leader. A man among men. It was the moral clarity he had that allowed him to look into the eyes of the American people and tell them liberalism, communism, and socialism were evil. It was that same moral clarity to allowed him to stand at the Berlin Wall and demand "Mr Gorbachev, tear down this wall!"
It was that same moral clarity, that same strength and integrity Reagan had then, that still makes being "like Ronald Reagan" so desired today.
So where do we take it from here? Who is "like Ronald Reagan"?
Some names that come to mind are people like Dick Cheney. Say what you will about the former Vice President, when he speaks, he speaks with moral clarity, strength, wisdom, and with the love of our nation in his heart.
Liz Cheney is her father’s daughter. She is sharp, tough, and has a solid footing. There is Michelle Bachmann. While not as well known, she is certainly cut from the Reagan cloth. Strong, forceful, and unwavering in her beliefs and values.
But one simply cannot talk about leaders who are like Ronald Reagan without bringing up Sarah Palin. The comparisons are easy to make. Like Reagan, Sarah Palin is a strong leader with moral clarity.
Sarah has shown this clarity throughout her career. From battling her mentor on the Wasilla city council over his attempt to use his position to set up a monopoly for his company, to her legendary battle with Frank Murkowski’s "Corrupt Bastards Club."
For those that don’t know the story, Sarah had been appointed as Chairman of the powerful Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, the agency that regulates oil and natural gas in Alaska. Sarah had been appointed by Governor Murkowski after she had lost her bid for Lt Governor. She was charged with overseeing ethics in her position.
Before long, Sarah realized she had a really corrupt shop. After being told to back off by her boss, the Governor, Sarah stepped down, "quit" as they say. Had to be a really tough decision. This was a high paying gig, six figures, and a powerful position from which to launch herself to even more powerful positions. After all, Sarah’s star was on the rise!
After Sarah "quit" she made it her project to go after the bad actors. As a result, she went after pretty much the entire Republican party leadership, a profile in courage in itself, and a sure fire case of political suicide. In the end, some went to prison, some paid fines, others were forced to resign. Then she ran and won the governorship.
Once in office, she was a strong leader. She was able to bring about sweeping changes and one by one fulfilled her campaign promises.
Claude Sandroff over at the American Thinker talks about the virtue of Sarah Palin. We all know the story of her post election experiences. Before Sarah ran for Vice President, the Republican party wasn’t exactly pleased with her, still smarting from the reforms she brought in, and the folks she took down, but she had a fairly cordial relationship with the Alaskan democrats in the legislature.
Then came the campaign. It has been well documented that Barack Obama brought Chicago style politics to Alaska through his campaign chief-of-staff, Pete Rouse, and Rouse’s longtime friendship with Alaska State Senator, Kim Elton. Their attempt to derail Sarah with the phony "Troopergate" witch hunt is also well documented
After Sarah lost her in her effort to be Vice President, no one would have thought the Alaska Mafia would have remained so dedicated to the Chicago masters, but how many times has a losing vice presidential candidate become even more popular and sought after!
The word came out from on high to keep the pressure on, and the Mafia started recruiting folks to file phony ethics complaints against her. There was already one misguided woman, Andree McLeod, who made a career out of filing outrageous complaints. But the rest were all manufactured to damage Sarah, a favorite democrat/communist tactic, right out of Saul Alinsky’s "Rules."
This is where Sarah’s strength, courage, and moral clarity came into play. It would have been very simple to sit still and fight this stuff. I mean these charges were all nonsense, and all thrown out. But the more she resisted, the more the Mafia filed, and at a quicker pace. And these leaches on society had not cost Sarah personally, they had also effectively stopped her government from functioning, and cost the taxpayers almost $2 million processing this mess. And if the pace of the complaints stayed the same for the rest of her term, these thieves were on track to cost the Alaska taxpayers as much as $10 million.
