Palin Not Running In 2012?

Well it says so at this ABC News link.

Nothing up at Conservatives For Palin yet.

National Review has it.

I'm one sad puppy today. About politics. But I do feel rather GA 144.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Romney Gets Carter Endorsement

Jimmy Carter has a few kind words for Mitt Romney.

On former Massachusetts Gov. Romney, the former Democratic president said he would like to see Romney win the Republican presidential nomination.

"I'm not taking a position, but I would be very pleased to see him win the Republican nomination," Carter said on an interview on MSNBC set to air Thursday night.

Carter also said he appreciated that Rep. Bachmann (R-Minn.) worked on Carter's presidential campaign in 1976.

I think this will really help Mitt in the general election. If he gets that far.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

It Has Started

In my recent post Looking For A Counter Strategy I discussed how the Democrats might use the Drug War to improve their chances in 2012.

Well it has started. There is a MoveOn petition designed to get the Ds to send a message to the President and Congress. Face the Drug War's Failure.

Here is the first section of the petition.

To be delivered to: The United States House of Representatives, The United States Senate and President Barack Obama
Within the last year, the Global Commission on Drug Policy, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, the US Conference of Mayors and both the National Black and Latino Police Associations along with the NAACP and many other international organizations and individuals have called for an end to the current mechanism of drug war.

Currently, there is not one high echelon proponent of drug war willing to discuss this subject in any open, public venue. Therefore, let us quench our thirst for justice and open this dialogue not just on the editorial pages or the occasional broadcast of two-studio banter, but rather we must have an open, national debate on the subject of drug war.

The Republicans are in no way ready for this.

The debate of course will be opened on Oct 2nd when Ken Burn's Prohibition - the movie comes to a PBS Station near you.

The Keys To The Next Election

Cynthia Yockey has some thoughts on why Obama will win the election in 2012.

Last week Allan Lichtman, a professor at American University, renewed his 2010 prediction that Obama will win in 2012. Prof. Lichtman developed a system of 13 keys to winning the presidential election in 1981 that has correctly predicted the winner of the last seven elections. According to Prof. Lichtman, only six keys are needed to win and Obama has nine...

She follows that with the following point.

I think the Left is correct in asserting that the social conservative agenda is identical to a promise to impose theocracy. The inability of the Right to see the totalitarian nature of social conservatism when it is a political agenda to use government force where persuasion has failed mirrors the inability of idealistic Leftists to grasp that you can’t have free markets (aka capitalism) and socialism at the same time because there is no correct way to have a socialist planned economy that isn’t immediately both totalitarian and corrupt.

She got that right.

Go read the whole thing because there is way more of interest.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Rick Perry - Against The Tenth

Fromma Harrop in an article entitled The Progressives' Freedom Agenda has this to say about Rick Perry.

The third week in July, Republican Gov. Rick Perry said that the U.S. Constitution -- whose 10th Amendment limits federal power -- gives states the right to decide on such matters as abortion and gay marriage. The fourth week in July, the Texan recanted. He now supports a federal ban on abortion and gay marriage. Social conservatives told him they didn't cotton to giving states the right to defy their views on things they care about.

Perhaps it's time for progressives to pick up the freedom banner that was so quickly dropped in the mud of Republican primary politics. Here are examples of intrusive state and federal government, ripped from the headlines:

Here is one example I totally agree with.

--"Authorities Seize $800 Million Worth of Pot in California." Last month, federal agents said they had uprooted $632,000 worth of marijuana plants in Mendocino National Forest. The raid also picked up 38 guns, 20 vehicles, trash, chemicals and 40 miles of irrigation lines in what's supposed to be a repository of nature in Northern California. The growers are said to be Mexican-based drug traffickers who threatened hikers.

So much wrong with this picture. If marijuana were legal, there would be no associated garbage in our national forests. It would grow freely on American farms. Thousands of drug traffickers would be put out of business, and the taxpayers would save the billions they spend on eradicating a natural plant.

Law enforcement officials have a habit of overstating the size of their drug seizures, but suppose the pot pulled up in the Mendocino National Forest raid were sold legally and taxed? Harvard's Jeffrey Miron, who specializes in drug war economics, told me that the state and federal government could have "plausibly" collected $250 million to $300 million on this haul "if regular taxes were collected at all stages of production, transportation, etc." That number might be large, he added. Some economic activity in growing pot, such as fertilizer, is already taxed. "But still, some non-trivial fraction would be collected in taxes."

And Rick Perry? Ten months ago, he said that medical marijuana was OK for California but not for Texas. But he said the same thing about New York state and gay marriage, before the social conservatives revised him.

What did Thomas Paine say about "summer soldiers and sunshine patriots" abandoning principle for political expediency? Rick Perry couldn't hold firm for one lousy month.

Yeah. The Right is strictly for the Constitution except when it interferes with their plans.

I never noticed a Prohibition Amendment. Except for Alcohol.

Let me add that I do not believe for a moment In the Left's "Freedom Agenda". But they are excellent at marketing and they might just win the next election (or at least reduce their losses) with this stuff.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Palin Tweet

According to Sarah Palin Information (not an official Palin site), Sarah tweeted this video:

I’ll be talking about this and more on September 3rd. http://fb.me/129u9eYLN

I think she is in.

You can find further links at the Sarah Palin Information site link above.

BTW thanks to Frank a commenter at Classical Values who was asking me if I thought Palin would run.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

I Have A Running Clue

In Running? I was asking the question: "Is Sarah Palin running?" A topic that really captures my interest. Obviously some research is in order. So I'm reading the comments at the Hill Buzz piece I linked to earlier and found this little gem:

jenforpresident

Kevin, there appears to be an "easter egg" on the Tea Party of America website. If you go to www.teapartyofamerica.org/ and hover over the "Events" button with your mouse, the alt text says "Restoring America Presidential Event". I think this is it! Sarah has been heavily promoting the event, which is very unusual for her. And this video is most definitely a campaign video. So exciting!

The teapartyofamerica site has been updated (as noted in the next comment). But this is the link from the "Events" button at the bottom of the page:

www.teapartyofamerica.org/event/restoring-america-presidential-event

Which of course is proof of absolutely nothing. I think I'm getting the vapors.

Update: I was looking at the MapQuest map for Indianola, Iowa and found that I could leave Rockford, travel through Dixon, Illinois (Reagan's home) and be in Indianola in 5 hours and 7 minutes. Only about 15 minutes longer by scenic Route 2 than the fastest route. Wouldn't that be some fun? Plus it is the first mate's birthday. Unfortunately she is no Palin fan. Seriously honey. A good looking woman with a very libertarian husband? Sounds like another couple I know. Personally. Nice try buddy. Will it work? Hope springs eternal. But I probably ought to give that one a rest.

In any case, could some one going do me a favor? I'd like to see a sign like:

It's The Constitution? Where Is The Drug Prohibition Amendment?
at the event. And please. Take pictures and report anecdotes if you do. I'll post them.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

The Women's Vote

I was looking at the women's vote in the 2008 election. And came across this:

Women's votes were a significant factor in Senator Barack Obama's victory, with a sizable gender gap evident in the election results....Women strongly preferred Obama to Senator John McCain (56 percent for Obama, 43 percent for McCain), unlike men, who split their votes about evenly for the two presidential candidates (49 percent for Obama, 48 percent for McCain).

The Republicans have their work cut out for them.

Take my own mate. I was telling her before the election that Obama would be a communist disaster. She voted for Obama anyway. When I asked her why, she said she didn't like Palin. Not because of Palin's policy positions. Nope. She didn't like the way Palin talked. Ugh.

BTW the mate now agrees with me that Obama is a disaster. And we voted in Illinois which went solidly for Obama. So two canceled votes. Not important. What is important is the attitude.

Sometimes I despair that we ever gave women the vote. Just kidding honey. Well, maybe not. (I'm in the dog house now - if she reads this).

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Hope And Change? Meet The Snake

Via Legal Insurrection and Chicago Boyz.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Blue D Hell (say it fast)

The title was inspired by the picture at this posting: [Fill In Blank] Industry Furious At Obama by my friend Ed Driscoll.

Palin X-Rated

The producers of the Palin Campaign (not yet) bio film “The Undefeated,” plan to release an X-rated version.

The director of “The Undefeated,” a glowing new film about Sarah Palin, said he plans to release an “X-rated” version of the film to better convey “vile” comments about her from sources including celebrities and obscure Twitter users.

