The Washington Post reported that Palin, on her first trip to India, said she is still mulling over a 2012 run.
Speaking to a hand-picked, elite audience of Indian business tycoons, lawmakers, Bollywood stars, lobbyists and socialites at a packed media conference in New Delhi, Palin deftly handled the question on everyone’s minds: whether she would throw her hat in the ring in 2012.
“I am thinking about it,” said Palin, who fielded at least three questions on the subject. “I don’t think there needs to be a rush . . . I want to find out who else is going to put their name forward in service.”
If you remember, liberal pundits, (at Obama’s beckoning), lamely tried to label Obama’s State of the Union speech, as “Reaganesque”. Of course, it was nothing of the sort. It was the usual boring, cynical, insincere pack of Obamalies and hopeytales.
Sarah Palin, however, without even trying – simply by being who she is – fit’s the bill.
When asked about the greatest lessons she learned from 2008, Palin did not mention the friction between McCain’s camp and hers. Instead she said the experience informed her public relations strategy.
“One thing I learned is that you cannot trust the mainstream media to accurately report on [your record and accomplishments],” she said. “You have to have the boldness, the courage to set the record straight yourself.”
She even accused Republicans of not defending their records vigorously enough.
“Too often, Republicans have the fighting instinct of sheep sometimes,” she said. When it comes to correcting the record, “I will put my foot down.
Rebutting a criticism often used against her, Palin said, “It’s not victimization, I’m not playing the victim card.
She’s been criticized on both sides for sticking up for herself – most recently on the Republican side, by Roger Ailes.
I stopped watching sitcoms, and most commercial TV at some point in the late eighties because I was so disgusted by what looked to me like the deliberate destruction of family values. I didn’t know at the time that there was a name for what I was reacting to: Cultural Marxism.
The Republican Attorney General in Wisconsin is standing up for the rule of law, saying it’s the state legislature’s responsibility to enact laws, not Judge Maryann Sumi’s. The standoff in Wisconsin rages on.
Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen wasted no time Friday in announcing the Department of Justice will appeal a judge’s granting of a restraining order that prohibits the publication of the law enacting the Budget Repair Bill.
“The Legislature and the Governor, not a single Dane County Circuit Court Judge, are responsible for the enactment of laws,” said Van Hollen. “Decisions of the Supreme Court have made it clear that judges may not enjoin the Secretary of State from publishing an Act.”
Earlier Friday, Dane County Judge Maryann Sumi granted a temporary restraining order blocking publication of 2011 Wis. Act 10, the Budget Repair Bill, which contains changes to the collective bargaining process for public employees in Wisconsin.
The judge made her announcement Friday morning, saying she did not see sufficient evidence indicating the legislative conference committee could not have given a 24-hour notice for its meeting last week.
Implementation of the Act cannot begin until it is officially published by the Secretary of State. Sumi’s order puts that process on hold, a move Van Hollen argues exceeds her authority.
“The Legislature and the Governor, not a single Dane County Circuit Court Judge, are responsible for the enactment of laws,” said Van Hollen. “Decisions of the Supreme Court have made it clear that judges may not enjoin the Secretary of State from publishing an Act.”
Earlier Friday, Dane County Judge Maryann Sumi granted a temporary restraining order blocking publication of 2011 Wis. Act 10, the Budget Repair Bill, which contains changes to the collective bargaining process for public employees in Wisconsin.
The judge made her announcement Friday morning, saying she did not see sufficient evidence indicating the legislative conference committee could not have given a 24-hour notice for its meeting last week.
Implementation of the Act cannot begin until it is officially published by the Secretary of State. Sumi’s order puts that process on hold, a move Van Hollen argues exceeds her authority.
John Bolton’s topic for his CA GOP convention speech was his “Problems with the Obama administration’s foreign policy”. He started right off throwing red meat to the Republican crowd:
“When President Obama took the office on Jan. 20, 2009, when it came to foreign policy and national security, he wasn’t qualified to be president,” Bolton said. “Today, more than two years later, he’s still not qualified.”