A lot of politicians would have stayed. They would have clung to power at all cost. Not Sarah Palin. As Sandroff puts it, this was:
"The very essence of virtue. It was Sir Thomas More resigning as Lord Chancellor and George Washington returning to Mount Vernon. It showed how rare virtue has become in our politics. It shows why we adore Sarah Palin and why we need her. And it explains why, even without office, she has become the most important political figure in America."
One can only imagine the struggle Sarah had with this, or maybe, it wasn’t a real struggle at all. Earlier in the year, just before a trip to visit her troops in Kosovo, Sarah Palin introduced Michael Reagan, the son of Ronald Reagan, at an event in Anchorage. While talking about how bad her critics wanted her to shut up and go away, she said this:
"They want me to sit down and shut up. But I won’t sit down, and I won’t shut up. Politically speaking, if I die, I die, but I will know I have spoken up! Stand up, speak up, be bold! Forget political correctness!"
History shows that Sarah has not sat down, and is not shutting up! Many, at the time, could not understand what Sarah was doing when she "quit." These people simply didn’t understand her unwinnable situation. These are the types who would have "fought to the end" costing their constituents more tax dollars, and damaging their state.
This was a stroke of genius though, and one I believe Ronald Reagan would have understood. Sarah, a star basketball player, was simply passing the ball off to someone, Sean Parnell, who could continue on with her policies, and not be hassled.
"He will win who knows when to fight and when not to fight. He will win who knows how to handle both superior and inferior forces. He will win whose army is animated by the same spirit throughout all its ranks. He will win who, prepared himself, waits to take the enemy unprepared."
Sun Tzu, the Art Of War
Now that is a nice story, as far as it goes. A compelling one in fact. But it is not only the reason why Sarah Palin is "like Ronald Reagan"
No one can argue she is powerful. Who in the world, but Sarah Palin can change the entire national debate with a few paragraphs posted on a networking website?
Sarah Palin, not only had the moral clarity to understand exactly what Obamacare is, she was also able to distill it all down to a level of basic understanding. Her "death panels" said it all. And it wasn’t just the fact Sarah understood that Obamacare would most certainly lead to the rationing of care, she had the courage to say it the way she said it. She knew full well the wrath of both political parties, as well as the fringe media, Obama’s media, would come at her with full force. Sarah called Obamacare "downright evil."
We all know Ronald Reagan had moral clarity regarding the Soviet Union. He called them an "evil empire." His critics, in both parties, lost it every time he did this, but it didn’t stop him from saying it.
Before Reagan’s famous "tear down that wall" comment in his speech in Berlin, his advisers were telling him "no way" and to steer clear of that sort of thing. They had to be resuscitated after he said it! But Reagan knew in his heart it needed to be said.
Reagan lived to see the Berlin wall come down, and see millions of East Germans become free.
Before Sarah took up the fight, critics of Obamacare might as well have been talking to their houseplants. They were trying to nuance things. Trying to be "statesmen," at least in their minds.
Sarah looked at this mess, saw great evil. She saw a situation, that if continued, would lead America to certain disaster, and cause all Americans to lose precious liberties and freedoms. It’s that ability to not only recognize evil, wherever you see it, but to also have the courage to do something about it.
While the other so-called leaders in the Republican party were saying "slow down" Sarah wrote, "Not no, but HELL no!"
Because of Sarah Palin, and her inspiration to others, Obamacare is in shambles. And that gives us another "like Ronald Reagan" trait. Sarah Palin inspires people.
Sarah has been inspiring people for a long time, but her speech at the 2008 Republican National Convention was huge. Expectations were high, and she hit a home run. As Michael Reagan wrote days later in a column titled "Welcome Back Dad":
"I've been trying to convince my fellow conservatives that they have been wasting their time in a fruitless quest for a new Ronald Reagan to emerge and lead our party and our nation. I insisted that we'd never see his like again because he was one of a kind.
I was wrong!
Wednesday night I watched the Republican National Convention on television and there, before my very eyes, I saw my Dad reborn; only this time he's a she.
And what a she!
In one blockbuster of a speech, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin resurrected my Dad's indomitable spirit and sent it soaring above the convention center, shooting shock waves through the cynical media's assigned spaces and electrifying the huge audience with the kind of inspiring rhetoric we haven't heard since my Dad left the scene."
