Palin Promotions

Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin today posted this Status Update on Facebook:

Senator John McCain's expertise, integrity, and conscientious questioning of the Obama administration's Benghazi fiasco must be listened to and respected. America should be thankful for his passion and intelligence on this all-important national security issue.

Retrieved from: http://www.facebook.com/sarahpalin/posts/10151264705323588.

Four years ago today at 12:26 EDT, “the world shook, the world trembled,” as John McCain made history by introducing the first Republican woman to run for Vice President. While Republicans generally – and rightfully so – shun identity politics, the announcement was the smashing of hard and thick glass ceiling. You can see it in the shock and joy of a woman in the stands as John McCain said, “mother…” That one word – “mother” – is what told the world this was no ordinary ticket. The game had changed forever.

Unknown except to her own circle and some of the conservative cognoscente, former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin’s announcement made her an immediate international household name. During her speech and for at least an hour thereafter, the entire Internet was inaccessible in many locations as the world surfed to the City of Wasilla website and to the Alaska Governor’s Website to learn everything they could about her. Yes, even the Internet succumbed to Gov. Palin’s sonic booms which rumbled around the entire planet. The world learned and was fascinated that this woman was no stranger to doing things that were heretofore considered for “men only.” She was one of the first women to be a professional sportscaster. She took on jobs that men twice her size could not do. She hauled in thousands of pounds of salmon with a freshly broken hand. In politics, she took on the establishments of both parties – and big oil – and won.

Gov. Palin divided our calendars and changed our lives from the moment her name was uttered that summer afternoon. You can read my story, but mine is only one of millions. The NY Post’s headline the following day was only one word, but the one word which captured the extraordinary nature of the announcement.

Those who heard Gov. Palin heard Ronald Reagan’s successor – in a woman’s body. None other than Michael Reagan would say so following Gov. Palin’s convention speech on September 3, 2008. Virtually all Palinistas interpreted Gov. Palin’s carrying of his torch as being the 2008 ticket winning – and when that did not work out – Palin 2012. Though she did not run, Gov. Palin carries Reagan’s torch by executing a wish he made some 37 years ago. In 1975, the former President – at the time former governor Reagan – said, “Let’s have a new first party – a Republican Party – raising a banner of bold colors – no pale pastels – a banner instantly recognizable as standing for certain values which will not be compromised.” By her 2010 endorsements and now her 2012 endorsements, Gov. Palin is building that new first party with or without its existing establishment. Her endorsed candidates are raising that banner of bold colors.

In this RNC video made in 2008, the narrator said at 3:28, “Sarah Palin may not be 6 feet tall, but she is a self-made giant in making government work for us.” In 2010, Gov. Palin endorsed 81 candidates with an overall endorsement success rate of 68%. Her success rate on a special subset, “Take Back the 20″ was 90%, since 18 out of her 20 endorsements went on to win their elections. Gov. Palin has endorsed 14 candidates in 2012 thus far with nine primary elections held. You can see her most current success rate in the Master List of Governor Palin’s 2012 Accomplishments. She held 100% for the first six candidates she had endorsed, a record probably never achieved by anyone from either party. All her candidates were chosen specifically to make government work for us. Gov. Palin four years later is even more of a self-made giant in making government work for us.

At 3:45 in the video, the narrator concluded, “when Alaska’s maverick joined America’s maverick, the world shook; the world trembled, and the world will soon be a better place.” Though Gov. Palin’s ticket did not win, the world has become a better place since she rose to national prominence. She leveraged Facebook and Twitter to bring the health care debate, quantitative easing, energy independence, and economic policy issues to the fore. Gov. Palin touched lives outside of politics too. She conducted humanitarian missions in cholera- and earthquake-wracked Haiti and in Alabama following devastating tornadoes. She has raised over $120,000 for wounded soldiers, walked for autism, and the March of Dimes, among others. During her final seven months as Governor, Sarah Palin coordinated and led an airlift to distressed villages in remote western Alaska, sacrificing the political primping and priming, champagne and caviar of the 2009 CPAC conference. The little children to whom she personally distributed supplies were far more important than the Washington DC elites. In these and many more ways, Gov. Palin made the world a better place.

For those Palinistas whose journey began four years ago today, we are no longer rookies and are now veterans in this business. That does not mean the learning stops – quite the contrary – but more is expected of us as veterans. Being a veteran in anything can sometimes lead to being jaded. But, wherever Gov. Palin leads – even when the waters are uncharted and no matter how much time has passed – the magic of this day forever lives in each of us.

The Republican establishment has for the past eight months been promoting the meme that “John McCain having picked Gov. Palin to be his Vice Presidential running mate was a mistake.” The latest specimen in this barrage of lies comes from the CBS News article: McGovern’s VP choice offers Romney a cautionary tale. The story starts out well enough. In 1972, Democratic candidate George McGovern picked Sen. Thomas Eagleton to be his VP running mate. He did not properly vet Sen. Eagleton, who was “flabbergasted” at his own pick. It could accurately be said that he did not vet Sen. Eagleton at all. Eighteen days later, Sen. Eagleton stepped down. The good Senator, it turned out was receiving shock therapy for mental illness. The article’s unnamed author made the point that the Romney campaign was doing a thorough job vetting potential running mates to ensure a similar mistake does not recur.

What does Sen. Eagleton have to do with Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin? Absolutely nothing. But, somehow, the writer felt a great need to bring her into the subject, and that is where the eight months of lies about her VP candidacy come into play. The “Game Change” bilge was dredged back up with the disgusting implication that Gov. Palin is somehow in the same class and category of unfitness for Vice President or President as a mental patient receiving shock therapy.

This follows on the heels of former Vice President Dick Cheney saying that picking Gov. Palin “was a mistake” because she was “only governor for two years,” – which is two years longer than him, because he never held the office. Gov. Palin held the office in fact for two years and eight months. In that time, she overhauled the state’s tax system, ushering in Alaska’s Clear and Equitable Share (ACES); she spearheaded the Alaska Gasline Inducement Act (AGIA), which will build a 1,740-mile pipeline from the North Slope to a terminus in Alberta Canada, so natural gas can be brought to the Lower 48. She brought about ethics reform. Gov. Palin was also at every troop deployment and home-coming; expertly handled crises in her state; created a budget surplus, and improved the state’s credit rating.

She accomplished more in her 32 months, than seven New York State governors have in 50 years. She was the state’s Commander-in-Chief, including control over missiles intended to intercept ICBMs headed to us from places such as Russia, China and North Korea. Her office was like Grand Central Terminal for foreign consuls and diplomats with whom she met to discuss trade agreements and treaties. Then, there was the day-to-day stuff. If picking someone with this background was a mistake, then what’s a successful pick? Kudos to Liz Cheney who went against her own father, stood up and did the right thing on Twitter by defending Gov. Palin.

John McCain, who was at the top of the ticket said – again – that he was satisfied with picking her. He said he was proud of Gov. Palin and her work. He was the one at the top of the ticket. If he was proud of Gov. Palin and her work, that should end the conversation right there….

The Republican Party elites have had a fixation with getting this message out, even though it is patently false. “Game Change” was made specifically to push this lie. What exactly does Gov. Palin’s own party fear now? She announced nearly 10 months ago that she is not running for President. Gov. Palin remains a private citizen not running for any elective office. She may or may not even be personally present at the GOP Convention in Tampa next month. All we have right now is that SarahPAC put a $4,500 deposit on a rental space in nearby Channelside Bay Plaza. Her staff will be in the space, but that does not necessarily mean she will be there. So, why target her like this? Since Romney became the presumptive nominee, the Republican establishment has been working double and triple overtime to slime Gov. Palin as the 2008 VP nominee. The central themes are:

• “Romney should not even think of putting Gov. Palin on his ticket.” With all the talk about Gov. Palin being such “a horrible VP candidate” for McCain, one would think Romney was openly seriously considering her. He is not, she knows he is not, and anyone who even remotely follows either of the former governors knows he is not, so why make an issue of it? Perhaps, these people are fearful that he could put those differences aside, consider her and that she would accept? If she were such a bad VP candidate in 2008, the record would speak for itself. Critics would not have to spend eight months building a case.
• “If Romney even puts a woman on his ticket, she could be too ‘Palin-like’ and a ‘big no-no.’ We saw today how Florida’s Pam Bondi is being positioned now as a “blonde Sarah Palin.”
• “Romney should not even put a man on his ticket who brings about ‘too much excitement’ or who could be considered ‘Palin-like.’ Thus, we endured weeks of why Marco Rubio would supposedly be a lousy choice.

The Republican establishment is sending a clear message: “Gov. Palin and those who share her same qualities are not welcome and will not going to go places in this party.” You see, Sarah Palin took on the establishments of both the Democrats and her own Republican Party – not just as Alaska’s Governor, but as the Chair of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (AOGCC), as Wasilla’s Mayor and as a City Councilwoman. As Chair of the AOGCC, she brought down Randy Reudrich on numerous ethics violations. Reudrich was the Chair of the state Republican Party and a member of the RNC.

Gov. Palin does not just say “sudden and relentless reform” in speeches. She’s executed it for the past 20 years. The GOP knows it. This is why they fear and loathe her. This is why they have slimed her for eight months with a bald-faced lie about her “VP candidacy being a mistake” and continue to do it. This is why they have the gall to compare her VP candidacy to that of a mentally ill Senator receiving shock therapy. Gov. Palin may not be running for any elective office, but with her down-tickets, she is purging the existing establishment and building a new one.

The members of the existing establishment are not stupid and see the handwriting on the wall. They want nothing more than for her to disappear and go away. Gov. Palin will go to war for people who stand up and do the right thing. For those who do wrong, she is a force to be feared and respected. Those who “mis-underestimate” her do so at their own peril and those who learn it always find out way too late. She is a very powerful threat to the Republican establishment, perhaps even more so as a private citizen than if she had run. Gov. Palin is not nicknamed “Barracuda” for nothing.

Audio Transcript of Stephen Bannon’s Interview with C4P’s and U4P’s Stacy Drake on GOPe Palin-Bashing

Audio Transcript of Stephen Bannon’s Interview with Breitbart’s Tony Lee on GOPe Palin-Bashing

Bristol Palin today posted on Bristol’s Blog:

Most of you know I’d rather post photos of my family and write about Alaska than talk about politics. But after reading and watching some recent commentary, I can’t help myself. The chattering class is talking – endlessly – about Mitt Romney’s choice of a Vice Presidential running mate. Will he choose a Governor? A [...]

Retrieved from: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/bristolpalin/2012/04/defending-the-%E2%80%9Cpalin-pick%E2%80%9D/.