During his 27-minute speech to a state GOP convention here, Bolton criticized Obama’s handling of nearly every significant foreign policy matter.
On Libya, Bolton blasted Obama’s latest statement of American goals, saying the White House’s objectives are now “utterly inexplicable,” and that Obama had done a “180-degree shift” on the issue of a no-fly zone.
Likewise, Bolton said Obama was a flip-flopper on Egypt. “Obama had, by my count, four positions on Egypt before Mubarak finally fell.”
Bolton told reporters he’s still considering a 2012 run, but he hasn’t yet made up his mind.
There’s currently an effort underway to give billions of dollars back to the oil companies in Alaska, undermining the tax system passed under Governor Palin’s administration known as ACES (Alaska’s Clear and Equitable Share).
An article in the New York Times today discusses both the call by some in Alaska to dismantle two of Governor Palin’s energy related legislative victories and the claim by others that they are responsible for Governor Palin’s great fiscal record and Alaska’s strong fiscal health.
Current Alaska Governor Sean Parnell is seeking to make changes to Governor Palin’s oil tax structure–”Alaska’s Clear and Equitable Share” (ACES) legislation. This legislation replaced Governor Murkowski’s corruption-tainted oil tax plan. Governor Palin’s plan primarily taxed oil company’s net profits on production, and its flexibility based upon oil prices and its tax credits encouraged greater capital development and investment than Murkowski’s tax structure. Moreover, Governor Palin signed ACES into law in order to make the oil tax structure more in line with the state constitution which stated that natural resources (i.e. oil) belong to the people and need to be developed for the maximum benefit of Alaskans.
While Governor Parnell has stood with Governor Palin on AGIA (the natural gas pipeline), in rejecting federal earmarks, and in opposing Obamacare, he is among those who have called for reforming Governor Palin’s ACES legislation:
Gov. Sean Parnell, Ms. Palin’s fellow Republican and former lieutenant, has announced that it is his top priority to undo parts of major oil tax increases that Ms. Palin made law. He argues that high state taxes, not just federal regulations, are preventing oil companies from exploring new drilling in Alaska and therefore jeopardizing future state revenues.
“Lower taxes means more competitive,” Mr. Parnell said last week. “It means more jobs.”
“We all face energy challenges in the international arena.”
ENERGY is the key. My vision for a free and prosperous America involves an emphasis on energy.
On green energy– I am in favor of an “all of the above approach” to energy.
Unfortunately, though some have stymied responsible drilling. It means we continue to transfer hundreds of millions of American dollars to foreign regimes. Everything is touched.
As government locks up land – they try to tell us that green jobs are our future.
“A recent British study found that for every green job, 4 jobs were lost.”
This is social engineering.
Americans can tap into our own natural resources. And natural gas- green and efficient. Natural gas is an ideal “bridge fuel” to the future. It’s a false fairy tale for government to interfere and for Americans to believe that we don’t need oil and gas.
Lest we forget, Saracuda first proposed a pro no-fly zone strategy in her Feb 22 FB oped, making her the first major political figure to discuss the option. And she continued to push the idea in subsequent public appearances.
On March 11, 2011, Wesley Clark, former NATO chief, opined in The Washington Post that Libya doesn’t meet the test for U.S. military action, which formally began the discussion in the media.
What I thought was odd about this discussion was that it appeared to begin in the mainstream press only with Clark’s thoughtful opposition while one major political figure likely to enter the presidential race of 2012 had already discussed a no-fly zone on Judge Andrew Napolitano’s show: Sarah Palin.
There was no lengthy discussion or response elsewhere. To the MSM, she wasn’t there again today!
But this Wednesday, Benjamin Korn, director of Jewish Americans for Sarah Palin, had a post in the New York’s The Sun coining the phrase “Palin Doctrine.”