After Ronald Reagan lost his presidential primary bid to Gerald Ford in 1976, most considered him washed up, a has been. Critics, in both parties called him stupid, lazy, naive, inexperienced, even though he had been Governor of California! He was a B-Movie actor. Some even said Reagan was dangerous!
Reagan was from tiny Tampico, Illinois. He went to the "wrong" school, Eureka College. And Reagan was a small town, country boy at heart, his whole life.
The democrats hated Reagan with a passion, and so did the blue blood, country club elite, Rockefeller Republicans. The American people loved Reagan though, and obviously still do. God bless Ronald Reagan, and may his spirit always remain the spirit that inspires us all.
As we all know, the Obama controlled media has went above and beyond the call of duty to downplay the 912 Project Tea Party in Washington, D.C. on Saturday. It’s been completely laughable, to say the least.
We wrote about this earlier, and supplied plenty of photos and video. But it seems the Obama controlled media has it’s orders to cover things up, and they are doing their very best not to disappoint their Dear Leader.
The media in other countries have no such slavish devotion to Obama. This from the UK Daily Mail:
All of the evidence points to numbers between 1.5 and 2 million attendees at the event. There are overhead crowd shots that clearly demonstrate the crowds were some of the largest ever seen in D.C. for a gathering of any kind.
Everyone reports that D.C. for every intent and purpose was shut down due to the incredible amount of folks who came from around the nation to protest big government, Obamacare, communism, and the general wrong path government has us on.
But one of the best pieces of evidence is provided by USA Today. They were kind enough to provide an estimator of Barack Obama’s January inauguration.
You can easily use the handy gauge USA Today has given us to judge the crowd at Obama’s big day, to gauge the crowd size at the 912 Tea party.
Moderate in the Middle has a lot of photos as well as great videos over at their website, that one simply must take a look at.
JoAnn in VA Says:
September, 14, 2009 at 3:00 am
"The photo showing very few people at the march was actually taken of the National Mall. We did not have permission from DC Parks and DC police to use the Mall. We had permission to march on 16th Street, one block north however, and had to start at 10 am instead of the scheduled 1130 beginning time because the DC police told the organizers that we had reached "Critical Mass" and had more people at the starting point than could safely be contained. At 2 pm there were still people marching down 16th Street.
Mr. Obama, can you hear us now?"
Courtesy: Moderate in the Middle
I doubt this will put an end to the misinformation the Obama controlled media will continue to spread, but at least readers of ours will have some hard evidence to show that backs our assertions up.
Now it just so happens, we have video of two protests covered by the same reporter, Sophia Elena , which give us not only a great feel for the 912 event and it’s overwhelming success, but also what a complete and utter failure the pro-Obamacare rally was they next day.
As the first video shows, the overflow crowd was lively and motivated:
This video, also from Sophia Elena Reporting, shows a rally for Obamacare that was held on Sunday.
Rather incredible. It’s obvious that all of the passion is on the side of the American people and not with Obama and his government.
Even with all of David Axelrod’s astroturfing prowess, ACORN’s ability as "community organizers" and their sister organization Service Employees International Union’s (SEIU) ability to round up paid protesters and ship them anywhere, it’s obvious that support for Obama and his tyrannical government is almost non-existent, and certainly not "fired up", to use a favorite Obama rallying cry!
The support for Obamacare is quite obviously dead. If you notice in the video from Sunday, the Obamacare supporters were basically walking in a big circle to make things look better for the camera.
Are you listening over in Congress? Do you understand what this means?
One other note that really says something about the 912 movement. Look at these photos below. The first show the area after the 912 protest. You will notice that Patriots left the grounds rather clean and free of trash when they packed up and left.
Now these photos are of the aftermath of Obama’s inauguration. We thought democrat/communists cared about our environment. Guess we were wrong!