Dang. I was hoping for a teachable moment. Her and Todd giving baby making lessons. In my dreams. I guess.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Hacksaw Bow

Hacksaw Bow? Sounds like a small river town in Michigan. But that is not what I'm talking about. It is a criticism of Jennifer Rubin's opinion of Palin's political status. Rubin thinks Palin is interested in the kingmaker/pundit role. She doesn't want to be President. I said:

Let me explain what Palin is doing to you commentators. She has you convinced that she is not in. Fine. You write a bunch about that. Palin is a top political story when many other Republican candidates are announcing. She just used you to suck up the oxygen.

When she announces there will be another flurry of articles. Sucking up more oxygen.

She is playing you like a fiddle. Only she is using a hacksaw as a bow. That has got to hurt. She is now living rent free inside your mind. This coming campaign is going to be so much fun.

What has Palin said on the matter? She has a fire in her belly. I have no doubt of that. And I heard her say a few days ago that she still has a few weeks to think about it before she commits. What are her themes of late? The Revolutionary War period. Given all that I'm going to go out on a limb and say Palin will announce on 4 July 2011.

Of course you will be on me (deservedly) if I'm wrong.

H/T Instapundit

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Paul Launches Assault On RomneyCare

(Note that the time shown in the image is GMT - heh)

Ron Paul is launching an all out attack on Mitt Romney and the socialized medicine plan he devised for Massachusetts.

This could be just round one for Paul.

It looks like Paul is only beginning to hit Romney on health care. Sandwiched between the title and the money on Paul's website are the words "Round One."

I'd love to see Romney knocked out early.

And just as a completely wacky aside I think 4 July 2011 would be a good day for Palin to announce. Something about America's birth certificate maybe.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Palin Is Lacking

Yep. Palin can't run for President according to the professionals.

"The field isn't set yet, not by a long shot," Palin said during a visit to Gettsyburg, Pa. "It's going to change up a lot. And I think there will be more strong candidates jumping in."

Will Palin be one of them? The political professionals who cite her utter lack of a campaign organization still say no, and they're probably right.

Palin has a very effective campaign organization that created a "miracle" in Nov 2010. The largest turn over of political alignment for 50 or 80 years from Federal to State to local. The name of the campaign organization?

The TEA Parties

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Easily Overshadowed

Sarah Palin has apologized to the Romney Campaign for making it invisible in New Hampshire. It is just a coincidence.

"It's coincidental that we are in the same territory at the same time, but more power to Mitt as he mounts his campaign and best of luck to him," she added.

Yet Palin also took a shot at Romney over the health care law he signed as Massachusetts governor.

"Romneycare" looks not unlike the controversial "Obamacare" federal health care law passed by Democrats in 2010 and reviled on the right; both feature a mandate that residents purchase health insurance, which is at the center of conservative legal challenges to the federal law.

Well yeah. He is vulnerable on RomneyCare. He is also vulnerable on ethanol subsidies. None the less he will be the Republican nominee for President according to the LSM talking heads. It is inevitable. Unless something unexpected happens.

How To Tell A Has Been

George Will does a masterful job of proving his irrelevance. Via Crooks and Liars. (It figures)

The Crooks? The Liars? do have one thing pegged. Palin is spooking the Republican establishment.

The Republican establishment is really spooked at the idea that Sarah Palin might run for President in 2012 after she decided to take a long bus ride and George Will didn't waste any time by throwing a haymaker on ABC's This Week:

Will: There's no undecided vote in this country anymor eon Sarah Palin The threshold question, it's not usually asked, but it’s in everyone’s mind in a presidential election. ‘Should we give this person nuclear weapons?’ And the answer [Palin], answers itself.” That doesn't mean she can't be without political consequence.

When Republicans call into question another Republican's national security chops you know there's real animus goin' on. Conservatives and the media always give the edge to protecting the homeland to the GOP so this isn't some off the cuff quote. Conservative pundits and kingmakers are speaking out against her hard so maybe the RWNM will focus on the Conserva-bias being dished out against her instead of the usual mean MSM media.

Well isn't that interesting. It only makes me like her more.

This video is a very nice illustration of why Palin has cut loose from her bases and is now rampaging across the countryside.


John King at about 3:10 into the video complains that Greta Van Susteren has a lock on reporting Palin's tour and he can't even get a bus schedule. So what does that mean? Well they have to follow Palin's tour or miss out. All the other candidates? Sucking wind. Or hind tit. As you prefer.

The whole media industrial complex is complaining about Palin.

But Monday, two things became clear: She will not shy away from unscripted encounters, and she isn't going let anyone know in advance where she's going as she wends her way across the country this summer.

I guess the MSM is not as self important as it used to be. Dang. That has got to hurt.

Palin explains why she doesn't owe the media anything in the below video. About a minute and a half (plus a commercial) of very entertaining video.



The audio isn't real clear but you can get a transcript here.

I believe that what is going on here is disintermediation. The proper definition under the circumstances: gutting the liberal media. See Will, George above.

Palin looks good in leather. I'd like to see the man from Chicago ne (Hawaii) or his wife pull that off.

CBS (where I got the photo) had this to say:

Riding onto the scene on the back of a Harley-Davidson, Sarah Palin made a dramatic entrance Sunday at a much-anticipated appearance with the Rolling Thunder bike rally in Arlington, Virginia, an early stop on her recently-launched national bus tour.

The annual motorcycle ride, part of a two-day effort by the Rolling Thunder nonprofit organization, means to draw attention to American troops who have gone missing in combat and remain unaccounted for. Hundreds of participants ride in support of the cause yearly.

Palin did not give a speech during her appearance, but said, when asked about the significance of the event, that it was important to honor men and women in uniform.

The former Alaska governor was joined by her husband, Todd, and daughters Bristol and Piper, the whole family riding in on motorcycles. (Todd helmed a black and burgundy cycle with Piper on the back, and Bristol and the former vice presidential candidate each rode on the back of separate bikes.)

ABC begins its whine this way:

Sarah Palin launched her bus tour this Memorial Day weekend, not on a bus, but on the back of a Harley, with expected stops in Philadelphia, Gettysburg, and all the way through early primary state, New Hampshire.

Palin began her trip riding across the Potomac River from Virginia into the nation's capitol. During the first leg of her tour, she joined Rolling Thunder, an organization that aims to raise awareness about American military personnel who are missing in action, or prisoners of war.

She is not running. And according to the experts even if she is running she can't win. This is going to be one of the funnest election campaigns ever.

The Lost Angels Times is very bitter. And they are not even clingers.

Sarah Palin's much-publicized "One Nation" bus tour got off to a chaotic and rumbling start Sunday in Washington, with no bus in sight and the potential presidential candidate only occasionally popping into view.

The former Alaska governor, who has indicated she is still contemplating a run for the White House in 2012, showed up at a motorcycle rally for veterans in a Pentagon parking lot, clad in black leather, a black helmet and sunglasses. She arrived with her husband, Todd, and two of their three daughters in tow.

"We're here to honor our vets," Palin told NBC News.

Someone in the crowd asked whether she would run for president. "I don't know yet," Palin replied, according to Fox News. Amid the rumble of motorcycles, she was also asked whether all of her tour events would be so loud.

"Oh, it would be a blast if they were this loud, if they smelled this good," Palin said. "I love that smell of the emissions!"

How declasse. She loves the smell of motorcycle emissions. Boy I love that girl. Almost as much as I love the first mate. The first mate was just saying to me the other day that she misses our bike. If I'm ever in the money again honey we will get another one.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Palin Is Not Running - She Is Touring

Hill Buzz brings to my attention a curious fact about Sarah Palin. She has not announced for President. Instead she is taking a summer vacation. Touring America. Starting in Washington, DC.

Today, Sarah Palin announced a bus tour called The One Nation Tour, organized as a “soft launch” to her Presidential campaign that will allow her to test fundraising, messaging and audience response to her candidacy without the expense or paperwork of forming an exploratory committee or subjecting her prematurely to onerous McCain-Feingold (irony alert) campaign financing and reporting laws “to educate and energize Americans about our nation’s founding principles, in order to promote the Fundamental Restoration of America.”

That sound you just heard was Chris Matthew’s head exploding.

The second sound was a semi-conscious Mittens Romney impacting the chintz upholstery on his fainting couch.

We can’t tell you what that smell is, but it’s coming from the “opposition research” trolls in the basement of the White House.