In an article titled “Palin Doctrine Emerges as Arab League Echoes Her Demarche on Libya,” he writes: “The call by the Arab League for Western military intervention in an Arab state — in this case asking that a UN ‘no-fly zone’ be imposed over Libya — is not only without precedent but it puts in formal terms what Gov. Palin stated three weeks ago should have been America’s response to the political and humanitarian crisis now unfolding there.”
On January 8, 2011, an unbalanced follower of the left-wing Zeitgeist movement, Jared Loughner, targeting Democrat Rep Gabrielle Giffords at a Safeway in Tucson, sprayed bullets through the crowd of constituents, killing 6, and injuring 13. In the wake of that horror, the left blamed Sarah Palin, and the tea party, saying their uncivil rhetoric led to the senseless tragedy, and the MSM advanced the narrative in their reports. The National Institute For Civil Discourse was launched by former Presidents Clinton and Bush I at the University of AZ in Tucson for “debate, research, education and policy generation regarding civic engagement and civility in public discourse consistent with First Amendment principles”. As liberals used the unfortunate incident to call for a “new tone” in Washington, conservatives suspected that somehow the focus would only be on their tone, while libs would continue using uncivil and unhinged rhetoric unabated.
As the past few months have demonstrated, most notably the past few weeks, conservative suspicions have proven correct. Liberals are able to get away with all kinds of abusive language and behavior that conservatives would be raked over the coals for. The Left-Wing Institute For Civil Discourse was set up to track just how uncivil the left can be, and the double standard that exists in the reporting of left-wing incivility and violence.
The New Tone Award is reserved for liberal notables who spectacularly fail in the area of “civility in discourse”:
Twenty-five people, including several children, were killed during heavy bombardments by forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi on the western city of Misrata on Friday, a doctor in the city told Reuters.
Gaddafi had promised to show “no mercy”, but after the U.N. Security Council authorized “all necessary measures”, and Britain said warplanes were being prepared for action, he retreats:
Gaddafi’s government said it was declaring a unilateral
ceasefire in its offensive to crush Libya’s revolt, as Western
warplanes prepared to attack his forces.
“We decided on an immediate ceasefire and on an immediate
stop to all military operations,” Foreign Minister Moussa Koussa
told reporters in Tripoli on Friday, after the U.N. Security
Council passed a resolution authorising military action.
He called for dialogue with all sides.
Knowing Gaddafi’s history, Western forces should have known to act earlier. Gaddafi is a bully who will bomb women and children, but the minute he’s threatened with retaliation from larger forces, he quickly retreats.
UPDATE:
The ceasefire announcement is being considered a “head-fake”, due to the attack on Misrata:
France, a leading advocate of military action, said it was cautious about the ceasefire announcement and that the “threat on the ground has not changed”.
***
People in Misrata said the rebel-held western city was under
heavy bombardment by Gaddafi’s forces on Friday.
“They are bombing everything, houses, mosques and even
ambulances,” Gemal, a rebel spokesman, told Reuters by phone
from the last big rebel stronghold in the west.
Another rebel named Saadoun said: “We believe they want to
enter the city at any cost before the international community
starts implementing the U.N. resolution.
“We call on the international community to do something
before it’s too late. They must act now.”
A fighter named Mohammed said tanks were advancing on the
city centre. “All the people of Misrata are desperately trying
to defend the city,” he said.
***
People in Misrata said the rebel-held western city was under
heavy bombardment by Gaddafi’s forces on Friday.
“They are bombing everything, houses, mosques and even
ambulances,” Gemal, a rebel spokesman, told Reuters by phone
from the last big rebel stronghold in the west.
Another rebel named Saadoun said: “We believe they want to
enter the city at any cost before the international community
starts implementing the U.N. resolution.
“We call on the international community to do something
before it’s too late. They must act now.”
A fighter named Mohammed said tanks were advancing on the
city centre. “All the people of Misrata are desperately trying
Reuters— The U.N. Security Council voted on Thursday to authorize a no-fly zone over Libya and “all necessary measures” — code for military action — to protect civilians against leader Muammar Gaddafi’s forces.
Ten of the council’s 15 member states voted in favor of the resolution, with Russia, China and Germany the five that abstained. There were no votes against the resolution, which was co-sponsored by France, Britain, Lebanon and the United States.
The French appear to be taking the lead on this…yes, The FRENCH.
I actually think the French can do this and turn the war around.
Andrew McCarthy has a dissenting view on the use of force in Libya:
I respectfully dissent from Wendesday’s NRO editorial, which urges that the United States go to war with Libya.
The editorial doesn’t put it that way. Indeed, it doesn’t call for President Obama to seek a congressional declaration of war, or at least an authorization for the use of military force, as the Bush administration understood was required before commencing combat operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. In this case, complying with the Constitution is almost certain to result in a resounding “no” vote from the people’s representatives — and if you think getting the Patriot Act reauthorized was uphill, figure getting Congress to bless another adventure in Islamic nation-building as Olympus … squared. So apparently ensuring that the American people support a war against Libya is a step is to be dispensed with. The editors instead claim that “the request by the rebels and the Arab League [is] all the authorization we need,” a proposition that I imagine would have come as something of a surprise to Madison, Jefferson, et al.
***
You think Cindy Sheehan will come out of the shadows to protest this action? Will Code Pink be able to tear themselves away from their latest enthusiasm?
McCarthy goes on:
Is it really so obvious that the “rebels” would be better for us than Qaddafi? News flash: The Muslim Brotherhood has a history of not just plotting but actually carrying out the assassination of foreign leaders. Indeed, while we are not happy that Qaddafi is a foreign leader, he does happen to be one, and, as already noted, the Brotherhood’s top clerical leader is openly calling for him to be killed. If we just have a look at Gaza, Sudan, Somalia, and Iran, where Islamist governments reign (the one in Gaza is actually run by the Muslim Brotherhood), it’s fair to say that “ravage” is too gentle a word for what they do to their societies. Look at how Turkey is devolving after eight years of Islamist rule. Clearly, it wasn’t so obvious to the Bush administration that the available alternatives were manifestly preferable to Qaddafi. I don’t know why the editors are so confident on this point.
I repeat, the editors may well be right that a Libyan regime run by the “rebels” could end up being better for us than Qaddafi — at least marginally. But it also might be worse — Qaddafi hasn’t attacked us in many years; the Muslim Brotherhood is actively seeking to destroy the West. In either event, the issue is not what we ought to be hoping for or even working toward diplomatically. It is whether hastening the post-Qaddafi era is so clearly in our interests that it’s worth going to war over.
(Foreign Policy) — The top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee argued against implementing a no-fly zone over Libya on Thursday, and also said that Congress must pass a formal declaration of war if the Obama administration decides to take that step.
But beyond being ignorant, DeMint’s comments are dangerous. I’ve long argued that the Massachusetts health care plan is not only toxic to Mitt Romney’s presidential candidacy, but it could prove toxic to the entire Republican Party. If Romney is excused for crafting and signing the Massachusetts health care plan, it significantly undermines the case against ObamaCare and weakens the effort to repeal it.
Fed up with a president “who can’t make his mind up” as Libyan rebels are on the brink of defeat, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is looking to the exits.
At the tail end of her mission to bolster the Libyan opposition, which has suffered days of losses to Col. Moammar Gadhafi’s forces, Clinton announced that she’s done with Obama after 2012 — even if he wins again.
“Obviously, she’s not happy with dealing with a president who can’t decide if today is Tuesday or Wednesday, who can’t make his mind up,” a Clinton insider told The Daily. “She’s exhausted, tired.”
What will the voter fraud denialists say about this?
The New Mexico secretary of state’s office is cross checking the
state’s voter rolls with a list of thousands of foreign nationals who have been issued driver’s licenses.
The work is far from done, but Secretary of State Dianna Duran testified during a House committee Tuesday that the review has turned up evidence of foreign nationals obtaining a license, registering to vote and casting ballots.
In case you were wondering, that’s not supposed to happen.
In a stunning move late Wednesday, Arizona State Sen. Sylvia Allen’s office informed Glenn Spencer, head of American Border Patrol, a non-profit watchdog group, that her invitation to him to appear before her committee on the border had been withdrawn.
According to the spokesperson, Allen had yielded to political pressure from members of the committee and others to disinvite him.
The Dick Morris Poll of 1000 likely voters throughout the U.S., conducted by live telephone interviews from March 10-15, 2011, found support for the Republican Governors of Wisconsin, Indiana, and Ohio in their battles with their public employee unions by 47-39.
Voters harshly condemned Democratic State Legislators who are boycotting their legislatures to deny the Republicans a quorum so they cannot pass legislation on collective bargaining and municipal unions. By 61-25, they rejected the Democrats’ argument that the boycotts were “necessary to stop legislation restricting unions from being passed” and said they “should return to the legislature and respect the decisions the voters have made in the last election.”
Allahpundit and Ace think that Trump’s trying to endear himself to the conservative base ahead of the primaries, but I’m not sure the conservatives are that enthralled with the issue. Plus, it’s an issue that is certain to attract slings and arrows from the left-wing media. Why would he want to do subject himself to that?
Anyway, Trump is another one who I really hope doesn’t run. PLEASE!
Watch video at site…Targeting the kids with propaganda has always been a high priority for Commies. Wis. Republicans definitely need to defund this abominable program.
***
POSSIBLE BREAK IN MICHELLE MALKIN’S MISSING COUSIN’S CASE:
Update:The Seattle Times has the story of how Marizela may have signed on to AOL/AIM Messenger recently. It could be potentially the huge break we need to locate her. The question is whether it was Marizela who signed on or whether it was someone else who had access to the account or whether the sign-on screen is misdated or outdated. Police are investigating.
Cross your fingers, pray, keep spreading the word. Thank you.
The Budget Committee held a hearing today to consider the nomination of Heather Higginbottom to be President Obama’s deputy budget director. Sen. Sessions confronted the nominee over false assertions from the White House regarding the president’s budget.
Both President Obama and his budget director have repeatedlysaid that the president’s budget allows us to “live within our means,” “spend money that we have each year,” and “begin paying down our debt.” Numerousfact-checkorganizations have found these statements to be false, and Sessions has argued that these inaccurate claims undermine efforts to confront our growing fiscal crisis.
In reality, the budget that President Obama submitted adds $13 trillion to the national debt, never has a deficit less than $600 billion, and spends more than it takes in every single year.
Note: Ms. Higginbottom, a former advisor for Obama’s presidential campaign, has had no formal budget training or experience.
Sessions tried to get an honest assessment from Higginbottom, but was frustrated at every turn.
This heartwarming video of a stranded dog and his put-out companion has gone viral. Watch as the news crew discovers the battered dog, who runs to them, perhaps happy to be rescued, but then turns back to his friend…who the newsmen think may be dead:
We are in Arahama area. Looks like there is a dog. There is a dog. He looks tired and dirty. He must have been caught in the tsunami. He looks very dirty.
He has a collar. He must be someone’s pet. He has a silver collar. He is shaking. He seems very afraid.
Oh, there is another dog. I wonder if he is dead.
Where?
Right there. There is another dog right next to the one sitting down. He is not moving. I wonder. I wonder if he is alright.
The dog is protecting him.
Yes. He is protecting the dog. That is why he did not want us to approach them. He was trying to keep us at bay.
I can’t watch this. This is a very difficult to watch.
Oh. Look. He is moving. He is alive. I am so happy to see that he is alive.
Yes! Yes! He is alive.
He looks to be weakened. We need to them to be rescued soon. We really want them rescued soon.
Oh good. He’s getting up.
It’s being reported that the dogs have been rescued, and both are now recovering at a veterinary clinic.
Bachmann and King have been pressing to zero out the $105 billion that funds the Obama Administration’s implementation of the president’s health care plan.
Despite broad support among the American public for Congress to draw back spending on Obamacare, it has done nothing to remove the $105 billion that the previous Congress had allocated. Under the terms of the funding allocation, about $5 billion is budgeted for implementation purposes in FY2011, while another $100 billion has been appropriated for FY2012 through 2020.
Staff for McCarthy privately attempted to distance their boss from Boehner and Cantor. “[McCarthy] is not opposed to finding a way to zero out the implementation funding,” said an aide. “But if the majority leader and Speaker don’t want it, the whip isn’t in a position to push too hard. But let’s be clear, there is nothing to all the hooey about how leadership is supporting funding of Obamacare, because we aren’t bending to every whim of King and Queen Michele.”
In fact, House leadership is. According to sources familiar with discussions among House Republican leadership, Boehner and Cantor were informed by GOP leadership staff that it would have been “relatively easy” to gain the necessary votes to change House rules to allow the Bachmann-King amendment to be included in the continuing resolution.
What I want to know is — who’s being blackmailed? That’s what I always suspect is going on when there’s no other possible explanation for Republican fecklessness. The “stupid party”, my a$$. There has to be a weak link, here, somehow. Whoever it is needs to be thrown under the bus, and sooner rather than later. Nobody is this important.
Listen to what Majority Leader Cantor’s aide (reportedly) had to say about a proposed stand alone bill:
“This votes gives us the ability to say we voted to defund the slush fund, where it goes from there doesn’t really matter,” says an aide to Cantor. “We just want this off the table so we can get to some serious budget negotiations, not political stunts.”
Boehner and Cantor have promised Republicans a vote on the Bachmann-King amendment as a stand-alone bill, knowing full well that there’s no chance it will pass in the Senate with a Democrat majority.
That is a political stunt.
Do these guys understand that they are treading on very thin ice?
“And if the Republicans aren’t careful, they’re going to let their fear of bad PR kill the tea party revolution. And if they’re not careful what’s going to happen here is a third party is going to happen because the tea party crowd, grassroots, who made the Republican leadership possible, make no mistake, it’s the tea party turned out and voted that made the Republican leaders win, enabled their victory, made their leadership possible, if they’re not satisfied with the direction they see it will be third party time and nobody’s gonna be able to talk them out of it and then it will fracture our movement.”
Are Republicans believing the progressive media about their chances if they legislate conservatively?
Last year’s ruthless lawlessness, with the political bribery within the Democratic Party at the expense of the taxpayers and our Constitution, in ramming through ObamaCare with the $105 Billion concealed from members of Congress and the American taxpayer within it, must be defunded NOW! You have the opportunity and the responsibility to deliver a fiscally responsible budget, including the defunding of ObamaCare, rescuing the $105 Billion theft from the taxpayers, and the alphabet-soup of agencies that need to be weaned from suckling upon the taxpayer, especially since the Democrats were unwilling to pass a budget under their watch!
The term ‘Continuing Resolution’ is both aggravating and an oxymoron
The term ‘Continuing Resolution’ is both aggravating and an oxymoron because it continues the insanity from which we expected to be spared following November 2nd, and because there has been no actual resolution. The GOP gains at both the Federal and state levels of government following the mid-term election were a mandate to reverse the Democrats’ thuggery. As we celebrate ‘March Madness,’ and we need to adopt a shot clock for this legislation so that the opposing team can’t run out the clock and the treasury.
See Also:
It sounds like Hugh Hewitt is through with the Republican party – he’s had it…
HELLO, people?! Maybe it’s time other bloggers took note of the new site? It’s up to the minute reporting on all the violence and moonbattery the left has to offer.