Speaking of ACORN, here’s a nice pallet cleanser for you. It seems ACORN showed up at the 912 protests trying to sell Gadsden Flags. (Don’t Tread On Me)
The man you see in the video taking on ACORN is Tim Jones. As he explains at the end of the video, he observed the ACORN people harassing the Patriots and trying to make a buck off the protest.
It’s funny how all of these communists denounce capitalism as evil, but have absolutely no problem participating in it!
This is great video theater though. Tim Jones has obviously read "Rules For Radicals" the "community organizer’s" rabble rousing bible! Tim uses the methods fringe hate groups like ACORN, Code Pink, and a slew of other left-wing trouble makers, have used for decades to disrupt and intimidate.
It’s a true delight to watch him use their very own methods against them!
You notice the only violence comes from the ACORN people who hit Jones more than a few times. In the end we see our intrepid ACORN crew escorted out of the area by D.C. Park Police!
You know, journalism died a long time ago, so I guess this shouldn’t even surprise anyone that the liberal state controlled media, who are basically stenographers for the Obama administration, would under report this event by oh, almost two million!
What grew out of a simple love for our nation, and inspiration from Fox News’ Glenn Beck, has turned into a serious movement that has been gaining steam since the concept was first announced by Glenn on his Fox News show in March of this year.
As Beck put it, he remembered how united America was on September 12, 2001, the day after the worst attacks on American soil. How we put aside all of our differences and came together as one nation, with one purpose.
Sadly, that feeling is gone. Battle lines have been drawn, and America has become more divided than at anytime any of us have ever seen. Of course, what has once divided us, thanks to the communist ideals of Barack Obama and the democrat/communist party, is now bringing us back together. I guess you could say Barack Obama is the "Great Uniter" just not in the way he had hoped!
With the feeling of those first days after 9/11, Glenn launched the 9/12 Project, along with a set of common sense principles that we need to follow for the nation to survive. Saturday was the culmination of that idea, and those ideals. And by any account, the 9/12 rallies were a rousing success. Not only were there as many as two million in D.C., but numerous cities in every state also held 9/12 and Tea Party protests.
Of course, since this makes Obama look just as bad as he truly is, the media is working overtime to cover the truth up. The state controlled media worked overtime to elect Obama, and sold their credibility forevermore down the road to get their man in office. They went all in on Obama, the worst bet in history.
Now full disclosure, I was not in D.C. but having looked at the various reports, tweets from rally goers, and photos, it is definitely my opinion that while the two million number may be a tad high, it’s certainly not a wild guess.
I also base this on a lifetime of attending large events as a drag racer, and enthusiast. I’ve been to many events with one day crowds in the tens of thousands, the size the Obama media is reporting, including a track attendance record setting event at Houston Raceway Park a few years back, when over 53,000 poured into a track with seating for 40,000. That was nothing compared to D.C. crowds.
Same goes for Texas Motor Speedway, in Ft Worth, Texas. The track seats roughly 200,000 people. That’s a lot of folks, but not as large as the D.C. Crowds. Take a look at this photo taken by Mary Katharine Ham:
Actually the first hint of a huge crowd didn’t come from the protesters, or the media, but from a memo written by a panic stricken top House democrat/communist aide to other aides, as well as liberal/communist activists, as reported by Gary Sargent on his Plum Line blog:
A top House Dem leadership aide has emailed a memo to Dem aides on the Hill and outside liberal groups warning they should brace for a turnout of up to two million people, suggesting Dems worry that if enough conservatives descend on the Mall it will amount to a major PR victory for the right.
The aide, Doug Thornell, warned in the memo that the dust-up over Joe Wilson has been invigorating conservatives. "It looks like Saturday’s event is going to be a huge gathering, estimates ranging from hundreds of thousands to 2 million people," Thornell wrote in the memo, which was forwarded by a source.
In another sign of concern, the memo painstakingly detailed a range of turnout predictions from the event’s organizers, such as this one from tea party leaders promising a crowd of up to 1,000,000.
Adding to Dem concern is the fact that Beck recently claimed a major victory in the ouster of former green jobs adviser Van Jones.