Palin’s rockstar-style tourbus, decked out with traditional American iconography such as the Constitution and the Liberty Bell, will kick off the tour in Washington, D.C. and continue throughout historic sites in New England

As I said at She's In, Palin is running. And you know what? Her fans are even more fanatical than Ron Paul's. And she has something very important for American politics as shown by the recent standing ovation Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu got in Congress the other day. She, unlike Ron Paul, loves Israel.

The Jerusalem Post reports that Palin, the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee, and her husband, Todd, met with Netanyahu and his wife, Sara, at their official residence in Jerusalem. Palin traveled to Israel after delivering a speech in India over the weekend.

The interesting question for me is, will she pick
Gary Johnson as her VP to shore up her Libertarian creds in the same way McCain picked Palin for the same purpose? That would be very ironic. And DELICIOUS!

And Johnson can move some lefties to the right. Willie Nelson likes him. And so does High Times magazine.

There is a long way to go until August 2012 and things can change, but I'm liking the way things are shaping up so far.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

She's In

Well, that is my opinion. Who is she? Sarah Palin. And why do I think she is in? There is a movie coming out in June.

Shortly after Republicans swept last November to a historic victory in which Sarah Palin was credited with playing a central role, the former Alaska governor pulled aside her close aide, Rebecca Mansour, to discuss a hush-hush assignment: Reach out to conservative filmmaker Stephen K. Bannon with a request. Ask him if he would make a series of videos extolling Palin's governorship and laying to rest lingering questions about her controversial decision to resign from office with a year-and-a-half left in her first term. It was this abdication, Palin knew, that had made her damaged goods in the eyes of some Republicans who once were eager to get behind her potential 2012 presidential campaign.

The response was more positive than Palin could have hoped for. He'd make a feature-length movie, Bannon told Mansour, and he insisted upon taking complete control and financing it himself -- to the tune of $1 million.

The fruits of that initial conversation are now complete. The result is a two-hour-long, sweeping epic, a rough cut of which Bannon screened privately for Sarah and Todd Palin last Wednesday in Arizona, where Alaska's most famous couple has been rumored to have purchased a new home.

The fruits of that initial conversation are now complete. The result is a two-hour-long, sweeping epic, a rough cut of which Bannon screened privately for Sarah and Todd Palin last Wednesday in Arizona, where Alaska's most famous couple has been rumored to have purchased a new home. When it premieres in Iowa next month, the film is poised to serve as a galvanizing prelude to Palin's prospective presidential campaign -- an unconventional reintroduction to the nation that she and her political team have spent months eagerly anticipating, even as Beltway Republicans have largely concluded that she won't run.

Iowa next month? Well that sure sounds like she is running. And Beltway Republicans? Yeah. I get it. It is "Massacare" Romney's turn. Like that will fire up the TEA Party. More like a blanket party for grass roots Republicans.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Jews For Sarah

This has got to be totally ironic - in a very good way. Commenter accordingtohoyt who is our very own (Classical Values) Sarah had this to say about the linked article which discusses Obama's betrayal of the Jews:

I’m almost at the point where I can think about this without foaming at the mouth. I can’t even imagine why anyone sane (let alone anyone Jewish) wouldn’t see this as the grossest of betrayals!

It is not all of us Sarah. There is a group called Jews For Sarah. This is their mission statement:

Jewish Americans for Sarah Palin is an independent group of academic, religious and political leaders, dedicated to promoting consideration of Gov. Sarah Palin’s political positions in the wider American Jewish community.

We find Ms. Palin’s policy positions on Israel, Iran, national security, fiscal responsibility, energy, and social policy – as well as her record on these issues as governor of Alaska and candidate for Vice President of the United States – to be serious, substantive and politically mainstream.

Though not at present a candidate for any political office, Gov. Palin’s track record in public office has been exemplary, and has withstood the test of the most demanding scrutiny of investigative news media. Gov. Palin’s ongoing contribution to the public discourse in America is welcome.

Let me add that our Sarah's contribution to the public discourse in America is most welcome too. My thanks to both ladies for their contribution to life in America. It wouldn't be the same without you.

So will Palin be running? Well no one can know for sure. But this is what she said recently: “I Do Have the Fire in My Belly”. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

And who would I like to see as her running mate? Gary Johnson. And Herman Cain wouldn't be bad either.

Cross Posted at Classical Values

Palin In Wisconsin 16 April 2011

Is this a campaign speech or what?