Jedediah Bila, writing in Human Events:
What’s most interesting about the repeated attacks on Palin – from the Left and the Right – is that they are routinely empty. They are often featured in online hit pieces that are void of any reference to her record and/or her contributions over the past two years to discussions of national and international significance. They focus on absurd criticism of her TLC series, which so many elitists deemed anti-intellectual and so many regular Americans deemed relatable. They call her a “quitter” because she resigned from the governorship, but don’t reveal the reality that she was faced with numerous frivolous ethics charges made by political operatives that were costing her state hundreds of thousands of dollars and her staff countless hours to refute. The fact that she made the right decision for Alaska, and that the charges were all ultimately dismissed, get buried under the frenzied need some have to try to sabotage her at all costs.
And let’s not forget the manner in which the authors of these hit pieces so often compile every possible negative quotation on Palin they can find, particularly from the mouths of whom they consider to be the conservative intellectual elite. The quotes are typically nonsensical and/or erroneous, and mark embarrassing moments for those who uttered them, as they tend to reflect a complete lack of awareness of Palin’s accomplishments, writings, and outspoken stand on policy initiatives.
Since September 2010 alone, Sarah Palin has penned commentary on such topics as the unrest in Libya, the protests in Wisconsin, Obama’s 2012 budget proposal and State of the Union address, getting tough with Iran and standing with Iranians who seek democracy, challenging the specifics of President Obama’s energy policy, the omnibus spending bill, defeating the New START, opposition to state bailouts, tax policy, a message to Republican freshmen in Congress, opposition to quantitative easing, and more. She has repeatedly been a leading voice—via television appearances and speaking engagements—against the dangers of ObamaCare and the risks of President Obama’s approach to energy. During the 2010 election season, SarahPAC endorsed 81 candidates across the country. Let’s take a look at a few samples of Palin’s written commentary:
On Obama’s 2012 budget proposal: “The fine print reveals a White House proposal to increase taxes by at least $1.5 trillion over the next decade. If you want to know how minuscule their proposed $775 million-a-year budget ‘cuts’ really are, please look at this chart. The proposed cuts are so insignificant—less than 1/10 of 1% of this year’s $1.65 trillion budget deficit—that they are essentially invisible on the pie chart. That speaks volumes about today’s budget.”
On Iran: “Much more can be done, such as banning insurance for shipments to Iran, banning all military sales to Iran, ending all trade credits, banning all financial dealings with Iranian banks, limiting Iran’s access to international capital markets and banking services, closing airspace and waters to Iran’s national air and shipping lines, and, especially, ending Iran’s ability to import refined petroleum. These would be truly ‘crippling’ sanctions.”
On energy: “Right now Beltway politicos are quibbling over cutting $61 billion from our dangerously bloated $3.7 trillion budget. Allowing drilling in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas will enrich federal coffers by $167 billion without raising our taxes. If we let Harry Reid keep his ‘cowboy poetry,’ would the White House consider letting us drill?”
On quantitative easing: “If the President was serious about getting the economy moving again, he’d stop supporting the Fed’s dangerous experiments with our currency and focus instead on what actually works: reducing government spending and boosting business investment through good old-fashioned supply-side reforms (cutting taxes and reducing overly burdensome regulations). Simply running the printing presses in order to avoid paying off your debts is no way for a great nation to behave.”
My question to the critics: How is that commentary lacking in intellect? How do you find her active leadership role in these important debates to be unpresidential?
With respect to those who label her “unqualified” for a presidential run, I ask, how so? A resume that features the roles of city council member, mayor, governor, small-business owner, chairwoman of the AK Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, and vice chairwoman of the National Governors Association Natural Resources Committee doesn’t fit your vision of “qualified”? Opening up drilling for oil and gas at Point Thomson for the first time in decades, reducing earmark requests for Alaska by more than 80%, establishing Alaska’s Petroleum Integrity Office to oversee safe energy development, investing $5 billion in state savings, reducing spending for Fiscal Year 2010 by more than $1 billion from Alaska Gov. Frank Murkowski’s FY 2007 budget, vetoing nearly half a billion dollars in wasteful spending, signing Alaska’s Clear and Equitable Share bill into law to incentivize development and to ensure that Alaskans would receive a “clear and equitable” share of oil profits, and actualizing the “Alaska Gasline Inducement Act”—the largest private sector infrastructure project in North American history—somehow make Sarah Palin “unqualified”?
The truth is that Sarah Palin is more than qualified to step up to the plate this 2012 election cycle if she so chooses. And as far as her “electability,” that decision rests with voters, not with those media and establishment voices who are decidedly desperate to shove her off the stage and to shape the 2012 presidential narrative.
Somewhere (and by somewhere, I think we all know where), a grown man lets out a high-pitched screech and threatens to beat Tim Tebow’s mother to death with a bag of cream cheese-topped couture cupcakes.
Doesn’t matter. She’s unelectable. Unelectable I say! Because I say so!
Don’t make me put my kilt on!
open tag in the main body of the post
for once it’s not my fault yaay me!
Ask yourself, why do they hate her?
Look out – ROGUE ITALICS!!
Because they hate Joe, that’s why.
KEEP YOUR UTERUS OUT OF MY GOVERNMENT!
How far we’ve come.
How is that commentary lacking in intellect?
Easy. The Palin haters say she doesn’t write anything. They refuse to believe she is even capable of reading anything more complicated than a fast-food menu (and only then, because it has pictures) let alone actually put words to paper.
Bristol wrote some opinion piece and the first furious “comments” on it ran the lines of “like her mom she is too stupid a c*** to write this.”
Come on now. The author of that piece’s name is “Jedediah”. What Cletus wasn’t available? Fracking backwoods republitards!
ot herman cain is on o’rielly tonite
And they claim anything in writing that bears her byline is therefore ghostwritten, QED.
What, you want evidence? What are you, some kind of Palin-loving Palinizing Palinist!?
Evidence… schmevidence… Or so I’ve been TOLD.
Speaking of Herman Cain, while it may not be historic, I think it’s very important to the country that he run and be elected President of the United States. That way people will know that it was the content of his character, specifically the European ideas he inherited from his mother and maternal grandparents, rather than the color of his skin which doomed the Obama presidency.
We’ve gone through this before but I wish we could drop this angle from the list of achievements because it’s either false or phrased in such a way that it doesn’t convey whatever it’s supposed to convey.
In 2007, the state of Alaska spent around $7.8 billion. In 2010, the state of Alaska spent around $9.5 billion dollars. She might have more intelligently allocated that money (I certainly assume she did) within the overall budget but the total went up by around $1.7 billion or around 21%. It wasn’t reduced by $1 billion around 13%.
(Numbers from here. If that’s a bad source, please let me know.)
Last time we went around a bit on the different infrastructure needs of various states and what was cut in one section of the budget even if it was moved — and added to — somewhere else. I’ll grant all of that once more without any argument. But, we’re not doing ourselves any favors by pretending that anyone is ever actually cutting overall budgets. Not even our favorites. We have to come to grips with that.
Even Scott Walker’s budget cuts won’t do much more than mildly trim back the drastic recent expansion by around 6% or 7%. I’m not happy about that but it’s simply true.
Palin would make an excellent Secretary of the Interior.
President Obama is not going to allow that, not even in a second term.
The 2007 budget was adopted while Murkowski was still governor, but a significant part of the appropriations for that fiscal year (which IIRC runs July 1 through June 30, with only the latter half actually in the calendar year for which it’s named) were sent to Palin’s desk.
Likewise, while Palin may have signed the 2010 budget, nearly all of the appropriations were sent to the desk of her successor, Sean Parnell — who appointed as his lite-gubnor (whose sole function is to head up the state elections division) a Murkowskyite.
It would be far more useful to compare fiscal years that didn’t straddle administrations, I’ll grant that much.
I should add that Alaska’s governors take office in December of the year they’re elected (which I had forgotten while writing #15), so Palin would have been in office for most of FY 2007.
Points taken, McG.
There are probably a dozen wrinkles and specifics that I’m purely ignorant of. I think my general point stands though.
When you read that the 2010 budget reduced spending by $1 billion from the 2007 budget it puts a formula into your head. Convert the word problem. $[2007] – $1 billion = $[2010], right? Well, no, it’s actually $[2007] + $1.7 billion = $[2010].
This isn’t to rag on Palin, btw. I know shit about shit when it comes to Alaska’s actual infrastructure needs.
I just don’t like this specific bullet point.
Thank you, Jeff. Very refreshing.
Well bh, most people even in Alaska wouldn’t know details like those I pointed out, and that’s mainly because when I lived up there I fell in with a bad crowd, i.e., conservatives and libertarians.
Here’s a simple number-crunching exercise though:
Some of that extra per capita in Alaska is necessitated by the state’s size and sparsely distributed rural population — but it’s made possible by the fact that only the government can own mineral rights in Alaska. The moral of the story is, if you’re writing a constitution expecting Congress to grant statehood, don’t do it at a university — known in Fairbanks as Moscow on the Hill when I lived there. These days, more like Pyongyang.
OT, here’s a three month old story I never heard about til right now.
The Ivory coast had an election where a Christian won, and the Muslim president is refusing to step down, firing on peaceful demonstrators.
Anyone else heard about this?
I’d like Palin to the Secretary of MY Interior, if you know what I’m saying!
Seriously. This is preaching to the choir (hopefully). We all know liberal sexism exists, and Palin is target Numero Uno. The first woman president cannot be a Republican. The Left owns identity politics because the Right rejects identity politics. Ergo, any non-RichWhiteMale who runs for office must be a race-or-sex traitor.
The Left has completely rejected logic, and now relies on Magic, Emotion, and Fantasy to get their points across.
Helloooo… racism = hatred of unions! 34 = 8.4 x 10^23. There’s nothing the Left can’t make happen if they just believe it enough. Absolute control of the Media and Hollywood (one in the same) help this Fantasy Administration.
ot ludditeism exposed in germany
link
I actually saw that on CNN, Lee.
Really Pablo, I only heard it from a caller on a local radio talk station.
Course I don’t watch CNN, so I guess there’s that.
Is CNN becoming relevant again?
ot the hermanator vs juan williams: fish in a barrel
Mmmmmm….no. It wasn’t extensive coverage, and I want to say it was like on a Saturday morning where they stick the human interest stuff that isn’t really in the news cycle. But they did do a couple of minutes on it. I mean, if they haven’t put Fareed Zakaria on it, how important can it be?
Um, Jedediah Bila.
Jedediah Bila is on Red Eye a lot. I don’t know if I’d call her hot, but I wouldn’t kick her out of bed for eating crackers. She’s also very good at advancing a conservative/classical liberal position.
the dear leader is loved in Brazil
link
Whoa.
I’ll be in my bunk.
Ok, everybody, don’t jump on me, I’m just asking, and I wouldn’t be asking if I knew the answer. Do we know for a fact that Palin writes all these commentaries?
Is there any reason to doubt that she does?
>>>Do we know for a fact that Palin writes all these commentaries?<<<
Yes, good point. And while we're on the subject, do we know for a fact that Obama isn't plagiarizing all of his ideas from Nancy Pelosi's gardener? Or that Biden isn't in real life a drooling slack-jawed town drunk? Actually, we sort of do know that last one. The point is that we can probably take things like this on faith unless we have some evidence to the contrary. Unless, of course, you're a sexist who thinks that an attractive woman couldn't possibly be smart enough to write her own material in which case all bets are off.
On CNN’s credibility, I offer this:
http://tiny.cc/w01pj
400 will cover the royal wedding, 50 in Japan.
Priorities.
Do we know for a fact that Palin writes all these commentaries?
I’ve been told she only writes every third word of those commentaries.
Something to add to my #15: as I recall, if the Legislature (at least one house of which is ruled by a coalition of Dem0crats and Murkowskyites), passes a bill by at least the margin necessary to override a veto, the Governor cannot veto it.
In most states and at the federal level, there’s a presumption that legislators who voted for a bill might be persuaded to vote against a veto override — but not in Alaska. So that’s something else to factor into the relationship between Alaska’s Governor and its Legislature.
Yes, good point. And while we’re on the subject, do we know for a fact that Obama isn’t plagiarizing all of his ideas from Nancy Pelosi’s gardener? Or that Biden isn’t in real life a drooling slack-jawed town drunk?
I, uh… well yes. Yes they are.
As for whether or not Palin has a ghostwriter, I can’t say, but it would hardly put her in rare company. Whether or not she writes them, she endorses them.
So unlike some people, I know she’ll have competent people running things while she’s off playing golf.
…or slaying large wild beasts.