The House leadership memo predicting huge turnout could have been written in hopes that it would leak and inflate expectations for turnout, anticipating that it will fall far short. But Dems on the Hill insist they’re genuinely worried about what tomorrow will bring.
Early in the day Michelle Malkin reported ABC News was saying 2 million, which ABC later backtracked from and came out with the totally laughable 60-70.000.
Michelle also reported that the park police estimated the crowd at 1.2 million. Which I believe is what the protest coordinators had permitted space for.
You can see video as well as more photos and the schematic that was used to estimate the crowd at Barack Obama’s inauguration by visiting Michelle Malkin.com.
You check it out, you decide!
The UK Daily Mail, not exactly a conservative newspaper, also reports that up to two million protesters were in D.C.
This video is time lapse from 8:00 am until 11:30 am and shows the crowds gathering:
Again, you decide.
None of this, of course, takes into account all of the Americans who couldn’t come to D.C. but attended other events all across the nation.
Video of protesters at the start of the event:
"I came here because I thought you might want to hear a black man speak 15 minutes without a teleprompter" _____Mason Weaver
Video of Mason Weaver speaking without a teleprompter!
Of course, there were lighthearted moments too, such as when a CNN reporter, doing a stand up for the in studio host, who was attempting to do a hit piece on Congressman Joe Wilson, got shouted down! First you’ll hear the crowd chanting "tell the truth, tell the truth" then they go into a refrain of "Glenn Beck! Glenn Beck!" Sharp eyes will notice a large photo of Sarah Palin being held up behind the report’s head!
When asked how they felt about Joe Wilson, the crowd goes wild! Oh, in case you were wondering, Joe Wilson has raised over $1 million is 48 hours!
Let that be a lesson to other conservative politicians. If you stand up for what is right, we’ll pay you!
In case you forgot, CNN reporters are not exactly welcome at conservative events.
Hmmm...I wonder why?
"Ask Santa Anna how it went the LAST TIME a President tried to take away Texan’s rights!"
Sign spotted at 9/12 protest in Ft Worth, Texas
No matter the final number count, it’s easy to see that the first annual 9/12 celebration was a complete success. The movement that Glenn Beck created all those months ago has started to unite patriotic Americans nationwide. People from every walk of life, every race, sex, and religious creed have learned they are not alone. They have learned their voices count.
People who have never been involved in politics in their life are excited and hopeful. Hopeful that we take control of our nation. Take the power away from corrupt, power mad politicians, and give it back to the people, as our founders intended.
To view a large collection of photos from the D.C. protest please click here.
Here's a couple that I liked:
Here are some more crowd shots:
So where was Barack Obama during all of the festivities? Well, as they say, if you can’t stand the heat.........
Actually, Obama is still trying to shove his communist Obamacare fiasco down America’s throat. Already the most overexposed President in our nation’s history, Obama took to the road yet again!
I got a hint for you Mr. President, you won the election. The time for the cheesy campaigning and ACORN style "community organizing" is over! How about you stay in the White House and do your job!
Obama chose to cut and run away from the D.C. protests to hold another Amway sales meeting, this time in Minneapolis!
A small crowd of around 15,000 showed up to hear the Community Organizer-In-Chief chant "fired up!" Ah, those were the days, eh Mr President? Back when things were carefree and easy.
This being President is hard and junk, huh?
Just as indignant towards the American people as he was during his joint address to Congress, Obama bellowed: "I will not accept the status quo. Not this time. Not now,"
What our President fails to grasp is the fact that all of us would love a little health care reform, but want nothing to do with anything that even resembles this insane boondoggle he is trying to force feed the American people!
Mr President, give us some tort reform, make insurance policies portable, deregulate so people can buy insurance nationwide instead of only within their state, and then get out of the way!
One could write a great health care reform bill in ten pages or less! It is beyond ridiculous that we have a health care monstrosity, that really does little for health care, or reform, and takes 1017 pages to do it!
Mr President, maybe you should listen to the advice of Sgt Joe Friday and Officer Bill Gannon:
